Zelman was born in Poland sometime during the 18th century as a rich aristocrat's son. His father was a very wealthy landowner with a profession in law, and so was usually busy. He never seemed happy with his lazy, good-for-nothing son and frequently told Zelman he was pretty much worthless. He restricted Zelman from the outside world time and time again, expecting him to study and become a great judge much like himself. Zelman always ignored his father, though, to the point where he'd go out of his way to be disobedient. No kind of punishment ever really got to him. Zelman remained unchained by his father's ideals, even though his reputation among the older men of the city was the cost. Long story short, they hated each other's guts.

His mother was a kind woman, but frequently fell ill and spent much of her time in bed. She encouraged him to follow whatever dream he wanted, and liked it very much when Zelman would play the piano for her. Zelman honestly loved her, but after a while she fell victim to a touch of insanity (though they're still not sure what caused it, Zelman believes it was the demanding and sometimes violent nature of his father that started it). Zelman began to resent her for being so weak. If he could stand up to his father, why couldn't she?

Because of the collective conditions at home, Zelman pretty much grew up alone. And he never really minded, finding people to make for horrible company. He felt surrounded by idiots and people who just didn't really have a reason to live except to do what other's wanted. Despite his strong feelings against them, however, he spent a fair amount of his free time out in town, meeting local kids his age, making friends, and flirting with girls. He acquired quite the reputation. Adults hated him, kids couldn't get enough of him. What he really enjoyed, however, was walking out in the woods alone or hiding away in the library, reading up on everything under the sun.

He was, as his teachers called him, "wasted talent", since he possessed an amazing ability to learn. He understood things that most people couldn't get, and created little inventions almost on a whim. Some people thought he was a genius of sorts, but he hated the idea of structured education and standardized rules. He never cooperated, never achieved, and most importantly, never really tried to get anywhere besides what his father called his "little dream world". He was smart, alright, but he hated learning what people told him to learn.

By the age of eighteen, he was still doing pretty much whatever he wanted. He'd showed no signs of trying or even wanting to go into a vocation of any kind, and was perfectly intent to just live off the vast fortune of his family.

One day, however, he met Asura.

After going through dozens of teachers, his father brought in Asura as a last attempt. Asura was supposedly a professor from some far-off country that specialized in anything and everything. Despite Zelman's coldness to him at first and his blatant hatred of conformity, he found Asura's ideas to be interesting and his methods of teaching to be fascinating. Asura persisted and allowed Zelman to learn about anything he wished. Zelman found himself really liking the man after a while, and they became what could be considered friends. Asura acted differently around Zelman than he did around other people--less professional and more like a father-figure. Zelman acted like himself around Asura, and that was more than he'd ever allowed anyone to see.

Asura introduced Zelman to the occult (without his father knowing, of course) and Zelman became instantly fascinated with the whole idea. It was like studying faerie tales to him. One night, however, Asura revealed to Zelman that he was, in fact, a vampire. Zelman didn't actually believe him until after he'd drained a pint of his blood. It goes without saying that the conversation between the two of them was pretty awkward.

Asura asked him to keep it a secret, and Zelman complied. It was the least he could do, considering Asura still hadn't abandoned him after the incident like any smart person would. By far the strangest and most interesting person Zelman had ever met, he and Asura talked about it in secret. Asura admitted that he would like to turn Zelman into a vampire himself as a continuation of his bloodline. He offered to take Zelman with him in his travels across the world as well, and to teach him everything he'd possibly want to know. He was promised immortality and power beyond his wildest dreams, if he could stay alive long enough. But most of all, he was offered an escape from his prison--the home that kept him caged up.

Zelman was hesitant about such a deal, because becoming undead meant being instantly feared and hated by anyone who knew; that was a pretty big burden. He'd have to keep all knowledge of his own kind a secret to people who couldn't be trusted, and he had to learn about a whole other world he hadn't even known existed until a few weeks back. By the end of the month, however, his mother passed away and his father retreated into his self-pity. Zelman found living at home unbearable; full of too many bad memories and things he despised. He met with Asura as soon as he could, and agreed to become a part of his bloodline. They left that night, far away from the city, to a place that was safe for the both of them, where Zelman was then turned into a vampire (a very, very painful experience). He spent the next couple of weeks getting used to the fact that he was, technically, dead.

Zelman had been traveling with Asura for a little over thirty years, learning all about vampire politics and other fun things. Throughout the vampire world he became known as "Red-Eyed Zelman" because of his peculiar eye color, which was subsequently switched with the "Red-Eyed Murderer" because of how he killed people for fun and profit. Mostly fun. He was headed for France and the lands beyond with Asura when he suddenly stumbled into another strange place--Albergo Chiaro, an island where he is now separated from his mentor and, for better or for worse, the rest of the world.