Annike, ghoul of Serpentis [FIN]

[zamara]

Name: Annike Agnes Van Leeuwenhoek
Nick Names or Alias: Anna
Age: 690
Gender: Female
Sexual Preferances: Straight
Employment: Yes
Job Title & Description:

Head steward of Serpentis's manor.

Derangement(s):

Misc.:

Ghoul?: Yes
Hunter?: No.
Mage?: No.
Powers:

Presence ***
Obtenebration **
Serpentis *
Obfuscation *
Potence *

Endowments:

Foci:

Appearance:

Annike is poised in appearance. She has pale skin (not out of emulation of the undead, but because when she was young, tans were for commoners who worked in the sun all day) and deep red hair. Many would call her beautiful, but Annike believes that her true beauty lies in her superhuman confidence.

Fashion Sense/Style:

Annike is always polished and decked out like true nobility, whether she is wearing historical attire or the most expensive new Parisien trend. The stereotypical ghoul bondage look is not for her. She loves wearing expensive things when she's "on duty" or relaxing (even if she's wearing nothing but a diamond necklace and a coy grin). When Serpentis sends her on an errand of "aggressive negotiation" (or when she gets bored and decides to take a new slice out of life), she wears a fitted black trenchcoat, under which she hides her sabre of choice (she's trained in Western fencing for hundreds of years) and, if necessarily, kevlar of some kind.

Personality:

Older than many vampires, Annike is a formidable ghoul. But her age is nothing compared to her master, who has walked the earth for over five millennia. As an old ghoul, Annike's mind and mentality are far from those of an ordinary human. She even frightens other ghouls with her coldness. Her sharp mind and cutting ruthlessness make her a suitable servant for Serpentis.

When she isn't plotting against other ghouls or even weaker vampires, Annike indulges in the gaudy lifestyle of Serpentis's manor. She embraces her sensual side and often has a circle of lovers at one time. She has power, even if some would underestimate her for her lowly station, and she will do anything to keep it.

Physical-Strength: 5
Intelligence: 9
Speed: 6
Leadership: 6
Melee: 8
Unarmed: 3
Ranged: 3
History:

The Child (14th century)

Annike’s birth name is unknown to history – and she intends to keep it that way. Only one fragment has been heard by another: “Cordelia” (and only Serpentis knows this much). Annike was born into an aristocratic Florentine family on the eve of the Renaissance. Unfortunately for her, the historical Renaissance was preceded by the bubonic plague.

Young Annike was born into a world of privilege that fell apart in moments. Her parents coughed to death in front of her before she too took feverish. She lay on the threshold of death for days and when she awoke, the streets of her city were empty.

She scavenged what she could to survive. What she ate was unthinkable, what she saw was hellish. After those days, young Annike was never horrified again.

This capacity served her well when she met Serpentis at the cathedral unveiling of a new artist—Giotto di Bondone, a pioneer of “perspective,” a new artistic technique.

Serpentis shared her fascination with art. For Annike, art was the closest thing to immortality that humans could obtain. Serpentis laughed at her theories, which made her grow angry.

“What does a child like you know of mortality?” he asked.

“I know more of human frailty than the Pope in Rome,” she declared. “I’ve seen more than the other fools here, those pampered parasites.”

Bold words, from a woman. But Serpentis was not offended. Instead, he made an offer that would change her life. All frailty would fall away, he promised, and she would gain new power by serving him.


The Ghoul (15th-16th century)

For the next centuries, Annike served her domitor. Her few human years had made her grow cold and cynical, and she’d delighted in her manipulations of weaker-willed others. But Serpentis was a man she could never deceive. She was infuriated by his seeming omniscience and ever-present cutting remarks—and admiring of the way she’d found someone more cunning than herself. Eventually, her anger turned to adoration—and her adoration turned to love.

But Serpentis never returned her affections. He looked upon her as something less, something he could never see as an equal. He left her alone for decades at a time—“sleeping” in his coffin. At first she waited diligently by his side, feeding on his vitae when necessary and keeping his shrine immaculate. But eventually, it became maddening.

Eventually, she left and went to find her own future.


The Wife (17th century)

Feeding on unwary fledglings to maintain her ghoulish life, she made her way to Holland, hearing wonders of its painters and financial Renaissance. She took the name “Annike” and met and married a wealthy young entrepreneur (Hans Van Leeuwenhoek)—a conniving man, by human standards. But his intellect fell far short of Annike’s hopes. Still, she stayed with him and gave him three children. She stayed until her manipulations could no longer disguise her lack of aging, and then faked her death. By all accounts, her husband was never the same after she died, as his business ventures (especially a particularly traumatic tulip investment) failed one after another. He died penniless.

All this time, Serpentis had sent her messengers. Low-level vampires, younger even than she. Pathetic, really. She killed and feasted on them all, hoping that her former master would get the message.

Then, after the death of her husband, Serpentis came to her and cavalierly thanked her for disposing of his enemies in so efficient a manner.

Annike was furious. Her master had not been begging for her return—he’d been using her. Again.

But she couldn’t help the fact that she had missed him. She said she’d return to his service—asking only that he arrange for one of his many “associates” to clothe and protect her orphaned children. He agreed, and she became his ghoul once again.


The Steward (18th century – present)

Once again, Annike and Serpentis fell into a pattern. Serpentis would slumber when the times bored him, and Annike would watch over his cult and coffin while he slept. Serpentis took other ghouls, but she drove out the strongest of them, cementing her role as the head steward of his manor.

Serpentis tolerates her “extracurricular activities”—her manipulations of his court and baiting of weaker kindred. Perhaps they even amuse him. All Annike knows is that she will do her duty. She loves the power he has given her—and she adores him still.

[Dantia]

APPROVED

Very well written!