Lillian Vanderpool
Overview
Though she looks older than most of the Kindred in Chicago, Lillian Vanderpool only entered her Requiem in 1980. In her mid-50s when she was Embraced, Vanderpool was a high school principal with 30 years of teaching high school under her belt at the time of her Embrace. Ironically, one of her former students brought her into the Requiem, hoping to make her into some kind of advisor or mother figure. It was a poorly thought-out reason for granting the Embrace, and a rash move on his part. Vanderpool is one of those individuals who made a much better mortal than a vampire. Though she was a warm woman with many friends and a busy schedule, the Embrace appears to have turned everything warm about her into ice. From her perspective, her work as a teacher and a parent was in full swing when her sire plucked her from it. Her oldest daughter was just having her first child, and her youngest (and Favorite) son had just begun attending the very prestigious Northwestern University. These were all things she had to be around for. Being pulled into the Requiem plucked her away from her role as a living, breathing human, and her rage and resentment seemed to have no end. After her Embrace, Vanderpool listened to her sire as he prattled on about the Requiem. She paid particularly close attention when he told her about staking. As soon as she had the opportunity, she made him pay for his rash move. Withing a week, she had diablerized him. This was enormously uncharacteristic of her; she was in no way a violent woman, but her seething rage, backed by the Beast, won out, and she made her sire pay in the most absolute way she could imagine. She'd intended to kill him, but the diablerie was unexpected.
Vanderpool's cold anger became a constant background for everything that came after her Embrace. Combined with her keen mind and short temper, this makes Vanderpool a force to be reckoned with. Vanderpool respects mortals and enjoys their company. She dislikes Kindred in general and has a particular dislike for those who think that their curse somehow makes them better than mortals, like the Invictus and Lancea Sanctum.
While she respects mortals and hates feeding, Vanderpool bears a vague ill will for all Kindred and an active hatred for most.
Having been a member of the teacher's union in Chicago for many years, the Carthian Movement seemed as natural as any of the choices granted her by the Requiem, She has made a slow but steady creep up the rungs of recognition since her Embrace, and she is now considered one of the foremost Carthians in the city. Her candid and dispassionate analyses of Kindred and Kindred politics long ago earned her the position of Myrmidon among the Carthians (a position she accepted when Walt Barowski became the local Prefect).
Vanderpool has a certain cold, grandmotherly appearance. She has a long, thin face and an austere bearing. She keeps her white hair short, although it has a tendency to go awry when she lets it. Though Vanderpool dresses like the old woman she appears to be, she favors clothes on the expensive end of that spectrum and often wears expensive silk blouses with colorful scarves and the same gold jewelry she's been wearing since her breathing days.
Stats
Clan: Mekhet
Covenant: Carthian Movement
Embrace: 1980
Apparent Age: 56
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 5, Wits 3, Resolve 4
Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2
Social Attributes: Presence 3, Manipulation 3, Composure 4
Mental Skills: Academics 3, Computer 1, Crafts 2, Politics 1, Science 1
Physical Skills: Drive 2, Stealth 2
Social Skills: Animal Ken 1, Empathy 2, Expression 3, Intimidation 2, Persuasion 1, Socialize 1, Subterfuge 3
Merits: Danger Sense, Encyclopedic Knowledge, Haven 2, Status 3
Willpower: 8
Humanity: 8
Virtue: Prudence
Vice: Wrath
Health: 7
Initiative: 7
Defense: 3
Speed: 10
Blood Potency: 2
Disciplines: Auspex 5, Majesty 2
Vitae/per Turn: 11/1
References
- VTR/WTF/MTAw/CofD: World of Darkness: Chicago, p. 126-127