Merits: Multilingual* (2) Common sense (1pt)
Flaws: Rivalry with Lydia (1 pt, they're catty with each other), Prey Exclusion: Will not feed from or harm children (1 pt), Amnesia (2 pt)
Backgrounds: (10) (Only 5 points worth as a ghoul but here's all 10) Alter Ego 2, Herd 1, Mentor 2, Retainer 1, Resources 3, Status 1
Virtues: Conscience 3, Self Control 4, Courage 3
Humanity: 7
Willpower: 5 (as a ghoul)/7 after embrace (2 Freebies)
Merits: Multilingual*, Common Sense (3 freebies)
Flaws: Rivalry with Lydia (1 pt, they're catty with each other), Prey Exclusion: Will not feed from or harm children (1 pt), Amnedia (2 pts)
Freebies spent: Freebies spent: 5 for +1 Dex,2 for +1 to Performance), 2 for WP, 3 for Merits, +7 for Potence, +4 freebies gained for flaws
Description:
Zuana is a strikingly beautiful woman who appears twenty winters of age. Her hair is a luxurious shade of light brunette with naturally warm golden undertones that catch the light, falling back in thick rich waves. The texture is heavy and silken. It is most often worn parted in the center with woven twin braids that are then coiled and pinned at the sides of her head. Though she can and does change this as is appropriate. At fancier functions she might even incorporate slender ribbons or even a few fine pearls if she could manage to afford it. The back of her hair is most often cascading into a heavy loose braid along her back reaching just above the waist.
Her complexion is the pale, creamy ivory, not sickly in pallor, but rather almost luminous. She has never known the pox or a boil and it shows. Zuana's face is somewhat oval in shape with high cheek bones. She has a straight and refined nose, lips that form the classic bow of Eros, a feminine jawline with a long graceful neck below. While she does not often put it on crass display, she is buxom for her slenderness and she can move with a breeze like elegance. Her time serving at the inn has made sure she is toned but not to the degree of a common laborer. Her eyes are large, and the color of dark amber. She dresses as suits the environment she anticipates, modest in some places, bolder than others.
History:
There are many who think I do not look a day over 20 summers, they'd be surprised to find I am closer to a hundred and fifty. I began life as the third daughter of an offshoot of the Vivaldi family. We were respected, a family of merit but lacking true power and influence but at least seen as in good standing with some greater families. This is part of what made me ideal as a bride for an enterprising Venetian named Ranerius Bernerius. I had been groomed from birth to marry well, and was considered a beauty. I shall not go over the full details of the courtship, but I confess I found him handsome and exciting. More than that, the family had one too many daughters, and he was an older man of means. The grandest Inn I'd ever had the pleasure of being a part of La Serenata Notturna, the Night's Serenade!
To marry him, I would have a life not just of relative luxury, but music and beauty as well. And I would have power. Not just a small villa where I played hostess to a few, but a thriving nexus of society where my voice would carry authority, well, as much authority as a woman may!
Only two things kept me from leaping in his arms right away. One, I was a lady, and more than that, I could see Ranerius wanted to be the one that woo me, to hunt the shy and timid doe so to speak. I was a bit timid in those days truth to tell, so it was not a hard part to play. The other thing was a warning, an old village woman who saw us together and made an odd gesture. I remember her saying "Ware of him."
"Why should I beware of him?" I was curious, for I was even then a fair judge of character and he seemed a gentle enough if overly idealistic soul, "And I shall certainly live a most exciting life."
"A long one," The crazy woman (was she a gypsy? I forget) rambled, "You will live long should you marry him. And then, one night, he will surely be your death. Beyond that, my sight cannot see."
I confess I laughed into my hand at such a pronouncement. Beyond being murdered? There was, after all, nothing beyond death, not in this world anyway. There was Heaven or Hell and that was that.
That old woman is long dead now, but if I could, I'd apologize to her for laughing. I certainly never planned on a life this long.
Ah, but I jump back and forth ...
I did marry Ranerius, of course. I thought perhaps love might bloom in gentle time in my heart and I was more than fond. He was madly in love from the start and I prided myself in seducing him or so I tell myself. In truth, he loved me, but Venice was his first love, even when it was not practical for it to be so.
And then came Francois Villon of Paris, and I thought mayhaps my husband was cheating on me with a man! Francois was charming, truthfully, but Ranerius seemed in awe of him. I learned later this was part of a Toreador's gift, but at the time I didn't even know what a Toreador was!
That would soon change. THe first time my husband fed me his blood I... I cannot describe it, I was horrified, then ? Then I was empowered. I was never the strongest woman, but suddenly I gained raw physical power? Simple, animalistic, and heady. It also did fuel my passions so I lost my head so to speak. My act of timidity evaporated and I confess, bed games became quite different. And while I was already loyal to my husband, I became devoted beyond sanity. I would be young and beautiful beyond my years...and I would be his!
IF the Machinations and intrigues my husband was dragged into didn't get him killed. I did not instantly learn all there was to know of Cainite Society. I was, as I DID learn, a ghoul, and never the equal of any true vampire. But between my own deductions, and what I did get from my husband and others, I soon realized that the Night was another world entirely. I learned of Clans and bloodlines, of disciplines that seemed to run in this blood or that. I learned of sects and more. Villon had more than 'embraced' my husband, he had thrown him into the deep end of politics inhuman.
And Ranerius , to be honest, was not ready. His idealism and hard work were rewarded with little gain for him, at least at first. I remember when I told him how we had to kill some zealots for our own long term survival. I wonder if I began his slide to losing some of his humanity then? Yet it paid off in our survival. And my husband finally learned how to swim.
This did nothing to discourage the sharks in the water, of course but while I felt my husband, my master had lost something precious, I did my best to make sure he thrived and tried to thrive myself in doing so. One night, he suggests, he'll take me to the other side of life.
I can wait, but once again, that old woman was right.
After the Embrace (Possibly)
The Blood Bond breaks (Or goes down to just level 1) due to the shock of the embrace, and Zuana feels her utter adoration /loyalty to Ranerius collapse. This does not mean she's stupid enough to defy him or even run, but rather than she has insights into a more selfish "How can I make this work for ME?" mode. She feels less to no guilt about games of seduction (a woman has to eat after all) and her marriage was not originally one of love anyway, not for her. Ranerius reaction may be bitter sweet if/when he notices this, or depending on how much Dunstan is influencing Ranerius, he might even encourage her to be a bit more independent/free. By now his love for his wife may have crumbled , or twisted to where he sees her more as a work of art (She is lovely and will start with a Performance 3) than a wife. Zuana IS grateful for her extended existence and and loves the power (She's not a megalomaniac, but power is normally something MEN get to enjoy) being undead gets her. She's had a hundred years plus to get used to the Damned, and being one has lost some of it's horror for her, at least at first, though the Beast may spook her when she finds out how strong it can be.
Alter Ego:
Lydia Nasoinaria a performer, possibly of a lower class than "Lady Bernerius" but it is a good cover, and she can revert to the respected wife of a rich Realtor/Merchant for better company." So we're talking a dancer or maybe Troubadour.. She can go places and do things that would damage Zuana's reputation and gather intel from theatre troops etc. She may claim patronage from a minor noble family at times.
