Know Your Kindred – Rafael de Corazon

Name: Rafael de Corazon
Clan: Toreador
Generation: 5th
Embraced: 1182

Many Toreador see Rafael as the symbolic heart of the clan. Though he is not the eldest, most powerful or most talented of the Toreador, he is the most influential. He won their hearts and minds during the Inquisition.

Rafael de Corazon is the author of the 5th Tradition – “Thou shall not reveal thy true nature to those not of the blood.” His passionate speech reached even the most closed minds and prevented the Kindred from launching an all-out-war with the mortals. Instead they covered their tracks and many believe it was Rafael who saved their kind from extinction.

Rafael is exceedingly vain, loathing anything that is more beautiful than himself. As such, he surrounds himself with people of lesser beauty.

He is also a mediocre artist and was not respected by the other Toreador. So he used his power to damage and embarrass them. Since he can not create great art himself, he uses his wealth to sponsor many talented artists.

Rafael hates the anarchs with a passion and wants to destroy them.

In life Rafael was a simple altar boy, resented by the other boys for his beauty. He used his favor with the bishop to lash back as his bullies. This was his first taste of power.

Rafael found little success as a priest, as he lacked the talent and knowledge needed for the job. Passed over again and again for important positions, he began to oversee the creation of mosaics and illustrated manuscripts. Rafael claimed credit for the finest pieces the monks created and threatened anyone who challenged him.

Rafael was embraced by Callisti y Castillo, a mysterious noblewoman the other clergy said was a pagan witch. She was taken by Rafael’s beauty and the illustrations he claimed to have made.

Callisti took him to her lair and embraced him. When she asked him to make more drawings, he tried, but they were mediocre at best and he admitted deceiving her earlier. She almost killed him in anger, but he begged for his unlife, arguing that his lies were a form of great art. This excuse amused Callisti and she spared him.

Eventually Callisti traveled to India and left Rafael to run her affairs while she was away. He wasted no time in exploiting her power, using her authority to propose treaties, form alliances, launch territorial wars and create numerous childer.

Sources: Children of the Inquisition, pg 35