Artemis Seth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stranger_to_the_rain) wrote2013-12-11 08:47 am
stranger_to_the_rain) wrote2013-12-11 08:47 am
Entry tags:
Tartarus App
|| Player Information ||
Name: Wizera
Personal Journal:wizera
Time zone: central
Current Characters: None
|| Character Information ||
Character Name: Artemis Seth (formerly Artemis York)
Age: Artemis appears to be in her early twenties. She was, in fact, Embraced at the age of twenty. In all reality, however, she is 250, as of 2009.
Appearance: Artemis might be considered an attractive girl, if she ever bothered to give a thought to her appearance. Embraced at the age of twenty, she is frozen in time at the peak of her youth. Her complexion is perfect; pale as befitted a young woman of nobility during the 1700s. Her light skin offsets her dark, bottomless brown eyes. Artemis walks through her life with a perpetually haunted look, her eyes just a little bit too wide, most of the time. Her hair, wavy and brown, is generally tied back in a simple ponytail, as if she couldn’t be bothered with it. She stands at about five foot four and is a little too skinny, with very little in the way of curves.
When Artemis is feeding or enraged, what’s known as ‘the Beast’ comes out. The Beast is a vampire term for the supernatural parasite living in the human host. The change isn’t physical. Aside from the fact that her front incisors become fangs, nothing about her body is transformed. What changes is her presence. She goes from being a harmless waif to being an obvious predator. There’s simply something extra frightening about her that wasn’t there moments earlier. It goes away when she reverts back to her natural state.
There is something graceful and serpentine about the way Artemis moves. Being a supernatural predator, she has a light tread. This unnatural grace translates into her fighting style as well. She moves like water, one motion effortlessly flowing into the next. Often, her head is canted to one side and she sometimes forgets to blink. She uses all five of her heightened senses to her best advantage, which means she’ll touch anything of interest. Sniff it. Even lick it, if she thinks that will yield information. She does all of this very unapologetically.
In terms of dress, Artemis is most comfortable in what Fatima jokingly refers to as “the uniform.” She likes to wear dark jeans, a black tank top, and comfortable black boots with her ritual knife tucked into the right one. Obviously, she has more than one of each of these items, but they’re so identical that one could easily assume she wears the same thing every day. In addition to her basic outfit, Artemis wears her father’s old, tan duster. It’s made of suede leather and falls to her ankles. A dark brown ribbon weaves in and out, all along the neckline. Artemis is also never seen without her two necklaces. The first is a silver disk, with an emerald in the middle of it. Sun rays are etched into the surface of the disk and it hangs on a silver chain. This was a gift to her from her father. Both of her sisters wear matching necklaces. The other necklace she’s never seen without is her amulet of the Order of the Silver Crescent. It’s a heavy silver chain with a charm that’s half silver moon and half golden sun.
Artemis still speaks with a London accent. She can, with some effort, mask it with an American, west coast accent, but it’s unnatural to her and she generally just reverts. Her voice is whispery and ethereal. She also has a halfway decent singing voice. When she’s playing up her Malkavian insanity, she’ll often sing instead of speak.
PB: Danielle Campbell
World Information: Artemis hails from White Wolf's classic World of Darkness, a tabletop and LARP setting (player is a LARPer and proud of it). This is a world in which vampires (called Cainites), werewolves, mages, changlings, and a host of other monsters all go bump in the night. Artemis herself is a Malkavian, a breed of vampire with a reputation for being insane and prophetic.
Artemis' life centers around the world of Cainites. According to the Cainite bible, called the "Book of Nod," the first vampire was the biblical Cain (spelled "Caine" in most texts). After killing Abel, Caine was given the "mark of Caine," known as the curse of vampirism. He went on to sire (or "Embrace") three children, who in turn, Embraced a third generation of thirteen. And it is from these thirteen that the thirteen Cainite clans descend. Each of the thirteen clans has its own name and unique set of abilities, merits, and flaws.
Cainites are divided up into three sects. The first are the Camarilla. The Camarilla exist in a grossly deformed sort of democracy. Led by a Prince, the Camarilla relies on a system of representation to protect the Cainites in a city. Of all the sects, the Camarilla might be considered the closest to the "good guys." They have a strict set of laws, known as the Traditions, created to keep the existence of vampires a secret and to protect members from each other. The most important tradition is the Masquerade. Others include laws against siring or killing other vampires, as well as protecting domains.
The second largest sect is known as the Sabbat. The Sabbat are essentially an enormous Gehenna (vampire apocalypse) cult. They have no care for humans nor any other creatures. They live for chaos, taking no measures to protect the Masquerade. Despite having the same structure as the Catholic church, with a system of archbishops, bishops, and clerics, the Sabbat are disorganized. Although once a single, unified cult, there are now many different beliefs and scripture, often conflicting with one another.
Cainites who don't belong to the Sabbat or the Camarilla are called "Independents." Although they answer to no one, they are often left unprotected. Independents frequently become fodder in the squabbles between the Camarilla and the Sabbat. Still others fall under the rule of the Giovanni Clan, a small clan whose members are all Independent and, by and large, related to one another by blood.
The modern nights are considered, by many Cainites, to be the end times. Believers, particularly the Sabbat, are sure that soon, the thirteen ancestors of each of the clans will rise up to devour their children. Vampires fourteen and fifteen generations removed from Caine have become commonplace. Many of these vampires are known as "thin bloods," a portent of the coming apocalypse. They are much closer to humans than vampires, able to withstand small amounts of sunlight, able to ingest food, and, most importantly, able to reproduce with humans. The children of fourteenth and fifteenth generation Cainites are called "dhampir."
Personal History: Artemis York–-who would later become Artemis Seth-–was born in the year 1759 in Notting Hill, England. She was the third child of Adam York, a professor of ancient religions, and his wife Lilith York, a Parliament member's daughter. The family was surprisingly well off, Adam being from new money. Artemis was a completely unexpected surprise, born seven years after her sister Diana and thirteen years after her sister Selene. She quickly became the complete apple of Adam's eye.
From an early age, there was something "slightly off" about Artemis, however. Something that alienated her from her mother. She often reported strange dreams. Unlike other girls her age, she showed little interest in dolls and pretty dresses. At times, she would say completely erratic and unpredictable things. Although her mother sometimes scolded her for predicting that Diana would one day march against the military or that Selene would bathe in rivers of blood, Artemis persisted, insisting that she was only telling the truth. It would be many, many years before Artemis and her family realized that these childish utterances were actually prophetic.
Like her father, Artemis grew up bookish and sharp, despite all of her eccentricities. When it was decided that Diana would be given an education--Adam himself began to tutor her in ancient religions and also taught her ancient Gaelic--Artemis would often sit in on these lessons and she and Diana grew closer. Meanwhile, Selene simply grew up and was married in 1762. A year later, Selene's daughter Eve was born and her husband was killed in the French Indian War.
Unfortunately, the closeness Diana and Artemis shared was cut short when Artemis was seven. After a clumsy accident that cast a bleak outlook on Diana's marriage prospects, she was sent away to be the companion of the Countess of Sussex. It was Lilith's fondest hope that Diana would marry into money, high above her station. Artemis suddenly found herself without a constant companion and bedmate. Because of her peculiar tendencies, she had difficulties making friends with other children. Seeing how sad she was, Adam would sometimes take her with him to Cambridge. There, she learned to love libraries and learning. While not precocious, her intelligence endeared her to the scholars on the university grounds.
Despite her strange visions and prophecies, Artemis' childhood was uneventful. By the age of seventeen, she had grown into an ethereal beauty and she attracted the attention of two young suitors in Notting Hill. The first, who her mother preferred, was Thomas Grossmith, a man nearly twice her age and incredibly wealthy. The second, her father's favorite, was Edward James, who was studying to be a doctor. Artemis, who didn't know how to flirt and never even dreamed of a husband, had little interest in either of them, although she found Edward to be somewhat endearing. In the end, however, it hardly mattered.
One night in 1776, Adam disappeared during a trip to St. Joseph's church, one of his favorite places for reflection and meditation. After weeks of endless searches which turned up nothing, the authorities were forced to declare him dead. Artemis and Lilith were both devastated. While her mother closed down, Artemis broke with reality completely. Or so it seemed to everyone around her.
The emotional trauma of losing the person she loved most in the world awakened Artemis' prophetic abilities, full-force. It was no longer a simple matter of dreams and stray trains of thought. She had a hard time separating reality from what she was seeing, making her incredibly prone to fits. Artemis started forgetting to do things like eat and sleep. Her appearance rapidly changed as her body began to deteriorate, leaving her to resemble a wide-eyed skeleton with unkempt curls.
Diana returned home, at Selene's insistence, to take care of her mother and sister, but Diana's patience quickly wore thin with Artemis' constant prophecies. Diana was miserable back in Notting Hill, missing all of the excitement and glamor of her life with the countess. She made it very clear how much she resented her mother and sister for robbing her of the high life, constantly making snide remarks about how low-brow their lifestyle was and never letting anyone ignore the fact that she was terribly bored without fancy balls and salons to attend. The tension filled the household. Frustrated, one night, Diana screamed at Artemis, lamenting that she would never ever find a husband. Artemis very calmly suggested that Diana visit their father's favorite church, to seek guidance. Diana left the house and did not return. That same night, Selene disappeared. They were both declared dead in a matter of weeks.
For the next two years, Lilith and Artemis were largely supported by family. Like Diana, most of them offered their assistance only resentfully. Lilith's increasingly withdrawn presence and Artemis' erratic behavior made them both family embarrassments. To try and keep the gossip from spreading, the two of them were kept inside at all times. Lilith barely noticed, but Artemis increasingly became restless as her health returned. She began to insist she be allowed to visit St. Joseph's church. Something was calling her there. She just knew it. Her dreams whispered it to her. The family was reluctant to let her out of their sights, but after a lot of pleading and begging and promising, they allowed her to go.
It was 1779 when Artemis returned to Notting Hill and she was twenty years old. St. Joseph's church was much the way she remembered it from her youth and Artemis was disappointed when she first arrived. She roamed the halls, certain that something was waiting for her there, but she found nothing. Finally, she settled down in a pew to pray, wondering if she really was as mad as everyone said. She wasn't there five minutes before a tall, dark-haired man approached her. A handsome Irish gentleman, he asked for her name and when she gave it, a blond woman appeared, holding a lantern. She hurled the lantern at Artemis and just barely missed. It hit a pew which immediately went up in flames as the oil splashed over it.
Other strangers appeared, shouting and arguing, using words that Artemis half understood, as if out of a dream. A fight broke and Artemis was flung through a window. The church was lit on fire and people began rushing out. Among them, much to her shock, was her father, Adam. She watched as Adam fought against the dark-haired man, whose name was Liam, and who spoke disparagingly of a group called the "Children of Eden." Eventually, some of Adam's allies managed to drive Liam and his followers, including the blond woman, Ursela, off.
Artemis was broken and bloody from her fall. Her father found her and fed her some of his blood. Her wounds healed and he carried her away from the church and from Notting Hill. The least surprising thing she learned was that her father was now a vampire, from a mad and prophetic clan, known as the Malkavians. Adam Embraced Artemis that night with the Prince of London's blessing. She did not fully understand what had happened, but Adam impressed upon her the fact that she could either join with him or be killed for seeing all that she'd seen. Artemis was only too happy to be reunited with her father, no matter what. Adam renamed her Artemis Seth.
After Artemis reawoke as a vampire, Adam told her the rest of the story. When he disappeared in 1776, he was abducted by a very old vampire, a Malkavian woman who called herself "the Father." She had reawakened from a long slumber to be disappointed by the state of the world. Madness and megalomania led her to decide that she was God and that it was her duty to recreate paradise on earth, by reuniting the vampire world with the humans. To that end, she set up her own Garden of Eden and chose Adam to be her new Adam. He was ordered a year later to Embrace Selene and Diana, renaming them Selene Caine and Diana Abel. The Father insisted on Artemis' Embrace as well, but Adam stalled for a few years, protesting that she was too young. In truth, he couldn't bear the idea of killing his third child. He had simply been left with no choice.
Afraid of being followed back to the new Garden of Eden that the Father had created, Adam took Artemis to Paris and taught her the Father's vision (or what little he knew of it) to bring together vampires and humans in a new paradise. The Father had great and mysterious plans for Adam and his three girls. Adam was only able to convey the symbolism of it, however. According to the lore of the vampire world, the story of Caine and Abel was true, Abel being the first murder victim, Caine being the first vampire. Their younger brother, Seth, was the progenitor of the entire race of men to date. In the Father's mind, bringing together Selene and Artemis--Caine and Seth--represented the unity of the mortal and immortal worlds. And somehow, all of it would eventually hinge on Diana. Adam knew nothing more.
Artemis, still new to the world of vampires, was intrigued by the notion of recreating paradise. She and Adam traveled across France for years, spreading the gospel of the Children of Eden. Artemis began to sense, however, that her father's heart was not in the cause. He admitted that he missed his life and he missed his family, especially Lilith. The two of them returned to England, but there, they learned that Lilith had died.
As Adam struggled to come to terms with his losses, he and Artemis found themselves under attack. There were many who thought the Children of Eden was a fool's errand and hoped to destroy it by destroying Adam. Among them were Liam and Ursela. The pair tracked down Adam and Artemis, locating their London household. Adam had employed several servants, among them, a Middle Eastern woman called Shauzia Merali. One night, Shauzia was cornered by Liam. He was looking for Adam, but decided to use Shauzia to send a message. Liam violently raped her, but left her alive. Fearful for their lives and the lives of their servants, Artemis and Adam packed up the household and fled to Ireland. There, Shauzia gave birth to a dhampir daughter. Artemis was immediately taken with the mother and child and promised to keep them safe at all costs. In her mind, the little girl was the very symbol of the marriage of vampires and humans. An idea she still wanted to protect.
They weren't in Ireland long before Liam and Ursela caught up with them. They hunted Adam and Artemis down, finally cornering them in the streets one night. A fight broke out. By this point, Artemis had begun learning how to defend herself. Her willowy frame made her a surprisingly versatile combatant, but she wasn't good enough. In the end, Adam was killed. Artemis only barely managed to escape, clinging to her father's old coat. She raced back to their household, packing up Shauzia and the other servants.
They fled again. To the new world, this time. And they settled in California, which was just barely inhabited at the time. There, Artemis tried to start her own branch of the Children of Eden, calling it the Order of the Silver Crescent. She insisted that all of her followers feed primarily off of animals, a prudent decision, seeing as there were more animals than people. In the case of Ventrue who had to feed on humans, she insisted upon a strict rule of no killing. Unfortunately, without Adam's guidance and without the Father's influence, Artemis was uncertain of how to create the perfect Garden of Eden and her Order gradually became something of a police force, fighting against vampires who killed and flouted the Masquerade, the sacred tradition separating worlds. This earning Artemis a large number of enemies.
She earned some unexpected allies too. The dedication that both Adam and Artemis showed for protecting mortals was extremely atypical of vampires. Grateful for the sacrifices they made, Shauzia dedicated her life to serving Artemis and when Shauzia's daughter came of age, she too pledged her eternal loyalty. She took this a step farther, however, purposefully going out into the night and allowing herself to be ravished by a vampire. Soon, she too gave birth to a dhampir daughter. It became a family tradition, bordering on sacred rite. Generation after generation of the Merali family followed Artemis across the west, bearing dhampir children who would take over in service. This had the dual effect of garnering Artemis a considerable amount of protection and a reputation as a harborer dhampir orphans, wayward ghouls, and thin-blooded vampires. Always, it would be a descendent of Shauzia Merali serving as the leader of the mortals within the household.
In 1800, Artemis pinned a target on her back by killing a Lasombra Bishop who attempted to break into her household to kill a vampire she was protecting. Afraid for her safety, the members of the Order of the Silver Crescent insisted that she flee for a time. She returned to London and met the Father for the first time. She was immediately struck by the Father's arrogance, finding more ego than idealism to her. When she told of her accomplishments in California, however, the Father seemed pleased and offered Artemis protection, setting her up as a servant in the household of one of her ghouls, Noah Sheffield.
As it turned out, Artemis was a terrible servant. Noah's estate had a large library and Artemis constantly forgot about what she was supposed to be doing, distracted by all of the books. She managed to save face, largely due to her friendship with another maid in the household, named Jenny. Jenny had absolutely no idea who or what Artemis really was. It was the first real friendship Artemis ever made with a human.
The other human in the household that Artemis grew to care for was her master's youngest son, Japeth. Japeth was a hot-headed young man, the sort who was too intelligent for most of his studies. He was immediately drawn to Artemis, despite knowing from his father, exactly what she was. They spoke frequently and eventually--very much by accident--ended up falling in love. Unfortunately, Artemis realized that she belonged back in California. She didn't like the Father and didn't like what she'd learned about the Father's plans: Namely that the Father intended to thin the blood of her followers and start breeding dhampir to form an army that could march against her vampire enemies in the daylight. Remembering the Merali bloodline and her intentions to protect those who needed protection, Artemis finally decided to leave London.
Japeth wanted to go with her. More than that, he wanted to marry her. Noah was furious. The Father would have none of it. And while Artemis did love Japeth, she decided that he could not be a part of her life and her world. Artemis returned to California. Japeth dutifully married the woman that his father chose for him to marry and he and Artemis never met again.
In 1851, the last person that Artemis expected on her doorstep showed up: Liam. She could tell that he was a changed man. On his knees, he offered himself to Artemis as a servant, explaining that the Father had punished him for crimes against the Children of Eden. Artemis understood immediately that the Father had used dementation on him to rewire his brain. While this resulted in creating a better person, she didn't approve of the method. Feeling pity for Liam, in spite of the fact that he'd killed her father, Artemis took him in. At once, he set about the task of making things right with her. He gifted the Order with an enormous California estate, a compound where both vampires and mortals could live together and protect each other. To add to that, he gave her a far more precious gift: Her family.
Through Liam, Artemis learned that Diana and Selene were alive. Selene had turned into a coldblooded killer, but Diana had become a virtuous champion of right. Liam brought Diana to Artemis. Diana was a changed woman, completely unlike the selfish, spoiled brat that Artemis last remembered. The reunion was happy, the bond between the sisters growing deeper than ever before. Artemis, Liam, and Diana also all came to agree that the Father's plans for a dhampir army to use against her enemies was dangerous and immoral. Since the Order of the Silver Crescent had considerable wealth and many, many members, Artemis agreed to turn her compound into a safe haven for thin-blooded vampires and dhampir.
Liam, Diana, and Artemis worked in tandem to set up an underground railroad across the United States. Artemis' compound would serve as the final destination, a school at which dhampir could learn self defense against the Father or any other vampires who sought to use or destroy them. In 1855, Selene arrived in California and met up with Diana, who kept Artemis and the Order of the Silver Crescent a secret. Selene warned Diana that Milton--her former Brujah lover--had fallen in love with her daughter, Eve, now a ghouled vampire hunter. Afraid of leading trouble to Artemis' doorstep, Diana convinced Selene to join her and Liam as they traveled to set up a Camarilla court in the new town of Los Angeles. Liam established himself as Prince and merely warned Selene to keep her violent activities outside of the city limits. Unfortunately, the real problem was Ursela, who had arrived to reclaim Liam. Seeing that Liam was now in love with Diana, Ursela attempted to kill Diana. Soon after, Diana and Selene left California for the east coast, Selene so she could take part in the slaughter of the Civil War, Diana so that she could start finding dhampir.
By the end of the 1800s, the dhampir railroad was in place and working beautifully. Artemis' compound was filled with followers, both dhampir and vampire. Liam's Camarilla court was thriving. Given the relative success of the Order's efforts, Artemis left responsibilities in the hands of her retainers for a time in the early 1900s and returned to London, hoping to find the Father. Rumors began to swirl that the Garden of Eden had been destroyed by Eve and Milton and a new one was being created. Artemis had no luck locating the new garden, however. Throughout the two world wars, Artemis assisted the Camarilla of London with the Sabbat, as they fought to control the city.
During her sabbatical, Artemis also took to books once more. She set herself up to study everything there was to know about the occult. The world, she learned, was far greater than simply what existed between humans, dhampir, and vampires. She quickly became an expert, gleaning fact from fiction in the very books of mythology her father once read to her. She also gained an appreciation for the Wiccan faith, which was so intimately tied to her studies. She ended up converting, which had a unique effect on her abilities. She found that she could draw upon the power of her faith to, quite literally, repel vampires. Like crosses and garlic repelled them in stories.
Following World War II, Artemis became an official adviser to the Prince of London, Prince William Spence, educating him on life in the Americas. She traveled back and forth between London and California several times throughout the late 1900s. Of note was an incident that sent her home in 1992. The entire vampire population of Oakland, California vanished. Liam went to go investigate and called Artemis and Diana frantic. He explained that based on the reports of a surviving ghoul, the Father had led a dhampir army to Oakland and, bright and early in the dawn, the army had visited every vampire haven, opening up windows and doors to allow the vampires to greet the morning sun. Artemis was appalled at such actions and crushed with the knowledge that despite all her hard work, many dhampir had still managed to fall into the Father's clutches. Still, she was determined to carry on.
By 2004, however, life in London had become utterly unbearable for Artemis. She learned that Prince Spence had grown fascinated with zombies and his use of them didn't sit too well with her. She left permanently, settling back down in California where Liam named her the Malkavian Primogen of his court. Artemis didn't make much of a statesman, but she was better able to run her Order and educate new dhampir back home. The coven had grown quite powerful and many times had lent their abilities to aid Liam as he dealt with running the city. One night, however, one of Liam's enemies found out about the coven. Learning that they were going to cast a spell on Liam's behalf, the enemy attacked, slaughtering many dhampir, including the leader, Parvana Merali. Parvana's daughter, Fatima, survived the attack and was brought home by Liam. Although young and stubborn, Artemis saw incredible potential in Fatima and elevated her to leadership, despite the fact that she was only sixteen years old.
Artemis, Liam, and Fatima took several years to settle into a comfortable arrangement, but Liam loved Fatima like a daughter--and Artemis sometimes suspected that he was, in fact, her father--and soon enough, they'd found a routine. At first a parental figure to Fatima, Artemis eventually became her friend and equal.
When the entire vampire population of Phoenix, Arizona was reported missing in 2008, Artemis and her allies immediately suspected the Father's hand and decided to investigate. Liam, Fatima, and Artemis chose to send Diana and Selene to the scene. Although they knew Selene was just itching for a fight with the Father, they also reasoned that going to Phoenix might benefit the railroad. Surely, many misfits in vampiric society would make their way to fill in the power vacuum, after all. And among them, they might find people they could help.
Phoenix turned out to be a huge disaster. Working with magic beyond their comprehension, several vampires investigating the disappearances managed to create a Wyrm, which destroyed all technology in the surrounding area. Artemis ordered Diana and Selene to leave. Selene escaped to Mexico. Still close enough to suffer the effects of this magic, Diana's van broke down. She got out to walk to the nearest gas station and was immediately attacked by a handful of the Father's fringe followers. Their leader, baptized as Solomon by the Father, had Sabbat leanings which he impressed upon the entire group. Among them, they practiced feeding off of vampires. He convinced the others that the best way to protect Diana, the vampire messiah according to the Father's gospel, was to keep tabs on her at all time. Diana was therefore strung up in their safe haven and a nightly ritual of feeding was established, each of Solomon's followers becoming blood bound to Diana while she continued to suffer an unending amount of aggravated damage from their teeth.
As Liam and Artemis began to realize that Diana was missing, Artemis happened to run into a Ventrue named Joseph. Joseph was Liam's childe. More importantly, he had once been engaged to marry Diana. Liam, in his wicked days, had Embraced Joseph on their wedding night, as a way to torment Diana. When Joseph learned who Artemis was and that Diana was missing, he immediately insisted on joining Artemis and Liam in their attempt to find and rescue her. This caused a lot of tension in the Order, especially given the fact that Liam had fallen desperately in love with Diana, though she had never once requited his feelings. Nevertheless, the three of them finally managed to track Diana down to Solomon's stronghold. Liam ripped Solomon's heart out with his bare hands and carried Diana off, Artemis and Joseph trailing after him. They all reunited back in California.
There was no respite for them there. Diana's spirit was broken and Joseph's less-than-wholesome past was following him. Determined to kill two birds with one stone, Artemis inducted Joseph into the Order an sent him on a field mission with Diana. Unfortunately, that was just the beginning of her troubles...
Personality:We all have a face that we hide away forever
And we take them out and show ourselves when everyone has gone...
Artemis' personality begins with her mercurial demeanor. Each member of the York family, desperate to survive the perils of life as a vampire, found a different way to present themselves to the world. Adam chose to appear ineffectual and harmless. Selene became a monster. Diana passed herself off as a flake. Artemis, however, made a different choice in terms of her demeanor. She created three different outward-facing personas for herself, changing them depending on her audience.
Some are satin...
A wildly-held assumption, among the vampires of Artemis' world of darkness, is that vampires who hail from the Malkavian clan are irreversibly insane. The truth is, of course, a bit more complicated. But often, to pass through her life, Artemis chooses to "play up the crazy." Her derangement, schizophrenia (addressed further below), is only activated by someone threatening one of her friends or allies, but she often pretends that it's active constantly. This has allowed her to be easily dismissed and underestimated by enemies.
When in the company of other vampires--ones she doesn't know or doesn't trust--Artemis has a tendency to burst into song. She doesn't sing anything off the charts. She'll, quite literally, sing whatever it is she was going to say. When she has nothing to say at all, but wants to make her presence known, she'll hum or whistle or sing a nursery rhyme or sonnet. She actually has a beautiful voice, but her mannerisms are intentionally haunting, like a child driven insane. She'll sway from side to side, letting her focus go soft. Sometimes, she'll spin in circles. Her voice tends to be higher when she's adopting this persona. She'll sometimes forget to blink.
...some are steel...
Artemis' second outward persona is the one she reserves for interacting with humans or members of the Order. When dealing with the important work of saving the world, Artemis is very business-like and precise. Some might call her blunt. She'll say whatever has to be said, regardless of anyone's feelings. Artemis is the leader of the Order and she'll make that clear. Any challenges to her decisions will be met with fierce opposition. She will only back down and change her mind if she's presented with an extremely sound reason to do so. This outward confidence, combined with the surprising accuracy of her prophetic visions, has left her largely unchallenged since the beginning.
This isn't to say that she's without kindness or mercy. Artemis will always go out of her way to protect lives. She just won't be sentimental about it. She'll happily save a woman from a burning building, but the odds are high that Artemis will then leave that woman by the side of the road or on the door of a hotel. She doesn't stick around for gratitude and she doesn't deal with the emotional aftermath of a near-death experience. Instead, she'll hand off that work to others.
When she fails, she's extremely careful not to let any emotional response creep through. This isn't to say she's emotionless--as will be discussed below--but that she puts a lot of effort into maintaining a facade of ice. Unfortunately, most people don't understand that there's more beneath her surface.
...some are silk and some are leather...
A third demeanor, one that Artemis almost never shares, is her private persona. This is, perhaps, the persona that's closest to who she really is; and old soul struggling to hold onto her fight. Only those she trusts the most--people like Liam, Fatima, or Diana--are allowed to see this side of her. It is in this state of being that Artemis' nature and demeanor are one and the same, revealing her personality for what it really is.
Artemis is fiercely intelligent. She absorbs information like a sponge and is very good at retaining it. That said, she is better with books than with people and she knows it. Her difficulties connecting with others bothers her immensely. This is especially true because Artemis wants to retain her humanity. She knows that the best way to do that is to be involved in the lives of human beings. Otherwise, she'll lose their perspective and slip deeper into being the monster that she sometimes needs to be. Her struggle to find human connection is most apparent when she takes off her masks.
Sometimes, Artemis wonders how much control she really has over her other demeanors. The idea that Malkavians are incurably insane isn't unfounded. Many, many Malkavians eventually crack under the strain of shared prophecies and visions, known jokingly as the "Malkavian madness network." Artemis is connected to this network. Unlike the prophecies that come to her of her own power, what she sees in her visions are often erratic, violent, and difficult to interpret. They're unpleasant and painful, at times, even if they are also useful. Artemis cannot control them. One of her deepest fears is that they will one day drive her into a pit of madness from which she cannot escape. As it is, even when she's alone, little quirks from her public persona will slip into her behavior. She often talks to herself. Sometimes, she'll "space out," staring at walls while she tries to remember important details.
One of Artemis' strangest obsessions is her fixation on water. It helps her to think, although she cannot understand just why. She's been known, on occasion, to hold business meetings in bathrooms, where she'll shower with her clothes on. Something about the sensation of water on her skin allows her to focus. She's always drawn to fountains, lakes, oceans, and rivers and she's one of the few vampires in the Order who can actually swim, even though she doesn't need to.
Pessimism comes naturally to Artemis, but she isn't without hope. Her hope is drawn from the people in her life who--in her mind--can accomplish the things she cannot. Once source of inspiration for her is Liam, who has struggled against his past to seek redemption (even if he had a little supernatural help). Fatima, who forever walks a tightrope between the human world and the vampire world, also pushes Artemis to be better than her Malkavian instincts. And then there's Diana, a Malkavian who has more humanity than most humans that Artemis knows. Seeing the three of them exist and thrive drives Artemis to keep fighting against the encroaching madness.
Another source of inspiration for Artemis is the memory of her time with Japeth. Although she believes that she has no hope for love and romance, she can remember what it felt like to be loved. It's a feeling she wants others to know, a feeling that she believes will help to change the world for the better. Having had an experience with that reminds Artemis what she's fighting for. For other people. Not herself.
As far as human virtue is concerned, Artemis doesn't hold to the Ten Commandments. She has no objections to stealing or lying, when it's necessary. Although she's never killed a human, she will feed off of one without a second thought. She also has very little objection to killing other supernatural creatures, if they're causing trouble. That said, she has no tolerance for unnecessary suffering. She refuses to allow torture in her compound. When she has to kill someone, she tries to make it a quick kill, as painless as possible. Her weapon of choice is a long, ritual knife that Liam gave her as a sign of his subservience to her.
Being a Malkavian often tests Artemis' self-control. In addition to shared visions, all Malkavians suffer some form of triggered derangement. For Artemis, it's mild schizophrenia, which flares up whenever someone threatens someone important to her. Although when pretending that her derangement is active, she plays an ethereal Cassandra, when it's really active, her outbursts are violent and aggressive. In calmer moments, Artemis often remembers her father appearing to her, urging her to protect someone at all costs, goading her and berating her until she gives in to her violent impulses. To say that Artemis is a loyal friend is an understatement. If you threaten someone important to her, she'll beat you within an inch of your life.
Strengths: As far as natural inclinations go, Artemis is smart. She enjoys research and has an incredibly good memory, especially when it comes to mythology. She speaks Gaelic, Aramaic, and Latin. She can also fake her way through languages derived from any of the three. Additionally, she's athletic and very good in a fight. Her abilities aren't supernatural. More, they're on par with a human at optimal performance. She has no specific style training. Her fighting tends to be "whatever gets it done." She's decent with a knife, however.
As a vampire, Artemis is technically immortal. Age and disease cannot touch her. Additionally, her blood--known as vitae--allows her to practice certain types of magic that vampires refer to as "disciplines." Artemis is trained in the following disciplines:
Auspex
Heightened Senses: She can voluntarily heighten all five senses, or any one at a time.
Aura Perception: Her eyes can allow her to learn the following bits of information about another person: Current mood/emotional state, creature type, if they're under the effects of magic, or if they've committed diablerie (essentially, soul-sucking)
Spirit's Tough: Artemis can touch an object to learn any of the following information about it: Who was the last person who touched it? Was it used in an emotionally stressful event? What were the emotions of the person using the object?
Telepathy: Artemis can communicate mentally with another person. It's only a one-way street, however. They cannot reply to her.
Dementation
Passion: Artemis can make another person submissive or impatient for about ten minutes.
Eyes of Chaos: She can look at another person and learn what their intrinsic nature is (ie., Architect, Autocrat, Bon Vivant, Bravo, Caregiver, Celebrant, Child, Competitor, Conformist, Conniver, Curmudgeon, Deviant, Director, Fanatic, Gallant, Judge, Loner, Martyr, Masochist, Monster, Pedagogue, Penitent, Perfectionist, Rebel, Rogue, Thrill-Seeker, Traditionalist, Trickster, Visionary).
Dominate
Command: She can issue a one-word command with a duration of less than 10 minutes.
Obfuscate
Cloak of Shadows and Unseen Presence: She can become invisible if no one can see her and she doesn't interact with her environment.
In addition to these disciplines, Artemis' blood also allows her to heal wounds almost instantly. This is not without danger (as will be addressed below). If she feeds her blood to a healthy human being, that human being becomes a ghoul, a mortal with enhanced physical strength and endurance who is utterly devoted to Artemis. For about one month. During that month, the mortal will also stop aging. This can be done in perpetuity, but if a ghoul misses a single month of blood, she automatically reverts to the age that she was supposed to be. For this reason (and others), Artemis only ghouls people in dire situations.
Weaknesses: Like all people, Artemis has her flaws. As addressed in her personality section, she has difficulties sorting out her various masks and interacting with people. Much of the modern world is also confusing for her. Artemis isn't good with pop culture. Although she can operate a computer or a car at the most basic level, she does not understand what makes them go. She's absolutely hopeless with kitchen appliances and never, ever ask her to set a DVR.
Although the blood of vampires is potent, it comes at a price. Using too much of it (say, to heal) can leave Artemis hungry. A hungry vampire runs the very real risk of what's known as frenzy. When a frenzy occurs, the rational mind of the vampire gives way to 'the Beast,' the animal instinct that drives them to feed and destroy. If Artemis doesn't keep herself well-fed, she's in danger of losing control. Similarly, as a Malkavian, Artemis suffers from a derangement. When someone she cares about is threatened, she feels haunted by her dead father and compelled to fight and fight and fight until the threat is eliminated. This is very difficult for her to suppress.
Vampires are immortal. However, that doesn't mean they can't be killed. Fire and sunlight will reduce a vampire to ash. A stake through the heart, while not fatal, will paralyze a vampire in a coma until the stake is removed. Crosses, Stars of David, and other religious icons don't do damage to vampires unless the person who wields them has True Faith. If that's the case, Artemis is repelled and if the artifact touches her, she is burned.
First Person Sample:
[The video springs to life and the camera seems to be rolling around. It wobbles from place to place, occasional images of fingertips flashing across the screen. A girl's voice can be heard, muttering softly in a posh, London accent:]
The Fates have called, the blackness speaks
We heard the screams and felt the shrieks
Thunder rolled, winds grew fierce,
Lightning struck, the earth was pierced
I tell you now, listen close
Those who hear learn the most...
[And suddenly, the camera focuses on a girl. She must be in her early twenties. Late teens? It's a little hard to tell. She has a young face, but ancient, bottomless brown eyes. Eyes that have seen too much to ever be soft again. Her face is pale, framed by dark tendrils. Cassandra curls, falling out of a messy ponytale.
Blood drips down the soft skin of her neck on both sides, coming from someplace behind her hair. If she notices it, though, she shows no indication. Her full focus is on the camera now.]
So who else here is Damned?
[And suddenly, she lets out peels of laughter. Soft, dainty giggles that seem completely incongruous.]
Or more Damned than usual?
Third Person Sample:
The anarchs came out of nowhere, a whole coterie of them. Being anarchs, there was no real way to identify who they were or what they wanted. All that really mattered, though, was killing them quickly and quietly. Fortunately, as Artemis’ blade flashed under the glow of the streetlamp, she made quick work of the first one, putting out both of his eyes. Young Cainites were so foolish. They relied far too heavily on their disciplines. How were you supposed to Dominate when you couldn’t make eye contact? That was a puzzle he’d never have the chance to consider. In the next instant, the long blade of her ceremonial dagger sliced clean through his throat. His head never even hit the ground before it was nothing but a shower of ash.
Sadly, the anarchs were the least of Artemis’ problems tonight. She’d spent a good five hours waiting for a truck that never arrived. Under normal circumstances, she would have simply called Liam to find out what was going on, but the truck she expected contained precious cargo. Her sister. Diana’s failure to arrive from Phoenix wouldn’t do much to improve Liam’s disposition which, of late, had grown increasingly surly.
The second anarch attacked her with a stiletto. With a fluid swing of her arm, she aimed the blade at his shoulder. She was starting to suspect that her attackers had seen one too many ninja movies, where the horde enemy only attacked one at a time when the third fired a gun at her head. Artemis shifted to one side and the bullet missed her, blowing into the other anarch’s skull. She turned to swing her blade at the gunman, but before she could do anything, a man appeared out of nowhere and punched him. The gunman let out a startled gasp and crumpled to the ground. Artemis’ rescuer drew a stake out of his coat and rammed it down into the anarch’s chest.
Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Artemis turned her attention back to her little friend with the stiletto. He was whimpering in pain from the bullet wound, but it wasn’t enough to incapacitate him. Artemis was only too happy to help. She rammed her knee into his chest, doubling him over. Twirling, more for the effect the movement had on her long, tan duster than for actual balance, she rammed the tip of her blade down between his shoulders. As he let out a grunt of pain, her rescuer produced another stake, sending it through his chest.
Three anarchs. Two of them staked. One of them dead. And a new mystery.
Brushing her hair out of her eyes, Artemis turned her full attention on the stranger. He was attractive, in a rumpled sort of way. His hair was brown and unkempt and his teeth put her in the mind of a chipmunk or other small rodent. He smiled at her, bowing from the waist. “All right there?” he asked. A Londoner, she was guessing, his accent eerily similar to hers.
“Been better,” Artemis replied, leaning over to wipe her blade off on one of the anarch’s coats. “I suppose I should thank you.”
“I suppose you should,” he replied.
Cocky son of a bitch. “How many winters?” she asked. It was obvious he had to be a Cainite. He’d so expertly dispatched of the renegades, leaving her unharmed, that there was no question.
“Over two centuries,” he replied, confirming her suspicions. “How many winters?”
“Over two centuries,” she said. “They were anarchs.”
“I figured as much,” the man muttered. “They say LA is overrun with them.”
“That’s a gross exaggeration.”
“Well, there are three less.”
“You’re new in town.”
He nodded. “Only just arrived. I was hoping someone could tell me where to seek acknowledgment.”
“Elysium is two blocks from here. The history museum. Court is held on the last night of every month. Our Prince is a Ventrue named Liam Stephens.”
The stranger blanched. Blanched. Artemis had never seen a Cainite do such a thing before. It rocked her to her very foundation and she barely heard him mutter, “I’m only passing through.”
He started to turn from her. Artemis latched onto his arm, pulling him back. “You were seeking acknowledgment before you heard our Prince’s name.” Children of Eden. He had to be. They, of all people, knew to fear Liam. He’d been utterly ruthless with Grandmother’s followers. Any one that dared cross into his territory met Final Death before they realized where they were. It had been many years since Artemis lived among them, but she still remembered the rituals well enough. “Where is our garden?” she asked.
The man stared at her blankly. “What?”
“Where is our garden?”
“I heard you the first time.”
“Where is our garden?”
“I don’t understand what you’re asking me.”
Artemis drew back. Not Children of Eden. What then? “My apologies.”
“No matter,” he said. His eyes traveled down the length of her arm. “You’re wounded.”
She looked at her coat and saw a blossom of blood on it. Damn. Of course, the odds were she had nicked herself in the fight--anarchs were entirely unimpressive--but she had to assess the damage. Unfastening her coat, she pulled it off. Just a scratch, really. Still, she hated to think that she’d gotten sloppy. She sent vitae coursing through her skin and watched the wound seal. “No matter,” she said, looking up.
If she thought her strange, new friend was pale before, to look at him now, she was quite certain he would soon be translucent. He was staring at her, wide-eyed. Not at her face. Not at her bosom. Her throat. She moved to put a hand over it and scold him for being so rude, but he latched onto her wrist with surprising force, pulling it away. “Where did you get that?” he demanded.
“Get what?”
“That,” he said fiercely, baring his teeth as he glared at her necklace.
Artemis glanced down at the necklace her father had given her, many winters ago. She scarcely ever thought about it, really. And never took it off. And no one had ever had a comment about it before. “What difference does it make?” she asked.
“Answer me.”
“I didn’t steal it, if that’s what you think.”
“Did Adam York give it to you?”
Silence. Stillness. The two of them locked eyes and froze there, on that strange event horizon. He wasn’t Children of Eden. But he knew her father’s name, his true name, his proper name. Artemis didn’t know whether to be puzzled or enraged or scared or some combination of the three. But she twisted her hand free of him, stepping back. “Who are you?” she asked him quietly.
“My name is Joseph,” he said. “Joseph Penn.”
A name she knew as well as her own. From a dozen countless nights, lying beside Diana and whispering in the dark about regrets and loss. Diana had painted a vivid picture of the man’s face and, seeing it now, really seeing it, Artemis was not disappointed. He was everything she’d imagined, as easy in a brown leather jacket and blue jeans as he must have been in a waistcoat dozens of winters ago. “My name,” she said evenly, “is Artemis Seth.”
He stared at her for a moment. And then he lurched forward. For half a second, Artemis thought he was going to attack her, but no. He wasn’t charging. He was falling. Down to his knees, he fell, letting out a soft noise, a release of breath that was shockingly human. Leaning forward, he threw his arms around her waist, burying his face in her black blouse. Artemis suddenly didn’t know what to do with her hands. She held them awkwardly out to either side before absently touching his head with one, as though she were blessing him.
But that was Diana’s domain and this was Diana’s boy.
He muttered incomprehensibly against her stomach before raising his eyes and whispering, “You have no idea how long.”
“How long what?”
“How long I’ve been looking for you.”
She kept her expression neutral. Those pleading eyes told her the story of a struggle that had gone on for centuries. He thought it was at an end now. How could she tell him that Diana hadn’t returned from Phoenix?
Marks: Artemis will step into the world of the game with a letter "C" carved into the back of her neck. C is for "Cainite" (not Cookie) and for the Mark of Caine, which Artemis was cursed with. She has used her curse to her advantage on more than one occasion.
Name: Wizera
Personal Journal:
wizeraTime zone: central
Current Characters: None
|| Character Information ||
Character Name: Artemis Seth (formerly Artemis York)
Age: Artemis appears to be in her early twenties. She was, in fact, Embraced at the age of twenty. In all reality, however, she is 250, as of 2009.
Appearance: Artemis might be considered an attractive girl, if she ever bothered to give a thought to her appearance. Embraced at the age of twenty, she is frozen in time at the peak of her youth. Her complexion is perfect; pale as befitted a young woman of nobility during the 1700s. Her light skin offsets her dark, bottomless brown eyes. Artemis walks through her life with a perpetually haunted look, her eyes just a little bit too wide, most of the time. Her hair, wavy and brown, is generally tied back in a simple ponytail, as if she couldn’t be bothered with it. She stands at about five foot four and is a little too skinny, with very little in the way of curves.
When Artemis is feeding or enraged, what’s known as ‘the Beast’ comes out. The Beast is a vampire term for the supernatural parasite living in the human host. The change isn’t physical. Aside from the fact that her front incisors become fangs, nothing about her body is transformed. What changes is her presence. She goes from being a harmless waif to being an obvious predator. There’s simply something extra frightening about her that wasn’t there moments earlier. It goes away when she reverts back to her natural state.
There is something graceful and serpentine about the way Artemis moves. Being a supernatural predator, she has a light tread. This unnatural grace translates into her fighting style as well. She moves like water, one motion effortlessly flowing into the next. Often, her head is canted to one side and she sometimes forgets to blink. She uses all five of her heightened senses to her best advantage, which means she’ll touch anything of interest. Sniff it. Even lick it, if she thinks that will yield information. She does all of this very unapologetically.
In terms of dress, Artemis is most comfortable in what Fatima jokingly refers to as “the uniform.” She likes to wear dark jeans, a black tank top, and comfortable black boots with her ritual knife tucked into the right one. Obviously, she has more than one of each of these items, but they’re so identical that one could easily assume she wears the same thing every day. In addition to her basic outfit, Artemis wears her father’s old, tan duster. It’s made of suede leather and falls to her ankles. A dark brown ribbon weaves in and out, all along the neckline. Artemis is also never seen without her two necklaces. The first is a silver disk, with an emerald in the middle of it. Sun rays are etched into the surface of the disk and it hangs on a silver chain. This was a gift to her from her father. Both of her sisters wear matching necklaces. The other necklace she’s never seen without is her amulet of the Order of the Silver Crescent. It’s a heavy silver chain with a charm that’s half silver moon and half golden sun.
Artemis still speaks with a London accent. She can, with some effort, mask it with an American, west coast accent, but it’s unnatural to her and she generally just reverts. Her voice is whispery and ethereal. She also has a halfway decent singing voice. When she’s playing up her Malkavian insanity, she’ll often sing instead of speak.
PB: Danielle Campbell
World Information: Artemis hails from White Wolf's classic World of Darkness, a tabletop and LARP setting (player is a LARPer and proud of it). This is a world in which vampires (called Cainites), werewolves, mages, changlings, and a host of other monsters all go bump in the night. Artemis herself is a Malkavian, a breed of vampire with a reputation for being insane and prophetic.
Artemis' life centers around the world of Cainites. According to the Cainite bible, called the "Book of Nod," the first vampire was the biblical Cain (spelled "Caine" in most texts). After killing Abel, Caine was given the "mark of Caine," known as the curse of vampirism. He went on to sire (or "Embrace") three children, who in turn, Embraced a third generation of thirteen. And it is from these thirteen that the thirteen Cainite clans descend. Each of the thirteen clans has its own name and unique set of abilities, merits, and flaws.
Cainites are divided up into three sects. The first are the Camarilla. The Camarilla exist in a grossly deformed sort of democracy. Led by a Prince, the Camarilla relies on a system of representation to protect the Cainites in a city. Of all the sects, the Camarilla might be considered the closest to the "good guys." They have a strict set of laws, known as the Traditions, created to keep the existence of vampires a secret and to protect members from each other. The most important tradition is the Masquerade. Others include laws against siring or killing other vampires, as well as protecting domains.
The second largest sect is known as the Sabbat. The Sabbat are essentially an enormous Gehenna (vampire apocalypse) cult. They have no care for humans nor any other creatures. They live for chaos, taking no measures to protect the Masquerade. Despite having the same structure as the Catholic church, with a system of archbishops, bishops, and clerics, the Sabbat are disorganized. Although once a single, unified cult, there are now many different beliefs and scripture, often conflicting with one another.
Cainites who don't belong to the Sabbat or the Camarilla are called "Independents." Although they answer to no one, they are often left unprotected. Independents frequently become fodder in the squabbles between the Camarilla and the Sabbat. Still others fall under the rule of the Giovanni Clan, a small clan whose members are all Independent and, by and large, related to one another by blood.
The modern nights are considered, by many Cainites, to be the end times. Believers, particularly the Sabbat, are sure that soon, the thirteen ancestors of each of the clans will rise up to devour their children. Vampires fourteen and fifteen generations removed from Caine have become commonplace. Many of these vampires are known as "thin bloods," a portent of the coming apocalypse. They are much closer to humans than vampires, able to withstand small amounts of sunlight, able to ingest food, and, most importantly, able to reproduce with humans. The children of fourteenth and fifteenth generation Cainites are called "dhampir."
Personal History: Artemis York–-who would later become Artemis Seth-–was born in the year 1759 in Notting Hill, England. She was the third child of Adam York, a professor of ancient religions, and his wife Lilith York, a Parliament member's daughter. The family was surprisingly well off, Adam being from new money. Artemis was a completely unexpected surprise, born seven years after her sister Diana and thirteen years after her sister Selene. She quickly became the complete apple of Adam's eye.
From an early age, there was something "slightly off" about Artemis, however. Something that alienated her from her mother. She often reported strange dreams. Unlike other girls her age, she showed little interest in dolls and pretty dresses. At times, she would say completely erratic and unpredictable things. Although her mother sometimes scolded her for predicting that Diana would one day march against the military or that Selene would bathe in rivers of blood, Artemis persisted, insisting that she was only telling the truth. It would be many, many years before Artemis and her family realized that these childish utterances were actually prophetic.
Like her father, Artemis grew up bookish and sharp, despite all of her eccentricities. When it was decided that Diana would be given an education--Adam himself began to tutor her in ancient religions and also taught her ancient Gaelic--Artemis would often sit in on these lessons and she and Diana grew closer. Meanwhile, Selene simply grew up and was married in 1762. A year later, Selene's daughter Eve was born and her husband was killed in the French Indian War.
Unfortunately, the closeness Diana and Artemis shared was cut short when Artemis was seven. After a clumsy accident that cast a bleak outlook on Diana's marriage prospects, she was sent away to be the companion of the Countess of Sussex. It was Lilith's fondest hope that Diana would marry into money, high above her station. Artemis suddenly found herself without a constant companion and bedmate. Because of her peculiar tendencies, she had difficulties making friends with other children. Seeing how sad she was, Adam would sometimes take her with him to Cambridge. There, she learned to love libraries and learning. While not precocious, her intelligence endeared her to the scholars on the university grounds.
Despite her strange visions and prophecies, Artemis' childhood was uneventful. By the age of seventeen, she had grown into an ethereal beauty and she attracted the attention of two young suitors in Notting Hill. The first, who her mother preferred, was Thomas Grossmith, a man nearly twice her age and incredibly wealthy. The second, her father's favorite, was Edward James, who was studying to be a doctor. Artemis, who didn't know how to flirt and never even dreamed of a husband, had little interest in either of them, although she found Edward to be somewhat endearing. In the end, however, it hardly mattered.
One night in 1776, Adam disappeared during a trip to St. Joseph's church, one of his favorite places for reflection and meditation. After weeks of endless searches which turned up nothing, the authorities were forced to declare him dead. Artemis and Lilith were both devastated. While her mother closed down, Artemis broke with reality completely. Or so it seemed to everyone around her.
The emotional trauma of losing the person she loved most in the world awakened Artemis' prophetic abilities, full-force. It was no longer a simple matter of dreams and stray trains of thought. She had a hard time separating reality from what she was seeing, making her incredibly prone to fits. Artemis started forgetting to do things like eat and sleep. Her appearance rapidly changed as her body began to deteriorate, leaving her to resemble a wide-eyed skeleton with unkempt curls.
Diana returned home, at Selene's insistence, to take care of her mother and sister, but Diana's patience quickly wore thin with Artemis' constant prophecies. Diana was miserable back in Notting Hill, missing all of the excitement and glamor of her life with the countess. She made it very clear how much she resented her mother and sister for robbing her of the high life, constantly making snide remarks about how low-brow their lifestyle was and never letting anyone ignore the fact that she was terribly bored without fancy balls and salons to attend. The tension filled the household. Frustrated, one night, Diana screamed at Artemis, lamenting that she would never ever find a husband. Artemis very calmly suggested that Diana visit their father's favorite church, to seek guidance. Diana left the house and did not return. That same night, Selene disappeared. They were both declared dead in a matter of weeks.
For the next two years, Lilith and Artemis were largely supported by family. Like Diana, most of them offered their assistance only resentfully. Lilith's increasingly withdrawn presence and Artemis' erratic behavior made them both family embarrassments. To try and keep the gossip from spreading, the two of them were kept inside at all times. Lilith barely noticed, but Artemis increasingly became restless as her health returned. She began to insist she be allowed to visit St. Joseph's church. Something was calling her there. She just knew it. Her dreams whispered it to her. The family was reluctant to let her out of their sights, but after a lot of pleading and begging and promising, they allowed her to go.
It was 1779 when Artemis returned to Notting Hill and she was twenty years old. St. Joseph's church was much the way she remembered it from her youth and Artemis was disappointed when she first arrived. She roamed the halls, certain that something was waiting for her there, but she found nothing. Finally, she settled down in a pew to pray, wondering if she really was as mad as everyone said. She wasn't there five minutes before a tall, dark-haired man approached her. A handsome Irish gentleman, he asked for her name and when she gave it, a blond woman appeared, holding a lantern. She hurled the lantern at Artemis and just barely missed. It hit a pew which immediately went up in flames as the oil splashed over it.
Other strangers appeared, shouting and arguing, using words that Artemis half understood, as if out of a dream. A fight broke and Artemis was flung through a window. The church was lit on fire and people began rushing out. Among them, much to her shock, was her father, Adam. She watched as Adam fought against the dark-haired man, whose name was Liam, and who spoke disparagingly of a group called the "Children of Eden." Eventually, some of Adam's allies managed to drive Liam and his followers, including the blond woman, Ursela, off.
Artemis was broken and bloody from her fall. Her father found her and fed her some of his blood. Her wounds healed and he carried her away from the church and from Notting Hill. The least surprising thing she learned was that her father was now a vampire, from a mad and prophetic clan, known as the Malkavians. Adam Embraced Artemis that night with the Prince of London's blessing. She did not fully understand what had happened, but Adam impressed upon her the fact that she could either join with him or be killed for seeing all that she'd seen. Artemis was only too happy to be reunited with her father, no matter what. Adam renamed her Artemis Seth.
After Artemis reawoke as a vampire, Adam told her the rest of the story. When he disappeared in 1776, he was abducted by a very old vampire, a Malkavian woman who called herself "the Father." She had reawakened from a long slumber to be disappointed by the state of the world. Madness and megalomania led her to decide that she was God and that it was her duty to recreate paradise on earth, by reuniting the vampire world with the humans. To that end, she set up her own Garden of Eden and chose Adam to be her new Adam. He was ordered a year later to Embrace Selene and Diana, renaming them Selene Caine and Diana Abel. The Father insisted on Artemis' Embrace as well, but Adam stalled for a few years, protesting that she was too young. In truth, he couldn't bear the idea of killing his third child. He had simply been left with no choice.
Afraid of being followed back to the new Garden of Eden that the Father had created, Adam took Artemis to Paris and taught her the Father's vision (or what little he knew of it) to bring together vampires and humans in a new paradise. The Father had great and mysterious plans for Adam and his three girls. Adam was only able to convey the symbolism of it, however. According to the lore of the vampire world, the story of Caine and Abel was true, Abel being the first murder victim, Caine being the first vampire. Their younger brother, Seth, was the progenitor of the entire race of men to date. In the Father's mind, bringing together Selene and Artemis--Caine and Seth--represented the unity of the mortal and immortal worlds. And somehow, all of it would eventually hinge on Diana. Adam knew nothing more.
Artemis, still new to the world of vampires, was intrigued by the notion of recreating paradise. She and Adam traveled across France for years, spreading the gospel of the Children of Eden. Artemis began to sense, however, that her father's heart was not in the cause. He admitted that he missed his life and he missed his family, especially Lilith. The two of them returned to England, but there, they learned that Lilith had died.
As Adam struggled to come to terms with his losses, he and Artemis found themselves under attack. There were many who thought the Children of Eden was a fool's errand and hoped to destroy it by destroying Adam. Among them were Liam and Ursela. The pair tracked down Adam and Artemis, locating their London household. Adam had employed several servants, among them, a Middle Eastern woman called Shauzia Merali. One night, Shauzia was cornered by Liam. He was looking for Adam, but decided to use Shauzia to send a message. Liam violently raped her, but left her alive. Fearful for their lives and the lives of their servants, Artemis and Adam packed up the household and fled to Ireland. There, Shauzia gave birth to a dhampir daughter. Artemis was immediately taken with the mother and child and promised to keep them safe at all costs. In her mind, the little girl was the very symbol of the marriage of vampires and humans. An idea she still wanted to protect.
They weren't in Ireland long before Liam and Ursela caught up with them. They hunted Adam and Artemis down, finally cornering them in the streets one night. A fight broke out. By this point, Artemis had begun learning how to defend herself. Her willowy frame made her a surprisingly versatile combatant, but she wasn't good enough. In the end, Adam was killed. Artemis only barely managed to escape, clinging to her father's old coat. She raced back to their household, packing up Shauzia and the other servants.
They fled again. To the new world, this time. And they settled in California, which was just barely inhabited at the time. There, Artemis tried to start her own branch of the Children of Eden, calling it the Order of the Silver Crescent. She insisted that all of her followers feed primarily off of animals, a prudent decision, seeing as there were more animals than people. In the case of Ventrue who had to feed on humans, she insisted upon a strict rule of no killing. Unfortunately, without Adam's guidance and without the Father's influence, Artemis was uncertain of how to create the perfect Garden of Eden and her Order gradually became something of a police force, fighting against vampires who killed and flouted the Masquerade, the sacred tradition separating worlds. This earning Artemis a large number of enemies.
She earned some unexpected allies too. The dedication that both Adam and Artemis showed for protecting mortals was extremely atypical of vampires. Grateful for the sacrifices they made, Shauzia dedicated her life to serving Artemis and when Shauzia's daughter came of age, she too pledged her eternal loyalty. She took this a step farther, however, purposefully going out into the night and allowing herself to be ravished by a vampire. Soon, she too gave birth to a dhampir daughter. It became a family tradition, bordering on sacred rite. Generation after generation of the Merali family followed Artemis across the west, bearing dhampir children who would take over in service. This had the dual effect of garnering Artemis a considerable amount of protection and a reputation as a harborer dhampir orphans, wayward ghouls, and thin-blooded vampires. Always, it would be a descendent of Shauzia Merali serving as the leader of the mortals within the household.
In 1800, Artemis pinned a target on her back by killing a Lasombra Bishop who attempted to break into her household to kill a vampire she was protecting. Afraid for her safety, the members of the Order of the Silver Crescent insisted that she flee for a time. She returned to London and met the Father for the first time. She was immediately struck by the Father's arrogance, finding more ego than idealism to her. When she told of her accomplishments in California, however, the Father seemed pleased and offered Artemis protection, setting her up as a servant in the household of one of her ghouls, Noah Sheffield.
As it turned out, Artemis was a terrible servant. Noah's estate had a large library and Artemis constantly forgot about what she was supposed to be doing, distracted by all of the books. She managed to save face, largely due to her friendship with another maid in the household, named Jenny. Jenny had absolutely no idea who or what Artemis really was. It was the first real friendship Artemis ever made with a human.
The other human in the household that Artemis grew to care for was her master's youngest son, Japeth. Japeth was a hot-headed young man, the sort who was too intelligent for most of his studies. He was immediately drawn to Artemis, despite knowing from his father, exactly what she was. They spoke frequently and eventually--very much by accident--ended up falling in love. Unfortunately, Artemis realized that she belonged back in California. She didn't like the Father and didn't like what she'd learned about the Father's plans: Namely that the Father intended to thin the blood of her followers and start breeding dhampir to form an army that could march against her vampire enemies in the daylight. Remembering the Merali bloodline and her intentions to protect those who needed protection, Artemis finally decided to leave London.
Japeth wanted to go with her. More than that, he wanted to marry her. Noah was furious. The Father would have none of it. And while Artemis did love Japeth, she decided that he could not be a part of her life and her world. Artemis returned to California. Japeth dutifully married the woman that his father chose for him to marry and he and Artemis never met again.
In 1851, the last person that Artemis expected on her doorstep showed up: Liam. She could tell that he was a changed man. On his knees, he offered himself to Artemis as a servant, explaining that the Father had punished him for crimes against the Children of Eden. Artemis understood immediately that the Father had used dementation on him to rewire his brain. While this resulted in creating a better person, she didn't approve of the method. Feeling pity for Liam, in spite of the fact that he'd killed her father, Artemis took him in. At once, he set about the task of making things right with her. He gifted the Order with an enormous California estate, a compound where both vampires and mortals could live together and protect each other. To add to that, he gave her a far more precious gift: Her family.
Through Liam, Artemis learned that Diana and Selene were alive. Selene had turned into a coldblooded killer, but Diana had become a virtuous champion of right. Liam brought Diana to Artemis. Diana was a changed woman, completely unlike the selfish, spoiled brat that Artemis last remembered. The reunion was happy, the bond between the sisters growing deeper than ever before. Artemis, Liam, and Diana also all came to agree that the Father's plans for a dhampir army to use against her enemies was dangerous and immoral. Since the Order of the Silver Crescent had considerable wealth and many, many members, Artemis agreed to turn her compound into a safe haven for thin-blooded vampires and dhampir.
Liam, Diana, and Artemis worked in tandem to set up an underground railroad across the United States. Artemis' compound would serve as the final destination, a school at which dhampir could learn self defense against the Father or any other vampires who sought to use or destroy them. In 1855, Selene arrived in California and met up with Diana, who kept Artemis and the Order of the Silver Crescent a secret. Selene warned Diana that Milton--her former Brujah lover--had fallen in love with her daughter, Eve, now a ghouled vampire hunter. Afraid of leading trouble to Artemis' doorstep, Diana convinced Selene to join her and Liam as they traveled to set up a Camarilla court in the new town of Los Angeles. Liam established himself as Prince and merely warned Selene to keep her violent activities outside of the city limits. Unfortunately, the real problem was Ursela, who had arrived to reclaim Liam. Seeing that Liam was now in love with Diana, Ursela attempted to kill Diana. Soon after, Diana and Selene left California for the east coast, Selene so she could take part in the slaughter of the Civil War, Diana so that she could start finding dhampir.
By the end of the 1800s, the dhampir railroad was in place and working beautifully. Artemis' compound was filled with followers, both dhampir and vampire. Liam's Camarilla court was thriving. Given the relative success of the Order's efforts, Artemis left responsibilities in the hands of her retainers for a time in the early 1900s and returned to London, hoping to find the Father. Rumors began to swirl that the Garden of Eden had been destroyed by Eve and Milton and a new one was being created. Artemis had no luck locating the new garden, however. Throughout the two world wars, Artemis assisted the Camarilla of London with the Sabbat, as they fought to control the city.
During her sabbatical, Artemis also took to books once more. She set herself up to study everything there was to know about the occult. The world, she learned, was far greater than simply what existed between humans, dhampir, and vampires. She quickly became an expert, gleaning fact from fiction in the very books of mythology her father once read to her. She also gained an appreciation for the Wiccan faith, which was so intimately tied to her studies. She ended up converting, which had a unique effect on her abilities. She found that she could draw upon the power of her faith to, quite literally, repel vampires. Like crosses and garlic repelled them in stories.
Following World War II, Artemis became an official adviser to the Prince of London, Prince William Spence, educating him on life in the Americas. She traveled back and forth between London and California several times throughout the late 1900s. Of note was an incident that sent her home in 1992. The entire vampire population of Oakland, California vanished. Liam went to go investigate and called Artemis and Diana frantic. He explained that based on the reports of a surviving ghoul, the Father had led a dhampir army to Oakland and, bright and early in the dawn, the army had visited every vampire haven, opening up windows and doors to allow the vampires to greet the morning sun. Artemis was appalled at such actions and crushed with the knowledge that despite all her hard work, many dhampir had still managed to fall into the Father's clutches. Still, she was determined to carry on.
By 2004, however, life in London had become utterly unbearable for Artemis. She learned that Prince Spence had grown fascinated with zombies and his use of them didn't sit too well with her. She left permanently, settling back down in California where Liam named her the Malkavian Primogen of his court. Artemis didn't make much of a statesman, but she was better able to run her Order and educate new dhampir back home. The coven had grown quite powerful and many times had lent their abilities to aid Liam as he dealt with running the city. One night, however, one of Liam's enemies found out about the coven. Learning that they were going to cast a spell on Liam's behalf, the enemy attacked, slaughtering many dhampir, including the leader, Parvana Merali. Parvana's daughter, Fatima, survived the attack and was brought home by Liam. Although young and stubborn, Artemis saw incredible potential in Fatima and elevated her to leadership, despite the fact that she was only sixteen years old.
Artemis, Liam, and Fatima took several years to settle into a comfortable arrangement, but Liam loved Fatima like a daughter--and Artemis sometimes suspected that he was, in fact, her father--and soon enough, they'd found a routine. At first a parental figure to Fatima, Artemis eventually became her friend and equal.
When the entire vampire population of Phoenix, Arizona was reported missing in 2008, Artemis and her allies immediately suspected the Father's hand and decided to investigate. Liam, Fatima, and Artemis chose to send Diana and Selene to the scene. Although they knew Selene was just itching for a fight with the Father, they also reasoned that going to Phoenix might benefit the railroad. Surely, many misfits in vampiric society would make their way to fill in the power vacuum, after all. And among them, they might find people they could help.
Phoenix turned out to be a huge disaster. Working with magic beyond their comprehension, several vampires investigating the disappearances managed to create a Wyrm, which destroyed all technology in the surrounding area. Artemis ordered Diana and Selene to leave. Selene escaped to Mexico. Still close enough to suffer the effects of this magic, Diana's van broke down. She got out to walk to the nearest gas station and was immediately attacked by a handful of the Father's fringe followers. Their leader, baptized as Solomon by the Father, had Sabbat leanings which he impressed upon the entire group. Among them, they practiced feeding off of vampires. He convinced the others that the best way to protect Diana, the vampire messiah according to the Father's gospel, was to keep tabs on her at all time. Diana was therefore strung up in their safe haven and a nightly ritual of feeding was established, each of Solomon's followers becoming blood bound to Diana while she continued to suffer an unending amount of aggravated damage from their teeth.
As Liam and Artemis began to realize that Diana was missing, Artemis happened to run into a Ventrue named Joseph. Joseph was Liam's childe. More importantly, he had once been engaged to marry Diana. Liam, in his wicked days, had Embraced Joseph on their wedding night, as a way to torment Diana. When Joseph learned who Artemis was and that Diana was missing, he immediately insisted on joining Artemis and Liam in their attempt to find and rescue her. This caused a lot of tension in the Order, especially given the fact that Liam had fallen desperately in love with Diana, though she had never once requited his feelings. Nevertheless, the three of them finally managed to track Diana down to Solomon's stronghold. Liam ripped Solomon's heart out with his bare hands and carried Diana off, Artemis and Joseph trailing after him. They all reunited back in California.
There was no respite for them there. Diana's spirit was broken and Joseph's less-than-wholesome past was following him. Determined to kill two birds with one stone, Artemis inducted Joseph into the Order an sent him on a field mission with Diana. Unfortunately, that was just the beginning of her troubles...
Personality:
And we take them out and show ourselves when everyone has gone...
Artemis' personality begins with her mercurial demeanor. Each member of the York family, desperate to survive the perils of life as a vampire, found a different way to present themselves to the world. Adam chose to appear ineffectual and harmless. Selene became a monster. Diana passed herself off as a flake. Artemis, however, made a different choice in terms of her demeanor. She created three different outward-facing personas for herself, changing them depending on her audience.
A wildly-held assumption, among the vampires of Artemis' world of darkness, is that vampires who hail from the Malkavian clan are irreversibly insane. The truth is, of course, a bit more complicated. But often, to pass through her life, Artemis chooses to "play up the crazy." Her derangement, schizophrenia (addressed further below), is only activated by someone threatening one of her friends or allies, but she often pretends that it's active constantly. This has allowed her to be easily dismissed and underestimated by enemies.
When in the company of other vampires--ones she doesn't know or doesn't trust--Artemis has a tendency to burst into song. She doesn't sing anything off the charts. She'll, quite literally, sing whatever it is she was going to say. When she has nothing to say at all, but wants to make her presence known, she'll hum or whistle or sing a nursery rhyme or sonnet. She actually has a beautiful voice, but her mannerisms are intentionally haunting, like a child driven insane. She'll sway from side to side, letting her focus go soft. Sometimes, she'll spin in circles. Her voice tends to be higher when she's adopting this persona. She'll sometimes forget to blink.
Artemis' second outward persona is the one she reserves for interacting with humans or members of the Order. When dealing with the important work of saving the world, Artemis is very business-like and precise. Some might call her blunt. She'll say whatever has to be said, regardless of anyone's feelings. Artemis is the leader of the Order and she'll make that clear. Any challenges to her decisions will be met with fierce opposition. She will only back down and change her mind if she's presented with an extremely sound reason to do so. This outward confidence, combined with the surprising accuracy of her prophetic visions, has left her largely unchallenged since the beginning.
This isn't to say that she's without kindness or mercy. Artemis will always go out of her way to protect lives. She just won't be sentimental about it. She'll happily save a woman from a burning building, but the odds are high that Artemis will then leave that woman by the side of the road or on the door of a hotel. She doesn't stick around for gratitude and she doesn't deal with the emotional aftermath of a near-death experience. Instead, she'll hand off that work to others.
When she fails, she's extremely careful not to let any emotional response creep through. This isn't to say she's emotionless--as will be discussed below--but that she puts a lot of effort into maintaining a facade of ice. Unfortunately, most people don't understand that there's more beneath her surface.
A third demeanor, one that Artemis almost never shares, is her private persona. This is, perhaps, the persona that's closest to who she really is; and old soul struggling to hold onto her fight. Only those she trusts the most--people like Liam, Fatima, or Diana--are allowed to see this side of her. It is in this state of being that Artemis' nature and demeanor are one and the same, revealing her personality for what it really is.
Artemis is fiercely intelligent. She absorbs information like a sponge and is very good at retaining it. That said, she is better with books than with people and she knows it. Her difficulties connecting with others bothers her immensely. This is especially true because Artemis wants to retain her humanity. She knows that the best way to do that is to be involved in the lives of human beings. Otherwise, she'll lose their perspective and slip deeper into being the monster that she sometimes needs to be. Her struggle to find human connection is most apparent when she takes off her masks.
Sometimes, Artemis wonders how much control she really has over her other demeanors. The idea that Malkavians are incurably insane isn't unfounded. Many, many Malkavians eventually crack under the strain of shared prophecies and visions, known jokingly as the "Malkavian madness network." Artemis is connected to this network. Unlike the prophecies that come to her of her own power, what she sees in her visions are often erratic, violent, and difficult to interpret. They're unpleasant and painful, at times, even if they are also useful. Artemis cannot control them. One of her deepest fears is that they will one day drive her into a pit of madness from which she cannot escape. As it is, even when she's alone, little quirks from her public persona will slip into her behavior. She often talks to herself. Sometimes, she'll "space out," staring at walls while she tries to remember important details.
One of Artemis' strangest obsessions is her fixation on water. It helps her to think, although she cannot understand just why. She's been known, on occasion, to hold business meetings in bathrooms, where she'll shower with her clothes on. Something about the sensation of water on her skin allows her to focus. She's always drawn to fountains, lakes, oceans, and rivers and she's one of the few vampires in the Order who can actually swim, even though she doesn't need to.
Pessimism comes naturally to Artemis, but she isn't without hope. Her hope is drawn from the people in her life who--in her mind--can accomplish the things she cannot. Once source of inspiration for her is Liam, who has struggled against his past to seek redemption (even if he had a little supernatural help). Fatima, who forever walks a tightrope between the human world and the vampire world, also pushes Artemis to be better than her Malkavian instincts. And then there's Diana, a Malkavian who has more humanity than most humans that Artemis knows. Seeing the three of them exist and thrive drives Artemis to keep fighting against the encroaching madness.
Another source of inspiration for Artemis is the memory of her time with Japeth. Although she believes that she has no hope for love and romance, she can remember what it felt like to be loved. It's a feeling she wants others to know, a feeling that she believes will help to change the world for the better. Having had an experience with that reminds Artemis what she's fighting for. For other people. Not herself.
As far as human virtue is concerned, Artemis doesn't hold to the Ten Commandments. She has no objections to stealing or lying, when it's necessary. Although she's never killed a human, she will feed off of one without a second thought. She also has very little objection to killing other supernatural creatures, if they're causing trouble. That said, she has no tolerance for unnecessary suffering. She refuses to allow torture in her compound. When she has to kill someone, she tries to make it a quick kill, as painless as possible. Her weapon of choice is a long, ritual knife that Liam gave her as a sign of his subservience to her.
Being a Malkavian often tests Artemis' self-control. In addition to shared visions, all Malkavians suffer some form of triggered derangement. For Artemis, it's mild schizophrenia, which flares up whenever someone threatens someone important to her. Although when pretending that her derangement is active, she plays an ethereal Cassandra, when it's really active, her outbursts are violent and aggressive. In calmer moments, Artemis often remembers her father appearing to her, urging her to protect someone at all costs, goading her and berating her until she gives in to her violent impulses. To say that Artemis is a loyal friend is an understatement. If you threaten someone important to her, she'll beat you within an inch of your life.
Strengths: As far as natural inclinations go, Artemis is smart. She enjoys research and has an incredibly good memory, especially when it comes to mythology. She speaks Gaelic, Aramaic, and Latin. She can also fake her way through languages derived from any of the three. Additionally, she's athletic and very good in a fight. Her abilities aren't supernatural. More, they're on par with a human at optimal performance. She has no specific style training. Her fighting tends to be "whatever gets it done." She's decent with a knife, however.
As a vampire, Artemis is technically immortal. Age and disease cannot touch her. Additionally, her blood--known as vitae--allows her to practice certain types of magic that vampires refer to as "disciplines." Artemis is trained in the following disciplines:
Auspex
Heightened Senses: She can voluntarily heighten all five senses, or any one at a time.
Aura Perception: Her eyes can allow her to learn the following bits of information about another person: Current mood/emotional state, creature type, if they're under the effects of magic, or if they've committed diablerie (essentially, soul-sucking)
Spirit's Tough: Artemis can touch an object to learn any of the following information about it: Who was the last person who touched it? Was it used in an emotionally stressful event? What were the emotions of the person using the object?
Telepathy: Artemis can communicate mentally with another person. It's only a one-way street, however. They cannot reply to her.
Dementation
Passion: Artemis can make another person submissive or impatient for about ten minutes.
Eyes of Chaos: She can look at another person and learn what their intrinsic nature is (ie., Architect, Autocrat, Bon Vivant, Bravo, Caregiver, Celebrant, Child, Competitor, Conformist, Conniver, Curmudgeon, Deviant, Director, Fanatic, Gallant, Judge, Loner, Martyr, Masochist, Monster, Pedagogue, Penitent, Perfectionist, Rebel, Rogue, Thrill-Seeker, Traditionalist, Trickster, Visionary).
Dominate
Command: She can issue a one-word command with a duration of less than 10 minutes.
Obfuscate
Cloak of Shadows and Unseen Presence: She can become invisible if no one can see her and she doesn't interact with her environment.
In addition to these disciplines, Artemis' blood also allows her to heal wounds almost instantly. This is not without danger (as will be addressed below). If she feeds her blood to a healthy human being, that human being becomes a ghoul, a mortal with enhanced physical strength and endurance who is utterly devoted to Artemis. For about one month. During that month, the mortal will also stop aging. This can be done in perpetuity, but if a ghoul misses a single month of blood, she automatically reverts to the age that she was supposed to be. For this reason (and others), Artemis only ghouls people in dire situations.
Weaknesses: Like all people, Artemis has her flaws. As addressed in her personality section, she has difficulties sorting out her various masks and interacting with people. Much of the modern world is also confusing for her. Artemis isn't good with pop culture. Although she can operate a computer or a car at the most basic level, she does not understand what makes them go. She's absolutely hopeless with kitchen appliances and never, ever ask her to set a DVR.
Although the blood of vampires is potent, it comes at a price. Using too much of it (say, to heal) can leave Artemis hungry. A hungry vampire runs the very real risk of what's known as frenzy. When a frenzy occurs, the rational mind of the vampire gives way to 'the Beast,' the animal instinct that drives them to feed and destroy. If Artemis doesn't keep herself well-fed, she's in danger of losing control. Similarly, as a Malkavian, Artemis suffers from a derangement. When someone she cares about is threatened, she feels haunted by her dead father and compelled to fight and fight and fight until the threat is eliminated. This is very difficult for her to suppress.
Vampires are immortal. However, that doesn't mean they can't be killed. Fire and sunlight will reduce a vampire to ash. A stake through the heart, while not fatal, will paralyze a vampire in a coma until the stake is removed. Crosses, Stars of David, and other religious icons don't do damage to vampires unless the person who wields them has True Faith. If that's the case, Artemis is repelled and if the artifact touches her, she is burned.
First Person Sample:
[The video springs to life and the camera seems to be rolling around. It wobbles from place to place, occasional images of fingertips flashing across the screen. A girl's voice can be heard, muttering softly in a posh, London accent:]
The Fates have called, the blackness speaks
We heard the screams and felt the shrieks
Thunder rolled, winds grew fierce,
Lightning struck, the earth was pierced
I tell you now, listen close
Those who hear learn the most...
[And suddenly, the camera focuses on a girl. She must be in her early twenties. Late teens? It's a little hard to tell. She has a young face, but ancient, bottomless brown eyes. Eyes that have seen too much to ever be soft again. Her face is pale, framed by dark tendrils. Cassandra curls, falling out of a messy ponytale.
Blood drips down the soft skin of her neck on both sides, coming from someplace behind her hair. If she notices it, though, she shows no indication. Her full focus is on the camera now.]
So who else here is Damned?
[And suddenly, she lets out peels of laughter. Soft, dainty giggles that seem completely incongruous.]
Or more Damned than usual?
Third Person Sample:
The anarchs came out of nowhere, a whole coterie of them. Being anarchs, there was no real way to identify who they were or what they wanted. All that really mattered, though, was killing them quickly and quietly. Fortunately, as Artemis’ blade flashed under the glow of the streetlamp, she made quick work of the first one, putting out both of his eyes. Young Cainites were so foolish. They relied far too heavily on their disciplines. How were you supposed to Dominate when you couldn’t make eye contact? That was a puzzle he’d never have the chance to consider. In the next instant, the long blade of her ceremonial dagger sliced clean through his throat. His head never even hit the ground before it was nothing but a shower of ash.
Sadly, the anarchs were the least of Artemis’ problems tonight. She’d spent a good five hours waiting for a truck that never arrived. Under normal circumstances, she would have simply called Liam to find out what was going on, but the truck she expected contained precious cargo. Her sister. Diana’s failure to arrive from Phoenix wouldn’t do much to improve Liam’s disposition which, of late, had grown increasingly surly.
The second anarch attacked her with a stiletto. With a fluid swing of her arm, she aimed the blade at his shoulder. She was starting to suspect that her attackers had seen one too many ninja movies, where the horde enemy only attacked one at a time when the third fired a gun at her head. Artemis shifted to one side and the bullet missed her, blowing into the other anarch’s skull. She turned to swing her blade at the gunman, but before she could do anything, a man appeared out of nowhere and punched him. The gunman let out a startled gasp and crumpled to the ground. Artemis’ rescuer drew a stake out of his coat and rammed it down into the anarch’s chest.
Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Artemis turned her attention back to her little friend with the stiletto. He was whimpering in pain from the bullet wound, but it wasn’t enough to incapacitate him. Artemis was only too happy to help. She rammed her knee into his chest, doubling him over. Twirling, more for the effect the movement had on her long, tan duster than for actual balance, she rammed the tip of her blade down between his shoulders. As he let out a grunt of pain, her rescuer produced another stake, sending it through his chest.
Three anarchs. Two of them staked. One of them dead. And a new mystery.
Brushing her hair out of her eyes, Artemis turned her full attention on the stranger. He was attractive, in a rumpled sort of way. His hair was brown and unkempt and his teeth put her in the mind of a chipmunk or other small rodent. He smiled at her, bowing from the waist. “All right there?” he asked. A Londoner, she was guessing, his accent eerily similar to hers.
“Been better,” Artemis replied, leaning over to wipe her blade off on one of the anarch’s coats. “I suppose I should thank you.”
“I suppose you should,” he replied.
Cocky son of a bitch. “How many winters?” she asked. It was obvious he had to be a Cainite. He’d so expertly dispatched of the renegades, leaving her unharmed, that there was no question.
“Over two centuries,” he replied, confirming her suspicions. “How many winters?”
“Over two centuries,” she said. “They were anarchs.”
“I figured as much,” the man muttered. “They say LA is overrun with them.”
“That’s a gross exaggeration.”
“Well, there are three less.”
“You’re new in town.”
He nodded. “Only just arrived. I was hoping someone could tell me where to seek acknowledgment.”
“Elysium is two blocks from here. The history museum. Court is held on the last night of every month. Our Prince is a Ventrue named Liam Stephens.”
The stranger blanched. Blanched. Artemis had never seen a Cainite do such a thing before. It rocked her to her very foundation and she barely heard him mutter, “I’m only passing through.”
He started to turn from her. Artemis latched onto his arm, pulling him back. “You were seeking acknowledgment before you heard our Prince’s name.” Children of Eden. He had to be. They, of all people, knew to fear Liam. He’d been utterly ruthless with Grandmother’s followers. Any one that dared cross into his territory met Final Death before they realized where they were. It had been many years since Artemis lived among them, but she still remembered the rituals well enough. “Where is our garden?” she asked.
The man stared at her blankly. “What?”
“Where is our garden?”
“I heard you the first time.”
“Where is our garden?”
“I don’t understand what you’re asking me.”
Artemis drew back. Not Children of Eden. What then? “My apologies.”
“No matter,” he said. His eyes traveled down the length of her arm. “You’re wounded.”
She looked at her coat and saw a blossom of blood on it. Damn. Of course, the odds were she had nicked herself in the fight--anarchs were entirely unimpressive--but she had to assess the damage. Unfastening her coat, she pulled it off. Just a scratch, really. Still, she hated to think that she’d gotten sloppy. She sent vitae coursing through her skin and watched the wound seal. “No matter,” she said, looking up.
If she thought her strange, new friend was pale before, to look at him now, she was quite certain he would soon be translucent. He was staring at her, wide-eyed. Not at her face. Not at her bosom. Her throat. She moved to put a hand over it and scold him for being so rude, but he latched onto her wrist with surprising force, pulling it away. “Where did you get that?” he demanded.
“Get what?”
“That,” he said fiercely, baring his teeth as he glared at her necklace.
Artemis glanced down at the necklace her father had given her, many winters ago. She scarcely ever thought about it, really. And never took it off. And no one had ever had a comment about it before. “What difference does it make?” she asked.
“Answer me.”
“I didn’t steal it, if that’s what you think.”
“Did Adam York give it to you?”
Silence. Stillness. The two of them locked eyes and froze there, on that strange event horizon. He wasn’t Children of Eden. But he knew her father’s name, his true name, his proper name. Artemis didn’t know whether to be puzzled or enraged or scared or some combination of the three. But she twisted her hand free of him, stepping back. “Who are you?” she asked him quietly.
“My name is Joseph,” he said. “Joseph Penn.”
A name she knew as well as her own. From a dozen countless nights, lying beside Diana and whispering in the dark about regrets and loss. Diana had painted a vivid picture of the man’s face and, seeing it now, really seeing it, Artemis was not disappointed. He was everything she’d imagined, as easy in a brown leather jacket and blue jeans as he must have been in a waistcoat dozens of winters ago. “My name,” she said evenly, “is Artemis Seth.”
He stared at her for a moment. And then he lurched forward. For half a second, Artemis thought he was going to attack her, but no. He wasn’t charging. He was falling. Down to his knees, he fell, letting out a soft noise, a release of breath that was shockingly human. Leaning forward, he threw his arms around her waist, burying his face in her black blouse. Artemis suddenly didn’t know what to do with her hands. She held them awkwardly out to either side before absently touching his head with one, as though she were blessing him.
But that was Diana’s domain and this was Diana’s boy.
He muttered incomprehensibly against her stomach before raising his eyes and whispering, “You have no idea how long.”
“How long what?”
“How long I’ve been looking for you.”
She kept her expression neutral. Those pleading eyes told her the story of a struggle that had gone on for centuries. He thought it was at an end now. How could she tell him that Diana hadn’t returned from Phoenix?
Marks: Artemis will step into the world of the game with a letter "C" carved into the back of her neck. C is for "Cainite" (not Cookie) and for the Mark of Caine, which Artemis was cursed with. She has used her curse to her advantage on more than one occasion.