From SuspireWiki
Hunter
And, you know, I was never proud of it. Wear your uniform with pride son. No, not me. I wore it because I didn't have any other damn clothes. I guess the guys were okay. I mean, I didn't want them to die bad enough that I was willing to kill anyone with slanty eyes that I so much as thought might have bad intentions for any of us. That part really got to me most, though. The dehumanizing thing, killing women and children, calling in napalm strikes on villages, seeing babies die. What a fucked up time and place.
But here's the real kicker. I was fucking good at it. Not even. I was exceptional at it. I was selected for the Special Forces. Special. Fuck I should've known. Nowadays, everyone knows what that word special means. It means retarded, yeah, but more than that it means a word that sounds good that we say to people we think are dumb to make them think something bad is good. Well, I was their retard, so to speak.
This is the part I really, really hated. Crawling through the bush and sneaking up on folk. Up close and personal killing. There's no justice in it, none. A man goes into the forest to piss on a tree and gets his throat slit and slumps over into the mud his own piss just made. Another guy, a short little fucker is patrolling a rice paddy when I fucking appear out of the water and drag him under, hold him until the bubbles stop coming up, and then bleed out the throat with my bowie just because.
Well, that was a real fucked up time and place in my life, like I said. I'm not proud of any of it. I'm not happy about any of it. I was removed from service. My little crutches to get me through all the killing finally got to my head and I off and did some things I don't really remember too well, but that I'm sure weren't exactly a shining moment. I guess mixing acid, heroin, amphetamines, cocaine, weed, and the gods only know what else carries that risk. I didn't really call them that then, or know what any of that was. Just those little green pills that cut your reaction time in half and make you stronger, angrier, and more vicious. The amphetamines, that is. The rest of all that I took myself, and I knew what it was. Needed to numb the mind in the off time, too. Can't burn down villages and blow up innocents without something like that. Anyway though it got to my brain, and I ended up in the States, kicked out of the Army, unfit to serve. Fuckers.
Anyway I kicked around a while after that. A lot of hard work to get my brain back between my ears but it got there. Of course things weren't quite the same. I found a war I believed in though, a simpler war, fought with fists, pipes, and bottles, for a noble cause. I was that bastard stowaway what could whoop even an armed rail boss with just his fists. I was a damn legend. You couldn't ride the rails without knowing who I was, even if you didn't know my name. Ah the glory days. They were so short, and so fucking miserable.
Hunted
But I shouldn't get all weepy eyed on ya just yet. The story gets a lot nastier. The beatings are still coming at this point, and I'm locked up in a mental ward. I've got no escape. I spend large stretches of time chained down because I keep tearing my way out of straight jackets. I'm not quick like those contortionists but I get out, and the jacket isn't usable once I'm done. The orderlies hate it, especially since I'm a fucking bear to fight with when I get free, so I get regular whoopings from them too. It's a bad situation in general. A man can only take so much physical abuse for so long before he just hasn't got any fight left in him. Something has to restore it.
That's when most people find religion I guess. In a fucked up sort of way, it's when I found it. Though, I suppose it's more accurate to say it found me. My regular date showed up in an irregular way. Wasn't going to be anyone kicking my ass this time around. No, but someone else killed me, killed my tormentor too. The difference? I woke up, she decayed. It was a gift, a reprieve, a reward for my long suffering and tribulation. The Gods finally took mercy and revealed themselves to me, and invited me into a small part of their power through him.
Oh, my sire. What do I say about the guy? He wasn't much for conversation but he taught me everything I know, in particular he taught me my religion, which, I'll say I don't particularly care to go into for our purposes here. He saved my life more times than I care to count, and I watched him kill and maim almost as frequently. He was absolutely insane and unapologetic about it. The kind of fellow a man can respect, who, even though he might kill you, kills you to your face. I talk about him like those were happy times though.
Have you ever been a pagan in Savannah? If you have the choice, pass on it. Every night, every day they were searching for us. I think he might have been officially hunted, I don't know. I never was but that's most likely because they didn't officially know I existed either. We didn't run into a lot of other Crones around there, but damn if there weren't a whole hell of a lot of pissed off Lancea types. And, I don't know what it is that we do that makes them so ornery, but whatever it is, we must have done a lot of it, because they were always looking to kill us. They got pretty damn close more than a few times, but, he was just too damn tough. Fire? Steel? Lead? You couldn't stop the man. If he had once, just once not been there, I'd be so much dust in the wind by now.
By now. He's gone off to seek his own dangers now and left me to seek mine. So I fled. Savannah is a deathtrap for me. Atlanta is close, so here I am. The fucked up thing now? I don't feel one single bit less hunted. Just now my killers come with smiles and overtures about saving my immortal soul.
What I Believe In
Part One
Yeah, this bit is a little complicated. Folks seem to like to fit real neatly into little labeled predetermined categories. I'm a Catholic, I'm a Heeb, I'm a Muslim, whatever. Guess it works good for the 1 god types. They like those things. They get to call me a pagan and be done with it. So, okay, I'm a pagan. What the hell else?
Well, let's start with the pantheon. For me, Gods aren't a bunch of all powerful beings who watch over the world and see everything and are perfect and blah blah blah. For me Gods are logical, they're just beings on a level greater than ours, in terms of power, or, existence in general. The biggest consequence of that, is, on an individual level, they generally don't give a fuck about you, your football game, your podunk little town, your wife, your kids, or your life.
They care about something more ephemeral. They try to promote good action and discourage bad, in whatever their estimation, because the trends inspired by such serve a purpose. So, if favoring me because I'm forthright leads other people to say, hey the Gods favor him because he's forthright, so I should be forthright, a God or, if I'm lucky, Gods, might do it. But, just because I ask real nice or kill a lamb or something doesn't really mean shit. So, that said, let's talk Pantheon.
My nameless sire (well he has a name but..long story short, you don't get to know.) always taught me three things above all. Two are very Crone, generally ubiquitous to the Covenant he says. Those being, that in Suffering lies Knowledge, and in Creation lies Power. The third, is less common, and is the backbone of everything. One truth, One thousand Revelations. That's to say, there is in fact, one true world, one true Being, an Althing or an Atman. Whatever it is, it's revealed to different people in different ways. No one is wrong. The point is to find what's useful in the revelations to guide you, yourself, to whom it is likely nothing is actually revealed directly, to the Truth. So, maybe my set of God-names isn't normal, or doesn 't delineate like you'd like. Maybe it's stupid and doesn't make sense and isn't in keeping with the original spirits of the religions it draws on. Guess whats got two thumbs and doesn't care? This guy. You can't see me, but I'm pointing at myself with my thumbs. That's right. Both of them.
Odin/Woden/Wotan/fuck Scandinavian Spellings. He's my chief. If Religion were the NFL Draft, he'd be my first round pick. Even if I had to lose two prospects and a draft pick to be named later to trade up high enough to get him, I'd do it. He embodies a lot of what I'd consider to be my ideals. He's firm on his pact with his "brother" no matter how much trouble it causes. Why? Because he's such a great guy? Maybe, but, probably more because he understands that nothing one sided is complete. You need that antagonist, you need his insight, you need him to keep it interesting, you need him just to be alive. There is no existence without the anti, and he knew enough to protect it. Why did he know? How did he know? Because he was never afraid to seek knowledge at any cost. An eye? Take it if I can become wise for it. Torturous hanging by the neck? Gladly suffered, if I can learn the language of magic from it.
Shiva. Destroyer and Creator, and dancing through it all. I guess I know less about the classical Hindu Shiva than I'd like to admit, but, I'll refer you back to my earlier disclaimer about that. What I do know about Shiva, the scholars tell me I take from the Smarta Hindu tradition. That is, Shiva is a creator and a source of knowledge, in that she (he? sometimes people ascribe a sex to Shiva but I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be formless and therefore beyond penises and vaginas) destroys illusion and all that blinds us, she makes us aware. It's proof for me, or manifestation at least, of the idea that destruction and creation are inextricably tied. Because Shiva destroys, there is existence. If I were more bent on that Viking shit I guess I'd call it Loki, change a few things, and be done with it. There's probably some norse types that would kick me in the head for saying that. Two thumbs, once more.
Jesus Christ. The Martyr. Embodiment of stoicism, restraint, and self sacrifice. The extent to which he was able to create is amazing. Two thousand years dead and what is it? A loosely knit organization 2 billion strong that is the dominant ideological force on the planet? Yeah, whatever this guy was, it was something special. He makes the cut for team-God. The brilliance of him, the wisdom to know how to suffer so patiently. Even before his scourging and execution he was so wise, so how much the wiser was he aftewards? None can know.
Tyr. The big daddy of them all. Maybe Odin is my number one draft pick, but Tyr is the grizzled vet that teaches that punkass kid the difference between college ball and the pros. Okay, I don't want to take this stupid football analogy too far but you get what I'm getting at? He gives his hand to protect the world. He stands for justice in war, and justice and war. Taking these together, it's all a brilliant beautiful symbol. Where Odin gives his eye for knowledge, I see that he blinds himself to what he must to do his duty, which is that which he cannot change, and compensates by scrutinizing what he still sees down to the last detail. So Odin gains from his sacrifice, because he knows less about what he cannot change, and more about what he can. Where Tyr gives his hand, he loses much of his capacity for active control. But the sacrifice, the knowledge, and he transcends. He guides passively, he is the spirit of law and goodness. He is the pact that holds the world in balance. It is to Tyr above all that I am devoted.
Hel. Oh, my dear lady Hel. The Crone you might say. She has dominion over the dead. And what does that make us, but the ones who escape her for a little while longer. But it's not anyone but her that allows it. Maybe she is a vampire of God-like power. Maybe she's the Goddess who set vampires into being. I don't know. Now I know she's not supposed to have dominion over all the dead but only the ones that die in such and such a way but, I already said I'm not being traditionalist or, academically correct here. As a tool for setting the philosophical paradigm in which I exist, she rules them all. I don't believe any Valkyries are going to come carry me off to Valhalla if I die fighting the good fight. Hunger and famine, sickness and plague, too are hers. She besieges the living that they might suffer and find themselves able to transcend, and be the stronger for it. Her own children, she leaves to their own mercies, and rarely is it she that stirs up any trouble for us. Why? Because she has known the power of creation, and it is larger than she is, and so she leaves us be. A warning about just what it is you choose to create, and that power poorly directed is useless at best.
And the others. There's others, yeah. Maybe I'll get into them later, but not now. They're like the offensive line. They're there, they do stuff, but everyone is watching something else. You only notice them when they aren't there, and then everything is fucked. So they're important, and I wouldn't slight them, but...another night for them.
Part Two
So, yeah I said there were other Gods and there are and we're always looking for new recruits, but I don't want to get into that. It's more than just a bunch of Gods, you know? It's principles and ideas that are important, ways of comporting yourself. So, I'd like to talk about that a little bit instead.
So, yeah we got all the standard virtues you might think of, courage and valor and hard work and so on and so forth. All stuff that's been talked about enough times that I don't really need to get into it here. And, the Crone things, yeah. Tribulation brings Knowledge. Maybe we go a little further than some with this, just because we follow the logical consequence all the way to its extreme and embrace it there. Okay, it's like this. Tribulation brings Knowledge, so all suffering is not simply suffering, but both suffering and teaching. Therefore, suffering is not bad, no matter how severe, and in fact, the more severe the suffering, the better taught the lesson, the deeper rooted the wisdom. Therefore it is the duty of every one who would wish not to be a fool to not only endure suffering, but to seek it out. To bring pain of every type and severity upon himself. There is no suffering without a lesson to it.
And then the other one, Creation is Power. Yeah, we can dig that. But Destruction is Creation. So Destruction is just as powerful as Creation, because they're the same. Then, that means there has to be a balance, which works out nicely because it's something that tends to keep itself balanced. That's why patricide is such a funny little thing. Not that we condone it or anything, but it's funny when it happens.
Then, the concept of Justice is pretty important too. Especially for me since I go in for Tyr and that's pretty much his thing. There's a belief in divinely ordered justice, but that's on the large scale. There's no guarantee that the Gods are going to protect you, or make your situation work out justly. They're more concerned with bigger pictures and canceling out the negatives on all sides to try to hold the world together as long as they can. And Tyr never takes a direct hand in things, he's much more subtle than that. But none of this answers the bigger question: What is Justice, or, What makes an act Just?
Well. It's a little bit fuzzy in some things, and very clearcut in others. The first thing in defining Justice is to define Just Acts as the means by which either Justice can be created or preserved. Then, Justice gets an inductive definition based on Just Acts, and we can argue about what acts are Just and what aren't, and get a fairly clear view of it based on the tenets of this particular religion.
So, okay. Here's what Edmund says. It's more or less spot on, but he explains it better than me by a whole lot.
Justice is the situation arising from a series of Just Acts, and where Justice exists, Just Acts will preserve that Justice. There are then, no degrees of Justice. A situation exists in accordance with Justice, or it does not.
Then, it remains to decide what acts are just and what acts aren't. It's impossible to list all the acts in one category or another, but we can set out a few criteria. Firstly, any act that violates another's basic rights, excepting where those rights have been forfeited, can not be just. That is, acts which harm another's person or rightly deserved property, which deprive another of privacy or freedom to act, or which do significant harm to society at large. It also is worth noting, that any act which seeks to correct injustice is by definition at least intended to be a Just Act. Therefore, especially considering the instructive value of suffering, punishments which stop short of death are always Just Acts. One must note here that the restoration of Justice is not necessary for the Act to be Just, but the Acts leading to a situation must be Just Acts for the situation to comply with Justice. The implication is in one direction only. Then, this is a fairly complete definition of Just Acts, once we state that one forfeits the afforementioned rights when one uses them to contradict Justice, such as by committing some unjust violence or the breaking of one's bargains made in good faith, and when one voluntarily renounces them, as to permit another to bring him to harm that he might learn of it, or any other number of situations which might fit into these.
There a few small points to make. What it is that makes one's property 'rightly deserved' is simply that such property was acquired in accordance with Justice and does not unduly deprive others of that which they might require. Then, having more of something than one can possibly use is not Just, and in fact, rectifying that situation by theft is. Then, if one Justly holds some property and voluntarily gifts it to another, or sells it, this is considered a Just Action, in that it preserves Just Ownership and the new owner can be said to have a rightful claim to this property. But, if the giver of the gift had no right to his property in the first place, the new owner does not necessarily have a right to it either, though he may by some extraneous circumstance. The sale or gifting, though, is utterly invalid. In fact, in case of a sale, the recipient of the property has a right to take back that which he paid, even if he comes by legitimate ownership of the property after the fact and is able to keep it and keep it Justly.
Additionally, we can extend this concept to land and domains. A city ruled by one prince, and ruled Justly, that is, where the denizens are not in fear of extermination of deprivation of rights without cause, then all those that live there tacitly acknowledge his claim, and therefore agree to abide by the laws of that domain. Therefore transgressions of those laws are unjust, and punishments for such are Just Acts, even if they result in the death of the offender, unless that death violates some other law. Systems of Law which contradict themselves or seek to deliberately confuse the denizens with an eye to legitimizing punishments are invalid and therefore unjust, and so breaking these laws is Just and overthrowing such government is even more Just.
The final case worth noting, is War. War arises for, generally, one of two reasons. Either to redress some injustice against one people, be it real or perceived, or to gain some advantage, be it preemptively reducing an enemy's ability to strike, or to gain the upper hand in a dispute over some territory or holding. Then, naturally it is always Just to defend one's life, but not necessarily Just to defend a holding which is not gotten by Just Acts. Serious questions arise, however. Is is Just to act first to prevent injustice? Surely, since by the definition of Justice acts which preserve Justice are Just. But, then, since all people will commit injustices, it is dangerously easy to extend this notion to justify a state of perpetual war and the murder of all, which is clearly a violation of Justice. The question of when and how War can be justly waged is a vast topic full of contentious debate. When constructing one's reason for war, it is best to examine the specific case in view of the principles of Justice, the likely casualties on both sides, the damage to innocents, and the possibilities of redressing those collateral damages, since they are never Just.
What's This All Mean?
Well. It's a lot of ideas, but you probably think this reads more like a philosophy than a religion. Good, it should. Here's how it works.
All religions point at the same truth, albeit from different angles. This is the fundamental tenet of everything I believe. So, you take this, and you take all religions, and you break them down into their underlying philosophies, sets of virtues, things like that. Strip away all the Gods and God-names down to the concepts and things they represent, analogues in nature, ideas, whatever they are. See the entire religion, all religions, all gods, through the eyes of the average human, who is, in truth, faithless.
Then we have a whole hell of a lot of philosophies, and we can look at the overlaps. There are a lot of fucking overlaps. The hard part is here, finding the truth in the overlaps, finding the truths that don't overlap, and discarding the chaff. Once you have that, you can build back up, and know what Gods you're really looking for.
Once you know that, it's a lot easier to find them. Still a painful path fraught with difficulty, yeah, but easier. Or, more right to say, you have a better defined goal, and a more clear path towards it. And then every once in a while, you do it all over again. Except instead of starting from zero, you start with what parts of the Truth you have, and add more that you find. Ever growing, always getting closer. This is the path to truth.
Atlanta
Atlanta's been a strange, strange place hasn't it? I'm not really sure how long I've been here, but it's got to be getting on towards a while now. Up and down kind of, mostly up I guess until the politics hit. Or, that is until people realized that I wasn't going to sell out my own for them. Well, start at the beginning right?
The First Year
I came here, couldn't eat, couldn't do nothing. Scary shit, Bishop's leering at me, folks trying to see what was what, everyone's afraid of werewolves attacking us or some bullshit because elysium is in the dead fucking middle of werewolf territory, and the Seneschal and the Prince are being pricks to each other and got the whole damn city on edge because no one has the balls to step in the middle of it. Primogens getting fired too, everyone's pissed off, and the Hierophant is off about some war with the Dragons that turns out to never happen. Crazy fucking bullshit.
So I talk to the Prince, I talk to the Seneschal. They talk back, I figure out their deals pretty quick. There was recruitment, but I shut that down but good. It shows how little people understand. I don't think it makes any sense to anyone that I'm dedicated to what I do. They see that it costs and costs and costs and they don't understand why I'm willing to keep paying in. It didn't take long for folks to realize I'd done some hard living and so in a relatively decent place like this I can be damn useful and get a lot done, and don't shy away from danger and hardwork. So why do I throw that all into the Crone, when the Invictus or the Carthians would be happy to have me, and I could live a lot better than I do? Right? No, they just don't get it. That's alright.
So anyway, like I said they saw me useful, and I guess they wanted to use me. I got citizenship, I got a job, and I got a few friends. Go save the city from a strange menace that no one knows what it is oh and also the Invictus will help you. Some kind of Carthian government that is right? Well the Invictus helped me, or I should probably say she did almost all the work, and then the Carthian sword-monkey came along for the fight, because that's the only thing he knows how to do. Not that he was terribly useful, trying to chop off her hand like a damn fool, but, whatever. So we kill the freaky-deaky and that's that. Everyone's happy, they throw a domain that I'm nowhere near ready to deal with at me, like it's some kind of reward. Nevermind they give the one I want to some jerk off, and the other one I want to Jung, and nevermind all that. The point is, it was stupid.
And then the real bullshit starts. So Araseli embraces and the Hierophant ditches us for the big sleep. Araseli's not allowed to embrace so it's a big hoopty-doo and they decide to take some things from her and thats all. But then the Prince turns around on some double cross bullshit and lets the hound go kill the childe in the middle of fucking Elysium. Well yeah, I frenzied over that, damn near killed me a hound but the prick disappeared to let me carve up some baby ventrue, and then stabbed me in the back that little shit. Even still that other little Mekhet girl had to help him take me down, and then they wanted to kill me over this for breaking Elysium. Fucking hypocrites, nevermind that I saved all their asses, nevermind that they totally betrayed my covenant, right? So it turns out to be the word of the Invictus that saves my ass, which is good because I made a kid the night before I got put under. She survived somehow over the weekend, and now I'm up and about, minus a domain and a job that I couldn't much give a fuck for.
So, now I'm waiting for the double cross where I walk into Elysium and it's a huge fucking trap. The Carthians don't play honest, not even an little. I'm taking over the Circle bit by bit, and rebuilding it. My childe, and that Carthian fucko hound's childe are our chorus,m and I've got high hopes. It's been a fucking hell of a year. Thank the Gods for Burke. He's saved my ass so many times, been so helpful. He must owe my sire a hell of a lot because he's been really something for me. Good man, terrifying man, but a good man.
That's one year, anyway. Maybe I'll last another one.
Peaks and Troughs
Well, I reckon it's about high time I get to summing up the past little long while. I'm note wholly sure how long it's been, but it's been a long time here in Atlanta. I've been everywhere and done almost everything. We've been cheated and betrayed and beat down and attacked and helped up and shoved along driven crazy and somehow even if we look real different than I imagined, we're here.
Things were looking pretty bad back then, when I look at where I stood after a year in the city. The Circle consisted of two of us and two neonates, chorus. The government had just killed a neonate of ours and was menacing my child as well. We're not numerous but we're hearty, and the Hound's kid serves almost as a hostage to keep him largely at bay, even if he pulls some pretty stupid shit in the interim.
We keep chugging along, we start moving into this house in Forest Park and fortifying it against the world. Our little fortress on the edge of the ghetto, where no one dares or should dare to come. I take on a ghoul, and Daphne moves in with us, so does the rest of the then-covenant. It feels a little safe, but not very.
Then the mysterious call, Seneschal Bridget Connelly seeks an audience with you to discuss an alliance of our two Covenants. Hrm? That's pretty crazy after how things have gone for us, they must smell opportunity. So I go to her house and we sit, and it's not alliance that ends up happening. Not really, anyway. She gets bitchtits there and Gregory Krailo too. We all agree, this Carthian government sucks real hard and we'd all be happier with Bridget as Prince.
Well when the Circle and the Spear decide to get together on something you damn well better take note, because that's not even supposed to happen. It's not an easy tandem to deny, aside from the sheer bizarre nature of them working together, that's just too many insane zealots to say no to. We down the Carthian's muscle, Jones, at some party, few days later it's a brand new city.
After the "war" everyone rushes to demand their share of the spoils. Everyone but us, anyway. We have a little bit of honor and decency and don't try to make ourselves look like stupid spoiled hypocritical mercenaries. So a lot of people demand a lot of things. I get to be primogen for a while because of one of Krailo's demands but I end up having to resign because of some ridiculous bullshit with oaths and Clementine Beaumont and the ex-prince (who is prince again but also Bridget is prince..somehow) and hound trying to murder me and my childe. So I do, and of course we sit and watch as the other covenants, the spears more than anyone, bicker and grab at whatever they can get and bitch and moan so loudly like they always do.
Them Vicks really do love them the spears though. It's troubling as all hell. See, Dupont ends up going and trying to off some Invictus cat and torpors him and doesn't even say shit. The sheriff figures it out cause he's dumb enough to burn the fellows house down and get in the newspaper. There's a lot of big talk about exile but what do they end up doing to punish him? They take his name off the title to his domain, and the word primogen away from him. Not a damn thing else. Not a week later they make his little lackey seneschal, and surprise surprise two new crones disappear immediately after she starts asking after where they feed.
I think we were right to be nervous. Now granted Luciana was a stupid bitch who just left without saying or doing anything to let us know, and betrayed us when she returned, but what happened to Stanley? No one knows and no one seems to care. The guy was a prick but it still irritates me to know that that bitch cunt of a Seneschal probably has him in a hole in the ground somewhere. I run my mouth off about what she's doing and I get hit hard by the Prince about how talking smack about her Seneschal is like talking smack about her and basically treated all like I didn't have one drop of standing, which is irritating as all hell too considering how I was with her before during and after this little coup. I didn't back down and she kicked me out of her damn city. Flew to Savannah straight away.
I spent a week there. We ambushed incoming Lancea and raised a bonfire in the middle of the woods to burn the sacrifices on. It was grand and wonderful and I treasure the wounds I got there so much. There's something amazing about having five gangrel with you and charging as a wolf pack or flying as eagles and falcons to inflict the most brutal of harm on foolish and ill prepared enemies. It rejuvenated me, and I came back to Atlanta ready to go to war with the whole fucking city if I had to. If they weren't going to exile that french bastard for killing one of their own they damn sure weren't going to exile me for accusing Thorne of some shit she probably did anyway. It turns out Connelly must have overreacted or something because she backtracked about as soon as she knew I was back and let me stay. I took it all in stride.
My time away though was damaging for the Circle. Marissa had been back a little while and was running the show after Luna's disastrous attempt. Apparently she found out about me binding Heather and Daphne and decided it was now her job to threaten us with death or some way of dissolving the bond. She has to go for a little while and I ask her to put someone in charge, mostly because I didn't want to have to do it and I wanted to see what one of our recently-advanced-past-the-chorus girls could do. She puts some dickhead ventrue who'd been awake for all of a night and put in torpor for being crazy in charge. This pisses me off to no end, naturally. I refuse to work with him, and I've never been able to get in touch with him since before she even came back. I hope he's dead.
Meanwhile Heather starts praying to some fucked up version of Longinus and I can see the path she's going down. She has to die, plain and simple. I run her out of town, essentially. She says she found a teacher, but I'm almost certain she found a Crone who's going to murder her under the pretext of having to inflict tribulation to teach. Any luck and that's already happened and she met the morning sun.
So at this point the Circle stands at six, since asshole ventrue guy vanished. We've got another Azteca that just woke up, decent fellow, and some french gangrel that rolled in from out of nowhere, me and Dapne, and Araseli, and Marissa. We're utterly fragmented. I never see anyone but Daphne and there's no cohesion, no community, and in fact, quite a bit of hostility. With Marissa back, it's the same shit as always from her. Do this and I'll kill you and your childe, do that and I'll kill you and your childe, but you should learn the myst so I can use you in my half baked war plans against the Lance and make you a liar since you gave your word against that...or I'll kill you and your childe. I know she doesn't make idle threats, but I know I don't, either. We exchange threats and I get her to agree to single combat. Tyr will guide me, I'm utterly confident going into this.
She chose to fight in the forest. She chose, essentially, to die. It was a poor choice on her part but I guess she thought she was strong enough in Crone and Daeva magics to destroy me anywhere. The battle was fierce and long, and I nearly died. But I did not die. She did, and I returned to Atlanta triumphant, if exhausted.
So now I'm Hierophant some how. It's unfortunate, I didn't really want to ever lead overtly. But that's how it's fallen and I'll do my best to mend our fences. The Circle is thriving again, and we're moving back up towards a comfortable spot. I'm looking for another childe, and trying to build strength and more importantly discipline and unity of purpose within our ranks. I think we may have half a chance.