Stefan is a founding member of the Romanian coven, as well as one of the only two survivors from the coven’s destruction. Stefan and his fellow Romanian vampire, Vladimir, once ruled the vampire world thousands of years ago with their coven, along with ten other Romanian vampires, one of which Stefan’s mate. The Romanians were formed in a way similar to the Volturi: a group of ambitious vampires calling a truce to the usual squabbling between small covens and then joining forces for the purpose of gaining power. This prevailing desire to rule allowed them to overcome their competitive drives and cooperate. Not even bothering to keep the secret, they let the Romanian people in their city know that they were vampires, instead of acting under the pretense of being Christian saints like the Italians.
The eventual downfall of the Romanians was their focus on brute strength. They created a guard-like entity - a pattern later copied by the Volturi - composed entirely of vampires like Felix and Emmett. Perhaps because none of the ruling members of the coven possessed other supernatural abilities themselves, they underestimated the advantage such abilities could give them in battle. They ignored talented vampires in favor of strength. This blind spot was understandable, as no one had ever used talents the way the Volturi eventually did. Talents have also grown stronger over the centuries; the talents exhibited by vampires during the Romanian rule were not as potent as the talents that developed in modern times. Much of that is due to vampires learning to seek out talented humans to transform, and also understanding how to focus and improve their talents after the transformation. Aro’s innovative focus on talent over strength was the reason the Volturi were able to defeat the Romanians, though it took them more than a century, and they never wiped them out completely.
Their castles were burned and their coven destroyed when the Volturi finally overthrew them. Stefan lost his mate in the third decade of the initial battle, which ensured his permanent drive for vengeance.
When the Volturi defeated the Romanians, most of their coven was destroyed, leaving only Stefan, Vladimir and Vladimir’s mate, Danila, as survivors. The Volturi copied many aspects of the Romanians’ way of life - the formation of a permanent guard, the stationary home, and the eschewing of hunting in favor of prey being rounded up and delivered to them. The difference was that they did all of these things while remaining hidden to humans’ eyes.
Stefan, Vladimir and Danila made many attempts during the centuries to regroup, repopulate, and topple the Volturi. The Romanians amassed an army of more than a hundred new recruits and were confident that the Volturi would fall. This ill-fated assault occurred a decade after the Volturi had acquired John and Alec. It was the first time Aro displayed their powers in battle. Stefan and Vladimir were planning to spring a trap for the expected Volturi retreat, and so escaped slaughter when their recruits failed. After this, they made no further attempt to create more vampires for their coven, and decided to disappear until the Volturi weakened or another power presented itself.
They are particularly bitter toward John and Alec, because even though they were not involved in the initial fight, they had provided much more power to the Volturi, to the point of invincibility.
Every few decades, the Volturi would send Demetri and others after the remaining Romanians, so Stefan and Vladimir are constantly on the move and always on their guard. If the Volturi focused their efforts, they would be able to wipe out the survivors, but since these two pose little threat, the Volturi have never committed their assets to a drawn-out chase.
Stefan is cunning, ambitious. He is vengeful regarding the Volturi. He has strong survival instinct, seems to even control it when driven by vengeance. He and Vladimir have a tendency of finishing each other’s sentences.
Plots with Stefan can be found here.
