Here's my new character for Vampire: Dark Ages. He's a former alchemist that became a vampire essentially to learn more things about the world.

He's not really malignant, but he does go around looking for new and cool flavors of blood to buy and sell. He also thinks the dynamic between vampires and humans should change. He'd like vampires to take care of humans, and let them benefit from the wisdom brought by long lives, but for that to happen, mortals have to actually listen, too. He's an idealist, essentially.

His sight is poor enough to be considered blind, though he does see vague shapes, and can still read if very very close up on the images with the aid of a magnifying stone (essentially a polished ovoid of crystal or glass that you lay on manuscripts) if needed.