Francesca
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Sobriquet:
Appearance: Francesca is an inhumanly beautiful woman of Italian stock. She is rather small (1m56) and weights approximately 44kg. Her skin is suntanned (light suntan, now she is a thousand-years-old Kindred) and her hair is ebony black just as her eyes. She likes to dress entirely in black and she's especially fond of hats. She has a great style and is very seductive... However, when she's alone or with her paramour, she likes to be just naked...
As she has used her Vicissitude to make her as beautiful as a mythical angel, the spectacle is... really worthy (hem !). When she appears as Carla, she assumes the form of a tall (1m75) woman with blonde hair and blue eyes and she always wears one of the many dresses Arnaud makes for her (she's an infinite source of inspiration for him !). Most her 'clanmates' find her Italian accent just charming when they can hear it : she almost never speaks and she always gives the feeling she wants to avoid people. As a result, Toreadors find her quite boring - though they willingly recognize her talent - and tend to 'forget' to invite her when they organize Soirées...
Behavior: Francesca is the confident type; she loves to listen to people and to advise them. She's just fascinated by human nature. But this hides an accomplished plotter, and most often when one realizes he's been manipulated it's too late...
She doesn't talk much and is always soft-voiced. Her affair with Arnaud is totally passionate and irrational. Indeed, the rare moments when she can loose control are those which involve the Grand Couturier. She's particularly protective of her latest Childe, Tania; in fact she has unconsciously formed the family she was deprived of as a mortal, with the young neonate as child and her lover as husband. Of course, it's doubtful she will openly admit this.
History: Francesca Capuano was born in 956 into the most powerful family of Rome. Indeed, the Capuanos were rich, great politicians and they had influence over Rome's clergy. Thus, Francesca grew up with the notion that she belonged to the highest blood. She had to never forget her superiority.
Moreover, the Capuanos weren't people to waste resources, especially human ones. Therefore, they gave Francesca the best education of that era in order to make her more useful for the family. The girl wasn't especially beautiful, but she proved to be smart and the whole family was glad. At the age of 15, she already fully understood the way roman politic worked. Her father saw in her a skilled counselor; besides he was happy to see his opponents underestimate his daughter as she was a woman...
By 973 AD, the Capuanos achieved a great move: they made Francesca's elder brother the new Pope... Then the whole family began to eliminate its enemies one by one. The lucky ones were obliged to submit --among them were most of the cardinals...-- and a fair number of the others just disappeared. And the most daring coups were planned by Francesca who proved herself invaluable to her family. Finally, in 976 AD, there was just a single opponent left and a tough one: the strange Count of Rome.
The Count was observing the Capuano family for a long time. He saw their rise in power, he enjoyed as a chessplayer enjoys a talented opponent, but now they were a threat. He should have crushed them a long time ago but those people had succeeded in arousing his curiosity. So he tested their defenses... and much to his surprise the Capuanos proved to be far more resistant than what he expected. As he knew all the Capuanos who had some reputation, he began to suspect that they had people acting for them behind the scene. Therefore, he made some researches and discovered the role of Francesca.
Soon, he marveled at the woman's impressive political skills and he knew he had to have her. Thus, he made his move... He provoked a huge economic depression and at the same time he incited all the cardinals to rebel against the Pope; the Capuanos had to choose: either they protected their position in the clergy by quelling the rebellion, either they saved their economic resources.
They chose the former option. Finally, they were able to bring back all the cardinals in line but most of their wealth had gone and they found themselves in bad need of allies. At that moment, the Count offered his help in simple terms: he would put his wealth into the bargain, and the Capuanos had to stop their attacks on him. To guarantee the pact, he would marry Francesca.
Loosing his sister's skills was hard to accept for the Pope, but he had no choice. On her first night with her husband, the Countess Francesca Capuano of Rome had the surprise of her life. Indeed, the Count revealed himself for what he truly was: a vampire.
He told her he had observed her for a while and that she was found worthy of the dark gift. He told her his true name was Montano, that he belonged to the family of Lasombra. Then he Embraced her. Thus, at the age of 25, Francesca was introduced in her new family as the grandchilde of Lasombra himself. She was given the responsibility of Rome affairs under the tutelage of Montano.
As expected, she proved really good at doing her task and it's no surprise she was rather quickly introduced before Lasombra himself into Les Amies Noires.
Then came the dark nights of Gratiano's revolt. As told later by Monsignor Alfonse (see Clanbook: Lasombra), Montano knew what would happen and took some dispositions. Watching Gratiano, he saw him approach young Kindreds to prepare his coup. When he was assured that Francesca would be among them, he deeply Dominated her to ensure she would wholeheartedly collaborate with Gratiano. And so, Francesca was among the leaders of the revolt... Along with Gratiano, Monçada and some others, she had a hand in the creation of the Sabbat.
As Monçada, and the other Sabbat Lasombra, she didn't agree to seek refuge in the New World and decided to stay in Rome. She led a peaceful unlife (if peaceful has any sense for the Sabbat!) for some time. Then Montano ordered her to quit the Sabbat. Rome had always been a dangerous city because of the Church and the innate Faith that permeated the city. The rise of the Giovanni Clan just added danger. Thus it was easy for her to organize her fake demise.
The Sabbat made some investigations, but its investigators were hindered by the war they were losing against the Camarilla, the great distances from any safe place they inhabited, and by the fact Rome proved to be a very hostile place for them.
Finally, it was assumed Francesca had died and she was officially mourned. By that time, Francesca had made her way to Paris right after the Terror. She hid herself for some time and she discovered that during the Revolution, the Sabbat had infiltrated Paris. She was especially glad to discover the Parisian pack was leaded by Gianluca, her childe who was completely under her command through the discreet use of Dominate.
Then she met Arnaud. The two kindred fell hopelessly in love with each other and soon they were Blood-Bonded to each other. Thus she told him why she had came in Paris. The city was one of the greatest cities of the Camarilla, was under the command of the Toreador, and would be once more in their control as François Villon was leading the Clan.
One of her sire's scheme was to make the Lasombra Antitribu part of the Camarilla and reach a stable position (i.e.: Having a Lasombra Antitribu Justicar), just as the other Antitribu were part of the Sabbat.
She could offer a complete and accurate set of information about the Sabbat if the Camarilla was to accept the deal. And she knew the Camarilla badly needed those information. But meanwhile she needed a safe place to rest. Thus, with the aid of her lover, she asked the Prince the right to stay in Paris. In exchange, she would give him all the information she knew about the Sabbat, as well as weaken the Parisian pack. This was a time of troubles and the Prince struck the deal.
As she couldn't reveal herself safely as a Lasombra Antitribu, a cover was made for her. Therefore, in 1804 (year of the crowning of Napoleon as the Emperor, and official crowing of Villon as Prince of Paris), she was introduced as Carla, Toreador of the 7th generation. Known as a tortured artist of astonishing beauty (in fact, besides being the King of Fashion, Arnaud has a great taste as a painter as well and all his paintings are presented as Carla's work), she entered the Camarilla of Paris and still almost never showing herself (she pretends to be too tortured to socialize too much, and anyway she never appears in parties where there are mirrors...), she managed to get an impressive influence and a vast amount of wealth.
So far her secret has been well-kept and she had dutifully kept the Parisian Sabbat in line, sometimes allowing it to success to keep Sabbat leaders in thinking everything is OK. Few people in Paris know who she really is: among them are the Prince, Villon; her lover, Arnaud; Phantomas from the clan Nosferatu; Alexis (Master of the Veilleurs); Ivan (Grand Master of the Masques); Lazlo (the Toreador Duke) and Rachid from the clan Malkavian.
Recently, she was rewarded with the right to Embrace a new childe, and she chose Tania.
Notes: Francesca has mastered the Dominate power Rationale and uses it on her childe Gianluca. Moreover, she has all the regular disciplines of clan Toreador. She's with no doubt the most skilled kindred in Obtenebration in the city and has even developed a new power in that Discipline: Dweller in the Night
Francesca's got a huge influence over the church throughout the country: when she arrived in France, the whole church was disorganized due to the Revolution, so it was quite easy for a roman Kindred to take control of the situation.
She's notably behind the concordat between the Pope and Napoleon which replaced the Roman Catholicism as France's official religion. She also taught a lesson to Rome when the same Napoleon jailed that Pope in Avignon for his refusal to bless the second Emperor's union.
But during the War of Traditions it was shown that her control was not complete, and the 1905 Law of Separation between the State and the Church was felt personally as it removed most of the Church influence in France policies. Moreover, Ivan, Lazlo and Alexis made a point of keeping the power of the Church low, whatever the dislike they feel for each other. Villon says nothing (but is pleased)...
She controls a family whose company has interests in the construction and telecom economic areas. She has even some influence over one television channel, influence she uses to help the Prince's policies. In fact, she's responsible for the family's successes since some generations.
She tried to infiltrate the French intelligence service, the SDECE (Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage), in spite of François Villon's main mise on the French security agencies. But in 1982, the SDECE was dissolved and replaced by the DGSE (Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure), and her pawns were removed from influential positions The DST was also infiltrated, but only one pawn remained active. She fears her actions have been discovered, but still waits for any reaction from the Prince, or Ivan. Therefore, her pawn in the DST is used only as a passive contact.
Francesca keeps contacts with an influential Parisian judge and a commissaire (I guess it's the equivalent of a Police Department Captain) working at Le Marais Central, the Parisian police HQ.
Her two retainers are a chauffeur and one of the best makeup girl of Paris (remember that being a Lasombra, Francesca has some difficulties with her makeup, dressing and the like!). Both of them speak Italian, the mother-tongue of Francesca who also speaks English.
She usually avoids parties where there are mirrors even though in case of deep need her faint reflection can save her. The Sabbat still doesn't know she's not dead but should she be discovered, the sect would go to extreme length to destroy her.
Her Elder status is very high due to her history as a one of the founders of the Sabbat, her lineage and, for those who know she's still alive, as a key factor in the near future of Camarilla history. Indeed, besides planning the integration of her clan into the Sect, she's very supportive of the idea of a Caitiff Clan: not only it proved to be efficient into the Sabbat, despite the Sabbat Lasombra's contempt for them, but she also feels that the clanless abilities will be decisive in the years to come...
Last but not least, a remarkable thing to note about Francesca is the fact that throughout the centuries, she has never lost her Humanity. Even when she went through the Creation Rites, she managed to keep her Humanity intact. And Sabbat unlife didn't destroy her values. She's certainly one the rare kindred to have accomplished such a feat, thus it's worth remarking it.
Francesca now seeks a way to go on her next move: Make Villon officially welcoming the Lasombra Antitribu into his city, and acknowledge them as a Clan. When she succeeds in this move, she believes that full acceptance of her Clan into the Camarilla will be just a question of time. She knows for a long time that the Prince ordered the Veilleurs to watch her. But it's only recently that she had her first insights of what that group really is. She's certainly one of the very few kindred who suspects that something or someone very powerful lurks behind Alexis...
Currently, she's searching for an ex-member of that sect: Thomaso. She heard of him through Ivan who 'inadvertently' gave this information to her. Should Francesca discover that vampire, lots of moves on the Parisian chessboard could be quickly played... After all, why is Alexis taking so much pain to hide this Sabbat refugee from her ?
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