Anne of Schleswig-Holstein

Name: Anne of Schleswig-Holstein
Player: Louise Dennis
Game: Vampire:The Masquerade

What does the Character do for a Living?

Businesswoman. She controls most of the companies who operate in and out of Leith Docks.

Who or What does the Character care about?

Her "family". Both the surrogate family she has built up in Edinburgh and gaining revenge for her other family that she lost in Germany.

What will make the Character show emotion in the game?

Threats to her business or her family.

What events made the Character the way they are today?

Anne of Schleswig-Holstien was, in life, a mediaeval noble in a small German principality (which turned out to be near Munich - but hey what's a GM for if it's not to take liberties with German geography). She had a husband who she didn't greatly care about and who died young leaving her with a son and a small country to run. She did this in a "paternalistic" fashion which has remained her hallmark, whether it is a country or a business she tends to regard herself as a benevolant dictator.

Her son fell in with a dispossed Ventrue while at university and brought him back to Schleswig-Holstien. Once there, the Ventrue, quickly ascertained that the quickest way to control the principality was through Anne and he sired her. Anne in turn sired her son. The "family" remained in Schleswig-Holstein for the next hundred years or so.

One day Anne "woke up" to find that a hundred years or more had passed. She was awoken by the barracking of Napoleonic troops in the castle which was now in the possession of a Malkavian. There was no sign of her sire or her childe. She escaped to Paris and thence, after the fall of Napoleon, to Edinburgh, where she once again built a little kingdom (the docks) and a family (a Toreador poseur "husband", and a wayward Brujah "son").

What makes the character happy/unhappy/angry?

She is happy when playing mother and running other people's lives.

She is made upset and unhappy when other people try to run her life for her, or to manipulate her.

How do People view the Character initially, after Long Acquaintance?

On first acquaintance Anne appears brisk, businesslike and very Ventrue.

After long acquaintance it is clear that she had other (admirable) qualities. She does care a great deal for her "son" but is careful to allow him a lot of freedom. It is less clear what her feelings are for her husband, she seems fond of him, but most of her energies are centered upon the son (as are his).

She has a great deal of fixity of purpose.

Although she believes in a paternalistic attitude to subjects and employees she is not good at compassion on an individual level, except where her "son" is concerned and is quite prepared to sacrifice individuals to gain what she wants.

What Qualities does the Character admire (in other people)?

Good business sense, appreciation for her point of view.

What does the Character look like and Where do they live ?

While not beautiful or pretty, Anne is noble. Her clothes tend to be on the out of date side and though perfectly capable of coping with modern technology she tends to forget it exists. For instance, she invariably books passage on boats when intending to travel and has to be reminded that there are such things as aeroplanes.

Most of the time she lives in an expensive mansion just outside Edinburgh, but she has a back up haven in a warehouse in the docks.

Inspiration

Chill Vampire Book. Ideas of European (noble) vampires.

Note on Stats etc.

Anne is strong on Dominate, but less good at the more subtle discipline of Presence. She has a good deal of business sense and acumen, money, a mansion and a herd.

She has Anachronism and Vengeance as flaws.

In Game History

Anne and her "family" came under the attention of an Elder Malkavian, Nebuchanezzar (Nezza), who felt the need to teach them all lessons. Anne needed to learn to let go of her vengeance and move on, her "son" needed to learn not to be so angry over the way he had been treated as a mortal and her "husband" needed to accept that he wasn't an artist, or even a Toreador.

This met with limited success. Her "husband" became dangerous prompting Anne and her son to "up sticks" and move to Munich from whence Anne could more easily pursue vengeance. However various inconsistencies began to show up revealing that Nezza was probably the culprit. At the same time it began to seem as though the whole thing was some kind of game to him.

Her "son" worked out what was going on and seemed to benefit a great deal from the experience settling down quite happily in Munich. He refused to explain things to her, though acting intensely happy and pleased that he had "solved the puzzle".

Taking the attitude that she didn't welcome her life or the deaths of her family being treated as someone else's game, but accepting that there was little she could do against Nezza, Anne returned to Edinburgh alone. Nezza pursued her and explained that her entire family had been under sentence of death for her illegal siring of her son, and he had only with some difficultly saved her life.

He urged her to learn to let go. Having lost her latest family and the focus for any revenge, Anne packed up her life and moved on to America: wiser, perhaps, but I doubt any happier.

Playing Anne

Playing Anne turned out to be very easy. She had an urge to get on and either build things or pursue vengeance whenever the plot began to lag. In combination with Neil's Brujah she worked particularly well since he could be almost guaranteed to get himself into trouble which she would subsequently have to get him out of.

She was deeply angered and hurt by Nezza's actions and took the view that what had happened to her was not a suitable subject for games, puzzles or lessons leaving a bitter-sweet ending. I would have been interested in finding out what had happened to her next now she had been persuaded to leave behind finding someone to mother.