“Chris”
Clan: Daeva
Covenant: Carthian
Bloodline: Septemi
Areas of Influence: Carthian, Ordo Dracul, enemies of the Lancea, mortal religious zealots
Enemies: the Lancea Sanctum.
Friends in the group: Raven
Rivals in the group: Arin (feigns friendship)
Patron: William, the Director
Former life: New Orleans PD
How we got here:
Chris’ mortality was spent as a beat cop in a poor area of New Orleans. It was here that Chris developed both a feeling of responsibility for the weaker and a contempt for the powerful oppressors of the world. Though Chris cherished a strong personal faith, resentment grew over the years due to the lack of help the city received, even when it would be desperately needed. This resentment grew and intensified to a point that it began to inhibit Chris’ career.
Chris was at a crossroads, forced to choose between what was right and what was tolerable to the Police hierarchy. As it turned out, though, fate or Providence intervened in the form of Chris’ Sire, Angelo Winter, a Septemi seeking a Progeny with a proper sense of justice. So, at the end of a particularly brutal night shift, Chris lost her life’s blood to Angelo and received the balm of undeath in return.
The life of the Septemi is not easy, though, and it was not long before Angelo fell—not long in the terms of an otherwise unending life, anyway. Chris had ten years with Angelo, long enough to learn Abjurism, as well as ways to disappear into a crowd and strike with sudden, brutal efficiency. Chris crossed the country, becoming briefly involved with coteries and Covenants before being driven off into hiding again by the Lancea. Finally, Chris settled into the Carthian Movement, as a passionate speaker for social justice that wandered from city to city. This proved the perfect cover.
Chris had stayed longer than intended in Los Angeles. The original plan was to blow up a few Lancea Black Masses or perhaps assassinate a Bishop before returning to the road. However, the longer Chris has spent in the City of Angels, the more apparent it has become that the entire city stands on the brink of civil war. Chris knows that such a war would be the perfect camouflage for a truly devastating attack on Lancea interests in California.
The others:
Although Mat’s belief in dream interpretation and adherence to the Crone is at its core objectionable to Chris, they have developed a mutual understanding based on exchanged information and belief in something, which it itself rare among the Kindred.
Chris feigns respect and admiration for Arin, but in honesty feels a great contempt bordering on fury whenever trapped in the presence of the rose knight. Chris has bigger targets in mind, though, and will only act against Arin if given the perfect opportunity.
Chris has mixed feelings for Fang; although Fang joins Chris in rejection of a corrupt system, Fang’s adherence to an anything-goes philosophy separates them.
Chris has a strange attraction to the free-wheeling, and yet pious Quinn, but Quinn’s claiming of Lancea philosophy insures they will always be driven apart in the end.
“Mat”
Clan: Mekhet
Covenant: Crone
Bloodline: Alucinor
Areas of Influence: Harpies, Crones, wealthy mortals seeking meaning.
Enemies: None.
Friends in the group: Chris
Rivals in the group: Raven
Patron: William, the Director
Former life: Futurist and amateur mathematician
How we got here:
Mat was a futurist, a pop “scientist” that claimed to be on the brink of all sorts of discoveries—cold fusion, quantum teleportation, internet that beamed straight into the brain. Mat did very little of the actual research, preferring instead to provide leadership and interviews. It was here where Mat caught the interest of a wandering Alucinor: claiming to see the future in dreams attracted the attention of a particular curious Kindred who eventually became Mat’s Sire.
Like most Alucinor, Mat’s sire felt little affection or concern, leaving Mat behind to find a way to rebuild.
Mat’s entire life had been spent chasing and cataloging Mat’s own dreams – the ability to draw on the minds of others became an addiction for a while and cost a considerable amount of sanity. Over time though, Mat managed to rebuild and recreate some of the old empire, now based around the reading and interpretation of dreams. These nights, Mat is as rich as ever, attended by small but loyal staff and deluged with wealthy clients.
Mat’s life is not entirely focused on dreams, though. The teachings and rituals of the Circle of the Crone have provided considerable direction and meaning, as well. Mat seeks to synergize the dream-truths of the Alucinor with the sorcery of the Crone, ideally by using a secret code that lurks in the backs of certain dreamers. Mat has discovered that many of the richest and most successful mortals dream the same dream – a cold, metal room, featureless and strange, and resounding with an unearthly ticking sound. Mat believes this to be a message from a higher plane, and there is an obsession growing in the back of Mat’s mind that may one day grow into full neurosis.
Los Angeles is Mat’s home. It is a place full of wealthy but quietly desperate people who come to Mat for meaning, and it is a place surprisingly full of mystic knowledge. Mat feels that L.A. will be an epicenter of the coming change and would not live elsewhere. Fortunately, most of the local kindred find Mat to be either insightful and useful, or a harmless eccentric, which results in few real enemies.
The others:
Chris keeps many secrets, which Mat is aware of and mildly disturbed by. Despite this, they are both creatures that believe in a better future and a sort of promised land, which bonds them together.
Mat is suspicious of Raven, finding the latter’s obsession with death and Ordo experimentation to be strange and potentially tainted.
Mat has maintained correspondence with Zohar, who Mat finds decadent and yet equally adept in things mystical. They respect, but do not trust each other.
Arin
Clan: Nosferatu
Covenant: Lancea
Bloodline: Twice Dead (“Sworn of the Rose”)
Areas of Influence: Lancea, Twice Dead, Mercenaries, Hitmen/Assassins
Enemies: None.
Friends in the group: Chris
Rivals in the group: Fang
Patron: William, the Director
Former life: Obscured by torpor and madness.
How we got here:
In times Arin can only remember in dream, a mortal walked the Earth that would one day become a monster. Arin was a warrior of some repute, angry and seething, and this is still remembered. Although Arin was a warrior in a time that respected them, this was shadowed undernearth the fact that Arin was a monster as well, long before any Embrace. Arin had wronged the Sire in some way, this is remembered. But how or why is long forgotten. Only waking up in tepid, stinking waste, clawing back to unlife, abandoned and alone.
Arin found meaning in the teachings of the Lancea, in the idea of being a monster and being meant to be a monster. Although the Nosferatu are always frightening and elusive, Arin’s raw physical power was at times useful to those in power, which resulted in a rise through the ranks. There was a time with a Nosferatu Prince; Arin was her right hand. But that was long ago, buried under memory and dream. Her face submerged, washed under the flood of time.
It was in the New World that Arin was taken again; the Stau-Au, or “twice dead”, chose Arin as a proper bearer of their bloodline. A choice was given: to be transformed and hung from a tree, or to simply meet the final death. Arin chose the first, but Arin was tricked. Though Arin continues in unlife, Arin’s spirit is broken and torn away. The Twice Dead seek an end to imitating humanity, a path to paradise. They are monsters, well, and truly. Arin should have felt at home but instead escaped, fleeing back to civilization.
The City of Angels is a strange place for one truly monstrous. Arin has gone down a path from which there is literally no escape, no chance of turning back. Denial is strong, though, and so Arin tried to resume a life like that before being taken by the Twice Dead. The litanies of the Lancea, spoken so fervently, taste of ash in Arin’s mouth. There is no hope, no meaning. But still, Arin hides, claiming a bloodline of chivalry and honor (“Sworn of the Rose”) instead of the dark truth.
The others:
Chris is beautiful and kind, and always respectful to Arin despite Arin’s scars and rages. If Arin were human, words like love might be appropriate, but surely they are not?
Arin and Fang are both rivals for the title of the nastiest Kindred in the room. Though they feel respect for each other in an abstract sense, either would not hesitate the kill the other.
Mat’s wisdom inspires great respect in Arin, but Arin always fears that Mat can see through Arin’s many deceptions.
Eder
Clan: Ventrue
Covenant: Invictus
Bloodline: Architects of the Monolith
Areas of Influence: Business, Invictus, Architects, Construction
Enemies: Anarchists, Socialists
Friends in the group: Raven
Rivals in the group: Mat, Zohar
Patron: William, the Director
Former life: House refurbisher
How we got here:
Eder was once a master of real estate. Starting small by rebuilding a single home and then realizing massive profit, it was not long before a massive fortune was gathered. Eder had all of trappings of success, but would often go to sleep feeling that this success was empty. This led to a study of the occult. How things would have ended up if Eder had stayed this course is hard to say; however, a habit of aggressive purchasing and selling caught the eye of the Invictus, and Eder was soon targeted for Embrace.
Eder’s Sire is Solomon, a handsome man with dark skin and a shadowed demeanor that nonetheless has stayed close to Eder, providing guidance and help through the murky realities of Kindred politics. Solomon has also provided a different kind of “guidance”, serving as an almost gravitational pull into the orbit of the Architects of the Monolith and their shared madness.
The Architects all wish to change the world, and they all cooperate to do so, being blood bonded to their founder. Solomon was chosen to open a new chapter in the City of Angels, which though not a proper metropolis in the minds of the New York and Chicago members of the Architects, still had great potential in the founder’s mind. Solomon travelled, and Eder attended him. They were able to quickly gain power, exploiting their Ventrue and Invictus connections.
These days, Eder is more concerned with mortal matters, with the Architects serving as a sort of shadow city government. Their primary concern is with creating the proper buildings and monuments, but Eder’s strong business sense helps with making their guidance beneficial in the overall sense as well. Eder’s position as Hound is not appreciated but Solomon feels it is necessary to maintain appearances.
The others:
Eder feels Mat’s “wisdom” is pap and nonsense, and feels a strong dislike for the mystic as well as contempt for those who listen to him.
Zohar’s sorcery easily rivals Eder’s, which disturbs Eder far more than is easily admitted. Zohar’s decadent lifestyle is equally offensive to the more tightly-wound Ventrue.
Although Raven’s tradition is clearly different than Eder’s, a careful demeanor and studious nature earns the Malkavian respect as Eder’s peer.
Although Arin is violent and, in Eder’s mind, somewhat stupid, one cannot dispute that the Nosferatu is both talented and using those talents in the appropriate arena. This pleases Eder.
Quinn
Clan: Gangrel
Covenant: Lancea
Bloodline:Ravnos
Areas of Influence: Few. Carnies and the homeless, on a good day.
Enemies: Any or none, depending on who can take a joke.
Friends in the group: Chris, Fang
Rivals in the group: Eder, Arin
Patron: Ezekiel, the Prophet
Former life: Carnival Worker (or so Quinn claims). Actually lived a very normal life.
How we got here:
Quinn was born in an average suburb to average parents. Life moved in a soothing, ordinary cadence with decent grades, an average girlfriend, and a likely destiny as a Middle Manager. If Quinn were to tell the story, it would be one of quiet despair and misery but in truth Quinn was a fundamentally happy mortal. A certain point was reached, when Quinn was steadily working through community college while serving as a manager at the local McDonalds, when Quinn drew the attention of a dark, mad stranger.
Quinn’s sire is lost to the mists, but it was a truly powerful vampire that empowered Quinn with more power than should be possible to a neonate. Somehow, Quinn caught the attention of a Ravnos coterie and was adopted as “family” by a brutal gang of miscreants. It was in this time that Quinn began to manufacture a darker, edgier life in favor of the original. The mannerisms and dress of a carnie, as much as still exist these days, became Quinn’s choice of self-expression.
The Ravnos Coterie collapsed after a time under the weight of dueling egos and trickster feuds. Quinn spent some time as a nomad after this, wandering the highways and byways. In this time, Quinn made some friends among the ordinary Gangrel, and slowly integrated into society. Some leftover remains Quinn’s mortal life led him to the Lancea as the next best thing to a ‘proper’ church. This choice had led to difficulty over the years as Quinn does not have the correct personality for the Lancea but stubbornly insists on staying regardless.
Quinn is a newcomer to the City of Angels but a prominent one, due mostly to fortunate circumstance. On one hand, the appointment as Harper’s Jester seems a bad joke, but on the other Quinn is quietly determined to make it work. A past life of dissembling and wandering makes it seem unlikely, but anything is possible. Quinn feels honor-bound to make the best of this opportunity, but fears that it is only a matter of time before it ends in blood and ash.
The others:
Quinn still maintains a hope for the future, believing that the concerns of the kindred are all temporal and fleeting things. This ties Quinn and Chris together, but Chris seethes with secretes and danger – unfortunately, this makes connection all the stronger for the bored Ravnos.
Fang’s hatred of rules and social structures is music to Quinn’s ears, though there is no assurance that the admiration is mutual.
Arin and Eder both seek to control those around them, which Quinn finds reprehensible. However, their power must be respected, so any action taken against them is quiet and subtle.
Pererro 