The Blood Ancient

Backstory

The Blood Ancient was a member of a vampire cult that inhabited Castle Volkihar long before the so-called "Daughters of Coldharbourgh". She had just inherited the family armor and sword when the original dawnguard attacked the castle and wiped out her family. It was her parent's last dying wish to save her. They used the last of their energy to push her through the Soul Cairn into the future. Now she has returned from the long journey through the cairn to take vengeance on the Dawnguard and reclaim her rightful place upon the throne of Castle Volkihar.

The Concept

The Blood Ancient is a powerful vampire who utilizes Ancient Magic, a long forgotten technique. Ancient magic is divided into two parts, blood(Restoration/Destruction) and soul(Conjuration).  Rather than using foul bodies or basic atronachs the Blood ancient uses pure souls pulled straight from the Soul Cairn. The Blood Ancient wields a powerful blade(One-handed) of blood to strike down her foes. She wear's her family's ancient armor (Light Armor).She is also no stranger to the shadows(Sneak), in fact she has learned to embrace them. 

"I crept through the foul depths of Dimhollow Crypt mercilessly killing any thin-blooded vampires you find along the way. Eventually I came across a monolith with a woman inside. She told me her name was Serana and requested that I eschort her to her home Castle Volkihar.I was stunned by the mention of my home. Who is this girl and why does she speak of my family's castle. My only choice was to folllow her, maybe if Serana was telling the truth my parents could still be alive!"

The Basics

Race: Nord

Nords are the most ancient ancestors of Skyrim and the only race who's blood is pure enough to become a Blood Ancient. Just The daunting appearance of the Blood Ancient makes foes turn in fear(Battle Cry).Combined with Vampire Blood nord blood grants 85%(Capped) to frost magic.

Stats: 1 Health 1 Magicka 1 Stamina

Stone: Lady

The Blood Ancient increases her heart rate granting much faster health regen. 

Equipment

Ancient Blade(Harkon's Sword)- Absorb 15 points of Health Magicka and Stamina

Ancient Hood(Adept Hood)- 50 Magicka

Ancient Armor(Vampire Royal Armor)- Magicka Regenerates 125% Faster

Ancient Ring(Ring of Namira)- 50 Stamina Feed- 50 Health + 50% Health Regen For 5 Minutes

Ancient Boots(Nightingale Boots)- Muffle 

Ancient Gauntlets(Shrouded Gauntlet)- Double Backstab Damage

Ancient Amulet(Gauldur Amulet)- 30 Health Magicka and Stamina

Ancient Shield(Aethereal Shield)- Turns Enemies Ethereal

"My heart pounded as we approached Castle Volkihar, my home. We went inside. The court was filled with strangers, suddenly i felt overwhelmed, i reached for the wall. As Serana explained how i saved her i took it all in. My home, filled with strangers of less pure blood. Harkon, Serana's father was suspicious of my already vampiric blood, however he was preoccupied with some prophecy. It would seem i have gained their trust for now.

Ancient Magick

Blood

• Nightingale Strife- Absorb 100 health from the target
• Drain Vitality- Absorb 1 point of health magicka and stamina every second for 30 seconds
• AoE Vampire Drain Spell- Bound sword glitch to use vampire lord absorb health in human form
• Link to NobodyBeast's Guide FOr Vampire Lord Glitch-  
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=863xTSUahrI 

Feeding

The Blood Ancient feeds not to  tame is power but to increase it

 50%(Ring of Namira) + 25%(Lady Stone) + Necromage = 93.75% Health Regen

Soul

• Soul Cairn Summons- Summon souls straight from the soul cairn
  
• Aethereal Shield- Makes enemies unharmable and unable to harm
• Soul Tear- Soul Trap + instant damage

Mist Form

Ancient Soul(Become Ethereal) grants the ability to temporarily step into the soul cairn and negate the suns negative effects to sprint and avoid damage

"Harkon began to send me on tasks, seemingly making me his pet. I don't know how much longer i can put on this act.These vampires claim to be powerful and royalty, yet they let the control my family had over Skyrim vanish and they even disrespected the ancient blood chalice ritual until late. My hatred for Harkon, who tarnishes the shoes my father left to be filled, grows every day. He tells me our salvation is near, that he has finally located auriel's bow and we can fulfill the prophecy. I smile through gritted teeth. Even if the bow does exist its not like i wouldlet it fall into his hands. I have hope though, that my salvation is near. I have located the ancient blade of my family, it may be the key to defeating Harkon and taking back the court". 

Reforging The Ancient Blade

The Blood Ancient had just recieved the ancient family sword when she was pushed through the soul cairn. Just because something was lost and destroyed doesn't mean it can't be rebuilt better, however it will take time and sacrifice to reforge such a powerful weapon.

The Blade

The first step to reforging the sword is to actually find the blade. Unfortunately it has fallen into some less reputable hands. The ancient one will need to travel to Bloated Man's Grotto to retrieve it. When you arrive you find blasphemy! Your ancient blade resting upon a shrine of the weak man god talos. You will have to take it back to the castle and cleanse it with ancient blood.

Imbuing The Soul

The next step to repairing the blade is merging it with a worthy soul. No weak mortal of Skyrim posseses a soul great enough for the blade. The Blood Ancient must travel to the soul cairn and slay one of the tower Keepers to fill a gem with a soul grand enough for the blade.

Blood Sacrifice

The third step to restoring the blade is to coat it in the blood of the innocent. Slaughtering a merchant or other twonsfolk won't do however. It must be someone who has earned your trust, the blade must be drenched in the blood of betrayal. Since you first arrived into future Skyrim Lydia has been a humble servant and friend. The time has come for her to serve even in death.

Stolen Power

The final step to reforging The Ancient Blade is to bind the parts together in userped power. After all the work and searching to fulfill the prophecy you shall serve that bastard Harkon no more. It is time for you to take back your home and your rightful place at the head of Volkihar Court! 

The Revival!

At last, you have slaughtered Harkon, userped the power and taken control of the court. Your true ancient powers awaken. Wearing the ancient armor of your family and wielding the blade of Blood Ancient Legacy it is time to show Skyrim The Blood Ancients have returned!

" Through blood and conquest i have finally managed to restore my family's legacy and we have begun to establish a reputation in skyrim. We are in the process of eliminating thin-blooded vampires from Skyrim and we have almost fully restored the Blood Stone Chalice. Today however is a day of salvation, for today my servants and I shall destroy the Dawnguard. We sieged their castle. Destroyed their towers, burned their furniture, and slaughtered them all until their was only one left. Their leader. I hold my blade to his throat but as he looks up my pride turns to horror. It is the same leader that killed my family. But ... But... Thats impossible unless...."

Gameplay

General Combat

Much of the Blood Ancient's combat relies on limiting opponents capabilites by draining their magicka and stamina. Arniel's Shade and Boneman can provide extra damage against enemies with high health. Mistman and Wrathman are better to help take some of the damage if armor isn't enough. Spells are easily cast even without cost reduction gear since the Blood Ancient absorbs magicka. Start combat off taking out a high priorty target, this build is by no means a slit every enemies throat character.

• Warriors- Many of the Blood Ancients spells and abilities absorb stamina therefore preventing warriors from using power attacks, sprinting, or shield bashing
  
• Mages- Similarly to warriors the Blood Ancient is proficient in the art of magicka absorbtion preventing mages from casting spells, be wary against shock mages so they don't drain you first, try and hide behind a mist or wrathman
• Archers- Archer's are easily disposed by dodgin arrows and retaliating with arniel's shade and Vamp Drain
• Summoners/Necromancers- The Blood Ancient has the ability to turn or banish enemy summons making summoners useless, your frost resistance,85% will make necromancers no problem

Special Moves

Multi Frontal Assault(Passive)-  The Blood Ancient debuffs the enemy in all three aspects rendering them helpless

Drain Vitality + Ancient Blade + Aoe Vamp Drain + BloodStone Chalice

Subterfuge of Blood And Soul(Active)- Summon a soul to draw your enemies(Useful for Groups) then bathe the area in blood

Conjure Wrath/Mistman + AoE Vamp Drain

Pact of Blood and Soul(Active)- Call upon blood and stole to devastate a target

Nightingale Strife + Soul Tear

Soul Cairn Bind(Active)- Condemn an enemy to the soul cairn to burn away'

Aetheriel Shield + Drain Vitality

Ancient Blood(Passive/Active)- Transform into mist form remaining unharmed while your ancient blood heals you

Become Ethereal + Health Regen

Quests

• Darkness Returns- For boots and Nightingale Strife
• With Friends Like these..- For shrouded gauntles
• Lost to the Ages- For Aetherial Shield
• Dragon Rising- For Lydia and Shouts
• Dawnguard Vampire Side- DUH

"Turns out the damn leader of the Dawnguard himslef was a vampire. When they first destroyed my castle and killed my family my mother and father opened a gate into the soul cairn to defeat the Dawnguard. The leader innoculated himself with vamire blood to survive. Treasonous scum. I slit his throat. I told my court to leave the bodies. Let them be a reminder to anyone else who tries to stop us. We have found the rings of blood magic and restored the castle to it's former glory. I have married and gave birth to a perfect heir. I can now burn away knowing my familys legacy will live on. Just because vampires can live forever doesn't mean they want to. Its time for me to be reunited with my parents once more.

Perk Spreads

             Level 20                                                                                       Level 40

http://skyrimcalculator.com/403368                                           http://skyrimcalculator.com/403369

Perk Notes

• Restoration is mainly perked for Necromage and Recovery
• Destruction is only used for AoE Vampire Drain Spell
• Necromancy perks affect the soul cairn summons but not Arniel's shade

Final Notes

Thanks for reading! I had alot of fun making this and i hope you guys enjoy it.This is my first build and a very long time and the only high quality one i've ever really posted. I'm very active so let me know what you like and dislike in the comments and i can make tweaks. Thanks again for reading! 

Wow... an amazing first build! Very well thought out and presented. I really like the idea of dividing magic into two parts: Blood and Soul... gives it a unique vibe ;D

Really, the only thing I can see that would make this better would be consistency in your headings and sub-headings (some are bold while others are not... I would make them all bold). Other than that (admittedly) very small, nitpicky thing, way to go!

I look forward to seeing what else you come up with in the future :D

Thanks for the like an the comment and the like, oddly enough on my ipad i see the headings the way you see them with some bold some not but on my computer they are all bold I'm not sure what to make of that.

That would be the ning gremlins hard at work... formatting with ning can be a nightmare at times xD

I had the time, so I took the liberty of highlighting some of the headings and subheadings ning missed. If they still aren't showing up for you, please let me know ;D

Again, congratulations on a great build!

This is a pretty nice looking first build there shadow! One thing I noticed was that you talked about using destruction as part of blood magic but it isn't mentioned again and is only perked to apprentice. Maybe you could explain that (and the different aspects of blood and soul magic) a bit more. Also, some of your special moves use the AoE vampiric drain spell. When you use that that spell are you using it in Lord form or are you using the glitch to equip it in human form? Those are two things I noticed might need some clarification. Otherwise I like it! Keep it up, +1! I hope some more people read this, it's a deserving build but a lot of people don't read builds by newer builders. Good luck and don't be turned off if it doesn't get as much attention as you'd like (or as it deserves). It comes with time(:

Be that as it may, I'd still be pretty surprised if this wasn't out of the Bloodworks before the end of the week :D

Thanks shinjin
Kaiser yes you are completely right I will add a section mentioning it. The destruction aspect of the build is only the Aoe vamp drain spell glitch which I am actually not sure is affected or not by apprentice destruction but I used other spells until I got vampire lord

Hmm.... think i can help you there... for starters, vampiric drain AOE in human form isn't really affected by the destruction perks. However, vampiric drain as a concentration spell (the normal one) in human form, that is affected by the novice perk in destruction.

Since one doesn't really get VL form until level 10, when durak decides to show up, I think the best way around it would be playing a pure summoner with arneil's shade... trust me, that summon can really take a beating (well, technically it doesn't, due to it's ethereal form, but you get the point).

Also, if you're a vamp before joining the dawnguard or during the dawnguard line, i think you'd be asked to go cure yourself. Might wanna sub with a weapon (since you're using swords) that absorbs health instead... hope this helps. 

Thanks for the tip about the drain life spell but I actually wasn't a vampire until Harkon gave it to me.

Hey Shadow, Dragonborn here with my comment (and like it turns out)

I like the idea a lot, a different strand of Vampires, somehow related to Harkon (if I read it correctly) an interesting idea for sure and you pulled it off. I particularly loved the transformation (RP-wise) of Bolar's Oathblade into Harkon's Sword, an interesting idea. 

One thing I should mention is that you only have Ancient Shield, not the proper name, it's fine for us long-time players but a poor newbie might get confused, I'd recommend changing it. Anyway a good build and setup, I enjoyed the idea and the read so a +1 from me, free of charge as well.