Nikola Tesla (Sanctuary)

Nikola Tesla is a male television character who features in Sanctuary.

Biography

Nikola Tesla was a young white skinned Human male born during the Victorian Era. Tesla was a famous physicist and inventor. Tesla, nevertheless, enjoyed working with the group at the University of Oxford. He believed that while the others simply changed when they got their powers, he himself felt that he had actually found out who he really was. Nikola Tesla also became a great friend to and admirer of Helen Magnus during her studies of abnormals; to the point he loved her "more than that lunatic Druitt ever did". His keen scientific mind and his knowledge of Abnormals meant that he was invited into a group called the Five. This group consisted of similar scientists which included Helen Magnus, John Druitt, Sir James Watson and Nigel Griffin. While the rest of the Five gained their own unique abilities that either reflected on their personality or improved them, Tesla's reaction to the source blood was the most bizarre. Unknown to the Five, or even to himself, one of Tesla's ancestors had been a vampire, and the dormant genes had been passed down to Tesla. These genes were awakened by being exposed to the source blood. As well as gaining the ability to cast streams of electricity at will, he also developed vampiric characteristics including enhanced speed, strength and agility, immortality, regenerative powers and a supposed blood-lust. Magnus was able to help him overcome and control the thirst for blood by developing a special medication for him. In order to test the limits of evolution and decided to inject themselves with pure Sanguine Vampiris blood which Magnus had managed to retrieve. Each member of the Five took an injection of the blood and were altered as they were each given different abilities.

Tesla's transformation was the most profound of the group as he had been transformed into a Vampire. However, he had vowed not to indulge in taking the bloods of Humans and instead devoted his life to exploration of the scientific world. His most noted accomplishment was the development of radio and he continued this line of work for over a century. One of his developments was a powerful death ray which he planned to sell to various nations but this simply provoked them into sending assassins to kill him. Calling upon the aid of Helen Magnus, she managed to fake his death and planned his funeral whilst Tesla remained hidden for decades. It was claimed by James Watson that Tesla's electrical ability saved him from death when he fell asleep in Thomas Edison's electric chair while it was running at full current.

He remained hidden from the world for countless decades where he made plans to create about a master race of vampires that would take over the world. His studies eventually attracted the attentions of the Cabalis Nocturnum who began an active search to destroy him as his plans threatened their own attempts at dominating the world. Tesla's research managed to produce feral vampires that served him but lacked intelligence thus he attempted to find the means to restore the race. To that end, he travelled to the Himalayas to enter the destroyed city of Bhalasaam in order to consult the great works of the vampire race. He also approached a badly wounded John Druitt and revived him in order to get his aid. When Druitt refused, Nikola tortured him but John managed to escape.

Thus, Nikola was forced to attempt to get the aid of another member of the Five which was Helen Magnus who was unaware of Tesla's plans of restoring the vampire race. He approached her and made her believe that a Cabal strike team had arrived in Rome to kill her. Unknown to her at the time, the Human strike team were actually there to kill Tesla and Nikola managed to flee with Magnus into the underground catacombs. It was there that he eventually revealed his plans to Magnus as his vampires slayed the Cabal team and asked for her aid in giving them intelligence. However, she refused and Tesla nearly killed her had John Druitt not arrived and seemingly killed the vampire lord.

However, Tesla survived and he waited in the shadows whilst he recovered. He had later on discovered the Cabal's plot to use the Lazarus bioweapon against the Abnormal populations and bring about a new world order with them in command of the world. As this threatened his own plans, Tesla waited in the ruined vampire city of Bhalasaam to await for his fellow Five members who had come to find the last sample of the source blood; the pure Sanguine Vampiris blood which Gregory Magnus had hidden away. Nikola had tried to retrieve the sample as part of his plans to recreate the vampire race but failed due to the number of traps present and the fact that Gregory Magnus had built the traps to test all the Five working together.

Meeting with the Five and Helen Magnus's friends, Tesla accompanied her in their trials and managed to successfully retrieve the sample of the source blood.

Overview

Personality and attributes

Nikola Tesla's personality can be described as a bit of a paradox, as he is prone to shifts in mood depending on the moment. At one moment he can be quite reserved and sophisticated, the next shifting to wild and exuberant when the right moment takes him. Helen Magnus once described him as at best "an acquired taste" and at worse "selfish and arrogant, putting [his] own desires ahead of everyone else's". Despite this, he does have a more noble side. His autotype played a huge part in the Allied victory of World War II. He also actively partook in the battle for the London Sanctuary, fought alongside his rival Druitt in the battle for the Old City Sanctuary, and rescued Henry Foss from an attack by a super abnormal. Later on, finding out that one of his nonlethal containment units had been modified into a deathtrap caused him to become furious.

Helen Magnus once suggested that Nikola Tesla has difficulty controlling himself as a result of source blood exposure resulting in a need for a special medication to control the blood lust. Even after the loss of his vampirism his moods can still be unpredictable. Since the loss of his powers Tesla had become slightly depressed thinking he had little to live for as he was now. He would still get offended when people slandered vampires, especially after the holographic map of Hollow Earth detects the source blood inside of him and calls him a blood demon.

He was prone to shifts in mood depending on the moment where at one moment he can be quite reserved and sophisticated whilst the next shifting to wild and exuberant when the right moment takes him.

Whether it was always a part of his personality or a development after being turned into a vampire, Tesla began to yearn for the rebirth of the vampire race. He believed that they were immensely superior to ordinary Humans and that they would bring about a new era of peace on Earth despite the history of their tyranny. To that end, he secretly sought to recreate the species and make their race dominant on the Earth.

Helen Magnus was one of the few people who could keep Tesla under some level of control. Nikola had himself admitted that he had always had a respect for her and that he loved her more than Druitt ever could.

Powers and abilities

Being a vampire, Nikola was vastly superior to an ordinary Human in many ways. He had improved strength, better speed and faster reflexes as well as the capacity to grow large claws from his hands when turning into his feral form. His strength was sufficient enough for him to easily overpower a Human and lift them from the ground with a single hand.

One of his noted abilities was his enhanced endurance which made him resistant to most forms of injuries. Tesla was able to survive a powerful sonic shockwave that would pulverise normal Humans and even recover from being speared through the chest by a large wooden stake after being propelled into it by said shockwave. In addition, he also survived a teleporting punch through his stomach and recover easily even though it was believed he was killed.

A more dangerous ability of Nikola's was that of the Sanguine Vampiris blood within him. By feeding a few drops of his blood into a dead Human body and shocking the body with an electrical charge from specialist equipment; Tesla was able to turn dead Humans into vampires like himself. However, there was a notable problem with this transformation as the reborn Humans lacked any form of intelligence making them little more then powerful feral Abnormals. Their loyalty was to Nikola who directed their actions.

Notes

• Nikola Tesla was created by Damian Kindler and was portrayed by actor Jonathon Young where he featured in the setting of the Sanctuary universe.
• The character was adapted from the real world Nikola Tesla.

Appearances

• Sanctuary:

External Links

• Sanctuary Wiki Entry

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