The Invictus

Invictus

“Value is the most invincible and impalpable of ghosts, and comes and goes unthought of while the visible and dense matter remains as it was.”
W. Stanley Jevons
“Aim at perfection in everything, though in most things it is unattainable.
However, they who aim at it, and persevere, will come much nearer to it than
those whose laziness and despondency make them give it up as unattainable.”
Lord Chesterfield
“Blood ages like wine,
But only with the best vintage, cellar and cask becomes priceless.”
Invictus proverb

The New Orleans Invictus bitterly resents the dominance that the Sanctified exert over the city. New Orleans has passed through the hands of multiple governments during its history, any one of which could have provided the occasion for a change of power among the Kindred as well. The Crescent City is one of the centers of power for the “Southern Nobility,” the old plantation families that still practice the customs of, and survive on the monies from, the days when they owned not only the fields but also the people who worked them. Further, while no records survive to prove any such thing, most local Kindred believe that the first European Kindred to arrive, in the nights before the coming of the Spanish and Prince Vidal, were Invictus. A great many members of the First Estate in the Crescent City honestly believe that New Orleans is rightfully theirs. Of course, Invictus Kindred tend to believe that every domain is rightfully theirs, but in this instance they feel particularly strongly about it.

For the most part, Invictus vampires in New Orleans grit their teeth and follow the Lancea et Sanctum’s customs and traditions, especially in Elysium. It chafes them to do so, but the alternative is banishment from court functions, and cutting off their own access to what little power they wield would be foolish. The Invictus thus serve as long-standing, albeit grudging allies to the prince. Support for the Sanctified is particularly strong among the First Estate’s Ventrue, who owe allegiance to Vidal as their strategos and resent the Toreador dominance of their covenant. Some of the city’s younger Invictus, however, are slowly but surely drifting toward Antoine Savoy’s camp. Since the Invictus is nowhere near a position where it can yet put one of its own in charge, many of its malcontents prefer to at least support someone less fanatical than Vidal. Still, showing too much loyalty to Savoy is frowned upon—the Lancea et Sanctum is still the Lancea et Sanctum, after all. Some Invictus Kindred have even gone so far as to attempt alliances with Anarch gangs in order to oust the Sanctified, but have obtained only limited success so far. Baron Cimitière and the Anarchs are willing to exchange occasional information with the Invictus, but are unwilling to actually work alongside those whose objectives they trust no more than they do Vidal or Savoy.

At its own covenant gatherings, the Invictus looks and feels very much like a gathering of traditional Southern ladies and gentlemen. Its meetings have an air of refinement about them, of the last keepers of a lost noble tradition. Only a few of the eldest and most eccentric actually still dress in the garb of the 19th century, but the customs and etiquette of the Old South are alive and well. Unfortunately, many of the other attitudes of the time survive as well, and a significant minority of the city’s Invictus Kindred maintain their old racial prejudices. This isn’t to say that no black or Latin vampires have joined the New Orleans Invictus, only that a select group of the covenant’s most affluent and influential make a point of snubbing these “lower-born” members.

History

Year	Event
1757	Pearl Chastain begins to make a name for herself in and around the city. Although she does not claim the title of prince, she is the closest thing the Kindred of the city have to such an authority.
1763	France cedes New Orleans to Spain.
1764	The pianist Accou Poincaré is caught up in a feud between Alejandro Ruiz-Castillano and the Sanctified Toreador Maria Pascual. Pearl Chastain Embraces him and sends him away from New Orleans for his own safety.
1770	In response to the Camarilla’s praxis claim over New Orleans (or perhaps in show of solidarity against the newly-dominant Sanctified), Chastain, Alejandro, and Matheson form the Invictus’ first Prima Invicta.
1800	Retrocession of Louisiana to France. Chastain is pleased by this development, but it proves temporary.
1803	Louisiana Purchase.
1812	Louisiana admitted to the Union. War of 1812 begins.
1815—1861	The covenant’s golden years. New Orleans is one of the largest and most prosperous cities in the United States, and the local Invictus reap much wealth and prestige.
1862	The Union captures New Orleans in the Civil War. Alejandro Ruiz-Castillano meets final death when his haven is burned down by assailants unknown. Accou Poincaré returns from Cuba and assumes Alejandro’s seat on the Prima Invicta. Around the same time, Matheson is exiled from New Orleans for reasons Prince Vidal does not see fit to disclose, greatly impairing his ability to participate in Invictus affairs.
1865	Civil War ends. Alejandro’s childe Francesca Dumont is extended a seat on the Prima Invicta, as is her rival Dominique Toutain. The infighting between the two newly-established Ventrue results in Chastain, with her childe Accou’s support, coming to dominate the Invictus. The same year, Roger Halliburton resigns from his post as Archon to settle in New Orleans. Serious consideration is given towards offering the charming Gangrel a seat on the Prima Invicta. Chastain ultimately decides against doing so, though not without contention.
1877	Reconstruction ends. Roger Halliburton’s power wanes as Union forces withdraw from the city, and debate whether to make him one of the Prima Invicta ceases.
1894	Roger Halliburton is destroyed at the hands of a crowd of Vodouisants angered at his predilection for preying on their children.
1895	Pearl Chastain enters torpor, weary from centuries of activity and dispirited by the decline of New Orleans’ once-vibrant Creole culture. She passes her titles and holdings to Accou Poincaré.
1954	The Ventrue Troy Hansen quits New Orleans in disgust over his clan’s and the Invictus’ alleged bias against American-born Kindred.
1973	Pearl Chastain rises from torpor. Accou Poincaré surrenders his power back to his sire, who proves very unpopular with the younger generation of Invictus Toreador. Many are driven from the First Estate, including Chastain’s second-eldest childe Barthelemy Lafon.
2005	Hurricane Katrina devastates New Orleans, destroying Francesca Dumont and Dominique Toutain. Pearl Chastain refuses to leave the city. Pierpont McGinn leads the city’s Unconquered to Baton Rouge, which is ruled by the Invictus Prince Marcel Guilbeau. McGinn negotiates a “refugee settlement” agreement after Guilbeau is overthrown by his Seneschal Lawrence Meeks and flees to New Orleans. McInn and Adelais Seyrès assume places on the Prima Invicta.

Hierarchy

The Invictus follows an elaborate system of ranks, titles, and modes of address as outlined here.

Kindred by Titles of Esteem

Senex
• None

Vetustus
• None

Vetus
• Pearl Chastain (6th gen. Toreador, e. centuries ago)

Alder
• John Harley Matheson (Ventrue, e. 17th century)
• Accou Poincaré (7th gen. Toreador, e. 18th century)

Mister/Madam
• Marcel Guilbeau (9th gen. Ventrue, e. mid 19th century)
• Adelais Seyrès (7th gen. Toreador, e. late 19th century)
• Katherine Beaumont (8th gen. Toreador, e. late 19th century)
• Marguerite Defallier (8th gen. Toreador, e. late 19th century)
• Pierpont McGinn (9th gen. Ventrue, e. late 19th century)
• Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback (9th gen. Brujah, e. late 19th century)
• Marceline Duval (10th gen. Malkavian, e. early 20th century)
• Abraham “Bran” Garcia (9th gen. Toreador, e. mid 20th century)
• Natasha Preston (8th gen. Malkavian/Bourbon Sanctified, e. mid 20th century)
• Elyse Benson (10th gen. Malkavian, e. mid 20th century)
• Joseph “Joe” Doyle (10th gen. Tremere, e. mid 20th century)
• Randolph Cartwright (10th gen. Nosferatu, e. mid 20th century)
• Becky Lynne Adler (Ventrue, e. early 21st century)
• Anthony Brodowski (10th gen. Ventrue, e. early 21st century)
• David Hansen (12th gen. Toreador, e. early 21st century)
• Conroy Westphal (9th gen. Lasombra, e. early 21st century)
• Roger Ferris (10th gen. Lasombra, e. early 21st century)
• Sheila Packard (11th gen. Ventrue, e. late 20th century)

Master/Miss
• None

Kindred by Titles of Tribute

Duke/Duchess+
• Marcel Guilbeau (9th gen. Ventrue, e. mid 19th century)

Marquis/Marquise
• Pearl Chastain (6th gen. Toreador, e. centuries ago)

Earl/Countess
• John Harley Matheson (Ventrue, e. 17th century)
• Pierpont McGinn (9th gen. Ventrue, e. late 19th century)

Viscount/Viscountess
• Accou Poincaré (7th gen. Toreador, e. 18th century)
• Adelais Seyrès (7th gen. Toreador, e. late 19th century)

Baron/Baroness
• Katherine Beaumont (8th gen. Toreador, e. late 19th century)
• Marguerite Defallier (8th gen. Toreador, e. late 19th century)
• Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback (9th gen. Brujah, e. late 19th century)

Lord/Lady
• Marceline Duval (10th gen. Malkavian, e. early 20th century)
• Abraham “Bran” Garcia (9th gen. Toreador, e. mid 20th century)
• Elyse Benson (10th gen. Malkavian, e. mid 20th century)
• Natasha Preston (8th gen. Malkavian/Bourbon Sanctified, e. mid 20th century)
• Randolph Cartwright (10th gen. Nosferatu, e. mid 20th century)
• Anthony Brodowski (10th gen. Ventrue, e. early 21st century)
• Becky Lynne Adler (Ventrue, e. early 21st century)

None
• Conroy Westphal (9th gen. Lasombra, e. early 21st century)
• Joseph “Joe” Doyle (10th gen. Tremere, e. mid 20th century)
• David Hansen (12th gen. Toreador, e. early 21st century)
• Roger Ferris (10th gen. Lasombra, e. early 21st century)
• Sheila Packard (11th gen. Ventrue, e. late 20th century)
• *The Invictus had no less than three further untitled neonates, all of whom met final death in 2016.

Kindred by Titles of Function

Councilors
• Pearl Chastain (Primus) (6th gen. Toreador, e. centuries ago)
• John Harley Matheson (Secundus) (Ventrue, e. 17th century)
• Accou Poincaré (7th gen. Toreador, e. 18th century)
• Adelais Seyrès (7th gen. Toreador, e. late 19th century)
• Pierpont McGinn (9th gen. Ventrue, e. late 19th century)

Secondary Titles (by Office)
• Advisor: Accou Poincaré, Pearl Chastain
• Advocate: Becky Lynne Adler, Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback
• Almoner: Becky Lynne Adler, Randolph Cartwright
• Au Pair: Becky Lynne Adler, Marguerite Defallier
• Commissioner: Conroy Westphal, John Harley Matheson, Natasha Preston, Pierpont McGinn, Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback, Sheila Packard
• Groom: Marguerite Defallier, Randolph Cartwright
• Interpreter: Elyse Benson, John Harley Matheson. Marcel Guilbeau, Roger Ferris
• Judex: Pearl Chastain
• Knight: John Harley Matheson
• Librettist: Pearl Chastain, Accou Poincaré, Adelais Seyrès, Katherine Beaumont
• Meister: Pearl Chastain, Accou Poincaré
• Notary: Adelais Seyrès
• Player: Accou Poincaré, Elyse Benson, Katherine Beaumont, Marceline Duval
• Secretary: Accou Poincaré
• Senator: John Harley Matheson
• Soldier: Joseph “Joe” Doyle
• Speaker: Adelais Seyrès, Accou Poincaré, Becky Lynne Adler, Katherine Beaumont, Marguerite Defallier, Pearl Chastain
• Steward: Accou Poincaré, John Harley Matheson
• Technologist: None

Secondary Titles (by Kindred)
• Abraham “Bran” Garcia: None
• Accou Poincaré: Councilor, Librettist, Meister, Player, Secretary, Speaker, Steward
• Adelais Seyrès: Librettist, Notary, Speaker
• Anthony Brodowski: Commissioner
• Becky Lynne Adler: Advocate, Almoner, Au Pair, Speaker
• Conroy Westphal: Commissioner
• David Hansen: None
• Elyse Benson: Interpreter, Player
• John Harley Matheson: Commissioner, Councilor, Interpreter, Knight, Senator, Steward
• Joseph “Joe” Doyle: Soldier
• Katherine Beaumont: Librettist, Player, Speaker
• Marcel Guilbeau: Interpreter
• Marceline Duval: Player
• Marguerite Defallier: Au Pair, Groom, Speaker
• Natasha Preston: Commissioner
• Pearl Chastain: Advisor, Councilor, Judex, Librettist, Meister, Speaker
• Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback: Advocate, Commissioner
• Pierpont McGinn: Councilor, Commissioner
• Randolph Cartwright: Almoner, Groom
• Roger Ferris: Interpreter
• Sheila Packard: Commissioner

Kindred by Invictus Status

Invictus Status •••••

Pearl Chastain

Lineage: 6th gen. childe of unknown sire
Embrace: Many centuries ago
Status: Camarilla ••••, Invictus •••••, Toreador ••••
Coteries: The Cabildo ••••, the Prima Invicta
Pearl Chastain was one of the most celebrated Kindred in New Orleans during its golden age. She is a morose shell of her former self in the Modern Nights, and carries on her duties as senior Toreador primogen and regent of the the Lower Garden District with little interest or enthusiasm.

Cloe

Ghouled: Many centuries ago
Status: Ghouls ••••
Pearl Chastain’s herald. Cloe appears only twelve years old but is actually one of the eldest ghouls in the city, surpassing even the Hussar in longevity. She met her mistress when Chastain was enchanted by her beautiful appearance and purchased her from her commoner family, who had too many mouths to feed and not enough coin to feed them with. Chastain elected to keep Cloe eternally “young and innocent” to present a cherubic and seemingly benign image to the violent-tempered Kindred of early New Orleans. When her mistress fell into torpor, Cloe took Chastain’s eldest childe Accou as her domitor for the next 80 years. In a rare show of beneficence to the ghoul for her centuries of faithful service, he permitted her to age several years and experience some of what it was like to “grow up” (something she had long desired). Chastain, however, hailed from an era when adolescence did not exist as a concept and was distressed to find her ghoul “ruined” when she rose from her torpor. Though Chastain chose to retain Cloe’s services (the ossified elder still preferred to hold onto something familiar than throw it away), knowledge of her domitor’s displeasure diminished her formerly near-peerless standing among the Big Easy’s ghouls. Beyond her duties as her mistress’ mouthpiece, Cloe is an accomplished dollmaker and known to leave folded origami figures and bent paperclips wherever she goes as “calling cards.”

Invictus Status ••••

Accou Poincaré

Lineage: 7th gen. childe of Pearl Chastain
Embrace: 1734
Status: Camarilla ••••, Invictus ••••, Toreador ••••
Coteries: The Cabildo ••••, the Prima Invicta, the princely contenders
The younger of the city’s two Toreador primogen (though an elder in his own right), Accou is a former Creole pianist who remains his malaiseful sire’s unfailingly loyal voice of support—and perhaps the only reason she’s still undead. His younger clanmates deride him as a sellout, while older Toreador laud him as a pillar of tradition. In recent nights, his name has been floated as a potential successor to Vidal if the prince enters torpor.

Polly Willoby

Ghouled: 1898
Status: Ghouls ••
Former victim of Roger Halliburton and ‘playmate’ of Cloe.

John Harley Matheson

Lineage: Unknown
Embrace: Mid 17th century
Status: Camarilla •••, Invictus ••••, Ventrue ••••
Coterie: The Gerousia, the Prima Invicta
There is no Kindred in the city currently more despised than John Harley Matheson. A little-known elder who Vidal quietly banished during the Civil War, recent allegations have surfaced that Matheson is a headhunter who feeds on neonates he lures out to his country plantation—and that Vidal was complicit in hiding his original crime centuries ago. The prince convened a public trial to determine the truth of the allegations against Matheson and judged him innocent, but many Kindred are not convinced.

Pierpont McGinn

Lineage: 9th gen. childe of Troy Hansen
Embrace: 1886
Status: Camarilla •••, Invictus ••••, Ventrue •••
Coteries: The Gerousia, the Prima Invicta, the princely contenders
The most bombastic and ambitious voice within Clan Ventrue and the Invictus is without doubt Pierpont McGinn’s. McGinn was celebrated as a hero for the leadership he provided to the Invictus during Hurricane Katrina, which he has ruthlessly parlayed into a regency over Uptown and seats on the Gerousia and Prima Invicta. He also happens to be a racist of the first order with ties to white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Brotherhood, and the more recent alt-right. In recent nights, his name has been floated as a potential successor to Vidal if the prince enters torpor. Long-time paramour to Adelais Seyrès.

Billy Hennington

Ghouled: 1996
Status: Ghouls •
One of McGinn’s chief bruisers, torturers, and bullyboys. A former prison inmate and current member of the Aryan Brotherhood, Billy is a crude and cruel creature who does his job well.

Mary Frances Parnell

Ghouled: 2006
Status: Ghouls •
McGinn’s personal assistant and day manager of his assorted business enterprises.

Violet S. Dearing

Ghouled: 1956
Status: Ghouls •••
Pierpont McGinn’s herald and blue-blooded mortal descendant of Harry T. Hays, a prominent Confederate general who helped instigate the racially motivated New Orleans Massacre of 1866. McGinn ghouled Violet only just after he was permitted to Embrace his childe Austin Shepard, and it’s well possible he might have Embraced Violet instead if he’d found her first. For half a century she’s had to live with merely being his most pampered and favored ghoul. McGinn badly wanted to Embrace her after Shepard’s destruction during Hurricane Katrina, and rumor holds he even let her blood bond lapse in anticipation of doing so. Vidal, though, never gave McGinn permission: between the younger Ventrue’s Katrina-obtained regency over Uptown and his also Katrina-obtained seats on the Gerousia and Prima Invicta, the prince seemed to think he’d acquired enough laurels in a short enough time. Still, things could always change, and for Violet the night of her long-overdue Embrace can’t come soon enough. She is a vain and haughty creature who condescends her fellow ghouls and assiduously avoids sunlight (and judiciously applies suntan lotion when she can’t), wanting to keep her skin as pale and white as possible. She’s also known for commanding a murder of animalism-trained crows, for whom their color and slavery to her are more than a coincidence: she calls each one of them “Jim.” Her domitor never seems to get tired of the joke.

Invictus Status •••

Adelais Seyrès

Lineage: 7th gen. childe of Pearl Chastain
Embrace: 1874
Status: Camarilla •••, Invictus •••, Toreador •••
Coteries: The harpies •••, the Prima Invicta
Few are the Kindred who do not fear Adelais Seyrès’ attentions in Elysium. Pearl Chastain’s youngest childe has a reputation as the most cold-hearted and razor-tongued of the city’s harpies—no mean feat in a city that considers itself to have some of the most exquisite Kindred culture outside Europe. A gallery owner and critic of exquisitely discerning taste, there’s no Toreador in the clan better at pointing out the flaws in others’ work.

The Charities

Ghouled: 1949
Status: Ghouls •••
Beautiful triplet girls the icy-hearted Adelais Seyrès has rendered as hollow as she is. Their names, she considers fittingly, are Aglaia, Thalia, and Euphrosyne, after the three Kharites.

Marcel Guilbeau

Lineage: 9th gen. childe of Jereaux Guilbeau
Embrace: 1866
Status: Camarilla •••, Invictus •••, Ventrue •••
Coterie: The Gerousia, Marcel’s household, the princely contenders
Marcel was prince of Baton Rouge until his traitorous seneschal Lawrence Meeks overthrew him during the chaos caused by Hurricane Katrina. He fled to New Orleans and has been granted sanctuary by his elder clanmate Vidal ever since. Marcel styles himself as royalty in exile and has become a social fixture through the parties he throws from his riverboat casino, but he still dreams of reclaiming his lost throne. In recent nights, his name has been floated as a potential successor to Vidal if the prince enters torpor.

Marguerite Defallier

Lineage: 8th gen. childe of Accou Poincaré
Embrace: 1876
Status: Camarilla •••, Invictus •••, Toreador •
Coterie: The harpies •••
Marguerite is one of Clan Toreador’s most influential and least respected members. As a mortal, she owned several houses of ill repute in post-Civil War New Orleans and was Embraced by Accou after he discovered she’d been successfully blackmailing the local authorities, for he desired a clever and well-connected lieutenant to help manage his affairs in the wake of Pearl Chastain’s torpor. Marguerite continued to run her brothels but expanded her interests into politics and legitimate businesses while sponsoring artists in a bid for greater respect among her clanmates. Her hopes were dashed when her grandsire rose from torpor in the ‘70s and made clear that she regarded the former whorehouse matron as a poseur of the worst sort.
Tonight, Marguerite enjoys a better reputation among the Invictus, where her influence over Louisiana’s political machine makes her a force to be reckoned with in the state capitol even tonight. She’s potentially the most politically connected Kindred in the city after Vidal himself. She still runs her prostitution ring, now in the form of an escort agency, which has simultaneously facilitated her political influence (she has dirt on quite a few politicos) and allowed her to accumulate a great deal of prestation debt among her fellow Kindred as a groom (cultivator of herds), particularly from neonates (who she sometimes likes to “mother”). She has a head for business too, and is perhaps the richest member of her clan after Accou, Chastain, and Savoy. Yet in Clan Toreador, all of this counts for naught against a simple fact: her lack of artistic talent. She was particularly bitter to have been passed over for a seat on the Prima Invicta, the Invictus’ ruling body, in favor of Adelais Seyrès in 2005. She also remains engaged in a bitter three-way feud with her fellow harpies Katherine Beaumont and Veronica Alstin-Pirrie, despising the former for her arrogance and the latter for her “unbecoming” behavior and defection from the First Estate.

Sterling Batifole

Ghouled: 1985
Status: Ghouls •
A once highly respected local art dealer and talent scout amongst New Orleans’ artistic circles and their riche nouveau patrons, Sterling was ghouled in the 80’s by Marguerite Defallier at the pinnacle of his professional fortune and fame. Tragically for the Creole yuppie, his profits and prestige declined as he was forced to divert his best pieces and agents to his domitor, who in turn has used them to conceal her lacking aesthetic talents and curry favor with her Toreador peers. Largely, these ploys have failed, but not for lack of effort or motivation–especially since that his now disenchanted domitor only “feeds” him when he brings her a piece or person found acceptable by her peers. Unfortunately for Sterling, he has little sense of what her guild and clan appreciate. Moreover, he is sadly ignorant of the fact that many of his finds would be well-received if only Katherine Beaumont and Marguerite’s other rivals didn’t spurn them out of petty spite. Consequently, Sterling’s hair has since turned to his namesake’s silver–at least in the patches he hasn’t torn out from chronic stress and sleepless nights searching for increasingly more prospects for his domitor. Such labors and tangible desperation, though, have only worsened his repute amongst mortal clientele, and rumors suggest he has turned to specious investments, illicit dealings, and unsavory partners to maintain the resources necessary to maintain his dwindling art studio, gallery sales, and talent agency office on Julia Street. Far worse for the ghoul, Sterling has become increasingly convinced that his domitor will soon replace him with someone younger and more in tune to her “tastes”. In his darker moments of self-pity, he wonders if Marguerite’s peers will appreciate his oft-contemplated suicide or snidely deride it like the rest of his downward spiraling life.

Norman “Ray” Warner

Ghouled: 1989
Status: Ghouls ••
Ray isn’t his real name, but that’s what everyone calls him on account of his sunny disposition. He’s like a little ray of sunshine, always in a good mood, and he’s happy to spread that joy to other people around him. It’s hard to stay in a bad mood around Ray. He’s not the typical candidate for a Toreador ghoul—he’s older, balding, and thick without a lick of artistic talent to speak of—but he’s charming enough with a sort of lazy confidence that most people think doesn’t come easily to someone who isn’t drop-dead gorgeous. He’s easy enough on the eyes despite his shortcomings, and he’s got the kind of mouth that’s built for generous smiles. It’s his hands that people need to watch out for, really: they’re roughly the size of cinder-blocks, and more than one dentist has made a fortune from the people on the other end of those fists. Ray serves his domitor as a driver, muscle, and all-around keeper for the girls that she considers a “worthy investment.” He takes his job seriously: he’s been known to wade into the middle of danger for the girls and break open a few skulls on their behalf. He’s got some basic medical training, enough to determine if the sex was just rough and a hit of blood will set them right or if they need to get to the hospital, and he’s the first and last checkpoint the girls go through on their way to clients. Ray doesn’t have much of a temper. It’s hard to set him off; he’s more likely to laugh with you than take offence at your words, but he takes damage to what he sees as his property very seriously.

Pinckney Stewart “Pinch” Benton Pinchback

Lineage: 9th gen. childe of Annie Pope
Embrace: 1881
Status: Brujah ••, Camarilla ••, Invictus •••
The Damned prefer not to Embrace famous historic figures, but there are always exceptions. Clan Brujah’s whip is one of them. Pinch was a freed black who served as Louisiana’s governor for 24 days and held a variety of political offices during Reconstruction. Black disenfranchisement during the end of Reconstruction spelled the end of his career, moving Annie to Embrace him so that he might continue the struggle for racial equality. Pinch joined the Invictus in hopes of best effecting change (he was ultimately more interested in civil rights than the Anarch cause), though he alienated his sire by doing so. After Katrina, he incited outrage among younger Kindred by backing Pierpont McGinn over the younger and more Anarch-sympathetic Rebecca DeMatthews during the two’s contest to become regent of Uptown. Pinch believed McGinn’s victory was inevitable and that supporting him was the best way to effect change, as Pinch had many business interests in Uptown and is possibly the wealthiest member of his clan. The Creoles respect him like no other Brujah (except Coco), but many of his clanmates view him as a sellout.

Invictus Status ••

Abraham “Bran” Garcia

Lineage: 9th gen. childe of Marguerite Defallier
Embrace: 1940
Status: Camarilla ••, Invictus ••, Toreador 0
When Abraham Garcia was a kid in New York city, he loved to tell stories. He took up photography when he was 13, since he had already decided to be a journalist, and discovered he had a gift for endowing even the most prosaic subject with grandeur. His reporting on the violence of Vietnam hardened him, however, and convinced him even the press was full of liars. When Marguerite Defaller Embraced him out of simultaneous admiration for his photography and desire to give the Invictus a hold over the growing news media, he didn’t look back. He remains deeply frustrated by the fact that his clan’s elders do not consider photography a valid art form and treat him like a poseur, even though he’s won numerous mortal awards under a variety of pseudonyms. Bran claims domain over the Times-Picayune, though the decline of newspapers has made this less relevant than it once was. Still, he’s been an essential figure in maintaining the city’s Masquerade for decades.

Becky Lynne Adler

Lineage: gen. unknown, childe of John Harley Matheson
Embrace: 2004
Status: Camarilla ••, Invictus ••, Ventrue ••
Coteries: Armstrong Five ••, Low Table •••
Becky Lynne is her clan’s and covenant’s rising star. Born to old money and Embraced by city’s eldest Ventrue after Prince Vidal, Becky Lynne has parlayed his exiled status into serving as manager of his considerable holdings and his voice in all things. She herself is a quintessential Southern belle known for her exquisite graces, modesty, and apparent desire to be everyone’s friend—although that status has been strained among Antoine Savoy’s partisans since her sire’s alleged proclivities (and indeed, his very existence) became common knowledge.

Peggy Sweet

Ghouled: 2009
Deceased: 2016 (7 years ghouled)
Status: Ghouls ••
Becky Lynne’s personal assistant. Disappeared in 2016 and presumed deceased.

Elyse Benson

Lineage: 10th gen. childe of Harlequin
Embrace: 1957
Status: Camarilla ••, Hardline Sanctified •••, Invictus ••, Malkavian •••
Purity-obsessed dollmaker. Harlequin and Katherine Beaumont were both attracted to the mentally unstable young artist and played a game of chess for the right to Embrace her. Katherine learned to her chagrin that few Kindred can predict a Malkavian’s moves. Elyse and her sire serve as their clan’s de facto face to other Kindred, but where Harlequin is mirthful and whimsical, Elyse is always calm, collected, and deadly serious. She is zealously fixated with the concepts of “purity” and “perfection”, which she considers dolls to be peerless epitomes of. She disdains overt displays of emotion and (especially) sexuality: rumor holds that she forces all of her ghouls to submit to castration or female genital mutilation. Milder rumors claim that she merely makes them wear chastity belts. She has remained an avid dollmaker into her Requiem and her work adorns the havens of many Toreador. An anorexic in life, her Embrace has only made her even more doll-like and she resembles nothing so much as an animate, life-sized version of her own creations.

Elyse Benson’s “Dolls”

Ghouled: Varies
Status: Ghouls • to ••

Key

Ghouled: 2007
Status: Ghouls ••
Majordomo to Elyse Benson who manages the servants, upkeep, and assorted daily (and nightly) business at the Wedding Cake House. Believed to have been a valet or hotel manager in his mortal life, Key is a consummate host and seems to derive genuine pleasure from making others happy. Rumor holds that his sexuality-despising mistress has either castrated him or forces him to wear a chastity belt at all times to “control his urges.” He is also an enthusiastic crossdresser and quite adept at turning himself into one of the “dolls” who make up Benson’s stable of beauteous, rigidly controlled ghouls. Further rumors hold that he seeks to become female, not because he is “genuinely” transgender, but because he thinks his domitor will love him more if he’s a woman. He is sometimes allowed to participate in drag shows at Faubourg Marigny as a reward for good behavior.

Joseph “Joe” Doyle

Lineage: 10th gen. childe of Matthäus Goldfeld
Embrace: 1953
Status: Camarilla •, Invictus ••, Tremere 0
A longshoreman born to a poor family of Irish immigrants, Doyle never finished high school, but learned that greased palms kept the waterfront moving and how to keep his mouth shut and his ears open. He worked his way up from the gutter as a union leader who earned a reputation as a man who looked before he leaped, took care of his people, and would not be bullied by politicians or the mob. His sire Goldfeld believed that his prudence, determination, and ability to work within the system would make him a valuable asset to Clan Tremere… and was wrong. Or perhaps only half-right. For whatever reason, Doyle proved completely unable to learn even the rudiments of thaumaturgy, dashing his hopes of advancement within the magically fixated clan. His disappointed sire encouraged his interest in temporal pursuits, where Doyle made some name for himself within the Invictus as a hitman and for his influence over the dockworkers’ union. Increasing automation and general declines in union strength has eroded Doyle’s influence from its height in the post-WWII era, though. He’s also in charge of the chantry’s physical security, which the bookish-minded Bornemann (who condescends him for his lack of education and attributes it as the cause of his thaumaturgic ineptitude) considers one of the few productive uses for him. Doyle, for his own part, usually retains a stony silence on the subject of his superior.

Katherine Beaumont

Lineage: 8th gen. childe of Bruno Courtet
Embrace: 1912
Status: Camarilla •••, Invictus ••, Toreador ••••
Coterie: The harpies •••
A former opera singer at the French Opera House, Katherine Beaumont is Clan Toreador’s premier artiste and her judgment in all matters concerning fine art is considered supreme. She is less liked by her younger clanmates, however, for she considers jazz and blues “low art” and disdains them accordingly. She has been engaged in a bitter three-way feud with her fellow harpies Marguerite Defallier and Veronica Alsten-Pirrie, both of whom she considers low-born trollops, for as long as any can remember. She was a very heavyset woman at the time of her Embrace and Anarchs still find ready cause to mock the fat harpy for her weight.

Clifford East

Ghouled: 2005
Status: Ghouls •
Clifford was once a moderately successful hedge fund manager in New York City with a lifelong interest in the arts. Then he met Katherine. After three draughts of vitae, he left his marriage of 15 years and uprooted his life to follow Katherine back to New Orleans. He’s long since signed over control of his assets to his domitor, though she has little interest in managing money herself and leaves him to do so. He’s also the president of the New Orleans Opera Association, thanks to her manipulations, and runs it how she tells him. Katherine originally had no plans to let the All-Night Society know that Clifford was a ghoul, but he was “outed” by Marguerite Defallier as part of the harpies’ ongoing feud. Katherine made the best of it and publicly married him to further solidify her mortal identity’s control over the opera. Clifford even took his domitor’s false surname for his own (she didn’t like how “Judith Stevens” sounded) and is the model of the henpecked husband around his “wife” in public, whose most frequent words are, “Yes, dear.”

Natasha Preston

Lineage: 8th gen. childe of Constance Leyburne
Embrace: 1967
Status: Bourbon Sanctified •••, Camarilla ••, Invictus ••, Malkavian •••
Coterie: Antoine Savoy’s inner circle
Antoine Savoy’s right hand. A cutthroat corporate businesswoman from a wealthy New England family who came to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Preston runs the night-to-night affairs of Savoy’s many enterprises. In contrast to her patron’s easy charm and affability, she has a dry, humorless, and down-to-business personality, but can be quite disparaging towards individuals she considers unintelligent or naive. She appears relatively clear-headed for a member of her clan and has exhibited no identifiable form of madness.

Gemma Bernard

Ghouled: 2011
Status: Ghouls ••
Chief of security and personal bodyguard for Natasha Preston since 2011. Native of Opelousas, former inmate at Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women where she won the 6th season of Mega Cage, and then security staff at Zodiac Productions. Skilled bare-knuckle boxer trained in Savate, Tang Soo Do, and Jailhouse Rock.

Randolph Cartwright

Lineage: 10th gen. childe of Yi Huang
Embrace: 1958
Status: Camarilla ••, Invictus ••, Nosferatu •
A ruthless oil magnate who worked to suppress the Civil Rights Movement, Huang saw something of himself in Cartwright and Embraced him in the hopes that his childe would undergo a similar change of heart. Instead, being turned into a hideous monster drove Cartwright nearly insane and filled him with loathing for his sire. He changed none of his ways and retains much of his influence in the oil industry, which has made him quite wealthy—he’s almost certainly the richest member of his clan. He’s more than happy to help out other Kindred (especially neonates) in a financial pinch in return for favors to be named later, some of which he’s sat on since the 1960s: many Kindred think he just enjoys the feeling of having power over another. He’s also a groom among the Invictus and a procurator of herds: while Marguerite Defallier is known for cultivating “quality” vessels to an individual’s specifications, Cartwright simply produces bodies in cheap abundance through his ties to human trafficking rings. The Nosferatu disdains foreign-born vessels for his own use, however, and maintains an all-white herd of physically abused young women he affectionately terms his “wives.”

Dolores Campbell

Ghouled: 1958
Status: Ghouls ••
Ghouled by Randolph Cartwright during his war against the Civil Rights movement, Dolores Campbell has risen to become the oil tycoon’s most influential servant, living or dead. Publicly, she serves as his personal secretary and consequently helps to manage his financial affairs and schedule. Privately, she also manages Cartwright’s “wives”, ensuring that the enslaved herd of women have the necessary food, water, and warmth to sustain life. Despite such succor, Dolores despises Cartwright’s wives with all the patronizing disdain, jealousy, and disappointment of a stereotypical mother-in-law who believes that no woman but herself is good enough for her son. A staunch traditionalist when it comes to gender and racial roles, the sanctimonious but spiritually bankrupt Catholic is fond of chiding her abused charges with Ephesians 5:22 and Colossians 3:18: “Wives, submit to your own husbands.” Both utterly subservient and sickeningly maternal to her domitor, Dolores rarely leaves Cartwright’s side. Nonetheless, she serves as his de facto herald, communicating with other Kindred and their ghouls (particular among the Invictus) via switchboard phone-calls, typewriter-printed stationary missives, and the occasional, if absolutely necessary, email. Once a reasonably fetching woman, Dolores’ decades-long addiction to Nosferatu vitae has cursed her beauty (and arguably humanity). Neck up, she resembles a prudish woman past her prime whose fashion sense died a few decades ago. Her pendulous breasts, however, frequently leak a foul-smelling discharge that requires her to constantly wear thick nursing pads (and even then, she routinely has to change her secretarial uniform when the pads themselves overflow with curdled milk stains).

Invictus Status •

Allison Eskew

Lineage: 10th gen. childe of Baptiste du Lac
Embrace: 1965
Status: Camarilla •, Invictus •, Nosferatu ••
Allison is the secret controller of an architecture firm with some ties to construction companies hired to put those plans into action. Of course, all Kindred have angles, and Allison’s is to sneak in a variety of off-the-books additions to the floorplans. The blueprints that are logged—both in the firm’s files and on municipal records—are not the blueprints handed to the builders, who just nod and do as they’re told. The additions are usually subtle things. A crawl space here. A dividing wall slightly too thick there. In recent years, Allison was able to score the contract to design the layouts for an entire suburban neighborhood, which she has seeded fully with a series of simple ways to enter and hide inside the homes. When a particularly flexible vampire can squeeze through these secret passages, a herd is easy to cultivate. Especially when combined with the city’s sewage and drainage system.

Anthony Brodowski

Lineage: 10th gen. childe of Marcel Guilbeau
Embrace: 2011
Status: Camarilla •, Invictus •, Ventrue •
Coteries: Low Table ••, Marcel’s household
Anthony is everything that Marcel Guilbeau wanted his older childe Christopher to be. Although Embraced from lowly stock (Marcel discovered him as a homeless youth dying from AIDS), Anthony proved to have a quick mind, a particular head for numbers, and to be far more loyal and grateful to his sire than Christopher ever was. Tonight he serves as Marcel’s right-hand man and oversees many of the less glamorous aspects of the older Ventrue’s holdings.

Marceline Duval

Lineage: 10th gen. childe of Harlequin
Embrace: 1923
Status: Camarilla •, Invictus •, Malkavian ••
Surrealist painter.

Roxandra “Roxy” Adrieux

Lineage: 10th gen. childe of Jared Buckner
Embrace: 1956
Status: Bourbon Sanctified •, Camarilla •, Gangrel Status ••, Invictus •
Coterie: OXR •••
Roxy was brought into her Requiem by Jared Buckner when she caught his eye on her frequent trips outside the city, running from a home she didn’t feel welcome in. She was still a teenager when he Embraced her, but her quick wits and survival instincts lent well to unlife as a Gangrel, and she spent her formative years as her sire’s childe and lover at his side in the French Quarter where he served as warden to Antoine Savoy. When he was executed in 2006 under the allegation that he had slain Pakachilu, the clan’s former primogen, Roxy made the foray back into Kindred politics to dig up the truth. Friendly with a variety of animals, including the local Loup-Garoux packs, she’s made a name for herself as an investigator by frequently employing animal spies and her own beastly shape to overhear the choicest bits of gossip. Leader of the OXR krewe.

Sheila Packard

Lineage: 11th gen. childe of Robert Landau
Embrace: 1998
Status: Camarilla 0, Invictus •, Ventrue 0

Invictus Status 0

Conroy Westphal

Lineage: 9th gen. childe of Suleiman ibn Abdelmalek
Embrace: 2005
Status: Camarilla 0, Invictus 0, Lasombra ••
Coteries: Leviathan Committee ••, Low Table ••
A child prodigy Embraced at the age of 10 in Saudi Arabia, Westphal found the Islam-dominated culture of the Middle East’s vampires poorly to his liking. He gladly relocated to the United States after the 2016 Cairo Accords at the invitation of Philip Maldonato, his grandsire’s cousin, and serves as whip for his clan. Arrogant to a fault, Westphal believes he’s smarter than just about anyone he meets—and isn’t shy about it, or the fact that he’s usually right.

Roger Ferris

Lineage: 10th gen. childe of Conroy Westphal
Embrace: 2016
Status: Camarilla 0, Lasombra •, Invictus 0
Coteries: Guard de Ville ••, Leviathan Committee ••, Low Table ••
A former CIA case officer turned station chief who spent more than a decade in the Middle East, Roger quit the agency after he lost two fingers and was brutally tortured following a fouled op in Jordan. Formerly in charge of the Malveaux family’s physical security, protection, and corporate-political espionage, Roger was Embraced during the 2016 Battle of Mt. Carmel and now works as one of the hounds on the Guard de Ville. In life, Roger was a frighteningly devious and manipulative bastard with a tested IQ of 142 who never stopped scheming how to advance his patrons’ fortunes, and was utterly without scruples. In undeath, those qualities have continued to serve him well.

Ben Chandler

Ghouled: 2016
Status: Ghouls •
The right hand of Roger Ferris, Ben knew his domitor long before either of them were brought into the Kindred world. An ex-Marine who’s a massive slab of a man at 6’8" and nearly 300 lbs, Ben is the blunt end of the stick used when his domitor’s efforts require direct action. Though far from a dunce, Ben is used mostly for his intimidating presence and physical skills. Truly enjoys his job and his boss, both for his professionalism and the opportunity it has given him. Diehard fan of the Alabama Crimson Tide and often wears a ball cap for the school. This earns him a great deal of “love” in New Orleans, though few people have the guts to say anything to the titan of a man.

Brett Goodman

Ghouled: 2016
Status: Ghouls •
Before his ghouling, Brett Goodman was ostentatiously a “profiler” and “investigator" for the Malveaux family. In actuality, he’s a conman, spy, and expert at breaking and entering who uses his talents to infiltrate groups and buildings on behalf of his domitor. He’s also a consummate womanizer who loves nothing more than to sleep with a pretty girl and brag about it to anyone who’ll listen.

Kayla Graves

Ghouled: 2016
Status: Ghouls •
A high school and college beauty pageant winner (as well as former Miss Louisiana), Kayla grew up wanting to be a cop after her father’s murder when she was nine years old. Upon joining the force, she was assigned to VICE as bait in prostitution stings. Years of such work and sexual harassment from co-workers left her feeling dirty and cheap. Roger Ferris offered her a better paycheck working for the Malveaux family and Kayla happily jumped ship to the private sector. She still serves as a honeypot who draws in men with access to information her domitor finds of interest, but appreciates that he doesn’t treat her like a bimbo. Also serves occasionally as discrete muscle, as she’s often underestimated for her looks.

David Hansen

Lineage: 12th gen. childe of Anne Sommers
Embrace: 2005
Status: Camarilla 0, Invictus 0, Toreador 0
Fame-craving former political consultant.