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History

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Life

Veronica has never been one to dwell on the past. If someone wants to know who she used to be, they can ask her sire. To hear him tell it, she was a flapper and jazz singer during the Roaring Twenties who seemed born for that era. Her sultry voice could lead men smiling to their deaths, while she herself could have cared less whether they lived or died, so long as they showed her a good time first.

Embrace

Accou had already been delighted by the birth of jazz when he heard Veronica singing at a speakeasy. He desired this vibrant young woman from the moment he laid eyes on her: she seemed to epitomize everything that excited him about this raucous and fast-paced new age. He offered to make her immortal. She didn’t even ask how before saying yes.

Requiem

Veronica adjusted well enough to undeath and was content to “play the good girl” in the Invictus for a time. She followed her sire’s lead in most matters and slowly but surely worked to increase her own power. She wasn’t in any hurry. The Requiem offered so many new ways to enjoy herself, and with Pearl in torpor and Matheson exiled, Accou was as good as king. Sitting on a powerful man’s lap wasn’t a place she’d ever minded being, and her broodmate Marguerite Defallier even “kept things interesting” as a competitor for Accou’s favor (though many suspect he always favored his youngest childe).

Veronica never liked her cousin-in-blood Katherine Beaumont, though. The heavyset opera singer held her tongue around Accou, but clearly disdained Veronica as a low-class tramp who practiced “low” art. The other Toreador’s opinion on her promiscuity was amusing: the one regarding her art was deathly serious. So long as Accou ran the Invictus, however, Katherine had few outlets through which to express her scorn. Veronica had many, and was rarely shy about “taking that fat blowhard down a peg.”

Her Grandsire’s Return

Everything changed when Pearl Chastain rose from an almost century-long torpor. The elder Toreador hadn’t once laid eyes on her grandchilde, but wasted little time in making clear her displeasure at the state of her clan in general and Veronica’s Embrace in particular. Jass was an ugly symptom of this new era’s vulgar sensibilities, and it certainly was not art. Katherine found herself very much in favor. Accou insisted to Veronica that her grandsire needed “time to adjust” to the modern world’s “breathtakingly many developments.” Veronica patiently listened to his explanations, apologies, and nostalgic recollections about how things used to be, then told him she wasn’t having it. She’d always lived in the now. Her sire and broodmates could “kowtow to that dusty relic” or do whatever the hell they wanted, but Veronica promptly jumped ship to the Anarch Movement. She led numerous dissatisfied clanmates with her, including her uncle-in-blood Barthélemy Lafon and her cousin Pietro Silvestri. Pearl was more contemptuous than furious, and Veronica’s relations with her kin have been strained ever since. Accou has endeavored to remain on good terms with his childe, though many have observed he seems to make a stronger effort than Veronica does.

Relations grew worse than strained with several of her kin. Veronica’s once semi-friendly rivalry with Marguerite turned anything but: she lost substantial respect for her sister-in-blood when the ex-madame chose to remain in the Invictus despite the clear disfavor in which Pearl held her. Veronica could overlook her broodmate’s lack of artistic talent, but swallowing shit from a broken relic like their grandsire deserved only scorn. Marguerite, meanwhile, pounced at the opportunity to rise in favor (which she now sorely needed) by attacking their bloodline’s “bad seed.” Katherine, the sole Toreador of their generation to enjoy Pearl Chastain’s wholehearted approval, watched with barely disguised glee. She had waited decades for the social winds to blow her way and proved all-too happy to kick both of her cousins-in-blood while they were down—after all, neither of them was a true artiste like she was. The three Toreador have feuded ceaselessly ever since. Their enmity is now a thing of legend, and more than one Kindred has gotten bitten for carelessly wading into that nest of snakes.

Veronica won new friends, though, among the Anarchs. Her Invictus background and social acumen made her an excellent spokeswoman for the Movement, and she lent the covenant an air of respectability that was a useful boon to the recently-recognized Primogen Coco Duquette. Annie Pope had defected to Antoine Savoy’s bloc during the 1967 Carnival Coup where radical Anarchs attempted to assassinate Vidal, leaving a vacant spot in the covenant’s leadership that Veronica was glad to fill. She helped broker the prolix diplomatic deal that resulted in Miss Opal joining the Cabildo, as she’d always appreciated the Nosferatu elder’s “sass,” and having another black primogen was nice too. Despite her estrangement from her grandsire, she also offered the Anarchs another inroad with the Toreador, long the city’s largest and most powerful clan. If Coco and Miss Opal had one complaint, it was that Veronica’s actions seemed more motivated by desire to spite her clanmates than actual belief in the Movement’s cause. She liked the Anarchs because they let her do what she wanted, not because she cared about promoting liberty and equality among larger Kindred society.

Hurricane Katrina

Veronica weathered Hurricane Katrina like she did everything else: her way. Accou offered to fly her to Lafayette, whose prince was also one of his childer, but Veronica chose to make the perilous overland journey to Houston instead. She survived through a combination of luck and grit, but her uncle-in-blood and long-time lover Barthélemy Lafon was not so fortunate. Stories claim that his final death at the claws of Lupines is the only time Veronica has wept since her mortal life.

Houston’s Kindred didn’t receive the refugees from New Orleans for free. Veronica took part in the coup d’etat that deposed then-Prince Peter Hartmaan and installed Hezekiah Rutledge as “first minister” of a theocratic new Anarch regime. Veronica enjoyed giving the finger to a pompous Ventrue, but swiftly tired of the city. Perhaps it was sourness over Barthélemy’s destruction, or perhaps Houston’s so-called “give your blood to Jesus” Anarch Movement was not to her tastes, but she returned to New Orleans as soon as was convenient.

Since the Storm

The shattered city had ample opportunities. The harpies’ ranks had been decimated by Katrina: Clarice Barabet, Dominique Toutain, and Francesca Dumont had all met final death. Someone needed to provide the common masses with an example of how to behave, or to at least humiliate them when they stepped out of line, and Veronica stepped into the role like she’d been Embraced for it. She was less than thrilled when Marguerite Defallier and Katherine Beaumont both had the same idea. Her sister-in-blood had of course “scampered back to the city like a whipped dog” and was pathetically eager to curry favor with their sire and grandsire, while Katherine had doubtlessly returned for no other reason than petty desire to spite her cousins. These lickspittles were to be her fellow harpies?

Still, Veronica’s increased standing gave her new avenues by which to prosecute her feud. Once the city’s population began to rebound, Vidal even granted her permission to Embrace a comely young musician who’d caught her eye. New Orleans’ jazz scene was back on its feet in even less time than that, and the blood of her adoring fans tasted as sweet as ever. The city’s elders may lament all that was lost in the storm, but for Veronica, the good times have never stopped rolling.

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Personality

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Her Lovers

Veronica is notorious among the masked city for the many lovers she has taken. Pietro Silvestri, Shep Jennings, George Smith, Micheal Kelly, Rocco Agnello, Coco Duquette, Jonathan North, Marcel Guilbeau, and Lidia Kendall, and many, many other Kindred have all been said to number among her conquests. More salacious gossip claims she’s had liaisons with Harlequin (whose true face she has seen), Sundown (despite being a sewer rat), Antoine Savoy (before the recent Anarch split), Pierpont McGinn (despite his racism), and Caitlin Meadows (before her recent bout of insanity; most Kindred would rather sleep with a startled tiger). Some even more incredible stories name her as a lover to the inscrutable Baron Cimitière, the ever-frigid Donovan, and Augusto Vidal himself.

Veronica occasionally weighs in to confirm some of her alleged liaisons. She denies none of them. Rumors can be useful things to have. She rarely keeps these lovers for any appreciable length of time, though she has been known to circle back to them: her cousin-in-blood Pietro has been an on and off liaison of hers since they were first Embraced. The steadiest lover she’s known to have taken was her uncle-in-blood Barthélemy Lafon. The former pirate also left the Invictus after Pearl Chastain rose from torpor, but declined to join the Anarchs in favor of going his own way. Coco Duquette and Miss Opal both wanted to recruit him, but Veronica found his stubborn-minded independence arousing. To her it’s always been about the thrill of the chase and whoever can keep that excitement alive the longest.

Her Faith

Veronica is somewhat notable for her devotion to Lilith, the Dark Mother. She isn’t a formal member of the Circle of the Crone, nor does she preach her faith, but she appreciates the Bahari creed of learning through pain and the notion that “God is a self-righteous cunt whose eye we can spit in.” Vidal hasn’t made a serious effort to persecute the Bahari (who’ve never had more than a handful of followers in New Orleans) like he has the city’s Vodouisants, but Veronica’s beliefs have traditionally cooled relationships with more zealous members of the Sanctified.

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Influence

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Domain

Veronica has made her domain in Faubourg Marigny since the 1970s. Since the 2015 Anarch split, she has been spending increasing amounts of time in the French Quarter. Veronica is a frequent sight throughout Frenchmen Street’s jazz clubs, where she’s performed for decades under a variety of pseudonyms.

Mask

Sabrina Paris, Veronica’s current mortal pseudonym, is one of the city’s most talented and popular jazz singers with a voice like a nightingale and a body built for bedrooms. She flits from band to band as the whim strikes her, sometimes a year, sometimes a week, and almost invariably sleeps with her bandmates. Between her talent and connections, she’s usually able to raise their profiles and hook them up with great-paying gigs, often at Calvin Berthelot’s clubs in Faubourg Marigny or Leon Gressau’s Evergreen Plantation. She’s also a magnet for trouble. Interpersonal drama, substance abuse, infidelity, and police arrests are only the start of the problems she’s caused bands she’s joined. Many of them implode after she inevitably gets bored and leaves, with some former members swearing off music forever. At least one has killed himself. Sabrina, though, always seems to land on her feet. Everyone in the music scene knows she’s a mistake to get involved with. That doesn’t stop them from making mistakes.

Pawns

It’s the rare mortal who can watch Veronica take the stage and not fall for her, if she wants them to. She relishes the attention of her fans and admirers like few other things. Marguerite Defallier and Katherine Beaumont have gone after members of the bands she belongs to before, but Veronica always replaces them or winds up in another band. She’s thought to have substantial sway over the city’s live music scene, as well a more diffuse influence over mortal men (and women) from various walks of life she’s wrapped around her finger. She’s inserted herself into countless relationships over the decades as the “other woman:” these individuals, some of whom she ghouls, know pleasures unimagined before she tires of them and moves on. “Homewrecker” doesn’t even begin to describe the number of relationships she’s destroyed. Mortals have always been toys and playthings to Veronica.

Status

Veronica is a figure of considerable influence within the city. (Anarch Status ••••, Camarilla Status •••, Harpy Status •••, Toreador Status •••)

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Recent Events

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GM’s Note: Spoilers for the adventure logs follow below.

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Genealogy

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• 5. Unknown sire
　• 6. Pearl Chastain (e. centuries ago)
　　• 7. Accou Poincaré (e. mid 18th century)
　　　• 8+. The Santiago brood (e. varies)
　　　• 8. Avoyelles Desormeaux (e. mid 19th century)
　　　　• 9+. The Lafayette brood (e. varies)
　　　• 8. Marguerite Defallier (e. late 19th century)
　　　　• 9. Abraham “Bram” Garcia (e. mid 20th century)
　　　　　• 10. Maxzille “Max” “Zilly” “Zillah” Babineaux (e. mid 20th century)
　　　　　　• 11. Anne Sommers (e. late 20th century, d. 2005)
　　　　　　　• 12. David Hansen (e. early 21st century)
　　　　• 9. Aniyah Bailey (e. early 21st century)
　　　• 8. Veronica Alsten-Pirrie (e. early 20th century)
　　　　• 9. Jade Kalani (e. early 21st century)
　　　　• 9. Amaryllis DeCuir (e. early 21st century, d. 2016)
　　• 7. Bruno Courtet (e. late 18th century, d. early 20th century)
　　　• 8. Katherine Beaumont (e. early 20th century)
　　　　• 9. Pablo Gallegro (e. early 20th century, d. late 20th century)
　　　　• 9. Rayisa Kostenko (e. late 20th century, d. 2005)
　　• 7. Barthélemy Lafon (e. early 19th century, d. 2005)
　　　• 8. Valentine St. James (e. early 19th century, d. 2005)
　　　　• 9. Lisette Toussaint (e. mid 19th century)
　　　• 8. Pietro Silvestri (e. early 20th century)
　　• 7. Adelais Seyrès (e. late 19th century)

Lineage

Veronica is childe to Accou Poincaré, the former prince of Santiago, the regent of the Lower Garden District during Pearl Chastain’s torpor, the junior of their clan’s two primogen (though an elder in his own right), and the third-eldest of the Prima Invicta, the Invictus’ ruling body in New Orleans. Accou is the childe of Pearl Chastain, the matriarch and senior primogen for their clan in New Orleans, the regent of the Lower Garden District, and the eldest member of the Prima Invicta. Pearl has not publicly spoken of her sire, but is believed to be of the sixth generation and a great-grandchilde of Arikel.

Broodmates

Veronica’s sire has Embraced Embraced many times over the years. Her broodmates and their descendants in Cuba are known as the Santiago brood, and still hold praxis over that city since Accou’s abdication. Veronica’s eldest sibling-in-blood in the United States, Avoyelles Desormeaux, rules as prince of Lafayette, Louisiana. Veronica has one sister-in-blood in New Orleans, Marguerite Defallier, who predates her Embrace by several decades and is a harpy of no small renown.

Childer

Veronica’s younger childe Amaryllis DeCuir was a promising young singer who caught her eye in the early 2010s. After John Harley Matheson subjected her to a blood bond, she remained loyal to Coco Duquette’s and Miss Opal’s faction during the split among the Anarchs and has been estranged from her sire. She met final death in the 2016 Battle of Mid-City.