Germaine
Contents
Germaine's Wanted Poster -- Easily Available
Allegiance: Anarchists everywhere.
Notable Disciplines: Presence.
Preferred Weapons: Lies and deceit.
Feeding Habits: Prostitutes.
Last Known Location: Los Angeles, District of California, Western Alliance.
Alias: Le Comte, Saint Germaine.
Trophy Clan: Toreador.
Rumors:
Germaine's Dossier -- Only Upon Request by those of High Status
Germaine's Biography -- Known to only a few
His Life
When Louis XVI, a rather dull and corpulent man, came to the throne in 1774, he was completely unprepared (and unsuited) to provide leadership in the face of France's financial crisis. Because of this weakness, the court factionalized, with the Toreador maintaining the status quo. The Kindred opposed the reforms of the Louis' minister Turgot, forcing the monarch to dismiss him in 1776.
Germaine, a fanatical follower of Turgot, despised the Monarchy ever after. His need for revenge brought him into a chance meeting with a group of young men and women who held his same ideals. They called themselves Girondists, and they dedicated themselves to destroying the king. Unknown to Germaine, they were ghouls.
As France continued to drain her resources with involvement in the American Revolution, Germaine and his friends harassed both the church and the nobility. Germaine gave himself, body and soul, over to the dream of revolution in France. Over the next five years, young Germaine witnessed the supernatural abilities of his friends. At first, deeply troubled, he soon found how these abilities could be used to further the downfall of the monarchy. During those years, he constantly begged the ghouls to teach him their secrets. The Girondist leaders always refused, and Germaine would leave in anger, only to return each time.
Finally, under cover of night, they led him across the border of France to the small Swiss village of Orbe. Here, in a monastery, he met their master, Critias.
Critias seemed self absorbed, silently listening to Germaine as he railed against the French government. Germaine saw his convictions fall on deaf ears. The bearded man just stared past him, as if he were not even there. At length Germaine pleaded with Critias, to be given the blood, to be made a ghoul. Critias quietly dismissed him, informing him that he was not destined to be like his friends. Germaine returned with the ghouls to France, cheated and humiliated.
France's dwindling treasury eventually collapsed into bankruptcy. In May of 1789, the Commons Assembly convened' joined by many lower clergy and a few nobles. They defied the king, proclaiming themselves the National Assembly on June 14th. The king's loss of prestige before the National Assembly fired Germaine's excitement, and he redoubled his efforts.
The ghouls kept his identity masked. The Toreador were becoming more active in suppressing the dissident elements and pressing their search for Kindred influences. Despite the Girondists' orders for him to remain low profile, Germaine would go on solitary scouting missions, constantly looking for ways of making himself more valuable to his supernatural allies.
On one such adventure, he chanced to meet the Countess d'Adhemar, who became enamored of his handsome face and impetuousness. In her, he saw a perfect opportunity to gain information for the revolutionaries, especially after he discovered she was a close friend of the queen, Marie Antoinette. Unknown to him, the Countess was a Toreador neonate of Madame Guil, who was supporting the French Revolution for her own reasons. At first, the Countess was uninterested in learning anything more about Germaine. To her, he was only a mortal rogue, a plaything among the middle class. She soon realized his ties to the revolutionaries, and exploited him on behalf of her mistress. By controlling him, she kept the Brujah one step ahead of the Toreador.
Germaine continued with his double life as a revolutionary and lover of aristocratic D'Adhemar as the upheaval intensified. Marie Antoinette, unrestrained by her weak husband, began implementing her own counter-revolutionary plots, advised by the Countess. Germaine, swept up in the new surge of revolutionary fever, supplied the Brujah with knowledge to exploit Marie Antoinette's blundering.
The first major Brujah coup occurred in October of 1789, when they were able to incite a mob to march on the Palace of Versailles. The Toreador blocked the Brujah's attempt to assassinate the king, who now understood how bold the anarchists had become. The mob forced the royal family to move to the Tuileries Palace in Paris itself, and the Toreador panicked. In 1791, they attempted to spirit the king and queen out of Paris.
The Brujah sniffed out the king's trail, and he was caught. His flight was used as proof of treasonable action. He was forced to accept the constitution of 1791, which reduced him to a figurehead. Finally, in September, the monarchy was abolished. The king would survive for only a few more months before losing his head to the guillotine, and France's elders were on the run.
