Characters

Along with Prince Gregory Hammond-Doyle, Martia Belle is the only remnant of a coterie of six which founded the Kindred aspects of Couer D'Alene City and its affiliated environs. Though not as ancient as her compatriat, Ennui (as she is known in the technological era) has made up for age in experience.

For the past two centuries, Ennui has been an easily-forgotten hermit, living within the Rack of the city. Many of the other Kindred knew she hid there, pursuing whatever small aesthetic hobby met her current interest; from children's books to internet pornography, Ennui has done it all.

What has only come recently to light is Ennui's past, before Idaho was settled. Few who know her now can imagine as she was then; more than an adventurer, a spy, a thrill-seeker and assassin, she was an action hero. She had been a team, her Sire and her. But his death during the thrill of danger led to her burn-out, and now she could be considered no more than retired and reluctant to return.

Even now, as the Sabbat rattle at the gates to the city, Ennui defies the urge to return to arms. The intoxication of skirmage and peril may tease at her, but she has spent years disciplining herself. Her dabbling in a thousand arts was merely to distract her mind from a love of a life she wants nothing more of.

The Camarilla would be impressed to discover that the eldest three of Ennui's childer are all of her generation; whether by coincidence or something more blood-inherent, her eldest three all have histories of diablerie. Her eldest childe, the late Prince Winslow, was the only one who committed diablerie intentionally and on a regular basis. Lullabye has only done it once; during frenzy. Lola committed the sin both in frenzy and before she truly became Lola "Lucky" Wright. They have managed to get away from this darkest crime only by fortune of their bloodline: Ennui's and her progeny do not show the tell-tale signs of Diablerie upon their auras.

Prince Winslow discovered this dubious blessing long before her Sire did. By the time she had taken over the reigns of the city, she had become addicted to Diablerie, of the pleasures of devouring the soul. Her generation had become closer to Caine. Worried that her secret might be discovered (and it would surely cost her Princedom, if not her existence), Winslow entreatied her Sire to remove herself from the City's politics. If anyone compared Sire and Childe and noticed that they shared equal generation, Winslow would lose everything. To keep Ennui quiet, Prince Winslow gave her the Rack and the right to create a single childe to keep her busy.

That childe was Sonja Winters, a dancer Ennui found at a strip club, who used the moniker "Lullabye" as a stage name. Since her Embrace in 1990, Lullabye has kept mostly within the Rack. She was considered a spoiled fledgeling, having never been weaned from the easy huntings and pleasures of the Rack. Little was known of the neonate by the other Kindred until recently, when her Sire was kidnapped by a Giovanni inspector.

Lullabye was charged with her recovery. Within a week, she had become the most talked-of Kindred in the town. From the original seventeen Cainite residents, she assembled a makeshift coterie, finding alliances from the peaks of power (such as the Sheriff Valentine) through the forgotten neonates (such as the street-savvy Rose) down to the dregs of lowliness (the Nosferatu Creep, Ulrich).

Most saw her efforts of rescue a quaint but foolhardy pursuit, fuelled by impetuous youth. Many more believed that Ennui's disappearance was entirely intentional from the Rake; that the dabbler had merely left town for whatever silent reason. There are no end to the shock and amazement when Lullabye returned, bloodied and powerful, striding forward in the wake of a dozen disasters, valiantly holding her Sire in one hand, and the future of the city in the other.

In the City of Couer D'Alene, Rose serves as the existing reminder of the punishments that can be branded to those who would break the Masquerade. In her life, she had been a tattoo artist who had dabbled in Hedge Magic, mixing potions and brews into her inks to enchant customers and friends. Her magick was small, limited to subtle charms and influences. Indeed, many valued the sublime artistry of her tattoos over the nuance of their powers.

In truth, Rose was admired by two different Cainite during her mortals years. Both Toreador and Tremere Primogen had watched her from the distance. But it was Donovan Black who was given the right to Sire first, and his "theft" of Rose would forever isolate the two from hence forward.

Elias Cage's loss of Rose gnawed on him completely, and in the coming years, he would throw many obstacles politically against both Black and his fledgeling. His greatest vindication came when he realized that Rose was still practicing her tattoos on mortals, now mixing vitae into the inks to make ghouls. He warned the Prince that this reckless creation--as well as the supernatural effects the tattoos bore--were a violation of the First Tradition.

Prince Sebastion agreed, though he felt that it was too small a breach to warrant Final Death. Instead, he forever ruled that Rose could not practice her skill on mortals any more. She could not even interact with the mortal society any more. All her customers and ghouls were gathered and destroyed--even her animal companions. To this day, she serves as reminder to the rest of the city how the Masquerade can be broken in a myriad of ways.

Rose has borne her punishment commendably. In time, she earned the respect of the Harpies for never speaking ill of her situation. In truth, many believe that Rose's farcical cynicism mentality prepared her in this endeavor. She is known by her witty observations of the world and its denizens, a dry and somewhat ironic humor.

Those who know Rose well realize that she is amazingly introspective. While she shuns the political landscape of the City, she has mastered much of her self. Her emotions, opinions, desires, and motivations seem much reflected-upon. She is a very balanced woman, and if anything should surprise her, it could only come from outside her mind.

Rose was Lullabye's first ally in the search for the missing Ennui. She has remained a stable support, despite her Primogen Sire's growing opposition for Lullabye and her bloodline.

The history of Lola "Lucky" Wright should be more examined through the separate study of LeRoy "Lucky" Valentine and the Gangrel Ghoul, Lola Wright. Valentine was Couer D'Alene's Sheriff since the conception of the city's first Elysium. He had served both the Brujah Prince Sebastion and the Toreador Prince Winslow admirably. During the times of strife, he had kept chaos to a minimum. During the day-to-day life, Valentine had been a comforting shadow patrolling the streets.

Embraced during the age of railroad construction, Valentine had been the mercenary overseer of a chain gang. Although for a century, he was believed to be a Malkavian, only post-humously was his blood questioned. His Sire suffered from a Post-Partum Depression derangement, and after his Embrace, she destroyed herself. Many believe that what drove her to destruction was the realization that she had Sired a Caitiff, not a true Malkavian.

Yet there was enough to disguise Valentine as a Lunatic, both to others and himself. The death of his Sire so early in fledgehood caused Valentine to acquire an Overcompensation derangement. The overwhelming fear of failing always followed him closely; when he frenzied, it was more often out of frustration and an exagerrated need to "repair" what he had broken, more than for hunger or anger.

Others saw this insanity and never doubted his belief of being Malkavian. Though, in retrospect, there were much evidense to the contrary. When Camarilla Malkavians became infected by the Sabbat Dementation Discipline, LeRoy maintained his knowledge of Domination. He commonly professed that other Malkavians frightened him, and he was never known to be affected by their Hive Mind.

In the end, the truth of his blood was never fully documented. His death ignited an explosion which rocked and shocked the docks of the city, suffering a violent and immediate demise. Lullabye and Rose, the only witnesses to his murder, knew that there was no possible way of survival from being in the focus of that explosion.

Comparably, little can be said of Lola Wright. She was a fourteen-year old girl, who grew up alone on the streets as a savage. Francois, Gangrel Seneschal at the time, took interest in her bestial ways--seeing a reflection within her of the Cainite Beast. He ghouled her and kept her as a pet, something to study and amuse himself with.

When the Gangrel withdrew from the city's politics, they also chose to purge their ranks of Anglo-Saxon influence. Lola Wright was emptied out on the streets. For many years, she strived to keep her ghoulish nature, and many Kindred took pity on her and fed her vitae in hopes that she would scamper away and leave them alone.

After a while, CDA vampires began to ignore her. She fled to Spokane, where there was a much larger community to pester and please. She managed to keep herself alive for ten years, where upon a Giovanni finally took her in. But he had no need for a pet. He desired her for a much crueller purpose: a grisly display.

Having procured Ennui from Couer D'Alene, Inspector Lorenzo Giovanni had assembled representatives from five Sabbat Clans. Desiring to sell Ennui to the highest bidder, he needed to prove that her bloodline possessed both veiled auras and that this trait was genetic. He forced Ennui to sire the ghoul, and then manipulated the ravenous fledgeling into diablerizing Prince Winslow--another captive--out of hunger. Finally, he presented the lowly creature for supernatural examination to prove the bloodline's authenticity.

Sadly, Lola's existence as a vampire was short-lived. When LeRoy's spirit (Summoned by Ennui blindly, frenzying in a rage of Overcompensation) crashed the party with a semi-truck, Lorenzo decided to quickly clean the board of his proceedings. Activating a ritual, he attempted to destroy his attackers by sucking their souls to Oblivion.

While Ennui, Lullabye, Rose and Ulrich were able to resist the Necromancy long enough to slay Lorenzo Giovanni, the newly Embraced Lola could do no such thing. Her soul was quickly devoured into Oblivion.

When Ennui--still unknowing of Valentine's demise--Summoned LeRoy again, his spirit was able to enter Lola's empty shell and speak through her. Lullabye, having temporary mastered some manner of Necromancy after diablerizing the Giovanni, was able to reconnect Valentine's soul to Lola's body. In effect, she reincarnated the Sheriff into Lola's body.

Today, Lola "Lucky" Wright bears Valentine's soul and personality, caged within a little girl's body. Valentine had been a gruff Negroid mercenary, prone to cursing and cherishing the non-weird moments of simple existence. But trapped in a little girl's body, existence is hardly simple or non-weird for the born-again Neonate.

The Holocaust, Shoah, was not just a blemish on mortal history. Vampires, with their immortal lives, are affected just as well by what happened during that war. The gypsy Ravnos and the Kabbalistic Tremere still remember how their kine were oppressed and destroyed by Tzimisce and Tremere Antitribu agents working for Hitler's regime. And while mortal survivors of both sides are now dying out, the passing of five decades mean little to the vampires once involved.

Ulrich was a mortal scientist working in his native Fatherland when World War II began. A loyalist peer accused him early on being a homosexual, a claim that would easily cost him his career if not his life. Ulrich's superiors would trustled him on to the Concentration camps to join the Jews and Gypsies had he not offered his austere services in aiding the Nazi Regime.

Many authorities, both living and undead, desire Ulrich's current whereabouts, for his services was a most fatal one. He was a geneolist, examining individuals' family trees, tracing through the lines in search of Semetic ancestery. In a time where even a single Jewish parent could lead to death, such a profession was an unloved one. That he also stood by while other homosexuals were put to death would forever ostracize him from that secret sexual society.

Nosferatu love Embracing those with physical or emotional degenerance, and the Sabbat branch is no exception. He was sired by a woman known as Josephine, who wished to both punish him and gift him for his cowardice. His professional skills were admired by superiors however, and he was snatched from her influences to join a pack devoted deeply into Holocaust affairs.

He joined a Pack composed entirely of Tremere antitribu and a couple of Tzimisce (while these two clans are commonly at each others' throats, they often have the same predilection for experimentation). The Pack was devoted to understanding vitae. They used Holocaust victims to isolate and study the effects of various clans and various vitae. Hannelbrecht knowledge of genetics--still a budding science then--was used in paralleling the occult experiments.

When World War II was over and Hitler's aides being rounded up by the victorious, the vampires similarly involved where siezed by their Kindred brethren in the same manner. His old Pack captured and slaughtered, Hannelbrecht was freed from the vinculum which had held him bound to the Sabbat. He fled the region and sought torpor for several decades, hoping that in time, things would settle.

They did not. Still today, there are trials against those committed the horrors of Shoah. His name was still listed on both Sabbat Wild Hunts and Camarilla Blood Hunts throughout Europe. His only reprieve was to escape to America, far from the territories where these Hunts were limited to.

In America, he sought sanctuary from the Sabbat by making a bargain with the Camarilla. The Tremere antitribu were all gone, having died under mysterious circumstances and having taken all of their secrets with them. Yet Ulrich had manage to keep several volumes of Tremere occultist lore, as well as to house much memories of their rituals and paths. In return for protection, the Camarilla desired his services.

He was placed in Couer D'Alene, far from the Sabbat Meccas of Detroit and Mexico City. There, he was sent samples of vitae at intervals. The vitae was taken from Cainites within the Camarilla who had come under suspicion for being Sabbat. He used his expert hemotology and geniology skills, combined with the forbidden knowledges he had stolen from his Packs, to determine clan and heritage from those samples. In a way, he was working once more as the lowliest of professions: a passive inquisitor.

Couer D'Alene's inhabitants tolerate the presence of a former Sabbat only barely; they recognize that the Camarilla has promised him protection, and that his services fill a much needed niche. However, distrust and bigotry is still housed against him, and his every move is watched like a hawk, especially now that the Sabbat seeks entrance and ownership of the city.

Hannelbrecht Ulrich was absorbed into Lullabye's coterie only by coincidence. The only evidense left at the site Ennui's disappearance was pooled blood. Lullabye and Rose took it to Ulrich for him to examine it (he identified it as belonging to the ancient ghoul Jonathan Kent, who was infected with Vicissitude).

Hannelbrecht was also responsible for discovering Lullabye's bloodline potential. Later, he was even responsible for discovering that Casper Remington (believed to be a trustworthy Camarilla agent) came from a Sabbat line of pathological liars. His aid has drawn him in tightly with the coterie, the first time in decades that he has worked with peers.

Nosferatu come in many shapes and sizes, and are all ugly. Hannelbrecht's particular brand of ugliness lies in the slimy blood he constantly oozes from all his poors. They leave trails of gooey pus where he walks, and coats everything he touches in foulness. Despite his messy (yet uncontrollable) repulsiveness, many find the hemotologist morbidly fascinating.

If Lullabye is a Survivor by history, Steven is a survivor by training. Having participated in, supported, and organized an anti-governmental militia, Steven is far from being naive in the gritty world of mundane firearms and conspiracy. Now, as a neonate thrown into a battle he never knew raged, he must learn to adopt what he knew in life to what he does in undeath.

Bound to the protection of the new bloodline, Steven has become an elite bodyguard for Lullabye and her kin. His contacts and experiences shadow their activities constantly, his brute strength and combat wits adding the potency the group needs to defy their myriad enemies.

Ironically, Steven and Lullabye appear to be ironic negatives of each other. He is the Brujah that keeps his calm; she is of Toreador blood and prone to vicious frenzy. A passerby might mistake the two for each other's clan. But any Brujah can look into Steven's eyes and see the individualized passionate stance that marks the Rabble.

His undead powers are new to him, and Steven questions the balance between his immortal abilities and his precision trained human talents. His mentors are many; from his psuedo-sire Hannelbrecht he learns the ability to communicate with animals, to indoctrine lower creature to his Cause, from his protectorate Ennui and Lucky, he learns the physical disciplines to enhance his own prowess. He has only dwelled among the non-breathing for a handful of days, but his power increases each night.

The foulness of Hannelbrecht's blood is impotable to most people, even moment's old corpses. While his ability to embrace is impaired, his judgement on matching vitae to mortal candidates is extraordinary.

Cole Perrin is one such example. Descended from a forgotten order of assassins, Cole's blood bears the marking of his ancestry. He is known as a Catevari, an individual whose blood contains so much of a particular toxin that he is immune to it, while capable of poisoning others with his own fluids. An ancient great grandmother of his was fed poison as a child until she worked up her immunity; children born to her possessed the same immunity, as did the children of any of her daughters, and their daughters. Cole, with no siblings, is the last of that order. He was the perfect choice to be reborn as an Assamite.

Perhaps his hitherto unknown heritage has leaked into his life on a metaphorical level. Unlucky to the extreme, he has a tendency to poison any relationship or task he sets his hand to. Constantly moving through boyfriends and jobs, his world is a dismal curse. Some wonder if there is a true curse inherited with his blood; others speculate that it is his own pessimism that strengthens the circle.

If so, the curse and the poison are not the only things he has inherited. His innate martial talents astonishes many, despite his lack of combat training. He has already begun to learn the methods of an accomplished assassin in a matter of days, impossibly skipping over the years of training required for such mastery. His body seems to remember his bloodline's past; his mind is still far reluctant to use it.