So, it has come to this.
The world is changing, and not slowly, either. Our old Prince has gone, as has Nick Golding. The new Prince appears to be largely inexperienced, and the Ventrue in Swansea are now lacking a Priscus.
There are no longer any real elders in the city - if there ever were in the first place - and there are only a couple of ancillae, so this should be amusing to watch. I suppose some new elders may move to Swansea, but I doubt that they would last long either.
What is it with this city? People just leave with little to no explanation all the time... Maybe this happens in vampire society all the time; maybe it just feels strange to me because I have yet to really witness how another city's vampire society really works; maybe this is, in fact, the norm. As a mortal, I saw people come and go all the time - that's just life - but more often that not they would move for a very good reason which (if we were on good terms) they would explain to me.
I seldom talk to my mortal companions any more. God only knows what has happened to Dragon or where he is. Even the company of my fellow Kindred is a rare occurrence for me now. I sit alone, brooding and thinking, waiting for nothing. I am only 39 years old, yet I am already beginning to give up and believe that I have come to a standstill with my development. Unfortunately, I am also now immortal. Eternity lies before me, and, sweet Jesus, is it terrifying. My 5th deathday is on the 4th May. I had better have started making more progress by then.
I am beginning to grow increasingly suspicious of Mr John South. Why would I not? Prince Marianne and Nick Golding both left the city in a short period of time - not too long after the departure of several other powerful vampires, either - and now he is essentially left with a city full of neonates who are practically under his command, even if he holds little official authority. He is an Invictus and a Mekhet; forgive me for not being too quick to trust him. I guess that I am going to have to sleep with one eye open. Choo choo - here comes the paranoia train!
I am a Scholar of Equilibrium, and I am supposed to be the Kogaion for Swansea, but my study of Coils has dwindled in recent months. Shade told me something very interesting: he said that Swansea, the city itself, may be a Crucible. What does that mean, though? Surely it can't be true. If it is, then surely my acquisition of the Coils of the Dragon should be with incredible ease.
I still have my beloved bar, Sad Marquee, and its upkeep keeps me active on even the most mundane of nights. Sometimes, when I attend the establishment in person to feed and socialise, I bring Cináed with me, as no-one - mortal or otherwise - can resist the charms of a gorgeous tomcat. Apart from the usual 'vampyre' crowd, most of whom I have got to know quite well now, my bar seems to be frequented by interesting individuals less and less with each night. There are some talented bands out there though, and I thoroughly enjoy watching them.
I wonder if there are any vampires in Somers Town. I could always go back there, I suppose. I have seen plenty of other vampires leave Swansea to go to other cities, or countries, so my absence would hardly be a great loss. The Ordo are doing fine here without my presence, and I have no doubt that Shade would love to be in charge. Maybe I could even see my parents! They are probably still alive, after all, which is more than can be said about me. I was embraced less than 5 years ago; I doubt that my insignificant lack of ageing would raise many suspicions. I can imagine that London in general is swarming with the supernatural as well, which I can't say I would complain about...
What can I do if I stay in Swansea? Actually, I could probably do quite a lot, especially with the somewhat crazy elders gone. Swansea is my oyster if I want it to be! Now, where to start... I am going to have to avoid Simon (the new Prince) and John South, of course. Few other Kindred in the city bother me at the moment, and I have not seen other threatening supernatural around for a while now. The cults all seem to have died down and vanished, thank God.
I have plans to refurbish my submarine and open it to the public as a restaurant. It is going to be a long and arduous task, what with all of the licenses I will need to run it, and I have no idea what to call it, but hopefully everything should turn out nicely in the long run.
Seeing how some wealthy individuals have just left Swansea, I am hoping to take over, or at least have a share in, some more businesses. I came to the conclusion long before my embrace that money is good and that I should get lots of it. Now that I must dwell in the shadows - likely for eternity - I can hardly get a 9 till 5 job, so I have to be entrepreneurial in order to get a decent income (or ruthless, though ruthlessness is not something which I am particularly keen on).
Well then, I guess that I have an awful lot to 'look forward to'. Hopefully I can find a bloodline with whom I resonate, and with whom I can evolve and learn. I am still young - very young - and I have a lot to learn; I realise this. I have aims and I have goals, and even when it feels like I could never achieve them, I must not stop trying. I am a Dragon: bold and fearless.
***
I hope you enjoyed my first post for my V:tR character, Elizabeth. I sent this background to the LARP STs:
Elizabeth Smith was born on 1st May 1973 and raised in Somers Town, London. She was an only child: her parents were both quite conservative and also very secular; her father was a ballet teacher, and her mother was a comparative sociology professor. Both of her parents were somewhat prodigious.
During her early primary school years, she was keen to learn yet had an undeniably restless side. She managed to get into a state grammar school where her academic capabilities seemed to endlessly flourish, and for the most part she calmed down and began to mature quickly as a person. She got an A in all of her subjects at both GSCE and A-level; she did A-levels in economics, mathematics and sociology. She went on to study international relations at Durham University, and completed both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees with first class honours and distinction; over time, she became honoured and renowned at the university. Life really started for her during her university years: she was outgoing, quite experimental and somewhat on the promiscuous side.
During her Master’s, she decided to try the dating scene in an attempt to start a serious relationship after her hollow years of short flings; needless to say, she failed miserably. Most of the men she hooked up with soon became frustrated with her spontaneity. Towards the end of her Master’s, however, she met a young gentleman by the name of Dougal Norris, who had a Bachelor’s degree in earth sciences and was back living with his parents in Durham; he was a couple of years older than her, and for the most part their personalities complimented each other nicely. He loved literature and seemed to be easily impressed; he knew that Elizabeth was born in the same area as Mary Shelley and used her background to encourage her to read Dracula, Frankenstein and all manner of popular legends, myths and Gothic novels. She soon fell in love with all things magical and mystical and developed an obsession with the supernatural; she became a bit of a dreamer, and she would ask ‘what if’ with greater frequency every day of her life. She became engrossed in the occult, reading about everyone and everything from Aleister Crowley to Doreen Valiente. Dougal, amongst other things, was curious and inquisitive. A lot of his old school friends that he was starting to talk to again had gotten themselves caught up in all sorts of drugs, and they soon pulled Dougal and Elizabeth into their circles. Elizabeth did cocaine and dropped acid; she was as sensible as she could possibly be and was lucky that the police never caught her. Dougal on the other hand always wanted more extreme highs and became riskier, and the last time Elizabeth spoke to him he had a pretty severe heroin addiction. Elizabeth gradually lost contact with Dougal over time. He is now probably either homeless or dead.
Elizabeth moved back with her parents for a while and was a part-time volunteer with children’s and homeless people’s charities whilst she looked for full-time work related to her academic background. It was well into the 90s, and Elizabeth was establishing herself within the Liberal Democrats; months and years had passed, and she had found herself at the dawn of a new era. Her mother, Siwan Smith, spoke Welsh, and in spite of Elizabeth’s thorough Englishness, insisted on raising her in a bilingual home and teaching her Welsh as a child. Although not fluent, Elizabeth’s surprising ability to speak Welsh as a foreigner had gained her an almost cult popularity across Wales, and as the popularity of the Liberal Democrats in Wales increased, Elizabeth found that she had been thrust to the top and was running in the general elections. At only 28 years old, Elizabeth was prodigious, just like her parents before her. With her usual endurance and triumphant nature, Elizabeth became the Liberal Democrat MP for Swansea West in the 2001 general elections. Life was looking pretty sweet. Elizabeth had received quite a lot of financial support throughout her campaigning from old university friends who had got involved in or set up successful businesses; her own parents, although not particularly well-off but with enough generosity to give from their disposable income, also sent her a lot of money; she set up a savings account as soon as possible and hoarded the vast majority of the money away. Her role with the Liberal Democrats provided enough money for her basic needs and a little bit on top of that. Not wanting to be a total scrounger, however, she started providing extra help for her old contacts in exchange for her money: she helped people prepare presentations and speeches for meetings and pitches, she hosted several literary and occult-based events for both public entry and smaller parties and she wrote poetry anthologies and short stories for independent, small-scale publishing as a way to earn extra income. Although the general public were unaware of a good deal of her personal life, she did have a rather open and unashamed reputation as an occult-enthusiast. If anything, much like Boris Johnson and William Lyon Mackenzie King, her oddities helped to keep her in the spotlight. Breaking away largely from her background and upbringing, she often lashed out at the Conservative Party in her earlier political days; as time went by she managed to keep her temper at bay for the most part, although she would never shy away from her dislike of the basic policies of the Conservatives. She would often encourage local businesses and enterprises, though never dismissed the need of a vast demographic for some larger corporations. As an Englishwoman with a Welsh mother who had also spent many years near Scotland, she helped to break down the barriers between people from different parts of the UK.
There were also some reports, anonymous and open, about good Samaritan acts that Elizabeth had done. Here is a short list of some of the more notable acts that people reported that were true: a homeless man claimed that a woman who had kept him company for a couple of hours and then given him new clothes and nutritious food before leaving looked like “that politician he had seen on the TV”; a teenage boy said that Elizabeth was the woman who got out of her car and defended him when she witnessed severe verbal and minor physical abuse by a small group of people a similar age to him; a family that Miss Smith knew of were in a lot of debt as they were struggling with finances after the birth of their new child, so she sent them a cheque for the exact amount to pay a year’s worth of their rent and a letter telling them to “use it wisely”. Overall, for all of her flaws and for all of the problems that she had suffered in her life, Elizabeth never ceased striving to be a good person, constantly trying to do small acts of kindness whenever possible.
In 2004, Elizabeth’s life turned around. She met a man in a club who went by the name of Valentin Amoretti. There was something different about him, and he intrigued her. All he had to do was slip a little something extra into her glass, and that was it – her addiction began. She was not aware of what was happening to her at the time: all she knew was that she loved this man, and she loved his blood even more.
During a meeting with Valentin in early 2006, she was offered a fairly shocking amount of blood; however, she had grown used to it by this point, so after a little hesitation, she decided to drink it. Elizabeth was far from stupid, but something inside of her just drove her to do it. She soon became fascinated with her new powers, and she also developed an unhealthy attachment to Valentin. Part of her was aware of the almost rapid changes she was going through, but she still remained MP for Swansea West until late 2007 after a re-election, and she eventually went through the difficult and lengthy process of resigning from the House of Commons as Valentin had requested that she slowly step down from politics as she soon would no longer be able to work during daylight hours.
On 4th May 2008, Elizabeth was embraced. She was awe-struck by her new existence, yet fearful of what would happen to her now. Valentin sheltered her until the time when she could get back on her own two feet, which was not to be for another few months. She wasn’t particularly angry with Valentin for essentially ruining the life that she had set up for herself – he is her sire, after all, and she was his ghoul – but she now felt unmistakably lonely and vulnerable; the confusing feelings she had once held for her sire were now replaced by a stoic sense of respect. She missed the simple pleasures of life, such as being able to walk outside without the almost constant fear of dying a terrible death. She disliked the undeniable hunger she now felt, although there was – and still is – a small shadow of that human desire and human emotion within her; not the animalistic and base crudeness and desire of the Beast, but a genuine shred of the higher levels of compassion and consciousness she had strived for her entire life. When she was out hunting, she would look for people that reminded her of her mortal life: druggies, eccentrics, politicians, etc… She spent a while doing up her new house so that it was fit for purpose, and raided her savings to make sure that it was as safe as possible. Valentin taught her the basic ins and outs of unlife, and also introduced her to the beliefs and ideas of his covenant, the Ordo Dracul. Elizabeth was fully sold on the Ordo and did not feel particularly obliged to join; rather, she was immensely interested in everything about the covenant, and wished to join it out of her own free will. They also had many conversations about politics, and Elizabeth gradually got to know how vampire politics works. After Valentin was sure that she wouldn’t cock things up too badly and show both of them up, he let her loose on the world. She started attending Elysium with the other vampires in 2010, and that was when her real adventure began.
***
Oh yeah, you're probably wondering who half of those other NPCs and PCs are...well:
- Dragon (NPC) - A mage who first met Elizabeth while helping to fight a demon. He kept looking at her so she gave him her number. They met up again in an internet café, and an awkward somethingship blossomed. They had a "first date" in the sewers (don't ask). Dragon's mentor found out that his apprentice was meddling with a vampire, so he tracked down Elizabeth and informed her that she would no longer see Dragon (as I viewed it). She has not seen him since.
- John South (PC) - The Sheriff (Reeve) for Swansea. A bit of a shifty fellow, what with being a Mekhet and all. He was practically the elders' right-hand man, and did a pretty good job of acting like an elder himself. He is now the oldest PC vampire in Swansea, both in character age terms and game duration terms (I think). Elizabeth is generally civil to John and occasionally engages in banter with him, though they are not on particularly close terms.
- Marianne Dupree (ex-PC) - The old Prince of Swansea. She had been Prince for quite a while once Elizabeth joined the game, and left the city sometime around this Christmas. Elizabeth rarely spoke to the mentally unstable and morally questionable Marianne, who would often deal out harsh and unjust punishments in typical elder fashion, but she respected her in an obligatory sort of way. Many high jinks occurred under Marianne's rule; I could probably write an entire blog post dedicated to them.
- Nick Golding (ex-PC) - An even more insane Lancea Sanctum elder. In the "good old days", Nick would place tin foil hats on his head at certain times to prevent satellites from reading his mind...or something like that (Elizabeth had no idea in character, probably because she seldom took him seriously when he tried to explain his actions). Much like Marianne, his punishments were cruel and wicked; Elizabeth sometimes feared for her unlife whilst around him.
- Shade (PC) - A fellow neonate in the Ordo Dracul. He is a hardworking Mekhet who has advanced extraordinarily quickly in the covenant to the simultaneous delight and horror of Elizabeth, who is becoming increasingly envious of his speedy progress. Much like the over-keen Ventrue, he did some rather reckless things during his earlier days in the city, though he has calmed down over the past couple of years, and now Elizabeth has her eyes on him (in no particular way - just saying).
- Simon (PC) - A relatively new vampire to the city whom Elizabeth knows very little about. He is the new Prince and, just like Marianne before him, an Invictus Ventrue. Elizabeth is extremely wary of Simon, especially now that he has been made Prince. He appears to use his extroverted nature to his advantage as much as possible, attempting to win over the hearts and minds of the masses. He is also seemingly sensible and often treads carefully on unknown grounds.
