The Big Thread of Questions! Options

[Poetics]

As Brandon so succinctly put it at the end of wrap-up this week, "there are no more secrets," everything having either been revealed or free to become the same.

This is the thread where you get to ask all the questions that have been rolling around in your minds for any length during the chronicle!

Whose blood did the Tremere have? What were Character X's motivations for doing Action Y? Ask anything you'd like!

[Kikezilla]

I'll open with a reveal, rather than a question. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you: The Secret to Victor's Success.

Victor was 9th generation, with over a thousand years of his Sire and Grandsire's memories living within him.

Thus the unseemly knowledge of the intricate workings of Camarilla Society, and the doubling effect in his Aura, for those of you who knew about that. It was also what the "Castle in his brain" originated from. He also had 12 mental traits.

There's more of course, though I think that's the big one. Any questions will be happily answered.

A-

[Roach]

Though not as exciting as Victor...

Cassius Granger
13th Generation Brujah.

Cassius was a Nature: Follower, Demeanor: Bravo.

Upon the death of Dr. Morgato, his "master" became (surprise, surprise) Victor. Cassius had a bizarre and frightening obsession with Victor that Victor had no idea existed. It went so far that he captured and staked several of Victors allies, including an NPC love interest from SF so he could "know" Victor better. By the end of the chronicle he still had them, in his bed and he would ask their limp bodies questions about how they happened to get Victors favor.

As with Victor there is more, but that is a bit.

((Oh btw, Cassius was one of the few who escaped the night the cult of the ancient was raided. He was a member since nearly the beginning))

[Simeon]

I'll start with my first character "Frankie"..... Frankie was a 10th gen Brujah who wanted nothing more than POWER, and lots of it... He was planning a praxis seizure, while trying to convince the Brujah to follow him because he would give them all the power and "things" they wanted... His whole rant to the other Brujah was that they were the "bitches" of the domain, doing all the dirty work for no reward... The "Throne" he built for Marcos was an old electric chair stolen from some local penitentiary and "refurbished" with a built in spring loaded staking device in it's back. (Thanks for the s.t. approval on that one !) Frankie was on a "first name" relationship with most of the Giovanni, and often contacted them to let them know about plans being made against them for "favors"... He had BIG plans including controlling the local Indian Gaming Commission, building and running a speakeasy type casino and brothel (on Santa Rosa Ave), and controlling the domain around him. He thought that it would be a good idea to reach out to other clans for support, and seeing an opportunity to have Chester "owe him big" for saving him from hands of Austin Reynolds he attempted to stop Austin and subsequently died.


I wasn't sure where I was going with Krimm, other than the fact that there weren't many Nos in the domain and there was a chance to be a Primogen which sounded fun, He just had to convince that bitch Emily or Winnie or what ever the hell her name was to step down... That wasn't too hard when he told her she should be sheriff cause everybody knew her, and she already knew most of the affairs of the domain... He convinced her that a Primogen and a Sheriff working together as a team were better than a single Primogen trying to get things done... He took seat as Primogen, but didn't really trust Emily and took the first chance he could to betray her and get rid of her... He then started to try to gather as much information on the real happenings of the domain and plotted to kill Grainger and Ed Cain (whom he hated with an extreme passion)... Krimm wanted to experience as many disciplines as he could and learn them all, he was fascinated by the fact that others could do things he couldn't and a bit jealous... He had heard that by committing the worst violation of the traditions (diablorie) he may gain some new powers.... He started seeking out the chance to commit this act, but it had to be worthwhile if he was going to do it.... It had to be someone powerful... He got his chance in Sonoma, grabbed someone who seemed to be a powerful leader of a small clan and disappeared to the warrens where he consumed that kindred and felt the most intense feeling of pleasure he had ever felt.... He didn't really give a shit about anyone else in the domain, but knew the importance of saving face so he would attend battles then disappear playing up what an awesome warrior of the domain he was... He happened to be in the right place at the right time here and there and made himself seem somewhat useful so he was left alone... Until after the Olimpoli stuff started happening... He caught a spy in the domain and decided to make her his pet.... He bound her to him and had plans of keeping her in the domain as his secret puppet.... He told Cass that he found a spy and had killed "him" to "protect" the domain, thus breaking a tradition... Cass was not pleased with him, and decided that his punishment was to be staked by Ed then taken to a warehouse where Cass made him drink his blood for three days making him bound to Cass. He was then ordered to watch out for the Brujah and to not plot against them. (which sucked since he hated Ed, and wanted to kill and eat Cass) Also, part of his punishment was to step down as Primogen and take a Huntsmans position. He was torn with the new feelings he had for Cass and wanted to be close to him and decided the best way was to become a Brujah, hence "Jimmy V" who was indeed Krimm who by this time had learned to hit real hard and could move almost as fast as Victor... He was on his way, being acknowledged and given position as deputy along with standing. But alas, all things must come to an end.....

Thanks to everyone who made my Sunday nights a little more interesting ! I had fun, and look forward to seeing you all soon..... And, eating you !

P.S..... Anyone remember the crazy ritualistic killings in the news ? The one's where people were being found with animals stuffed inside their hollowed out corpses ? Or the one's at the airport where the bodies were found tied to a burning upside down cross, stuffed full of critters ? Yeah, that was Krimm.... He was a little "off"

[avalerro]

Three years, five characters. I'm sure I'm forgetting some really great moments for each of these guys, but a few highlights:

Nico Marguiles was also part of the Cult of the Ancient, inducted last September, but never had any contact after that. Nico was old enough to be Ancilla, but was too timid to seek recognition. As exampled the night Cassius took Praxis, Nico completley caves under pressure, possibly one reason he never got any of his potential Elysium projects completed. However, he has an Intolerance for failure, leading to some serious self-loathing issues, as well as the failure of those around him, most especially the attack that cost Whittaker his life, that was a fun, scathing letter I sent to Prince Marcos, despite the fact that Nico had only been Primogen for a week and only in the Domain for two weeks.

Chester MacPhearson: 10th Generation Nosferatu Ancilla, though he was embraced 13th Gen.... He had consumed the souls of a Ventrue, a Malkavian, and a Follower of Set, and almost diablerized a couple Gangrel, Gil Stiverson, and Winnie Foster, but he did drink Winnie's Sire's soul many years ago. The time the Tremere set Marcos on fire, Chester really had nothing to do with or any knowledge of that plot, though Cordelia Blane was trying to convince him to claim praxis earlier that night. He was always considering ways to get rid of Marcos, or drink her soul, since she made him drink her blood after that whole fire thing. Emily blackmailed Chester into drinking her Blood, witch prevented him from being fully bound to Sylvia Marcos, so it knida worked out in his favor. Austin Reynolds Diablerized Chester and Frankie within minutes of each other the night Chester was going to reclaim the Primogen seat. He also kept dead bodies in his haven and was a kleptomaniac.

Simon 'Bucky' Williams was not a Toreador, he was one of the most disturbed Malkavians I have ever played, though he did think he was Toreador. The gather after Bucky raped Winnie (something Pepper and I had planned for weeks), which was completely consensual in his mind, the beating he took from Leroy Engels V put him into a blood frenzy, that's why he attacked Micky Rankin, then ran off into Napa.....

Sebastian De Medici was meant to come in and take over the tiny Ventrue Clan, but he arrived the same night as Lucian Cerise and the Genovaisse family. Eventually, he was partly to blame for Miyuki's death and was killed by Charlie and Crim, almost sparking a Clan war.

Travis Burton, Brujah, was the first Sheriff of the Domain of Sonoma County and served under the first three Princes: The Countess, Mal, and Clay. He was killed defending Clay in a praxis move by Simon of Clan Toreador (Woody's character, not my crazy not-really-Toreador-Malkavian) in what has become known as 'The Night of Three Princes'. He was quite possibly the most ineffective Sheriff ever as he had the addiction flaw and was as high as a kite every night on whatever drug he could possibly get into his system That could explain his choice in deputies, Charles Hoden and Larry Malkav.

[bharris]

Adlai Shub and Ed Cain were allies since not long after Ed showed up in the domain. Ed knew all along that Reuben was Adlai Shub, not some former Anarch Brujah. The back story was that, when Gabe and I were both on hiatus for a while, we started planning a good few months in advance of our return on how we were to remove Sylvia Marcos from Prince, get Cassius Granger in as Prince and subtly lure Cassius into making absolutely outrageous and horrible calls of authority as Prince that would eventually turn the entire domain against him.

We were planning several clan wars to divide and weaken the domain and distract the elder--or more potent--members of the domain like Victor and Cromwell while we found a way to eventually destroy those same members of the domain to further weaken it. And we planned to eventually rabble-rouse the neonates to aggression and chaos to cause greater rifts and ruin the chances of inter-clan and even clanmate-to-clanmate cooperation. We had plans to get the upper-ranking officers of the Camarilla to cast out and utterly reject the domain of Santa Rosa. In the end, the goal was to open the domain to the Sabbat and convert the entire domain (or what remained of it) over to the Sabbat.

Some little bits about Ed's personality:
- Ed never lied. He'd bend and twist the truth around, but he'd never lie, and you could not get him to lie without the use of something like Dominate. Think of Aes Sedai, but a willing refrain from spouting direct untruths.
- Ed would play a lot of psychological games and tricks with people on a relational level. For instance, he'd mimic the posture and idle movements of the person he was in conversation with (mirroring) and he would emphasize suggestive points of his conversation with repetitive gestures toward the subjects favored side (to their left for left-handed people, to their right for right-handed people).
- Ed was not half as dangerous as Arlo OOC and Victor IC made him out to be, but he was certainly formidable. Ed's dangerous facade was planned by Ed, Cas and Victor to make Ed look like a mad dog barely restrained by a leash in Cassius' hand.
- Ed did not really care much about the tight Brujah family bond that supercedes the Camarilla itself, but he was smart enough to pretend that clan came first.

Other interesting things:
- Ed killed Lulu or, what the game of telephone named her, the White Witch.
- Ed had planned back in early November to blood bond Simeon Krimm, 'cause Ed thought him too much of a troublesome creature that he needed to put a leash on. But after the debacle of the follow-up attack on Olompali Park, Cassius wanted to know what to do about Krimm, so Ed openly said, "well, I was already planning on staking him this week and blood bonding him to me." Cassius thought that was a great idea, but after staking Krimm we talked OOC with Dominic and he felt it more appropriate to be bound to Cassius for character story continuity reasons. So, he was bound to Cassius.
- Amalya Otyker was next on the list to be blood bonded to Ed.
- Nico Marguiles and Ed were running a satanic blood cult together, the one that was previously created and run by the NPC Caitiff who called himself "Satan".
- Adlai Shub was actually a woman.

Brendan

This post has been edited by bharris: Feb 24 2010, 12:51 AM

[Gabe]

Adlai Shub suffered from psychopathy. He spent his first two hundred years avoiding other vampires so he could master and torment humans in privacy. He came to Sonoma because he felt he had become old and powerful enough to do the same to his fellow vamps. He was petty, overconfident and vindictive in a pathological extreme. Impulsive and shallow, his motives were either complex schemes to satisfy loathsome curiosities or revenge plots against perceived slights.

There were so many little subplots and scores to settle, going into them would be tedious. But one grand scheme in particular became his most common motive, especially in his later career. Lucian Cerese had so offended him that he was determined not only see him gone, but to hand his domain over to the Sabbat in retribution, even long after his disappearance.

As Brendan previously mentioned, he worked in tandem with Ed to achieve this. We actively poisoned relationships, undermined authority and seeded dissent and hubris whenever possible.

Shub loved selling bad ideas and plans that lead to depravity and violence. He wanted everyone else's humanity as numb and eroded as his own. Hidden by a psychopath's calm and self control, Adlai's humanity was almost entirely gone. He slept inside ventilation ducts of abandoned buildings like an animal, and took what he wanted from humans whenever he wanted. In the end, the beast he simultaneously denied and served for so long won.

[Kikezilla]

I have a question, what the fuck was wrong with George? Matt had intimated that there was a reason for at least some of his bizarre behavior. Was he bound, or what?

[Ometeotl]

Bound, and conditioned. George's basic personality was mostly intact, but the fierce devotion I tried to portray was artificial, his 'purpose' added to make him a useful tool. It did some things to his mind, and is what made him seem 'off.'

[bharris]

I totally thought he had been dropped on his head during accounting.

Brendan

[Brandon]

Robert Cromwell was actively working to bring about the end of the world. Not out of malice of course but as mercy. If he could end the world it would prevent the birth of any more souls who are predestined to suffer an eternity in hell. As such it was his hope to bring about the rule of the Ancient as a despot so terrible that his rule would satisfy prophesy in the book of revelations and bring about the Rapture.

Leroy Ingles was a spy serving Slade and reporting on the actions of the Domain. Surprise, Leroy Murdered Primogen Gil Stiverson and later maneuvered to scapegoat Mal, who was more than happy to accept the blame and leverage it as Anarch Cred.

Isaiah Whitecliffe was a recruiter for the Order of the Shepard, as the Elder Cult referred to themselves.

Any questions about the story, NPCs or such?

[Poetics]

Did anyone in the Olompali group actually have Thaum?

[Paradigm]

What was the deal with Bethamin?

I know the official story of her presence in the Domain was that she was on the losing end of an elder tussle, but if that is true, why did her locket contain such damning evidence against Vandavar Thomas?

Who stole the locket from her for the Witch?

Why did Bethamin run such a risk by enlisting the Domain to retrieve the item, when a simple peek inside could have been potentially disastrous?

Why did she ask for Right of Progeny from Cerese as her Major Boon? Did she ever use it, and if so, on who?

What was Bethamin's relationship with Vandavar Thomas?

What REALLY happened the night the cotorie from San Franscio came to visit, allegedly over the locket and our failure to retrieve it?

What was the cause of the mini-Jyhad between Bethamin and Hess-Castle?

[Paradigm]

Oh, and who used their influence to put Granger in jail for the murder of Marcos? I'm looking at you Brandon

[Achille_Rossi]

Actually, that was Achille Rossi, right after Marcos' death, he used his police influence to cobble up a police file against the brujah clan as a whole with Granger as a dangerous element wanted for the kidnapping and murder of the public figure of sylvia marcos.

[Paradigm]

Well done.

Quite possibly the only single instance of meaningful influence use in the entire Chronicle

[Brandon]

Did anyone in the Olompali group actually have Thaum?

Yes. Everyone of the Coyote Lineage had shamanistic thaum and were able to teach it.

What was the deal with Bethamin?

I know the official story of her presence in the Domain was that she was on the losing end of an elder tussle, but if that is true, why did her locket contain such damning evidence against Vandavar Thomas?

She manipulated Orion into entering Marin to see if the Ancient was still active. He came back reported to her and then blabbed to anyone who listen. Her involvement was discovered later and as punishment she was sent to Sonoma to keep an eye on the neonates there. Her locket was a red herring. It was just an old thing she was given years before and was not connected in any way to the locket Lulu kept. Bethemin was bored and sold her locket to a pawn shop and reported it stolen as an excuse to complain to the domain and make them do something worthless just because she wanted them to.

Who stole the locket from her for the Witch?

They were NOT the same locket. I repeat they were separate items that had nothing to do with one another. See above.

Why did Bethamin run such a risk by enlisting the Domain to retrieve the item, when a simple peek inside could have been potentially disastrous?

They were NOT the same locket. I repeat they were separate items that had nothing to do with one another. See above.

Why did she ask for Right of Progeny from Cerese as her Major Boon? Did she ever use it, and if so, on who?

She hated Winni Foster/Ingles and wanted to destroy her. She forced Winni to search out potential progeny and bring them to her for an interview. Bethemin would then examine them and find that they were unworthy and force Winni to kill them to preserve the Masquerade. In this way Bethemin hoped to drive Winni further and further away from her humanity

What was Bethamin's relationship with Vandavar Thomas?

Vassel to liege

What REALLY happened the night the cotorie from San Franscio came to visit, allegedly over the locket and our failure to retrieve it?

That was actually just as it appeared.

What was the cause of the mini-Jyhad between Bethamin and Hess-Castle?

She hated him because he discovered her manipulations of Orion and reported her.
He hated her because if she had not caused the creation of the domains in Marin and Sonoma he would not have been ordered to Sonoma.

[Brandon]

Actually, that was Achille Rossi, right after Marcos' death, he used his police influence to cobble up a police file against the brujah clan as a whole with Granger as a dangerous element wanted for the kidnapping and murder of the public figure of sylvia marcos.

And of course Landford found out while gathering up her assets and could not jeopardize the reputation of Clan Ventrue so he avoided court and instructed Cromwell to handle the night to night for him.