Misery

Mortal Days: Guitars and Gilded Cages

The pseudonym “Misery” was something of a requirement for Mona, being a student at a prestigious private school in Vancouver. It allowed her to write her diary in the third person, enabling her to document her escapades drinking, attending clubs, and fraternizing with the types of boys who would make her mother swoon. It also ensured her family’s reputation was protected from her misdemeanors. But it was her second life that blossomed, as she explored the underground music scene and the growing rock and roll movement. The name Misery stuck, as she joined a prog rock band ingloriously named Toxic Shock Syndrome, which contributed to their lack of success. Her years of vocal lessons and singing in the school choir gave her the ability, if not the raw talent, of a star, however, leading to the band of 16 to 19 year-olds releasing a couple of records before folding.

Life as a wayward young woman came to an end eventually. Misery’s father paid off her publishers, and her mother used her influence on the board of alumni to ensure she was inducted into law school. She immediately rankled at the idea of being pushed this way or that, while her sister Elisha fumed with jealousy, as Misery’s exam scores would not otherwise have qualified for university, and she was ever the favorite in her father’s eyes.

Misery found studying for her degree in law a dull affair and constantly sought the escape of rebellion. It was on the evening she went to her tutor to declare her abandonment of academia, that waiting in the corridors, she met a man claiming to be an old family friend. Younger than her father, and more handsome and debonair, she knew she could seduce him. In return, he found Misery’s willful attitude charming beyond compare. Her rebellion would take a different form, through sexuality and a forbidden relationship.

Misery spent a long time with this man, by the name of Siegfried, as he nurtured her musical interests and promised her a life away from familial expectation. Meanwhile, she rubbed her relationship with Siegfried in the faces of her parents, her sister, and the university. Siegfried was enraptured by her rebellious streak, her talents, and the way she used her parents’ wealth to further her own intrigues. She would make the perfect childe for him, the Ventrue Prince of Vancouver.

Kindred Nights: Never Broken

Vancouver was a rare domain in that it was outside the reach of Camarilla or Sabbat, due to the heavy Lupine presence in the territory. This made Siegfried equally rare, as while he held praxis and abided by the Traditions, he never engaged in wider sectarian politics. Perhaps it was for this reason that he once fought alongside a Lasombra vampire named Marcus or Lucius — his memory fails to recall exactly — in a grand battle against the Lupines in his domain. The Lasombra saved him from a brutal final death at the claws and teeth of one of these werewolves, and Siegfried promised any boon in return. Half a century later, and the same Lasombra reemerged the night before Siegfried was due to offer Misery the Embrace. His erstwhile savior elected to cash in his favor there and then, selecting Siegfried’s intended childe as his own. Split between his love for Misery and his word as Prince, Siegfried gave Misery up to the Keeper and sank into a deep sorrow.

Misery never consented to the Embrace, nor did she forgive Siegfried or her actual sire for treating her like a chattel to be traded or pawned. She refused to be just another woman caught between “great men.” Misery learned all she could about being a Blue Blood while her Lasombra sire occasionally visited to prove a point to Siegfried that she never cared to understand. Once she was schooled in the ways of the Ventrue, her sire took her away to act as his “cupbearer,” but it soon became clear to her that she was simply a way for the Lasombra’s contemporaries to feed, with Marcus proffering his childe to Kindred with a taste for vitae.

She didn’t bend or break, her resistance hardening with every depredation. While her sire ostensibly enjoyed her spirited defiance, she could see that with every fight, he was closer to losing control: the state she wanted to coax him into. After months of needling, on the verge of frenzy he sent her back to Vancouver. Misery considered herself the victor and prayed he’d think better of Embracing another young woman without a thought. Misery spent a little time in Vancouver, but found no home for herself there. She briefly reconnected with Siegfried, only to discover that with time, he’d transferred his affections elsewhere, proving in her mind that the undead are even more prone than mortals to flights of fancy inevitably leading to betrayal and heartbreak. Seeking direction and purpose, she wandered the United States and joined one coterie after another, occasionally taking up music again or helping similar childer escape their elder tormentors. Misery became something of an idol for such Kindred, especially among the Anarchs, who view her as a constant thorn in the sides of cruel Princes.

It was in Misery’s travels she first encountered the Church of Caine in San Diego. The cult’s Gnosticism grants her a new view of her Kindred existence, and it’s one she loathes. She finds the self-elevation present within this cult as utterly delusional, akin to mortals who become “born again” when everyone else in their lives has grown sick of them. Still, she identified in the Cainite faith a new challenge: she’d taken on elders, capricious Princes, and was recognized as a fighter among her fellow Anarchs, so why not break the chains this Gnostic faith foisted on its followers?

Banking on her semi-celebrity status, she pledged fealty to the Church of Caine if they would but teach her their rites and show her the way to enlightenment. As ever, her cynicism and resolute decision to never buckle means she cannot swallow any of the cult’s screed, even as she grows to enjoy the company of fellow cultists. Her aim is to scale the cult hierarchy and erode it from within, even if it destroys the lives and beliefs of others in doing so.

Fifth Edition

Sire: Marcus Vitel
Ambition: Find a path free of control
Convictions: Always work to free others from the yoke of cruel masters; Never fail to oppose the assholes who tortured me
Touchstones: Kendra Hope — Buddhist music label manager; Jerome Luthor — counselor at a drug addiction self-help group who strives to help those willing to admit their crimes and faults.
Humanity: 6
Generation: 6th
Blood Potency: 4
Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3; Charisma 4, Manipulation 3, Composure 3; Intelligence 4, Wits 3, Resolve 3
Secondary Attributes: Health 6, Willpower 6
Skills: Athletics 1, Brawl 2, Drive 1, Melee 1, Stealth 2; Etiquette 2, Insight 3, Intimidation 2, Leadership 2, Performance (Singing, Guitar) 3, Persuasion 3, Streetwise 2, Subterfuge (Feign Mortality) 3; Academics (Law) 2, Awareness 2, Finance 1, Occult 3, Politics 2
Disciplines: Auspex 2, Dominate 3, Oblivion 3, Presence 2