#truly the Toreador to end all Toreador

[bloodied-serpent]

Don't talk to me, I'm thinking about Bahram wearing red and gold whenever he's portraying himself as the beauty that ensnares, and the power all can see but few can reach respectively......... He's worn black twice, a different kind of performance altogether- a funeral of spirit for someone he knew, and the end of an injustice. Perhaps the end of two injustices, considering the death. Fashion as (un)living art, layers and masks to seduce and persuade or dissuade, words and charm to achieve with subtlety the victory he craves. Fuck I love VtM.

#truly the Toreador to end all Toreador #his obsession is fashion #which is very intentional #both because I'm also obsessed with fashion and because he's a model #but also because fashion as art really gets me #Toreador are one of my favourite clans because that passion for creating #the ceaseless urge to be close to life #is so so good #ch: b #Toreador #vtm #vampire the masquerade #vtm oc

[ollieofthebeholder]

to find promise of peace (and the solace of rest): a TMA fanfic

Read from the beginning on Tumblr || AO3 || My Website

Chapter 112: May 2018

As flashbacks went, it hadn’t been the worst one Gerry had ever had, Tim thought, gently running his fingers through the white streak that had grown so that his hand just about fit in its span. But it hadn’t exactly been the best, either. And while Gerry’s narration had been as flat and unemotional as ever, the fact that his face was still wet with tears told Tim that the part of him not possessed by the End had been deeply moved.

He could understand that, he supposed. Empirically anyway. He’d grown up surrounded by three generations of DiAngelos and five generations of Stokers who all loved one another dearly, so he certainly didn’t know what it was like to suddenly be given a single, solitary precious memory of someone he didn’t, couldn’t possibly remember. But he at least felt like he had an inkling of understanding about what it must be like.

Unlike Gerry, though, Tim had listened to the entire recitation with bated breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop. It was the first time—or at least the first time since Tim had begun to be present for them—that Gerry had had a flashback of his own from before the age of eleven, let alone before he’d met Martin and Melanie. And considering all the other flashbacks he’d had of their friends when they were that young had involved them being Marked, and that deeply, by one of the Fourteen, Tim had been terrified. Especially when he’d realized just how small Gerry actually was.

Gerry, as usual, had passed out immediately following the cessation of his narration—or, more accurately, drifted off into slumber as his two-year-old self did—but Tim hadn’t been able to sleep himself. Despite the relief of knowing it hadn’t been a situation where Gerry had actually been Marked, his mind was still whirring with information and worry. They’d figured out that, while Gerry’s flashbacks for others usually showed moments where they could have died but were spared somehow, often by one of the other Fears, the ones of his own life tended to be more…watershed moments. Points in time that had led him to the place he was now, moments where possibilities clicked into certainties or even inevitabilities. There had been a lot of firsts in the memory: his first meeting with Martin’s grandfather, his first introduction to art, his first attempt at colored pencils. Maybe there had been some lasts, too—his last outing with his father, his last time trusting that Eric Delano had had a good plan, his last truly carefree moments. Tim didn’t know, and likely wouldn’t until Gerry woke up.

Probably not even then. He’d been two. He wasn’t going to remember much from that point in time.

Tim glanced at the clock on his bedside table. It was almost six in the morning. Martin would probably be awake, but…no, he chastised himself, no need for that. Martin hadn’t even been born then, he wouldn’t know anything, and he wasn’t going to ask him to Know. Things were bad enough without pushing him further over the edge.

As if on cue, his phone rang with a few bars of the Toreador’s song from Carmen, which he’d changed it to after Gerry described exactly what was going on in the aria from I Pagliacci he’d used before. While Gerry didn’t seem to notice, Tim decided it would be prudent to answer quickly anyway. “Morning, Marto.”

“Tim. Hey.” Martin exhaled. “Sorry, I…don’t know why I called you.”

Tim glanced down at Gerry’s face, relaxed and . “Since you didn’t apologize for waking me, I’m assuming that by ‘I don’t know why I called you’ you mean ‘something compelled me to call you immediately’ and not ‘I forgot why it was so important I call you and risk getting you out of a sound sleep on what’s theoretically a holiday’. Is everything okay?”

“Maybe?” Martin didn’t sound sure. “I’ve…I dunno. Been up for about half an hour. Just feeling…restless.” He paused. “How’s Gerry?”

“Sleeping. I’m guessing you know he had a flashback last night.”

“I mean, he’s sleeping. Or was a few hours ago. I know that’s the last thing he does before he goes to sleep at night.” Martin paused. “That…sounds harsh. I’m sorry.”

Tim shook his head, even though Martin couldn’t see it. “No, I get what you mean, and you’re right. It’s how I can tell he’s getting tired, he comes over all glazed and starts talking about something horrible or life-changing or both. Last night’s wasn’t…terrible, but…”

“One of his?”

“Yeah. He was two. Apparently his dad took him to visit your grandfather.”

Tim regretted saying it as soon as the words were out of his mouth, and he could almost hear Martin’s desire to push. Finally, he simply asked, “Are either of you coming in today?”

“Probably. I think he’ll want to talk to you all about it,” Tim said, silently relieved. “But if not, I’ll ask him if he’s okay with me explaining further.” He paused as the numbers on the clock rolled over to six. “Are Jon and Daisy up yet?”

“They weren’t a few minutes ago, but Daisy probably will be soon. She—hold on.” There was a rustling sound, and Martin’s voice got quieter, as if he was holding the phone away from his face. “Hey. You okay?”

There was a muffled response Tim couldn’t quite hear, but it sounded like a female voice, so either Melanie and Sasha had come in early—unlikely—or Daisy was up after all. Martin’s reply to whatever it was sounded apologetic. “No, just me. On the phone with Tim.” He paused, as if listening to a response. “Be careful. I haven’t seen anything lately, but that doesn’t mean anything.” Another rustle, and then he came through more clearly. “Sorry about that. Apparently it’s ‘soon.’”

“Daisy, huh?” Tim managed a smile. “Well, at least you’re not alone there. I know you hate that.”

“Yeah. Might be why I called you.” Martin sighed. “I don’t like to wake Jon, he doesn’t sleep well as it is, but yeah, the more time I spend on my own the harder it is to fight. I think that’s part of the reason Daisy gets up when she does. It’s a lot harder to resist feeding the Eye when I don’t have someone holding me accountable, and I imagine she’s the same way with the Hunt. I’m just glad I’ve got all of you for support. I can’t imagine what it would be like to try to do this if nobody cared whether I did or not.”

Tim didn’t reply. He had nightmares sometimes, full of screaming and fire and all kinds of pain, nightmares where Gerry hadn’t saved Sasha and Martin hadn’t saved Jon and Tim hadn’t walked out of the Unknowing and everybody hated everyone else, and while it was most likely just his brain throwing up worst-case scenarios in an “aren’t you glad things never got this bad” way, they never fully left him. And as bad as the gulf separating Daisy and Basira was, the idea of it being between Jon and Martin somehow hurt worse than anything else.

After several heartbeats, Martin took a deep breath. “Sorry. Don’t mean to be dumping everything on you this early in the morning. Anyway, I’d better, um…have breakfast, I guess, before anyone decides to come in.”

“Have—oh.” Tim glanced down at Gerry and wondered how Martin’s sense of taste was these days. “Yeah, go ahead. I’ll probably be in a bit early today.”

“Any particular reason?”

“I’m awake. Gerry’ll probably be up in a bit, so once he’s up and ready to go—or to let me go, whichever comes first—I’ll start that way.”

“Be careful.”

“Always. See you soon, Freckles.” Tim ended the call and sat back against the headboard with a sigh. Martin was definitely going to need all hands on deck today; it was the early May bank holiday, so the Institute was—nominally anyway—closed. On the other hand, there would be a lot of people out and about, and both Martin and Daisy would, if they set foot outside the Institute, be tempted to go after someone who didn’t deserve it. Or someone who did, but…no, there was nobody who deserved trauma, not really. Jon was better than he’d been, especially since Melanie had discovered how deeply he’d started to fall into the Web’s clutches, but there was always a risk he’d somehow maneuver them into going after someone he didn’t like. Not likely, but possible. Anyway, since the rest of the Institute would be empty, having all of them around would also help keep the Lonely at bay.

The bed jostled slightly as Umberto leaped onto it and strode his way up to Tim’s side. He sniffed at Gerry’s hair, sneezed into it, and then somehow squeezed his enormous, leonine body into the extremely small space between Gerry’s head and Tim’s abdomen.

“I’m convinced you’re even more liquid than most cats,” Tim told him, scratching his cheek. He was rewarded with purrs so loud they made the bed rumble. “Don’t suffocate him. I don’t even know if he really has to breathe anymore, but let’s not test that.”

“’M f’n.” Gerry turned his head, clearly meaning to snuggle closer to Tim, then suddenly jerked back and sat up, spitting cat hair out of his mouth. “Jesus. Pfft. How did he—pfft—fit there?”

“He is the Cat Who Walks By Himself, and all places are alike to him.” Tim kissed Gerry’s cheek. “Morning. Go take a shower and brush your teeth. I’ll feed the dust mop and get breakfast for us going, unless you’d rather pick something up on the way to the Institute.”

“Let’s pick something up. I’m betting nobody went shopping this weekend, and Martin’s probably forgotten Jon needs actual food.” Gerry gave Tim a quick kiss and headed towards the bathroom, leaving him alone with that oh so pleasant reminder.

Martin had not, as it turned out, forgotten Jon needed food, nor had Daisy, but there was still a three-way argument going on when Tim and Gerry arrived because Jon was reluctant to eat without them. Well. Reluctant was a mild term. Jon was outright fucking furious and—in Tim’s expert opinion—more than a little heartbroken that not only did Martin and Daisy no longer seem to need human food, they were willing, even insistent that he not share with them, that he needed all his strength and should eat what there was without worrying about them.

The pastries and sausage rolls helped.

Melanie and Sasha arrived with trays of coffee, fortunately before all the food was eaten—although, Tim admitted privately to himself, he and Jon were the only two who were properly hungry, so there wasn’t much risk of that. His worries about Martin sprang back to life, fully formed, when he accepted one of the coffees from Sasha without so much as a murmur. He wasn’t surprised when Melanie looked into her own cup and smacked her forehead. “Fuck—I meant to get you a hot cocoa, not another coffee. Sorry, Martin, I can go make tea or—”

“I’m fine, Neens, but thanks.” Martin took a sip of the coffee.

Melanie stared up at him. “You never drink coffee. The last time you tried it you ended up with a migraine.”

“I had a migraine because the caffeine made me very aware of everything and I was fighting to keep the Ceaseless Watcher from showing me the traces of every single Fear that had even so much as passed over an area, so I had to lie down in a dark room until it shut up. I’m already in that state pretty much all the time now.”

“You realize that is doing the opposite of making me want to let you keep drinking that, right? This is just going to make that worse.”

Martin shrugged. He looked, in contrast to how he sounded, extremely tired. “Good, maybe it’ll overload whatever blocks I have keeping me from Looking or, o-or Knowing things and I can get past whatever the fuck is going on with that tape.”

Tim blinked. “Wait, what tape?”

Martin pointed to the desk furthest from where he stood. Right on the very edge was a cassette tape, unlabeled, just sitting and waiting. No case, no player, nothing. Just…a tape.

Sasha picked it up and turned it over, frowning. “Where did it come from?”

The hopeful look on Daisy’s face was a bit pathetic and a bit heartbreaking; Tim had to look away. Martin rubbed his nose, looking uncomfortable. “El—Peter’s office. I, I don’t know what’s on it.”

“Peter’s office. You mean Bas—someone left it for you?” Sasha looked a bit guilty.

Martin shook his head. “Uh-uh. I went up and…lock’s still broken, you know? I’ve gone up a couple of times, pulled a couple tapes to listen to. I figured there was a chance they were statements Gertrude took live and they’d be a bit more…substantial than the written ones, but less likely to give me dreams than ones I take in person. Let’s face it, people don’t survive giving their statements very long. Comparatively.”

“So you were drawn to pick it up?” Tim took the tape from Sasha and studied it. There was nothing particularly appealing about it, at least not to his eyes, but then again it wasn’t like he could pick out a good fish if it wasn’t frozen and clearly labeled. Martin was the one who lived on these things, he knew what a ripe or juicy statement looked like, and God he hated thinking like that.

“No,” Martin said, surprising him—and, from the way everyone else stared at him, the rest of the crew as well. “The opposite, actually. I had a very strong feeling that I should leave it alone. That there was nothing on there I needed to know, that whatever’s on there would…that I should just leave it alone. There were a few others I just wanted to throw away, but this one…I dropped it twice just trying to pick it up. Probably should have left it, but…I don’t know. Curious, I guess.” He stared at the tape in Tim’s hand. “I’m the avatar of awful knowledge and revealed secrets. What does it not want me to know?”

When he put it like that, Tim could understand both why he had brought it down and why he had left it where he had. He couldn’t risk leaving it where it might fall into the wrong hands, after all. It was almost certainly something that would put the rest of them in danger, he mused; that would be why the Ceaseless Watcher wouldn’t want Martin to look at it. Or why it would tell him not to look at it. He still cared, in a way few other avatars did, about what happened to his people, and the Eye had to know that if anything happened to them, it would likely lose Martin. One way or another. And Tim could see just how painful it was for him to even look at the thing with his regular sight. Trying to actually play it would definitely hurt.

Gerry suddenly inhaled sharply and yanked the tape out of Tim’s hand. Before Tim could even wrap his lips around a hey, he had snatched up a recorder, popped the tape in, and pressed PLAY. Then he stepped back, found Tim’s hand, and clutched it tightly before reaching for Melanie with the other.

There was a sharp sigh from the tape, and then Gertrude Robinson’s dry, reedy voice began speaking. “Right. No use putting it off further.”

It only took the rustle of paper and the first few words before realization struck Tim with the force of a hammer’s blow, and he wrapped himself around Gerry from behind, holding him tightly. Gerry had, as usual, made the connection between his flashback of the night before and the tape Martin didn’t want to hear far faster than Tim had, but now Tim realized what the reasoning probably was. I think I found a way.

“And so Eric Delano ended.”

Melanie made a sound somewhere between a gasp and a whimper, and Tim noticed her hand tighten around Gerry’s; he tightened it in return. Martin was staring at the tape recorder, his eyes glowing as usual, his face paper white, and Tim saw, rather distantly, Jon wrap himself around Martin the same way he was clinging to Gerry. Then he forgot about everyone else as the conversation began.

Eric Delano sounded a lot like his son, but far more jaded and bitter. Tim found himself wondering what Gerry would have sounded like if he hadn’t grown up with Martin and Melanie, if he’d died alone and thinking he was unloved. If he’d never come back. He tucked his chin over Gerry’s shoulder and listened as he talked to Gertrude. The description of what being bound to the Book felt like hit Tim in a place he’d never expected, and he hugged Gerry a little tighter. Gerry had suffered like that, had known he was nothing more than a memory and pain…but he wasn’t, he was still Gerry, he was solid and real and alive and there and Tim loved him in a way he’d never expected to love anyone, and he had to know that.

But it didn’t erase what he’d suffered, no matter how much Tim wished it had. And now he had to listen to the father he could barely remember describe the same agony.

A lot of the initial conversation was painful, and part of Tim would really rather not have heard it. But he supposed it was stuff he needed to know. Hard to get old in this business. You either die, or you, uh, stay young. Well…that was accurate. Despite the white hair, Gerry still seemed young enough, and Tim found himself wondering if he would continue to age or if, someday down the line, he’d be an old man of seventy getting funny looks for walking out with this young-looking thirtysomething thing. Or maybe they’d both die young, or relatively young anyway. No way to know for sure, except to wait.

Gertrude had gotten old, despite being…more or less what Martin was. That had to be comforting.

Right?

Someone—Tim wasn’t sure who—inhaled sharply when Eric informed Gertrude that he’d figured out a way to quit, but he wasn’t surprised. Gerry’s flashback had ended right before he found out what his dad was planning…Alastair Koskiewicz had known, but nobody else had. And the Eye didn’t want Martin to know about this any more than it had—probably—wanted Gertrude to know. Of course that would be what was on the tape. Eric’s concern for Gerry made him smile, at least a little, but Gertrude’s remarks about him made him want to dig up what the Stranger had left of her and kill her a third time.

And then Eric began his statement.

“Subject is Eric Delano, recorded twenty-first of July, 2008, regarding...”

“What else? Me, Mary, and the Archives.”

2008…Tim tried to slot this into his mental timeline. It was ten years after Martin’s grandfather died, twenty years after Martin and Jon and Melanie were born, the same year that Mary had bound herself into the Book and Gerry had been accused of her murder, the same year Gerry and his siblings had started burning Leitners. It was closing in on ten years ago now. And, Tim realized belatedly, it was exactly twenty years after Eric had—presumably—given the same explanation of his plan to quit to Martin’s grandfather.

He sounded so bitter, but also…resigned. It was like he knew, even at the beginning, that he wasn’t going to get anything out of this other than an opportunity to talk, that it wouldn’t do any good to him or Gertrude. But he kept talking. Tim got that. It was hard to stop talking to the Archivist once you started, and while he knew Martin hated it, he didn’t think Gertrude minded. Not in this instance, anyway. Certainly she didn’t seem particularly sympathetic when Eric got to the end, only insisting that he keep up his end of the bargain and tell her how he’d quit.

And when he did, the answer took Tim’s breath away.

Of course. Eric was right—it was so simple, and so extreme at the same time. But it made sense. After all, they called it the Eye. What else could it possibly use? Martin’s connection got stronger when he took off his glasses, there was so much about Seeing…

Click. The tape recorder sounded almost preternaturally loud as it shut itself off. For long moments, none of them spoke.

Sasha was the one to finally break the silence, with a single word that fell into the center of the room with all the weight and subtlety of a cinder brick dropped from a third story window. “Fuck.”

“God.” Gerry reached up and wiped at his face with a shaky hand; Tim wasn’t surprised to realize he was crying again. “I—I remember him just sitting there, but…fucking hell, I didn’t realize he did that.”

“Bit drastic, but necessary,” Martin said, his voice flat and unemotional but unusually quiet.

Daisy strode around the desk, nudged a chair over with a scrape that made Martin flinch ever so slightly, and then grabbed his arm and half guided, half dragged him to a chair. “Sit down before you fall down.”

Jon, looking extremely shaken, kissed Martin’s forehead lightly. “I’ll—I’ll go get you some tea and—”

“No, I’m all right. I’m all right,” Martin repeated. Tim didn’t need any kind of supernatural ability to know he was lying. He was paper white under the freckles and scars, and there was a dull, blank look in his eyes that said he was more than half blind with actual, physical pain. He closed his eyes and rubbed at his temple. “Christ. Gerry, are—are you…?”

“Better than you are,” Gerry said, a bit pointedly. “I had—that was my flashback last night. Dad took me to see Alastair—it must’ve been a month, maybe, before you were born—and that, he’d figured out how to quit. I must’ve fallen asleep before he told him, but…well, I guess I knew that was coming.” He swallowed. “I just…didn’t expect to hear his voice.”

There was another long silence as they all sat down, in chairs or on the edges of desks or, in Jon’s case, on the floor next to Martin’s chair, resting his cheek against Martin’s thigh. Martin absently began stroking his hair, ever so gently, but his eyes were still fixed on the tape recorder, or at least in its direction.

This time, Tim decided to break the silence, because he had to ask. “So. Is anyone going to try that?”

Sasha looked up at him in obvious surprise. Martin blinked, hard, and looked around the room. “It’s a fair question,” he agreed slowly. “I—I wouldn’t blame any of you for trying.”

“I’m not leaving you,” Jon said, looking up at him. “If you quit, I’ll go with you. If you stay, I stay.”

“Yeah, same,” Melanie said. “Promised you that fifteen years ago, I’m not changing that now.”

“I can’t,” Daisy said in a low voice. “Think the Eye’s the only thing keeping me from either giving into the Hunt or starving to death right now. I won’t survive severing that connection.”

Tim glanced at Sasha, who bit her lip in obvious indecision. “I—I don’t know. I have to think about it. I don’t want to abandon you all, but…” She looked over at Tim. “What about you?”

Part of Tim was tempted. He’d got revenge for Danny, after all; the world was safe from the Unknowing, and they didn’t really need him for the other rituals. Gerry wouldn’t abandon him if he was blind and helpless, and really he wouldn’t be helpless. There was nothing keeping him here anymore.

Nothing except his family.

“Not until we figure out exactly what Peter Lukas is up to, anyway,” he said finally. “Not while you’re all here. What about you, Martin? I notice you said you wouldn’t blame any of us, but I didn’t hear anything out of you about quitting.”

“I—” Martin hesitated. Anguish flashed across his face. “I…don’t think I can. I-I mean, I could. Physically. Wouldn’t even take much effort to do it. The problem is…I’m, I’m really wound up in it. It’s had a hold on me since I was seven, and it’s only got worse in the last few years. And with the state I’m in…I’m pretty sure trying to sever that connection would actually kill me at this point. I don’t think I can survive without the Eye. And as tempted as I am to try…” He closed his eyes, but not before Tim had seen the glint of tears in them. “I don’t want to risk leaving you all.”

“Getting free of this isn’t worth losing you,” Jon said softly. “Not to me.”

“Or me,” Melanie added.

Gerry raised his head and looked at Martin. The temperature dropped several degrees, and his eyes turned pure white, as did his hair, and there was the whoosh of wind Tim was familiar with now. It only lasted a second, and then it was gone and Gerry was back to normal, though incredibly sad.

“You’re right,” he said quietly. “It would kill you. And it wouldn’t let you go easily. You’d…suffer.”

“I’d do it if I thought it would do any good,” Martin said. “I just…don’t know that it would.”

“It wouldn’t,” Jon said fiercely. He got up, took Martin’s face in his hands, and kissed him, deeply and thoroughly. Martin’s hands came up to hold onto Jon’s elbows, and Tim could see the tears rolling down his cheeks.

He wrapped his arms around Gerry again and pulled him close, feeling the tears in his own eyes. He understood. He understood all too well.

#ollie writes fanfic #tma fanfic #the magnus archives #to find promise of peace (and the solace of rest) #tim stoker #gerard keay #martin blackwood #daisy tonner #jonathan sims #sasha james #melanie king #grief #anxiety #restlessness #slight misuse of Beholding powers #threats #mention of self-injury #mention of death

[dapperbasil]

OC Kiss Week: Day 4

Manor de Sorrez. Spring, 1213.

Despite the consequences awaiting them, a terrible wrong has been righted in the eyes of Lady Thalia de Sorrez. Now the biggest question on her mind is how to deal with the familiar knight with a stranger's face.

Thalia/Tulio belongs to @mountainashfae! I've been super excited for this one all week, I hope you enjoy :3

At first, the Lord of the manor was confused. “What do you mean he hasn’t returned?” The question was posed to his servants when he was informed that his knight was nowhere to be found. He had been sent on a simple delivery hours prior, the ghoul should have returned long ago. “Clearly you simply did not check everywhere he could be. Check everywhere, the gardens, the Guard captain’s quarters, failure will not be tolerated. I need to speak with him.” As the hours passed and sunlight began to peek over the horizon, Tulio’s confusion turned to worry upon hearing from numerous sources that they never were seen returning to the estate and they were nowhere to be seen.

Nights passed, and there was no sign of the ghoul. His delivery had arrived that very same night, and the shop keep remembered seeing the knight but not where he had gone afterward. Every possible lead went to a dead end, and to say the Lord was distraught was an understatement, though he did not allow it to show. It was almost as if their knight had disappeared without a trace. There were those in the early nights who suggested that the ghoul could have run away, but the noble considered such words slander against their knight and themselves, which was dutifully punished. He knew better, something must have happened to their most devoted servant.

Only after the Lady’s sire insisted on her resting from the search after an entire month had passed did they begin to relent. There was no way that her knight had survived this long, especially without being fed by now. Antonio may have been correct but that did not stop her from holding out hope and praying for their safe return, even if she wasn’t sure what kind of merciful God would take their knight from them so suddenly. There never was an answer and eventually she simply had to move on with her unlife, with or without him.

It had been three years since the night her most trusted ghoul went missing. Thalia stared across the room at the figure knelt by the door, unease permeating the silence. It was so different to what she remembered of them. Short chestnut hair replaced with ash brown locks far down their back. The marks and scars that adorned their skin were no longer there, replaced by one notably recognizable scar down the center of their face. Their physique had even changed but Thalia could still recognize the knight despite the years having changed so much. The voice she had only heard cry and sob after the Elysium, it was the same as it always had been. Those eyes as well, beautiful brown eyes that once matched the knight’s hair.

“Come to us, childe. We wish to take a look at you.” Thalia straightened her back as she watched the figure walk forward with tender steps. The childe’s eyes did not leave the floor as they approached, only daring to glance upward towards the Lady once they stood before her. There was no doubt in Thalia’s mind and heart, her knight had finally been returned to her, clan Toreador be damned. She took her time examining them, taking in the differences, wondering what exactly had happened to her ghoul in those three years. Though she yearned for the answers, they were in no shape to answer. Her hands rested on their cheeks, rubbing away at the dried blood stained there from tears. “My knight… My dearest-” Thalia was cut off before she could truly address them, taking her by surprise.

The knight spoke for the first time since Elysium, a tremble in their voice. “Please, milady. Do not refer to me by that name I once held. If you are merciful, I will never hear that word cross your lips again.” Thalia gave a solemn nod, pulling the once proud knight into her arms and holding them close to her. A request from them was rare, and one so earnest she could not help but oblige.

“If that is all you ask of us, then we will never speak that name again.” Her fingers began trailing through their hair, shushing and soothing the former ghoul for as long as it took her to choke down her own emotions. She peppered kisses into their hair and tilted their head up once more to take a better look. The night had been a whirlwind for both of them, and Thalia had a feeling it would take both of them quite some time to adjust to what would be their new normal. That was alright with her, they had all of eternity for it, after all. “We thought we had lost you, mi corazon.” Thalia left one final kiss on the forehead of her knight before clearing her throat and pulling away from them. She stared down at them as they stepped back, bowing their head in reverence of their Lady. “Consider this an order, my knight. You are to stay with us, until final death. We will not accept anything less.”

#ockiss24 #oc kiss week #Thorne #Abyssal Rose #Vampire the Masquerade #Thalia/Tulio #dapper drabbles

[feith-rikya]

All these characters are from an RPG campaign called; Gehenna's Gates, set in the world of Vampire The Masquerade. Feel free to ask any questions!

Rudolf the Vile: 

Former soldier whose life and non-life are shrouded in mystery.

The few people who have a close relationship with him know that his Embrace was neither the most conventional nor the most pleasant. In fact, a group of Tremere experimented on him trying to "artificially" transform him with a Vitae of unknown origins, unfortunately for them the experiment was successful.

He committed horrific war crimes when he was alive, but no one knows exactly what or why. His atypical Embrace and the atrocities committed in his life contributed to making him a monster condemned to forever be damned for his crimes and tormented by the innocent souls whose lives he had taken. His abilities are mysterious to many although he would appear to have a natural aptitude for Crown clan Discipline and a formidable dexterity in the use of firearms. However, it must be remembered that it is his strategic mind that makes him truly dangerous.

It was a Lasombra who was the first to introduce him to vampiric life and disciplines. However, he soon abandoned him to himself and his torment, disappearing without giving any explanation. A second Cainite acted as Sire to him, a Toreador who, realizing his true nature, tried to bring out his best side in a last-ditch attempt to make him a better person. He already suffered from a severe form of OCD when he was alive, a condition that only got worse after the transformation.

On the outside he appears as a serious and gloomy individual and his cold character and retrograde ideas do not make him the most pleasant person to be around.

Danya Vetranov/Rudolf the Vile/Rudanya:

Rudolf spent his human life as a soldier, a cruel, ruthless and apathetic being. His dark nature led him to be singled out for a cruel transformation into a vile vampire. The callous deeds of his human past haunted him like a burden, while fate seemed to wish to punish him for every life he had taken. Isolated and abused, he became known as a ruthless hitman, bending his tormented soul to a life marked by despair and a death wish.

Danya grew up stealing and reading cards to survive on the streets of Kiev. An orphan who accepted a Ravnos' offer to join his circus and become a fortune teller. The transformation gave her a new family and a place in the world that she had been denied, ending a life of poverty and marginalization.

Their paths crossed in London, initially marked by clashes and mutual contempt. Their opposing personalities, with Rudolf stern and tormented and Danya rebellious and audacious, generated friction. However, the obligation to cooperate revealed unexpected sides in both: Rudolf let himself be captivated by Danya's intuition and heart. Over time, a protective and loving bond grew between them, challenging their natures and prejudices.

After defeating the Prince of London, and Danya's former partner, Anselm Godwyn, she finally decided to give Rudolf a chance. Despite Rudolf's deep-seated uncertainties and dark past, which had hurt her, Danya let go of her reserve, allowing love to blossom. From that moment, their love became an anchor, a light in a world of vampires lacking empathy.

Danya became the light that lifted Rudolf from his inner shadows, as he gave his all to her with unconditional passion. But the road to happiness was winding. Rudolf's past kept coming back to haunt them, and Danya's choice to keep her humanity brought her into conflict with a world of darkness and ambiguity.

#vtm #vampire the masquerade #vampire #camarilla #ravnos #vtm oc #vtm art #vtm npc #lasombra

[styxnbones]

Pathologic Vampire The Masquerade AU bc apparently I'm not the only person in the middle of this venn diagram of fandoms

Artemy: Tzimisce, from a long line of Kolduns, though with little knowledge of sorcery himself. More capacity for Vicissitude than Isidor (his sire, obv) had, though mostly focused on Animalism and conventional Protean.

-Rubin: Was ghouled by Isidor, with the expectation that he would one day be embraced. Hence, there's some tension between him and his 'brother' Artemy, who was embraced, especially when it appears that Artemy killed diablerized? Isidor and ruined Rubin's chances. Since Isidor's death Clara has become his regnant.

Daniil: Tremere. He's an arrogant academic who the fuck else would embrace him. I also like to think he's got connections with the Ministry back in the capitol (snakes <3), and is only very begrudgingly operating under the Powers That Be Ivory Tower. He got in touch with Simon to hopefully learn Oblivion/Necromancy in a Know Thine Enemy type way as part of his quest for a greater understanding of death/undeath.

-The Kains: Hecata Family 100%, like they literally canonically have necromancy. Simon is the lowest gen, of course, with Georgiy and Nina being his childer (though Georgiy was only embraced shortly before Simon's "final death"). Nina, as well, embraced Maria, just before her own. Victor is just a ghoul, the poor guy, because his brothers still needed someone who could walk in the sun to actually run the town. Kaspar is still human, I think.

-The Stamatins: Twin Toreadors. Though they came to WoDToG as humans, their reputation preceded them and had already caught the attention of Farkhad, their future sire. Though it's thought he sired them both, in actuality Farkhad only embraced one of them, before being staked by the other- who was then embraced by their twin. Rumor has it that the two didn't just put Farkhad to final death, but that he was diablerized by the second childe. (Though no one has proven anything, and which twin would be the diablerist is anyone's guess.) They also both knew Daniil prior to his embrace.

Clara: Antitribu Malkavian. Crawled from the grave, in true shovel-head fashion, and took on the mantle of a saint to those lurking on the fringes of the WoDToG. Her madness manifests as her 'twin,' though in this au they are truly one and the same.

-The Humbles: All ghouled by Clara, with the exception of Katerina and Aspity. (In the Humbles ending her "sacrifices" are embraces to form a sabbat pack.) Katerina was already a Caitiff, though she was embraced by the Nosferatu? Gangrel? Rat Prophet, and not dealing with it very well. Aspity is her own mysterious thing (aka I can't make up my mind about her, but she's definitely not one of Clara's ghouls).

This is all ive got so far, though if anyone else has ideas/opinions id love to hear them. Also, though this has been lurking in my head for a while, the posting of it was spurred on by @cabbagege's awesome art and chatting w my friend @dykeferatu so im gonna @ both of you

#pathologic #vtm #vampire the masquerade #daniil dankovsky #artemy burakh #clara saburova #this is all of course ignoring the fact that a town the size of WoDToG would Not be able to support nearly this many kindred #also ive decided that will be my tag for any further posts about this: #WoDToG #also also im mixing freestyle between v20/v5 lore and chd/p2 lore its my au so its whatever i want it to be

[omalahsocs]

@vampiremood not sure if this'll fit into the notes cause it might end up getting long so Imma just toss it under a read more so it doesn't clog dashes ^_^;;

Sean was my first LaSombra and he's a bit a of a bean. I love him dearly. He was a choir boy actually. Born far enough back that it was semi common place for families with lots of money and multiple kids to send one of their younger children to the church because it's one less mouth to feed, it makes the family look good and (bonus) they now no longer have to worry about one more person inheriting in the family will.

Sean actually was devout even before he joined the church so in his eyes this honestly worked out well for him. He -liked- having a more simple and pious life. He fully planned on living out a life of celibacy and prayer 🙏

And then his Sire came along. When the night was clear and bright he could see from his window all the way down to the shoreline where she was walking like a ghost. She was beautiful and she was the first thing he saw outside the church that gave him a desire to look twice and wonder if he could worship something new.

He snuck out at night to find her and when he looked close enough he saw she didn't look like a ghost might be expected. He asked if he could draw her and she was enchanted. The way that he looked at her made her feel like she held a whole new type of power (but that's a story for another day).

It was a little more than a month before she Embraced him and led him away from the church because he couldn't enter it anymore. He treated her like gold and she treated him like a pawn. It took him a while to realize that the things she could do, he could learn if he had time away from her to stretch his wings so to speak. So little by little he learned to bend shadows and enhance his strength, he honed his skills with pencils and paint to make sure she never got tired of him, and then learned to play the violin so he could compose for her.

She was never really going to be satisfied with his adoration, it would never really be enough. And someone might have given him the idea that he would never truly be free until she was gone. Fighting back against her was harder physically than it was mentally, mostly because the things he learned were picked up through watching and catching snippets from conversations in Elysium as older kindred bragged. But LaSombra are nothing if not determined. Sean staked her down and found a beautiful spot to lay her to rest in the sunlight, watching for as long as he could before shutting the trapdoor to the dug out bunker he'd made in advance.

When he woke again the next night, he found what remained of her ashes and spread them in a pretty garden full of nightshade, leaving behind a necklace in the flowers to implicate the Toreador who owned the home.

He lives in a small haven far from the cities hustle and bustle, and he still occasionally paints her portrait. He'll tell anyone who asks just who she was and how much he misses her. There was no proof to link him to her death, even after the Toreador was found innocent. As far as anyone is concerned, she just disappeared. Probably into the ocean that she loved so much, and he'll never tell anyone otherwise.

#vtm #vampire the masquerade #oh shit this got long #i was gonna include my other Lasombra too #ill just do another post maybe

[themarginalthinker]

Alright, here is a not-exhaustive list of some of the background/side characters who will be showing up in This Warren: (I am using this as a space to write them all down and get them out of my head for the moment, jsyk)

Sandy - techy like Tweak, but not quite as involved in the hacking scene. Mostly manages her branch of the illegal LAN Tweak's got set up in the Warren and some server maintenance. She is also a big contributor to new code and keeping the info Tweak and others gather secure from probes. Old enough to remember the first computers. Her embrace was rather unfortunate in that it left her without most of a lower jaw, and she communicates almost entirely by Sign. 

Dana 'Lil' Darlin'' Little - A runner, like Charlie, but considered the head of the 'organization' of messengers. Helps keep her runners appraised of obstacles, construction projects, threats, newcomers, and otherwise any issue in the Warren or outside of it that may cause issue for a message or item from being delivered from point A to B. Beleives in learning on the job as the most effective form of training (whether the poor fucker likes it or not...) This woman is not taller than 4'5, and you will not outrun her. You Won't. 

Blanche 'Bobbin' Park - (this is one of my partner's ocs!) One of the older members of the active Warren, Bobbin handles most of the more complicated clothing concerns among the members who care to take her up on it. She's got an eye of any court Toreador for fashion, though she doesn't take much stock in modern styles and trends, preferring to stick to her own era pf dress for formal, and throwing off the peak of the truly wild and avant guard for the Nos styles. She's a Cleopatra, and if you're close to her, you may find yourself invited to a movie night, which will include slasher films, and gory ones at that.

-

The High House

These three get their own section as they're an interesting bunch and an example of Nos who aren't totally tied into the physical holdings of their warren.

The High House is a group of three that run a drug and illicit substance den, topside. They cater to mortals and undead alike, providing the Warren with tidbits and gossip gained from lips loosened in their pit of ecstasy. 

The main proprietors are Tanner, Kink, and Neb. 

Tanner - Nos, considered the face of the coterie, he does most of the mixing when it comes to more than simple stuff like cutting coke. Like getting said coke into blood, for Kindred consumption, along with any other substance you can think of. Which is where the next part of the three comes in:

Neb - Ghoul. Technically Tanner's, though considered more of the House ghoul than his specifically. Neb takes in the drugs, and gives out the blood infused with 'em. If you pay for it, the House will let you have some personal time with Neb, straight from the source. Neb handles all Kine affairs and deals. 

Kink - Nos. Tends to be the business broker on the Kindred end, though will deal with Kine if it's only over the phone or messages online because while she's got a voice fit for the gods, her body was quite literally contorted from the Embrace. Think of the worst case of scoliosis you can imagine...now make it even worse. Soft-spoken, and always with an ear open to whatever's getting you down. 

The High House isn't here to judge. Only listen, and offer a bit of reprieve from the reality harshing your buzz.

#vtm #vampire the masquerade #clan nosferatu #nosferatu #this warren #side characters #when writing about a community of vampire you gotta #you know #make a community #which means people #there are more but they're either too minor to put in this list #or going to show up at a later date/later story #or aren't a nos #bc there is another ghoul #three malks #a toreador and a gangrel to write up as well

[lgbtmi]

1.), 28.) and 43.) for our beloved Willow!

1. What’s the lie your character says most often?

Sometimes it's hard to say where the truth ends and the lies begin. It's probably "Everything is / I'm fine", though. She hasn't been fine in a long while, but since everyone else generally has it worse, Willow's not gonna talk about her problems.

28. What do they tell people they want? What do they actually want?

This is a fun question because this came up in game last Friday. Adelheid asked her about what she'd wish for if she could wish for anything that was attainable, and Willow just... didn't answer. She's had active thoughts about it since, and most of them are not attainable--, but the ones that are include some peace and quiet, not having to be on edge all the time, safety for her friends and family, and maybe just a normal fucking conversation with Adelheid. The main thing she really wants, though, is a person or a place to truly call home. She's not hopeful, and she doesn't fully trust Adelheid, so she didn't say anything. She doesn't let herself want things out loud, because it's probably going to come back to bite her.

43. What do they commonly misinterpret because of their own upbringing / environment / biases? How do they respond when realizing the misunderstanding?

Dutch is a hard language. There's a lot of unspoken things in the language, and although she knows the language, sometimes things get lost in translation. She's charming enough to laugh it off, though, so we have no issues there. Additionally, Willow grew up in a massive family where it was just good times and stranger danger didn't exist. In Amsterdam, she took a one-eighty on this point, which has lead to her upbringing causing for her to have a deep mistrust for most people who hold any kind of power over her. Even if she knows they mean well. It's... escalated some situations. It's not going great. There's barely any response to that anywhere, but maybe one day she'll Deal with this.

Want to learn more about this silly little toreador? Send me one of these numbers! <3

#i have to confront issues regarding willow but why would i do that if i can just write answers about her instead :> #willowtalking #my characters #vampire the masquerade oc #thank u chiss u a real one <3

[transmimir]

3,7, and 10 for Gabriel please!! 💕 (it’s Bay)

Baaaay my friend Bay <3<3<3<3<3<3<3

7. would any other characters (besides your f/o) have a crush on your self insert?

I think the real question is who wouldn't lol. Even without considering the fact of him being a toreador, Gabriel has that sort of androgynous ethereal beauty that few people find themselves immune to. There were many people during his time in the camarilla who sought his affection, despite his relationship with Chaz. While Chaz usually shooed away any suitors from his partner, he did have to bite his lip when the Prince himself took a liking to him. Even after he left the camarilla, Gabriel misses him some days. He pities the man Vannevar has become.

9. who are your self insert’s closest friends?

For a long time, Gabriel really didn't have many friends. Kept under the keen eye of his partner and, unbeknownst to him at the time, sire, he never interacted with anyone other than those Chaz liked. His first real friend in his unlife was a Malkavian, Uriel, the s/i of @supernaturalinguist . He had the patience to parse their shakespearian tongue to see the person underneath, and though Chaz excommunicated them from the Toreador communities, Gabriel started going behind his back to keep in touch. It was Gabriel's first act of rebellion, and the first realization that not everything Chaz told him was true.

Once Gabriel becomes an anarch, he's come into his new, rather extroverted self. As mentioned in the last ask I answered, he grew particularly close with Nelli G., with the two embracing their identities as "siblings". While Gabriel now renounces all ties with the camarilla and refuses to socialize with other toreadors, Nelli is the exception. For as much as it's worth between two kindred, Gabriel trusts her.

Gabriel and Mitnick are, while not the closest emotionally, still good friends. Mitnick helps him set up some accounts online so Gabriel can post and talk with people about music who aren't so obsessed with high art society as toreadors are, and they have fun going to kindred-exclusive clubs together. Gabriel is definitely not as close with his broodmate, Imalia, though they've grown to have a mutually tolerant relationship. Eventually, she might even have a conversation with him without throwing shade.

10. how do the other characters feel about your self insert and f/o’s relationship?

Oh boy time for a lot of answers about a lot of people!

When Gabriel was still with Chaz, I think it's safe to say that everyone disapproved of it. Chaz was a dick, and everyone knew it except Gabriel, and finally he too realized the person who took him in when he was embraced was truly the devil in disguise.

With Gabriel and Carver, the reactions are more mixed. Uriel is the most positive about their relationship, with the three spending time together frequently. The change in Gabriel's demeanor and happiness between the months of Gabriel leaving and getting settled with Carver made it clear to them that they were a good match for each other.

Nelli is less approving, both because of Carver's brujah-ness and how Annabelle's opinion on him seeps into her own consciousness, but ultimately she accepts it and is glad to see Gabriel happy and in a healthy relationship after the whole Chaz ordeal.

Gabriel and Carver's relationship is what causes the most friction between him and Annabelle. She hates Carver for turning her, and thus finds any excuse she can to insult him and cast him in a negative light. Yet, Carver still tries to help her, and it infuriates Gabriel. To hear her call his partner a liar, a gaslighter, a manipulator; when he knows what it's really like to have someone like that as his sire... Gabriel's furious beast can barely be contained at times.

Now, when Gabriel ends up becoming involved with Gary Golden, the opinions are less divided, as they are curiously confused. A toreador and a nosferatu would be a pair nobody could expect or understand at first, even if Gabriel would sooner call himself a brujah if anything. But Gary is well liked by most kindred, so in terms of the valley coterie, none of them have any actual issue with their relationship.

Gary and Carver themselves have a mutually neutral opinion of each other, and if it weren't for Gabriel, would most likely avoid each other. Carver wants Gabriel to be happy though, and when Gabriel started catching feelings, he supported him and built a mutual respect between himself and Gary. They're not bros, but they share their boyfriend without problems from any side.

#this.... is long lol #jamie answers #supernaturalinguist #ship: all the days of our delight / are poison in my veins #ship: let's be alone together #💖: gary golden #you'll get a ship tag soon bb i promise #unhealthy relationship tw #i know most ppl dont have their villains f/os be assholes but chaz is awful and i find it more interesting to write a character healing #from him than woobifying him and pretending he isnt canonically a creep lol #selfship ask meme #gabriel

[supernaturalinguist]

s/i information: uriel

uriel / nonbinary (they/them) / malkavian full details below under the cut.

introduction

Uriel, or Uri for short, was born May 27, 1988 in a town outside Portland, Oregon. It’s not known if they were born with the name Uriel or if they chose it for themself, or if the name was chosen pre- or post-Embrace.

As a precocious child that grew up into a precocious teen, they eventually found their niche doing shows at the local community theatre throughout their youth and young adulthood, then began focusing less on acting than the analysis of texts and plays as they grew older. Uriel pursued English for their BA, with a focus in Literature and Shakespeare, and was in the middle of their Masters Degree in Theatre (Dramaturgy) at a university in New York when they were turned.

Scoping out job opportunities and visiting some actor friends in Los Angeles during Spring Break 2012 led them to being out at night a bit too late, and it all went downhill from there. They were 24 years old when Embraced, with a true age of 31 at the start of the LABN campaign.

Though everyone says they'd have been a great Toreador, as luck would have it, they were turned by a Malkavian. (Uriel can't exactly remember how it happened-- all they know is that they woke up in a cheap motel room near Santa Monica with a blood bag and a messy, chaotic apology note.)

Their appearance is eccentric— pale skin, short and messy hair bleached bone-white, large round glasses, an expressive heart-shaped face, owlish brown eyes with long eyelashes. They have a petite frame, only standing at 5”0. Uriel’s style can be best summed up as “2010s twee/hipster”—lots of layered clothing in earthy, autumnal colors, mismatching socks, accompanied by various charms/trinkets. They have 3 piercings in each ear-- one cartilage, two in the lobe.

unlife

The thing about being a Malkavian is that it comes part and parcel with mental illness as well as a host of other problems. Aside from the pre-existing anxiety and depression that followed them into the afterlife, Uriel’s Bane is unique—their longing and hope to work as a dramaturge and actor as a human was transformed into a form of echolalia, where they cannot verbally express words that were not used in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. While they work around this most of the time by augmenting their speech using sign language or writing, it can cause them significant trouble. (As they gain a better handle on their Bane, over the course of years they are able to essentially combine, cut and paste words and phrases together to create more understandable expressions. With significant concentration and effort, they can eventually isolate syllables from the text and use them to create words that don’t exist within the Complete Works.)

This bane has earned them the derogatory nickname given to them by Chaz Price and the other Ivory Tower adjacent Toreadors, “The Mad Bard”.

In addition, their version of Malkavian delusion comes in the form of “flashes of inspiration”(truly prophecies and future sight)—frequently inspiring them to draw/paint or create music. They can become obsessed and fixated on these flashes of inspiration, and creating works based on them for varying periods of time. Sometimes, the flashes will leave them nonverbal or non responsive for a span of minutes to hours while they process what they’ve seen.

plot

Not long after Uriel is turned in 2012, they're discovered half in frenzy and searching for more blood at a drug test clinic by X, who subsequently vouches for them to Baron Therese. The two become friends, but to X's chagrin, Uriel ends up spending a lot of time around Toreadors in the hopes they can hang on to what they enjoyed in life—the arts, theatre, music. After years of attempting to ingratiate themself and gain an artistic mentor, they are continuously looked down upon for being of a lower clan and moreover, a Malkavian. It doesn’t go well.

One of the only Toreadors who grows to care about them is Gabriel, a childe of Chaz Price. After Uriel ends up finding no reason to cavort with Ivory Tower adjacent Toreadors after being publicly humiliated and excommunicated from Toreador territory by Chaz, they return to Malkavian-populated Santa Monica in the hopes they can carve out their own way of life--a decision welcomed by X, who invites them to formally join the drum circle. Uriel declines due to their generally solitary nature, but agrees to carry on correspondence and close friendship with X and his fellow coterie members.

By the time that the LA By Night campaign starts in 2019, Uriel has given up any hope that they will be accepted by most Toreadors, having received the derogatory moniker "the Mad Bard". While they wear it with pride now, their time attempting to assimilate into Toreador society comes with a distrust of said clan and some other higher clans, (Ventrue, etc) for fear that they will be treated poorly.

They have also gained a haven of their own—an abandoned theatre on the outskirts of Santa Monica—after doing some favors for Baron Therese. There, Uriel leads a mostly quiet life dedicated to honing their artistic talents, reading, learning new skills, etc.

During 2019, they become known in some fashion to the rest of the members of the Valley Coterie. They are the closest to Jasper, having been introduced to him through their mutual friend X around 2017 when they returned to Santa Monica. They form a close friendship to him in the years before Annabelle is introduced to the coterie; the two don’t officially enter into a relationship until around 2018, and Uri only ends up meeting the coterie in 2019, after Annabelle has been Embraced. (Both sides were reluctant to disclose information on their private life.  However, after the Valley Coterie breaks into Jasper’s haven in the misguided attempt to save him, they (mainly Annabelle) spot various items that don’t seem like they would belong to Jasper, leaving him no choice but to reluctantly explain in the spirit of fostering honesty with his coterie.) Uriel makes their acquaintance in person later on. 

taglist: @faircailin​ @szayelinx​

#s/i: uriel

[the-art-block]

VtM: Sins of Our Father

Progress Report

Our 2nd Generation disaster still walks the Chicago night but things are quickly escalating. There will be no stopping this rock when it starts rolling downhill, there are no brakes on this crazy train.

That is Fagan and that there is her Mawla, Penny Cashman. Fagan's been alive longer than Penny but Pen's been a Kindred for longer and has graciously taken Fagan under her wing as a fellow Caitiff. We're all just trying to find our cursed and wretched way in the vampire world.

Poor Penny's Haven was the first casualty of the chronicle, she basically lost it immediately in the first session when a mysterious invader broke in (it's alright Fagan LITERALLY Diablerized him for it) and now Pen is too spooked to go back. She kickin' it with Fagan at her place for now.

But H-WHEN doth the tribulation of a Caitiff truly end? In these nights?? Must the unfortunate Childer be doomed to lives of paranoid obscurity on the fringes? Forever caught between Kindred who want their heads and the horrors of the open wilderness??

Maybe not. At least for these two rascals. There's a plan you see! Fagan, as a heretofore unknown quantity to the Camarilla of Chicago, intends to infiltrate a clan and achieve some security for herself and her young mentor.

We going TOREADOR baby!

Well aware that she looks like 50-year-old teen from a 90s flick, our intrepid heroine is going to strut straight into that garden of Roses and make them believe she's one of theirs. We got the right disciplines for it. We got the attitude. Their bane is the easiest to fake.

With God as my witness we're going to put that 2nd Gen blood to woooooooooooooork

I hope Caine needs entertainment because this show is about to fuckin' start.

Let's make Daddy proud✨✨✨

#vtm #vampire: the masquerade #vtm: sins of our father #caitiff #Fagan #Caine

[madrut16]

Vampire the Masquerade OCs

Now that I've finished my first playthrough of Parliament of Knives, I thought I'd finally introduce my OCs from all the books (and myself to the tag). So here they are in order with a few fun headcanons about them! I'm also incredibly happy to meet people and rave about VTM here.

Night Road: Nora Rousseau (Tremere)

Gets too attached to people (Kindred and sometimes Kine) for her own good; she knows it often doesn't end well but she enjoys the pain when it goes wrong because at least she's feeling something.

Hates the Second Inquisition with a burning passion for destroying her first haven; that influences a lot of her beliefs and actions including her choice to join the Camarilla.

Her main goal is to maintain the Masquerade, but she thinks it should be modernized if Kindred are going to truly blend in with the present-day; she also wants to do research into the Beckoning (😉).

Out for Blood: Avery King

Her mother was secretly behind the two main reasons why she didn't visit Jericho Heights for those five years (never having time and the rift with her grandfather).

She learns about this from a letter her grandfather left in the secret room for her to find after he died explaining everything.

For both Halloween and Christmas, she fully decorates the store to match each holiday.

Parliament of Knives: Francesca Valleries (Toreador)

As a human, she sold her paintings using her brother's name because her parents were old-fashioned and wouldn't let her do it herself.

After the Great Depression hit, the sales from these paintings allowed her family to stay afloat when they lost all their wealth.

It took her a while to process the shock of being made Seneschal; eventually, she accepts it and puts her full effort into it.

#vtm: night road #vtm: out for blood #vtm: parliament of knives #vampire the masquerade #oc: nora rousseau #oc: avery king #oc: francesca valleries

[badass-at-fandoming]

Just Little Ventrue Things ~

I finished a Camarilla Ventrue run of VTMB. Mostly, the only thing Ventrue these days know how to do is Dominate, run screaming, eat hot chip, and lie, and [high falsetto voice] here’s a list of other nonsense I discovered:

PC’s name is Christina; she’s a Dominatrix because I’m bi. Her sire was one of her clients, and she’s actually very, very angry about his death. She doesn’t mind being a vampire. She’s Wiccan and part of a coven

In this Camarilla run, I decided I would only do quests given by Camarilla members. My justification was that, while Christina is intelligent and curious about lore, she focuses on tasks that immediately relate to her and her goals. She’s not curious about others; won’t go out of her way to talk to them. She’s not a bleeding heart, like my other PCs, and she believes in the Camarilla’s laws. She just hates LaCroix for killing her sire. Her plan during the game is to curry as much favor within the Cam as possible and cozy up to LaCroix so she can stab him.

Enough backstory

Nonsense time

Smiling Jack laughs at you if you don’t eat a rat in the tutorial. LOL. The Ventrue dialog is like “I could barely choke down the homeless man: please don’t make me eat a rat!”

The blood in the Santa Monica haven’s fridge is now blue blood. Does regular blood make Ventrue sick? I was too scared to experiment.

[spots Mercurio] I am going to steal that ghoul

Rosa: The people you’re looking for are up there. Christina, assuming Rosa is a Cam agent: Okay, thanks, bye

Never spoke to the Thin-Bloods again (sorry Lily baby ;-;)

Everyone except Julius still leaves when the PC reaches Hollywood

If you try to feed on Julius, he WILL kick you in the head and you WILL glitch into the fire, be on fire; run away screaming in Prada

You can skip the whole basement of the Ocean House Hotel if you manage to jump over the hole in the staircase???? Like?? You mean the spookiest fucking level has been optional this whole time I”M

[ghost appears] [Christina smacks it with an axe] None of that.

Club girls speak to Christina and I’m on the FLOOR

Therese “kills” Jeanette, even though I had enough oompa to make that not happen.

Therese joins the Camarilla and says she’s in good position to be the next Prince??? Hello??? Where is our Prince Voerman ending????

Went straight to LaCroix, called him “sir,” and he name-dropped Napoleon.

LaCroix tells Christina to go visit the Anarchs. She blows the Anarchs off (Nines made a growly face, Damsel dialog yowl-exited out after I asked if she wanted to join the Cam; Skelter threatened to murder me twice). When LaCroix told Christina that, while he admired her Cam loyalty, she must listen to her enemies to understand what they wanted, it felt like he was actually being a good sire and mentor.

That’s weird.

When Christina asked for his history, he very carefully explained his lineage, like the important part of Ventrue culture it is.

Overall, I found LaCroix-being-nice-to-me extremely unsettling.

Sir. Stop smiling at me, sir. Stop being impressed I don’t ask for money. STOP MAKING ME UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE LIKE YOU, SIR.

In contrast, LaCroix sounded genuinely betrayed at the end

Also made it more obvious when he started to lose track of his marbles

Ventrue PC seems juuuuuuust tall enough for her forehead to glitch into the ceiling of literally any confined space

The dirty Elizabeth Dane policeman didn’t psspspspsp at Christina so the whole ship was 15 white-knuckled minutes of making police dance and scuttling about

There is!!! A lot less!!! Talking in this game!!! Than I remember!!! She is only good at talking and ordering people around i am bEGGING

All EXP goes to Dominate and making Christina extremely charismatic and buff.

Ventrue himbo????

Beckett un-himbo-ifies her

She insults Beckett on their first meeting, spitting out “What do you want, wolfie?!” I thought this was appropriate because she died like, 4 times on that warehouse mission and was Extremely Stressed And Under Duress

Beckett’s response of “Oh, you’re too young to have mouthed off to the truly old ones yet.” makes his later snide remark of “the young ones are so temperamental” 900% funnier. Yeah, LaCroix! Beckett thinks I’ve grown and am now more mature than you! XD

Missions involving sex workers hit different when you’re a sex worker.

Christina was incandescent with rage at the Brotherhood

Grout’s mansion mission was a lot of “I have no interest in this nonsense.”

For the first time ever, I didn’t kill anyone during the Museum quest! This is because Christina ran very fast and Dominated every guard as quickly as possible. Every single fucking guard knew she was there, but could do nothing about it, because they were dancing. The door to the sarcophagus locked (it will do this if too many guards are agro), but locked doors are no match for noclip hack.

Entertaining image of a tall woman absolutely blasting into this museum room and Beckett tackling her to the floor like wait! I must snark at you! You are legally obligated to speak with me!

Isaac is still somehow a pretty chill guy to work with if you’re Camarilla.

Christina didn’t visit VV or Ash. Interestingly, Ash didn’t show up at the hunter monastery later. Did he just die in his club? Is he still there, waiting, deciding?

Christina @ Andrei: what the fuck is this shit

“I don’t care. It’s ugly. Clean it up.”

SEWERS.

Not as bad as I was expecting

Did take shortcut, run away from fights, ducked out in the middle for a snack, and bring 7 blue blood packs tho

Gary threatened to shred her face with a cheese grater, which I thought was Toreador only dialog?? It must be connected to the Appearance Stat. Which Christina has maxed out.

When Heather became Christina’s ghoul, I was delighted because I thought this meant Christina would always have fresh blood.

No

If you ask to feed on her too soon after the last time, Heather says she feels light headed and wants to lie down. The dialog exits out

I love you, Heather bb

Perfected the art of nudging NPCs into corners

Mitnick’s quests now feature Enforced Nap Time for all guards

Seriously, Dominate is ridiculously powerful, hooooly shit. I get why people like it. I also like it when people do things I ask them to do.

Christina can’t sneak, but she CAN strongly encourage everyone to choke on their own tongues.

Very high contrast in the beginning of the game: 2 punches would knock her over, but anyone she spoke to would obey immediately and without question

Chinatown goes by ridiculously fast if you can’t sneak and don’t do any sidequests besides Mitnick’s.

For the first time ever, Zhao survived! This is because Christina made him take a nap.

He just told her to leave

You’re welcome, my good dude

IDK if it’s a game glitch, but Christina would vocalize? In battle, she grunts with effort and pain.

Got to the point where I kept expecting Dominate dialog in every interaction and would get disappointed if it didn’t show up. What do you mean I have to actually convince people? That’s lame.

Christina was polite and charming to Ming Xiao, who also conveyed a deeper betrayal than normal at the end. ;-;

I promise to give you a Ventrue boy toy soon, Xiao

Finale arc quests went by VERY FAST because Christina can’t sneak for shit. Just run in, Dominate blazing

You can skip the outside bit of the Hallowbrook Hotel if you find the open door on the top level what the fuuuuuuuuuCK

[“A Little Party Never Killed Nobody” plays while Christina wipes out the Sabbat in 10 minutes]

Andrei disappeared mid-fight and didn’t come back until I complained that only I was allowed to run away from boss fights

I’m categorizing “triggering the interaction to save Heather” as something quite difficult to do. The timing has to be just right. I’ve missed it twice now. BUT hacking into the game to save her is easy.

I love you, Heather bb

Final Beckett talk had the vibe of “You’re a very different person than me, but you’re also High Humanity and trying to do good. You don’t deserve to die.”

Damsel threatens to kick the shit out of Christina and is extremely reluctant to tell her where Nines is

“Out of all people, they send you? All right, let’s just talk terms.” - Nines because Christina was short with him one (1) time

WEREWOLF HARD

You can just?? Walk out of your haven?? Without speaking to Jack at all???

I didn’t do that

But I could have

[”Dust in the Wind” plays while Christina kills entire Camarilla hit squad in 3 minutes]

You can visit Mercurio and Trip on your way out of Santa Monica??

Mercurio makes no comment on the blood hunt. Business as usual with him. This is fine.

Christina: I’m SO going to adopt that ghoul. And perhaps Isaac can be convinced to part with Romero...

(For the first time ever, my PC boinked Romero. Twice, to receive the break up email)

This is definitely a glitch, but Christina brushed up against Caine, and a worried voice said, “Are you all right?” It sounded like the same voice actor, but a higher pitch?

Always nice to think about Caine demonstrating care

Christina asked Caine who he is, and Caine replied that he “gets people where they’re going. [He’s] a driver,”  which is a nice nod (lol) to both his literal job as a driver and as a shepherd/creator/god to Kindred. Caine creates and makes fate.

Caine triple checks with Christina that she’s sure Strauss won’t betray her. Thanks, Vampire Dad. :’D

For some reason, only other Ventrue guarded LaCroix’s tower. I wonder if this is intentional. Like all the other Camarilla Clans backed Strauss and left? So only LaCroix’s Ventrue lackeys remain? Anyway, it created some weird moments where Christina fought her double.

KILL YOUR DOUBLE

Sheriff laughed in haughty joy that he was to kill Christina. I don’t remember him laughing in other playthroughs.

Christina ruining Caine and Jack’s prank oh noes

#vampire the masquerade #vtm #vtmb #ventrue #Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines #camarilla #smiling jack #sebastian lacroix #vtm mercurio #vtm caine #max strauss #heather poe #nines rodriguez #vtm damsel #vtm skelter #therese voerman #gary golden #vtm mitnick #vtm romero #cuthbert beckett #ming xiao #andrei the defiler #text post

[robotslenderman]

Headcanon on Nosferatu and Toreador.

So I've been coming up with a LOT of Nosferatu headcanon for Wendyfic, and here's one.

Basically we've seen examples of Toreador who are fixated on beauty that isn't aesthetic. Thomas Arturo, for example, is entranced by something that's more of a concept -- the relationships between people where one has power over the other. Qadir is also not a typical Toreador at all and if you squint, his baseball hobby might be seen as his manifestation of the Toreador fixation trait -- that he sees beauty in the game so it's not just a hobby for him.

From this point, this is all headcanon:

Every now and then a Toreador is Embraced that gets a fixation on a clan, tries to immerse themselves entirely in it with the goal of eventually passing as a member of that clan. (I have an AU where Lettow Kaminsky is actually Toreador, and that this is how he came to be a "Gangrel.") Some Toreador have this as a passing "phase", but there are Toreador that exist that are basically permanently drawn to this clan and want to be a member of that clan.

And every once in a blue moon, you get one that wants to be a Nosferatu.

(Obligatory disclaimer: Abuse is Bad and Wrong, and water is wet. Please don't mistake this for being symbolic of genderstuff, this is a completely different phenomenon and is restricted to Toreador entirely.)

Toreador have a biological revulsion in regards to Nosferatu. It's not them being snobby elitists, it's an actual biological thing. It can only be "overcome" by a Toreador finding something beautiful within the Nosferatu instinctively (ie maybe Qadir has a fucking baseball game with Calebros, I don't know!), but because they can't stand to be around Nosferatu this happens rarely.

Needless to say, Toreador that see the entire clan as beautiful have... a big problem. Not because they have to deal with that instinctive revulsion -- actually, that revulsion doesn't exist at all in them because they see the entire Nosferatu aesthetic and way of life as beautiful in itself.

But because, you know, Nosferatu fucking hate Toreador as a rule as a reaction towards this revulsion.

A Toreador that wants to become Nosferatu will, sooner or later, be drawn to their local Warren. And they'll try to join it.

To say the Nosferatu take this badly is an understatement. For one, every now and then a Toreador goes through this phase and your average Nossie can't tell whether this Toreador is going through a phase or was born this way. For two... they fucking hate Toreador.

The Toreador isn't driven out of the Warren, though, they're just... treated like shit. They'll dangle the possibility of joining the clan to the Toreador, but the Toreador has to never go topside again. They have to stay underground or in the Warren, subsisting on rats the whole time. And in the meantime -- well, the Warren sees this interloper and can't fucking stand it, like a hive of bees.

The Toreador is subjected to a brutal hazing. Not physical torture, or anything -- just basically the treatment you get when you're stuck with a bunch of people who can't fucking stand you and think you're doing this for your own personal amusement, like being Nosferatu is fun. Like being Nosferatu is just an aesthetic and not an entire way of life.

A lot of Toreador are driven away in the process. Some of them were even sincere, but couldn't take it. The Warren doesn't care. That was the point.

But if you stick it out...

One night it's like a switch flips. And suddenly, the Toreador is One Of Them. They'll hook the Toreador up with an Antitribu who can get the Toreador in touch with a Tzimisce to change their body completely to look Nosferatu. They'll get chosen by a sire, and the sire will have the Toreador take one drink from their veins -- like a childe drinks from the sire during the Embrace -- and teach them the Nosferatu Disciplines.

The Toreador is no longer Toreador. The Toreador is completely reborn as Nosferatu, and starts the customary journey of fifteen years with their sire. The Nosferatu will collectively forget that the new member was ever Toreador, and will treat this new Nosferatu as one of their own, 100%. There is no stigma tied to Nossies who were once Toreador. They will even be permitted to embrace childer like any other Nosferatu on the same merits (although such childer will always be Toreador, and therefore have the same biological repulsion to Nosferatu as most Toreador do -- many of these childer either end up destroyed or run away from the Warren, driven out by a biological "NOPE").

It's not that the Nossie's past as a Toreador is treated as a secret, it's just treated as if they were never Toreador. So Nossies won't go around telling people you were once Toreador. It might very rarely come up, but it's seen as baffling as walking up to someone and telling them you're not Belgian, or something. Like... they're not Toreador, why bring that up?

Some Nossies are deeply uncomfortable with the hazing (indeed, having a few members of the Warren compassionate towards you and defend you is a vital part of making it through the hazing). But it's also quite symbolic. The Nosferatu Embrace takes three nights and is excruciatingly painful, so the first act of a Nosferatu sire is to abuse their childe. The hazing is seen as its parallel -- its own Embrace, with all the pain that ensues. To become Nosferatu is to be reborn through pain, and there are no exceptions.

The customary period for Toreador hazing is three months, and then induction. It would be three nights like the traditional Embrace, but it's impossible to differentiate between a "poser" and a sincere Toreador in that time, so it's extended to three months. This has the unfortunate effect of driving away many who are truly sincere, but since those Toreador often come back eventually because they can't let it go, three failures to endure the hazing is seen as the same as three months having lived through it so long as each attempt was clearly sincere, so the third time the Toreador leaves they are often tracked down and welcomed back home. (Again, not something Nosferatu let get out -- they don't want "posers" taking advantage of this.)

Because of the brutal hazing, it's exceptionally rare that a Toreador regrets being induced into the clan because the pain of the hazing wasn't nearly as bad as the pain of not being a Nosferatu with their Warren. Before the hazing came along it often ended, uh... very badly. Even the Nosferatu who hate the hazing tend to admit that it's a necessary part of the induction, and if a Toreador somehow gets a good relationship with a Warren before going through this they will actually be sent to another Warren to avoid accidentally inducing someone who might have otherwise been turned off once they realised it wasn't a game.

If a Toreador is regarded fondly enough by a Warren and fails or changes their mind in another, they usually have a good enough relationship that the first Warren doesn't think less of them for not following through. Nosferatu generally respect a truthful and honest "I thought I wanted to be one of you, but I was wrong" more than one might think.

(ETA: Again, this is not commentary on genderstuff. This is me thinking “What if a Toreador became so enamoured with the aesthetic of the Nosferatu that they couldn’t live without it? How would a Nosferatu Warren react to that?” Answer: really badly, until they realise the Toreador means it and then hey, new clanmate!

But then I wrote it out and reread it and I was like “oh god people are going to think this is Gender Commentary. FML”

Pls do NOT think I am advocating treating people who question their gender identity as shit unless they’re “really” trans like... no that’s bullshit, fuck that noise.)

#VTM #Headcanon #Toreador #Nosferatu

[ryttu3k]

Hello naughty children it's Gehenna time.

...which means I'm going to read the book properly this time and write notes on each scenario, partially for my own reference, partially in answer to an ask from @rayshell22livejournalcom​ from about a zillion years ago. Sorry about that!

Mood soundtrack: Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F# A# ∞; Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven; Yanqui U.X.O.

Prelude: Netchurch is an interesting character. Very skeptical, despite, well, the entire setting, although that's definitely, uh, broken by the end. Feel very sad for Afifa, who was a pawn in all this. Creepy babies galore!

Introduction: "While Vampire favors that futile, tragic, and - we'll say it - angst-heavy conclusion" - lmao you don't say. Although I do like how they have the consistent golden rule that if you don't like it, just ditch it! (Of course, the Gehenna scenarios as a whole have been completely retconned anyway by v20 and v5, so this entire book is a good example of taking what you want from it and ignoring the rest.)

"Some people are on opposite sides of this thing. They're elders who don't want to knuckle under to the Antediluvians (most elders will accept their proper place in the heirarchy again with the rising of their progenitors) and poor, misled souls who bought into the lie and are pissed about it (paging Mr. Pieterzoon). Bottom line: the Camarilla collapses like Enron/WorldCom as the worthlessness of its foundation becomes public knowledge. Chaos ensues among the vampire community, princes find themselves besieged by their own locals, and it's all a big clusterfuck."

Have I ever mentioned I love how VtM phrases stuff? Also F to Jan.

I like how they have a masterlist of what's actually going on with the Antediluvians. Spoilers ;D "For example, note that [Tzimisce] is simply referred to as [Tzimisce]. Even here at the game studio, our limited mortal minds weren't able to comphrenend the creature's real name." Lovecraft only WISHES he had eldritch abominations this spooky! Ennoia is 'Active and scary' and apparently spooks the devs just thinking about it. Makes sense. "Giovanni (Augustus Giovanni): Augustus is a pig, and he should probably die as one of the early events of Gehenna. He's the youngest of the Antediluvians and probably possessed the greatest ego (in mortal terms), so it'll be cosmic justice when he eats it." I love how no one likes Giovanni, even his creators. Malkav may or may not BE the Madness Network, in which case they cease to be an Antediluvian and just become... a part of the Malkavians, I guess? Absimiliard may or may not be chilling at the bottom of the ocean, because mood. Tremere / Saulot is definitely a fun one to play with, yeah. Although, oof, if Saulot ever gets control of their shared body, he's going to be fucked up if [Tzimisce] activates, so. Probably better to create a nice fresh body, like what BJD suggests with the child Saulot.

Chapter 1 - the lead-up: Basically a rundown of the signs and how they're interpreted. "An angel dies: How does an angel die? Who has the gall to rise up and slay one of God's firstborn? Or perhaps this is another metaphor. An angel could be a pure and gentle creature, or then again, it need not be one of God's angels (not that God's angels are necessarily pure and gentle). A feared and particularly vicious Necronomist Tzimisce, Sascha Vykos is sometimes referred to as the Angel of Caine. Many would rejoice the night that Vykos died." Hey rude :( I vote they kill Michael instead. He wants to be an Archangel? Fine, he can fulfill a prophesy XD

Honestly I really do dig that Ennoia Earthmelded with the entire planet. You can go so many directions with that, good or bad! Ennoia as The Beast Below, or Ennoia as Gaia? (Wow, that'd really fuck with the Garou XD) I love how the general consensus on Haqim is like, no one knows if he exists or not but lbr Ur-Shulgi is bad enough. Kinda dig the idea of the Toreador ante, Ishtar/Arikel, being genderfluid? I mean yeah essentially demigods have no need for gender anyway, but the constant debates over whether the Toreador ante is the female Ishtar or the male Arikel (or, uh, was it vice versa?) does lead to some interesting concepts. Ooh, similar to [Tzimisce] being linked to its entire clan (and the Tremere, anyone who's ever taken part in the Vaulderie, and anyone who knows Vicissitude), [Lasombra] may be connected to anyone who knows Obtenebration? [Ravnos]... yeah, probably dead. F to the clan. And yeah I think [Tzimisce] is flat-out the scariest one of all, and probably the one most likely to actually start the apocalypse, lbr.

Ugh this is one of the books that calls Sascha 'it' :-\ Do not like. ...Also do not like the suggestion that they're an unknowing agent of the Eldest, given, uh, the last chapter of the DA Tzimisce novel. Shoo! Shoo! You've ruined their unlife enough as it is!

Epistolary material! I do dig those. Most interesting: a letter to Sascha mentioning apocalyptic visions of New York but with the Carpathians in the background, and an anonymous letter to Hardestadt warning him of one of his line tearing down a castle that the writer feels believes the Camarilla. GO JAN FUCK IT UP.

And on to the scenarios themselves!

Chapter 2 - Wormwood: This is an interesting one. Literally a Biblical vengeance - God takes a good look at the Children of Caine and goes, "Well, this is fucked up", acknowledges that Caine never really sought true forgiveness and repentance, and sets forth Wormwood, the Red Star. The truly repentant are saved, the rest just. Die.

Herald here is a dhampir girl named Alia - thinblood father, human mother. When she's twelve, she becomes God's chosen, basically. Traveling with three thinblood guardians, one night, she's approached a Gargoyle named Ferox with True Faith, who sees himself as a fallen angel. And Alia offers him a way of redemption - find the chosen true believers, wait out Wormwood, receive judgement. Anyone can seek sanctuary, only the true believers and the ones genuinely willing to repent will survive the judgement itself. Alia and Ferox set out to find the other chosen ones.

Whew. Very full-on - the players remain in one place with a whole bunch of other vampires for forty nights. I mean, that's a test in and of itself XD All welcome! (Except infernalists and the antediluvians and Caine himself. They're fucked no matter what.)

Like. All welcome XD "Some Storytellers might feel that this character roundup could get too silly, suddenly having all these celebrity Kindred get together for a big slumber party, and they would be correct." Fuck that give me a slumber party AU XD

Am very glad about the note that the vampires inside only lose one blood point per 10 days, rather than every day. Otherwise, uh, it'd get gory.

Yeah, this is a really interesting scenario. Very character-focused, very introspective. All about the characters trying to work out what it means to be good people - not the strongest vampires, not the most powerful, but good people. Are they worthy of salvation? That's the crux of the story. Of course, it's very, uh, Biblical, heh, but it's first and foremost about morality and redemption. I dig it.

Also, giant vampire slumber party.

Chapter 3 - Fair is Foul: Ooh, this is a Lilith vs Caine scenario.

This one has the Withering hit in weird ways, including clan-specific ones - like the Banu Haqim only able to feed on vitae, then only able to gain sustenance from diablerie. Gangrel turn even more animalistic. Lasombra take to the seas, Obtenebration ripping holes straight to the Abyss. Malks, uh, leak madness. Nosferatu get even uglier, Toreador devolve into debauchery. Tremere develop third eyes, and yes, I did laugh out loud when I read that. Tzimisce... hmm... get a bit, uh, uncontrolled. And Ventrue find they can now only feed on... other Ventrue. Fun times!

"At your discretion, Lilith might be particularly vulnerable to Jewish True Faith, as the Jewish tales about her are the source of nearly every negative sentiment ever directed against her in writing. As a result, most orthodox Jews bear Lilith great contempt for defying her husband and her God." Yeah ngl I think she's pretty dang cool and I can just see, like, most of my ancestors facepalming at the idea XD;; Fuck obediance you do your own thing.

"Trying to work out traits for Lilith, Lucifer, Caine, or any of the Antediluvians would just be a waste of our word count and your time." I like the time they published a guide for fighting Caine. It was two words. "You lose."

Ah. Okay, Saulot in Tremere's body being taken over by the Eldest = scary, because have you ever been attacked by an Antediluvian wielding Thaumaturgy, Valeran, and Vicissitude at the SAME :) TIME? :) Yeah :)

Really dig the idea of Abel showing up as the first Wraith. The forgiveness element.

Overall, this isn't my favourite scenario, I think? It feels very chaotic, and while it's probably the most traditional to play, I'm not sure how much it literally challenges the characters, unlike the sheer soul-searching...ness of Wormwood?

Chapter 4 - Nightshade: Chapter starts with, "We all wear masks" and my first thought was "boy you have no idea" XD

Awww yes this is the masquerade break scenario! See here for my thoughts on that and how the Nephtali could be adapted to v5, heh.

Yeah okay earthquakes, volcanoes, and riots are normal enough. A horrible blood virus where it appears some flesh-like thing is living in people's veins and feeding off their blood sounds like something that starts with T and rhymes with Shzimitze. ...Probably. No one knows how the fuck it's pronounced anyway. Oops, those riots are apparently over the existence of vampires. Yeah that'd be... unfortunate. And more earthquakes, this time due to Kupala vs the Eldest. Whew. Red star, yep, standard. MORE earthquakes, this time due to the Second City rising. Sounds legit. Bad times all around!

The details on breaking the Masquerade are interesting. Basic emotions: denial, rationalisation, fear, anger, acceptance. The acceptance one is interesting, because I can definitely see some jumping to it straight away.

So, on to the scenario itself! Jan recruits the players to fight the... uh, mass under NYC. This is the corpse of the Eldest, which is more or less a giant fungal infection held together with Vicissitude, which frankly is just icky. This actually is  canon-compliant with BJD, since it apparently has only just... dissipated? or whatever there, or if it still remains, it's no longer conscious. In this one, its soul flicks back to Tremere's/Saulot's body and wakes up, and basically every Tzimisce, Tremere, and anyone who has ever drank Tzimisce blood (which would be the entire Sabbat via Vaulderie) spontaneously frenzies. Godspeed. Cyscek, a Tzimisce methuselah, helps defeat the, uh, blob at the expense of his life, and warns with his last words, "The Dragon rises. You must stop it. Find Vykos. [They] know." (Okay yeah the text says 'it knows' but also fuck that.) Ooh, plot point!

Aaaand then they retreat from the battle, exhausted, only to find the whole damn thing broadcast on every TV screen, vampiric Disciplines and Cyscek dusting and all. W h o o p s.

Lots and lots of details of a major masquerade breach here. Hardestadt shows up and tells Jan he's proooobably gonna get Final Death for, you know, trying to save the world. Gonna share this bit because it's Very Satisfying.

Please refer to my tag #hardestadt has no rights ;D

Anyway! The characters now recruited, Jan leads them back to London for the Convention of Fire. He's working with Calebros and... like a bunch of others, probably anyone can end up here, so long as they want to actually help and not just fall apart like the remnants of the Camarilla (trying to diablerise their way into keeping power) and the Sabbat (...ditto tbh). Those definitely in attendance are Ambrogino Giovanni, Hesha Ruhadze, and Fatima! And lbr the Nod Squad are probably there too. As if Beckett would pass up the chance to NOT witness what's happening with Gehenna. And Anatole is literally a prophet of Gehenna! They found the Nephtali, led by a council of twelve, with Jan at the head. Name means 'the highest point' or 'no further' - as in, Gehenna goes no further than this.

Oh lmao here we go, the scene I mentioned earlier - Jan vs talk shows.

F to Jan.

Tremere's body (inhabited by Saulot) disappears from beneath the Vienna chantry. Tremere's body, with [Tzimisce] now well in control (having overtaken Saulot; Tremere, meanwhile, has taken over Goratrix's body, with Goratrix's mind stuck in a mirror... it's complicated), wipes out the Vienna chantry. RIP to the Vienna chantry, which doesn't survive in either timeline tbh. Hey, I wonder if that means that Saulot (in Tremere's body) is dead in v5? Etrius manages to escape and reports that the Eldest is now on the way to Ceoris, where it'll call all the remaining Tzimisce to it to become, uh, a part. Pleasant.

Everything between Krakow and Bucharest is straight fukk’d. Ceoris is the centre of all this - IIRC it's somewhere in the southern Carpathians, nearish Brasov. Either way, hell of a fight results with what can only be described as an eldritch abomination, finally both managing to destroy Kupala (the Eldest's goal) and reducing The Thing down to a human-looking body. This bit is interesting! Tremere (in Goratrix' body) and Etrius take one look at each other. "Master..." "I... I know. But where the hell is Saulot?!" Good question, because he sure ain't in Tremere's, uh, former body any more, which was in fact what was fighting them the whole time. Either way, Tremere-in-Goratrix'-body leaps at [Tzimisce]-in-Tremere's-body and diablerises his, um, former body, which must be weird as hell, then tries to turn on the characters and his powers fuckiNG FAIL. EAT SHIT TREMERE. And then the players kill him too and realise that over the course of one night they've destroyed the demon Kupala and two Antediluvians, Tremere and the Eldest. Not bad. This is the battle that causes that second lot of earthquakes I mentioned earlier.

Back to London! They find the mirror containing Goratrix amongst Tremere's belongings. Poor fucker sorry not sorry.

And now the players receive a summons to escort someone from Montreal to the Nephtali headquarters in London! Namely, a Tzimisce named Myca Vykos~ They've recently defected from the Sabbat and want to help take the Antediluvians tf down. (Note: the book here has reverted to using he/him pronouns since they're back in their original form, I'm going to keep using they/them because biological sex does not determine gender identity or pronouns goddammit. ...Anyway. I AM going to use the name Myca since that's the name they're using themself, mostly because, uh, 'Myca' is a bit less noticeable than 'Sascha Vykos', haha.)

So Gehenna has started. Myca's woken up in their original form and being like, "Hey you know what I am preTTY SURE I don't want to serve the Eldest" and promptly joins the Nephtali.

From New York to London to Romania to London to Montreal to London (...London is a hub world apparently), now off to Turkey, to Kaymakli! Which is actually a real place, my brother's been on a tour there. Anyway, this is the part of Kaymakli that they don't show the tourist and that's been sealed shut with lots of angry Cappadocians instead, so that was fun. Presumably Kapaneus hasn't been chilling out there in this one.

Also Colombia has completely been overtaken by the Sabbat so that sucks.

Into Kaymakli! Which usually doesn't let Cainites back out so it may be one-way. Don't worry, there's a ritual for that. At the bottom, they find Augustus Giovanni! Who is pissed off he never actually got to eat Cappadocius' soul and so wants to eat God instead.

As you do.

The book very strongly encourages the players to kill him. Just 'cause. Which is a mood, tbh. Killing him also reveals a beaten, bound Nosferatu, having been Giovanni's most recent food source. An F for Okulos. He's been there for four years, having managed to get a lost fragment of the Book of Nod for Beckett, who promised to come back for him and. Didn't. Which is just rude tbh and I can kind of understand why Okulos ends up betraying Beckett in the Gehenna novel but anyway. (Not canon as of v20, he's perfectly present and chill in BJD.)

End results - the fragment that Okulos went to retrieve shows how to restore the Second City, which holds a complete Book of Nod and may hold the key to stopping Gehenna. It's in Enochian so your player characters probably won't be able to read it (book suggests asking Sascha or Ambrogino). Next stop, Egypt, and a meeting with Hesha Ruhadze! Man this scenario has a lot of signature characters. It also suggests getting third parties in here too, so Beckett would actually be a really good choice. Either way, they find the probable site, and suddenly, a Second City.

Archeologists make grabby hands. Beckett, somewhere, is probably crying in joy. They find a vial with some very old blood in it that they definitely shouldn't drink because otherwise they'll explode (the book uses Sascha as the example here XD;; ). Along with some mystical enscriptions, they return to London and get to work on the prophecy - namely, it suggests that 'the gentle one' (likely Saulot) will die at the hands of another, but arise in a new form, and will stop Gehenna that way. Etrius, one of the only Tremere left and having joined the Nephtali, goes 'fuck it what do I have to lose?' and goes to find whatever new form Saulot is in (potentially can also involve Goratrix here).

Hm. Well. Saulot is apparently in a research centre outside Sydney. Apparently we're mostly chill with vampires, aside from Christians XD Go figure!

Apparently it's a cloning facility. One of the rooms had, past tense, a child, successfully cloned six-year-old, who was in perfect physical form but vegetative from birth. Religious characters will pick up that it's because the kid's body didn't have a soul. Now, it does - Saulot's. Having been thrown out of Tremere's body when the Eldest took over, his soul fled until it could find the most suitable vessel - a soulless cloned body. No actual soul to have to subdue. Saulot ends up reborn, albeit in the form of a six-year-old and without any memories. Turns out, the child was taken by a cult of Thinbloods, believing him to be the messiah.

Sydney's messy situation gets described here! Short version, Sydney's Prince is/was Sarrasine, who was a Toreador. Except he wasn't a Toreador, it was a fairly open secret he was only POSING as a Toreador - he was actually a Caitiff. (Except he's not actually a Caitiff. He's a sixth-gen Setite. Sydney is Like That, yes.) Given Sydney's independence from the sects and its apparent Caitiff Prince, it's become a major site of Caitiff and Thinbloods, which Sarrasine is just thrilled about but can't do anything about because he doesn't want to actually go 'lol I'm a Setite'. Anyway, either way, everyone is unaware of Saulot's return, so the players seek out the little boy, who's pretty spooked and confused. Asks the characters, "Who are you? What is this place? What do all these people want?" and his third eye opens. Tada! Salubri Antediluvian, and like the prophecy mentioned, he's 'unholy' and 'a mockery in the face of God' - a clone.

Back to London with kid!Saulot. The Nephtali have been trying to work out what tf is going on. A researcher tried drinking from the vial. It was messy. The characters might get some downtime. Sarrasine's followers may attack to try and get the kiddo back. Either way, everyone goes to bed, and wakes up to find a Darkness having overtaken the sun, which is generally not good for anyone, and Lasombra characters are just, feels bad man. The Veil of Darkness means vampires can be up 24/7, along with other things that don't like sunlight, and I imagine things like... plants not being thrilled. Also probably very confused animals. I'm not sure if it's like a dark atmosphere, or a physical body between the sun and Earth that just eclipses it whatever vantage point you look from, or what? Disciplines like Auspex, Obfuscate, and Obtenebration go a bit fucky. Then, a few days later, everyone feels a... Summons. For low-generation vampires with still-living Antediluvians, it's strongest. Higher gens with destroyed Antes, not so bad. So I'm sure you can guess what's summoning them.

Yep. Antediluvians. Banu Haqim are getting summoned to Alamut instead so Ur-Shulgi can turn them into an army against the Antediluvians, so godspeed resisting that, Elijah.

Off to the city of Gehenna (it's nearish Jerusalem). Elders of all stripes have been heading there to kill their childer in hope of being rewarded by their Antediluvians to get their powers restored, which is terribly rude. Indeed, the Antediluvians basically go, hey, can you not, and also can you start Embracing more childer for our armies, because they're not very nice either. Pretty much all the characters have been summoned for their crimes against the Antediluvians, and now they're gathered before them - Set, [Lasombra], Ennoia, Absimiliard, Malkav (as like... a cluster of identical little girls with glowing eyes because of course Malkav would use the Creepy Child trope), and [Toreador], who's so beautiful no one can tell if they're male or female. When the players and child!Saulot get there, they question him, but he's literally a six-year-old boy and is spooked. He also has the vial, somehow. Set takes it, and Kiddo says, "Don't drink it. You'll burn up." So Set makes Kiddo drink it instead, because he's a nice guy like that.

Kiddo's third eye opens. A giant black throne appears. The dozen small girls that are Malkav say, "Father's home." Kiddo!Saulot says, "No, Father's dead." Girls start screaming so loud people start bleeding thick black blood from their ears and doesn't stop until Set kills all twelve. A random stranger, now with their glowing eyes, steps forward and basically goes 'wow rude'.

Powerful beam of light appears. The Antes (aside from Kiddo!Saulot) writhe in pain. Angel appears, asks Saulot if he's willing to atone for all vampires. He agrees. Throne explodes, Antes fuckin' die, and everyone promptly frenzies and tries to eat each other, because vampires. In the aftermath of that, vampirism basically... ends. The player characters may be rewarded by becoming human again, as do a lot of Thinbloods, but most everyone older just, uh, dies. Vampirism ends, but the Earth has been saved.

That is... hmm, bittersweet, I think. It's a pretty compelling chronicle, very dramatic, but it's much less character-based and is more, 'the characters get dragged along to Do Shit'. I kind of like the idea of it being a story involving the characters we know, but for original characters, I think Wormwood is a much more compelling scenario so far.

Chapter 5 - The Crucible of God: Okay I'm tired now and this is the 'rocks fall everyone dies' scenario so gonna skim-read this one.

This is the chapter that introduces the level 10 power for all disciplines - Plot Device. The Antediluvians can do shit because they feel like it. Whew. Also, if an Ante spots anyone of their blood line, they can just make them... explode and their blood gushes into their mouth. Monch monch. Spot another clan mate? Roll to avoid frenzy. Just woke up? Roll to avoid frenzy. Good times!

And then the Tzimisce Antediluvian awoke as a mass of Vicissitude flesh fungal infestation with tentacles and lampray mouths and stuff and ate anything in reach until it ate, uh, every living thing in Manhattan. In one night. Bad day tbh. Eventually it burns when the sun rises, but what's left underground is still there and shit's still messed up. Like picking a leaf off a dandelion and it starts bleeding. Trees with faces, swarms of insects forming into eyes and watching. Nice and creepy. In the aftermath, it's basically infecting every life form on Earth with Vicissitude, which is distinctly uncool.

Absimliard has an animal army and currently looks like a giant humanoid jellyfish.

Oh boy here's the Banu Haqim part XD;; Interestingly, it's a lot better for them! Haqim doesn't eat his childer, they feel themselves strongly bonded to him but still maintain their own minds and wills. Downside, anyone who doesn't follow Haqim alone gets hunted down so he can eat them, so Ur-Shulgi's probably having a field day at being vindicated and poor Pyre/Elijah is hiding tf under the bed. Plus side, it only lasts a few months before something kills Haqim, so hey! And there's genuinely a way to become human again, especially for high-humanity, high-gen vampires, so that actually would be a genuinely good outcome for Pyre/Elijah.

Malkavians end up as a giant hive mind. Like, more than usual. [Lasombra] covers the world in darkness, then it stops. Ennoia merges with the entire planet and starts eating people. And vampires. And Methuselah. And other Antediluvians. She's kinda hangry at this point.

Tremere attempts to rule the entire world using the Human Genome Project as the true name of the entirety of humanity. It lasts about two minutes before [Tzimisce] turns him into a meat crime, along with, uh, the entire rest of the world, aside from the players, who were part of Tremere's ritual and thus immune from it.

Also Saulot, who they just met in the form of a little old man.

Turns out, he planned it all along. Lured Tremere to him, knowing that his body was tainted by using Tzimisce blood to become a vampire. Knew that when the Eldest returned, he'd be succeptable, and Saulot would be able to bounce out when the Eldest took over. Now, he can lead the characters in the only way to stop Planet Tzimisce, which is, uh, prayer and letting themselves get eaten. Could actually work! And you end up human again in the bargain!

End result - all vampires gone. Some of the more human ones do end up human again. Either way, world's still fucked. Open Antediluvian rule for several months has destroyed most of humanity. There are still remnants - former Malkavians who are still a bit weird, former Tzimisce who are a bit... Vicissitudey. Ennoia's still around! She's mostly chill except when she occasionally feels like rearranging landscapes. Otherwise, it's time to recover.

Alternate endings - that last one wasn't depressing enough, so here's a scenario where All Is Tzimisce, here's one where there's global extinction of literally everything except the player characters who gradually drop into torpor and never recover (or just flat out burn if they're outside), or there's one where the players are the only vampires left and start a new cycle with them as the new Antediluvians or something, oh and Caine's still kicking and is Very Displeased that God won't let him die already. Gooood times!

Rest is how to basically play it, and character sheets. Which go back to calling Sascha ‘it’ again *sigh* (And using the whole alien look despite explicitly mentioning that they look human again. Of course.)

So, final thoughts! Gehenna is... an interesting scenario. Lots of possibility for introspection. It’s very... apocalyptic, and that may bother a lot of people, since, well, for the most part, it’s going to be the end of playing your character as a vampire. Which I figure most people are playing Vampire the Masquerade for. So it’s basically either a hell of a finale, or you just don’t make use of it.

Favourite scenario did end up being Wormwood. I just really like the introspection and opportunity for hope. Did also enjoy Nightshade, but in a different way, I think? Like for Nightshade, I’d rather read it as existing characters working together, maybe as a novel, whereas for Wormwood I’d want to play it since it’s such an intensely personal kind of thing.

(I also still want a slumber party AU ngl.)

#vampire the masquerade #vtm #gehenna

[eventidespirits]

Adam Allistair Freemont

Aliases: Edwin Lockhart, William Silva, Francis LaRue, Everett Brighton, James Fenwick

Apparent Age: "29"

Birthday: August 11th, 1897

Death Day: December 19th, 1926

Species: Vampire (Siren Bloodline)/Bloodbound Spirit

Gender: Cis Man

Pronouns: he/him

Sexuality: Primarily Heterosexual

Occupation: Photographer

Residence: Santa Marta, California; Morgan Kendrick's Psychic Realm

Universe: Primarily original lore but also Vampire the Masquerade where he's a Camarilla Toreador who defected to the Sabbat.

Appearance:

Height: 6'0

Build: Tall and lanky with angular shoulders and long limbs. He has a trim, lightly muscled physique with long delicate fingers and soft hands.

Eye Color: Luminous Yellow/Gold with slitted cat-like pupils and a darker, amber band around the edges.

Hair Color/Texture: Black, 1b hair texture. Just long enough for the ends to brush against his shoulders. Partially brushed back and parted to the right but a significant amount of his hair ends up falling into his face.

Face: Angular with a square jaw and high cheekbones. He has a mostly straight nose with a slight convex curve to the bridge. He has deep set eyes with heavy lids and dark circles and usually looks somewhat sleepy but in a strangely sensual way. Defined lips that are usually curved into a sadistic little smirk. He's quite attractive but in a way that feels vaguely dangerous or even predatory.

Distinguishing Characteristics: Adam has bright golden eyes with slitted cat-like pupils. He also has a rather large, jagged scar on his back, located between his shoulder blades. I'd include his *other* distinguishing characteristic but that's kinda NSFW ;)

Posture/Body Language: Confident, even arrogant, chin up, shoulders back but not in a way that looks particularly stiff. His body language is generally relaxed and easy, bringing to mind a big cat at rest -- there's always something about the way he moves that implies a predatory nature laying beneath his cool, collected surface. Adam walks with clear purpose and long, smooth strides and always knows how to make an entrance.

Voice: Soft and smooth with a deep timbre and confident inflection. Adam's voice is somewhat like poisoned honey or arsenic laced velvet -- smooth and sweet but with something slightly off.

Clothing Style: Adam prefers dark colors -- burgundy, blood red, black, charcoal, rich deep browns and the ocassional pop of gold or cream or a white dress shirt. He wears primarily expensive, tailored button downs made from things like silk, velvet or very high thread count cotton with the sleeves rolled up and the top three (or four) buttons undone. Sometimes with brocade, floral or striped patterns. If it's cooler out, he'll wear a black blazer or something similar. When it comes to pants, it's almost entirely black or charcoal tailored pants or pitch black jeans. He usually wears very few accessories -- a nice watch, a belt, a silver and garnet ring and a pendant on a thin silver or gold chain. Generally wearing pointed toe oxfords or other dress shoes. When it comes to outerwear, Adam generally prefers things like wool coats and the ocassional leather jacket (always real leather, too) (to get a better idea, check out his [Pinterest Board]

Skills

Social: Manipulation, Lying, Gaslighting, Flirting, Proper Etiquette, Public Speaking, Blame Shifting, Negging, Seduction

Physical: knife combat, some hand to hand combat, basic combat training (circa 1914), long range firearms/sniping, Ballroom Dancing, Fencing, Horseback riding, the carnal arts

Talents: Photography, Drawing, Poetry, Lying, Being an Asshole, Manipulation, Painting, Seduction, Sex

Knowledges: Fluent in French & Italian, Masters in Psychology (circa 1926), Photo Development (wet plate, autochrome, modern methods), some basic knowledge of financial law and property law

Hobbies: Photography, writing, breaking pretty girls, avoiding his deep-seated psychological issues, general hedonism

Special: Emotional Influence, Telepathy, Emotional Transference, Enhanced Stamina, Enhanced Strength, "Immortality", Enhanced Senses (esp sight), minor regeneration, sweet blood, emotional radar/supernatural empathy, hypnosis/mind control

Psyche

Strengths: Charismatic, quick-thinking, clever, good at understanding the thought processes of others, empathetic, deeply romantic, treats service workers well, dedicated, generally calm, high emotional intelligence, has critical thinking skills, polite*, can be incredibly sweet, adaptable, pays a lot of attention to his partners in bed, passionate, artistic, creative, protective

Weaknesses: selfish, self-absorbed, arrogant, manipulative, almost completley lacks compassion, disdain for basically everyone around him, dishonest, has a horrible temper, needs constant attention and praise, has a massive inferiority/superiority complex, overconfident, easily susceptible to flattery, deep-seated intimacy issues, can't stand being wrong, terrified of vulnerability, paranoid, detached from his own emotions/denies his own humanity, callous, sadistic, can be incredibly rude, actually a bit of a coward, condescending, possessive, jealous and generally kind of a dick.

Fears: genuine intimacy, abandonment/loneliness,true death, being buried alive

Goals: To finally create the perfect art piece (i.e., break someone in just the right way -- he's not even sure what this MEANS, he's just sure he'll "know" when he finally does it), to just enjoy his immortality.

Personality: On the surface, Adam seems likable enough -- at least, at first. He's incredibly charming and thoughtful, often anticipating people's wants before they're even able to articulate them, witty, intelligent and seemingly very polite...

But beneath that surface lurks a spoiled rich kid who learned early on in life that having money, being good looking and charming meant he could get away with almost anything. Adam is self-absorbed and arrogant and almost everything he does is a carefully crafted performance intended to get people on his side and manipulate them into doing what he wants.

Beneath even that, which he desperately tries to ignore, is a little boy who was spoiled by his mother and entirely ignored by his (largely absent) father -- a young man who was traumatized by being forced to fight in WWI and who is full of deep-seated fears and insecurities.

To make up for this, Adam is often sadistic towards the people around him -- but in that way where it's difficult to tell that he's actually being cruel until one looks back at the conversation.

He has difficulty genuinely connecting to others because of those insecurities and instead uses his powers as a Siren to make the people around him love and adore him-- no matter how badly he treats them.

Life

Best Memory: Being gifted his first camera, meeting his Maker.

Worst Memory: Somewhere between when he almost died during WWI and his actual death...

Biggest Achievement: Getting his Masters

Prized Possession: Silver and Garnet ring gifted to him by his Maker, his first camera, his black 2020 Ferrari Portofino (with the red leather interior), (he also has an engraved custom sniper rifle but a friend picked the model and shit for me and I cannot remember what it is for the life of me)

Favorite Color: Red, Gold

Favorite Food:

-Mortal Food: Partial to anything rich and flavorful, prefers food that's not pointlessly ostentatious (nothing coated in gold leaf, that's absurd), dry red wines, Italian Cream Cake, Eggs Benedict, Crepes Suzette

-Blood: Blood taken in the heat of the throes of passion from someone that's truly and deeply in love with and obsessed with him...

Favorite Scents: Blood, Gasoline, Cloves, Cinnamon, Resin, YSL Nuit, roses, vanilla, rain, the sharp smell of a cloudless winter night

Favorite Songs: Winter, 1st Movement - Vivaldi, Raindrops - Chopin, La Vie En Rose - Edith Piaf

Can't Leave Home Without: At least one knife somewhere on his person.

Birthplace: San Francisco, California

Childhood: Adam is the only child out of six in his family to survive to adulthood with four older siblings who had either in infancy, had been stillborn or died of tuberculosis when Adam was still too young to remember them. He had one younger sibling, a sister named Mary who was killed in an accident at the age of 6 when Adam was 8 years old. His parents were already a little bit older by the time he was born and his father was the owner of an incredibly lucrative railroad line and had profited greatly from the Gold Rush as well as owning multiple properties in San Francisco and neighboring Santa Marta...

Due to the loss of her other children, Adam's mother doted on him -- giving into his every whim, supplying him with the best education she could and basically just spoiling the ever loving fuck out of him. His father, on the other hand, was always busy with work and when he was home, had nothing but criticism for Adam who desperately tried to gain his approval to no avail.

Adolescence: Adam developed a passion for photography as a teenager and discovered that being good-looking, clever and rich meant he could get away with A LOT more than most people and also meant that he rarely heard "no" and accepted it as an answer even less often (though he rarely resorted to force to get his way, relying instead on bribery, flattery, blackmail and implied threats). All of this gave him quite an interest in psychology and he intended to become a clinical psychologist. During his adolescence, Adam would have a great many girlfriends and despite being a selfish and manipulative little shit, was actually not the world's worst boyfriend and no hint of the violent temper and genuine sadism he'd develop after being Changed.

Adulthood: Adam's education would be interrupted by the outbreak of WWI,which if asked he will describe as "incredibly distasteful and personally inconvenient." He was a skilled marksman and sniper but was otherwise unremarkable -- much to his father's disdain. After nearly dying in one of the trenches of France after taking a grievous bayonet wound in the last few months of the war, Adam would be sent back from the frontlines and would shortly begin work on continuing his education...

However -- despite the fact that he would complete all seven years necessary to get his degree, Adam's interest in becoming an actual psychologist wouldn't ever come to fruition. In 1925, he would meet Amelia Madeleine Smith -- an unbelievably beautiful and charming socialite from Santa Marta who would see Adam's potential as a source of money and influence for the Nightingale Court of Northern California. She would spend the next year carefully grooming him to become her protege -- manipulating him much in the same way he would later manipulate the women he dates as a vampire -- using emotional transference, mind control and mundane manipulation to cause him to fall madly in love with her... In December of 1925, Amelia would finally perform the ritual of transformation on him and bring Adam over into the world of the Supernatural.

Unfortunately for Adam, his Change would take nearly two weeks to complete -- two weeks spent in absolute agony beyond anything he'd experienced before. Amelia, believing the most important first step for a newly born vampire is to break their bonds to humanity would kidnap his mother during this change and leave her for him to kill upon waking. Adam would remain with Amelia (who used her bond as Adam's maker to control most of his actions and her abilities as a Siren to continue to influence his emotions) until 1980 when she was killed by a member of the Bram Park Wolf Pack in Santa Marta, leaving Adam behind. During this period, Adam would end up being "taken in" by a bonded pair of Stryza -- Camille Belikova and Lucy DeSantos and would act as their primary draw for new playthings.

Recent: Adam met Morgan Kendrick at the Velvet Box goth club in Santa Marta when Morgan was twenty two years old and would sweep her off her feet, intending to make her into his "masterpiece"... Three years into this relationship, Adam would finally Change Morgan, which would break the initial control he had over her and result in her, in a fit of rage, completely draining him and through a magical fluke, causing his spirit to become bonded/fused with her blood...

Recently, Adam's presence has disappeared from Morgan's psyche due to the machinations of Miss Belikova and her wife -- though it appears that the two of them are still inextricably linked in a way beyond the usual bond between Maker and Fledgling.

Relationships

Family: Lawrence Freemont (Father; Deceased), Anne Freemont (Mother; Deceased), Mary Freemont (Sister; Deceased)

Lovers: Amelia Smith (Maker; Deceased), Morgan Kendrick (Fledgling, Ex, Soulbond), Many other unnamed girls.

Friends: Camille Belikova, Lucille DeSantos, Jonathan Andreason

Enemies: Morgan Kendrick, the Bram Park Wolfpack

Acquaintances: Miranda Cortez (Queen of the Nightingale Court of Santa Marta)

Income: Moderately Wealthy

Vehicles: 2020 Ferrari Portofino

Residences: Penthouse Apartment in Vista Rosa, a small Victorian row house in Val Del Mar and a 1br/1ba apartment in Park Verde (all located in Santa Marta)

#about: Adam #Adam Freemont #character profile