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Warning: This journal WILL contain explicit sexual and violent content. If you are offended, or under 18, do not read. Mun and muse are both well over the age of 18.

Background: Klaus was born 1,000 years ago, third living son of Esther and supposed son of her husband Mikael. His parents had fled the Old World due to plague and helped establish a village in the area that would one day become Mystic Falls, Virginia. Near the village lived a pack of werewolves, with whom everyone got along fairly well for years--some better than others, as it turned out.

One night, it all went wrong. Henrik, Klaus's youngest brother, wanted to see the wolf-men change, and he and Klaus snuck out to watch. The wolves found them and killed Henrik, leaving Klaus guilt-stricken and his parents desperate to save the rest of their family. Esther was a powerful witch, and did a spell to make her children stronger, faster and more indestructible than the wolves. Of course, it came with a price. For every strength there was a weakness: The sun became their enemy, keeping them inside until Esther created enchanted rings that allowed them to walk in the sun; neighbors could keep them out of their homes by refusing to invite them in; the vervain that grew at the base of the white oak tree Esther used in the spell to give them life would burn them and prevent them from compelling others; and the tree that gave them life could kill them, so they burned it. But beyond all of that, it created bloodlust they could not deny.

They became the first vampires.

For Klaus, there was a further consequence. As it happened, Esther wasn't quite the perfect wife Mikael thought she was. At some point after their son Elijah was born, she had an affair with one of the neighboring werewolves. Klaus was his son, not Mikaels, which made him also a werewolf. Because he had never killed a person before being changed into a vampire (the event which triggers the werewolf gene), he had never known his parentage. But after he was turned, unable to control the bloodlust, yet, he killed. And after that first kill, his werewolf side was triggered, making him not just a vampire, but a hybrid.

Knowing that a hybrid species would be far too powerful, able to withstand most of the vampire's weaknesses, able to upset nature entirely (as if making vampires at all hadn't already done that), Esther used the blood of a girl who was herself a supernatural event--a doppelganger--to place a curse on Klaus, binding his werewolf side. Then she and Mikael turned their backs on him.

Enraged by both the abandonment and betrayal, and now cursed with both the rage of a werewolf and the out of control emotions of a baby!vampire, Klaus killed Esther. Then, filled with fear and shame and not wanting to lose his siblings, too, he blamed the man who had never really been his father--Mikael.

Knowing their father's temper and the pain he must feel at Esther's betrayal, Klaus's siblings believed him. Two of them, Elijah and Rebekah, the two he was closest to, swore they would never leave him, making a pledge that it would be the three of them from now on, always and forever.

Mikael, wanting his own vengeance, stayed on their heels, becoming a vampire-hunter, but his children always eluded him. Somewhere along the way, special daggers were created by witches to neutralize the Original vampires--plunged through their hearts, these daggers would render an Original "dead" for as long as it stayed in their heart. Finn, the eldest brother, would not fall in line with Klaus's story or his plans, so Klaus used the first dagger on him, placing him in a coffin that he always kept close, planning to revive his brother someday, when they were free of Mikael and thus he could not be betrayed to his erstwhile Father.

Meanwhile, Elijah helped Klaus craft a myth around the curse--naming it the sun and moon curse, they spread it throughout civilizations, claiming that breaking it would free werewolves from being bound to change by the moon and allow vampires to walk in the light. Since this was what both species wanted more than anything, that set every supernatural creature to looking for what they needed--a moonstone their mother had used in the original curse, and a new doppelganger--a girl exactly like the one used in the curse, one of her bloodline.

In 1492, they found the girl--Katerina Petrova--and Klaus set things in motion to break his curse. But the vampire who had found the girl--Trevor--also fell in love with her, and he told her what Klaus was planning--to sacrifice her. Katerina ran and got herself turned into a vampire so her blood would be useless to Klaus. Infuriated, he found and slaughtered her whole family and became set on vengeance.

Sometime in the late nineteenth century, the third brother--Kol--did something to piss Klaus off and ended up in a coffin next to Finn's, a dagger in his heart.

Elijah, who had cared for her, was bothered, and eventually, as time went on, he split away from his siblings. Klaus let him go without retribution, perhaps hoping he would one day return. Rebekah stayed close, usually, but when she met a handsome young vampire in Chicago in the '20s, she fell in love. When Mikael found them, Klaus insisted they had to leave, but Rebekah said she wanted to stay with Stefan, that she chose him over Klaus. Infuriated and filled with desperation at the thought of losing his last sibling, Klaus daggered her and added her coffin to those of his brothers and the one he'd carried even longer, containing someone no one expected.

Angry and wanting to hurt Elijah--though still not taking him out--Klaus taunted him and told him that he had dumped their daggered siblings into the ocean, basically making it so none of them would ever revive, taking them away from Elijah forever. Elijah vowed vengeance and began working to find a way to destroy the brother he had once loved more than anyone or anything.

Klaus was virtually indestructible, though--not even a dagger would work on him, because of his werewolf side. He surrounded himself with those he thought loyal, and lived as best he could, ultimately alone and thinking all was lost.

Until one day, in 2011, a trusted servant brought him the news that a new doppelganger had been found, in the town that had grown up where his village once stood, of all places. Finally seeing a chance at an end to his curse and a way to free himself from the threat of Mikael and be able to build an army of his own, to let him finally, then, get his family back--in short, to get everything he ever wanted, Klaus returned to Mystic Falls where old friends and family, new allies and enemies waited.

Personality: There is a theory espoused that not only do the bodies of vampires stop aging, but something of their emotional state at the time of their transformation stays, as well. In short, they can never quite emotionally mature (explaining why those turned as teenagers always seem drawn to other teens, not adults, no matter how old they are). This is somewhat true for Klaus. Always a bit volatile and only in his early 20s when he died, Klaus sometimes exhibits the mood-swing emotions of someone that age. He is capable of great calculation and cunning, is highly intelligent, and is capable of being patient (even if he hates it). However, he is also impulsive and destructive and his own worst enemy. His parents' rejection wounded him deeply, and he feels like he never fit with his family, that they are pure where he is "tainted" with the blood of the creatures who killed their brother. There is a deep shame in that, as exhibited in his highly dismissive and derogatory attitude toward werewolves. He treats them much as other vampires do--as lesser species. But, at the same time, he wants to elevate them, to make them like him, vampire-wolf hybrids, because there is greater strength in that. He tries to make what he is the better thing, but all he's really ever wanted was to feel like a member of...something. For all Rebekah and Elijah's love, he's always felt alone (which actually hurts them a lot, since they loved him and saw him as special, not lower, but he doesn't know this). He is ruthless, and others' live do not matter to him except what they can give to him. He has fully embraced what he is--he hunts with relish and has no empathy or mercy for his victims. He will strike out at even those he loves if he senses betrayal, rejection or opposition. At the same time, he aches to belong, to be loved, to not be alone. He says love is a vampire's greatest weakness, but this is likely because he realizes the need for it is his. He loves art, and is an accomplished artist. Traveling and seeing the beauty of the world brings him great pleasure. When he does allow himself to show affection, to feel, he is lavish and over the top, but can be coaxed to a certain vulnerability, as well, in which moments he shows the rejected little boy he must have felt like all those centuries ago. He aches for love, for belonging, but he does everything he can to ensure he never gets it, as well. Really, the only thing standing in his way is him. While there have been moments of him starting to grasp that, it's hard to break a thousand years of habit, and he's not likely to embrace a new philosophy without a lot of time and, perhaps, finally finding somewhere or something that makes him feel safe to let down those barbed wire topped, electrified walls.

To be fair to his victims, he's also pretty much a sociopath (even his "love" tends to be selfish and about him more than the other person). But he wasn't, once, which does deny true sociopathy, so it's possible (slimly) that he can "grow" out of it. Somewhat. Maybe.

Canon Point of Play: For "canon" scenarios, he can generally be considered to be at the canon point of the show, as I will have him responding, but I am also willing to play him from any past point.

Version: Obviously, this is TV!Klaus, not book!Klaus, but as I am intimately familiar with the books and have been for 20 years, if you'd like a book!Klaus to play with, I'm willing to try. In that case, obviously, disregard all of the above, including personality. Book!Klaus is a batshit insane psychopath without a lot of redeeming qualities but a wicked sense of humor. Damon kind of finds him hot, though.

Relationships/Those he cares for: His siblings, despite his failure at showing it. Rebekah and Elijah will always be the two he loves best, though Kol isn't so bad, really. He's more fun than Elijah, at least, usually. That's...about it. He used to be crazy fond of Stefan, but that's got the ache of Elijah's betrayal, too, and he's less fond now. It does make him sad, though. He really, really cared for that boy. I know it's canon he fancies Caroline, but I just...can't go there/buy it/am not a fan. I thought maybe it would develop as I wrote him. It hasn't. On that note:

Sexuality/My head-canon: At 1,000 years old, I really figure Klaus is not so picky about gender, even if the show will never go there. Ergo, he's pretty equal opportunity on both partners and feeding. Also, 1,000 years with just the same two people as your only constant companions, and yeah, I totally ship Elijah/Klaus and Rebekah/Klaus and Rebekah/Klaus/Elijah. Yes, I know it's incest--they are *1,000 year old vampires* -- I really doubt they care, and that level of emotion over that many centuries with no one else your equal in the world? I think they went there. If that bothers you, that will be marked in the journal, and you don't have to read it. :-) Otherwise, I am pretty open to options of play. Just ask.

Disclaimer: Klaus is a fictional character on The Vampire Diaries. As such, he does not belong to me, but to L.J. Smith, Harper/Collins, Kevin Williamson, Julie Plec, the CW and probably a lot of other people. His PB, Joseph Morgan, most certainly just belongs to himself. I'm just using Klaus for entertainment and will return him unharmed. No infringement is intended.