Loretta Emiliano - Vyusher R'asa Alpha

Basic Information

Birth Name (Name Guidelines): Loretta Marcella Kalderas
Aliases: Etta, Loretta Emiliano (married name)
Place of Birth: Just outside of Prague
Agereal and apparent) (see the age breakdown for vampires here, see the real/apparent age calculator for werewolves here) 56, 31.5 (gifted at age 7)
Male/Female: Female
Current Occupation: Savia, Female Alpha of the Vyusher R’asa
Past Occupation: (If different from above) Genealogist, Advisor

Appearance

Hair Color: Dark Golden blonde
Length and Style: Long and thick, slightly wavy, worn down most of the time
Eye Color: Brown
Skin Color: Warm tan
Height: 5’4”
Weight: 110
Nationality: Roma/Eastern European mix
Race: (I.E. Vampire, Werewolf, human etc.) Werewolf
Body Type: Athletic
Wolf Form (Werewolf –please read first): Light grey with black points

Description (if an NPC) or name of your creator(if a PC) ( Please be as specific as possible, who your creator/gifter was, why he chose to change you, where is he/she now?): Loretta’s mother gifted her according to the usual traditions for Vyusher R’asa. She was gifted at the age of seven.

Personal Questions

1. Describe your character's personality
Quick tempered and at times impulsive. Dramatic. Easily irritated. Enjoys attention and is subconsciously annoyed when she, or someone in her family, is not the focal point in a given situation. Can be competitive. Has a suspicious nature. Impatient, a relentless taskmistress. Passionate and fiery. Sensual.

2. Describe how your character would appear to a stranger (I.E. typical dress, way they carry themselves etc.)
Loretta has a very expressive face that can be a little frightening to behold when she’s displeased, and downright withering when she is directing her contempt at a specific source. She is, however, radiant when she is happy. She prefers to wear things that drape to more confining clothing, though she can look the part of a politician’s wife when needed.

3.What does your character like?
Nature. Hunting. Getting her way. Astronomy. Being surrounded by her people. Making people jump when she says frog. She has a fascination with the military branch of Vyusher R’asa. Sunlight on her bare skin. Being told her future, even if she doesn’t believe it.

4. Dislike?
Confinement. Cigarette smoke. Uncomfortable clothes. Panderers and those who try to placate her.

5. (For humans) Describe what abilities you see your character having if they were turned.

6. What are your fears? (please choose and explain 3 minimum)
That there may be a predator larger than herself out there – some being whose actions she cannot keep ahead of. She fears for the next generation - that her son will pay for her mistakes, or simply not step up to his responsibilities and obligations. She is claustrophobic – in addition to being upset by confinement, she panics in tight spaces. This can lead to increased aggression.

7. What are your character's strengths and weaknesses? (please pick 3 minimum of each and explain in detail how and why this affects your character)
Efficient/Capable – knows how to get a job done and can put her nose to the grindstone
Foresight – Loretta is usually thinking a generation ahead
Protective – She can be quite nasty to her own pack mates, but god forbid anyone else tries to make a move.
Bitchy - doesn’t make a secret of her annoyances and doesn’t hold back.
Impatient – She usually has her act together and hates waiting on other people to meet expectations
Suspicious – Tends to think people are against her in some way and can come up with some fairly elaborate scenarios for how they would go about harming her efforts

Vampire -

Abilities (Listed here)

Flaws (Listed here)

Werewolf -

Abilities – Listed here (Include Tier Points) -
Darwinian Insight - 10
Speed – 5
Bloodhound - 2
Round Up – 2
Megaphone – 2
Flash of Presence – 2

Flaws – Listed here(Include Tier Points) -
Wild – 5
Defensive – 5
Volatile - 10
Aversion to cooked food – 2
Aversion to tight spaces - 2

Hobbies & Skills (for more information, read here)
Excellent markswoman
Photographic memory – particularly helpful when trying to map out the generations
Skilled interrogator
Tobi taught her the basics of using a computer – though she calls him often for help when there’s a mysterious error, she is a capable enough user
Has a good powerful singing voice - it helps that she can really make herself heard.

Cosmetic Traits(Distinct, character defining physical attributes. These should be minor and offer no real power other than to make your character appear more interesting.) The palms of her hands have an unusually large amount of lines.

Quirks and Habits worthy of mention - – Being wild, she occasionally writes her own rules on manners. She is very rarely called on it.

Personal History 3rd person (1st is acceptable) but please be as detailed as possible, this can/will affect your rp with other players.

Born three weeks premature, Loretta had, since the womb, yearned for freedom. Even before she understood the concept she knew that she was a restless spirit, not meant to be confined or bound by rules and conventions. Her parents soon gave up asserting them, seeing little use in trying, and let her run wild.

And how Etta loved to run! To feel grass and leaves under her feet, to smell open air and see the speckled light filtered through the trees overheard. She loved how the earth yielded to her feet, the sound of her footfalls, the good ache in her legs.

Her gifting did not slow her down in the slightest; in fact, it only made her more difficult to control. And the harder her family would try to rein her in, the harder she would try to escape. Soon they gave up on keeping track of her at all, only asking that she check in to assure them she was still with the living once in a while. That is, until she came into her womanhood – then her parents began to worry over her. As a child the kumpania would assist in protecting her; as a women, Loretta was considered eligible to have children, and it was not seemly for her to wander off unsupervised.

Loretta just laughed at this idea, claiming in an all too young tone that she would –never- have babies, and she was perfectly safe with her little group of friends who were, coincidentally, all boys. She was vaguely aware that she was beautiful, that some even called her ‘radiant’, but to her this was an untested theory, or a toy to play with until she grew bored and took off running once again.

That in combination with the ever shrinking wilderness, bringing dangerous outsiders closer and closer, prompted Loretta’s parents to send her off to be fostered in a more suitable environment. Somewhere remote, where she would be safe to run freely, but civilized, where she would be safe and disciplined while her mental maturity caught up with her physical development.

Loretta did not have it in her to mind being sent away overly much – though certainly she loved her family, she was ready to be free of them and their burdensome worries.

And so she moved to Macedonia, and there she met Durriken.

Loretta liked boys; she spent more time with them, for one, while the girls and women tended to stay closer to home. She especially liked the attention she was beginning to receive from them, though she didn’t quite understand the game she was playing when she carelessly firted. No boy, however, had ever captivated her attention the way Durriken did, from the first moment she saw him.

If asked, Loretta could not have said what it was that drew her to this of all men. She might have confessed that it was his handsome face and well muscled body. The next moment, though, she would claim it was his keen intelligence and bright way of speaking.

All of these things were certainly true. Durriken was a brilliant speaker and remarkably persuasive; charismatic even, and the fact that he was quite easy on the eyes certain didn’t hurt his cause. Durriken was young, and often the young are not listened to, but even those who could not quite believe his claims and ambitions would nod their heads in affirmation of his words, for they recognized greatness when they saw it.

Perhaps, for Loretta, that essential greatness that seemed to radiate from Durriken was the true attraction. She saw how he was respected and wanted to be a part of that.

And all it took was going to him, sitting beside him, and telling him that she believed him. That she believed –in- him, already, after only one meeting, she did not say out loud. But he looked at her as though she had said it anyway, and perhaps that was the moment she was lost. They soon became inseparable, though at first they foolishly tried to claim that they were simply friends, working together on a common cause. And this was certainly true – Durriken was –certain- there was a reason their kind shied away from cities, that some hidden memory shackled them, and he was determined that the Vyusher R’asa not be cowed.

Together with the help of some other pack members, they finally discovered the truth. It was the Mulo, those childhood terrors, the walking dead who fell upon the living to sustain themselves. It was they who kept them in bondage, by way of a treaty signed ages ago. But now was their moment of triumph – rather than fear this terrible oppressor, the pack was empowered by their knowledge and rallied together around the young and brilliant future leaders of the pack. The other two involved, Vaughn and Isabel, had certainly done their share, but Loretta was too wrapped up in the idea of Rik and Etta, Etta and Rik, to pay much attention to the acquaintances who helped them get to where they were. For the son of the Alpha announced shortly thereafter that he would be taking the Kal, sealing Durriken’s hope of succession as the next in line for Sarkis. And that meant she would be Savia.

They were on top of the world – the four were lauded as the crest of a generation of greatness and Loretta was drunk on her destiny. She had found a work she was passionate about, a man she was mad for, and a place where she was free to be herself. Her future in-laws were a little nervous about how quickly everything was happening, but that didn’t worry her in the slightest; Durriken was strong and would not let his parents make his choices for him. In any case, she was too blissfully happy to allow worries to trouble her, dreaming of conquest and greatness and love and life. She could even….almost…imagine bearing children. If they were Durriken’s children.

Then came the night of the full moon, when the pack gathered to run. Loretta was especially looking forward to this night, and had been playfully teasing Durriken for days about their anticipated frolic. She had told him that he would have to catch her, knowing all the while that few if any could outrun her. It was all in fun, though; she had no intentions of giving her love too difficult a chase.

As always, though, the madness within had other ideas that night. Once she was changed, she wanted nothing more than to fly through the trees, zoom over the cold, hard earth, and experience the rush of primal freedom. And so she ran, faster and faster, making her own way through the trees, hardly even realizing that Durriken was nowhere to be seen.

But there was someone following her. Vaughn, the tall, closed off boy who had never seemed to pay her as much notice, unlike most people…most boys, anyway. Something about gaining his attentions now excited her.

And how the wolf in her loved a chase! Gleefully she pushed herself faster and farther, teasing the male behind her with flips of her tail. Then she would bolt ahead, leaving him far behind. Soon, however, she began to tire, while Vaughn kept up the chase. She was entirely unconcerned when she felt his front legs bat the back of her neck and pin her to the ground; in fact, in this state she was delighted to be caught at last.

She was, however, not so delighted the next day, when the madness faded, leaving her naked in the woods with a man who was –certainly- not Durriken. Durriken was, obviously, less than pleased himself. And then there was Vaughn, the quiet one, the one with the strength and speed to capture her on the run.

Confused and conflicted, she turned to her parents for advice, something she did very rarely and with good reason – they offered her little in the way of help beyond saying that sometimes the wolf knows best but it is the human mind that must make the choices. Meanwhile, Durriken was also speaking to –his- parents…and slowly coming to the conclusion that Loretta was not the woman for him, if she could run with another during the full moon.

Loretta was deeply hurt when she discovered Durriken’s true feelings, being of the opinion that she could hardly be held responsible for her full moon whims and believing that Rik was trying to punish her. She also blamed his parents, whom she suspected were manipulative and conniving against her for no good reason. She had thought their love as humans could overcome any obstacle but was, it seemed, quite bitterly mistaken. Her world was slowly crumbling – the naïve girl who had loved wholeheartedly, who shone so freely and ran so far, began to fade, to be replaced by a terribly beautiful woman with a bitter heart and a suspicious mind.

Hurt and rejected, she decided to make a final play for Durriken’s affections. She would get his attention by pursuing Vaughn. That would teach him a lesson.

And then Isobel, the girl they had worked with when making their discoveries about the past, came to their pack. Supposedly she and Durriken were just friends, but Loretta could see they were becoming closer by the day just as she and Durriken grew further apart. She was half crazed with jealousy by the time they announced their engagement at the quarter moon supper, and stood up immediately after they sat down to announce her own engagement to Vaughn.

It might have been wise to have discussed this matter with Vaughn, but Loretta felt more trapped by the moment and in this she was certain she had no choice. It was a desperate bid, and in the following hours, when she and her husband to be were alone, she certainly reached the height of her desperation. She claimed that she was pregnant, that the baby was most certainly Vaughn’s, that she was terrified. She begged and made a most pitiful display of tears.

She was certain, even when the wedding was long over and they were hauled off to bed by enthusiastic friends, that Durriken would come and put a stop to this farce. She undressed that night in a state of dumbfounded shock, not believing the marriage had actually happened. When she saw the blood on her thighs suddenly everything became real – her lies, her heartbreak and loss, the terrible cage she had locked herself inside.

She spent her wedding night sobbing out the last of her childish ways, explaining all the while that she was simply heartbroken that she was not pregnant after all.

The next days and weeks, though, found Loretta growing more armor, so that she might find some way to bear the terrible choices that had brought her to this point. She threw herself into her work, tracing back the family lines through the ages, finding more of their kind, seeing where the trait inside them all might have spread. She ignored Durriken and Isabel completely after they were married, to the point of walking out of the room while they were speaking. This might have tipped her hand, but she believed she was in serious danger of revealing even more if she dared speak in their presence. She even avoided the full moon gatherings, trying to be alone as much as possible.

Alone, or with her husband. She did not, could not love him…in her human form. Yet in her wolf form it seemed she could not resist him – again and again she gave chase, only permitting her husband to catch her. In this way she was faithful. And even if she did not love him, she became accustomed to him. Understanding his patterns if not his thinking, at the very least. Respecting him. Valuing his opinion.

But her heart was Durriken’s, and no amount of isolation would change that. And so there was an emptiness to everything she did, even when those around her began to acknowledge her, not for her beauty or her smile, but for her intelligence, her motivation, her dedication. By the time Durriken ascended to Sarkis, and Isabel to Savia, the tension between the four had faded considerably; Loretta could even stand to be in the same room with the alphas, though she rarely spoke.

Once the excitement of Durriken and Isabel’s ascension had faded, however, the need for a new Jiro became apparent. Vaughn was the obvious choice, but Loretta feared that because of her behavior her husband might not be asked. She was not blind to the obvious, and realized they had a less than affectionate marriage – she wondered, therefore, what her husband would do with her when he realized she was holding him back. Her mind had become poisoned with suspicion, believing others sought her downfall when in reality she had hit bottom a long time ago.

To everyone’s shock, a little of the bright young Loretta that so many remembered came back the night the new Jiro, Vaughn Emiliano, was announced. She gave her husband a victorious embrace, forgetting her newly adopted quiet, aloof ways, being as pleased and relieved as she was. The pack was delighted to see the four finest of their generation together, as they were destined to be, leading the Vyusher R’asa to greatness, and the image of the four, all reveling in joy, is to this day burned into the minds of many.

Loretta’s small victory faded soon enough, however, as it became clear that her role, as neither Savia nor Jiro, was to continue her isolated work, and have children. Even loving Durriken wholeheartedly, she had struggled with the idea of carrying his babies; how could she possibly bear Vaughn’s? Was that really all she was worth to Vyusher R’asa – a living womb?

In response, she withdrew even further. Once she was the Savia to be, destined to lead her people to unheard of glory – now she was the mouse of the pack. She despaired, and her loneliness poisoned her already nearly broken mind. She believed everything she loved had been taken from her, that the pack believed she was less than worthless…and that perhaps they were right. Her husband was no comfort – she could not love him, she could barely even –know- him, and he was the Jiro now, busy with his own accomplishments and spending his time with the Sarkis and Savia. Not that she was likely to make any effort to be a better wife to him, as caught up in her deep depression as she was.

It was Durriken who pulled her out of her own despair. He came to her while she was researching, claiming that it was simply too painful to see her this way, and inviting her to join his wife and her husband to enjoy each other’s company. Loretta, hurt, bitter, and wary of a trap, some even worse humiliation than Rik had already plagued her with, refused at first. Eventually, though, she was won over, mostly by Rik’s pleading.

The changes were slow, to be certain – they did not repair their relationships overnight, her marriage was not magically saved, and she did not take Isabel into her confidence like a sister. They were, however, able to work together and get along reasonably well, and if Loretta and Durriken occasionally fell into their old mannerisms, they quickly remembered themselves and Isabel and Vaughn were gracious enough to ignore it. Loretta quickly discovered that there was so much work to do to prepare Vyusher R’asa for occupation, and possibly war, that recognition was virtually hers for the taking. Now she threw herself, not into isolation, but into high profile tasks within the pack government, making certain her name was known right along with the Jiro and the Alphas.

And in the midst of all of this, Loretta was at last able to put another source of gossip to rest. She was pregnant. Really and truly this time. The pack celebrated, and showered her with gifts.

Loretta was frightened half to death. She was of course all smiles in front of others, but alone she fretted endlessly. At night she was plagued by nightmares until she could hardly sleep at all. Finally, seeing that perhaps she needed respite, Vaughn suggested that she go out into the forest with her mother and make herself acquainted with the birthing place, a remote cabin where those who followed the old ways went to deliver their babies. By this point the kumpania had moved on to Simitli, Bulgaria, and while Loretta was no stranger to new territory, but she missed her mother and thought that perhaps knowing ahead of time where she would go would be comforting. She quickly agreed, stating that she would return at the next full moon to see off the pack on their run. In fact, she was in a good enough humor about her upcoming get away that she joked about being able to fit through the door – she was quite pregnant at that point, though still weeks away from delivery.

This was how, when the Sarkis and the Savia were kidnapped en route to a trade meeting, Loretta was the last one to know. She was quite busy at the time they were unceremoniously executed by a group of violent thugs, giving birth.

Three weeks early.

Labor was exactly the nightmare she imagined it would be. False starts and little progress added time to the already long process, and by the time the midwife began urging Loretta to push, she was soaked in sweat and thoroughly exhausted. It seemed an eternity before at last her equally exhausted mother laid her first baby, a boy, little Tobi, in her arms.

That was, however, only the beginning of the complications; Tobi was marble white and blue, and the contractions were beginning again. After a night filled with pain and fear, Loretta held not one, but two babies in her arms. Two gifted babies, both of whom had been in too much danger to do anything else.

She had believed, when she saw Durriken for the first time, that she knew what it was for everything to change in an instant.

She’d had no idea.

She had thought she understood love, and her own capacity for it, but this, her son’s tiny hand wrapped around her finger, blew her preconceptions on everything out of the water.

Why had no one told her? When all those mothers looked at her childless figure with condescending, smug little expressions, why had none of them bothered to explain –this-? That you could love something so fully and utterly, that even a woman as great as she could be humbled, brought to her knees by the slight weight on her breast. That such a small thing could inspire her, provoke her, bring all sorts of protective tendencies to the surface. She’d had no idea motherhood was such a mighty and terrible thing, so violent at the root of it, so primal and raw and beautiful.

Her life, however, had changed in more ways than this. She returned to the kumpania not only a new mother, but also the Savia – a new order had begun, and she and her husband would lead the Vyusher R’asa into an era of freedom from oppression. Of course the early years would be bloody, as revolution always was. Tobi and Octavia would be brought up in the face of cruel realities, children of war, never complacent for a moment, but they would grow strong, and one day Tobar would succeed his father and rule in times of peace.

OOC Checklist

Player name (online is fine) – Verileah
Other Characters you play – Thaddeus Nova Danielle Theodosia Palmer Tobi Thanos and sometimes The Polemarch
How you came to SA (Other board, friend, etc) – SA came to me in a dream.
Have you read all the Rules? I have
Do you understand that this is an adult board with adult content (sometimes graphic and violent in nature)? Yes!
This board is adult only. Are you over the age of 18? Indeed.