La Belle Dame d'Lumiere

La Belle Dame d'Lumiere
Sect:	The Camarilla Template:8dots
Clan:	Toreador (Masquerade) ••••• •
City:	Brisbane Template:8dots
Pack/Coterie:	None
Title:	Elder
Sire:	Vashti
Lineage:	?
Embraced:	Unknown
Generation:	7
Player:	Marie Gilders
Storyteller:	Brisbane VST

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Personal Information

La Belle Dame d'Lumiere wrote the declaration of the foundation of the court of Brisbane, and it is suspected, wrote the rules as well. She is very well mannered, very patient, and never, ever breaks her word. She has beauty like a lion - graceful, slow moving, always smiling, but you get the impression that it would be a very bad idea to look away once she has locked eyes on you, or she might just make chase. Although, that might not be so bad. She is constantly surrounded by descendants and courtiers who seem to go to great lengths to persuade her to play with them, and they seem to do well enough out of it. But once they're joined her orbit, they never seem to leave it.

Everyone thinks it is such a good idea for the elders to like them. Most don't stop to think of how they might get themselves free if one decides to love them.

Appearance

It can be hard to believe she is as old as is claimed. Some even say she is a Norman, and yet she almost appears human, until you look at her closely. Beautiful, charming and magnetic; whether loved or feared, she is the centre of the room. An Elder must go to enormous lengths to maintain that facade – always warm to the touch and with flushed skin, pupils dilating when she is interested, breathing, and little gasps of surprised that so often fade even in neonates. Hungry kindred who stand too close and let their guard down may find themselves wondering about her as prey, until she looks into their eyes again. Those can’t hide how much she’s seen, and some wonder how dangerously close to her beast she seems.

But there is also something unshakeably wrong, something inhuman that makes the kine recoil when they get too close. They seem to know by instinct that she has killed their kind before. Very rarely, those who spend time with her will see her guard slip for long enough to see how much this distresses her.

Personality

Dame d’Lumiere lives and acts like a queen. She was raised to believe that it was God’s plan that she was born to rule, and through marrying well and bearing many children she would deliver power and glory to her family. Her passions are exhaustive in their number and extreme in their depth – she either loves a thing, hates or despises it, or doesn’t seem to notice or care that it exists. She is never half interested in anything. She lives for passion and is not above meddling in the affairs of others, with an ill-timed compliment or insult here or there, to set off social rivalries apparently entirely for her own amusement. Some of those who are still getting used to her way of interacting have a lingering sense of being hunted.

Dame d’Lumiere is honourable to a fault. She gives her word rarely, and keeps it fiercely. Those who acquire her promises know she will be zealous and faithful in fulfilling them, though her thought processes may be sufficiently alien to lead to unexpected and startling outcomes.

Mortal World

She is very rarely seen, rumoured to be a powerful art critic, who spends most of her time travelling. Her family settled in the city after the war and appear to be strongly matriarchal with a very strong family resemblance and a deep love of the arts and culture. There is always one of each generation (sometimes a niece “brought in from overseas” when the old persona dies) who stands out and helps the city, either as a critic or a sponsor of the arts, and either way, with deep pockets and wide foreign contacts used to bring priceless works of art to the city, many of which are on display in the galleries and the churches of the city.

Information Known by Kindred Society

• Rule number 1 - she holds an extremely hard line view of the traditions
• Dame d’Lumiere loves to play games, and when she does so devotes her entire, obsessive attention to who she is playing with. Her displeasure at the slightest interruption betrays an otherwise well concealed, menacing rage.
• Famous for her illuminated religious art; she is a master of the guild of Venus, as her sire Vashti was before her. The Cathedral of St Stephen is lined with her work, and she has donated numerous pieces to the Museum and the art gallery, believing that art is for the benefit of the kine and kindred alike. She was known, before the Sabbat attacked, to frequently visit and view her works in Southbank, and has been seen particularly watching with enjoyment the emotional reactions of kine she appears to be hunting without disclosing the work is her own.
• Invited to Brisbane by Mr Stone to help him found it
• Previously travelled frequently, never living more than 25 years in any place. She has broken with tradition to settle in Brisbane, for 110 years so far, and she shows no signs of being ready to leave
• She mentors younger kindred, and is known to accept commissions from other elders to provide “finishing school” services before they release their childer. She charges extraordinary rates, and never seems short of clients. On occasion, where a neonate or ancillae does not have an elder willing to petition her for them, she has been known to allow them to appeal to her directly
• Resident in Hamilton, over which she claims exclusive Domain. The Toreador are all known to live there with her, apparently of their own free will
• The old Cloudland was a gift to her from Mr Stone, and she has not yet identified who destroyed it
• She holds the peculiar view that boons are earned, not granted, and that they reflect the actual conferral of a benefit rather than the consent of those involved to do so. She has been heard arguing that the purpose of boons is to lubricate society – that we are each as members of the Camarilla obliged to arrange for and allow others to serve us, and for us to serve them, and to publicly make and receive payment for such, to keep the beast at bay and ensure the wheels of civilisation continue to turn. This means she automatically accepts a debt to those who have performed service for her, and will register such with the harpies to make a public display of it if the other party has not already made the claim. Equally, she will not ask for consent before doing favours for others, and then claiming the debt.
• She holds technology of any kind in disdain, and will not use it, for any reason, or where possible, even acknowledge its existence. Unless she is very fond of someone, she will not tolerate attempts at explanations, lessons or demonstrations, and if she is fond of them, she will delicately try to get them to shut up. The only exception is for rule number 1.
• Her two ghouls - Nicholas Malagant Burroughs - played by Frank Hooper and D.W. Whittman – played by Ben Gilders - are very frequently seen in public and are always willing to assist, for the right price
• She is very fond and possessive of her kindred family
• She lives by a strict code of honour, governing how individuals and families ought to interact with one another, and is dismissive of those who flout what she sees are the proper rules of society. She is willing to talk about this at length, and for those who do not want to be near her for long enough for her to go into detail but who know how to use the internet, her beliefs seem quite similar to feudalism, with a very heavy focus on family. She also seems to have clear ideas about the different behaviour that is required of men and women.
• She released Mr Stone into society in Trieste, Italy, in 1756, but he is not a Toreador.

Timeline

• 1088 - Released into society by her sire, Vashti, in the court of Rome
• 1088 - Leaves immediately to return to Britain
• 1101 - Returns to the court of Rome briefly before her sire Vashti abruptly packs up her entire household and relocates to France
• 1102 - Returns to Britain, travels regularly, does not stay in any city more than a decade
• 1205 - Sibling Roisin embraced
• 1211 - Embraces first childe, Daniel
• 1350 - Becomes a master of the guild of Venus
• 1400 - Discovers Daniel has embraced a child, enters their city and takes them both. They did not leave willingly and were never seen again. Rumoured to have later paid off the Prince of the city for the apparent slight
• 1500s - Embraces her second childe, Jacqueline la Bianchi, an opera singer in Trieste, Italy
• 1600s- Oscillates between the new world and Britain, usually seen with her Sire Vashti
• 1666 - Appears in London very soon after the fire, resides there for a year
• 1667 - 1756 Not seen publicly
• 1756 - Reappears in society in Trieste, Italy, in the company of a Ventrue, Mr Stone
• 1760 - Disappears from public life again
• 1810 - Reappears in Trieste, seen publicly with Jacqueline la Bianchi
• 1818 - Relocates to London, seen publicly with Mr Stone
• 1825 - 1850 not seen publicly
• 1850 - Reappears in New Orleans with Vashti
• 1900 - Seen in Trieste, Italy, again with Jacqueline

• 1904 - Arrived in Brisbane
• 1907 - Court of Brisbane founded
• ???? - Invites Armand LeBlanc of clan Ventrue to move to Brisbane
• 1944 - Invites Elder Stone of clan Tremere to move to Brisbane
• 1944 - Hosts the first of many tourneys (one held each decade) where members of kindred society are invited to compete for her favour (a sash made of the of same deep blue silk as the dress she is most often seen wearing). It is popularly attended; Gunderic the Vandal is believed to have called in a favour in exchange for an invitation, and it is rumoured that is why her sire Vashti's seat was empty
• 1945 - Leaves the city without notice, returns months later - rumoured to have paid a significant price to extract her childe from a failed praxis claim in Trieste, Italy against an elder Tremere. The childe is not seen publicly.
• 1982 - Cloudland destroyed

2013

• JUN - Details
• JUL - Details
• AUG - Details
• SEP - Details
• OCT - Details
• NOV - Details
• DEC - Details

Lineage

Aldalheidis d’Rossel de l'Redbourne (in English: Adelaide of the Rossells, wife of Lord Redbourne), also known as la Belle Dame d’Lumiere (the beautiful lady of light), Adileh, Adelia or Adelaide

Childe of Vashti, Grandchilde of Eletria, Great Grandchilde of Helena

Sibling to Evangeline, Roisin and Mathieu Philippe Gregois

Sire of Daniel (deceased), who begat Michael (deceased)

whose childer Jacqueline la Bianchi (NPC) begat Voce (Daniel Jenner) who begat Alessio Salvatori (Marco Ludke), Iadro Orsini (Callan Davis) and Kaalia (Kristine Hertel)

Alessio Salvatori begat (TBA)
Iadro Orsini begat Peyton Constanica Halliwell(Contes Ashes), Vince Webber (Rob), and Aurelia (Charlotte Kippax)
Kaalia begat Larissa (Cassandra Hickey), Gretchen Di Val (Pamela Saunders) and Mairwen (Caitlin Davies)

Dormitor of Nicholas Malagant Burroughs (Frank Hooper), D.W. Whittman (Ben Gilders) and Susan Walker (NPC)

Quotes

Quotes By

"Victor, we need to have a little chat......"

- La Belle about to dress down Victor Creed after he insulted an elder during conclave.

Quotes About

"Ah, si belle qu'elle me fait souffrir."

- translation: "Ah, so beautiful it hurts me."

- Gunderic the Vandal

"... I don't think I thought this through properly."

- Emily Mortimer

"You may have been graced with her favour for now, pup, but be careful. It is a very different game the elders play and I don't think you know just what kind of creature d'Lumiere is..."

- Jacqueline Keighley to Luella Hunter during Brisbane court.

"Beautiful, but beauty is no distinction, in the Clan of the Rose. Witty, but wit is hardly outstanding among the Elder dead. Dangerous...'not to be trifled with', they tell me - as if that weren't an embossed, gilt-edged invitation stamped on medium-weight ecru Parisian cardstock. It's like they don't know me at all."

- Silke

She makes Princess Diana déclassé.

"My Lady Elder d'Lumiere has done much for the clan. She is a fine teacher and I have learned much from her each time she has visited." Kaalia

Conversations

"Yeah, I can probably beat Voce, eventually, if things keep playing out as they are."
"What about Elder d'Lumiere?"
"Whoah, fuck that. I wouldn't go against her for all the Boons of Hardestadt - she's my Elder's problem.

- A whispered conversation among Brisbane's Neonates.'''

Rumors

• The Toreador mansion houses a vault filled with sleeping members of the lineage
• Her sire Vashti has and the Elder Ventrue Gunderic the Vandal are rivals
• Dame d'Lumiere and Mr Stone have known each other much longer than is publicly known
• Dame d'Lumiere is oathsworn to her sire, Vashti
• Dame d'Lumiere routinely spies on and stalks members of the court for unknown reasons
• Dame d'Lumiere killed her first childe, Daniel, for embracing a child
• Dame d'Lumiere is very religious
• Dame d’Lumiere has been trying to keep Gunderic the Vandal away from her family in Brisbane

Inspirations and Soundtrack

• Muse - Sunburn
• Muse - I belong to you
• Portisehead - Wandering Star
• Tool - Right in two
• U2 - One

Status

• Acknowledged as a member of the Camarilla.
• Elder, Established, and Venerated by virtue of age.
• Cherished, by Alessio Salvatori, Primogen of clan Toreador
• Luminescant, by Justicar Xavier of the Gangrel
• Famous and Revered as Toreador Clan Head

Boons

• Minor boon owed by Barnett Henderson to La Belle Dame d'Lumiere for the revival of a Brujah, 23/8/2014.
• Trivial boon owed by Character to Character for details (date).
• Major boon paid by Character to Character for details (date).

OOC Information

Member Information
Player:	Email Here Marie Gilders
Number:	Member Number Here
Domain:	Brisbane