By charlottevtes
Know Your Kindred – Paolo Sardenzo
Name: Paolo Sardenzo
Clan: Giovanni
Generation: 8th
Embraced: 1867
Paolo Sardenzo is a Giovanni on his mother’s side. Ghouled in 1821, Paolo proved to be a very good diplomat for the family, using his skills to negotiate power between the Sabbat and Camarilla for influence over the Italian peninsula. Paolo’s reward for his extraordinary service was the Embrace in 1867.
Between 1866 and 1914, Paolo brokered many fruitful deals with other Kindred clans. He showed his aptitude for Necromancy was as great as his aptitude for politics.
During the first World War, Paolo was fascinated by modern warfare and was aggressively harvesting new shades from the dead in the battlefields. His success gained him many followers until a shell landed too close to his haven and his crypt was exposed to sun light. Paolo survived by burrowing into the ground, but his left arm and left side of his face were forever scarred.
A group of war-dead wraiths, calling themselves the Bloody Legion, rose up and rebelled against Paolo and the Giovanni. Eventually the Bloody Legion was put to an end, but not before they dealt Paolo a series of defeats – humiliating him infront of the family.
Out of favor with the Giovanni, Paolo was now a family outcast and unable to find anyone willing to partner with him, so he skulked across Europe for many years.
Finally when World War II started, Paolo hoped to use this opportunity to regain his place in the family. He traveled to eastern Germany, hoping to harvest the souls of the dead during the Russian campaign, but things ended poorly for Paolo and he was staked and dragged back to Italy.
Paolo remained staked until 1985, when he was finally given a second chance. He was blood bond to Diego Giovanni. By 2000, Paolo had caught up with modern life and computers, urging his master to invest more in technology. Although the blood bond is very strong, Diego finds it harder and harder to resist relying on Paolo’s advice.
Paolo started out as a tall, dark, handsome man, but the left side of his face is now hideously scarred. He removed his left eye and replaced it with a corpse’s eye, which has festered in its socket. Observers say his left hand festers too.
Paolo has created a new combination Discipline, using Thaumaturgy and Protean, so that when he is laying in soil soaked in blood, he can absorb the blood into himself, even in torpor. Of course, blood-soaked ground isn’t terribly common, except in wartime or at the sites of atrocities.
– Source: Clanbook: Giovanni (Revised), pg 97-98
Know Your Kindred – Janey Pickman
Name: Janey Pickman
Clan: Gangrel
Generation: 8th
Embrace: Late 19th Century
Janey sought out vampires ever since she heard stories about them from her grandmother. She looked long and hard for one. When she finally found a Gangrel, she pleaded with him to let her come along on his travels. He decided to give her a chance if she could survive the battles soon to come.
Janey proved she was tough as nails in battle and was Embraced soon afterwards. She has been devoted to her bestial undead lifestyle ever since. When her sire died in combat, Janey moved on, joining the Boot Hill gang. She has never regretted the decision.
Janey is anything but soft. Her red hair and freckles might mislead you to think she’s delicate, but years of hard labor on the farm gave her corded muscles and a lean frame. Despite being undead, she still has her sun tan left over from her mortal days. She usually wears women’s clothing, but has altered her dresses to allow her easy access to her six shooters.
– Source: Tales of the Trail: Mexico, pg. 88-89
Two of a Kind?
Ishvalan Vtes made an amusing discovery – both Artemis and Dovey Ebfwe are both draw by Ken Meyer Jr. and both are essentially a man in the same pose. Take a look:
Know Your Kindred – Ezmerelda
Name: Ezmerelda
Clan: Ravnos
Generation: 4th
Embrace: Unknown
It is unknown if Ezmerelda truly exists or not, but her name has appeared throughout centuries among the Gypsies. Whether she is one woman or several borrowing the same name is unknown, but the Ravnos elders are unwilling to discount it as a mere coincidence. Some speculate she may be a childe of Ravnos himself.
She is regarded as the quintessential Gypsy heroine. And whether she is a single individual or a series of powerful Ravnos seers, her influence has nonetheless been profound.
Ezmerelda is a beautiful Gypsy woman with sparkling eyes, lustrous hair and a crescent-moon birthmark on her face. Her ways are mysterious, her history unknown, her visions powerful and her mind and wit are sharp.
– Source: Clanbook: Ravnos (1st ed), pg 68.
Know Your Kindred – Queen Anne
Name: Queen Anne Bowesly
Clan: Ventrue
Generation: 6th (Originally 8th)
Embrace: 1688
At only five feet tall, “Queen” Anne has shown no signs that she is little and can be ignored.
The most powerful Kindred in Britain was the 3,000 year old Methuselah, Mithras. He brought Lady Anne into politics, installing her as the new Prince of London in the late 18th century after the inept would-be-prince, Valerius, proved too weak for the office.
In life, Anne was a subtle diplomat and peacemaker, adept at getting her own way by manipulating those around her. Although she lacked a formal education, she learned much of politics by listening to her father and brothers.
In 1688 she and her husband were successful in disposing Charles II and placing William III on the British throne. Her role in the coup was noticed by Valerius, who offered her power and influence beyond her imagination. She gladly accepted, faked her death and then spent the next several decades keeping a low profile and learning the intricacies of Kindred society. Once those she knew grew old and died, she reasserted herself into the halls of power she knew so well.
Her ambition and acumen fighting the Toreador and Tremere for influence over British society led to Mithras recognizing Parliament as her domain. Anne was fulfilling her father’s dreams, but all was not well. Valerius now saw her as a threat. She had accomplished more in a century than he had in half a millennium.
When Mithras disappeared in the 18th century, Valerius was put incharge of London and Anne was his lieutenant. But after a series of various disasters including a Sabbat insurrection, Mithras returned and demoted Valerius and promoted Anne to his post.
Lady Anne is a diablerist. Those who fall afoul of her political machinations find themselves under her fangs. She constantly searches for the opportunity to diablerize elder vampires to improve her powers. Thankfully her blood bond to Mithras masked the taint of diablerie in her aura.
When Mithras mysteriously disappeared during World War II (later to be diablerized by Monty Coven), Anne finally rose to become the “Queen of London.” She used Parliament to pass a series of laws that weakened the other clans powerbase. She took steps to keep the primogen weak, installing Ventrue loyal to her, paid off Toreador to support her, and destroyed the Tremere who opposed her. Meanwhile, the Brujah were manipulated to withdraw from the council and the anarchs were left powerless with nothing to do.
Anne is small with delicate features and chestnut hair tied in a bun. Casual observes mistake Anne for an elegant and well-heeled matriarch. But those who know better see a confident and powerful woman who maintains her domain with an iron will.
– Source: London By Night, pg. 103-105, A World of Darkness (2nd Ed), pg. 56, 61-62.
Know Your Kindred – Silas
Name: Silas
Clan: Salubri antitribu
Generation: Unknown
Embrace: Unknown
Silas was one of the Salubri antitribu‘s premier historians. He was captured and interrogated by the Tzmisce of the Blackfoot pack and revealed to them that the fabled war between the Salubri and the Baali was a falsehood; a cover up to hide their shame
The real enemy of the Salubri clan was the Tzimisce.
According to Salias, Samiel and between 7-15 of his warriors took up arms against the Tzimisce Antediluvian, believing the grand Fiend’s clan was part of a demonic partnership with the forces of Hell.
Samiel attacked the Eldest’s haven and slaughtered the grand Fiend with “righteous fire.” The Eldest, in a final act of defiance, ripped Samiel’s head from his body. Apparently only one Salubri survived to recount the tale afterward. The Salubri later realized their mistake and rewrote Samiel’s history to have him die fighting their most hated enemy – the Baali.
Much of Silas’ tale had mixed legend and fact, making it hard to verify its accuracy. While it was possible for Samiel to have attacked the Tzimisce founder, and some of Silas’ descriptions are accurate, many doubt the clan’s founder was destroyed as described by Silas.
– Source: Clanbook: Tzmisce, pg. 13-14.
Know Your Kindred – Bartholomew
Name: Bartholomew
Clan: Kiasyd
Generation: 6th
Embrace: Unknown
Bartholomew has maintained a quiet, contemplative existence outside a small city in Alabama for centuries. He has been a member of the Inconnu long before the discovery of the New World.
Bartholomew is 7 feet tall with a thin build with all the unusual physical and psychological features of the Kiasyd. Sometimes he is mistaken for a Nosferatu.
Bartholomew, normally a pacifist, will act to defend himself if he’s in danger. He is on good relations with the local Garou and Fae communities.
There is a pack of werewolves called the Sunstringers who protect Bartholomew’s haven. They consider him one of the few Kindred deserving of an existence. They respect his pacifism and his connection to the Earth and his connection to the Fae. Bartholomew can call the Sunstringers by phone if he needs their help. Meanwhile, the Fae still consider him one of their kind despite his undead status. There are seven Goblins who will aid him as much as they can, without jeopardizing their own existence.
Bartholomew’s haven is under an old gristmill, in a heavily wooded area the werewolves consider their home. The stone outside the building has a strange alien quality to it. It would have taken someone decades if not centuries to design it.
– Source: Storyteller’s Guide to the Sabbat, pg. 122-126
Know Your Kindred – Ana Rita Montana
Name: Ana Rita Montana
Clan: Tzimisce
Generation: 9th
Embrace: 1813
Ana Rita Montana believes herself to be a manifestation of the Virgin Mary, albeit a failed manifestation. Her sanity is unstable due to a terrible illness that brought on fever-induced hallucinations while she lived as a nun in a deplorable Mexican convent. She was raped by a groundskeeper while ill, but believed he was the Holy Ghost visiting her. She became pregnant, but the child was stillborn and Ana went from delusional to psychotic.
The other nuns feared if Ana’s condition was discovered the government would shut them down, so they dumped her into a shallow grave. It was there a Tzimisce and his dogs found her still alive and he Embraced her. She spent her early nights learning from him and the two became lovers. The two eventually parted ways with Ana still believing herself a Barren Virgin for the death of her child.
Ana maintains a haven in the apartment of a defrocked mortal nun. She appears before the other nuns as a divine vision and has collected a small cult of worshipers. Ana encourages self mortification and whips her worshipers with her flail-like fingers.
Ana appears as an imperfect Virgin Mary. She usually wears simple robes and her face is sculpted like a timeworn statue with small minute cracks and plaster hue. Additionally, she distends her fingers to the point each is three feet in length, like a chain. Ana spends most of her time Obfuscated unless it serves her to better move among the shadows.
– Source: Mexico City by Night, pg. 66-67
Know Your Kindred – Marconius
Name: Marconius
Clan: Kiasyd (originally Lasombra)
Generation: 5th
“Created”: 3rd Century AD
The historical accounts of the creation of the Kiasyd point to a trio of Lasombra who haphazardly delved into the roots of Obtenebration. The three vampires acquired through trade with a traveling wizard something labeled “the blood of Zeemebooch, god of the underworld.” What was actually in the bottle no one knows for sure, but the three Lasombra assumed it was what the wizard said it was and they mixed it in with the blood of an Unseelie Fae they had captured, and with some herbal essences and other less identifiable things.
It should not have been a surprise that the experiment went horribly wrong.
A hapless Lasombra named Marconius drank the potion and rapidly changed: growing taller, thinner and even paler. His eyes changed to orbs of inky black, and skin became a glowing chalk white and his features took on a pronounced fae appearance.
Needless to say other Lasombra noticed. The clan elders were displeased, not with Marconius, who probably was tricked into drinking the tainted blood, and not with the other two Lasombra who induced the changes in Marconius (they denied responsibility for their work, but Marconius identified them without hesitation). No, the elders were most livid at the whole situation. Unauthorized blood experimentation, trafficking with a mage (and not even learning his name?!), and possibly angering the fae community.
The two Lasombra were destroyed for their carelessness and Marconius was exiled from the Lasombra clan and forbidden to create childer. Most believed in his condition he would not live long. One elder moved to let Marconius go because he received word from the local fae lords they were interested in punishing him.
This was a mistake. The Unseelie fae apparently did not punish him as stated and instead aided Marconius with his studies of Obtenebration, and even bestowed some of their magical powers upon him. The Kiasyd called their powers “Mytherceria” though they still practiced the Lasombra disciplines of Potence and Obtenebration as well.
Marconius and his line were not heard from until late in the 12th century, when they resurfaced in Strasbourg, where they drove out the panicked Ventrue. The Lasomrba decided to do nothing. The Kiasyd were only bothering the Ventrue and Strasbourg was hundreds of miles from any Lasombra stronghold.
It would seem research is the primary focus of Kiasyd existence, as they have shown remarkable persistence at obtaining the materials they are looking for (even walking through walls to get them). The Lasombra decided to let the Kiasyd reasonable access to clan-held libraries. The Kiasyd seem to hold no grudge over the ill treatment of their progenitor and Marconius himself has stated he is past the need for vengeance. The elders responsible for Marconius’ banishment are relieved at this, but the fact remains there are so few Kiasyd around they neither possess the strength or numbers to do anything about it.
– Source: Libellus Sanguinis I: Masters of the State, pg. 28-29. Storyteller’s Guide to the Sabbat, pg. 38-39.
Know Your Kindred – Teresita, Godmother of the Damned
Name: Teresita, Godmother to the Damned
Clan: Nosferatu antitribu
Generation: 8th
Embrace: 1672
Teresita is a female creep who never speaks about her mortal past. She says her existence began when Gerhardt the Lizard took her from life. He Embraced her only because he needed someone small to fit through the narrow pipes. He warned her to succeed or he would destroy her. Teresita worked hard and after a few decades she won his trust. But Gerhardt learned his folly when Teresita led a Sabbat pack into his haven.
Teresita worked hard to prove herself to the Sabbat. In time she earned a place in the Black Hand and she became a dominion. She won great respect leading the Black Hand into Camarilla controlled cities. She lobbies to be appointed as the new seraph, but there is a glass ceiling for female Cainites and Nosferatu and so it is a low priority. Never the less, Teresita is rumored to be the leading candidate for the post, mainly because she spends more time in Mexico City than any of the older and putatively stronger dominions.
When no seraph is in Mexico City, Teresita is the city’s ranking member of the Black Hand. She regularly meets with the prisci, archbishop and cardinals. They entrust her with a great variety of secrets.
Teresita carefully hides that she has long-distance contact with the Nosferatu information network. Online she accesses the SchrekNet and has created a fairly detailed online persona as a Nosferatu anarch in Los Angeles. Through this persona she gathers information about the Sabbat and Camarilla.
Teresita acts like a cheerful nanny to her childer (to her most Sabbat are childer). She reprimands them when they fail and rewards them when they succeed. Although the Black Hand is non-political, Teresita supports the ultra-conservative faction, believing the Sabbat can never defeat the Camarilla without absolute unity, discipline and strong leadership.
Teresita stands 3 feet 8 inches tall, with a slender figure. She dresses in petticoats with lots of lace. A lace mobcap on her head hides her few tufts of soft, gray hair. Her bluish skin is covered with scales and warts.
– Source: Mexico City by Night, pg. 81-82