Campaign of the Month: October 2017
Blood & Bourbon
The Ventrue
“Cower not in fear of the sun!
Shrink not from fire!
Though cursed we may be
We are the lords of the earth,
and all things fall under our dominion.”
Ventrue’s words to his childer
Genealogy
|
e. = Embraced |
• 6. Augusto Vidal (e. 13th century, a. mid 18th century)
• 7. Emmanuel Costa (e. late 18th century, d. early 19th century)
• 7. Caroline Malveaux-Devillers (e. early 21st century)
• 7. Alejandro Rojas y Batiz (e. 15th century, a. 18th century, d. mid 19th century)
• 8. Francesca Dumont (e. late 18th century, d. 2005)
• 9. Rebecca DeMatthews (e. late 20th century, l. 2005)
• 8. Troy Hansen (e. early 19th century, l. early 20th century)
• 9. Pierpont McGinn (e. late 19th century)
• 10. Austin Shepard (e. mid 20th century, d. 2005)
• 11. Jethro Cyr (e. late 20th century, l. 2005)
• 7. Lothar Constantine (e. 16th century, a. 18th century, d. mid 19th century)
• 8. Robert Bastien (e. early 19th century, d. early 20th century)
• 9. René Baristheaut (e. late 19th century, l. early 20th century, d. 2015)
• 8. Dominique Toutain (e. early 19th century, d. 2005)
• 9. Slane Holland (e. late 19th century, l. early 20th century, a. 2016)
• 10. Jacopo “Walter” Andretti (e. early 20th century, d. 2005)
• 11. John Polk (e. mid 20th century, d. 2016)
• 12. Roxanne Gerlette (e. early 21st century, d. 2016)
• 9. Sebastian Baptiste (e. late 20th century, d. 2005)
• 8. Jereaux Guilbeau (e. mid 19th century, a. never, d. 2005)
• 9. Marcel Guilbeau (e. mid 19th century, a. 2005)
• 10. The Baton Rouge brood (e. varies, a. never, d. 2005)
• 10. Christopher Guilbeau (e. early 21st century)
• 10. Anthony Brodowski (e. early 21st century)
• John Harley Matheson (e. mid 17th century, a. 18th century)
• Gabriel Hurst (e. mid 20th century)
• Becky Lynne Adler (e. early 21st century)
• 9. George Vernon Smith (e. mid 19th century, d. 2015)
• 10. Sofia Andrepont (e. late 20th century, d. 2015)
• 9. Reynaldo Gui (e. late 20th century, a. early 21st century, d. 2016)
• 10. Bishop Malveaux (e. late 19th century, d. 2016)
• 11. Sheila Packard (e. late 20th century)
• Rosa Bale (e. early 20th century)
Kindred by Position
Strategos: Augusto Vidal (•••••)
Praetor: Augusto Vidal (•••••)
Gerousia: John Harley Matheson (••••), Marcel Guilbeau (•••), Pierpont McGinn (•••), Slane Holland (•••)
Aedile: Gabriel Hurst (••)
Questors: Becky Lynne Adler (••), Anthony Brodowski (•)
Eirens: Caroline Malveaux-Devillers (•), Christopher Guilbeau (0), Sheila Packard (0)
Nonparticipants: Rosa Bale (0)
For information on the roles and responsibilities of these positions, see Ventrue Culture.
Kindred by Ventrue Status
Ventrue Status ••••• •
Augusto Vidal
Lineage: 6th gen. childe of Urcalida
Embrace: 13th century
Status: Camarilla ••••• •, Hardline Sanctified •••••, Ventrue ••••• •
Coteries: Augusto Vidal’s inner circle, the Gerousia,
The draconian and religiously fanatical prince of New Orleans, Vidal has ruled over the city for longer than most its Kindred denizens have even existed. He has withdrawn into solitude since Hurricane Katrina. Recent revelations claim he will soon enter torpor and that an end to his centuries-long reign finally draws nigh.
The Hussar
Ghouled: 1769
Status: Ghouls •••••
Augusto Vidal’s herald. A Spanish cavalryman brought over with Alexander O’Reilley’s forces in 1769, the Hussar is older than most of the Big Easy’s Kindred and has the scars to show for it: his face was horrifically burned in the Great Fire of 1788. He is a grim, dour, and humorless man like his domitor, and almost condescending in his dealings with lesser Kindred. Few would be so foolish as to lay hands on the prince’s own property, after all. His two sole joys in life consist of collecting antique weaponry and all things to do with horses. Chief among his equestrian treasures is his nearly three-century-old steed, Furia, whom he still has occasion to ride in public during the Mardi Gras parades. Vidal and his partisans refer to him as Capitán Gaultierrez, but most of New Orleans’ Kindred simply know him as the Hussar. His given name is long since forgotten by all.
Furia
Ghouled: 1769
Status: Ghouls 0
The Hussar’s ghouled steed, a coal-black Andalusian thoroughbred mare. Before crossing the Atlantic in 1769 alongside her equestrian, she was already a blooded veteran of the Guerra del Asiento, the War of the Austrian Succession, and Seven Year’s War. The past centuries have done little to diminish her mad temper or bloodlust—and it is said that she will bear none beside the prince and the Hussar to touch, much less ride, her.
The Crescent Brotherhood
Ghouled: Mid 19th century to early 21st century
Status: Ghouls •• to ••••
Vidal’s collection of former veteran police.
Ventrue Status ••••
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. Nonetheless, Gerousiastis Matheson occupies a powerful position within Clan Ventrue as the second-eldest Ventrue ‘in’ New Orleans.
John Harley Matheson’s Ghoul
Ghouled: Unknown
Status: Ghoul •••
This elderly-looking ghoul holds no name—none that the Kindred of New Orleans know, at least. Matheson is allowed to possess him for purposes of attending Clan Ventrue’s monthly gatherings by proxy. He is never seen outside of these occasions and has thus literally never evinced any signs of an independent identity, at least around Kindred.
Ventrue Status •••
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. Gerousiastis Guilbeau is a respected figure within the clan, if less locally influential than Gerousiastis McGinn.
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. Gerousiastis McGinn exercises greater direct influence in New Orleans than perhaps any Ventrue other than the prince, especially combined with his long-time paramour 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.
Slane Holland
Lineage: 9th gen. childe of Dominique Toutain
Embrace: 1876
Status: Camarilla •••, Hardline Sanctified •••, Ventrue •••
Coteries: The Gerousia, Guard de Ville •••
A former hound on the Guard de Ville, Holland left New Orleans after Robert Bastien’s final death in 1915 to instead serve Vidal as a lictor. These roving troubleshooters for the Ventrue clan move between cities, dealing with problems as they arise and shoring up local clan power structures. Holland spent most of the past century traveling throughout the American South, but was an occasional visitor to New Orleans over the years, as it remained the home of much of his bloodline. In 2016, he relocated to the city and was appointed its new sheriff after Donovan’s final death. A former major in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, he still has his ghouls address him by his old military rank.
Ventrue Status ••
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.
Gabriel Hurst
Lineage: gen. unknown, childe of John Harley Matheon
Embrace: 1957
Status: Camarilla ••, Hardline Sanctified ••, Ventrue ••
Coterie: Cabildo ••
Gabriel Hurst is the city’s youngest primogen and was appointed to his seat by Prince Vidal after his predecessor met final death during Hurricane Katrina. Hurst isn’t anywhere close to the age or status of the Cabildo’s other elders, and most Kindred presume him to be little more than a yes-man to the prince. For his part, Hurst has a reputation for being a tradition-abiding Southern gentleman and appears genuinely honored to serve the interests of his vastly older clanmate.
Clifton Manning
Ghouled: 1885
Status: Ghouls •••
Francesca Dumont’s former and Gabriel Hurst’s current herald.
John McCullem
Ghouled: 1958
Status: Ghouls •••
Gabriel Hurst’s majordomo. Owner of the Magazine Street barber shop Cullem’s Cuts.
Terrence Blevins
Ghouled: 1994
Status: Ghouls ••
Gabriel Hurst’s chief of security.
Ventrue Status •
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.
Caroline Malveaux-Devillers
Lineage: 7th gen. childe of Augusto Vidal
Embrace: 2015
Status: Camarilla •, Hardline Sanctified •, Ventrue •
Coteries: Augusto Vidal’s inner circle, Low Table •••, Leviathan Committee •••, Red Right Hand •••
For two hundred years, the Kindred of New Orleans thought their prince would never Embrace again. They thought wrong. Tonight, Caroline Malveaux-Devillers stalks the Crescent City with the blood of the prince running through her veins—and all the associated ambition and expectations that such lineage entails. Though only a neonate, her accomplishments to date—including allegedly slaying Sheriff Donovan—and growing influence in the city have led many to speculate she will not idly abdicate her sire’s throne upon his torpor.
Autumn Rabinowitz
Ghouled: 2011
Status: Ghouls •
Originally a cleaner from the Krewe of Janus, Ms. Rabinowitz came into Ms. Malveaux-Devillers’ service following her dismissal from the Krewe for unspecified reasons and appears to function as an adviser of sorts to the young Ventrue in matters of the Masquerade.
Brian Fuller
Ghouled: 2015
Status: Ghouls 0
Prior to his ghouling, Brian was a retired Corpsman with a largely redacted past indicative of those with special operations experience. He appears to handle most matters of personal security for Caroline Malveaux-Devillers and was ghouled shortly after her release.
Sarah Widney
Ghouled: 2015
Status: Ghouls 0
Recruited from among the many aids to high society types, but herself recently disgraced by her last employer, Widney serves as Caroline Malveaux-Devillers’s active chief of staff.
Ventrue Status 0
Christopher Guilbeau
Lineage: 10th gen. childe of Marcel Guilbeau
Embrace: 2010
Status: Anarch ••, Camarilla 0, Ventrue 0
Coteries: Golds ••, Marcel’s household
Christopher might be the older of Marcel Guilbeau’s two childer, the more handsome, and the only one related to his sire by blood, but Christopher couldn’t be a greater disappointment to Marcel if he tried. Before Anthony’s Embrace he was known for, carelessly endangering the Masquerade, relying on his sire to bail him out, and only being grateful to Marcel when he wanted something. He has since moderated his ways (mostly), but relations between the two remain cool.
Rosa Bale
Lineage: Unknown
Embrace: 1920
Status: Bourbon Sanctified •••, Camarilla ••, Circle of the Crone •••, Ventrue 0
Coterie: Antoine Savoy’s inner circle
Most Kindred are surprised to learn that the city’s most preeminent vampiric mambo not associated with Baron Cimitière is Ventrue. Rosa Bale considers the Samedi houngan unthinkably arrogant for his claims of being resurrected by Baron Samedi, and bitterly opposes him and the prince from Antoine Savoy’s side. She is also an accomplished spirit medium who sells her talents as an information broker.
Sheila Packard
Lineage: 11th gen. childe of Robert Landau
Embrace: 1998
Status: Camarilla 0, Invictus •, Ventrue 0
Fallen Ventrue by Status
Ventrue Status •••
Bishop Malveaux
Lineage: 10th gen. childe of Karena Cingolai
Embrace: 1893
Final Death: 2016 (123 years undead)
Status: Camarilla ••, Hardline Sanctified ••••, Ventrue •••
Bishop Malveaux (who went by no other name) was the Sanctified’s preeminent priest after his recent promotion. While his mild-mannered former peer Gus “Gutterball” Elgin attends to the covenant’s social functions as master of Elysium, the far colder and outwardly fanatical Bishop Malveaux was responsible for more esoteric matters: he served as the church’s (as well as his clan’s) archivist, keeper of lore, and foremost theban sorcerer. His tendrils were deeply wound around the local Catholic Church through his mortal family, one of whom serves as the city’s archbishop. Gerousiastis Malveaux’s term on the Gerousia was short-lived, as he met his end at the hands of unknown assailants only months after being elevated to the position in 2015.
George Vernon Smith
Lineage: 9th gen. childe of Kriemhild of Austria
Embrace: 1862
Final Death: 2015 (153 years undead)
Status: Camarilla •••, Hardline Sanctified 0, Ventrue •••
The owner of the Windsor Court, a luxury hotel that was the seat of many celebrated events, George Smith spent his Requiem as the consummate host. His hotel was a well-respected Elysium and hosted the sorts of upper-scale affairs not seen in Sundown’s clubs. Smith cultivated a reputation for being open-minded for a Ventrue and was happy to do business with Kindred from all walks of unlife. If anyone came to him with a problem, he was all too glad to assist them. Though this limited his standing among the Hardliners, Smith made friends everywhere. Unfortunately for him, they weren’t enough. He was executed in 2015 by Prince Vidal for violations of the Masquerade and involvement in the scandal surrounding his elder clanmate John Harley Matheson. Before he died, he alleged that Vidal was long overdue to enter torpor and would soon do so, leaving the city in a succession crisis, as well as that Philip Maldonato was a Lasombra. The fact that Vidal furiously responded with the mass execution of Smith’s childe, ghouls, ghouls of his childe, and hotel employees lent great credence to the late hotelier’s claims. Gerousiastis Smith’s name is all but unmentionable now among the city’s Ventrue.
Ventrue Status ••
John Polk
Lineage: 11th gen. childe of Jacopo Andretti
Embrace: 1952
Final Death: 2016 (64 years undead)
Status: Camarilla •, Hardline Sanctified ••, Ventrue ••
John Polk may have done nothing to discredit Clan Ventrue’s reputation like some of his younger clanmates, but in the eyes of others he was guilty of an equally grave sin: unambition. A former Catholic priest, Polk was Embraced against his will by Jacopo Andretti under unclear circumstances and turned to the Lancea et Sanctum to provide meaning to his new existence. A search for purpose seemed to give way to one for simple occupation, and half a century later Polk appeared content to labor in Bishop Malveaux’s shadow as an assistant archivist and custodian for their clan’s and covenant’s libraries of records. Although none faulted the priest for his loyalty, his accomplishments were obscure enough that Vidal passed him over as regent of Riverbend (despite the domain belonging to his direct ancestor Dominique Toutain) in favor of Donovan. Recently deceased.
Ventrue Status •
René Baristheaut
Lineage: 9th gen. childe of Robert Bastien
Embrace: 1898
Final Death: 2015 (117 years undead)
Status: Bourbon Sanctified ••, Camarilla •, Ventrue •
The sole childe of the city’s previous sheriff, René served as a hound on the Guard de Ville under his sire for around a score of years. He departed New Orleans after Bastien’s final death in the early 20th century and returned in 2015. He Embraced an illicit childe during Southern Decadence, ostensibly Caroline Malveaux-Devillers, and was executed by the prince for his violation of the Traditions.
Reynaldo Gui
Lineage: 9th gen. childe of Alphonse Capone (allegedly)
Embrace: 1993
Final Death: 2016 (23 years undead)
Status: Bourbon Sanctified ••, Camarilla •, Invictus •, Ventrue •
Coteries: Antoine Savoy’s inner circle, High Rollers •••
A post-Katrina arrival from Chicago, Reynaldo Gui is a mafioso who took over the domain of the destroyed Jacopo Andretti (another Kindred with Mafia ties) and professes interest in re-establishing the historic criminal pipeline between the Big Easy and the Windy City. He’s become enamored with New Orleans’ culture and serves as Antoine Savoy’s informal master of Elysium. He claims to be the childe of Al Capone (“the” Al Capone), which most Kindred have viewed with either skepticism or amusement. He met final death during the 2016 Battle of the Arts District.
Ventrue Status 0
Roxanne Gerlette
Lineage: 12th gen. childe of John Polk
Embrace: 2010
Final Death: 2016 (6 years undead)
Status: Camarilla 0, Hardline Sanctified •, Ventrue 0
Coterie: Storyville Krewe •••
Despite her haughty attitude and being born to privilege as a wealthy state congressman’s daughter, Roxanne’s weak blood—the furthest from Caine out of any Ventrue in the city—means she has little hope for advancement within the clan. She has made more of a name for herself among the Lancea et Sanctum and serves as leader of the Storyville Krewe, an all-Sanctified coterie of neonates who harass mortals (and sometimes weaker Kindred) opposed to the prince’s interests. She has recently been troubled by the disappearance of her lover and krewemate Evan Bourelle.
Mabel Everly
Ghouled: 2014
Status: Ghouls 0
Former ghoul to Roxanne’s lover Evan Bourelle. Evan “had a thing for older women,” in the words of his coterie-mates, and took the middle-aged, still-attractive Mabel to serve as his general gopher, secondary breadwinner (she still worked a part-time day job to pay for his assorted expenses) and personal assistant. The two lived together and posed as a mother and son, with Evan treating the ghoul quite affectionately (she was his only one) and spoiling her with regular sex and vitae. Roxanne has become the ghoul’s domitor since Evan’s disappearance and has proven a rather less generous mistress. Mabel remains deeply distraught over her now-former domitor’s fate and still cries about him.
Other Fallen Ventrue
• Sofia Andrepont (10th gen. childe of George Smith, Hardline Sanctified, e. late 20th century, d. 2015)
• Francesca Dumont (8th gen. childe of Alejandro Rojas y Batiz, Invictus, e. late 18th century, d. 2005)
• Dominique Toutain (8th gen. childe of Lothar Constantine, Invictus, e. early 19th century, d. 2005)
• Jacopo “Walter” Andretti (10th gen. childe of Slane Holland, Hardline Sanctified, e. early 20th century, d. 2005)
• Austin Shepard (10th gen. childe of Pierpont McGinn, Invictus, e. mid 20th century, d. 2005)
• Sebastian Baptiste (9th gen. childe of Dominique Toutain, Anarch Movement, e. late 20th century, d. 2005)
• Robert Bastien (8th gen. childe of Lothar Constantine, Hardline Sanctified, e. early 19th century, d. early 20th century)
• Alejandro Rojas y Batiz (7th gen. childe of Decimus Titus Optatus, Invictus, e. 15th century, a. 18th century, d. mid 19th century)
• Lothar Constantine (7th gen. childe of Dominic de Valois-Burgundy, Hardline Sanctified, e. 16th century, a. 18th century, d. mid 19th century)
• Emmanuel Costa (7th gen. childe of Augusto Vidal, Hardline Sanctified, e. late 18th century, d. early 19th century)
Extralocal Ventrue
Houston, Texas (348 miles to New Orleans)
• Troy Hansen (8th gen. childe of Alejandro Rojas y Batiz, Invictus, e. early 19th century)
• Rebecca DeMatthews (9th gen. childe of Francesca Dumont, Anarch Movement/Invictus, e. late 20th century)
Atlanta, Georgia (469 miles to New Orleans)
• Eleanor Hodge (7th gen. childe of Baylor, Invictus, e. mid 19th century)
• Benjamin Brown (8th gen. childe of Charlotte Ingraham, Invictus, e. mid 20th century)
Nomads
• Claudia Bassler (9th gen. childe of Tabitha Bauer, Hardline Sanctified, e. early 20th century)
• Jethro Cyr (11th gen. childe of Austin Shepard, Invictus, e. late 20th century)
Character Portal
by:
False_Epiphany