Post by Xaos on Aug 5, 2018 1:35:01 GMT
Character Name: Liya the Restless
Character Type: NPC
Supernatural Type: Vampire
Concept: Vitae Vintner
Nature: Gallant
Demeanor: Caregiver
Morality: Humanity 5
Clan: Ventrue
Sect: Camarilla
Titles: Keeper of Elysium, Ventrue Primogen
Physical Appearance:
Personality:
Biography:
Attributes:
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 2
Stamina: 3
Charisma: 4 (Soothing Presence)
Manipulation: 4 (Nurture Dependence)
Appearance: 3
Perception: 4 (Watchful)
Intelligence: 3
Wits: 4 (Rarely caught off-guard)
Abilities:
Alertness: 3
Academics: 1
Awareness: 3
Brawl: 1
Crafts: 5 (winemaking, Vitae vintning, weaving, jewelry making, bodycrafts)
Empathy: 4 (Cater to needs)
Etiquette: 4 (Camarilla)
Expression: 3
Grace: 3
Herbalism: 1
Instruction: 3
Intimidation: 4 (Intuit anxieties and fears)
Intuition: 2
Investigation: 3
Larceny: 1
Law: 2
Leadership: 4 (Beloved Matriarch)
Linguistics: 5 (Ge’ez, Greek, Arabic, Aramaic, English, Portuguese)
Lip Reading: 2
Medicine: 2
Meditation: 2
Occult: 2
Performance: 2 (dance, lyre)
Persuasion: 3
Politics: 4 (Camarilla)
Subterfuge: 3
Backgrounds:
Age: 5
Allies: 5
Generation: 5
Domain 2 (size 1, security 1)
Domain 4 (size 2, security 2)
Haven 2 (Security, Arcane, Occult)
Haven 3 (Security, Luxury, Location, Occult, Guards, Staff)
Herd 5
High Influence 2 (Mandaean Refugee Community, Historical Music Company)
Lore: 2 (Vampire, Camarilla, Ventrue)
Resources: 3
Status: 5
Disciplines:
Auspex 4
Dominate 5
Fortitude 5
Presence 5
Elder Discipline Powers:
Dominate 6 (Loyalty)
Dominate 7 (Still the Mortal Flesh)
Dominate 8 (Far Mastery)
Dominate 9 (Speak through the Blood)
Fortitude 6 (Personal Armor)
Fortitude 7 (Shared Strength)
Virtues:
Conscience: 4
Self-Control: 3
Courage: 3
Willpower: 6
Maximum Blood Points/Blood per turn: 15/3
Character Type: NPC
Supernatural Type: Vampire
Concept: Vitae Vintner
Nature: Gallant
Demeanor: Caregiver
Morality: Humanity 5
Clan: Ventrue
Sect: Camarilla
Titles: Keeper of Elysium, Ventrue Primogen
Physical Appearance:
Lines of intentionally made scars run in precise, aesthetic patterns all along Liya’s warm, dark skin and pleasantly soft face. Those unfamiliar with the Abyssinian people often mistake her blonde hair and blue eyes as artifice, and assume her scarification and her unusual style of dress are an affectation. In fact, Liya’s appearance always has been and still is in line with the styles of her ancient home of Axum. A devout Mandaean to his night, Liya often sports charms and medallions associated with the ancient faith. In previous centuries her insistence on clinging to these fashions of her mortal days had been something of an obstacle, but in modern nights she more often gets compliments than condemnations from mortals.
Personality:
For a woman who has been stone dead for nearly a millennium and a half, Liya manages to project an impressive amount of warmth. Often mistaken for a Toreador, Liya plays down the stereotypical Ventrue prim high-handedness but is no less devoted to her Clan’s traditions, nor no less revered in the Clan, for her unorthodox approachability.
Also very unusually for a Venture elder, Liya takes a great deal of satisfaction in serving others’ needs. Like the world’s most effective mom, however, the sort of service she offers gives her more power over those she serves, rather than the other way around. Those who fail to look past the surface will be surprised when they discover how effective Liya is at maintaining and expanding her power within the Camarilla’s ruthless hierarchy. Affection and gratitude, both given and received, are some her most dangerous political weapons.
Also very unusually for a Venture elder, Liya takes a great deal of satisfaction in serving others’ needs. Like the world’s most effective mom, however, the sort of service she offers gives her more power over those she serves, rather than the other way around. Those who fail to look past the surface will be surprised when they discover how effective Liya is at maintaining and expanding her power within the Camarilla’s ruthless hierarchy. Affection and gratitude, both given and received, are some her most dangerous political weapons.
Biography:
Liya was born into a noble family of the ancient kingdom of Axum circa 610 CE, though she was not given that particular name until later in life. As was the Axumite custom, on achieving the age of thirteen she was sent to live as a servant for another noble family for five years; as part of this custom the family would rename the young woman for the duration of her service, and this was the manner in which Liya gained her current name. After the prescribed period of service ended, however, Liya exercised an option that was much more unusual. Having found that she had a talent for many of the tasks she’d been given, that the other servants looked to her for guidance and that the family she served took her advisements seriously, she did not want to return home where all that awaited her was an arranged marriage. Additionally, she had converted to Mandaeism after being taught its tenets from fellow servants, rejecting the Orthodox Christianity she would be expected to return to as a noble. Thus she chose to renounce her noble name and birthrights, binding herself permanently in service to her host household as Liya.
Several more years would pass before the vampire that would become Liya’s sire arrived in her masters’ household. Being an expert vintner, the Kindred had traveled from his current home in Constantinople. A massive force of Arabs were at present conquering the Persian Empire and the conquerors’ recently-deceased unifier, a man who’d claimed to be a new prophet of God, had declared alcohol sinful. Thus the vampire had endeavored to journey southward and acquire a large supply of the region’s various wines before access was cut off.
Upon arriving in the noble household that was most renowned in Axum for its wine, the vampire discovered Liya to be the most skilled of the vintners there. Several nights more revealed to his keen Ventrue sense for power dynamics, that not only was this young woman the unspoken first among the servants but that she in many ways influenced the householders without them realizing. Deciding that he must also bring Liya back to Byzantium, the Ventrue used his powers of persuasion, both natural and supernatural, to purchase not only wine from the householders but Liya’s serfdom as well.
Liya’s sire did not Embrace her immediately, instead using her mortality to ease the difficult task of Kindred travel. Once back in Constantinople, he was able to parlay the favor gained from retrieving the wine into permission to Embrace. Liya underwent the traditional Ventrue education process of Agoge, and stayed by her sire’s side for centuries in Constantinople. During this time she first learned, then helped her sire further develop, the art of enhancing donated Kindred Vitae for more nourishing and enjoyable consumption.
Liya and her sire stayed in Constantinople long after both its mortal and Kindred governments had started to decline. During the final conquest of the city by the Ottomans, Liya’s sire was forced into a torpor from which he has never awakened. Some say this is why Liya herself has, unusually for a vampire her age, never allowed herself to enter torpor; hence her popular descriptor, “the Restless.” Though for Ventrue the name carries a somewhat more sinister connotation, since there is a tendency for many Ventrue elders’ taste in blood to become so rarified that they can only be satisfied by Kindred Vitae. This shift can be countered with voluntary torpor, thus Liya’s title announces to all that she drinks only vampire blood.
This shift in her undead metabolism occurred as she traveled Europe after Constantinople’s fall. Not long into these journeys, the Anarch Revolt broke out and, by a twist of fate, Liya found herself at Thorns for the founding of the Camarilla. It didn’t take long for Liya to be appointed one of the first Keepers of Elysium, a title she would hold in dozens of cities over the coming centuries. Though some more conservative domains were repulsed by her practice of buying and selling Kindred Vitae for boons, more Princes were pleased by the decrease in frenzies and Masquerade breaches while feeding brought about by Liya’s trade. Since the Camarilla’s foundation, Liya has sired multiple childer in every city where she has resided, and these nights she is the matriarch of a sizable Ventrue lineage.
Liya came to Oddhaven specifically to serve as Keeper in payment for a boon she owed a powerful elder for donating his blood. She has since also been named Ventrue Primogen, and is well respected in both roles. She is a constant presence at Elysium and is generally considered the most approachable of the local Camarilla elders by Oddhaven’s neonates. However, despite being much friendlier than the average Camarilla elder, she is no less traditional for it.
Several more years would pass before the vampire that would become Liya’s sire arrived in her masters’ household. Being an expert vintner, the Kindred had traveled from his current home in Constantinople. A massive force of Arabs were at present conquering the Persian Empire and the conquerors’ recently-deceased unifier, a man who’d claimed to be a new prophet of God, had declared alcohol sinful. Thus the vampire had endeavored to journey southward and acquire a large supply of the region’s various wines before access was cut off.
Upon arriving in the noble household that was most renowned in Axum for its wine, the vampire discovered Liya to be the most skilled of the vintners there. Several nights more revealed to his keen Ventrue sense for power dynamics, that not only was this young woman the unspoken first among the servants but that she in many ways influenced the householders without them realizing. Deciding that he must also bring Liya back to Byzantium, the Ventrue used his powers of persuasion, both natural and supernatural, to purchase not only wine from the householders but Liya’s serfdom as well.
Liya’s sire did not Embrace her immediately, instead using her mortality to ease the difficult task of Kindred travel. Once back in Constantinople, he was able to parlay the favor gained from retrieving the wine into permission to Embrace. Liya underwent the traditional Ventrue education process of Agoge, and stayed by her sire’s side for centuries in Constantinople. During this time she first learned, then helped her sire further develop, the art of enhancing donated Kindred Vitae for more nourishing and enjoyable consumption.
Liya and her sire stayed in Constantinople long after both its mortal and Kindred governments had started to decline. During the final conquest of the city by the Ottomans, Liya’s sire was forced into a torpor from which he has never awakened. Some say this is why Liya herself has, unusually for a vampire her age, never allowed herself to enter torpor; hence her popular descriptor, “the Restless.” Though for Ventrue the name carries a somewhat more sinister connotation, since there is a tendency for many Ventrue elders’ taste in blood to become so rarified that they can only be satisfied by Kindred Vitae. This shift can be countered with voluntary torpor, thus Liya’s title announces to all that she drinks only vampire blood.
This shift in her undead metabolism occurred as she traveled Europe after Constantinople’s fall. Not long into these journeys, the Anarch Revolt broke out and, by a twist of fate, Liya found herself at Thorns for the founding of the Camarilla. It didn’t take long for Liya to be appointed one of the first Keepers of Elysium, a title she would hold in dozens of cities over the coming centuries. Though some more conservative domains were repulsed by her practice of buying and selling Kindred Vitae for boons, more Princes were pleased by the decrease in frenzies and Masquerade breaches while feeding brought about by Liya’s trade. Since the Camarilla’s foundation, Liya has sired multiple childer in every city where she has resided, and these nights she is the matriarch of a sizable Ventrue lineage.
Liya came to Oddhaven specifically to serve as Keeper in payment for a boon she owed a powerful elder for donating his blood. She has since also been named Ventrue Primogen, and is well respected in both roles. She is a constant presence at Elysium and is generally considered the most approachable of the local Camarilla elders by Oddhaven’s neonates. However, despite being much friendlier than the average Camarilla elder, she is no less traditional for it.
Attributes:
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 2
Stamina: 3
Charisma: 4 (Soothing Presence)
Manipulation: 4 (Nurture Dependence)
Appearance: 3
Perception: 4 (Watchful)
Intelligence: 3
Wits: 4 (Rarely caught off-guard)
Abilities:
Alertness: 3
Academics: 1
Awareness: 3
Brawl: 1
Crafts: 5 (winemaking, Vitae vintning, weaving, jewelry making, bodycrafts)
Empathy: 4 (Cater to needs)
Etiquette: 4 (Camarilla)
Expression: 3
Grace: 3
Herbalism: 1
Instruction: 3
Intimidation: 4 (Intuit anxieties and fears)
Intuition: 2
Investigation: 3
Larceny: 1
Law: 2
Leadership: 4 (Beloved Matriarch)
Linguistics: 5 (Ge’ez, Greek, Arabic, Aramaic, English, Portuguese)
Lip Reading: 2
Medicine: 2
Meditation: 2
Occult: 2
Performance: 2 (dance, lyre)
Persuasion: 3
Politics: 4 (Camarilla)
Subterfuge: 3
Backgrounds:
Age: 5
Allies: 5
Liya is the sire, grandsire, great grandsire and great, great grandsire of many dozens of Ventrue. All feel a great loyalty and affection towards their matriarch and Liya’s brood remains a worldwide political asset to her.
Generation: 5
Domain 2 (size 1, security 1)
Liya’s personal domain, an apartment deep in the heart of the Portuguese Quarter.
Domain 4 (size 2, security 2)
Oddhaven’s Elysium: a repurposed Southside theater. The stage serves as a perfect place for a speaker to address the assembled Kindred, and the theater seats have been removed to be replaced by tables, chairs, ottomans, couches and divans.
Haven 2 (Security, Arcane, Occult)
Liya’s personal Haven, an apartment deep in the heart of the Portuguese Quarter. This apartment lies in one of the Quarter’s oldest buildings and lives up to the cliché of the Portuguese Quarter containing incredibly difficult to find, and often forgotten, apartments.
Haven 3 (Security, Luxury, Location, Occult, Guards, Staff)
Oddhaven’s Elysium: a repurposed Southside theater. The stage serves as a perfect place for a speaker to address the assembled Kindred, and the theater seats have been removed to be replaced by tables, chairs, ottomans, couches and divans. Liya is almost always present in Elysium, insuring it remains available as a place of safety for Camarilla Kindred throughout the night. A number of blood dolls are available to Kindred while in Elysium, both as meals and as servants. Liya also sells Kindred Vitae here, serving the rich, dark substance in exquisite glasses. A trivial boon buys a glass of neonate blood, minor boons purchase ancilla blood and major boons are needed to taste elder blood. Liya also offers her own blood, which she, with justification, claims is the most rarified in Oddhaven, in exchange for a Blood boon. However, she is also known to give her blood freely to the badly injured, her own brood and individual Kindred who she finds particularly entertaining. Liya keeps a keen recollection of whose blood she last fed to whom and pacing out servings from the same source, insuring that Blood Bonds from this practice never progress beyond the first step. Apart from when its her own, she never reveals whose Vitae she is serving. Elysium’s primary watchdog is Liya’s ghoul, Dougey McAdams. Once an aspiring Olympic wrestler, Dougey’s career ended in disgrace when he was discovered to be using steroids. His primary purpose is to immobilize a hostile individual through his iron-like holds. (Dougey’s is a rating 5 Stock NPC and his specialties are: Brawl, Melee, Alertness, Athletics, Investigation)
Herd 5
Between her sprawling lineage and the Boons she carefully cultivates, Liya maintains a steady supply of Kindred Vitae that not only allows her to secure her own sustenance, but to stock Elysium as well.
High Influence 2 (Mandaean Refugee Community, Historical Music Company)
While the presence of the Mandaean faith has never shrunk in Liya’s heart, its presence in the world has significantly. When Iraq, which contains the largest remaining Mandaean communities in the world, was plunged into violent strife, Liya saw to it that Oddhaven would welcome the Mandaean refugees. The Mandaean families dwell in various Oddhaven neighborhoods, giving Liya the advantage of almost always being near mortals who feel perpetually indebted to her. In order to acquire the Elysium property without leaving a trail for other Sects to follow, Liya established an arts grant fund under which to make the purchase. Since then she had used the fund to establish a theater company that recreates the music and dances of her mortal youth. Said company has earned some amount of international acclaim.
Lore: 2 (Vampire, Camarilla, Ventrue)
Resources: 3
Status: 5
As a Methuselah who has been with Camarilla since its inception, and as the matriarch of large Ventrue lineage, Liya commands great respect in her Sect.
Disciplines:
Auspex 4
Dominate 5
Fortitude 5
Presence 5
Elder Discipline Powers:
Dominate 6 (Loyalty)
Dominate 7 (Still the Mortal Flesh)
Dominate 8 (Far Mastery)
Dominate 9 (Speak through the Blood)
Fortitude 6 (Personal Armor)
Fortitude 7 (Shared Strength)
Virtues:
Conscience: 4
Self-Control: 3
Courage: 3
Willpower: 6
Maximum Blood Points/Blood per turn: 15/3