Kiril/Overview

Kiril was born in Varna but grew up in London, the son of Ana Ivanova and a father she has steadfastly refused to speak of his entire life. A Bulgarian immigrant, Ana worked tirelessly to provide for them, spinning tales from Slavic folklore to entertain her young son — stories were all she could afford. But Ana carried a darkness with her. She glimpsed things in the periphery of her vision, heard whispers when no one was there. She tried to hide it from Kiril, but soon she realized he saw them too — the dark, stalking shapes that haunted her waking hours ran wild in his dreams.

With nowhere else to turn, Ana sought protection in the only way she knew how: the old — no signs of struggle, no warning. But Kiril always suspected something darker, something unseen that came in the night and took her.

After her death, the nightmares worsened. Grief pulled him into a downward spiral, and he turned to drugs — both for escape and for income. He took whatever work he could find, scraping by through petty crime, sex work, and the occasional maintenance gig—anything to hold onto the last fraying threads of pride. It was no surprise that a combination of a partial overdose and a screaming nightmare finally cracked something open inside him, hurling him into an Awakening, kicking and thrashing.

Fortunately for him, London has no shortage of mentors for the newly Awakened. It didn’t take long for someone to notice the Orphan stumbling through magic with all the grace of a sledgehammer. He bounced between teachers at first — his visions suggested an affinity for the Dreamspeakers, but his patience for spirits utterly lacking. The folk rituals his mother had taught him hinted at a path with the Verbena, but the lessons and knowledge they presented was too scattered, a jumbled mix of pagan traditions with no structure to guide him forward.

Then, almost by accident, he found his true mentor.

An Haoyu, a young Taiwanese man practicing martial arts and yoga in the park, drew Kiril like a moth to a flame. And An saw something in Kiril too. They hit it off immediately. An was a member of the K’an Lu Ecstatics, and he taught Kiril how to find stillness through movement, freedom through discipline, and mastery through surrender. He introduced Kiril to Eastern practices—tantra, Taoist alchemy, the interplay of ritual and symbol. He showed him how seemingly opposing forces could fuse into something greater than either alone, how the body and mind could be transformed through quiet intention, how substances could be transfigured to influence both self and world.

Under An’s guidance, Kiril trained until he was ready to stand on his own. An then left for China, seeking out persecuted members of the K’an Lu, hoping to aid them in their struggle for freedom. Kiril hasn’t heard from him in some time.

Now, Kiril has found a new purpose. He has joined the Circle of St. Herodias, using his knowledge of drugs and alchemy in pursuit of perfection — both his own and others’.