deirdre@efn.org
Deird'Re Brooks
7-JUN-1994 04:16:12.04
Madeleine Harney
Madeleine was born in New York City in the year 1948. Due
to various difficulties her parents were experiencing (mainly
each other) she was sent to San Francisco to live with her aunt.
The experience was not pleasant for her; Her aunt was extremely
strict and very unsympathetic to the needs and desires of
children. This led to a very stifling upbringing for her and so
when the opportunity arose for her to live by different rules,
she did.
It happened at Berkeley in 1966. She had just begun
attending school when she met Jonathon. He was everything she'd
ever fantasized about. Handsome, mysterious, fun loving. The
lovemaking was the best she'd ever had. They attended speeches
together, went on marches - at night. He was never around during
the day and he never told her why. When she asked him about it,
he'd shrug it off and everything would be all right again. But
during the days, and the nights when he wasn't around, she'd
wonder.
He encouraged her to find other lovers, and she did. In the
Autumn of 1968 she discovered she was pregnant. Jon convinced
her to keep it rather than trust to a doctor who would be willing
to abort. "And besides," he said, "isn't childbirth the ultimate
expression of life?" He was endlessly fascinated by her
pregnancy and would watch her for hours or he would listen to the
baby moving around. The lovemaking stopped and that had a
negative affect on Madeleine's attitude. But, even so, Jon still
made her feel loved.
Shortly before her baby was born, Jon disappeared.
Madeleine couldn't locate him, no matter how hard she tried.
After Andromeda was born, she found little time to keep looking.
In July of 1969, she was with some friends who had decided
to do some late night partying. While they were out, Madeleine
felt an urge to take a short walk. Leaving her friends and
Andromeda behind, she walked into the night.
The next thing she knew she was standing in front of a
gravestone with a couple other people. There were several others
standing around them, and the predatory gleam in their eyes was
frightening to behold. The absence of her daughter also cut
through her like a knife.
Several of the figures detatched themselves from the group
standing around them and approached Maddie and the others
standing together.
A voice rang out of the darkness. "Ah, it is so nice to see
such fine specimens of humanity awaiting there deaths so calmly."
A spear of ice shot through Madeleine's heart. She knew she'd
never see Andromeda, or her friends, or college, or even Jonathon
again. She was wrong, but she would dearly wish she had been
right.
The one approaching her was Jon. She had never seen him
looking so cold or frightening before in her life. He grabbed
her by a shoulder, and for a moment she thought she had seen a
flicker of doubt in his eyes. Perhaps she imagined the whispered
"I'm sorry." before he ripped her throat out.
Her death came quickly, but rebirth took longer. She
awakened in a darkness. She could not move, and didn't
particularly feel like trying.
"Mom?" The voice was distant, but it was the voice of a
young child, lost and afraid. The voice continued calling,
louder and louder. Maturing, sounding more and more like a young
woman. More and more accusatory. As if Madeleine had chosen to
abandon her. Then she saw her daughter. The accusations, the
venom, the bile that came forth as Andromeda told her exactly how
she had failed at being a mother, just like Madeleine's mother
before her. This raw hatred directed at her like a laser drove
her to a rage like nothing else she had ever experienced and
moved her to dig herself out of the earth.
What clawed its way out of the ground in an old San
Francisco graveyard was not Madeleine. She felt betrayed by
everyone she had ever known, bitter over her abandonment of her
own daughter, she simply went insane. She glimpsed a few of
those who had brought her here, and driven by a lust she could
barely comprehend, she lunged for the throat of the nearest.
There was an explosion in the back of her skull and the
lights went out again.
When she awoke, she was in a warehouse of some sort most of
the others from the graveyard were with her. A dark robed figure
handed her a cup. "Drink. Drink deeply. Feel the bond with
your packmates." She drank the offered liquid and it assuaged
her thirst. The flavor was satisfying as nothing else she had
ever drank before the start of this nightmare. Before she could
finish the pitifully small amount in the cup it was taken from
her.
She noticed that her fellow captives were looking upon these
beings as if they were saviors, or soulmates. She felt no such
feelings. No bonds with these "packmates." But she played
along. After the ceremony was over she and the others were
introduced to their "Sires." It was an act of will for her to
greet Jonathon with a smile. Afterward, they were taken to a
room in which human beings had been kept. "Choose one to slake
your thirsts. We need to move swiftly tomorrow."
And so for the next few years, she travelled with Death's
Whirlwind, a nomadic Sabbat pack. She began to follow the Path
of Harmony in an attempt to rediscover something of which she had
lost. She also began plotting her escape and her revenge on Jon.
One thing she could never do was drink blood from a child.
Whenever she tried - generally out of desperation - she would
hear Andromeda's voice accusing her of abandonment. As a result
she will not drink the blood of a young child, and if she can
prevent it she will not allow another to do so either.
In 1980, she had her chance. The pack was in Los Angeles
when she managed to stay awake long enough to leave the place the
Pack was sleeping and use Earth Meld to sleep away from them.
She stayed in the ground for a week and then came out.
When she was out of the ground, standing at the fringes of
the Palisades, she noticed a woman in punk clothing was watching
her. The woman was Anita, a renowned Anarch in LA. Anita
challenged her presence and then invited her to stay for a time.
After a period of time - less than a year - Madeleine decided to
move on. She travelled extensively for about five years before
settling down in the Chronicle City. This was about 1986. She
made as many Anarch connections as she could and keeps an eye out
for Death's Whirlwind. She is always looking for signs of Sabbat
interference in the city; she knows what to look for.
In 1989, she hired a PI to try and locate Andromeda. She
simply wants to know if her daughter is safe. He still hasn't
located her.
Also, through some low-level financial savvy and well
planned real estate moves she got enough money to buy a building
and open a nightclub.
The nightclub is called "Dark Affairs." It is a three story
building; the ground floor is for bands and normal customers,
dancing, drinking, etc. The second floor is a quiet place for
people to make out, relax from the driving music, flirt or what
have you. The third floor is used strictly for Anarch gatherings
and the occasional rant. Madeleine always sleeps in the earth in
a park or the nearby wilderness. She doesn't want anyone to know
where she sleeps. She does keep personal belongings and such in
a lair like room in the basement. It's behind a locked steel
door. Inside, she has a large screen tv, a 486 computer system,
a phone line, VCR, stereo and a small futon. There is a closet
full of clothes varying in style from businesslike fashions to
cutting edge street style. She is not above using a little bit
of disguise to move around.
It was here that she discovered her ability to eat and drink
mortal food with few ill effects. Her heart had never stopped
beating after the Embrace for some reason, and she has never
really thought about that.
<Before you read this, please understand that all Traits are
negotiable. If you have any problems whatsoever, let me know.>
Sire: Jonathon
Clan: Panders
Nature: Survivor
Demeanor: Rebel
Generation: 8th
Embrace: 1969
Apparent Age: Early 20s
Physical: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3
Social: Charisma 4, Manipulation 3, Appearance 4
Mental: Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 3
Talents: Acting 4, Alertness 3, Athletics 2, Brawl 3, Dodge
3, Empathy 1, Intimidation 3, Leadership 2, Streetwise 4,
Style 3, Subterfuge 2
Skills: Animal Ken 3, Drive 2, Etiquette 1, Firearms 3,
Firewalking 2, Melee 2, Music 2, Security 2, Stealth 3,
Survival 3
Knowledges: Bureaucracy 1, Computer 1, Finance 3,
Linguistics 2, Occult 2, Politics 1
Disciplines: Animalism 1, Auspex 2, Celerity 3,
Fortitude 2, Obfuscate 3, Obtenebration 1, Potence 1,
Presence 2, Protean 3
Background: Anarch Prestige 2, Generation 5, Resources 3
Virtues: Callousness 3, Instincts 3, Morale 4
Path of Harmony: 5
Willpower: 8
Blood Pool/Max per Turn: 15/3
Merits & Flaws: Acute Hearing, Acute Vision, Baby Face, Eat
Food, Unbondable, Driving Goal: Find Andromeda, Enemy:
Death's Whirlwind, Prey Exclusion: Children, Vengenace:
Jonathon (Note that while there are 9 points of flaws, only
7 were counted.)
Image: 5'6", 135#. Has dark auburn hair, tragically pale
skin which she often disguises using makeup. Her eyes are icy
blue. She usually dresses in the fashion of the current
counterculture, which these days can be anything from grunge
to goth.