Anders Van Buren

Anders is one of the characters I've created for the schattenjager guild at Deviant Art. Below is her 'unofficial' profile, which will become official as soon as she's approved by The Powers That Be and all that jazz. :p

Anders Van Buren

age: 28
gender: Female disguised as male
height: 5’11”
weight: 178
hair: Red
eyes: Green
blood type: unknown
weapon: Rapier
nationality: Dutch
affiliation: Schattenjager
race: ¼ vampire

Andersine was born into a heavily superstitious family in the Netherlands that believed for generations that if the first born of the head family (and thus, the eventual heir and patriarch) was female, this would herald the fall of the entire clan. Unbeknownst to most of the clan, several female heirs were born through the years but they were raised male from birth (despite the fact that later in life, this led to some very complex situations—particularly around getting married and giving birth to future heirs).
Though Andersine’s mother protested violently when the leaders of the clan came to take her child, her protests were overridden and Andersine was stripped of her female identity and dubbed ‘Anders.’ Until she was seventeen she was outwardly raised as male and groomed to one day lead the family.
In a twist of fate, Anders’ mother, who had previously tried in vain to produce a male heir despite countless miscarriages, conceived and gave birth to a healthy boy. Marieke, unfortunately, died only a short while after Anders’ brother was born with now with a healthy male heir and no one left to protect Anders, the heads deemed the girl irrelevant to the future of the clan. She was coerced into faking her own death to make way for her brother to become the sole heir, and paid a hefty sum for her silence.
Not being the sort to become bitter, Andersine wished her little brother well and went on her own way, secretly relieved to be out from under the domineering leadership of the bizarre Van Buren clan. She left the country and denied any relation to the rest of the Van Burens but she was too self conscious to go back to living life as a woman.
It seemed natural that she would eventually join Schattenjager and due to her boyish figure, she had no problem fitting in as a male except in one unfortunate area. Anders’ romantic preferences still remain quite female and she tends to acquire a new crush every month or so, being a bit more obvious about her feelings than she realizes. While no one in the organization has openly said anything, her sexuality is the subject of much humorous scrutiny behind her back.
She can’t quite figure out why all the men seem so uncomfortable around her, particularly Jen Tzepa on whom she had a rather obvious crush when she first joined up (much to his dismay). But because of her usually quiet, sensitive nature women seem to enjoy her company far more than she would like.
In combat, Anders wields a rapier and having trained with some of the best sword masters in the Netherlands, has proven herself quite proficient in its use. Her combat style is usually quite graceful and refined but she’s been known to resort to bludgeoning opponents with blunt objects (chairs, wine bottles, rocks…) when the need arises.