Georges de la Tour

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

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Behavior:

History: We know too little about the life of Georges de La Tour, forgotten artist until the end of the 19th century. Born at Vic-sur-Seille, son of a baker, he probably was introduced to the Art by Jacques Bellange at Nancy. Il probably went to the Netherlands, as well as to Italy. Little notable of province, he was introduced in the nobility of Lunéville thanks to his wedding with Diane Le Nerf, daughter of a rich banker, in 1619. After the pillage of Lunéville by the french army in 1638, he went to Paris and became Peintre ordinaire du Roy Louis the 13th, for whom he had already painted in 1633 one of his famous Nuits (Nights), now unidentified. Other art lovers are also clients of De La Tour: The Cardinal of Richelieu, and the Chancelier Séguier are among the most famous.

The Rebirth of De La Tour:

To understand the character, one must study the historical context as well as Kindred intrigues. In 1643, in the middle of the wars of 30 years. France, allied to Sweden, attacked Spain, which was the principal ally of Austria. The religious hatred between Protestants and Catholics are the source of this war. But she hide the true aim of the conflict: The hegemony in occidental Europe, which is disputed by the Habsbourgs and France, still governed by Richelieu.

In the Louvre, another source of conflict appear: Since 1639, Georges de La Tour is a famous painter, who is envied by all the Toreador of Paris. A powerful Toreador asks the Prince, Beatrix, the right to Embrace him. Beatrix, who owe the Toreador a Prestation, was about to gives her benediction when Labienus interrupt the discussion, saying that De La Tour is a member of the mortal family of Quentin le Nerf. Quentin le Nerf is the blood brother of Labienus, and the two are the Childer of Remus, forming a Bloodline of Republican Ventrue. Quentin le Nerf refuse to have his own family member become the Childe of a Royalist, and he invites Georges in his palace, to put him out of the range of the powerful Toreador.

Georges was surprised to find he has so much in common with a stranger. His principles were now shared with another. Quentin offered him Immortality, and Georges accepted, thinking he would have ther whole eternity to find the perfection. He never thought he would miss painting by day so much. In the other way, painting by night sublimated his perception of light, and made him one of the genius of the conrast light/darkness. The Embrace, and the years which followed marvelous years where he learnt to use his newfound powers, and to search perfection in his Art. Then, one night of the cold winter of the year 1649, he was confronted to what he would call later the year of forgetfulness.

La Nuit de l'Oubli: The winter 1649 was probably one of the most cold and terrible winter ever seen. The night of the 6 January seemed to be a night full of interesting events. The Queen and Mazarin were fleeing: The Nobility, as well as the parliament were revolting against the Monarchy. All Paris was in the verge of explosion. Georges was rejoicing about all he saw, and wanted to write everything down for his friend and Sire Quentin. But when he arrived to the manor of his Sire, he discovered him laid on the floor, inert, as a monstrous creature seemed to drink his lifeblood. The manor have been transformed in a battleground and Georges saw the sword of Quentin. He took this and succumbing to Frenzy, attacked the one he would call later Antoine.

When he recovered, he was alone in the library. He didn't remember what had happened. Quentin, Antoine and the sword had disappeared. But he didn't have to time to ponder, as in the same night, the Sabbat attacked the Camarilla of Paris by surprise. Georges had to flee, and spent many nights outdoor before reaching the far and peaceful Lunéville. The feeble powers he mastered by then only gave him the name of his enemy: Antoine.

Quentin came back to Paris four years later. He took over the Manor of Quentin, and organized his own burial. He contacted the parisian Camarilla, and helped to fight the Sabbat. He went very far to hide the exact extends of his powers, as Quentin had taught him.

Aurora: In the following years, he took the boat to England, and discovered Kindred who helped him to live through his lonely unlife. Among these he met Firmin. Firmin dreamed to travel, and was thinking about going to the New World. The friendship of Firmin helped Georges understand that he was losing his time by trying to catch Antoine.

Returning to Paris, he met Aurora. She was among the Venician congregation which had to to Versailles to ask the king to help them in their war against the Ottoman Empire. Aurora had some gift which enabled her to talk with the dead. She had visions and dreams which she jealously kept to herself. All her gifts, she knew, had to keep their existence secret. The Church needed less than that to save her soul through an Auto-da-Fé and a pyre... Georges, through his powers, understood her fears, and meet her, acting as one who had the same problem. She was happy to meet someone to whom she could talk freely about it. She didn't go back to Venice, and stayed in Paris with Georges De La Tour.

One night, Georges came back to his manor and found Aurora deadly hurt. She had been victim of a trap of Antoine, a trap who should have killed him. She only escaped it because just before she knew something bad would happen. Aurora was now forty-years old, but she was more beautiful even now than when Georges met her. He didn't have any choice. To save her, he Embraced her and took her into the eternity of this world of darkness.

Georges gave her the best education and training he could. She was accepted to the Cour of Paris after some discussions with the Prince. While Aurora was an apt student, she specialized in the occult. After fives years, she was officially presented to the Clan Ventrue and thus was freed and considered as a full member of the Clan. This didn't change her behaviour, as she continued her research with even greater fervor.

Georges took once more the hunt for Antoine. He would be at peace only after separating the head of his enemy from his body. He discovered the haven of a Sabbat pack in the spring 1768, and, with the benediction of the Prince, destroyed it with its occupants. Antoine wasn't among the dead, to Georges' anger.

Rémi: After the discovery of the ties between the Sabbat and Antoine, Georges received the support of the Camarilla. While he never succeeded in catching Antoine, this one lost a great number of allies and saw his projects burn to ashes one by one. Georges became the sworn enemy of the parisian Sabbat.

For more than a century and a half, Aurora remained alone. She had, at first, helped Georges in his investigations, but she soon came back to the things that interested her the most: Occult sciences. She had learnt a lot, with the help of the grimoires of Quentin le Nerf, Sire of Georges, but in the last years, she discovered the truth: Georges was inhabited by an evil spirit. Perhaps he had become like his prey, after so much time spent chasing him?

On the Second Empire, she met a young officer who immediately fell in love with her. His name was Remi, and he swore to be her Knight, her Chevalier Servant. She soon felt friendship for him, and learned to appreciate him. He spent most of his time dueling to death, as it was an habit of the time, even if it had been forbidden by Napoléon III. Remi was a fervent believer in Justice, and couldn't let any injustice be without provoking the wrongdoer to duel. It wasn't exceptional to see him at bed for weeks at a row because of a bad injury -- It must be said that at that time, the greatest cause of death among the officers of the Imperial Amries was duel! To avoid loosing her only friend, she Embraced him with the accord of the Prince, François Villon, in the years 1850.

When Georges learnt this, his anger was so bad Aurora fled with her Childe to Venice, but they were ambushed in the north of Italy by Antoine. Remi fled, after being witness of the destruction of his Sire. Still young, it took him weeks to come back to the Manor of Georges. While Georges had felt betrayed by the Embrace of Remi, his anger had cooled down. And because he didn't want to hear Aurora's, she had met Final Death by the hands of his sworn enemy. Together, they swore to hunt the murderer of Aurora until he would not be an danger to anyone.

Louis Antoine Henri Condé: They hunted Antoine for half a century. But this Tzimisce demon seemed to know their moves. He escaped every trap and counterattacked with aggressive efficiency, destroying the retainers of Georges and Remi. One of them was member of the Condé family.

Quentin le Nerf, and then Georges De La Tour had, since the beginnings, controlled the Condé, which had been a inestimable help to them. Antoine had tried to wrestle the control from them but realizing he would fail, decided to destroy them one by one. He almost succeeded, as the one of the last of the Condé bloodline had been saved by Georges De La Tour just as he was executed at the Vincenne Castle, by order of Napoléon Bonaparte, in 1804. He is, until now, the only surviving Childe of Georges Dumesnil De La Tour.

Tonight...: These last nights, Georges De La Tour is a mysterious Elder who forged an alliance with the Brujah Elder Vincent. His haven was the Villa De La Tour, 1 rue de la Tour, at Paris. Because of his past as a painter, he had very good relations with the Clan Toreador (And Labienus didn't like that at all!). He had the control of a great family who owns a great industrial group whose interests ranges from cosmetics to food. He was wondering, because of his frequent losses of memory, if there wasn't someone trying to control him...

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Credit to the Author: https://augias.org/pbn/delatour.htm