Carmilla

Portrait

Description
VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE Clan: Toreador Sire: Madame la Comtesse Nature: Rogue Demeanor: Confidant Generation: 8th Embrace: 1698 Apparent Age: Late teens Disciplines: Auspex 2, Celerity 5, Fortitude 4, Potence 3, Presence 5, Protean 4 Humanity: 3 Weaknesses: Entranced by beauty Derangements: Obsession, Regression Few vampires have ever had books published about them for the literary consumption of mortals. Lord Ruthven, Sir Francis Varney, Dracula . . . and Carmilla. Although ostensibly fiction, each publication that makes use of real Kindred names and places represents an irreparable Masquerade breach in the eyes of the powers that be. The subject of every vampire exposé is forever thereafter a figure of infamy in Kindred society. So it was with Carmilla following the 1872 publication of Sheridan Le Fanu's novella bearing her name. She was born Countess Mircalla Karnstein in the heart of Austria in 1680. Facts concerning the Karnsteins are obscure even to Kindred scholars, but rumor has it that more than one member of the family was a vampire. Carmilla calls her sire "Mother," but whether this figure was related to her by blood remains unknown. What is certain is that the Karnsteins haunted the region of Upper Styria for generations. A great many villagers perished under vampire fangs before the people of Styria rose up against their tormentors. The ancestral seat of the Karnsteins was laid to waste, and most of the family were staked and burned. But not Carmilla. Even the account of her execution at the end of Le Fanu's novella proved to be more misdirection, and the last scion of the Karnsteins continues to weave her webs of intrigue in these Final Nights. She claims no allegiance to either the Camarilla or the Sabbat, but has been seen in the company of esteemed figures from both sects. Then again, who can say what is truth and what is fiction about Carmilla, when she herself has become a literary character? The most complete description of Carmilla comes to us from the hand of the young Englishwoman named Laura, whose testimony formed the basis of Le Fanu's novella: 'She was slender, and wonderfully graceful. Except that her movements were languid -- very languid -- indeed, there was nothing in her appearance to indicate an invalid. Her complexion was rich and brilliant; her features were small and beautifully formed; her eyes large, dark, and lustrous; her hair was quite wonderful, I never saw hair so magnificently thick and long when it was down about her shoulders; I have often placed my hands under it, and laughed with wonder at its weight. It was exquisitely fine and soft, and in colour a rich very dark brown, with something of gold. I loved to let it down, tumbling with its own weight, as, in her room, she lay back in her chair talking in her sweet low voice, I used to fold and braid it, and spread it out and play with it. Heavens! If I had but known all!'
Player:	I Love the Night
Gender (Visually):	Female
Race (Visually):	Elf