undeadpuppy

"Ah a mystery is always more haunting than reality, though to be fair the reality is normally more dangerous" She holds out an icy hand "Anja Klein is that an American accent I hear, you've come a long way. Why? surely there was room for you over there. There was no real emotion or force behind Anja's words just that famed Berlin bluntness coming to the fore.    

Why is it these meetings always happen in such loud bars I can barely think let alone read. With a sigh she put the book away and looked at the crowd around her taking a moment to pick out those she thought likely to be kindred, the man in the suit talking to the biker, and the child were all likely candidates but not entirely appealing to her. It was then that she saw the woman reading at the bar, Reading a vampire novel, they can't be that obvious surely. Coming to a decision Anja got up from her seat and walked over to the bar "How are you finding the book? I'm new to Heidelberg and I'd been invited to meet some other new arrivals did you receive a similar invite?"  

At 10:45pm Anja shuffled slowly into the bar a large bag under her arm. After demanding a beer from the bar, she hunted for a free table but seeing how packed the bar was she had to settle for perching on a corner of one that wasn't completely filled. With a look of disgust at the students surrounding her Anja pulled out a book, pretended to sip her beer and hoped that her shear unapproachability would shelter her from having to interact before the 11 pm meeting.  

Cool think I'm done

leaning on the cheap kitchen counter Anja had a phone to her ear and anger radiating from every line of her body. How is it he can always make me so angry so quickly she wondered to herself. " Jurgen do shut up, I'm not going to come home and look after our parents. If you're that worried about them maybe you should do something about it you were always their favourite." a man raised voice could be heard on the other end of the phone. " I'm not being childish, I'm saying that if they expected me to look after them then they should have looked after me ... also why are you expecting me to drop everything and come and look after them is it because I'm the girl you are in Berlin you sort it out." snarling the last part she hung up on her brother the anger that had been holding her so tight seemed to melt out of her as she breathed deeply for several seconds the action not needed but soothing. I've got to much to do, I can't be worrying about inconsequential details, I should really fake my death so I don't have to listen to Jurgen's whining. These thoughts flowed through her head as she moved into the box-filled living room, Noah her assistant would deal with most of the unpacking but Anja wanted to get ahead and look through her notes. Spreading out several books and post-it notes over the table she sat and looked over what she had discovered, an hour later when Noah got back she was still there looking at the same notes a half-chewed pen in her mouth. "Good your back, what do you have for me" The harsh tone of her voice made the younger man flinch slightly stumbling over his words "T-t-the chantry seems intact I couldn't actually get in so I assume that the wards are still functioning, I also joined the university Library as an associate PHD so if you need access I can give it to you. Anja leaned back in the chair a thoughtful expression on her face "That's interesting, good job, you've done as well as can be expected. Now I'll need you to take me down to the Chantry I'll also need to feed". leaping to her feet she charged out of the room and was nearly outside by the time she realised that her ghoul was still inside putting his shoes on "come on let's go chop chop "

I'm just finishing up her back story but her sheet is all ready for a review

This is for Anja's important NPC's Family Parents Anja's mother was a concert pianist while her father was a philosophy lecturer, now however they are both retired and increasingly frail. They never really understood Anja and they didn't want to take the time to understand her they often seemed to see her as a dark spot on their bright happy life something that only intensified after her brother was born and took on the role of golden child. Now Anja has very little contact only having seen them twice since her embrace and now barely talking to them. The Brother, Jurgen Klein The golden child of the Klein household, he lived a very different childhood to Anja and this has led to them butting heads continuously as adults, he expects her to be as devoted to looking after their parents as he is and the fact that she's not, causes a great deal of friction between them. Vampires/ghouls The rival sires The Sire In life, Minerva was the youngest daughter of a minor Prussian aristocrat, her interest and ability in alchemy alongside her access to high society brought her to the attention of the Tremere, she was embraced in her 40s after nearly dying in childbirth. She was instantly placed into the pressure cooker of Clan Tremere where her star quickly rose often at the expense of other apprentices and rivals, her motherly air gave a false impression of weakness that she ruthlessly exploited. Now nearly 300 years since her embrace the last rival from her early years is Albrecht, the two of them have been sparring partners for so long that their dislike for each other is something close to affection. The two of them rarely attack each other directly instead they use a web of mortals and childe of which Anja is the latest. The Rival Albrecht was embraced at the same time as Minerva but came from a very different background, he was a Prussian Jew/ Mystic who as the Enlightenment progressed gained a great deal of renown and influence, he was eventually embraced by a Tremere who had gained a fascination with Jewish mysticism. His and Minerva's rivalry started early in their apprenticeship with him seeking to exploit her and she in turn seeking to humiliate him, throughout their unlives there have been many peaks and troughs in their rivalry, it came to a head in 2011/12 when they both sought the mosaic of Dyonusis being devoured my maenad's that Anja had discovered as they believed it might have insights into ancient blood sorcery. At first Albrecht merely wanted to destroy Anja and take the mosaic for himself but as the chase went on and he learned that Minerva sought to embrace the mortal he decided that instead of merely killing her he would instead embrace and use her as a blade he could use and discard at his leisure. The fact that Minerva managed to succeed in gaining and embracing Anja, and her new childe's competence and rise within the clan has deeply enraged Albrecht, he knows that he can't directly assault Minerva so he made Anja his whipping girl seeking to punish her for her success. Noah the assistant/ghoul Noah was once a normal PhD candidate who was desperately seeking something to help bolster his research into classical mystery religions, he eventually contacted Anja and though she was brutally blunt about the quality of his work she did point him in some useful directions, as time passed he kept relying on her advice often doing small favours for her such as looking for a certain book or doing some research for her. Over time she slowly placed him under the blood bond, asking more and more each time until in reality, he was really just her assistant. He mostly acts as her daylight man doing anything that needs doing during the day, acts as a research assistant and generally makes sure that the home is clean and everything that is ready for Anja when she wakes. He's definitely not a fighter but he's a good researcher and can be trusted to take a bit of initiative on his own. Contacts Omar Wagnar A portly man of Persian/German ancestry, he runs an antiquities import and export dealership that also doubles as a fence and smuggling ring for various artefacts or rare books. He occasionally sells Anja information about interesting artefacts that come across his desk Dr Elisa Kitzler After Alberct set the police on her Anja decided that she should start making some connections that's how she made contact with the good Dr Kitzler the head forensic investigator for the Heidelberg police. Elisa is very much on the pulse of what the police in the city are investigating, she's also an occult obsessive so far Anja has strung her along with minor secrets but that might not last forever.

Name: Anja Kline Concept: Dark academic Nature: Rogue Demeanor: Architect Clan: Tremere Generation: 10th Attributes Physical Strength ●●○○○ Dexterity ●●●○○ Stamina ●●●○○ Social Charisma ●○○○○ Manipulation (So Reasonable)●●●●○ Appearance ●●○○○ Mental Perception ●●●○○ Intelligence (Connecting dots)●●●●○ Wits ●●●○○ Abilities Talents Alertness ●○○○○ Athletics ○○○○○ Awareness ●●●○○ Brawl ○○○○○ Empathy ●●○○○ Expression ○○○○○ Intimidation ○○○○○ Leadership ○○○○○ Streetwise ●○○○○ Subterfuge ●●●○○ Skills Animal Ken ○○○○○ Crafts ○○○○○ Drive ○○○○○ Etiquette ●●○○○ Firearms ○○○○○ Larceny ●●○○○ Melee ●●○○○ Performance ○○○○○ Stealth ●○○○○ Survival ○○○○○ Knowledges Academics (Classical art) ●●●●○ Computer ●○○○○ Finance ○○○○○ Investigation ●●●○○ Law ○○○○○ Medicine ○○○○○ Occult (Ritual)●●●●○ Politics ●○○○○ Science ●●○○○ Technology ○○○○○ Backgrounds Generation ●●●○○ Retainer ●○○○○ Resources ●○○○○ Contacts ●●○○○ Disciplines Auspex ●●○○○ Dominate ●●●○○ Thaumaturgy( Path of Blood)●●○○○ (Path of Thaumaturgical counter magic )●○○○○ Thaumaturgy Rites One dot: Defense of sacred haven Virtues Conscience ●●●○○ Self-Control ●●●●○ Courage ●●●○○ HUMANITY ●●●●● ●●○○○ WILLPOWER ●●●●● ●○○○○ Merit: Languages 2pt (German (Native), English (free language) Latin, Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics, San skrit) Natural Linguist 2pt Flaws: Touch of frost 1pt Rival sire 2pt New arrival 1pt Freebee spend ● 7pt second dot in Thaumaturgy 1pt in Contacts 2pt in Academics 2pt in Occult 3pt in Willpower 50 Xp spend ● Manipulation 4th dot -12xp Auspex 2nd dot-5xp Dominate 2nd dot -5xp Dominate 3rd dot-10xp Melee initial and 2nd dot -5xp Empathy 2nd dot -2xp New thaumaturgy path -7xp 46xp spent 4xp left over

Name: Anja Klein Clan: Tremere Concept: Ex-archaeologist turned dark academic Date of birth: 21st Feb 1976 Date of death: 13th Aug 2012 Life before the Embrace Anja grew up in West Berlin, the child of two academically gifted but financially illiterate bohemians. With first editions in the library, parties every weekend and nothing but sauerkraut on toast to eat little Anja grew up knowing lots but wanting wealth more. Her academic gifts alongside familial pressure saw her go to university, she ended up with joint honours in art history and archaeology (a childhood infatuation with Indiana Jones). One of her lecturers at the university, Dr Frederick Hafen saw something in the coldly intelligent and driven Anja taking her under his wing on certain high-profile archaeological digs, where he tested her moral flexibility by smuggling various artefacts out of the dig sites and away from museums into the hands of select private customers. For the next decade, Anja lived a double life, minorly well-known archaeologist/art historian specialising in murals in the day while at night she was a tomb robber who for the right price seemed able to get any sort of historical artifact for her client base. It was this latter reputation that saw her drawn into the webs of the Tremere, she had done work for them normally through intermediaries. When a mural of certain bacchanalian blood rites was discovered in Greece two competing members of that clan unbeknownst to each other hired Anja directly to acquire it for them. For her part, Anja saw a way to raise her reward by starting a bidding war between the two clients for acquiring what was to be the riskiest robbery in her career. Embrace Stealing a mosaic from an archaeological dig site is an intimidating challenge, Anja had to call in a number of favours in order to get enough help to make it a reality. At first, it seemed that everything would go off perfectly, security was nonexistent and the mosaic had been moved to a safe house without damage being done to it. That's when the first text arrived. The two clients who had hired her had somehow realised that she was working for both of them and that she planned to use them to raise the price of the artefact. One of them Albrecht had decided that it was preferable to just use his contacts with the police to find the art thief and then get them to deliver the mosaic into his keeping, Minerva knowing that her influence wouldn't reach as far as his felt that a more direct act was necessary so she text Anja to let her know what was happening and that the police were coming, but that if she wanted Minerva could just take the mosaic for a much-reduced cost seeing as the artefact was now to hot to handle or keep. Anja was scared her career was about to be in ruins and all of that hard work she had put into building her comfortable life was about to go up in smoke. But through the fear came a blaze of anger how dare these people try and destroy her how dare they try and cheat her of what she was owed. thus began the longest and last year of Anja's life somehow she managed to keep one step ahead of both the police and the vampires, burning every favor and contact that she had, this defiance enraged Albrecht but first amused then earned the grudging respect of Minerva. It was only with her back against the wall and all her resources burnt that she finally bent even slightly and allowed Minerva to put in an offer on the mosaic. Minerva had after a year of being amused and then impressed by the antics of the historian-turned-thief decided that the real reward wouldn't be money but the embrace, and so in what was meant to be a secure location Anja Klein died and was reborn looking at a mosaic she had stolen a year before. Questions You are young Anja's parents are alive though they are now in their 70s and still living in Berlin. She also has an older brother though they don't get on because he is very much the family's golden child. She is in contact with them though only through phone and video calls, she uses the supposed 'Trauma' of her fake kidnapping to claim agoraphobia, her brother's remarks about botox are making her think she should start doing the planning around faking her death. She also has a few contacts at her old university, and though her cold demeanour tended to put people off her evident ability and meant that a few people did keep in touch. You are new to Heidelberg Anja laid the groundwork for her move to Heidelberg carefully, she gathered as much information as possible about the old Tremere Chantry. Reached out to a few academic contacts she knew there before sending Johann her assistant over there to acquire her a tempory haven (a small apartment near the university). She's only been in Heidelberg a few days most of which would have involved her unpacking and getting used to the city. Next steps. Find and gain access to the old Tremere chantry of Heidelberg Build up a base of operations ingratiate herself with whatever vampires rise to the top of the Camarilla hierarchy in Heidelberg Anja knows that even if everything goes well most of the credit will go to her superiors in the clan, she's not expecting to gain a high position in Heidelburg not in years' time anyway. What she is hoping for is that she does well enough and gains enough favours that she can move her way up the pyramid and build a secure base for herself away from certain elders' influence. You left something behind What Anja probably misses most is easy access to the security and resources of a city with a strong presence of clan Tremere, yes she was a thief but before that she was and is a historian and access to the many documents and artifacts that her clan had in it's vaults was a heady experience. Two Elders that she is glad to have left somewhat behind her are her Sire Minerva and Albrecht, Anja has been a pawn in their rivalry before she was even embraced. She knows that the move to Heidelberg won't take her completely out of their grasp but she hopes that with the distance she won't be their immediate whipping girl.

Saved for character sheet

Details Name: Callum Heller Clan: Ventrue (9th Gen) Nature: Capitalist  Demeanour: Chameleon Sire: Vaggelis Demellis Date of Birth: July 17th, 1971 Date of Embrace: October 19th, 1997 Place of Birth: Eugene, Oregon Place of Death: San Francisco, California   Personality     Appearance Callum is 5'11 though he says he's 6ft, he spends a lot of time on his appearance mostly to make sure that everything looks like it's all-natural.   History Life:   Embrace/unlife:  

I'm back as well, holidays were fun and getting back into work has been hard

Hey sorry things my end slowed down joys of flu and work getting busy in the last gasp before Christmas. But I like the plan of everyone coming together to discuss things.

That also sounds like a plan to me, though I'm definitely up for an incursion once we have more things built up in the world.