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Well Known Character Facts (at game start)

• Leopold is the Ventrue Priscus, and is known to offer a helping hand to young Ventrue that he might not offer to young Kindred of other clans. He is biased towards his clan, but also expects much more from his clanmates than he does of others, and has a low tolerance for what he considers "Un-Ventrue" behavior from his clan.
• Leopold is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, continually active Kindred in Carcossa.
• Leopold has even more of a distaste for the Lancea Sanctum than the majority of the City's Kindred. While he is friendly with the majority of Circle of the Crone, Landon Merrick in particular, he doesn't seem to have any leanings towards Crone ideologies.
• Invictus Status 2+ Knowledge: During the discussion revolving around the appointment of a new Prince, Leopold questioned why the Circle was involved in selecting the next Prince, preferring a more unilateral action on his covenant's part.
• Invictus Status 1+ Knowledge: Leopold disapproved of Marco Belmonte's decision to Embrace Melanie Blackwell-Finch, saying that Belmonte is too young to be creating his own childer. However, he is not critical of Melanie herself. He later commends Belmonte after Zhao appoints him as the city's second Hound.
• Ventrue 1+ Knowledge: Leopold highly disapproves of those who teach the voice to those not of Ventrue blood without his express permission, and has taken aggressive action in the past against people who violated this unwritten rule. Depending on who's asking, getting permission to teach Dominate may be nothing more than a formality, or it may require some very persuasive argument.

History

Alive

1831

Leopold Price is born to Alexander and Elizabeth Price somewhere in western Texas. The Price family has never had money - distinctly non-gentlemen farmers. Leopold is helping with the farm work by the time he's 5 years old.

1839

Elizabeth Price dies of tuberculosis. Alexander Price starts developing a drinking habit, which changes from a habit to full-fledged alcoholism in a remarkably short period of time. Alexander becomes a belligerent, violent drunk, and takes his anger out on Leopold, beating him severely.

1842

Alexander Price dies of alcoholism - his liver fails. Leopold goes to live with his uncle John, his father's brother, a lively, amiable man and a welcome change from Alexander's not-so-tender care. However, while John Price is a nice man, he isn't very good at handling money, and accumulates a large amount of debt with some rather unscrupulous characters. He and Leopold move west to California, almost literally running away from John's debt and towards what they hope will be a new life.

1848

With the discovery of gold in California, the economy booms. Leopold and John find significant amounts of gold early in the year. Leopold conceals a large amount of gold from his uncle, remembering his uncle's lack of talent for handling money. While they don't continue to strike it rich, a few minor discoveries allow the pair to live with some level of comfort; Leopold's larger stash of gold remains untouched.

1851

Leopold's foresight serves him well. John Price gets himself into debt again - gambling, this time - and a dispute in one of the local saloons gets violent. John is shot, and dies almost a day later. Leopold manages to steal a horse and some basic supplies, moving a few hundred miles west before he starts using his gold to actually purchase anything. He buys only in small amounts, riding with those who failed to find any gold back east. On the long ride back, he matures considerably, and begins thinking about what he's going to do with his money when he gets to a place where he can spend it without too many questions being asked. He learns to read and write, and even gets something resembling a basic education from a minister traveling on the same road. He conceals his wealth as he rides east across the country to Washington, DC, where, feeling somewhat safe, he uses his remaining gold-money to invest in the railroad business. After making two cross-country journeys, he believes strongly in the potential of railroads to change the face of America.

1855

Leopold's investment truly comes to fruition as the Illinois Central railroad is completed. While his investments may have been profitable before, they are becoming exponentially more so rather quickly, and Leopold quickly becomes rich. He befriends Mark Hopkins, a railroad man himself, who takes Leopold under his wing. The two see further profit to be made within the industry, and Leopold starts shifting his focus to a more larger-scale game, talking with various bureaucrats and elected officials to attempt to create railroad-friendly laws. Comfortably wealthy, he starts to educate himself. For all his intelligence and charm, he still comes across as a farm boy - an image he starts to recreate. He wants to be seen as a self-made man, and his wish quickly starts to become a reality.

1857

Leopold is introduced to someone he knows simply as Mr. Jefferson, who impresses Leopold with his intelligence and charisma. It is of much higher importance, however, that Leopold impressed Jefferson with -his- intelligence and charisma. The two become friends, of a sort - well, somewhere between friends and a mentor-student relationship, with Jefferson as the mentor. Jefferson, in addition to -appearing- older than Leopold, is truly much older - by several hundred years.

1862

Leopold and Jefferson both use their political influence to help the Pacific Railway Act get passed by Congress. Collis Huntington, one of the "Big Four" to finance the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad, is one of Jefferson's kings. Leopold invests indirectly through Mark Hopkins, a close personal friend and another of the "Big Four."

1865

April 17th, to be precisely. Historians will always remember the 14th as the day Lincoln was assassinated; but for Leopold Price, April 17th was a far more important day. Jefferson, himself distraught over the death of the President, elects to Embrace Leopold. While Jefferson had been planning to Embrace Leopold for some time, he had been planning to wait at least another year for Leopold to "ripen." However, after the President's assassination, he remembers just how fragile mortals are, and Embraces Leopold to protect his investment, so to speak. Washington D.C. sees nearly a dozen new Embraces in the year following Lincoln's assassination.

Dead

1867

Jefferson, a prominent Au Pair in the Invictus, is somewhat notorious in his standards for approving the manumission of young Invictus Kindred. His standards are only raised for his own childe, and he spends over two years micromanaging Leopold's instruction. While he's the subject of more than a few derisive snickers for what the Carthian Harpies call his obsession with his childe, he largely ignores them. Leopold makes Mark Hopkins his first King.

1869

With the joining of the Central Pacific and Union railroads, Leopold's fortune begins to truly accumulate. Over the next several years, Leopold starts to become not just rich, but -filthy- rich.

1871

Leopold begins to make his own reputation, and earns the title of Almoner. While some members of the Invictus think he's aspiring, he seems to be just good enough at bluffing that its actually somewhat believable. The general consensus from the Harpies is that "Mr. Price is perhaps the only person who can be both an unscrupulous rogue and a gentleman of stature." When pressed, the Gangrel Priscus, a member of the Inner Circle, called him "effective." High praise, from a vampire who rarely spoke at all.

1874

Leopold's fortunes, as well as those of his sire Jefferson, take a slight turn for the worse. While financially they are more well-off than ever, the Kindred power structure is shifting away from the Invictus as a whole. Indeed, the Invictus seem to be fighting a losing battle in holding power in Washington. The scales truly shift however, when Jefferson engages a member of House Tacita in monomancy over what is allegedly an issue of disputed territory. Leopold, along with the rest of the city, doesn't truly buy it as the real reason for the duel, however. The whole thing is rather mysterious, but the result is unquestionable - Jefferson is sent to Final Death.

1880

Leopold arrives in Carcossa, one of the several Invictus Kindred to do so. Leopold begins to diversify his financial portfolio, using some of his railroad profits to invest in the blossoming steel and textile industries.

1887

With the influx of blue-collar workers, Leopold begins looking heavily into organized crime. While the idea is somewhat distasteful, Leopold recognizes it as having a great number of advantages over classic areas of influence - it is completely unregulated and naturally secretive, both tendencies that make it a very profitable and flexible area of influence - and about as far from his financial power as you can get - true diversification. The poor irish immigrants become the backbone of Leopold's orchestra, and Cabbagetown becomes Leopold's unofficial domain. While it's far from a "proper" area, the fact that its not exactly respectable only makes it more attractive to Leopold. While some of the other Ventrue make disparaging remarks about Leopold's "slumming", he just smiles like he's in on a joke the others aren't quite getting. This prompts a few of them to quietly make inquiries into Leopold's affairs, and when they don't discover anything of importance, the comments stop coming in - the natural paranoia of the Kindred condition means they can't help but wonder - what does he know, and why can't we figure it out?

1909

Leopold gives the barest of head-nods when Colbin takes Praxis. The Lancea Sanctum, too busy solidifying their political position, don't bother to notice that Leopold isn't exactly vehement in his support for the covenant.

1910

Leopold mutters more audibly about the Lancea Sanctum's requirement that all Kindred be present at Midnight Mass or be staked, but goes to Mass anyway. However, he openly laughs at the Daeva's attempts to have their "speakeasy" get-togethers. However, he's also critical -as critical as he could be without ending up staked for the sun- of the "prohibition" of Lacrima, although anyone with a decent memory knows he rarely touches the stuff. This doesn't endear him to the clan as a whole - or to the non-Sanctified portion of the city, really, although he's careful enough about his choice of words that some of his clanmates murmur appreciatively.

1912

Through a contact, Leopold completes training as a Technologist. However, he retains the title of Almoner, never assuming the title of Technologist. Invictus members, however, don't miss that the golden chain of Dominate mastery is now part of his formal attire.

1915

Leopold encounters his first -real- failure, and its not pleasant, not at all. Trying to expand his influence into the military base that would become Running Creek, he finds his attempts to gather influence crushed and two of his retainers disappear on the same day. He spends most of the year trying to figure out whodoneit, but is unsuccessful. He does his best to cover his failure, but someone finds out, and Leopold is the subject of the Harpies' scorn until someone else makes a mistake worthy of changing the subject. However, the Harpies only know Leopold's attempts to gather influence were rebuffed - they're as blind as he is as to who's responsible.

1917

Still recovering from his failure to influence the military base, Leopold's power base is further eroded when many of the poor Irish inhabitants of Cabbagetown are drafted into the US Army. While Leopold's Kings are safe, many of the middle and low level members of his criminal organization go abroad, never to return. This time, his weakness goes mostly unnoticed. At the very least, he's not suffering any more than the others who had influence in the lower classes, and they're all concerned with minimizing their losses as well.

1918

in 1918, Leopold helps Alexander Castillo clean up a feeding mess, hoping to eventually lure him into the Invictus. After spending some more time with Alexander, however, Leopold realizes he's not going to be able to spirit Alexander away, and abandons the project, along with most of his contact with the younger Kindred.

1930

For the first time in over 70 years, Leopold isn't filthy rich. The Great Depression has downgraded him from filthy rich to normally rich, and Leopold doesn't like it. It's not that he -needs- the money, he spends only the smallest fraction of his wealth anyway, but for him it's almost a matter of principle. He, along with several other members of the Invictus, ruthlessly exploit arbitrage in the commodities markets even as their money in the stock market disappears. He makes an offhand comment in Elysium about the Ordo Dracul's financial troubles, which leads to some animosity between him and Alexander Castillo.

1941

With the second World War on the horizon, Leopold reluctantly decides to begin investing in the stock market again. As Carcossa's economy boons, Leopold returns to "filthy rich" status. When the war does break out, Leopold's influence actually grows. While still entrenched in Cabbagetown, the second mass-exodus of young men into the Army doesn't destroy Leopold's position, even in the underworld, although the criminal element of Carcossa is mostly quiet during this time.

1944

Leopold assumes the title of Ventrue Priscus without resistance, replacing his previous Title of Function, Almoner. He is one of the Kindred who pressures Prince Colbin into doing something about the "Bloody Fist of the KKK." While he may be a conservative, older Ventrue, he had gotten over slavery at the turn of the century, and crazy Unaligned are never a good thing. Leopold is the only Kindred to call Landon Merrick out on his supposed affiliation with the "Bloody Fist of the KKK" coterie. When Merrick initially remains silent, he seems to incriminate himself and Leopold attacks him further, until it becomes clear that Merrick became involved with them only for the safety of some of his Acolytes. Leopold publicly apologizes, and they develop a mostly cordial relationship. When Pesco breaches the Masquerade, Leopold quietly suggests - within the Invictus only - that Prince Colbin may not be the best candidate for the job. While most of the Invictus Kindred are somewhat shocked, some of the Harpies take Leopold's whispered words and run with them, and Colbin finds his political position weakened slightly. However, when Leopold is mum as to who should be Prince, if not Colbin, the thing dies off rather quickly. Still, it becomes clear to the majority of the city's Kindred that Leopold isn't on great terms with the Lancea Sanctum.

1953

When the Unaligned re-emerge and Colbin sends Willy Frezan, a promising young Invictus soldier to deal with them and the young Gangrel is killed, Leopold is absolutely livid. Although Pesco deals with the issue, Leopold is critical of Colbin's choice to send Frezan out alone. This time, a few voices in the Invictus listen to what he's saying.

1958

Leopold benefits -immensely- from some very nice tax breaks aimed at the upper class. He pushes his money into some construction projects. As the economy starts to slow down however, he has to bail out as fast as possible. He completes a few construction projects, but takes some fairly sizable losses. After taking some flack from one of the Harpies over some unrelated misstep, he mostly withdraws from Kindred society for a time, appearing publicly only at the still-mandatory Midnight Masses.