Know Your Kindred – Madame Guil

Name: Madame Guil
Clan: Toreador
Generation: 6th
Embraced: 1579

Madame Guil is known for her lack of mercy, even amongst the other Justicars. Her skill at uncovering traitors and criminals in the halls of power is the subject of many dreadful tales.

Madame Guil has appeared to be many things over the centuries – anarch, traitor, judge and executioner. In truth she hasn’t known who she is since the night of her Embrace.

She started off as a 16 year old girl in a small French village, about to be married to a local boy named Luc.  But Gilles’ beauty caught the eye of the local vampire lord, Baron Philippe Vollgirre, and he summoned her to his castle and Embraced her to be his concubine. When he drained Gilles of her blood he also took her happiness. It wasn’t long before the Vollgirre had a stake in his chest and his castle in flames around him.

Gilles was able to use her natural grace and charm to fit in with Kindred society. After believing her past life was all but a distant memory, she was shocked when she saw the image of her old love, Luc. As it turned out he wandered the countryside in a deep depression thinking he lost her. But then a band of young anarchs found him along a dirt road and Embraced him.

The former lovers shared blood with each other as well as their deep dislike of Kindred society. The two made a vow to rid the world of the Damned and for a time she and Luc were the most monstrous diablerists in France. But their crimes came to an end when the pair botched an attempted diablerie of a childer of Fracois Villon. Luc took the rap for the incident and fled from the ensuing blood hunt.

Gilles disappeared into the underground world of anarchs. Consumed with rage for the murder of Luc she was in the thick of things during the French Revolution that sent France’s mortal and Kindred aristocracy to the guillotine.

The Revolution blossomed out of control and Gilles was in danger of being executed herself. She saved herself by latching onto the powerbase of the despised Francois Villon and hiding her identity, now calling herself Madame Guil. She proved to be valuable in rebuilding France and over the next two centuries manipulated her way up the institutions she hated, becoming the Toreador Justicar.

In this role she’s been effective sniffing out Camarilla’s traitors. Channeling her rage and hate destroying the sect’s elders and putting to death so called “untouchables.”

But a few years ago everything was turned upside down when on an investigation of a Sabbat assassin. She rediscovered her old flame Luc. As it turns out he escaped the blood hunt by joining the Sabbat Black Hand and was now a Templar. The two Cainites clasped each other and vowed never to be parted again. Their union is forbidden by both sects but so far they’ve found ways to meet in secret.

- Source Children of the Night

Know Your Kindred – Velya the Flayer

Name: Velya the Flayer and Elaine Cassidy
Clan: Tzimisce
Generation: 5th
Embraced: Unknown/1890s

Velya is a legend among the Tzimisce. Few have seen or spoken to him. His mastery of blood magic is rivaled only by the Tremere’s Inner Council. A founder of the Sabbat, Velya now severs as a Cardinal, overseeing the Tzimisce Old Country. He hopes to tap the spirits of the ancient lands into a mighty spell and use it against the hated Tremere in nearby Vienna.

Velya is in the grip of a terrible and self-inflicted predicament. A century ago Velya fell in love with and “wed” the beautiful 10-year old from Boston, Elaine Cassidy. But Velya was so detached from human cares that he unknowingly warped his 10-year old’s fragile mind. After a half-century of nightly unlife in the Sabbat, Elaine has spiraled out of control and lost her soul to the Beast.

Realizing this but unwilling to end her unlife, Velya used his mastery of Vicissitude to graft his beloved to his body until he can find a way to “fix” her. But in reality there is no fix for this problem and this arrangement has the two sharing the same veins and arteries with the same blood flowing between them both. Elaine’s rampant Beast is invading Velya’s body. Velya’s hold on Elaine and himself is beginning to slip.

Elaine is usually kept in a dreamy, semi-aware state thanks to Velya’s blood sorcery. But occasionally she breaks free and becomes an insane shrieking Cainite child. She loves her husband but only seeks to drag him down with her.

- Source Children of the Night

Know Your Kindred – Seterpenre

Name: Seterpenre
Clan: Followers of Set
Generation: 4th

Next behind Nakhthorheb in power and influence is Seterpenre, Lord of Tinnis. In his mortal days Seterpenre was a powerful sorcerer, serving the elders of Set’s tribe.

After the destruction of the Setite capital Tanis, Seterpenre guided the mortal population to build the new city of Tinnis on one of the Egypt isles.

Unlike Nakhthorheb, who believes all Kindred to be evil and all non-Egyptians as animals, Seterpenre is more tolerant of outsiders. He favors alliances with other Kindred when it suits the purposes of Set. Seterpenre was the architect of the early alliance with the Tremere – an act that cost him much in the eyes of Nakhthorheb.

- Source Libellus Sanguinis III – Wolves at the Door

Know Your Kindred – Tyler

Name: Tyler (Patricia Bollingbroke)
Clan: Brujah
Generation: 6th
Embraced: 1381

Perhaps no other Kindred personifies the struggle of the Brujah as Tyler. A rebel in her mortal life, Patricia marched with the masses in London against the Crown and aided in the assassination of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Awaiting execution she was rescued by the Brujah Robin Leeland, who watched her from a far and was enamored by her zeal.

Since then Patricia has taken a vital role in many Kindred uprisings, including the Anarch Revolt. One of the pre-Sabbat antitribu, she stood up to the Venture Hardestadt, an oppressive elder championing the formation of the Camarilla. Patricia and a small group of peasants stormed his castle and Patricia diablerized him, increasing her own power. On the run from Archons she fled to the New World.

Once in America, she was contacted telepathically by the Toreador Helena, who laid in torpor in Chicago. Helena was very attracted to the idea of a ruthless female assassin and over 30 years of manipulation Helena was able to blood bound Patricia.

After being an enemy of the Camarilla, Tyler, as she now calls herself, realized the merit of the new sect and with reservations joined them in the 16th century. After seeing anarch movements crumble, Tyler saw the Camarilla as the best vehicle to aid her agenda. She changed her name and hoped her past as a rebel and Sabbat ally will not be discovered.

Now living in Chicago, Tyler has engrossed herself in the local politics. With the hidden support of Helena, Tyler has a place among the elders, some of whom know of her past role in the Sabbat. Tyler still traffics a bit with the Black Hand during various skirmishes in the Chicago Jyhad. Something the other elders may find interesting to say the least.

Tyler makes her haven in O’Hare International Airport. She uses it to her advantage, controlling and knowing almost everything that happens in the airport. Tyler even trained the O’Hare SWAT team on the extermination of Vampires. Her contacts in the higher levels of the FAA give her control over the city’s two other airports as well. Any Kindred wishing to enter or the leave the city by plane must first get her permission.

- Sources Clanbook Brujah, Chicago By Night

Know Your Kindred – Tammy Walenski

Name:  Tammy Walenski
Clan:  Nosferatu
Generation: 7th
Embraced:  1950  (at age 12)

Tammy and her brother Peter lived in an abusive home.  The physical and emotional pain brought on my their alcoholic parents lead the children to set the house on fire as their parents slept.  The night they watched the house burn was the night they were made aware of the Nosferatu Khalid, who had been watching the house for five years and monitoring the children.

Khalid had reached the conclusion that the two kids must be Embraced to save them and to preserve their pain for eternity – for he would never change anyone who had the hope of a peaceful mortal life; only those who would be enriched by the gift of being a Nosferatu.  The night of the fire sealed his decision.  He brought them back to his haven and spoke softly to them.  Within a few hours they accepted his gift.

Tammy and Peter lived with Khalid and he taught them their new abilities.  Eventually they returned to sleep in the basement of their burned out home.  The ghosts of their dead parents also inhabit the structure and now act as Tammy and Peter’s retainers.  Tammy has learned to make the ghosts help them, and this has given her influence in the world of ghosts and increased Tammy’s knowledge of what goes on in the city.

Tammy and Peter have developed a powerful blood bond with each other.  They can read each other’s thoughts and auras.  They alternate between feeding on adults and animals.  They will never harm a child and if they see a child being hurt they will go into a frenzy and attack the abuser – be it vampire or human.

Recently they have stopped hiding from other Kindred in the hopes of being included in the community.  But they are too shy to ask.

- Source Chicago By Night

Know Your Kindred – Gengis

Name: Gengis
Clan: Brujah
Generation: 12th
Embraced: 1968

Gengis is one of the Anarch’s biggest supporters. He is solidly pro-Anarch and hates the elders. He was one of the first punks in the 1970s and to this day continues with that style since it fits him so well.

He was Embraced in the late 1960s by a Brujah only passing through on her way to the West Coast.  Gengis has had to learn to make his own way in Kindred society.

Gengis likes nothing better than a good fight. He hasn’t recognized his own immortality but isn’t concerned with his safety anyway. He is very much a conformist. If he sees someone he deems as “cool” he will emulate that person. If he comes across a powerful leader he will instantly fall into line.

Despite his punk lifestyle, Gengis has a very clean condo where he likes to watch Chicago Bulls games and cook meals for the Yuppie friends he’s made over the years. They don’t know he’s a vampire, but they do know he’s a little weird.

- Source Chicago By Night

Know Your Kindred – Muse

Name: Muse
Clan: Daughter of Calcophony
Generation: 13th
Embraced: Late 1790’s

Muse is a loner, softly wandering the sewer systems beneath Montreal humming the same melody over and over again. The Nosferatu Antitribu, Elias the Whale, found her wandering down there in the 1980s, after she had disappeared in 1918. He believes she’s been down there a good part of the 20th century and the harmony she sings is a lullaby to something that sleeps under the city and the song is keeping it from awakening. Elias is watching out for Muse when he can and has given her shelter under the city.

Muse’s eyelids are fused shut. No one knows how exactly, but she is in the service of the demon Metathiax, who sealed her eyes to keep her from seeing the evil nature of her demonic keeper. Metathiax kept Muse to soothe his heard of tortured creatures from becoming completely bestial.

She has disappeared and reappeared throughout the 1800s, always around the time of a cholera or typhus outbreak. Muse may have been responsible for the spreading of various diseases across Montreal on behalf of her demon lord.

Muse is a beautiful woman with honey blond hair under a mat of filth. Her clothing is tattered and torn and Elias has covered her eyes with a red bandanna. She wears a leather jacket made from the skin of the Setite Moise. The jacket once belonged to the former Archbishop of Montreal – Veronique La Cruelle. But Veronique is now one of Meththiax’s twisted bestial thralls and the demon gave Muse his jacket.

Muse never speaks and does not react to her environment, she just hums the same song repeatedly to keep Metathiax’s creatures in check. She is secretly guarded by Leperhead, the Black Spiral Dancer.

- Source Montreal By Night

Know Your Kindred – Al-Muntaquim, The Avenger

Name: Al-Muntaquim, The Avenger
Clan: True Brujah
Generation: 6th
Embraced: 640 AD

Al-Muntaquim already hated the “false” Brujah. But when word arrived that his sire, Agonistes, had been destroyed by the Brujah whore Troile, Al-Muntaquim was enraged and went into his first frenzy in centuries – ripping through a caravan of visiting merchants and tearing the head off a traveling Brujah staying inside the main tent. “The Avenger” left a message that he would be leaving Africa heading east, to bring justice to Troile.

During his travels Al-Muntaquim has learned much. His quest for justice has also served as a spiritual pilgrimage. Before he had trouble staying on his original pacifist path, but after visiting with the Kindred of the East and a new mentor named Ona-Zhir; The Avenger has found a new path that fulfills him. Upon leaving Asia Ona-Zhir gave him a parting gift – a mighty spell that would allow Al-Muntaquim to draw upon the desultory power of clanless vampires, briefly giving him the strength needed to take on Troile and win.

Al-Muntaquim returned to Cairo and with the help of the Prince set up a “safe haven” for all the clanless on the Nile Island of Gezira. In reality this entire residential district comprises the border of Ona-Zhir’s ritual. When Gehenna comes and the Antediluvians return, all Caitiff inside the area will be subjected to the spell’s effects and give the power of their souls to Al-Muntaquim and leaving their bodies and blood to the hunger of the Antediluvians.

- Source Cairo by Night

Know Your Kindred – Shahid

Name: Shahid
Clan: Nosferatu (Hajj)
Generation: 8th
Embraced: 1737

Shahid knows more than most others about Cairo’s Kindred population – particularly regarding matters of faith.

He became Kindred during one of the darkest times in Egypt’s history. The famine of the time was so bad that many people resulted to cannibalism. One trick would be for a starving household to send for a delivery and then attack and eat the delivery boy. Shahid was one of these unfortunate delivery boys.

He was able to escape his attackers despite missing most of his right leg. But he left a trail of blood that led his cannibalistic attacker right to him. As Shahid lay in the streets he prayed to Allah and thanked him for the life he had been given thus far.

The Nosferatu Ibn Ja’far came across the boy during one of his patrols. Ibn Ja’far heard the boy’s prayers and was moved that his faith remained unshaken. As the cannibal approached, Ibn Ja’far battered the attacker into an unrecognizable pulp. Then he turned to the boy and Embraced him. Shahid sees his Embrace not as a curse, but as a blessing that Allah gave him a second chance at life.

Shahid and Ibn Ja’far are very close and Shahid is his closest confidant, especially on spiritual matters, as Ibn Ja’far has long had a crisis of faith. But Shahid keeps secret that he has fallen in love with the Christian Nosferatu Petra, whose clan disfigurements appear as divine stigmata. Shahid worries that Ibn Ja’far would find love between a Muslim and a Christian abhorrent and/or confusing. Also she is the childe of Ibn Ja’far’s greatest rival, Shagaret al-Durr. So the relationship remains secret, but if it should be discovered Shahid is willing to fight to defend his love.

Shahid uses Obfuscate to conceal his true form from view. In addition he wears a full body galabiyya. Underneath his musculature is gray-green, ragged and torn. He walks with a severe limp because most of his right leg and right arm are missing from the cannibals who attacked him before his Embrace. Despite all his deformities, his eyes remain remarkably humane.

- Source Cairo by Night

Know Your Kindred – Reg Driscoll

Name: Reg Driscoll
Clan: Samedi
Generation: 6th
Embraced: 1812

Reg Driscoll was a career officer in the British Army. During the War of 1812 he was also a war profiteer, dealing with all sides to make money. But while going through the pockets of the dead soldiers behind a field hospital he came across Baron Samedi. The Baron was impressed with Reg’s facility with the dead and recruited him into the Samedi bloodline.

Since then Reg wandered North America following the various wars. After the fighting all ended Reg became affiliated with prisons. For the past 26 years he’s been working as a janitor in the Kingston Penitentiary, Ontario. There he’s known as “Old Man Driscoll” – a familiar and welcomed sight by guards and prisoners. There he’s thought of as just another old man pushing for retirement.

Reg is remarkably handsome – for a Samedi. With a little Obfuscate he can pass for human in dim light, and the ammonia and other cleaning agents he works with help keep the appalling odor covered up.

Reg is unfailingly polite, a social chameleon who can relate to everyone – jailers, prisoners, the high and mighty of Kindred society or the lowly Sabbat pack member.

- Source A World of Darkness (2nd Ed.)