Denver

Western Alliance of Independent States -x- League of the Night

City Seal of Denver

Quote

Denver is a city that will be far more defined by its future than its past. -- John Hickenlooper

Appearance

History

Historical Note: Previous to the dates which follow, the Arapaho tribes had been using the junction of the South Platte river and Cherry Creek as a meeting place and seasonal camp for an unspecified period of time, but historical resources indicate that period of time could have been considerable, centuries or longer.

Its worth noting, that one of the specific references that I found, a letter dated 1858, stated that there were over three hundred lodges of Arapaho in and around that junction of the S.Platte and C.Creek rivers; this is important because a lodge is usually an extended family of several generations of Arapaho, which means at the time of the letter's writing, there were probably 3,000+ Arapaho tribal members in residence at the site of downtown Denver. In the year 2001, there are less than 10,000 total Arapaho tribal members split between the two surviving tribal groups left in North America. Time has not been kind to the Arapaho. -- Bruce E. Zieger (mortal amateur historian and storyteller)

• -- The Timeline of Denver
• -- Notable Historical People of Denver

Population

• -- City (649,495) - 2013 census
• -- Urban (2,374,203) - 2013 census
• -- Metro Area (2,697,476) - 2013 census

Arenas

• Coors Field
• Dick's Sporting Goods Park
• Pepsi Center
• Sports Authority Field at Mile High

Attractions

• -- Events in Denver

Castles

• -- Castle Marne

Cemeteries

• -- Fairmount Cemetery

Vampires of Denver (17)

Brujah (1)

• -- Flaevius Nellson -- The Buffalo Soldier.

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Gangrel (4)

• -- Rachel Lukianova Fedorov -- Russian Gangrel Countess and Primogen.
• -- Grayson Fallow -- Eldest progeny of Countess Rachel.
• -- Burning Crow -- Progeny of Grayson Fallow and Guardian of the Arapaho.
• -- Kate O'Malley -- Progeny of Grayson Fallow and Gangrel Lady of the Night.

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Lasombra (5)

• -- Don Alonzo De Vargas -- Lasombra antitribu Primogen.
• -- Don Leandro Adon Oro Christian De Reyes -- Eldest Childe of Don Alonzo & Pilgrim on the Bitter Journey
• -- Don Ramon Arturo Negro De Cadiz -- Second Son & Art Aficionado
• -- Dona Isabella Baboa Garcia Mendez -- The Pious Daughter
• -- Loleta -- Daughter of Don Ramon Arturo Negro De Cadiz

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Clan Malkavian (2)

• -- Antonio -- Primogen of Lunatics
• -- Jason Dodgerson -- The Reincarnate

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Clan Toreador (2)

• -- Leslie Wilkes
• -- Leslie Booth

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Clan Tremere (1)

• -- Gideon Londoner -- Regent of Denver

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Clan Ventrue (2)

• -- Elgin Fitz-Cairn

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Salubri Bloodline

Mary Wyncott -- Ventrue Philanthropist & Humanitarian

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Sobriquet: Doctor Wyncott (formal) - Mary (informal) - Christine (intimate)

Appearance: Christine appears to be an attractive woman in her early thirties. She has long silky dirty blond hair that hangs to her hips, pale and flawless skin with only a few freckles that she shows off to good effect and jade green eyes which can take on other hues depending on her mood. She is only a few inches short of six feet and full figured; she combines her natural beauty with a stunning wardrobe and tasteful jewelry for a more powerful effect, though she disdains the use of cosmetics on all but formal occasions.

Behavior: She is an early twentieth century American beauty trapped in amber. Christine has a cultured way of speaking and consummate social skills combined with a nearly iron will to create respect in almost all those with whom she interacts. She always maintains eye contact, never raises her voice and absolutely never uses profanity, though her body language can be absolutely pornographic when she is feeling naughty.

History: Born into a prominent New England family who arrived in America as puritans, Christine grew up the child of privalige to a strict, but loving father and a devout mother. By the standards of her day, Christine's youth was rewarding, but not easy, for she was required to learn all the graces of a young lady of society and was expected to enter into a prearranged marriage to a man of her station, becoming a mother and a wife.

Secretly she yearned for something more and her only confidant was her younger brother, Joseph. Often they would lie awake at night and wisper to each other of their dreams: he wanted to be soldier and to see the world, she wanted to be like her father, a doctor; but women were not allowed to be doctors, at least not young ladies of station such as herself and his hopes seemed as unlikely, for his father wanted him to be a physician and his mother would never approve of his entering the military.

All that began to change shortly after Christine's sixteenth birthday, when her mother, a devout protestant and a woman of often poor health, died. Though she had many aunts who often tried to take her mothers' place and who regularly tried to arrange suitors for her, she began to run a little wild, which mostly consisted of spending time with her father, where ever he went, often helping with his practice. For that matter, her aunts were quite scandalized by both children's behavior for Joseph would often slip away after his father went to bed and go listen to the sailors and soldiers talk of the strange places they had been and all the wonderous things they had seen.

The physician was a man of principles and simple faith bound by the strictures of his day; the lose of his wife deeply wounded him and Christine and Joseph were all of her that was left to him, so perhaps he was a little lax with them. In the end this is what he would blame himself for, but by then it would be too late.

In the summer of 1914, war had broken out in Europe and many young men were running off to fight the good fight. Joseph was no different and so one night as his father slept he left with just a few belongings and a goodby to his beloved sister Christine. Few people at that time in America knew the harsh realities of war, Christine was no different, so when Joseph told her he was leaving, she celebrated with him and was glad, for it seemed that both of them were finally living their dreams.

Christine's father wasn't pleased when he discovered Joseph's deception, but like her he would read Joseph's letters over and over again as the months passed. For the better part of a year, all seemed well for Joseph sent letters regularly and she worked with her father every day, caring for the sick and injured of Boston. Then young men began to arrive at the hospitals of Boston, young men come back from fighting in Europe, often missing limbs, horribly scarred or with terrible wounds of the mind. Then Christine was scared for Joseph and her father began to write letters to important men in government, hoping to arrange Josephs return from Europe, but to no avail.

The next year wasn't so easy, because Joseph's letters stopped coming and her father even with his influence couldn't find out why, no one seemed to know anything about it. As the guilt and fear for his son began to eat at him, Christine's father began to rely on the medicines at his disposal to help him continue working. A year passed and there was no news of Joseph and the physician had become a shadow of his former self, often not eating and using cocaine to stay alert or laudanum to help him sleep. Two and a half years after Joseph's enlistment, the physician died and left Christine a young woman of wealth without a suitor. Her aunts tried to meddle and marry her off, but Christine had been running her father's life for the past year and couldn't easily be forced into anything. Her aunts despaired, fearing she would be a spinster and an embarrassment, but that wasn't to be the case.

A week after her father's death, she set sail on the first ship bound for Europe, the last letter from Joseph had come from Paris, a good place to start looking for him she believed. Upon arrival, she discovered the reality of war was chaos; no one knew what had happened to Joseph or where he might be. His last letter had been dated a couple of days before his last assignment or so his commanding officer said. Though there was no body, the army believed him dead, for he had been missing so long and he wasn't on any of the prisoner of war lists either. The commander was a nice man that tried to comfort her, but also told her to accept the truth, that Joseph was in all probability dead. Christine was torn between disbelief and the grief. In tears she left his office, but she would return many times over the next two years, for the commander would become her first friend and lover.

She sat in a small flat on the northern shore and grieved, but the isolation drove her to the outside world and so she returned to what she knew best, being the physician's daughter; she did charity work in the Red Cross and within a few months, she became a nurse at one of the hospitals for war wounded soldiers. It was months before she realized why she had chosen that hospital, because they had told her that all allied soldiers passed through it for triage; she was still looking for her brother. For the better part of a year she refused to accept that he was dead, she looked for him everywhere, but near the end of the war, it became apparent that she would never see him again, it was a terrible moment of realization.

Her relationship to the Commander ended with the war, as such affairs often do, but she would never forget him. Though the war had cost her a family, it had also made her independently wealthy, for her father's investments had paid off far greater than he would ever have imagined. The money meant nothing to her, so she continued to work in the charity hospitals of the city, often spending her own money to pay for the care of those less fortunate.

It was amid the charity wards of Paris's less affluent hospitals that Christine was to meet Renault; he was a physician like her father, but his skill and compassion far exceeded that of any healer she had ever met and his eyes told a story of infinite understanding, and of understanding her. From that moment, Christine would take every opportunity to work with the mysterious doctor, who only worked at night; she assumed like everyone else that he was private physician to the elite during the day and came to heal the poor at night, perhaps in his spare time. Their working together was erratic at first, and then more and more often he came to the wards where she worked and asked for her as his assistant. She was ecstatic, for she began to learn wondrous techniques for healing the wounded and curing the sick and Renault would often allow her to watch as he performed miracles.

Blissfully, a year passed while she worked as Renault’s pupil and she learned more of medicine in that year than all the years she had spent at her father's side in Boston. It was a happy time, the happiest since her mother's death, marred only by the mystery of Renault’s miracles of healing, the techniques that he said he could not teach her. Over the next few years she mastered the medicine of the time and became skilled in the ancient techniques that Renault used for his more mundane healings, by that time the twenties were ending and something else was happening, she was growing older.

As often happens when people are happy they pay little attention to the passage of time and Christine was happy, very happy and in love with life, suddenly, early in 1929 Christine became ill and the illness didn't go away, even when Renault treated her; only his miracles could drive away the constant pain. After a month, he told her the truth, she was dying of a rare cancer and all his skill couldn't heal it, only slow its progress. Even though he couldn't heal it, Renault said there was a way for her to survive the cancer that was slowly eating her body; it was then that he told her the truth of what he was and how he had survived the centuries. For he had been a physician in the court of the Sun King when he was mortal and another physician had offered to save him from a disease that couldn't be cured at that time; Christine listened in wonder and then horror, for what Renault told her finally revealed the source of his miraculous healings. She spent the long hours of the next day considering all that he had told her, but with his offer had come the admission that if she was like him, he could teach her how to work the healing miracles that he called Obeah.

To say that it was an easy decision, would be a lie, but no one wants to die and Christine loved life and was being offered the chance to heal lifetime after lifetime. That night when he returned to check on her condition, she accepted his offer and that night he made her immortal.

Together they worked tirelessly to aid the sick, insane and poor throughout Paris, the Thirties and the world wide Depression. They no longer paid attention to time, it no longer mattered and now she learned to heal wounds in one night that would have taken weeks or months to heal normally. They opened soup kitchens, charity clinics and shelters for those less fortunate; they met with the most learned minds, not only in medicine but in a myriad of other disciplines including art and philosophy. It wasn't until 1939 that she realized that she not only loved Renault but was in love with him and that he shared her feelings. Their romance was short but potent and then the winds of war swept their happiness away like it had never been.

It was the invasion of Paris and they did what they could for the wounded and dying, but there were far too many in need, for them to aid. Men in dark clothes with guns came and with them came others who were not men and who brought fire and death for Renault, who was good and kind and who had been healing the sick of Paris for 400 years. His last words, spoken into her mind, had been to flee and continue their work; because he asked it of her, she fled. The escape from France wasn't easy, but Renault had thought of this and provided for her escape to England and eventually to America.

The country she returned to had changed in some unimaginable way, for no one cared what was happening in Europe, they just wanted to look the other way. But, the war in Europe spread like a cancer to the rest of the world and could no longer be ignored. Christine returned to the ashes of Europe with the American military forces sent to end the war; she reprised her position as a Red Cross volunteer and searched for Renault in the devastation that was Paris in 1944. But, like her brother Joseph, he had been devoured whole by the very same monster, war. From that time on, she would follow the beast to the far corners of the globe aiding the victims of war.

It was in Bosnia, 2004 that she would again encounter the very same vampires that had killed Renault, she fled, but they chased her for the next two years, until she came to Sofia and asked the protection of that city's Prince, Emil. Sanctuary was granted and the Tremere sent away angry and empty handed. The end of that year, the Sabbat attacked and she continued Renault’s work, healing those in need. War and love seemed to go hand in hand for her, for it was during the siege that she was to meet Jamie and fall in love again after so many years.

Though, the Tremere still hunt her and she still heals those in need, she now has another reason to live and a new place to live, Sofia. The twenty-first century looks like its going to be interesting for Christine and she is still in love with life.

Recent Events:

• -- Mary Wyncott

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Deceased and Exiled vampires of Denver

• -- Thaddeus -- Insane Methusaleh. {Exiled & Hunted}
• -- Jacob Prestor -- Caitiff Mad Scientist. {Deceased}
• -- Karen Mauve -- Youngest progeny of the Prince and Rockstar Wannabe. {Deceased}

Edward Williamson -- Former Toreador Prince of Denver

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Sobriquet: Lord Williamson (formal) - Edward (informal)

Appearance: Edward is a little short for a modern man, standing 5ft - 6inches, with dark hair and dark green eyes. He is a man of striking appearance with aristocratic chiseled features and the physique of an Olympic gymnast. The epitome of fashion in Denver, Edward will always be seen in the latest fashions and wears his hair accordingly. Self composed to the point of Zen; Edward carries himself with an air of authority and is always the center of attention regardless of the circumstances.

Behavior: Well spoken and outgoing, with European manners, Edward radiates confidence and calm in equal measure. A staunch supporter of the traditions and the old forms used by elder Cainites, Edward can seem a little stuffy to those newly embrace, until he quietly smiles with antique charm. Edward is a man of swift and decisive action, a firm leader who will not balk at bloodshed if he believes it warranted, but who despises the carnage and chaos of war. Edward’s treatment of his subjects shows another side of his nature, though. So long as they obey the laws of the Kindred and plot no treason, they are free to do as they will.

History: Edward is ancient by by the standards of modern vampires. He was Embraced in the late 11th century, his is very much a product of his time. In his mortal life, Edward was a troubadour. He accompanied his father, William the Conqueror across the English Channel, and the carnage that he saw at the Battle of Hastings and at various later skirmishes colored his views on war ever since. He has seen war in all its bloody grandeur, and devoutly hopes to see it as little more as possible. This leads him to acts which many may view as cruel, but which he views as necessary evils and preventative measures. One such action is the destruction of Prestor.

The destruction of Prestor is, in fact, a good illustration of many of Edward's characteristics. First, it was an act taken to prevent what Edward saw as a course of action that could only lead to nocturnal war. He knew, or thought that he knew, that Prestor meant to make a bid for control of Denver and was creating childer as soldiers for his army. Edward's aim was to nip the war in the bud, before chaos and vitae could hit the city streets.

Edward's treatment of the independent Kindred of Denver shows another side of his nature, though. He does not treat them cruelly. So long as they obey the Traditions of the Camarilla, Edward's personal edicts, and plot no treason -- they are free to do as they will.

Edward was not fully in his right mind when he ordered the execution of Prestor, though. Thaddeus has been working his wiles on Edward using techniques of persuasion both mystical and mundane. Edward sent Duke to hunt down any of Prestor's surviving brood, those who showed resistance were eliminated, but those willing to bend their knees to the rightful prince of Denver were allowed to live. Only in retrospect, did Edward realize that he had been the pawn of another. Edward's fury at being so used, allowed him to dissolve Thaddeus' insidious hold over the old Toreador's mind and propelled Edward into an investigation of the events that led up to Prestor's destruction. What he found was the machinations of a branch of the Inconnu to destroy Prestor's mysterious work. To this night, Edward holds a vendetta against the ancient Nosferatu Thaddeus for making him a dupe in the plans of the Conspiracy.

Edward has, as many Elder vampires have, developed an obsession or two to keep himself sane. One of his obsessions is, of course, his aversion to rebellion. It is a total commitment on his part. A second obsession is with music. Throughout the years, Edward has always been involved with the art of music. In various lives, he has composed it, played it, and listened to it. He is often friends with composers and musicians, and keeps mementos of them when they die or he moves on to another life.

In 1808, Edward was in Austria pursuing his musical interests when he befriended a young Austrian soldier. They both shared a love of opera and spent much time together. When a small group of mortals discovered Edward's true nature, Edward felt threatened enough to forego the Traditions and Embraced the soldier as his new Childe. With the aid of his new Progeny, Edward managed to eliminate all who had pierced his disguise. The Austrian soldier remains with Edward to this night as his Thrall, and now goes by the name of Duke.

Although the immediate threat to the Masquerade had been dealt with, Leopold, the Prince of Vienna, felt strongly enough about the subject to let Edward know that he and his new childe were no longer welcome in Vienna. Edward understood that Leopold, a brand new prince ascended to the throne of Vienna with the support of Clan Tremere, chose the better part of valor and left the city with his new childe in tow. For a time, they traveled Eastern Europe, for Edward wished Duke to become acclimated to his new unlife in familiar surroundings. Towards the end of the 19th century, however, sire and childe found themselves in London, enjoying the antics of the D'Oyly Carte Company as they performed the debuts of Gilbert and Sullivan's operettas.

Although Mithras, the millennial prince of London, was cordial, he was far from welcoming over the circumstances of Edward's own Embrace in London centuries before at the hands of his own sire, Paris of Rome. Mithras extracted a hefty boon from Edward for the right of he and his childe to remain in London. Though Edward did accept responsibility for the boon, he chose not to remain in London for more than a decade. At the turn of the 20th century, the ploys and counter-ploys of the, so-called Great Game sickened Edward and made it apparent that war would soon engulf Europe once again. With the power plays of London's Kindred having lost their charm and war looming on the horizon, Edward and Duke made their way to the New World. At that time, the journey to the United States was still considered dangerous and not one often undertaken by the Kindred.

Their arrival in New York was welcomed by Michaela, the Elder Ventrue prince of Gotham. The war with the Sabbat of New York was slowly building up and Michaela was seeking allies in her struggle with the Black Hand. But, as mentioned before, Edward had seen enough of war in both the realm of the living and the nocturnal skirmishes of the Jyhad; nor was he about to let Duke become the war-pawn of Michaela. Edward paid his respects and offered nothing more, which soured relations between the two Elders relatively quickly. Though Edward found much of interest in New York, including a potential childe in the form of a beautiful woman named Leslie singing opera on Broadway, he chose to exercise restraint in courting her.

Edward and Duke spent barely a month in the Big Apple before continuing westward in search of a place where they could flourish unhindered. What they found was Denver. The town, barely a city, was already occupied by a Lasombra antitribu, Don Alonzo de Vargas and a few other Kindred. The city was still in turmoil though, expanding at a great rate and with a huge population of transient undead. Once again they paid their respects to the Elder in residence; Don Alonzo de Vargas, for mysterious reasons of his own, chose not to take the role of prince and largely ignored the two Toreador. It was not until the Roaring 20s, that things settled down and Denver developed a large enough permanent Kindred population that the comfortable anarchy which had previously been dominant seemed inadequate.

At that time, Edward and Don Alonzo were the only two Elders present in Denver, and it was obvious that only one would rule. The presence of Edward's brood tipped the balance of power slightly in Edward's favor and gave him enough strength to make a proposal. He proposed that together, the two of them could rule Denver, Edward would publicly take the title of prince, while Don Alonzo who preferred to manipulate things from the shadows, would act as a silent partner without the risks attendant upon a prince. The situation was such that the Lasombra Elder agreed to the proposal with the stipulation that he could maintain an equally sized brood within the city and could make childer at his own discretion. Though this demand did not sit well with Edward, he loathed dissent and war of any kind and agreed to the magister's terms.

The next 70 years were time of growth and development in both the mortal and Kindred communities of Denver. Though the city continued to see a steady stream of transient undead, only a few chose to make the modest cow-town their home. This allowed the Toreador and Lasombra relatively free reign in the Mile-High City until the secretive arrival of the Inconnu Conspiracy. It would not become apparent to the few elders of Denver until it was too late, that the Inconnu had begun to manipulate events through the withered hand of the ancient Nosferatu Thaddeus. Though only a few would ever discover the presence of the ancient Conspiracy, those few who did, either became pawns themselves or died mysteriously.

The 1990s brought two unpleasant circumstances. The first was the arrival of a French neonate who called himself Prestor. Though he initially followed the Traditions and presented himself to Edward, he was both a Caitiff and something of an amateur occultist. Neither endeared him to Edward or Don Alonzo, but within a couple of years Prestor spontaneously Embraced a brood. Both Edward and Don Alonzo were alarmed by this turn of events, but it was Edward who called the Blood Hunt against Prestor, rather than bringing him to heel. In a further complication, Prestor's fledglings managed to escape his haven while he struggled with Duke and the haven burned around them. Although Duke did manage to round up the survivors, Edward could not find it within himself to destroy them out-of-hand. Instead, he suggested that they move west to California and the so-called Anarch Free State or take up residence in Denver as his blood bound thralls; most chose the former rather than the latter choice. Unfortunately, this perceived weakness on the part of Edward did not sit well with Don Alonzo who held a much more strict view of the Traditions and created a wedge between the prince and his shadowy ally.

Though the next few years were quiet, they were far from pleasant as Edward came to realize he had been the dupe of an ancient Nosferatu called Thaddeus and Don Alonzo began to question Edward's decisions. While the struggle between Edward and Alonzo occurred behind closed doors and remained one of nebulous political maneuvers, it still grated on the Elder Toreador's ego.

The second and far more catastrophic event occurred only a few years later in 1997. The Sabbat laid siege to Denver. The Black Hand seemed to attack out of nowhere, almost before Edward and Alonzo were aware of their presence they set about destroying the carefully cultivated Masquerade in the Mile High City. The Hand attacked Edward's haven with fire and blood-magic, making the struggle a life and death affair. Edward was gravely wounded and entered torpor as his body was hidden by his childer. While Don Alonzo de Vargas assumed the mantle of the princedom. Though the Sabbat was eventually defeated, it did do considerable damage to the Masquerade, which made unlife in Denver far from pleasant. One Sabbat tactic was the mass Embrace of canon-fodder which in turn created a frightening number of fledglings, all of whom had to be found and contained in one of several ways.

Upon Edward's awakening from torpor a little over a year later, he saw that the circumstance of the Toreador - Lasombra alliance in Denver had been reversed. Rather than create more strife, Edward chose to pursue his vendetta against Thadeus, but somehow, in only a year the Nosferatu's trail had grown cold. Edward met with Don Alozo secretly and agreed to play the role of the usurped prince in return for the safety of his own brood and once again the two elders found an accord.

The 21st century has seen Edward return to the Old World in pursuit of Thaddeus and his allies the Inconnu Conspiracy. The recent turn of events in Europe has begun to make Edward regret his decision to pursue the ancient sewer rat, as chaos and strife once again begin to engulf the European Kindred community.

Recent Events:

• -- Edward Williamson

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