Everything Revealed About Brencis' Officers So Far

My hype for The Blood of Dawnwalker is nearly uncontainable, especially now that we know that it’s set to release in September of this year. Dawnwalker looks primed to fill the Witcher-shaped hole in my heart, not only because it’s an ambitious, narrative-driven medieval-fantasy RPG, but also because it’s being developed by several CD Projekt Red alumni, including The Witcher 3 director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz.

Beyond pedigree, The Blood of Dawnwalker is appealing by virtue of its rock-solid premise and presentation. Players control Coen, a peasant in a fictionalized version of the European Carpathian Mountains, whose family is captured by a troupe of tyrannical vampires. In the process, the villains attempt to turn Coen into a vampire, but he winds up becoming a Dawnwalker: human by day, vampire by night. Driven by a desire to rescue his loved ones, Coen has to use his newfound powers to fight back against the evil undead that have taken control of the entire region, hunting humans for sport and subjecting whole cities to regular blood rituals. Unsurprisingly, this group has attracted quite a few enemies aside from Coen, setting the stage for a full-blown war. And if players are going to participate in this war, they should probably get an idea of who they’re up against.

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Brencis

The leader of The Blood of Dawnwalker‘s ruling vampire clan, Brencis was born Caeso Burrienus Laurentius to a wealthy family in Ancient Rome. He was an extremely successful politician during Rome’s Golden Age, poised to ascend to the role of consul, the highest elected political rank in the country. But his transformation into a vampire robbed him of this lifelong dream.

Over a millennium later, Brencis’ hunger for power has only sharpened. As the head of Vale Sangora’s vampiric government, Brencis rules over many humans, almost all of whom are feeble and helpless against his well-honed power. During Blood of Dawnwalker’s main story, Brencis is seeking princehood in an attempt to further solidify and legitimize his power over humans, who he views as inherently inferior.

Ambrus

Like Coen, Ambrus is a recent vampire, only having been turned recently—relative to multicentenarians like Brencis, at least. Described as coming from humble beginnings, Ambrus lived a human life that was “hard, full of pain and humiliations.” While his face is often obfuscated by darkness and blood in The Blood of Dawnwalker’s trailers, he appears to have retained most of his human appearance, and bears burn scars around his mouth—potential remnants of his painful mortal life.

Ambrus’s scars are hard to see in many shots, but they are confirmed by The Blood of Dawnwalker concept art.

As one of Brencis’ key allies, Ambrus controls the supply of blood throughout Vale Sangora, trafficking humans for their crimson byproducts. Due to his youth, he is eager to please Brencis and leave his mark on Vale Sangora, making him both effective and feverish in his role. So far, he seems poised to be a nice foil to Coen: he’s a recently turned vampire with great ambitions, though using his powers for selfish or malignant ends rather than heroic ones. Perhaps he is trying to compensate for the “humble” life he led pre-turn, or perhaps he’s victimizing humans after having been victimized himself.

Bakir

If his outfit is anything to judge him by, it’s safe to say that Bakir was likely a Hun before being turned into a vampire. This is interesting since it would mean that, like Brencis, Bakir was part of a brutal and unforgiving power structure even before he was a vampire: the Hun, like the Mongolians, ravaged much of Central Asia during the fourth and fifth centuries. He is probably not a Mongolian, since he’s described as having been a vampire for centuries, and the Mongolian Empire wasn’t solidified until about 100 years before The Blood of Dawnwalker takes place.

Bakir is described as being particularly fearsome, with his character introduction on The Blood of Dawnwalker’s website saying that “he thirsted for blood even before he was turned.” Kept away from his bloody dreams for centuries after becoming a vampire, he sees a new shot at glory through Brencis’ mission, but perhaps their respective ambitions will clash. After all, he “likes being the center of attention,” according to his character description.

Bakir’s motion capture is being performed by Jan Błachowicz, a former UFC champion.

Xanthe

If Brencis is the honorific leader, Ambrus is the aspiring rookie, and Bakir is the unstoppable warrior, then Xanthe can be described as the mystic of the group. Older than all of her fellow vampires, Xanthe hails from an Ancient Greek island, where she served as a priestess of some sort. This indicates a connection to spirituality and the divine pre-transformation, which may partially explain her tangential relationship with reality.

Alongside Brencis, Xanthe is the most inhuman of the vampires in appearance, her ever-growing fangs and necrotic skin making her a terrifying and ugly sight to behold. She is decidedly inhuman on a spiritual and emotional level as well, seemingly ascending beyond the constraints of the material world, and maybe even serving as a model of what future awaits those who live as vampires long enough. Xanthe hears “voices from beyond the pale,” and seems to understand the “true nature” of the world better than most. Thus, she could offer ample opportunity for The Blood of Dawnwalker to explore deeper themes and existential questions.

You can expect to learn much more about these characters once you actually get your hands on the game, as Brencis’ lackeys play a major role in the story and gameplay structure. Due to The Blood of Dawnwalker’s non-linear story, you’ll have the opportunity to delve into these antagonists on a deeper, more multifaceted level through various associated quests and activities that aim to deliver impactful narrative content. They’re a diverse bunch, to be sure, and have thus far come across as the very picture of intimidation and authoritarianism, so it will be interesting to get to know them—and kill them, probably.