Ordo Dracul

“There are two things expected of lowly dragons; to learn the Coils by getting a tutor, and swear a Great Oath”

On Michigan Avenue, near Columbia College you can find yourself in the shadows of the lions of the Art Institute.  Many kindred in Chicago know that the various Loop campus buildings of Columbia College are the home of Ordo Dracul chapter meetings and that the Ordo has contacts at the Harold Washington Public Library Center nearby.  The Art Institute is a lesser known extent of the Dragon’s  presence near the lakefront.  There’s an aweful lot of history on display at the Art Institute and a hell of a lot hidden in its storage rooms.  Some Dragons come for inspiration, others come to meet and deal with other Chicago occultists and arcane antiquarians.  A mage cabal called the Mercurials have a definite presence, even though it is thought to fall in Prince Maxwell’s personal territory.

Richard Mullner – Grand Wyrm, Sworn of the Dying Light, Illuminous of the Fiery Hunger, Mekhet

Leader of the Dying light, rival is Ludmilla

Ludmilla Marana – Sworn of the Axe, Adept of the Untamed Curse, Nosferatu

Highest ranking Sworn of the Axe, rival of Richard

Barbara Forsmith – Sworn of theMysteries, Mistress of Equilibrium, Ventrue

As leader of the Mysteries she is respected but not very good at getting anything done however, she is liked by Maxwell.

*‘The Philospher’ –  Sworn of the Mysteries, Philosopher of the Untamed Curse and the Invisible void, Mekhet

Proxy leader of the Ordo Dracul in Chicago, while the triad is away at a caucus in Boston.

[Halle Berry]Librarian look, glasses, hair kept in a bun and out of her face.  She looks to be in her 30’s, with crow lines starting to form in the corner of her eyes.

Deitrich Furst – Kogian, Bearer of secrets, Gangrel

“I hear you talking but you tell me more by what you don’t say”

Savage beauty, fearless and a risk taker (so far they have always paid off)

*Hsung Xiaohur – Master of Equlibrium, Keeper of the Chapter House, Daeva

 Retired Kogian and appointed Master of arms and trainer of Guardians

Physical description…Chinese man in his late twenties, shaved head, with many tattoos covered y the monk robes he prefers from his former life.

Embraced 1843, apparent age 27

Covenant status: 3*

 Norris – Sheriff, Initiate of the Sanguine Curse, Venture

Spymaster for Maxwell, which also tends to hold him back from progressing to far in the Ordo.

Hounds include:

 Loki (Circle)

 Marek Kaminski (Order)

 “Earth” Baines (Invictus)

Embraced 1950, apparent age 40’s

<Slight english accent, sounds annoyed and impatient most of the time>

*Adrian Barboa – Initiate of the Burning Terror, Daeva

 {Ishtar’s Sire}

Covenant Status: **

He gave Ishtar the club after Ishtar completed a deal to give him someone to replace her, Ishtar found and prepared Bastet to be her replacement.  He recently set Ishtar free to find her place in the Ordo. 

Harvey Reynold– (Ryan-NPC)   Slave,Gangrel

Ordo status: -slave-

Ryan works for CBI security on the southwest side of Chicago.  Hired by Trevor Voss to steal Ishtar’s artifacts and vandalize her club.

Ishtar takes him under her wing as a pupil, and sets him to watch the unity church and investigate any kindred involvement.  He uses his animalism to get rats to help him and bribes them with burgers.

Harvey gets some kids to rip off one of the warehouses he watches, to gain himself some cameras. <Investigation>

Edmond Oxford(Brandon-NPC) – Sworn of the Dying Light, Daeva

 Ambassador to the Crone with Alex, Sire to Alexander, has followed and mentored him since his embrace.  Sexist and brash to women, allows for little respect between him and Rowen, which is why Alex does most of the talking.

Alex Belmount(Dorsey-NPC) – Sworn of the Dying Light, Daeva

[Mathew McConaughey]Childe of Edmond Oxford, ambassader to the Circle of the Crone

Master of Leylines and reader of the Path’s of Fate for new Dragons.

Micheal Crane – Sworn of the Axe, Nosferatu

Real name Clarkwell, former bouncer now Guardian of the Chapter house

Scratch – Scholar of the Fiery Terror, Nosferatu Primogen

Embrace: 1921

Apparent age: Mid- 40’s

He wants to get by in comfort and keep a low profile.  He is the staunchest of conservatists-the type who wants everything to stay just like it is now, only be better for him. 

(Southern Accent)Notoriety of being Old Tom’s childe, and last know to see him with Old John before he disappeared. Not interested in developing the Great Work, he is more interested in keeping his small deals and drug rackets in the south suburbs.  

Marek Kaminski – Scholar of the Sanguine Curse, Hound, Mehket

Very smart, educated and ambitious, pupil of Norris

Alex Gutierrez – Dedicated Scribe of Hunger, Daeva

Embrace: 1999, apparent age 25

Perhaps the only kindred in Chicago capable of legally practicing law.

Hispanic gentleman

Kindred attorney, (Dwight Holocomb- ghoul attorney)

Trevor Voss – Scholar of the Wild Curse, Ventrue

[John Glover]Owns the Peace Museum and is an up and comer in the Ordo.  Taught by Tsung is a backer and up and coming player in the city.  Interested in the history of Chicago and gathering influence in the city. 

When common courtesy requires the covenant as a whole to provide suitable fare for guests, ceremonies or honorees, there’s usually competition between it’s better-placed members to get the honor of providing victuals.  Typically these victims survive:  either they’re willing blood dolls brought in by Daeva or others with more natural charms, or they’re led in broken-willed, by Ventrue who can make the victims forget the experience afterwards.

Invictus

On Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago there stands a modern-day Gothic castle, 36 stories high, complete with gargoyles and flying buttresses.  This is the Tribune Tower, the seat of the First Estate’s power.  The tower is where the Invictus’ thralls come to meet with their masters.

  It is a common sight to see aldermen, politicians, industry giants and wealthy socialites entering and leaving the tower at all times of the day or night.  (The Tribune Corporation owns the Chicago Tribune, The Red Eye newspaper, WGN radio, the Hispanic paper Hoy and a few television stations.)

The Prince Maxwell, Clarke – Invictus, Ventrue

[Denzel Washington]

Embrace:1800

Apparent Age: Late 30’s

Haven: The Palmer House Hotel, in the Loop

Canadian borne, black man who traveled to the US, and was embraced by a bigoted white slave master, speaks French fluently along with a handful of other languages (Italian).  Fomer Invictus Knight in Kansas City killed Garret’s sire and threw down the Matriarch.

Primogen

1.      Norris – Sheriff, Spymaster (Mehket, Ordo Dracul Spokesman)

2.      Justine Laskey – Keeper of Elysium (Daeva, Invictus Spokesman)

3.      Miriam – Proxy for Rowen (Gangrel, Circle of the Crone Spokesman)

4.      Soloman Birch – Provisional Primogen ( Daeva, Bishop Lancea Sanctum) 

Garret McLean – Seneschal, Gangrel

Embrace: 1884

Apparent Age: 29

Embraced 1884  (20years after the civil war) by Carmelita Escobar(killed by an Invictus Knight-Maxwell) who planned a crusade against the American Carthians, which amounted to her diablerizing someone right before they left town.

*Mistress Justine Laskey – Invictus, Keeper & Master of Elysium, Daeva

 <Avis to Ishtar>“How fascinating, darling. Truly. Why don’t you tell me all about it tomorrow night?”

Embrace: 1905

Apparent age:20’s

    Mistress of two Elysiums’, one, the Discarded Image, a tiny bar near the Water Tower.  Open from noon to 2 a.m. and unlocked until sunup.  All kindred are welcome, and the bars venue as neutral territory is such that many a casual patrons pitch in to help quell any violence.  The other Elysium is the Shedd Aquarium, which is the most important on the first Sunday of every month, when its rented and decorated by the kindred court for their general open meeting.

Persephone Moore - Ventrue

Embrace: 2003

Apparent age: 29

[Alyssa Milano]

Childe of Maxwell(Maxwell disobeyed his own Tranquility to make her).

Edgar Treadwell - Ventrue

Embrace: 1982

Apparent age: 25

  Club owner of the Excaliber, the Circus, and Crobar.

'Earth' Baines - Hound, Ventrue

Standing about seven feet tall and weighing close to three hundred pounds, he is intimidating, rolling in his white escalade with gold chains and everything you can imagine a rich white kids trying to be one of the boyz to be.  Other than his wanna be attitude not much in the intelligence department.

Alexi Seretsnya - Mekhet

  Regeant of the Chicago River

Lucy Armstrong - Mekhet

Embrace: 1994

Apparent age: 23

Armstrong is a very pretty, petite woman with long, blonde hair and big blue eyes.  She hides her pallor with a great florida tan that she has airbrushed on once a week.  Armstrong's fashion sense combines sorority girl sensabilities with business casual.  She is partial to fuzzy pink sweaters.

  Elysium are usually tense because they’re surrounded by rival predators, and they’re trying to make an impression.  Modes of dress vary wildly, almost surreally, from filthy parkas to corsets no living woman could wear to antique costumes to the sharpest edge of modern fashion.

   ‘Staring at other kindred is considered a challenge; the younger should always lower their eyes first as a matter of respect’

Lancea Sanctum

  There are the Fundamentalist hardliners, lead by Solomon, and then the Moderate mainstream lead by Sylvia Raines.  The fundamentalists dominate the highest ranks of the organization, and they completely control the Inquisitors.  Before Birch, the Inquisitors were moderates, now they’re hardliner fundamentalists, at least when speaking in public. 

  Sanctified moderates actually do most of the covenant’s proselytizing, outside the Temple of the Dark Crusader.  But by the same token, most sanctified kindred in Chicago attend the Temple, not just because it’s central, but because it is, frankly, more in keeping with what attracted them to the Lancea Sanctum in the first place:  monumental traditionalism and a sense of belonging.

  Secondary Sanctified chapels (meaning, lead by moderates like Sylvia Raines) can be found throughout the city.  

Bishop, Solomon Birch – Provisional Primogen, Daeva (Fundamentalist)

"I merely tend a flock - the Wolves amoung the Sheep"

[Michael Rosenbaum]

  Fanatical loyalty to Longinus, very fundamentalist.  Long friendship with Maxwell, even helped his rise to Prince, though since the princes transgression(i.e. Persephone) their relationship has been strained, Birch has since physically abused the Prince’s childe in Elysium twice

Has 2 retainers, Chet Berman, Nosferatu”Bearer of the Claws” beater of ass and Emily Morris, Ventrue “Bearer of the Visage” his pet diplomat Both are authorities in the Church but kept close to Birch

Sylvia Raines – Priestess, Mekhet(Moderate)

Moderat towards Longinous’s teachings.  Has more knowledge of Theban Sorcery than Solomon, and holds sway over a good fraction of the flock, though Birch’s charismatic presence holds more power over the masses

Micheal Dubiard – Priest, Ventrue

Fundamentalist, trusted by Birch

Vin Mariani - (Moderate), Ventrue

[Cillian Murphy]

“He was in such a hurry to mutilate his soul that he never paused to understand the incomparable power of a soul untarnished and whole.”

Embrace: 1992

Apparent age: 26

Part of Ishtar's Coterie.  Mariani is an attractive man of italian descent.  He dresses formally and well, while taking a great deal of satifaction wearing high-quality suits most of the time.

Tobias Rieff - Harpy, Daeva

Circle of the Crone

  Most Acolytes are just this side of unaligned, attending Winnowing and maybe Samhain rites, learning the rudiments of Crúac but often neglecting their responsibilities to their covenant.  Many acolytes are secretive about their covenant affiliation, and do not wear it on their sleeve.

  The core faction of the Circle, accounting for just over half of Chicago’s Acolytes, is overseen by the Hierophant, Rowen.  She is a high priest of The Three.  Most of the Acolytes worship or at least acknowledge The Three:  The Crone (called Lilith by some), the Horned King, and the Great Beast.

  Lilith is the ruling principal, who represents spiritual testing and judgment, the balance of light and darkness, and the power of blood, fertility and sacrifice, life arising from death.  The Horned King is the lord of shadows, death and winter, and the master of the wild hunt.  The Great Beast is primordial chaos, hunger madness, the seed of frenzied rage that resides within each Acolyte’s unbeating heart.

  The Hierophant is the primary spiritual guide and teacher of Crúac in the area.  In Chicago, the Circle also includes the Tender, whose job is to point out where the covenant is failing to embody its philosophies.  Frequently, this means acting as the Hierophant’s spy and informant.  Chicago’s Tender is a mekhet ancilla named Ashly Wainwright.  The other covenant officer is the Crucible, who acts as something of an enforcer for the Hierophant, he is a Gangrel named Lazar Soto, but Rowen is powerful enough that she rarely hesitates to take care of her own enforcement. 

Rowen – Hierophant, Gangrel

"The spirits have ill things to say about you."

[Sigourney Weaver]

Embraced: 1754

*Lets Miriam speak for the covenant, but when she shows up to meetings what she says is never contradicted or questioned

Miriam – Primogen and Priestess of the Crone, Gangrel

Embraced: 1944

The youngest Primogen anyones ever heard of.

Bella Dravnzie – Priestess, Daeva

"Fate can smile upon you...for a price."

Embraced: 1948

[Nicole Kidman]

Rival of Rowen, wants progress and new leadership over the Circle.  Friends with the Prince's childe Persephone and Ishtar. <Avus to Ishtar>

Moyra – Priestess, Daeva

“Coincidence is the spirit’s telegraph line”

[Dita Von Teese]

Takes a more motherly approach than Bella, and is much more popular.  Owns the Skullery and the Metro dance clubs (Metro draws bigger names and is more mainstream)

Jed Holyoak – Initiate, Mehket

Embraced: 1766

-missing-

Ogilvie – Initiate, Gangrel

“You beseech my aid but cannot look upon me?”

Embrace: 1884

The old Residant Asshole of the Circle, especially to newcomers and lower members, in fact an asshole to anyone he thinks he can get away with it, a real bastard.  His domain is next to Ishtar’s Temple, in Bronezville, mostly garbage ridden abandoned lots overrun with vagrants and vermin, he likes it that way.

Richard Tabor – Initiate, Nosferatu

Embrace: 1943

Creepy as hell(and that was before his embrace), now its nearly unbearable

Damian – Initiate, Ventrue 

Embrace: 1991

Friend of Loki, and guitarist of ‘Icaris Falling’, band that frequented the Skullery, he has been missing ever since the end of the outbreak

Trey “Loki” Fischer – Hound, Initiate, Mehket

Embrace: 1995

Took part in the Encephalitis outbreak, survived encounter with the Unholy, frequents the ‘Skullery’ a club owned by Moyra, his mentor

Jaqueline Edens: The Matriarch  Former Prince 

Disposed by Maxwell.

“Do not ask!  There are things only some are prepared to comprehend”

Carthians

The Chicago Carthians are often lumped in to two philosophical camps: those who see unions as the ideal system and those who see organized crime as a more lucrative and empowering option.  More Carthians belong to the former camp, but the latter camp is more active.  Mcuh of the Carthian territory is assign in the North West side, as well as Jefferson Park, and Irving Park.  The Carthian influence also stretches into the North West suburbs that lie between the city and O’Hare airport, the crowning jewel in the Carthians crown.

Steven Walt Barowski – Prefect, Daeva

Embrace: 1899

Apparent age: 32

Has been voted to the prefect position since 1968 and is absolutely dedicated to the Carthian ideal and refuses to play favorites with either faction of the Movement.  Both T.J. and Angela consult with the prefect before making any big moves.

T.J. Washington, Carthian gang kingpin

Angela Stawicki, Carthian organizer behind the Carthians’ union activities

Duce Carter – Lieutentant, Mekhet

Black male, with a past relationship with Persephone that has earned him the ire of the Prince. 

Works under T.J., to maintain the tenuous peace with the gangs south and west of the Loop, and party drugs.

Lillian Vanderpool – Myrmidon, Mehket(Justicator or peace keeper, in and outside the covenant)

One of the cities most powerful Auspex users, she uses her gifts to gather information for the cause, very liberal/democratic views.  Older Caucasian woman (50-60’s)

Brad Kerwin - Regeant of Boystown, Daeva

[Justin Timberlake]

Owner of Flesh Rocket Productions.  Asked ishtar for help with some picture of her girls, and maybe some movie deals and publicity.

The Unaligned

Maximillian Regent of the Undercity, Ventrue (so old looks like a gangrel)

Redd Jack  Unaligned, Unknown clan

[Josh Holloway]

 Creole accent, very old.  Now is an information vendor, and gained an interest in Ishtar.  Most recently gave her some information about the entity that has started to harass her club and her, has hinted to backround, though not much is he going to give out without her help.

Mortals in Chicago

Stephen Peersol - A professional custodian at the Regenstein Library of the University of Chicago on the city's southside.  Stephen isn't pretty, but he's no hideous,either.  He has a balding head, twitchy fingers and a right eye that stares a bit off center.  A dark coverall is his usual attire.

Martina Ballantine - She runs, on a part-time yet stable schedule, a small art gallery in the River North Gallery District.  Her specialty is any kind of minutiae, from tiny porcelain figurines to pysanki eggs and intricate textiles.  Martina is quite atractive(Striking looks 2), tall, dark haired, slender and pale in a way that puts one in mind of smooth and flawless skin rather than an unhealthy body.  She favors dark clothing overall with orange accents here and there.

Other NPC’s

Incarnation of the city -  There are two; the older incarnation prefers ‘Lord Chicago’ from before the Great Fire, the effect of the blight in the shadow caused by the fire is apparent in his state of mind.  The newer Chicago was created recently after the spirit of the city offered to become one with one of Chicago's most notable historians.  Occasionally goes down to Bronzeville to check in with the curious Ishtar, noticably his interest increased after the Encephalitis outbreak years ago and her involvment, he knows that she loves Chicago and shows her favor from time to time.  He once told Ishtar, 'You are as a lighthouse amoung your kind, I certainly hope your light is catching' .

Phix – Spinx who maintains a library out of space and time.

  “It was humans that burned the library on earth, they no longer deserve access.  The earliest accounts of sphinxes refer to helpful guardians; it was not until the Greeks that the writers decided to demonize them."

Anyone that gains access to the library must be interested in knowledge for the sake of knowledge.  The library predates the Library of Alexandria by several thousand years, the library was one of several portal annexes that would appear in whatever style and level of technology a particular culture had at the time.  The books can’t be destroyed, they only temporarily turn to dust in the hands of someone unworthy to hold them.