Brencis

Who is Brencis

Brencis (voiced by Andrew James Spooner) is the primary antagonist of The Blood of Dawnwalker and the leader of the Vrakhiri the ancient vampires who rule Vale Sangora. He was born in AD 131 as Caeso Burrienus Laurentius, into a noble Roman family that owned enormous farming estates across the empire. He climbed through the Senate, aimed for the consulship, and then someone turned him into a vampire.

Being a vampire in ancient Rome meant the end of his political career. The institutions he'd spent his life ascending through no longer recognized him. But Brencis kept the ambition. Nearly 1,200 years later, he's still building empires. He just uses different tools.

Takeover of Vale Sangora

Two years before the game begins, Brencis and his cadre arrived in Vale Sangora and eliminated the valley's previous ruler, Skender Dragosti. Skender had been a tyrant, he used silver mine proceeds to expand the dungeons beneath Greifberg Castle rather than fund religious institutions, and his walls were stained with blood. When the plague reached the region, Skender's response was to wipe out entire villages to stop the spread.

For the surviving population, Brencis looked like an improvement. He brought order. More importantly, he brought the cure. Vampire blood eliminates the Black Plague, and in a world where the disease is annihilating entire communities, that makes vampires look like saviors. Many humans in Vale Sangora now worship the vampires as religious figures.

The cost is the blood tax. Humans provide their blood to the vampire overlords on a regular schedule. It's an extractive system dressed up as benevolent rule. The kind of arrangement a former Roman senator would understand instinctively.

Seat of power

Brencis rules from Greifberg Castle, which overlooks Svartrau near the wealthy Silberkreis district. The castle predates the vampire takeover. It was Skender Dragosti's seat, complete with dungeons that Skender had expanded. Brencis inherited the infrastructure and put it to his own uses.

The Vrakhiri

Brencis does not rule alone. He leads a cadre of ancient vampires, the Vrakhiri who each control their own territories within Vale Sangora. His lieutenants include Xanthe (an ancient Greek priestess), Ambrus (a charming manipulator), and Bakir (a Central Asian warlord). Each has their own agenda, their own methods, and their own history stretching back centuries.

Relationship with Coen

Brencis offered to cure Coen's sister Lunka of the plague. He did. Then he used the debt to hold Coen's entire family hostage. He also attempted to turn Coen into a vampire, but the silver poisoning in Coen's body disrupted the process, creating a Dawnwalker instead. Coen's 30-day mission centers on getting his family out from under Brencis's control.

Reactive behavior

Brencis actively responds to the player's actions throughout the game. If you undermine vampire operations, he escalates. Increasing soldier patrols, locking down cities, restricting movement. This is not a static antagonist waiting in a castle for the final confrontation. He adapts to what you're doing, and his responses make the 30-day clock feel more real.

As an antagonist

What makes Brencis work as a villain is that he's not straightforwardly evil. He genuinely cured people of the plague. He removed a tyrant. The valley under his rule is functional. The problem is the price, and the fact that the humans who serve him don't fully understand the long-term cost of that arrangement.

He has survived for over 1,200 years. He's outlasted empires, religions, and every political system humans have invented. His ambition hasn't faded, it has just learned patience.