Angelique

Clan Cappadocian -x- Lazarus -x- Cairo -- medieval

Sobriquet: The Guardian of the Necropoli.

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History: The reclusive Methuselah who dwells in Saqqara is one of the most powerful Kindred currently active in Egypt. She was Embraced when the Cappadocian scholar known as Lazarus first moved to the land of the dead in the early years of Christianity. According to legend, Lazarus wandered the desert upon his arrival in Egypt, paying a visit to each of the many new Coptic monasteries that had begun to dot the region. He came upon one particular monastery, finding an unusual young woman alone within. She was surrounded, literally, with the decomposing bodies of the monastery's inhabitants. All had apparently died from some bizarre plague -- all except the girl, who murmured softly to the monk's remains as though they were still capable of listening.

Lazarus knew that he had found his new home in Egypt, and he Embraced the sickly looking girl on the spot, making her the first and only childe Embraced during his self-imposed exile. Lazarus entered torpor soon after, and Angelique pledged herself to the eternal service of both his body and his ethics. She remained in Saqqara, a silent presence throughout the centuries, while the nearby city of Cairo grew to global prominence. Silent, that is, until the arrival of the Giovanni.

Angelique contacted Mukhtar Bey through her operatives of choice, the Lilim, who quietly brought her concerns before the Mameluke prince. Although he certainly bore no love for the Giovanni, his had always been an open city, so it was not his place to summarily evict them until such time as they acted in a manner unbecoming the Kindred of his city. Therefore, he politely refused the request, inviting the Lilim to extend to their matron all other resources at his disposal, should she ever find need.

The response was for Angelique to make a necromantic overture in the form of the grisly display known as the danse macabre. She chose to endanger the Masquerade with these uprisings of the dead, which also served to create considerable unrest among the kine. Although he was rarely one to buckle under such vulgar pressure, the prince recognized the power of the ancient Cappadocian, and he eventually capitulated after years of increasingly disturbing incidents.

A compromise was reached whereby, if the current family of Ghiberti Giovanni were to up and leave Cairo for some reason, then further forays into Cairo by the clan would be refused. That was the best the prince could do, and the rest was up to Angelique. In addition, he would keep the Kindred of his domain away from the west bank of the Nile, particularly the vast necropolis sprawling between Giza and Saqqara. In exchange, she would cease all overt disturbances, as well as act to rein in the area's significant population of restless dead. She further promised to keep the prince abreast of any significant developments in the Underworld through her intermediaries, the Lilim.

Soon after, the Ghiberti who had been stationed near the Nileside port met their ends in a mysterious emerald fire, from which only a single ghoul escaped to tell the tale. The prince seized the chance provided him and created a propaganda campaign around the incident, accusing the Giovanni of endangering both the Masqerade and the other Kindred who dwelt in the area. Since that time, the Giovanni remain the only clan to be unequivocally banned from his city -- a stance that continues to be supported by the majority of Cairo's Kindred residents.

Recent Events: These nights, Angelique is busily preparing herself for the return of her sire, who begins to stir form his eons-long meditations even now. She alone knows the location of his tomb, and she would take the secret to the grave and beyond, if necessary. From his place of fitful sleep, Lazarus has begun to speak to her in waking dreams, making her intuitively aware of what is to come and what preparations need to be made. If her interpretations of these visions are correct, his awakening will signal both a reconciliation of the Harbingers of Skulls (known as the "Lazarenes") and a most terrible reckoning with the brood of one Augustus Giovanni, and she finds herself anticipating the arrival of both with an almost childlike glee.

• -- Angelique's Statistics