Rosa Hernandez

Mortal life

Like many young children, Rosa Hernandez wanted to help animals, and longed to become a veterinarian when she grew up. Her veterinary ambitions died after she found out what “putting to sleep” meant, but her longing to help animals never did.

When she attended the University of Chicago in the early '70s, all her friends were involved in the peace movement. However, Rosa's raison d'être was the ethical treatment of animals, and she was one of the most prominent and active members of Chicago's budding animal rights movement.

Unlife

She came to Doyle Fincher’s attention when she freed a small herd of bulls which were to be slaughtered, and wildly ran with them through the streets of the city. Feeling her love of animals to be the same as his, Doyle Fincher petitioned Lodin for permission to Embrace her. By the time this permission was granted, Rose had engaged in a number of raids on corporate laboratories carrying out experiments on animals. Late one night, drunk after a party, Rosa broke into the Lincoln Park Zoo and freed a number of animals, including several lions. Flushed with success and wine, Rosa was dancing in the park when Doyle Fincher approached her in wolf form. He offered her the chance to become one with animals. He meant she could do this through the act of killing, but she thought he meant by actually transforming into one.

She leapt at the chance and reveled in her new abilities. However, she was disgusted by Doyle when he took her on her first hunt. Horrified, she has never spoken to him again, though they occasionally meet. Rose swore that she would stop his evil ways, and also that she would user her abilities or the benefit of animals. Both promises have become less important as the years passed by, and Rose has come to accept what she is. Still, she will not feed on animals and only feeds on humans – generally science students and their professors.

The passing of years saw her revenge against Fincher lessen as she grew to accept the nature of the Beast. She refused to feed on animals, and only targeted humans. She preferred to feed on corporate drones or scientists who performed or funded animal testing. After she learned of Lupines, Rosa began researching and trying to locate them. She viewed them as the truest combination of animals and humans, as they were born with the ability to change and did not require blood. Then, the War of Chicago began with the Lupines attacking the city. Camarilla Kindred was massacred in droves while Rosa watched from safety, appalled by her underestimation of Lupine ferocity. What she assumed were noble beasts were more savage, cruel, and destructive than any Kindred she had encountered. Revolted, her own naïve hope galvanized her into action, leading the pushback against the invading werewolf packs.

In recent years, Rosa was disgusted when she learned Inyanga, the Gangrel Primogen, had re-negotiated a peace with the werewolves. She vented at the elder woman before her clan and was surprised not to have been killed. Rosa tried to convince them that the death of Prince Lodin was a move that could not be forgiven. But the uneasy peace remained; werewolves would be permitted to hunt in a strictly bordered part of the domain, unharmed by Kindred. After Inyanga left the city, Rosa became the new Gangrel Primogen, leader of a clan hardly recognized as Camarilla. She immediately broke Inyanga’s weak treaty, commanding the Gangrel Wolf Pack to burn out half a dozen werewolf lairs.

Rosa hates the Lupines and will do anything to destroy them. She once again studies, learning about werewolves just as she researched mundane animals in her mortal days. That studying, supplemented financially and with resources by a private sponsor named Francesco, informed her of their strengths and weaknesses. It was not the academic books she sought, but folklore and legends to learn their ways and how to track them. Like any hunter, she needed weapons, knowledge, and bait. During the years of learning, Francesco drip-feeding her tasty morsels, she earned her law degree and began investing in small businesses around town. She now owns six such businesses, ranging from a veterinary clinic to a successful vegan restaurant.