Labienus

Paris -P- Ventrue -P- The History of the Ventrue in Paris

Sobriquet: Labienus, or General

Appearance: Labienus was an impressive man when he was young, and a quite good warrior, and even when his talent at tactical warfare decided for his carrier, he never quit training a little in the art of close combat. To the contrary of the roman stereotype, he is well built, even for his little height, and he only shows a little of the effects of his age (his slight rounded belly, and his grey hair). Still, he is beautiful, in a classical way, and impressive in his behavior, so typical of the Ventrue of old. His hair is cut short, he has a strong jaw and his stare is so intense it can become frightening.

Most mortals can't bear Labienus' presence for long, as his supressed beast, tamed by sheer military-like control, is apparent in Labienus stare. But the same mortals can't deny Labienus charisma...

When alone, or in company of friends, he usually wear a roman senator-like robe. When he must meet enemies, or even mortals, he lets his ghouls chose for him a today-style clothe. He usually wears highly styled outfits, half of them being the creations of Arnaud.

Behavior: Labienus is a man of few words. He has stong principles, and believes true things can be told simply, or these things are visibly not true. He rarely closes his eyes, but doesn't appear to nervously scan his surroundings. Instead, he keeps a constant but majestic stare, filling with awe his friends and enemies alike.

As he fought all his unlife for this kind of control, for too little successn he is become increasingly autocratic in his decision, betraying his first principle, without knowing it consciously.

History: Caesar had succeeded to raise the anger of the divided Gaulois, and he needed money fast. So he decided to conquer the Gaules. Among his Generals was Labienus, a mature man whose experience in the battlefield would prove invaluable to the Pro-Consul. Labienus even won the battle of Lutecia in summer -52, then helped Caesar conquer the whole Gaules.

But in -49, Pompeius, backed by the Senate, ordered Caesar to disband his army. Caesar refused and attacked Rome, causing the Senate to flee. Labienus, true to his faith in the fact that Republic is a just way of ruling the people, joined Pompeius in his fight against the dictator. But in -45, he and others generals of Pompeius were killed in the battle of Munda, in Spain.

But Labienus survived his wounds, for he was a ghoul of Remus, a Roman vampire of the Bloodline of Marius. It was the era of Caesar, said his Sire, and Rome would not become the seat of Marduk's dream. So Labienus was given the mission to create Marduk's dream in Lutecia.

But after Embracing two Childer, he fell in Torpor in a fight against 3 celtic Lupines. Tilius protected his body for the thousand years Labienus remained in Torpor. Five centuries after, Lutecia had become Paris, and the Germanic invasion threatened the little city. So they had to convince the barbarian to become Lutecia's army. Tilius paid his dedication to Labienus'dream with his unlife, as he knew the coming of the barbarians would never help them build a true republic.

Cassius understood three centuries later that his Lasombra friend, Ecliastus, had betrayed him. He never succeeded since in taking back the power, as he had to ask the help of a Ventrue Methuselah called Alexandre. Of course, Alexandre took the power, but the Republican Ventrue only had the right to become Alexandre's chambellan.

Labienus awakened in 1324 just as Alexandre's mental health became to decline. And soon, he would work at undermining the royalist Ventrue base of power, allying himself in secret with the Clan Brujah. His work succeeded in making the Ventrue and the Toreador tear at each other's throat for centuries, but in the end, the Toreador won the power in France, and they kept the monarchic structure, and even increased the Absolutism.

Labienus' involvement in the 1789 Revolution is unclear for all but himself: He helped the Brujah take the power, but soon enough, there too much chaos there to keep the power for long, and while Labienus suspected the Setites --All the Setites, including the Courtisanes--, to have made profit of the chaos, he could do nothing.

Mélisande, Childe of the Childe of Saviarre, was trying to keep what she could of her Sire's and her Sire's Sire's power and influence, all the while working to further the royalist cause. But she will recognize her failure after the 1871 Commune, as Labienus' intrigues clearly showed his power and influence, as Republic replaced monarchy, to the dismay of the Toreador and the legitimist Ventrue. She will step down in a Ventrue diplay of Honor, and soon after, he will be recognized as the Duc of the Ventrue.

Since then, the Ventrue's work to win back their rightful power lies in politics. While, lead by Labienus, they are better suited to those bureaucratic intrigues than the Toreador, they still marvel at the potential for intrigue the Toreador have, and how they continue to keep the power from the Ventrue.

Lately, a new branch of the Ventrue was created, with the mild benediction of Labienus. While he sees the Childe of Saviarre with disdain, Labienus must aknowledge the power of money, and indeed! the Bourgeois bring a lot of money to the Clan.

About Labienus: Labienus has two hobbies: The first being what remains of his past of general, and the second being what he lacked in his years as general. Despite the interdiction by Villon of influencing the army, Labienus finds it too difficult, and so has a military councillor staff which informs him of the latest military developpement. He also created a personal milicia he calls the Légions, highly trained teams of soldiers well paid, high-tech equipement, including a three combat-helicopters, as well as an old military ship who was renovated instead of being dismounted.

His second passion is politics, and Labienus has a fair influence in the center-to-right wings of the political arena. His enemy there are the Brujah, who has a great influence in the left-wings. The fact there is a discreet intrigue-war between the two clans blurred this to a most complex situation where people from the same movement will fight each other because of contradictory influences (not all of them coming from Kindred, or even supernatural sources...)

As a Ventrue, Labienus is restricted to feed only on true soldiers (that is, soldier in their heart, if not in titles). As most french conscript want nothing more than avoid army, these are not included in this list.

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