Game History
Born in the spring of 1482 somewhere in what came to be northern Italy, a
daughter in a large extended family of siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles,
all part of a travelling troupe of performers. She wasnt musical, so she
was trained as an acrobat and did very well.
In the year 1500 the Pope celebrated the Church's Jubilee, a full year long
celebration that drew pilgrims and monarchs from every city and state in
Europe and beyond, and with them came performers to entertain the throng.
Isobel's family was hired to perform at a roman nobleman's dinner party one
evening. There were hundreds of guests and the party soon became a drunken
revel.
After her performance a retainer approached her with the request that she
join his lord in his chambers. She accepted of course... gold was ever
desirable and she'd been accepting such offers for years now as had her
sisters when they were old enough to appeal.
The lord was drunk, but it was not sex he wanted. He attacked and Embraced
her, then fell unconscious. She woke to a bloody bed and ripped clothes.
The retainers took her away, cleaned her up and presented her when he
awakened much later, to find he did not remember her.
In his drunken state he had gotten permission from the Prince while
watching her performance, and several vampires knew of her existence so
destroying her out of hand would do unacceptable things to his Prestige.
He made her perform for him, since he could not recall her performance at
the party, and being a talented musician himself was extremely
dissatisfied. He put her on a crash course to learn to play the lute, his
primary instrument, and pushed her hard without much success. He had her
family brought to his villa ostensibly to perform, but then kept them in
his dungeons.
Her Sire began to withhold blood from her, locking her in her room with
first her youngest brother chained to the wall. If her Sire was not
satisfied with her progress, and he was not, she was given no blood and
within days Frenzied on her brother and killed him. One by one her family
died to her frenzies because she couldnt learn fast enough to please.
Blood Bonded though she was she hated and feared her Sire, and he hated her
too for not being the prodigy he was. For the next months her life was
hell, ending in fire and blood as her Sires political enemies attacked the
villa one night. She was severely wounded defending her unbeloved Sire and
managed to crawl to safety in the vineyards when he died screaming.
Isobel found shelter in the catacombs and went into torpor, awakening a few
years later. Afraid of her Sire's enemies she went north by night, using
her looks to gain money and sustenance. She survived but found out just how
helpless her Sire had left her. She settled into a new city and attempted
to associate with her Clanmates, and ran straight into the label of Poseur
Neo-nate.
She disliked their sadistic parties and being the target of some of their
cruel pranks. Didnt like being used by the other Clans or dismissed with a
sneer because of her Clan, and soon got into trouble for what the Elders
saw as disrespect when her frustrations and hatred got the better of her.
Isobel found it wise to move to a new city and began again making contacts,
setting up a life and trying to fit in. In each city something went wrong.
Plague wiping out her Herd, whispers from Elders in other cities labelling
her a troublemaker, an occasional enemy, her own recklessness and daredevil
nature causing her to often fall into Torpor after being wounded too
severely, each time losing her Herd and money and possessions.
She began to acquire Disciplines of more use as she saw it than the
standard Toreador three, and developed into a decent detective over time.
In the process her anger towards her Clan turned into contempt. She managed
to stay abreast of the advances in technology necessary to her survival,
catching up on enough of the culture to get by and never having time for
more than that.
Isobel crossed the Atlantic after spending time in all the European
countries and lastly England, and Anglicized her name to Ross, starting
again hoping to do better where
there were fewer Kindred, and fewer Elders. Things began well for her in
Maryland and she began to relax and hope she had finally broken her string
of bad luck, and found herself amidst the American Revolution, Camarilla
versus Sabbat.
Determined to stand up for herself this time she took up the cause with
more energy than a plan, and soon found herself on the receiving end.
Isobel went to ground, and the conflict destroyed everything yet again,
only this time her enemies were Sabbat.
She moved south when she awakened, learned to read and write and went back
to work for the Camarilla against the Sabbat. Personal war eventually
merged with the Civil War, and she moved West gradually winding up in
Chicago during Prohibition, wide-eyed at the leaps forward that had
occurred since the invention of the automobile, aeroplane, telephone and
machine gun. And then there were the Flappers and their clothes. She
started to feel out of her depth.
Isobel's enemies found her again and ran her to ground in Nevada nearly
killing her. She Torpored once more and this time stayed there, unwilling
to come out and be hurt again.
Eventually the memories faded and she emerged from the ground near Las
Vegas during the winter of 1996. She soon found she could not abide the
Prince's handing of the city to the Giovanni and Sabbat in all but name and
started looking for a new city.
Christmas 1996 found her in Alysiana, and by New Years she had moved,
returning often to Vegas bounty hunting.
@}--;-----
Isobel made friends and acquaintances once more, beginning to think that perhaps, maybe this time... Politics and intrigues that had been building and simmering for months erupted and in the third week of January she emerged into the smoke filled bloody streets to watch the Prince Colin MacGregor destroy the Tremere Chantry.
She was brought to a safe haven and stayed there with the remnants of Clan Tremere and most of her new friends until they could move to Ashland, a city hundreds of miles away. Once there and safe she was drawn into the Toreador Clan once more, but this time as a valued friend and fellow survivor. When the former Toreador Primogen of Alysiana declined to continue leading the clan in this new place, Isobel was elected.
Joining the newly formed primogen Council, her friends from Alysiana, they established guidelines and after the need for a Prince was seen she watched the candidates sabotage themselves to the extent none of the Primogen cared to support any of them. A prince was needed however, and so she looked for someone else and proposed they back Lord Eltavius, a rather sane Elder Malkavian also from Alysiana. Eltavius was elected and three weeks later deposed by the Primogen after he proved incapable.
Former Gangrel Primogen Shay, one of the most highly respected Kindred in Alysiana and Ashland both sat as interim Prince during the week the Primogen conferred... and in the end they decided to back Isobel as Prince.
Isobel reigned from March to July keeping peace with the garou and combatting the Sabbat invasion forces. The Camarilla was unable to dislodge the Sabbat completely, but neither could the Sabbat take over more than a section of the city. Operating under a great deal of pressure and stress, Isobel began to make mistakes. Small at first. Some of these came to nothing, some added to her stress. And then a handsome, boyishly charismatic Anarch Baron from Los Angeles arrived to bolster the small, harmless Anarch movement in Ashland. Within weeks the Anarchs were a bigger threat than the Sabbat.
July 14, 1996 Isobel eloped to Reno with Baron Tishiru Masumi.
July 16, 1997 Malakai Vishanti married Isobel and Tish in a private ceremony. Malakai began the next day coming between Isobel and Tishiru.
July 22, 1997 Isobel resigned as Prince and Tish left for LA thinking it to be in her best interest.
July 24, 1997 When he did not return, Isobel followed Tish to LA and after a blissful few days there they returned to Ashland.
July 29, 1997 Another of Isobel's lovers, Matthew d'Anvers, the Tremere Primogen, threatened to kill Tishiru if he did not leave Isobel. Despite Isobel's attempts to stop him, the next day Tishiru confronted both Malakai and the Tremere Clan. Isobel crashed trying to get there in time and believing Isobel to be dead, Tishiru committed suicide, destroying much of the interior of the Chantry in the process.
Tishiru's own former lover, Archbishop Richard Jeffers of the Sabbat, arrived the next night to investigate who had killed him and quickly focused his attention on Isobel, toying with her. Malakai sought to protect Isobel and staked her while he went to duel Jeffers. He returned home, unstaked her and told her they were through, sending her to her own Haven alone.
Richard's ghouls were waiting for her and upset. Bound, their leader carried her to the Sabbat meeting that night and after being treated badly by them in his opinion, took her with him when he left. Isobel managed to get free in the vehicle and escape, and soon thereafter Morrone Prisimo, a Ventrue Methusaleh and her former Seneschal, returned to Ashland and she moved in with him.
On September 1, 1997 while visiting the city of New Orleans, Malakai Vishanti was attacked by a war ghoul, Tzimisce and a Nephandi. He took down all but the Nephandi, fighting alone, before he fell into Torpor and was beheaded.
Isobel remained in seclusion, rarely venturing out except at Morrone's side and Wednesday September 24, 1997 Morrone Prisimo proposed, and was accepted with pleasure. (*sits down beside her* I know that our differences in age lead to some different views, but you are my mate Isobel, if you will have me. The ring is in essence a wedding... mating ring.)
Soon thereafter, the evening of October 11 Morrone received information informing him that his intended bride was a Sabbat childer. He had her tested and believed the results, though they were untrue. Coldly angry, Morrone ordered her out of his home and returned the accounts he had been managing for her since January, in the area of 50 million dollars.
She went into seclusion on the island, then was contacted by the Seraph Colin MacGregor and initiated into Tal mahe'Ra.
Morrone eventually forgave her, including her in his will. She created a memorial statue there being no body, and gave the location of it to one other. She visits it often as she does each of her lovers' resting places.
Several decades in the future Isobel found herself an anachronism in a CyberPunk world. Unable to take on cybernetics many vampires had died in the intervening years and become somewhat conspicuous by their lack of them. Childer were nearly impossible for the same reason. Armand had also survived and he hired her to assist him in a raid (I forget what they were after except that there was a helicopter involved in the escape), hovering outside the window. The building housed a group that was a threat to the remaining Kindred, an Order devoted to wiping out the supernatural.
