Reeve Blake's First Letter
{The following regnal address is written by hand in a thick black Gothic calligraphy by Lord Blake.}
Leeds, Yorkshire, England -- June 20th, 2042 C.E.
Greetings and felicitations to each and every Kindred resident of Leeds, it is my deepest hope that this missive finds you well despite the recent and violent changes of regime to which you have borne witness.
My subjects, it is customary in both mortal and immortal society for a new ruler to introduce himself to those over whom he will have feudal authority. This regnal address is but the first of several instances by which you will have the chance to not only make my acquaintance, but also to voice your concerns to me directly on matters personal or public, as you wish.
I shall not bore you with my mortal life, I was Embraced in the last years of the twentieth century by an elder Spanish Lasombra of strong antitribu sentiment. At that time, I was a citizen of a now fallen state of North America that was besieged by the Sabbat. The Sword of Caine swept over my mortal homeland like a plague of locusts and I like many I knew at the time were taken by force to the graveyards of the city to be put through the perverse rituals used to create the Sabbat’s shock troops. But that night, fortune smiled upon me as I lay at the bottom of an open grave, breathing my last breath and drained almost to death. For my sire, the eldest Kindred of that city, came upon the scene and dispatched the vile pack that had abducted me and gave me a new, darker life to replace the mortal one stolen from me.
Despite my ignoble beginnings, my honorable sire, gave to me the same education and opportunities that had been granted to those long in his service and when destiny dictated that we part, he released me and set me to walk the lonely road of immortality with the gifts inherent to our kind, a strong sense of history and a fine blade. For decades I traveled from Europe, to the Middle-East and into Africa. Along the way I would enlist to wage war for the Camarilla against the Sabbat in over a dozen different conflicts in an equal number of cities, that would drag out over forty years.
In the last phase of my warlike years, I would come to know the most noble warrior I have ever had the honor to serve beside, the new Baron of Yorkshire. When the call went out for Kindred warriors of the Camarilla to unite, I swore fealty to this noble Ventrue and under his wise leadership, I and my brothers and sisters of the Knights of the World Tree did our part to evict the Sword of Caine from London. But when the supernatural dust had cleared and the Camarilla was once again victorious, rather than lay down our arms and take up a more prosaic life, we marched north to Yorkshire to drive the last Sabbat into the sea and free Leeds from bloodshed and madness.
Tonight finds me raised by fortune and the beneficence of our august liege, to the position of reeve of Leeds. I want to you to understand that I never sought to take the place of your previous reeve, but the unsavory ambitions of a mutinous conspiracy led to a violent, unlawful coup that overthrew him. It was to end that rebellion that I traveled to Leeds in support of the Baron and to free my friend, your previous reeve. As I take up the reigns of leadership here in the “Capital of the North”, I serve as the steward of Leeds for our rightful lord, the Baron of Yorkshire. As our cause was just, so we were victorious and the traitorous few were punished with merciful banishment rather than a well deserved and final death. I placate myself, as you should, with the knowledge that our liege’s mercy has saved Leeds and Yorkshire from the chaotic winds of war.
Thus it is upon this final thought that I wish to leave you to ruminate. Leeds is called the “Capital of the North” for a reason. This city is a powerhouse of industrious ambition, its citizens, both living and undead are every bit as capable as any to be found within Avalon and given the last few years of turmoil, they are without doubt most resilient. For us, destiny and free will are both manifest and it is up to us to make of them an amalgam if we are to march forward through history together and provide Avalon with a northern bastion of hope and grandeur.
Yours in Eternal Darkness,
Blake, Reeve of Leeds
