Tarrin Dars

Victoria Howe's page

147 posts. Alias of Dragoncat.


Race

11th Generation

Classes/Levels

Tremere|Blood Points: 12/12|Willpower: 7/7|Relationship Map

Gender

Female

Size

5'5" (5'2" out of heels)

Age

Looks 26

Special Abilities

Dominating Others, in Court or Otherwise

Alignment

Humanity 7

Deity

Christian, but only barely these nights

Location

New York City

Languages

English

Occupation

Lawyer

About Victoria Howe

Name: Victoria Howe
Chronicle: karlprosek's New York By Night
Concept: Occult Lawyer
Clan: Tremere
Nature: Idealist
Demeanour: Competitor
DOB: May 9th, 1960
RIP: October 16th, 1986
Apparent Age: 26
Actual Age: 62
Generation: 11th
Derangement: None yet...

XP to Spend: 1
XP Expenditures: 35
--2 for Intimidation 2
--8 for Wits 3
--15 for Thaumaturgy 3
--5 for Dominate 2
--5 for Auspex 2

Born in Chicago at the beginning of the Sixties, Victoria Howe’s life would be shaped by change. She grew up in a middle-class nuclear family, her mother a fervent proponent of second-wave feminism & the anti-war movement and her father a rising law student who was conscripted into the Vietnam War. He survived—albeit with a leg missing thanks to a Vietnamese sniper—but he returned home a broken man in 1970. The sight of her once proud father reduced to a barely-mobile shell of the man he used to be showed little Victoria why her mother so vehemently protested against the War.

The changing times of the Seventies forced her to strive for excellence in school, her favoured subjects being political theory and just about anything related to law. She had seen how badly her father had been faring as a veteran of an unpopular war—barely getting by on government aid and tormented by nightmares of his experiences in Vietnam—and it was his suffering that drove her onward. She felt she had a responsibility to help those soldiers who never truly came home from overseas… and she could do so by following the career path her father never had a chance to. By 1978 she had earned herself a scholarship to New York Law School and she threw herself into her studies with vigour. She graduated with honours in 1984 and joined the Sedgwick-Hampton law firm of New York not long after.

Her time as part of Sedgwick-Hampton would be a tumultuous one. The firm was more interested in catering to the wealthy elite of New York above all else, and Victoria was quite insistent on providing proper legal services to America’s war veterans at much cheaper rates. Said insistence provoked much ire among her senior co-workers—the last thing they wanted was for some uppity, fresh-faced rookie driving the firm to bankruptcy through charity, and they were determined to fire her after her first failure. But when she was in the courtroom, she would prove herself to be nigh-unstoppable; she had both a talent for constructing ironclad legal arguments and exploiting the smallest flaws in her opponents’ defences. After her first three cases resulted in her clients earning great sums of settlement money and damages, many of her rivals grudgingly admitted that Sedgwick-Hampton would benefit greatly from her expertise despite her inexperience and so-called ‘bleeding heart’.

One work night in September of 1986, Victoria was approached by a singularly striking new client—a severe-looking, yet refined and charming woman who wished to hire her as her legal counsel. She introduced herself as one Aisling Sturbridge—and she needed a skilled lawyer to represent her in a criminal case in Atlanta. Victoria was reluctant to take the case, but when Ms. Sturbridge offered a large sum of money for her services, even the firm’s senior partners encouraged her to accept.

The case was against one Gavin Cartwright—an accused serial killer who had been targeting Ms. Sturbridge’s associates for reasons that made no sense to anyone else in the courtroom. Over the course of several weeks, Victoria painstakingly constructed a legal argument so airtight that no judge or defence attorney could argue with and worked to expose Gavin for the murder-obsessed monster that her client knew. Ms. Sturbridge spoke with her often as she worked, showing interest not only in Victoria’s legal skills but in her poise and intellect. There were many nights where the two of them spoke not of legal matters, but instead of more esoteric topics; magic, spirits, the existence of the paranormal in general. Victoria humoured her client in their conversations, being understandably skeptical of such phenomena herself and not willing to risk jeopardizing her connection to Ms. Sturbridge’s case.

While Victoria won the case for Ms. Sturbridge and Mr. Cartwright was sentenced to life in prison, it would be the last case she would ever win alive. The same night Gavin was sentenced, he escaped police custody and shot her, calling her a ‘usurper’s pawn’. Aisling found Victoria lying on a sidewalk, bleeding and inches from death… and not wanting to lose such a skilled lawyer and conversation partner, Embraced her.

Description/Personality: The pale-skinned Victoria stands at a healthy 5'5" in high heels, and 5'2" without them. She wears her long black hair in a ponytail when not on the job, and in a tight bun for work or formal occasions. She prefers to dress in formal black pantsuits when in the courtroom and in comfortable (but still stylish) clothing when going out to hunt.

Victoria is known to switch from approachable & affable to cold & professional in the blink of an eye, depending on what she hopes to accomplish. She's quite fond of employing Dominate to cover up her nightly feeding activities, and her basic mastery of Auspex when she's in the courtroom. She has a soft spot for war veterans that stems from her mortal days, to the point where she point blank refuses to feed from them, even under mortal duress.

Physical Attributes
Strength 1
Dexterity 3
Stamina 2

Social Attributes
Charisma 4 (Eloquent)
Manipulation 4 (Well-Reasoned)
Appearance 4 (Unforgettable Face)

Mental Attributes
Intelligence 4 (Problem Solver)
Perception 2
Wits 3

Talents
Alertness 2
Empathy 3
Expression 2
Intimidation 2
Leadership 2
Subterfuge 3

Skills
Drive 1
Etiquette 3
Firearms 1

Knowledges
Academics 1
Computer 1
Law 3
Occult 3
Politics 1

Backgrounds
Contacts 1 (Maya Washington, Gov't. Informer)
Generation 2 (Aisling's Childe)
Influence 1 (Well-Known Among New York's Legal Landscape)
Mentor 3 (Aisling Sturbridge)
Resources 3 (Private Lawyer Practice)
Status 1 (Camarilla Neonate)

Disciplines
Auspex 2 (Heightened Senses, Aura Perception)
Dominate 2 (Command, Mesmerize)
Thaumaturgy 3 (Path of Blood; Taste the Blood, Blood Rage, Blood Potency)

Virtues
Conscience 4
Self-Control 4
Courage 4

Humanity 7

Willpower 7

Blood Pool: ?/12

Health Levels
_ Bruised 
_ Hurt -1 
_ Injured -1 
_ Wounded -2 
_ Mauled -2 
_ Crippled -5 
_ Incapacitated

Freebies: 21 pts
—10 for Appearance 4
—4 for Willpower 7
—3 for Mentor 3
—2 for Self-Control 4
—2 for Courage 4

Rituals: (All require Intelligence + Occult to cast)
Commune with Kindred Sire (Needs item once possessed by sire; 30 minute meditation for it to work)
Defence of the Sacred Haven (Stops sunlight from entering 20-foot casting area/6 metres; needs 1 hour & 1 blood point for blood sigils on windows/doors; lasts as long as I remain in AoE)
Wake with Evening's Freshness (Needs ashes of feathers; allows me to rise from daysleep immediately, and act without Humanity limit on dice for first 2 turns)

Merits:
Eat Food (1 pt)

Flaws: (7 pt max)
Vulnerability to Silver (2 pts)
Prey Exclusion (Veterans) (1 pt)
Soft-Hearted (1 pt)
Enemy (3 pts)

GOALS!

1) Learn how to fight: Blood magic won't help too much when you're in close quarters with an angry shovelhead.

2) Find someone to share her unlife with: While she would never sire a childe, she's feeling quite lonely...

3) Make sure the Sabbat stay the hell away from New York: The things she witnessed during the Battle for New York have convinced her that the Sabbat must never be allowed to return.