Guilelmo Aliprando
Title: Seneschal
Appearance: Guilelmo stands 1.8 meters tall (5ft-11inches) and probably weights no more than 75 kilos (about 165 pounds). Swarthy of complexion and with eyes are as dark as the midnight seas of the Adriatic. A man of fastidious grooming habits, Guilelmo was Embraced with a precisely trimmed black goatee. At the time of his Embrace, the fashion in masculine coiffure was to comb the hair strait back, just a touch past the collar and lope off the rest, thus Guilelmo's silky black hair is worn both longer and shorter than is popular in the current era.
The Seneschal's face is a study in shadow with a broad forehead and a true Roman nose, but thin dark eyebrows that accentuate and draw the view's gaze directly into the dark recesses of Guilelmo's eyes. While by comparison to most Italians, Guilelmo's lips are thin and almost colorless. His Eminence wears the best in contemporary Italian fashions and a rather surprising number of jeweled rings, including his familial signet and the seal ring of the Archdiocese of Nod. Almost as a finishing touch, he wears an elaborate jeweled crucifix on an antique golden rosary about his neck and as a devout churchman, he never carries or uses weapons of any kind.
Guilelmo appears to have been Embraced sometime in his middle 30s, for his face has the lines of authority and concern etched fairly deeply. The Seneshal is slightly shorter than the norm in the current era, his was quite tall at the time of his Embrace and his body is well muscled, but supple, giving the impression of a man used to physical activity without the bulkiness of a warrior.
Background: Narses Embraced Guilelmo, the scion of a noble Venetian family, shortly after the assassination of his previous majordomo, Blasio Cancharello, in a dispute with the Genoese Lasombra. Narses chose Guilelmo for his obvious skills as a diplomat and negotiator to become the Seneschal of Venice.
As the years passed, Narses indoctrinated Guilelmo into the Cainite Heresy. Unlike his sire, Guilelmo became a believer in the teachings of the Heresy. Narses, ever confident of his own powers, found the "conversion" of his lieutenant to be a testament to his skills as a deceiver and a source of nearly endless amusement. However, Guilelmo was not as naive as he appeared to Narses, for he began to regularly correspond with Bishop Nikita of Sredetz (Sofia, Bulgaria), a true believer in the Heresy, who doubted Narses' sincerity to the faith.
Future Events: Despite Guilelmo's and Bishop Nikita's doubts about Narses' likely apostasy, they remained in close contact and await the inevitable mistake that would reveal Narses' true colors. Guilelmo would remain Seneschal of Venice for over 150 years, that is until Narses' ill fated decision to use the Fourth Crusade as the agency of his vengeance against the Patriarch Michael. In the matter of the Fourth Crusade, Narses finally achieved his long delayed revenge against the Archangel Michael, when in 1204 the crusade tore down the walls of Constantinople and burned the "Queen of Cities" for days.
Perhaps the greatest irony of the entire enterprise, was that after Michael the Patriarch's death, the Cainite Heresy chose to posthumously canonize him despite Narses' objections. Many in the Crimson Curia, the order's ruling body, began to question Narses' dedication to the faith and his worthiness to lead it in the crusade's aftermath. Indeed, they had been only too happy to let him pursue his vendetta when Michael was a figure of some scorn in much of Europe, but overnight, the political landscape seemed to change. After his diablerie, Michael was seen as a Martyr of sorts by many vampires, due to this, the Curia worried that the Heresy would be blamed for the "tragedy" of the Patriarch's destruction. Narses however, was far too busy celebrating the destruction of his ancient enemy to notice and rather than dissuade the perception of his responsibility, he chooses to bask in the moment.
After centuries of waiting, that moment of weakness was not something that Narses' rivals could pass up. Various members of the Curia, Lasombra from Genoa and even the Venetian Cappadocians formed an alliance of convenience to spread word that Michael's destruction was the result of an arrangement between Narses and a Baali witch. Several princes and other lords of the night called blood hunts against the Baali witch, thought to be called Mary the Black and to voice their displeasure with Narses.
By 1212, the Tzimisce Bishop Nikita of Sredetz had turned the Crimson Curia against the archbishop and had him divested of his mantle of authority. Shortly thereafter, Guilelmo is acknowledged the preferred prince of Venice and he therefore calls the blood hunt against his sire. Narses is therefore compelled to flee Venice in secret and over the next few years, he finds few lords of the night willing or able to shelter him, forcing him to remain on the run. In 1213, Guilelmo calls a court of blood and obtains from the Amici Noctis the right to diablerize Narses.
For another two years Guilelmo was obliged to follow Narses ever westward across the Mediterranean. Ultimately, during the winter of 1215, Narses was trapped by impassable mountain passes and returned to the Spanish frontier town of Zamora. It was to Zamora that Guilelmo and his retainers finally caught up with his sire, who had taken up residence with an elderly Spanish noble and his family in the Castle of Villalonso, outside the town. There sire and childe struggled against one another, while their retainers battled each other to the death. Though sorely pressed by his sire's arcane abilities, Guilelmo eventually gained the upper hand, not through skill in battle or through Obtenebration, but with the aid of a noble mortal youth who wielded fire and relics of faith against Narses. And so it was there, in the Castillo de Villalonso that Guilelmo drank the last drops of Narses blood and soul.
Nearly a year later, Guilelmo Aliprando and his Spanish neonate childe Don Alonzo De Vargas returned to Venice in triumph. Guilelmo would fully assume the throne late that year and would be awarded the coveted position of Archbishop of Nod, a few short years later. Over the next two centuries, Guilelmo would come to struggle with other powerful members of the Cainite Heresy and the Genoese Lasombra, much like his sire before him; unlike his sire, he would be overthrown in 1444 by the Venetian bloodline of the Cappadocians, the family that called themselves Giovanni.
Personality: Like his dead sire Narses, he maintains a studied air of objectivity and detachment. Unlike his former master, Guilelmo has the ability to put anyone - even opponents - at ease. Consequently, his rise to fill the role of Archbishop of Nod, was never in dispute, only a man of his diplomatic skill and studied calm could bring order to the Crimson Curia.
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