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I point and others look. My wish is that they would sometimes see.
―Velia LeQuella

Velia LeQuella is an elusive elder generally uninvolved with the extant sects but appears to be well-informed about Kindred events. Those who had dealt with or claim to or do actually know her she is considered to be an esoteric and phylosophical person and being an occultist, a telepth - and by some a dangerous cabalist to be put down. To her credit she has stood unscathed through quite some serious accusations of being an infernalist, a diablerist, an abominable monster among others and has endured persistent defamation attempts during the last centuries and made her belive that it is better not being known. Desipte the apparent withdrawal she has still been employed by a handful principal courts in Europe. Often more than one at a time.

Velia maintains a low-profile undead existence trying to avoid and circumvent conflicts rather than participating in them - to which outlook she is said to be temperd during the earlier centuries of her unlife. She is also known for being gone onto an extensive journey to the Middle East and for having extended that to the Far East as well in the past and for having returned to Europe with deep insight into the matters of Blood Sorcery predating and rivaling the local pactice of Thaumaturgy. Over the centuries she had crafted a persona that offers occult insight and even sensitive mundane information in exchange for favors - usually secrecy, security and monetary compensation. She is known for being deeply distrustful of Tremere. She generally shuns from relying on others and at the same time weaving webs of interest she can rely on and what relays interest to her.

On the other hand Velia makes a point of cultivating high apparent Humanity and is considered exemplar in maintaining te Masquerade. She is not a virtuous paragon though. The parctice is what it is called: a Mask, a front - but then again it is also not far removed from her true sensibilites which still linger about her. Also her masquerade is twofold - pretending to be a living person among mortals and pretending to be as regular among the Kindred as it comes. Velia uses the name Volante among Kine. This persona has a lineage with a safely accountable genealogy and used in some of the deeds of her assets, though most of what she has is actually owned by foundations operated by ghouls under her sway.

Concerning her more practical dealings in current nights she is a telepath, a silent information broker and supposedly a counselor to hidden designs of plots that may as well take centuries to earn fruition, from which she is anticipating to profit less in material gain and more in showing Kindred that the Curse of Caine might as well be much easier to bear. It is saif that she considers it to be her unlife's quest to show both Kindred and Kine that the path to balance is open for eveyone who have their spirit's eyes to see at, feet to step on and will to act for. She also understands that most will not be open to this, but believes that enlightenment is a matter of spiritual ripeness - something that is often quite rare among those who have natural talent, let alone supernatural talents, to corrupt the soul.

Biography[]

Early life - Reformation era[]

Velia was born to a noble lady named Ethelind, the daughter of the last Meinhardiner graf of bavarian origins, and to the son of a military officer hailing from the Loire-valley French county of Anjou named Alain. Her first name is an Italian version of the ancient roman family name Velius, meaning concelaed. She was raised by her mother who was largely denied of her inheritance not as much for being unfortunate enough to be a female scion of her lineage, but more like for having her sole daughter (again female issue) born to one of the invading French army's commoner soldier to whom she of course did not and could not marry. Velia's grandfather, Count Leonhard, who himself lived in Burg Bruck elected to provide lodging for her daughter and granddaughter away in the town of Gorizia, farther south in the more povincial heartland of his domain. With his death, lacking a proper male heir - who could stand to inherit title and land -, the county was passed to Austrian rule by of one of the Habsburg Archdukes who got it as an additional lesser title. Meanwhile Velia's father was enlisted by the French army and he subsequently died on the battlefield in one of the skirmishes of the Italian Wars against the forces of the Republic of Venice. For decades Velia's mother maintained an infirmary in their house in the city of Gorizia given to them by Virgil von Graben, the old count's deputy and later captain and keeper, as a sort of alimony. There she provided medical aid and shelter for the injured where Velia was helping to tend to the wounded and the infirm.

One day a stranger showed up on their doorsteps to offer help in exchange for a bed for a time. Velia's mother had second thoughts but accepted the man in as his help was much needed both as a healer and as someone who would protect them with his mere presene from less kind strangers, as much as the mother and daughter family did rely on one or more man's or servant's helping hands earlier around the household. He turned out to be an exceptional healer, and even more exceptional in interpreting and unravelling the often toubling dreams Velia has admitted having to him. She learned much next to him concerning medicine, chirurgery, psychology and philosophy. The small family had to abandon their home eventually due to financial concerns. Velia's mother moved to Carinthia, initially to relatives.

European renaissance era[]

Velia did not remain with her Mother. She decided to look for the man she learned so much from. She wished to become better skilled and more educated in both. There Velia used her small allowance to get to Basel to "attend" the university and learn philosophy and medicine. Her mother followed up with the relatives of Virgil fon Graben - who according to her oved their wealth in disinheriting her. She was taken in at Burg Sommeregg as a companion of the resident noble family that mostly meant educating the children and supporting the family as a social attendant

Females were not allowed to attend university at the time but the odd male student were permitted to bring their sister along to lectures. Velia had to make due posing as the "sister" of the sons and protégées of lordlings who could afford tuition. It was around those nights in Basel when she got severely abused by those "brothers" in repaying the favor for them. She was left wasted and heavily battered before she was found by that time an already familiar man, called Galen / Generys, who nursed her back to health with considerable skill. However it seemed as a chance meeting, later Velia realized that it was not. The man was looking out for her in secret. She became blood-bound and also a ghoul as she was medicated by her sire's Vitae for months. Velia still considers it to be very thoughtful and kind of her Sire that he has waited enough for her injuries to heal before she was "embraced to eternity" and physical stagnation. Also she's still thinking, that her life would have been not much were she left to have it to live off. She might as well have died a toothless whore in her fifth decade or maybe a at best as an nun blamed for apostasy in her seventh.

Her Sire introduced her to the powers of Fortitude and the art of Valeren and take extensive care to train Velia to master Auspex as fast and profoundly as possible for it was of key importance to avoid the warlocks who, as her sire have told her, will be after her blood, that as she was told again, now had a precious resonance they would liked to have for themselves. The Chantries of the blood warlocks tended to be near to mortal universities, just as the Austrian capital, Vienna, was a major seat of Tremere power. Basel was a foothold of the Inquisition that used to hunt undead regardelss of peculiarities in blood or any sort of discrimination. Sire and Childe relocated to Geneva, where a new university was just being founded, and in that new setting they hoped to more easily evade notice. Galen / Generys himself eventually went on his own travels to continue his path "finding Golconda".

Velia for her part went on to maintian the unlife of a medicine woman, and usually walked among the needy and the infirm, providing as much aid as she could muster. She sought shelter in infirmaries, priories, and often among Malkavians who offered hospitality and treated her as kin, and sometimes among Nosferatu who sympathized with her. This unlife-style of hers ceased to hold up after a number of plots in which Tremere used the poor and vagrants to decept her just as they did it with the Salubri by abusing their weakness that they tend to offer help whoever sought it. She was betrayed like that a couple times only being barely able to flee. After experiencing a burnout she gradually relinquished the path of the traveling apothecary and focused more on developing her clairsentient and mental powers.

Velia's mother, Ethelind had her hosting household and actually the whole estate of Burg Sommeregg change hands and effective she did too. She had become a housekeeper and has earned prestige and class among her new employers, the rising Khvenhüller noble family. She invited Velia a couple times and intended to make her become a governess in the employ of the household, charged with education of the children. Velia accepted, complied and even consented but she couldn't help acting rather strangely. She never seemed to be willing to eat, and she was turning sick quickly when she ate something anyway, but most alarmingly she refused to leave dark rooms during the day. She got away with saying she had a rare unfortunate but thankfully not contagious health condition. To abate further suspitions Velia used blood-bonds to make the household believe everything she said, and finally has agreed to teach astronomy to the children for quite the stipend and private lodging. This continued for a two generations but after her mother's passing and with her initial charges gone, she only felt stagnation and eventually decided to move on. Then she realized the double edge of the blood-bond as those who have accustomed to sip her Vitae kept on showing up, even tracking her.

Enlightenment era[]

For the greater part of the XVII century Velia took on an extensive travel to the Middle East and has encountered the Banu Hakim only to learn that the Tremere were giving them quite the hard times as well with the results of the Convention of Thorns and the Treaty of Tyre in the 1490's rendering the Assamite a severy diminished clan. Kindred in fate Velia has found interesting listeners and teachers - for example in the ways of Dur-An-Ki, a blood magic practice predating the the Thaumatrugy of the usurpers who then seemed to be even more the pretenders just cannibalizing other Kindreds' achievements. Similiarly she learned of the subtle ways of the Ahl-i-Batin whose ephiphanies about elusive truths and elaborate understandings about the reality came earlier too then to the Hermetics of the West.

She had also learnt about the prestigesous-to-presecuted history of the Salubri and the usurpation of their heritage by the Tremere in no small part from the works of Matthias of Bath. She understood that some of them exist in hiding among the Kine, and that they were exeptional hearlers and fighters of great valor. Her Sire too told about this and the kinship and mystical connection between the Salubri and the Malkavians - as much as Saulot and Malkav considered each other to be brothers. Velia perieved Saulot as an ambiguous character the more she has leart about him, also more interventive - even in his absence - and less abstract than Malkav. She never thought it to be right to be influenced too much by Antediluvians or merely by their narrative, and she believed that the small generational gap between her and them to be a bad advantage if any.

Velia continued her journey to the Far East meeting with the Wu Zao (the Cathayan descendants of Saulot) along the way as she made her pilgrimage. She saw that these eastern cousins follow another different path, regarding themselves as watchers over the fate of Cainites - ones not to shy away to act in eliminating contending occult creatures and raiding for occult treasures, something she felt was yet again not what she came seeking.

Revolutionary era[]

Returning to Europe Velia had realized that the Salubri were technically gone - not just as a clan but as a bloodline too altogether. Only a handful practiced the honorable ways as was taught by the warrior' Code of Samiel and the benevolent legacy of Saulot, and these existed in the endless loop of a single Childe diablerizing their Sire for the supposed mutual benefit in reaching spiritual harmony. The more recent Salubri, reaching even generation up to 12th have changed much in contrast to the old ways, and effectively turned Antitribu, abandoning the serenity and the contemplation on the the drive for the zeal to avenge the wrongs and the destruction the Baali and the Tremere had done and had brought to the clan, going as far as joining the Sabbat. The handful Salubri that followed the healer's path tended to linger on as hermits and unseen wanderers practicing the consensual sire-to-childe Amaranth - not quite helping their public image but keeping themselves on 7th to 8th generation virtually permanently. More interestingly the rest of the healers seemed to have mostly travelled overseas into the New World by the 18th century, where their take on Valeren was influenced by the Afro-Jamaican spiritualism and adapted into the soothing art known as "Obeah".

The Malkavian clan also split along the lines of sect loyalty - Camarilla versus Sabbat - and poclivity with disciplines - Dominate versus Dementation - as the result of effects of the Great Prank took hold what was realized some years before Velia's birth. While Velia never truly considered the notion to join any Sect of the Kindred. She was esentially pro-Camarilla, but more importantly she was a resolute pacifist and only longed for the comfort of the old nights of which memories or illusions was passed down on to her mentally by his sire, grandsire great-grandsire and so on. She hoped that these are not delusions though.

When she returned to the heart of Europe - according to her - she sensed that she was in the place she was meant to be, but perhaps needed a detour to realize that. Her Auspex abilities primed to a greater level and that came as quasi- or actual extrasensory revelations forcing entrance on her consiousness that she found often overwhelming. It was around this time she started to develop telempathic and telepathic bonds with both Kindred and Kine associates that eventually expanded into a web that covered a formidable extent of nodes. This served many purposes. For one she could distrubute her unwanted heightened-sense and extrasensory stimuli to frankly ...remain sane - not quite unlike some of the beneficial effects of the Madness Network. Secondly it proved to be an immensely effective yet inherently covert way to traffic information between the people involved in the network. Finally, as it turned out, this connectivity extended into the sleeping minds of the Kine, and could be ab/used to gather or place mental information without the actual need for people's consent. In effect she got a tool she could use to subtly manipulate the right people towards ends most optimal for her. Essentially this is what made her below the radar of those who would take her accomplishments and blood ...an also what kept her fed. She masked her identity in projected dream sessions and appeared to recipients as an entity with three glowing chartreuse eyes what these people referred to as the "Triluscus". Some zelous Tremere warlock identified her as Salubri for this reason - (the use of the imago of) the Third Eye, but she managed to elude or outwit them and eventually outplay them when she first offered her services to the Prince of Padova and established herself as a Malkavian seer with the pedigree: Velia - Galen - Ostanes - Lamdiel - Malkav .

Velia created a ghoul she utilized as a constant companion from then on, Lior Margulies.

She made an agreement with a reasonable few of "Old Clan Tzimisce" Kindred settling some land questions in south-western Slovenia, and her original homeland, at present being Italy, and brokered deals of protection. She had a voraciuos appetite for knowlede and while spending time with "Old Clan Tzimisce" she learned about Koldunism and what caught her imagination was how aspects of Slavic deities were translated into paths of hedge sorcery and how that bends or begets unique Disciplines.

Through her supposed Grand-Sire, Lamdiel, Velia is "related" to Trimeggian ("first cousin once removed") who is credited for the authorship of Encyclopaedia Haemovoria that discusses the principles in the peculiarities of Vitae and methods to determine them and also is responsible for the creation of the most common denominations given to the most traditional Disciplines and the description of various cainite powers.

Victorian era[]

Velia acquired a manse in Gorizia during this age and developed the custom to effortlessly transport her household to another location, to either as close as Venice or somewhere relatively far like Geneva or Angers where she got hold of safe-houses as well she allegedly "inherited".

This time around she already had a clear concept of the landscape of the sleeping mind and dreams (or nightmares) - that was yet only a limited comprehension of the Umbral topography still. She made use of manipulating the minds of nearby sleepers regardelss, actually to the point where they recognised her as an old friend or even were sure to greet a lost realtive in her person.

During the French Revoultion Velia was largely absent from her haven in Angers, especially durign the years of the Reign of Terror. She and her household(s) fared much better though in the following decades despite or perhaps even because the periodic governmental shifts both in France and Italy. The First Inquisiton was also largely disbanded by the turn of the XVIII-XIX. century, permitting some much needed relief for supernaturals.

The advent of spiritualism and occultism inherent with this period allowed Velia to gather many interesting theories and esoteic knowlege that surfaced and got popular in high culture (both among Kine and Kindred). Velia has acquainted herself or rather formed Blood Bond with hermetic willworkers and was primarily (pun inteded) intersted with their Forma of Corona and their view that Vitae is fused with Quintessence in a way that using Disciplines somehow does not draw the effects of Paradox. Velia helself is said to have shared subtle Ahl-i-Batin lore with the Bonisagi. She has been dabbling with a number of Blood Sorcery rituals and was eager to push forward on the field with some new realizations and perspective. She expreimented with sidereal influence and geomancy, utilizing her havens for the purpose. During these night were she too experimenting with mirrors as a means of conductors for powers for the firs time.

Technological revolution era[]

Seeing the mortals' drive for technological progress puzzeld Velia as she found that human psyche has shifted more to mundane matters and had a slowly dampening presence in the Dreaming where she herself used to heave the most contact with them.

Despite her detachment from everynight and public life Velia's insights and telepathic intelligence gathering customs earned her a non-coveted place among the Inconnu mostly due to the fact she could predict spiritual events on a general level which were often suitable to be taken in connection with actual happenings.

The Inconnu contacted Velia to lend her services to them. While they have greater reserves of greater truths and enlightenment than material the affiliation gows to become mutually advantageous as through the "Trisculus"' weaving of nundged events and fostered intrigue both Velia and the Inconnu seemed to profit in the decrease of enemies and in the increase of security and even amenities. Having been invited to Hunedoara Castle she boldly went to mind-meld with the Tzimisce, Anastazi, childe of Danika Ruthven (whom Rothriel taught about Golconda and later this old vampire offered her castle to be the Lair of the Hidden). During that mental state Velia used her sorcery in such a profound way that she was able to temporarily "borrow" the man's knowlede and praxis of Vicissitude and alter her otherwise already unnoticable but horizontal third eye slit to be vertically aligned. The true reasons behind this act remained undisclosed however. The few ones close to her think, she either wanted to test her abilities or for some reason take physical semblance to her umbral dream counterpart the "Trisculus".

Through her supposed Grand-Sire, Lamdiel, Velia is "related" to Trimeggian ("first cousin once removed") she too was aware of the impressive scientific work of his new Childe, Douglas Netchurch ("second cousin"). Velia consideres him "nuts" as she sees his rather skewed morailty with experiments apalling at best, yet still has to credit him for the medical genius he is - expanding the Kindred's own knowlede about Vitae, and the powers inherent.

World Wars era[]

The first World War was nothing short of the horror of the inquisition and pogroms of old, in fact no one has seen so much people die is no great number and so short time. The banks of river Isonzo in northern Italy and modern night Slovenia saw at least a dozen battles between Italian and Austrio-Hugarian armies. The town of Gorizia itself was heavily damaged by the hostilites, also battlefronts were only at walking distance from Velia's primary haven. Various national, cultural, and ideological groups vied for control in the city. A Slovene state was proclaimed in the end only to be dismantled by the Nazi and World War II.

She relocated her household to Geneva - what became part of the Swiss Confederation after the Napoleonic wars - flourished and became the seat of many international organizations. Initially Velia resided in her old house in the historic Bourg de Four quarter but as she became sheltered and protected by Guillaume, Prince of Zurich (but really of whole Switzerlad - similar to the feudal Cainite "kingdoms" of the Dark Medieval era) a Brujah and and most importantly a (fellow) member of the Inconnu, she was eventually awarded a mansion of greater security and comfort. In Switzerland Velia has lent her information services to the Prince mainly dealing with global affairs he was most interested in such as the Shadow Curtain or the appearance of the Consortium in the Netherlands.

A recently orphaned girl Olivie Devereux in Geneva, whose parents died in a skiing accident in the Alps was made ghoul by Velia.

Velia did not properly return to her ancestral home until 1947, by which time a national border was drawn crossing almost at the middle of the city. Although the situation in Gorizia was often compared with that of Berlin during the Cold War, Italy and Yugoslavia (and then Slovenia) had good relations regarding the city exemplified in cultural and sporting events. She has had to make extensive repairs to her local haven.

Olivie Devereux was embraced by Velia during the Cold War era. By the '60s Velia has allowed her Childe to travel via plane as per night fligts - mostly to the USA. Olivie started to set up an art and antique curios trading business, passing numerous occult objects to intended buyers.

On July 21, 1969, millions of people across the globe saw, on their televisions, astronauts land on the moon. Velia had little actual knowlege save a by-large concept of the Dreaming. Then however she too felt a surge from the Umbral world bleeding (back) to the physical reality of the mundane world. Olivie had episodes of lucid dreaming as the Fae traces in her resonated with the influx of Glamour into the world that also brought with it the return of House Fiona among the other Sidhe.

Final nights[]

The "Trisculus" is to considered an incentive and a driving force behind the mortal governments signing the Schengen Agreement greatly rendering the practice of Velia's occasional relocation to her tree havens in three different countries within Europe much easier. She maintains a grassroots network of telepathic and telempathic contacts and informants, through her childer, ghouls and associate Kindred - most of them being some Tzimisce, Salubri antitribu within the Sabbat, some Malkavians and Nosferatu, a few Ventrue and (not) surprisingly even fewer Toreador within or outside of the Camarilla. She does not use her information up very much - and even more rare are those occasions when she would abuse it - other than forwarding intelligence to the Inconnu on regular basis, with the exception of the ones concerning Tremere activity and Baali reports and of course the ones concerning her personal security, which she - given her hidden pariah status among the Kindred - values above many things. She is deliberately making herself physically unreachabel and generally unapproachable.

After the spectacular defection of the city of Milan from the Sabbat to the Camarilla Velia has become an advisor to the Lasombra Prince Giangaleazzo under the guise of a Malkavian occultist. She only rarely winds up at court in Milan, instead has delivered a large fancy mirror to the Prince through which they are able to communicate through thanks to Velia's power over it. Giangaleazzo has mixed feelings about the gesture (given his Clan's volatile relation to reflections) but appreciates the counsel.

In 1999 Prince Marcus Vitel of Washington D. C. solid Ventrue guise shatters as he is dicoverd being Lasombra. He apparaently met his final death by Archon Theo Bell reortedly slicing him into peaces. He however reurns and the Camarilla again sends Bell to disperse the rumors. Vitel turns Bell (who massacred his decoy before) to his cause and soon establishes himself as Emperor controllong D. C. in Anarchs colors. This same year Camarilla takes over New York City after a battle with the Sabbat.

Aside of hearing the rumors concerning the Ankaran Sarcophagus Velia did not turn much attention to the happenings in Los Angeles in 2004. After Ventrue Prince Sebastian LaCroix was killed Anarchs soon took over the city forcing the Camarilla out. After the dust settled Olivie had found a curious listing of antiquties noted as coming from The White Cloud. She bought a door handle later sold one (presumably the same) to Andreas Giovanni in Boston.

The emergence of Thin-Blooded intrigues Velia though not for the same resons her supposed (and much younger) "second cousin" Dr. Douglas Netchurch. She was mostly interested in the unexplained yet potent mystical powers some of them exhibited. She (and fankly no Kindred) haven't expected it from ones of of so high generation and so exceptionally diluted Vitae to be barely able to be considered being a"vampire" to manifest something like their Alchemy the Insight.

The same year the United States National Security Agency manages to penetrate SchreckNET, as part of the rise of the Second Inquisition, leading to over ten years of information compromised. In the beginning of the 2000s SchreckNET vas updated to 2.0 broader means to overlay the possibilities of the Internet that has been rapidly developed since the first iteration of the cobbled network that SchrekNET was. Altough programmers received significant boons from the Inner Circle in the end the more conservative members were right about the risks posed by the Internet. The Camarilla orderd the dismatlemet of the network and as much Kindred communication wiped from the web as possible. For now by Camarilla decree any Kindred communicating online supposed to be declared disloyal, removed from the Camarilla, and possibly even subject to a blood hunt if the communication is risky enough. Velia wasn't really liking social media in the first place and the Kindred emulation of it was met with similiar uninterest from her. Olivie however was more engaged in a relied more on online communication. Velia completely disapproved of it finally. She created a rapport with her child so they can communicate with eachother via a telepathic link. Also both of them started to forge mirrors to create a means of telemetric communication through reflective surfaces entagled to another.

The Beckoning started to take hold on low-generation Kindred. Velia was unsure whether the meditations and volutarily torpors she used to excercise her mind and calm the Beast with would weaken or strenghten the call. She did not feel it what she contributed to having made the 'pilgrimage' to the East centuries earlier. She didn't find rest util she resorted to Blood Sorcery rituals to render her own and Olivie's Vitae possess a temperate resonance - close to the complete lack thereof - by imbibing their own Vitae treated with starlight radiation and thus infused with Prime. The first rituals tooks place in Gorizia and following ones were bound to follow for what Velia charted the right geographical locations. As a side-effect of the tampered-with spiked Vitae Velia fell into torpor and Olivie had to complete the remaining rituals for both of them. Velia eventually woke up at the Swords of Saulot Grand Temple at Gannet Peak in Wyoming a month later with Olivie and Lior at her side. Olivie explained that most of Velia's Vitae had to be drained to expel the excess Prime-infused blood and most of what is in receptacles that will need further preservation rituals.

Acting on analysis from FIRSTLIGHT after the discovery of SchreckNET, the Second Inquisition (SI) destroyed the Tremre Prime Chantry in Vienna in 2008 using drone strikes and ground assaults, believing it to be the international headquarters of vampiric activity. The Tremere Pyramid collapsed fragmenting the clan into contending Houses. The mainstream House Tremere became led by Karl Schrekt. The Formerly Sabbat-aligned House Goratrix resurged but whether it was actually led by Goratrix (or Tremere the Ancient in the body of Goratrix) remaind unceratin. (The Tremere Founder's body was destroyed with the Chantry leaving more uncertainty about what happened with Saulot's and Tzimisce the Eldest's counsciousnesses that competed for controlling it.) House Ipsissimus joined the Anarchs. House Carna has largely strayed fom the former tenets of the Tremere and merely seems to focus on spiritualistic sorcery research.

In 2012 the Second Inquisition (SI) purged London of Kindred concluding with the destruction of Queen Anne Bowesley. The same year at the Convention of Prague Camarilla and Anarch representatives meet to discuss the threat of the SI and the rebellious Anarchs. Both sides blame the other ever since. The convocation ended in disaster when Hardestadt the Younger was slain by Theo Bell who turned on his former masters - becoming an unintetional Anarch legend. Another member of the Inner Circle, Jan Pieterzoon, went missing too after the incident (presumably killed too by Bell). The Anarchs are expulsed from the Camarilla, along with all Kindred above the 13th generation.

In 2018 the historically independent Ministry and Banu Haquim seek entry to the Camarilla. The negotioations ended abruptly as the hotel in which the dignitaries met was leveled by a bomb. In the aftermath the Camarilla barred the Ministry from entry and admitted the Banu Haquim. The Ministry later sought alliance with the Anarchs instead. This same year The Camarilla officially returns to Los Angeles. Antwerp, Belgium gets taken over by the Anarchs after centuries of Camarilla rule.

The Amici Noctis sent a diplomatic delegation to negotiate the Lasombra's admission into the Camarilla the previous year and in 2019 Clan Lasombra accedes to membership in the Camarilla after the court of Chicago votes to approve their petition.

The Second Iinquisiton stages a devastating attack on Kindred in Los Angeles. In retaliation the vampires of the region cripple the Society of Lopold in the city and in the end Anarch Free State governs uncontested once again.

Appearance[]

Velia look like a cisalpine middle-European woman in her thirties. She has an overall pale complexion but depending on how much Vitae she cares to flush into her skin, she can easily muster a lifelike but still pale rosy coloration on the cheeks and around her eyes. She has chartreuse eyes - a greenish golden color, and light gray hair. It never had much color - even in life it was a light mousy blonde - , but by now it has almost no saturation. She often had to rely on passing for a living person in a crowd to elude danger and given reason due to her relatively high Humanity she can still easily do so. She adopted a hairstyle that mostly hides her third eye even if it's opened or active, though not fully. This third eye is oddly aligned in a vertical angle on her forehead, which is a result of friendly Vicissitude performed on it. A sign of her becoming somewhat more eccentic by the passing centuries. When closed it looks little more than a thin scar, however when its active it glows with a soft golden radiance and is weeping luminous Vitae, making it very prominent. Sometimes she makes the effort to conceal that, but so far she can only visually make the effect less overt by evaporating the Vitae into a colorless miasma that still has an all too enticing scent for nearby predators.

Velia has some liking for the neoclassical and Empire-line dresses and variations threof. It was very much in fashion at the beginning of the XIX century, but was considered outdated by the Victorian era. It has some comebacks like in the 1960's but it is objectively anachronistic. Be it up to her, she would only wear that kind of clothes, but she adheres to the Masquerade and dresses accordingly. She might even wear beanies, jogging outfit or Ugg boots if she leaves the comfort of her haven.

Personality[]

An isolationist, mostly rendered being one by necessity in order to elude the Blood Hunt orchestrated by the Tremere defamation campaign against the "devils" with a third eye, and recently because of the Second Inquisition's infamous effectiveness to root out "parasites". She is actaually fond of being alone and be left with her thoughts, meditating very often and she has always devoted significant time to reach and linger in Golconda. Velia goes from time-to-time into torpor for a number of days' or weeks' extent of due course. During such occasions she is aware of her surrounding is she wishes herself to be, and is also able to cast projections of herself to interact with the outside world, unnerving her own ghoul attendants and those who believe her to be sleeping with the fog of ages for good.

In spite of her detachment from the world in general she readily offers to help others in need and also is happy to sprinkle and seed wisdom to those who seek her. She feels it is her destiny to lead as much people, Kindred and Kine alike on to the path of wisdom as possible, however she never drags anyone on to it as she firmly beleives that one has to ripen in soul enough to take the steps by his or her own wisdom and insight. She leaves her "ivory tower" at least once or twice a week to perform healing with or in stead of his naturopath and medic ghouls. She adheres to the Masquerade while doing so, almost always resorting to put patients to sleep with a single anesthetic touch during or before treatment.

Salubri in general consider Cainite existence as a sort of curse, and inflicting that on to Kine being an anathema. If they create a Childe, they usually prepare them to take over the Sire's legacy in a mutually-willing act of Amaranth. Velia herself was not the successor of such legay and she too has no such plans regarding her Childe. on the other hand maintains a relatively large number of ghouls through the bliss of her vitae. She can develop a stronger telepathic bond with her ghouls so she sees little harm in their creation and maintenance, also she utilizes some of these individuals as retainers and bodyguards.

Velia does not seek power or control, only a comfortable existence as was custom in the nights of old, when Salubri were deeply respected for the serenity and peace they brought to the world. She believes that the stigmatized history of the clan points it out well that there's little to rule but much to teach in this world - so she is staying to attempt to do so. Not by forceful means as preaching, but by setting up the signs to by attempting to point at other's personal insights, much like a psychologist would try to incite revelations and make their patient's have their personal insights of themselves.

She thinks the Sabbat is an organization of "rabid Beasts", while the Camarilla being "a theatre of deluded buffoons", the Baali are infernal "abominations" and the Tremere clan is nothing more than "usurpers" and "conjurers of cheap tricks of blood". The only organization she shows any respect for is the Inconnu, for their calm plotting and for their readiness for the teachings of Golconda.

She finds the Kuei-jin's concept of dharma understandably very akin to the Salubri Path to reach blanace and enlightenment, while she too understands that these Cathayan immortals do not fight with a Beast within but with a more intellectual yet still low-point and aggressive aspect of one's soul. She knows the Salubri Antediluvian, Saulot - known in the Middel Kingdom as Zao-Lat, learned much from the Wan Kuei named Xue, and was regarded as a 'trickster from the west' who came only to 'steal enlighenment' fom said scholar, eventually being driven back home, but not before leaving his childer, the Zao-Xue and the Zao-Zei behind. She sought to rekindle contact with these oriental Salubri in the past and she still maintains mental links with a few individuals there.

Velia interprets reaching Golconda without the exact need having one's Sire diablerized - or more like conversely allowing ones Childe to perform the Amaranth. She understood that Salubri do not have to lower their generation in such a way necessarily, as by reaching Golconda almost everything comes to full circe for an individual to attain true wisdom, which may confer advanced powers through experience and it is not needed to acquire one's sire's or a lower generation Kindred's powers by draining their vitae in full. She claims to have achieved balance with the Beast - initiated by the mental and emotional traumas that caused her burnout after being betrayed by the needy that were bought to do so by the usurpers - by realizing that "each soul has their own personal path to walk upon, and most of them exists to learn and to experience, and by wisdom acquired along the way they may have their eyes see, their feet step on to walk that and their will and minds set on to act according to which is the right way to go. Some need multiple turns to achieve that, some do need less. In due course all is going to be evened out." She postulates that "the self-assured Salubri became prey of slaughter to learn a grave but valuable lesson. So will the usurpers receive what is to be measured on them - in a much familiar fashion. Cycles do cycle, and what the due course brings will reveal itself when it is ready to do so." Velia found a purpose in the effort to shepherd as many souls as it may be possible on to the path of this wisdom, yet "the Path is both thin and winding, shifting even, varying for every individual, and therefore it must be taken on an individual level." She beleives that with the help of the Inconnu and given great deal of thought and contemplation to design unseen and grand plots she may have a good chance beckoning to many to come along on to their personal journeys where she may only point at hints to the Path.

Progeny[]

Velia never really had the drive to sire vampiric progeny as she views it as being not better than willingly transmitting a potentially prolonged disease worse than death that warps both mind, soul and body. She herself was embraced to unlife as her life would have likely ended after she was violated and abused by a gang of inebrated students in the XVI. century. Yet she was not turned on the spot but after she could heal from the phyisical damage. In this too her Sire was quite thoughtful and generous. Possibly the objective reality of that was the only worthy quality she could find in the act of the embrace. With Velia her Sire didn't wanted to make a successor though he taught quite much to the fledeling. He neither made her a pawn or an errand girl. In fact he was the closest thing to a fatherly figure she ever had (being a war orphan whose father was conscripted and then killed in the Italian-French wars). For this siring a childe was something she felt neither quite ready nor willing without the means to properly provide for a young Kindred of her own making. She thought her Sire has watched her for years before he rescued her and then embraced her. Velia too has watched out for somebody with sense and potential she thought might receive the embrace well and as circumstence would have it will get better through it.

Olivie Devereaux[]

Olivie Devereaux

Olivie Devereaux

The sigle actual childe of Velia. This by and in itself would render her special, but there are more factors for it. Olivie was girl from Geneva whose parents - a pair of a Swiss press engineer and an French-native journalist - died in a skiing accident In the Alps during the interwar years. Although it was considered an accident indeed Velia had intercepted intel from the Friends of the Night that it was in fact some sort of act of Fae "justice" aimed at Olivie's mother who has allegedly been targeted as "merely a pre-emptive strike against unwanted elements in the White Mountains". The orphaned girl was initially put into a boarding school with her home leased by the guardianship bureau to provide for the cost. Velia started to take interest in the whole situation. In time she learned that the girl's mother was faerie-blooded and suspected to be of a line that failed to emerge in the last 500-600 years, and apparently the local faeries tried their best to keep it that way. Olivie herself didn't know anything of this, yet she carried the blood of House Ailil in her. Velia has learned this following more leads on scrying on the Friends of the Night learning the of the involvement of the Kiasyd bloodline of the Lasombra clan with faerie blood and also its tendency for of purges. Velia felt sympathy for the girl and wanted to spare her from being hunted for her blood - something she herself had too much experience with in her past and what she believed she became able to deflect. She soon got attached to the girl and eventually presented herself as a distant relative who would take on the responsibility of guardianship. With the onset of World War II Olivie was made a ghoul of Velia.

She received the embrace only in 1947. Due to the peculiarities of her blood she became Maerghar - the umbrella term for every walk of fey-blooded Kindred who are not the uniformal Kiasyd. Olivie was reared as a Malkavian fledgeling but her Ailil ancestry came through with subtle acumen and an effortless quiet charm despite her brooding nature and occasional disinterest in social matters.

Among Kindred she publicly dons the guise of a Toreador high profile international fine arts curator. She is hiding a thin scar above her eybrow behind her bangs. She profits greatly by the use of her adept Auspex abilities, first of all the artist's intent. She is also effectively acting as a travelling Inconnu Monitor keeping the Camarilla under surveillance. She never misses to meddle at the Venice, Bushwick (New York City), Paris, Liverpool, Moscow, Sidney, São Paulo, Singapore and Shanghai art biennales social-butterflying both Camarilla princes and Anarch barons all over the globe. Olivie was deliberately raised an unorthodox Salubri childe. She's not a hiding prey creature but a manipulative, subtly deceptive "actress" who was trained to know what to say and how to react in any social circumstance, maintaining an unshakable disguise. She however tries to avoid Tremere if possible and also has tense relationsip with Kiasyd too. Having a long and close bond with her sire, with permission Olivie can "borrow" some of Velia's mental powers through their telepathic link. She has made herself a dealer of art and atique curios among both Kine and Kindred, noted for dealing in reflective pieces such as mirrors and in objects with 'liminal' connotations - for example curious door handles and mirrors.

Lior Margulies[]

Lior Margulies

Lior Margulies

The favored and long-time ghoul, companion and bodyguard of Velia. Throughout the centuries he has accumulated a potence of his Domitor's Vitae in his system, to the point that he might as well be her childe. Except he still isn't, as he himself cannot of course generate that Vitae, and this situation seems to be fine for both of them. Velia cherishes the fact that one of her most trusted confidants is able to walk in the Sun, giving her no small comfort knowing that there is somebody there to watch out for her even when other measures would fail. Lior likes being bolsterd and boosted by Velia's gift and has in fact such potent Vitae circulating in him that he learned to use Disciplines and even Amalgam Poers, such as Valeren. This has ven resulted in the very overt effect of his third eye opening. At this point Velia felt immense guilt at seeing what unnatural influence she was again having on someone so close. Lior for his part was only emboldened by this fallout and even volunteered spying among the unwise and reckless Salubri antitribu while the city of Milan and the wole region of Lombardy still was Sabbat territory in order to have Velia somebody act as Monitor for the Inconnu. This ended when Milan got converted in a spectacular fashion to the Camarilla, and Velia became an advisor of the city's Lasombra Prince, unther the guise of a Malkavian occultist.

Powers and abilities[]

Velia is very skilled in the use of both Auspex and Valeren, being able to use them even under Elysium - provided she would attend one.

She is clairvoyant which invests her with the ability of scry on distant locations, sometimes merely by touching the "soul" of an object she received from there and in reverse she can distantly sense places by having a "bonded" token brought there. She too can distantly reach people with her telepathy. Velia can read people very well by sensing and analyzing their aura. Her most advanced Auspex abilites are very unnerving like speaking with multiple people simultaneously via telepathy and tapping others' knowledge of a specific subject and even using another Kindred's discipline ability through them which is otherwise unknown to her. Her childer believe she morphed her own third eye by mentally melding with the Romanian Tzimisce, Anastazi.

Using Valeren she can mend physical and mental damage and illnesses very effectively. Velia often uses anesthetic touch to put her patients to sleep before and under treatment, so she can perform healing without reveling herself to be a Salubri or a vampire even. Some of her ghouls are naturopaths that mix her healing saliva in to ordinary-seeming natural medicine products for gracious effect. These concoctions usually sell very good, and this usually means a good income for Velia's household, which she spends mostly to her security and anonymity. She can ward herself within a barrier which renders her unapproachable within several feet in distance. She can soothe the minds of those near to her quelling anger and promoting accord. Velia often resorts to psychically project herself in astral form rather than moving out of the safety of one of her safe houses. Doing so while in torpor often unnerves even her own ghouls.

Quasi-magical studies and powers[]

Velia again in contrast with the majority if not the entirety of the Salubri bloodline's revulsion to the arcane arts (due to the Usurpers being originally a covenant of mages) learned and practices a form of sorcery that predates the practice of "Thaumaturgy" the Tremere developed after their Antediluvian diablerized the Salubri Antediluvian, Saulot. Velia has a rather low opinion on Thaumaturgy in general, calling it "cheap blood magic". Having researched the subject for centuries she realizes however that the Blood Sorceries the Kindred has ever developed are merely emulated effects of how magic ought to work.

Therefore - according to her - it is only slightly better how the Mesopotamian spiritist ashipu practice, the Dur-An-Ki, got "bastardized" by the Banu Haquim into what is known as "Assamite Sorcery" and how "Koldunic Sorcery" was "appropriated" by the Tzimisce  how the ancient Egyptian practice of true names, Hekau, got its "contraband" by  the Followers of Set in the Akhu, and the other relating "replicas", NahuallotlSadhana and  that comprise the "Setite Sorcery".

Her indirect but constant dabbling in mortal affairs though her telempathic and telepathic webs eventually disclosed some knowledge of the Order of Hermes. Knowledge that she was once acquainted with by her sire who then turned to be (or at least assumed the identity) hermeticist scholar, Leonardo de Candia. Velia understandably took great interest in the matter and was surprised and humbled even about just how vast and deep the world's secrets yet are if one cares to uncover them but more about the revelation that how well versed her sire in there arcane secrets were and how he kept it from her regardless. Well... did he? Her own following studies regarding the natures of the Spheres of PrimeMind and Forces revealed to her that albeit the Sun is the bane of the Undead, other stars clearly lack the fervent ardor yet there influence on Earth is just as prevalent. She used her havens to install receptacles that can hold custom-made meteoric glass vials in which she put her Vitae. Given certain telluric conditions met the Vitae subjected to starlight is infused with a measure of Prime not unlike what mages call a Tass. She discovered that imbibing the Prime-infused Vitae the limitations placed on the othervise painfully static Disciplines get somewhat relaxed and if the utilization of a power from an already mastered Discipline opens paths to further ken on bending reality. More importantly she had found that while Prime-infused Vitae's presence in the Kindred system in effect is "buttressing" what the Kindred has in stead of "the soul" and affords greater dynamic stance with forces otherwise are only better aligned with the mortal soul.

With Prime-infused Vitae's present in her system Velia can manifest potent Dreamspeaking abilities which ones she utilizes to deliver messages borne in dreams and given its capability to not only relay but also gather information is considered more refined like the Blood Sorcery Path called "Oneiromancy". Another set of reality bending abilities at her perusal is to manipulate objects and even living or unliving creatures psychokinetically or telekinetically. The apex power of these is being able to levitate herself. This she uses to occupy normally inaccessible parts of a building - and  parts of her havens were designed (or retrofitted) having this in mind. A similar form Blood Sorcery Path is called "Movement of the Mind".

Velia's arcane path is more akin to genuine linear magic, however it is only merely a take on it from a rather skewed angle - not unlike the certain spiritual and astral distortion how Kindred are different from Kine. Using the above mentioned sorcerous powers consumes the Prime-infused Vitae anyway - which means that she too only got as far as to emulate magic through blood sacrifice anyway (and by dispersing the borrowed Prime temporarily contained within). She however takes pride in the fact that her sorcery is not fueled by blood per se, but Vitae is merely a vessel to it.

She is able to dispel "inferior" blood magic, most of the kind.

Lair(s)[]

Velia has a manse in the northern outskirts of Gorizia. To Olivie's insistence she made the local comital family who own Palazzo Lantieri and are local socialites and artists her ghouls. The family provides their palace in the city partly as guesthouse to travelers, and used to introduce Velia as a talented naturopath friend, and when they do she indeed takes time to treat guests with sleep disorders generously.

An apartment in Venice and a townhouse in Geneva too came in to her possession during the last centuries, and by virtue of proving to be an actual descendant of her local forbearers she "inherited" a house in Angers.

She mastered the means of building a transportable household with (or without) her childer and a number of ghouls that can effortlessly move from one safe house to another. She maintains local ghouls both in Gorizia, Geneva and Angers though.

Her residencies are mystically enveloped in a way that the magnitude of Valeren barriers and disorientations are heightened greatly within and around them, allowing Velia to divert unwanted presence in several yards or even miles and keep unwelcome approach of people away. Also by design Tremere Thaumaturgy is dampened or outright suppressed while Velia is actually inhabiting an abode.

Due to her being forced for centuries to cultivate an almost deranged extent of compulsion to provide personal security and need for tactical seclusion Velia's personal quarters are not accessible by conventional means. This means that she is inhabiting upper levels of her domiciles where no stairs or any elevator lead up to but in stead is technically only reachable by either levitation ...or in spite of such abilities maybe by climbing through some means. She is also inclined to think of those who cannot make it there to her are most likely not worthy for her presence.


Character Sheet[]

Velia LeQuella

Clan:

Malkavian (apparent)

Bloodline:

Salubri (covert)

Sire:

Galen (claimed)

Generys (covert)

Nature: Fatalist
Demeanor: Seer
Generation: 7th
Embrace: 1514
Apparent Age: Mid 30s
Physical: Strength 3, Dexterity 4, Stamina 4
Social: Charisma 4, Manipulation 5, Appearance 4
Mental: Perception 4, Intelligence 6, Wits 5
Talents: Acting 3, Alertness 5, Athletic 1, Brawl 1, Dodge 4, Empathy 5, Expression 3, Intimidation 3, Intrigue 3, Leadership 3, Subterfuge 5
Skills: Craft 2, Etiquette 4, Melee 1, Meditation 5, Security 1, Stealth 3
Knowledges: Bureaucracy 4, Computer 2, Finance 2, Investigation 5, Law 3, Linguistics 6, Lore 4, Medicine 3, Occult 6, Politics 4, Science 3
Disciplines:

Auspex 5, Blood Sorcery 4, Dominate 3, Fortitude 3, Presence 3

Amalgam Powers (V5):

Obeah, Chimerstry, Valeren, Unerring Pursuit, Fata Morgana, Possession

Blood Sorcery Paths:

Oneiromancy 5, Gift of Morpheus 5, Power of the Mirror 4, Whispers of the Heavens 4, Movement of the Mind 3, Hearth Path 3

Backgrounds: Allies 1, Contacts 6, Influence 3, Library 3, Mentor 4, Resources 5, Retainers 4, Spies 3
Virtues: Conscience 5, Self-Control 6, Courage 4
Morality: Humanity 8
Willpower: 10
Blood pool: 20 (4 per turn)
Blood potency (V5): 4
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