Back to Tenebroso Home    Character Name: Esme Tenebroso Clan: The Tenebroso Dynasty   Position: Royal Personal History:  Esme was born in North America around 1615 to a French trapper and a Huron/African freed-woman.  Abandoned to the bevy of towns established by the booming fur trade, she made her way by becoming a pickpocket and thief until the age of 15, when puberty hit and garnered a different kind of attention from the generally rough marks around her.  She took work in an ale house as there wasn't much for women aside from becoming wives or whores at the time.  Unfortunately it wasn't much protection from drunk ruffians so she also carried a bone handle knife tucked into her skirts at all times. While going into the walkway between shops to empty the slop buckets Esme was hit from behind and blacked out, the oily laughter of several men the last thing she heard before darkness claimed her.  When she woke she was on her back in the cold, wet mud, her skirts being torn away along with her blade.  She started fighting immediately, a scratching and screaming wildcat that startled the three men looming above her so much that she was able to scratch the eye out of the man on top of her, causing him to tumble into the wall, screaming and holding his face.  Esme scrambled to her feet but she didn't get very far.  The main lane seemed miles away and as she was dragged deeper into the alley, she screamed to no avail.   Luckily the men dragged her back past her abandoned skirt, flung aside in their haste and she immediately reached for it, fishing her blade out and slamming it deep into the thigh of her second attacker.  Blood spurted immediately, covering her hands, arms, neck and chest, the slippery substance and the mans thrashing causing her to lose her grip on the knife.  The men bore her to the ground with kicks and punches.  Esme could do little else but curl into a ball to protect herself and pray... Caroline De Nuit had been with the French Company of New France, a massive business that monopolized the fur trade in the North for France and was generally disliked by Natives, the British, and Americans alike.  The amount of money they made from and brought into the region could not be denied however and so it made some of their more peculiar actions acceptable.  Such as a female, a Spaniard representative to the company who nightly traversed the woods, met with dangerous independent Metis trappers, and traveled without a security retinue while wearing her fabulous wealth in elegant fabrics and jewels.    She was a vampire Queen.  Her true name was was Carolina Tenebroso. And it was she that saved Esme that night, pulling the men off of her before they could do more harm than the blows she had suffered to the face and abdomen.  Esme watched her through a haze of pain as she lifted one huge brick wall of a man completely off his feet and tossed him like a caber into the opposite building.  The other she brought close for what appeared to be a kiss but the mans screams were anything but pleasurable and the sound died in a gurgle as the man choked on his own blood.  When Carolina pushed him away and lifted her head, the moonlight caught across her face, rendering it bloody and beautiful for a split second before Esme succumbed to the blows she'd taken to the head, and passed out. When she woke she was back in her dingy room above the alehouse, her dirt and bloodstained dress a pile of dying embers in the small fireplace.  Esme dressed and immediately sought Carolina out at the huge French manse established at the edge of town and the rest is history.   Carolina left North America when the fur trade began to dry up and the company went out of business.  She took Esme with her back to France and settled there, to outward appearances a rich society widow and businesswoman and her ladies maid.  In truth they were Sire and Sired, Mother and Daughter. Esme became a philanthropist and patron of the arts, amassing a truly impressive collection of masterpieces that became the basis for her wealth.  She's opened and operated several galleries over the years and tends to travel with her personal collection. Much of her collection was sold off the last few years to fund the war efforts of the Dynasty and Esme is slowly rebuilding the families collection into one that the world would envy. A Royal through blood and a daughter of the Queen, Esme's usually calm and commanding demeanor often sees her in the role of the eldest sister.  Generally well-thought of within the Clan, Esme will not hesitate to scheme and plot in order to further her Mother or the Royals goals. Face Representation: Nathalie Emmanuel

 

Edmund Prideaux was a man of the French revolution. As a scientist, philosopher, doctor, and occultist Edmund found the reign of terror a playground that tickled his perverse imagination. It was no wonder that he found himself embraced in the arms of the Tenebroso. Edmund quickly carved his niche among the young ones eager to expand upon the budding scientific world. His keen mind was able to guide many of their investments in the industrial revolution, but the sway of machines could not keep his interests for long. Edmund was a scientist who loved the human flesh in all its various states. When talks of a second world war first spread through Europe he was the first among their brethren to take advantage of the potential test materials. His actions during the war brought in a good deal of money to the clan; however, some of his morality experiments had left many wondering how sane Edmund was. His children up to that point had also displayed alarming tendencies to test the limits of the flesh even among vampires of different clans.

Sensing that his good fortune could turn any moment Edmund temporarily sought a more human sponsor. He made the acquaintance of wealthy but aging shipping Magnate Nilo Typhos. As part of their ongoing talks and negotiation Nilo promised to barter his wealth and family (his son Richard, three grandsons and step-daughter Hazel) in order to be educated in the forbidden arts of immortality. It was in this way he made the acquaintance of his newest Childe.

Suspecting Edmund of posing some hidden danger to her family, she revealed to him financial documents that showed Typhos industries was in fact near collapse from hidden debts. It was at that time he revealed to her what he was and that a price needed to be paid for the time he had wasted.

He used Hazel as his advocate. She was proof that there was a stable and rational intelligence behind his motives. However, due to a disagreement between the two, Hazel alienated herself at court leaving his interests unrepresented.

He soon found his backing nearly non-existent in the council and so took out a number of his funds to continue to run his experiments. Soon complaints were lodged to the council that vampires from neutral clans had gone missing and Edmund was implicated. There were threats from several clans and though none could physically hurt the Tenebroso it affected their business relationships in Europe among nonaffiliated vampires. Finally the European council blocked Edmunds funds completely and sent a team of blackguard to bring him under heel, literally. The team and Edmund never returned. Some speculate that the blackguards actually joined Edmund under orders of one of the council; others speculate that he is seeking sanctuary among a rival clan, and still others that he created or joined a group of occultist interested in infusing the dark arts into the scientific world.

All that is known was that his last interest was the awakening of hidden abilities through neural manipulation.

 

 

Her original family bloodline was of Spanish descent; they ended up in the wilds of a developing France, and there they settled, taking on a French family name as they bred with the pale-skinned and haired Frenchmen. Eventually, the entire family, whose Spanish name is now lost, would come to be known for their lovely daughters, all of whom were tall, golden-skinned, and hazel-eyed. Celeste was such a daughter, the only child of Guillaume and Isabella Aincourt, both of the merchant nobility class. A somewhat quiet child, Celeste was tall and gorgeous, a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles perched upon her pert nose, and a book of poetry in her lace-gloved hands. Disinterested in men and boys from a very young age, her Father thought her just the thing while her Mother fretted over Celeste ever becoming interested in being a wife.

 

Her views changed when she met Pierce Wellesy. He was very blonde and very shy, tripping over his feet and her own when they danced at parties, stammering out declarations of love for her in the shaded gardens of her parents home. Celeste fell for the sweetness in his smile and consented to marry him, much to her Mother's pleasure. Celeste's Father insisted she marry a man not quite so foppish, but she would hear nothing of it. Married on a warm Spring day in the Cathedral Gardens, Celeste Aincourt became Celeste Wellesy. They shared thirteen peaceful years together before her life was thrown into upheavel. And the man who would do this was named Cade.

 

He spotted her at one of the many fetes being hosted that year and immediately began to pursue her. At the time, Celeste's turmoil was heightened by her inability to concieve. Pierce had turned bitter in the face of continual failures and began to subtly blame her. Celeste already believed herself at fault; in those times, it was impossible that blame would be laid upon the man.

 

However, she was not overly susceptable to Cade's wooing. In fact, she disdained his very presence upon first meeting him, pronouncing him a dandy with far too much money and too little duties. Sheer persistence wore her down and sparked many heated conversations about faith, vows of marriage, and idle hands.

 

Torn between his charm and her marriage vows, Celeste eventually fell into sin with the vampire known as Cade Tenebroso. He was not the one to bring her across, though. His then travelling companion, a woman of distinct eyes, performed the pleasure.

 

Turned by a beautiful woman with black hair and violent eyes, Celeste eventually learned that her Sire was a woman named Lilette Moncrief, the "sister" of Vasille Tenebroso. Lilette had been born a vampire, taking those first evolutionary steps that would eventually spawn the vampiric race. She played no large role in the spawning of the vampire species, a mere footnote, but she was known for being one of the foremost members of the Dynasty before she was later killed after turning a single child. A daughter. Celeste.

 

Celeste was gifted with what was later identified by an amused Vasille as an enchanted voice. Speak to Celeste long enough, and you'll find desire burning within you to simply be in her presence. Vasille recognized it in the childe of his sister when Celeste came into his household after being brought in from the cold by a warrior named Damien Tenebroso.

 

Lilette's murder coincided with Celeste's first meeting of Damien Tenebroso. Lilette had been targeted by Hunters and, having gained no real strength as her brother had in those first years of evolution, was taken down before help could arrive. The Hunters burned the home she and Celeste had been staying in. Trapped inside, her voluminous dress and vampiric skin being licked by flames, she was saved from certain death by a team of Enforcers sent by the King. Leading them was a man named Damien Tenebroso.

 

Truth be told, they didn't like each other at first. They both felt the other too reserved in their actions to be of any use to the other, or the Dynasty. But first opinions are often the worst ones. They ended up becoming close, platonically. She's shared more than one annoyed look with him over the antics of their Family.

 

Following the traditions, however loose, set down by her own sire, Celeste has only embraced one child. A Daughter. Maya.

 

She has kept the last name of her human family as well despite being bonded to the Tenebroso in every other respect.

 

Celeste has set up her own book publishing company, a small private firm run mostly out of her stately, unimposing home.

Gia used to rule the European streets with a crowbar in hand and her fangs fully out for any human to see.  Bred as an enforcer, she had the distinction of Royal blood in her veins.  Specifically, Matteo de la Cruz's blood.  Gia was a boxer running the circuit.  She had big plans, big dreams, and at one of her fights, Matteo happened to be in the crowd.  As Gia rounded her opponent, most of the vampires in the crowd became interested.  The man she was fighting wasn't a man, but some lower level demon.  Not a threat to vamps, but enough of one to humans.  Gia TKO'd him with one punch in round 2, sending the crowd - and its incredulous vampires - insane.  

 

Matteo turned her after watching the match, intrigued by any human who could down a demon with one punch.  He taught her how to use her fangs and claws as well as her fists, and watched her become one of his most aggressive enforcers, her loyalty absolute.  She was grateful to him for giving her eternity and vowed to protect him even when he didn't need it; he let her indulge herself though.

But she is not some loose cannon, she knows how to reign it in and play nice.  She was taught politics by the best, after all.  Whenever Matteo needs something handled, she's usually his first call.

 

They have a close relationship, very much like Father and Daughter, though they only use vampiric titles and even then, its only when there are others around.  She's the only one whose been able to get away with calling him 'Matt'.