Victoria is an extraordinarily beautiful woman, though her version of beauty is more classical (and perhaps therefore more timeless) than the emaciated waifs adored in the waning years of the 20th century. She generally wears clothing that reveals a suggestive portion of perfectly rounded body, though her choices are always tasteful, like red silk dresses and smoothly lined sportswear. Her eyes are green, her hair short and (usually) brown, and her cheeks are typically flushed red as a mortal woman's - a look Victoria knows male Kindred often prefer. Victoria's bearing is one of great confidence, though those with uncanny perception will see slight hesitancies when she makes important decisions.

Life in Los Angeles was rough, but at least Ramona knew who and what to keep out of the way of: gangs, pimps, drugs. All that changed the night of her Embrace. She was left alone and starving. Hunger drove her to hunt for blood. Conscience drove her away from her family for fear of what she might do. Her only teachers were instinct along with trial and error. Survival was a nightly struggle. Eventually, Ramona found others like herself--Eddie, Jen, Darnell--but they were young and ignorant like her. All that they knew was that there was worse out there in the night, monsters that called themselves the Sabbat.

So the foursome headed east hoping to find something different. But different wasn't better. In Texas, a lupine ripped Eddie to shreds. In New York, the Sabbat was still lurking in the shadows. Every night is still a struggle to survive.

The night had much in store for Ruhadze, who would change his name to Hesha after his Embrace in the midnight shadows of a Nubian gold mine.

The harsh Nubian climate and Ruhadze's poverty tempered him at a very young age. To avoid conflict, he and his family adopted whatever religion had grown to prominence at any given time: Islam, Christianity and even animism at certain points. By the time he had reached an a relatively advanced age for Nubians, his 30s, Hesha had fallen in with a cult that had gained no small bit of notoriety. This was a blood cult, a herd of mortals tricked into believing in the divinity of their Kindred patron. He Embraced Hesha, seeing in the man a cleverness and intellect that he thought would serve him well in his quest to reincarnate his dead god. Indeed, Hesha's sire has grown so proud of his progeny in the modern nights that he has renamed himself Abu Ruhadze in the Islamic tradition: "the father of Ruhadze."

After his Embrace, Hesha acclimated quite well to the Cainite condition. His newfound toughness was a great boon during the long nights he spent uncovering the hidden lore of Kindred and other chthonic creatures. Mentored at first by his sire, Hesha felt the calling of his clans legacy. Abu Ruhadze knew he had chosen wisely, and instructed his childe in the ways of the Path of Typhon. His progeny proved once again to be a fervent pupil. To this night, Hesha's clanmates consider him a near paragon of the Theophidians, revered for his devotion to the god of the Underworld and his spiritual wisdom.

Hesha's undead travels took him everywhere, and he met a great many prominent Kindred. He has crossed paths with the Kindred archaeologist Beckett no few times, and the two consider themselves cordial rivals. Additionally, his zeal to uncover the next secret or hidden revelation earns him great status among members of his clan; he's glad to dive into forgotten tombs as long as he believes they offer something of worth. In the modern nights, Hesha continues his tireless quest for knowledge. He has established numerous havens and at least one secondary identity to help him in the trade of cryptic lore. Those who know him also know that he's willing to share almost any secret he unearths, for the right price.

To Jan Pieterzoon, Gehenna and the Book of Nod are superstitious drivel belonging in the dark ages. Jan understands that Kindred are paranoid and petty - his grandsire was killed over a vendetta. Talk of Gehenna and ravenous Antediluvians only feeds this paranoia and results in factionalism, fear and paralysis. The Final Nights are here because foolish elders project their fears and read too much into coincidences and random chance. Jan is not blind, however. He knows that something is happening, but it is no more apocalyptic than simple change in Kindred social conventions. It happened before in the legends of the Kindred, as it did in Constantinople and during the Anarch Revolt. Instead of hiding from "Gehenna," Jan believes the Camarilla should embrace change, to evolve and adapt to the new millennium. If not, Jan fears the Camarilla will crumble and face a self-fulfilling Gehenna.

Jan has acquired no small amount of media influence to further his goal of eradicating Kindred superstition. The Ventrue is on a book-burning crusade. He wants the Inner Circle to punish all references to the Book of Nod since it only feeds the apocalyptic fear gripping Kindred society and makes it harder for the Camarilla to remain dominant. He has gathered Cainite scholars and scientists to find "scientific" explanations for vampires - hoping that a secular explanation will quell fears of Gehenna.

Image: Framed by spiky blond hair and deep blue eyes, Jan Pieterzoon is an archetype of Scandinavian stock. He often colors his hair when traveling, as many Kindred find his look a little less than traditional and a bit shocking. Jan is a complete clotheshorse, wardrobing himself in tailored suits of the finest subtle fabrics and accessories of high quality.

Khalil Ravana recently emigrated from India to the United States and expanded his horizons from stealing wallets to stealing souls. He's sold information to the Sabbat, played hostage negotiator for a Setite neonate and became entangled in a Ravnos elder's schemes for a time.

Khalil had the luck to survive the Week of Nightmares, despite his proximity to the site of Zapathasura's destruction. He encountered the Setite elder, Hesha Ruhadze, and after a shaky introduction negotiated a deal with the Setite to smuggle him into America. In exchange for passage to the West, Khalil gave Hesha information about the Eye of Hazimel, an artifact the Setite desired.

Once in the United States, Khalil hitchhiked to New York City. Before and during the trip, he experienced and resisted telepathic compulsions from an unknown elder. Once in New York, he was guided to a young Setite - Hesha's former ghoul. Khalil held the neonate hostage to bait the Setite elder. During this time, the Ravnos met the Gangrel Ramona, who had experience with the Eye of Hazimel and had seen the curse it carried - hideous wounds and stigmata that could not be healed, even with the powers of Caine's blood. Khalil learned how to heal the wounds from the elder who had led him to New York.

Khalil traded this knowledge to Sabbat and Camarilla Kindred in New York City, as members of both sects had suffered Eye-inflicted injuries. In exchange for teaching them how to heal the wounds, the Ravnos asked for information on Hesha's location. Unfortunately, this information didn't help much. Khalil traded the location of the Eye of Hazimel to the Sabbat in exchange for potent blood. In exchange, he received information about the recently Embraced childe of the Prince of New York City.

Unfortunately for Khalil, dealing with the Sabbat is never safe. He learned that simply being of Ravnos lineage was more dangerous than ever - one of the Kindred with whom Khalil had dealt, a Ventrue traitor, discovered the Ravnos clan's current situation and decided it would be simple to dispose of Khalil Ravana. The Ventrue miscalculated and suffered the fate he'd intended for Khalil when the Ravnos consumed the Ventrue's heart's blood.

After this act, Khalil became addicted to diablerie, and his previous patience with his Setite hostage wore thin. However, he soon found his alliance with Ramona coming back to haunt him. Ramona had built up sympathy for his hostage and freed her. Worse, she had then found Hesha and led him straight to Khalil. The hapless Ravnos barely escaped the trap set for him. Now, Khalil has perhaps more enemies than anyone else in New York because he betrayed the Camarilla and the Sabbat. Worse, his addiction to diablerie led him to diablerize one of his own clan, a fool named Ghose, and turn his mortal family into ghouls. Subsequently, Khalil left New York for Chicago. He remains controlled by his addiction, haunted by the manipulations of an elder and with no real allies.

Androgynous Sascha Vykos - Noddist scholar, Tzimisce scientist and Cainite monster - has long been a staunch supporter of Sabbat freedom. It is Hell's chief torturer and a musician with a scalpel. Sascha understands the nuances of every physical sensation and the nerves best suited to receive its ministrations. It is also a creature of learning, with a collection of books and artifacts to humble the halls of all academia. Sascha's enemies, including the Gangrel Beckett and the Malkavian Anatole, believe it holds cult-status within the Sabbat, wherein sect members emulate its actions. In truth, however, Sascha is a monster beyond its own years. Few could ever understand the grand schemes of the Sabbat's ronin priscus. Sascha Vykos, named Myca Vykos in the years before its self-inflicted castration, lived an enviable existence in the glorious Byzantine Empire. Born to royalty in the Carpathians before the turn of the first millennium, Myca seemed destined for greatness from a young age. As a child, his fits and visions brought him to the attention of House Tremere within the Order of Hermes. He learned the basics of spellcraft and proved such an adept student that he inspired jealousy in the magus Goratrix. Goratrix's later attempt to betray Myca to Tzimisce Cainites backfired, and the young boy found himself among the Fiends.

Eventually, Myca came to hate his clan and fled to Constantinople with the aid of his sire, Symeon, a Tzimisce renegade. The great books of Alexandria became Myca's silent teachers while the political juggernauts within the Byzantine courts taught him the subtleties of influence. Like the other Cainites of the city, however, Myca became enamored with the Toreador Michael and the Methuselah's delusions of divinity. Alas, neither Constantinople nor Michael lasted. When the Fourth Crusade destroyed the city, both Myca and his sire fled to the Balkan strongholds of their Tzimisce brethren. Although they left Michael's legacy behind, his reach would greatly affect Myca even after the Methuselah's Final Death. During Myca's years in Constantinople, Michael encouraged Myca's thirst for knowledge. It was his intent to make the young Tzimisce a walking record of Constantinople, Michael's vision of Heaven on Earth. Unbeknownst to Myca, the Toreador Methuselah instilled him with this vision and with a need to preserve Constantinople's legacy. Myca became Michael's architect, building a new kingdom without the mistakes of the past. Myca carried out Michael's dreams by crafting a living empire of flesh rather than stone. His city was to be a community of Cainites founded on pillars of blood and bone. His participation in the Sabbat's formation was the first step toward that goal. During the antitribu uprising, better known as the Anarch Revolt, the anarchs attacked the elders' strongholds to destroy everything associated with their former masters. Myca, on the other hand, played the monster while torturing Symeon - repeatedly absorbing and regurgitating his sire before the final act of diablerie - but also took the role of scholar when he saved books at risk to his own existence. During the uprising, Myca aided his allies, Lugoj and Velya, and proved pivotal aid to the nascent Sabbat movement as priscus.

Over the centuries, Sascha - for that is what Myca renamed itself shortly after leading an assault on the village of Thorns - has served its sect as scholar and warrior. In both roles, it acts as wandering priscus, though its manner of advising regional cardinals seems more akin to making strong "suggestions" than polite recommendations. As scholar, it maintains ancient libraries and repositories across the Balkan states. In this role, Sascha is an ally to the old-guard Sabbat who appreciate the strength of knowledge. As warrior, however, Sascha is also a frightening tool of retribution. With mastery over Vicissitude and Thaumaturgy, it can best most adversaries. Generally, though, it prefers to capture foes rather than kill them. Many of Sascha's prisoners have endured sessions of alternating torture and ecstatic pleasure that last for decades. Its victims are often unsure whether they are undergoing torture or rape.

In this violent facet, Sascha appeals to the younger Sabbat. Collectively, in turn, the Sabbat is a weapon for Sascha, a living battlement against the rapacious Antediluvians - the adversaries in Sascha's morality play. Every death it inflicts strengthens the Sabbat's position; every splatter of blood is part of God's portrait; every agonizing cry is a nail in Heaven's unliving city. That is why it knows how each nerve screams, how much blood flows from specific wounds and how much fat it can rob from a mortal body before death.

Even as a mortal, spiritual matters fascinated Anatole. The prophetic visions that visited Anatole after his Embrace indicated that Anatole had a mission in his unlife as a conduit to express God's purpose for the Children of Caine. Led down strange paths by his dreams, Anatole committed diablerie on other vampires in an attempt to absorb their insights. Many of his visions concerned Gehenna; others told him of the demon Kupala's restless dormancy beneath the soil of Transylvania. During the French Revolution, Anatole experienced a transformation of his visionary goal, drawing him away from attempts to reconcile Kindred existence with the will of God. Instead he became a harbinger of the Final Nights. His meeting with Octavio, another mad prophet who claimed to be the mouthpiece of the demon Kupala, led to a fateful turn in Anatole's unlife.

Unwilling to bear his burden any longer, Octavio sought to pass his legacy to Anatole through diablerie. Since that time, Anatole has carried within him a double curse. Octavio's spirit continues to dwell within Anatole's body, providing him with more profound insights into the coming darkness of Gehenna. In addition, Kupala now speaks through Anatole, who incorporates the demon's perverse omens and directives into his utterances. Anatole's attachment to Lucita provides him with a faithful companion who can sometimes interpret his visions for others. He considers himself Lucita's protector and, in fact, demonstrates a fair degree of competency as a warrior. For the last two centuries, Anatole has kept company with Beckett, another seeker of the truth of Kindred existence and a noted commentator on the Book of Nod.

As the Camarilla's first line of defense in times of crisis, those Kindred appointed to the post of archon have a deserved reputation for cruelty and mercilessness. And among the currently active archons, few inspire such dread in foes as does Theo Bell, childe of the mighty Don Cerro. In his tenure as archon, Bell has won the Inner Circle's personal accolades no fewer than seven times, an unprecedented feat in the sect's history. Even the war packs walk warily when Bell is near, and the anarchs of a hundred cities curse the name of the "Killa-B." Ironic, then, that this avenging demon should arise from such humble origins, and that the Camarilla's master gaoler should be so intimate with shackles. Born into a family of slaves on an antebellum plantation in the nascent state of Mississippi, young Theophilus (as a slave, he had no last name) worked with his father, mother and many siblings in the cotton fields.
Although the work was grueling and the overseer brutal, Theophilus had as happy a childhood as could be expected under the circumstances. His father, in particular - a huge and gentle man whose laughter was like distant thunder - saw to it that evenings in their tiny shack were peaceable and provided what sparse amenities he could.
Thus, it was a cruel blow to Theophilus when, soon after his fifth birthday, the family was split up. About half the clan, including his father, remained with the original master, while the remainder, including Theo and his mother, were sold to the distant Bell plantation. Theo was already strong for his age, and it took a grown man to pry the child from around his father's legs. It was, Theo believes, the last time he ever cried, and the first time his father wept. That tear-stained image is his last memory of his father.
Theo's mother was still a handsome woman in spite of her many hardships, and his remaining sisters grew up strong and tall. Their appearance did not go unnoticed by Master Bell, who occasionally descended by night upon the slave quarters, that he might "better the line by pumping some white blood" into as many of Theo's female relatives as he could. The separation from his father and his impotence in the face of his family's violation killed something in Theo. He also grew up strong and tall, and soon enough gained his father's height and impressive build, but never found his father's laugh or smile. A sullen field hand, young Theo often tasted the overseer's whip, and his fingers sometimes twitched atop his pallet as he strangled Master Bell in his dreams.
Theo had an even stronger dream than murder, though, and upon his mother's untimely death from illness (given to her, Theo believed, by the master), he implemented it. His sisters had been bent into docile house slaves; he was sorry for them, but they would hinder him. "Following the drinking gourd" of the Big Dipper, Theo slipped from the Bell plantation by night, striking down an overseer who sought to stop him, and ran for the North.
The way was long and perilous, but Theo was crafty and strong enough to strangle, single-handed, one of the bloodhounds sent after him. Some months later, Theo found himself in Ohio and a member of the Underground Railroad.
During the next several years, Theo made many trips into the Deep South to rescue such slaves as he deemed worth saving, and posters throughout Dixie trumpeted a reward for the renegade's death or capture.
Theo never found his father, but was otherwise very successful in his endeavors. However, his caution waned as his zeal increased. One night, Theo lay panting in a pine forest. He was wounded and facing capture after a failed mission. As the dogs howled in the distance, Theo bent to drink from a stream - and, when he looked up, saw a grinning stranger not three feet from him. Seeing that the stranger was white, and obviously composed, Theo made a desperate lunge at the man. To Theo's dismay, the stranger sidestepped his attack, then plucked him from the air in a grasp that proved inescapable.
Holding Theo immobile, the stranger bade him be at peace. He was not one of Theo's hunters, nor was he there to enslave him once more - at least not to any master Theo might recognize, the stranger added. His name, he said, was Don Cerro, and he had been watching Theo's exploits for years. Theo had impressed him as a man, and now, Cerro continued, he wished to make Theo into something more.
Theo felt the stranger's icy flesh against his own, and half-remembered snatches of old slave tales pierced his brain like freezing talons. But these tales were dispersed by a vision, an image of his family's violator bent and broken at Theo's hands. Theo relaxed, Cerro smiled, and a bargain was made. One condition only did Theo ask - that he be allowed to return to the Bell plantation.
So Theo gave up the sun and learned of the gifts of his kind, and of the great thirst. This thirst drove him inexorably toward the Bell estate. One moonless night, he crept into the master's house, a strange excitement upon him and a great blacksnake whip in his hand. He stood over the bed where fat old Bell lay, and he brought the whip up and down, up and down, harder than any mortal could crack it, and then there was only Bell's screaming, and his bulging eyes, and a pounding in Theo's skull that grew louder and louder and.
There was red everywhere, and then he realized that the master's house was aflame, and he was in a ruin that had been the slave quarters. Bodies - some white, most black - lay scattered across the grounds, limbs contorted like storm-tossed willows. Familiar faces - including his younger brother's and three of his sisters' - were among the corpses. Theo sank to his knees, but he was dead and could not weep. But, as he ran from that place, he determined that he would take the surname of his erstwhile master, to remind himself that though he now had the power of the overseer, the yoke of the slave would forever burn in his lifeless heart.
During the following years and through the Civil War, Don Cerro took it upon himself to educate his progeny, instructing the newly dubbed Theo Bell in letters, history and philosophy, as well as matters exclusive to the
Kindred. Theo proved an apt pupil - the embodiment of the warrior-scholar the old Idealist wanted - but additionally honed his Kindred gifts through emancipatory missions and, later, raids on Confederate supply depots, all in frantic efforts to erase the memory of his murdered family.
After the war's end, sire and childe embarked on a tour of Europe, during
which an entire nocturnal world opened itself to the fledgling's eyes. The princes and primogen, for their part, enjoyed a patronizing titillation at the idea of "Cerro's colored progeny" - precious few black Kindred existed among the Camarilla vampires of those generations still active in politicking, and nearly none had been Embraced from the New World slave populace. Indeed, Bell was a prodigy. Status-conscious harpies tripped over themselves to invite the taciturn Brujah to soirees, and several attempted to entice Bell into illicit blood-drinking liaisons ("Is it true what they say about a Negro's vitae?"). Bell, for his part, quickly grew disgusted with the decadence and debauchery of Europe's Elysiums - all too similar to Master Bell's indolent parties - but he soaked in the culture and customs of the mortals around him. He and Cerro became close - as close as father and son - and as Cerro's sway in the sect rose, Bell was reluctantly carried along with it, shouldering burdensome responsibilities for his sire's sake.
The 20th century was as turbulent for the Kindred as it was for the kine. Back in America, Bell was dismayed at Reconstruction's failure, though his mortal cares grew increasingly distant to him. In Harlem during the Jazz Age, Bell found himself and his mortal kin at the center of a Sabbat
riptide; additionally, he made frequent trips to his old Southern haunts, doing what (little) he could to stem the tide of Jim Crow. In the '50s, seeing a useful pawn to infiltrate civil-rights circles and confront anarchs on their own turf, the Inner Circle appointed Cerro justicar, knowing that Bell would become archon. Bell, for his part, was well aware, and resentful, of the politics behind his appointment; as well, he harbored no small amount of sympathy for the anarchs. His feelings did not stop him from performing his duties to the letter, and by the '90s Bell was the most respected - and feared - archon in the United States. Such was his renown that the newly appointed justicar, Jaroslav Pascek, retained Bell in his subordinate post, even though the two Kindred despised each other.
In these nights, Theo Bell may well prove to be a cornerstone of the besieged Camarilla. He has traveled much more extensively than most Kindred; even werewolves give him little pause, and he knows most cities in North America and many in Europe. Over the years, Bell has painstakingly tracked down what members of his father's family he could; he watches his kin from afar or occasionally intervenes in their behalf. As such, he has more contact with the sunlit world than most Kindred his age, a trait that serves him well in his duties. The Inner Circle believes that Bell's knowledge of New York City, particularly the Harlem-Washington Heights area, can prove vital in scourging the Manhattan Sabbat.

It would seem that Isabel's tale mirrors the Giovanni family history with unpleasant accuracy. From an early age, Isabel found herself immersed in the loathsome subculture of the clan. Even as a mortal, Isabel learned the hideous secrets of her family - and even took to them in some cases. As her morality rotted, her power rose, and by the time she had borne her brother's child, she had earned the attention of the Kindred elders of the Giovanni.

In her early 20s, Isabel became a ghoul and tasted the power that the vitae of the Damned provided. Such times were not particularly enlightened, however, especially in rural Italy and with regard to women. As such, it took over two decades for Isabel to convince her domitor that she was ready for the Embrace. Indeed, among the Giovanni such things aren't often petitioned by would-be childer, but rather decided by approving elders. Noting Isabel's skill with the Black Art as well as her knack at diplomacy, the anziani elders allowed one of the Giovanni Kindred to bring Isabel into damnation.

Since her Embrace, Isabel has been a mouthpiece for the clan, and again reflects the air of mystery and suspicion with which outsiders view the Necromancers. Rumors and exaggerated depravities travel in her wake - it is said that she can feed only from the severed heads of her vessels, that she has sexual relations with those from whom she feeds, that she keeps a host of captured ghosts bound to her own dead heart and that her bite carries the Black Plague or a more modern medical scourge.

Amid these tales, Isabel simply smiles and goes about her business. In many cases, such a reputation serves her well, as diplomacy comes more easily to those already feared. Isabel now answers directly to a group of elders, working as a liaison between Giovanni and the outside world. It is a thankless role, to be sure, and one fraught with peril, but Isabel's strong will and sense of duty to the family keep the Giovanni interests close to her heart. She maintains a comfortable unlife, even in these modern nights, and considers her various tasks and treaties to be a part of what helps her make that possible.