Adria Boswell was born in Wallachia, a Balkan province that would eventually become the first independent Romanian principality and later part of the country of Romania itself, under the name Adria the Wallachian on the 3rd of January 1205.

A bastard daughter resulting from a fling between a Scandinavian merchant and a travelling Roma-Gypsy girl, Adria’s appearance at birth took many of her extended family and their travelling community by surprise, especially when she started to grow up, due to her lighter skin tone, flowing locks of naturally blond hair, and other such traits she inherited from her father.

Like everyone else who belonged to a Romani family at that time, Adria learned the variety of trades that kept them and their unique social culture alive from her family and her close-knit community, dabbling in everything from spoon-making to fortune telling in addition to perfecting the quaint singing voice she had been blessed with… and regrettably enduring the same persecution and racial discrimination all gypsies have experienced throughout the ages.

As she grew into adulthood Adria’s beauty magnified tenfold which, along with everything else about her, earned her a fair share of admirers. One of which was Caliman the Second, a Wallachian voivode with a taste for fast horses and young gypsy women.

He took a particular interest in Adria due to the distinct Scandinavian traits she possessed, more commonly found amongst the people of Northern Europe than in the travelling bands of Romani gypsies, and decided to court her as his mistress. Knowing well the suffering, and in some cases outright enslavement, her people had endured at the hands of the Balkan nobility, Adria decided to accept the voivode’s pursuits, feeling she could use such a position to her and her family’s advantage for a while.

The life Adria lived as Caliman’s mistress was unlike anything she could have possibly imagined; food was plentiful and most of the evenings they shared together were spent horse-riding, drinking imported ales, or engaging in the most intimate of acts besides a roaring fire underneath the fur covers of their bed in Caliman’s estate in the city of Târgoviște. And, thanks to her, Adria’s family and their travelling community began to experience something in the way of reluctant tolerance by the voivode’s subjects.

This life was not all roses, however. Whether due to her ethnic background or due to the fact she practically had Caliman wrapped around her finger in their moments together, Adria was not popular amongst the plebs that were employed at the voivode’s estate. The servant girls, in particular, had the cruel nickname of “The Gypsy Witch” reserved for her, as the story amongst them was that Adria had laid a hex upon their ruler.

Eventually, the life she led caught the attention of a Kurgan Ventrue and mercenary by the name of Vladimir Granin who, mistaking her for someone of noble blood, decided to Embrace her. Vladimir discreetly gave Adria the gift of Caine as she slept on a cold winter evening exactly two weeks after Adria had turned twenty-two and whilst Caliman was away fighting against the Mongols. She awoke to find her body paralysed by a pain-spiked pleasure as her sire gave her the Dark Kiss, something she only ever felt when Caliman got carried away during sex, unable to even scream as the vampire drained the life from her and forced her to swallow his vitae after tearing open his own wrist.

Following her inexorable rise from the grave, Vladimir presented the half-Scandinavian with the first victim of her unnatural urges; one of the servant girls that worked at her suitor’s estate. Urged on by both her sire and the yawning hunger of the Beast, the fledgling Ventrue summarily consumed them whole. This having been his intent, Vladimir promptly disposed of the body as the half Roma-Gypsy reflected upon her actions before spiriting her away into the night… though, to ensure she would not run away, Vladimir blood-bonded Adria over the course of several nights as he educated her in the fundamentals of her new existence and took her by carriage to the neighbouring Kingdom of Hungary in order to more formally conduct her education in the city of Kalocsa, away from the majority of the growing turmoil of the region at the time.

The horror of having murdered a human being by the almost demonic possession of her Beast put Adria into a state of shock, her nigh constant train of thought during their journey to Kalocsa became almost a surreal daydream… and, although the majority of what she had thought of become forever lost in time, to this day Adria can remember a vague image of something resembling a unicorn fleeing as it met her sight in the carriage she was travelling in.

Kalocsa was a place where Adria was introduced to the first vampire that was effectively a Prince by today’s standard of the word, Duke János. The city was also the place where Adria acquired her preferred taste in blood; the brothels and taverns around the city were ideal places for her to feed upon excess of the Gentry, travelling merchants, and other ne’er-do-wells with deep pockets frequenting the establishments.

They didn’t stay long; a year, at best, whilst her Sire attended to some business with Duke János. What business exactly, she never learned… but she knew it likely had to involve someone the Duke wanted killed, given Vladimir’s militant profession and mercenary nature.

With the blessing of the Duke, however, the two of them immigrated to the twin cities of Buda-Pest, ran by Duke János’ sire, Fabrizio Ulfila. It was here that Adria finalised her education in her new existence and, over the next century or so, became fluent in a variety of languages including (but not limited to) Russian, Polish, Bohemian, Hungarian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian thanks to her decision to join the relatively newly-formed Merchant Princes (much to her sire’s displeasure). This, in turn, allowed her to learn the fundamentals of the Protean Discipline from a German-speaking Prussian Gangrel by the name of Ludwig van Pelt, her being taught in exchange for paying for the repair of his composite leather armour that had been damaged during a confrontation with a lupine.

Although it took her seven long years of pestering before Vladimir finally caved in, Adria eventually returned to her homeland in the newly formed independent Principality of Wallachia on Christmas Day of 1330, just under two months following the defeat of the Hungarian King Charles I at the Battle of Posada by Basarab I of Wallachia… though when she did, she came to the inexorable realisation Vladimir had warned her of; all she had loved in the mortal world had gone. It saddened her, though she realised, in many ways, her Sire had been merciful in taking her away from all she had associated herself with in her mortal life… as it had made the transition to her new existence that little bit easier to bear and had saved her from a great deal of heartache, had she stayed to watch her family and lover succumb to the moorings of time.

They eventually settled in the city of Bucharest, though their proximity to the Tzimisce worried Vladimir somewhat… as there were terrifying whispers amongst the Kindred returning from Spain and other parts of the Mediterranean at the time, coming with rumours of an Inquisition being made against the Cainite race by the Holy Church as well as stories of broods of wayward childer, uniting under the banner of “the Anarchs,” mounting growing insurgency against their Elders, slaying their kinsmen with fang and claw or just outright cannibalising them whenever they had the chance.

These rumours quickly grew into a reality by the turn of the 15th century. The years went on and things gradually got worse, forcing both Adria and Vladimir to flee from their haven in Bucharest and take up residence in the neighbouring city of Târgoviște, the fires of the Inquisitors and the baying howls and angry fangs of the Anarchs not far behind.

More disturbing, however, were some of the boasts these bands of disorganised rabble were making; the most notorious of which was their claim of having slain not just one but two of the Third Generation, claims which her sire looked upon with a great deal of doubt… if not a little pretentiously when he said it to Adria’s face.

The 15th century was, indeed, a defining century for all Kindred… for Adria herself, one such moment came shortly after the mortal Vlad III, who would later be better known by his posthumous nickname of Vlad Tepes or Vlad The Impaler, ascended the throne as ruler of Wallachia. Although the means of torture and execution he employed were by no means unheard of or even uncommon in that age, the sheer extent of how Vlad Tepes practiced them and the reasons they gave for their use was astounding, even to the most emotionally detached of the Damned. To this day, Adria can remember standing on the city walls of Târgoviște and taking a breathless gasp at the sight of twenty-two thousand Ottoman prisoners of war impaled on wooden spikes on the outskirts of the city.

It was that and later learning that the display had caused the approaching army of Turks to retreat, despite being much better equipped and outnumbering Vlad’s army three to one, that Adria had a moment of clarity; for a ruler to command loyalty and respect from their peers and to lay waste to their enemies, one didn’t need swords, cannons, strength, wealth, or even numbers on one’s side… one simply needed the will to do what the other side wouldn’t. Fear and brutality would always keep mortals in check; so too would it be for Kindred.

Eventually 1493 rolled around; the year when the Anarch Revolt finally came to an end. The Camarilla, an organisation founded by the Elders that had survived the chaos of the last three centuries and founded with the intent of ensuring the survival of the vampiric race, defeated the Anarchs and called together the Convention of Thorns to finalise their surrender and usher forth the first widespread enforcement of the Masquerade, something that had once been little more than a cautionary measure amongst Kindred up until that point.

Adria and Vladimir were present at the meeting, wishing to remain on good terms with this newly formed conglomerate intent on subjecting all Kindred of every Clan to their decrees, and hopefully currying favour enough to keep them safe from the marauding witch-hunts and ragtag bands of Anarchs who had rejected the treaty offered to them at the Convention of Thorns.

It was also at this meeting that Vladimir announced that he felt Adria had been kept in his company for long enough and that she was of more than sufficient age to make her own decisions in her unlife. Her Sire gave her a specially-crafted Kilij made out of Damascus steel as his final gift to her before parting from her company. They never saw each other in person ever again.

If Adria could name one positive outcome of the Anarch Revolt, however, it would be that it allowed her to become independent of the Merchant Princes. The Anarchs’ rampage across Europe, coupled with the fires of the Inquisition, had either driven many of the eldest members of the illustrious group to their Final Deaths or had rendered them unable to take account of and collect taxes “for the good of the Clan” from its younger members. This, with the majority of Adria’s income at the time stemming from wines, silks, and other such luxury goods, thanks to her influence of several mortal merchants, enabled the extent of Adria’s wealth to swell.

In addition, the Convention of Thorns also proved to be a perfect opportunity for Adria to rub shoulders with the new vanguard of merchants and peddlers that had survived the chaos of the Anarch Revolt and the purges made by the Holy Church, establishing a mutually beneficial business network amongst these likeminded Kindred. One of the most prominent of these contacts was Lars Scherba, a fellow Ancillae from the Kindgom of Switzerland and a vampire that would eventually go on to become the Prince of Zurich in the latter half of the 18th century, attaining considerable influence in his homeland’s foreign banking policies, thanks to its notorious lack of income tax laws.

With the onset of the Renaissance period and the gradual cooling of the witch-hunts, Adria decided the first thing she needed was a safe haven in a city away from her homeland, as close as it was to the Tzimisce and the menace of the fledgling Sabbat. After a recommendation from Lars Scherba, the half Roma-Gypsy decided to travel west, passing through the Kingdom of France in her journey towards the Kingdom of England.

It was a treacherous journey, rife with the dangers of travelling through lupine-infested forests and the constant risk of highwaymen waiting in ambush, but Adria eventually arrived at the port of London in early April of 1500, fully anticipating her expected meeting with the Prince of London… the legendary Mithras.

Intimidating as it may have been in the presence of someone as venerable as them, Adria did as was tradition amongst their kind and offered tribute to the Methuselah in exchange for permission to establish a haven in London. Although the trinkets she offered to honour his position were expectedly high-quality, Mithras himself was a little less than impressed, her being just another itinerant hawker their Clan had produced in recent centuries… but nevertheless granted his distant grandchilde permission to reside in his domain, out of lack of any real reason to deny her and the feeling that her trade would keep his subjects quiet for a few nights.

Adria’s residence in London required her to learn the English language prior to and during her stay in the country, though her fluency in the German language made it easy for her to find a point of reference and eventually understand and develop dialogue with its native speakers, it being one of many Germanic-derived languages still in use to the present day… though, in retrospect, England proved to be a curious yet intriguing nation to Adria; on one hand, Henry VIII’s decision to separate the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church made the country almost a safe haven for European vampires on the run from the Inquisition as the widespread persecution of Catholics living in the country provided a buffer against any would-be witch-hunters wishing to pursue them in this deceptively influential island (though their Anglican and Protestant counterparts were arguably no less as zealous)… whilst, on the other hand, the native-born residents of these lands, especially those who had been given the Embrace, carried with them an intense sense of nationalism and pride in their ethnic identity, which has subsequently carried on throughout the centuries and resulted in many political disputes and clashes amongst themselves.

Adria’s first acquisition of an official position within the Camarilla, and attaining all the status and recognition that came with it, occurred during her stay in London when she was given the position of Keeper of Elysium at a private art gallery owned by Theodore Bromley, the Primogen for Clan Toreador, after agreeing to sell him copies of several desirable paintings once thought lost during the horrors of the Long Night in Europe. Whilst not the most impressive or easiest of jobs to take, it nonetheless allowed Adria to take the first step up the ladder and mingle amongst the Kindred of London.

The job was also notable in the sense that it prompted Adria to start to naturalise herself amongst the subtle, but no less intense, sense of nationalism of her peers, something that Theodore Bromley eventually pointed out to her, suggesting to her that she give herself a more Anglican-sounding surname to fit in with her Angelo-Saxon acquaintances.

After much careful deliberation, she chose to rename herself Adria Boswell, after the armigerous Clan Boswell from the Scottish lowlands (and also after one of England’s largest and most important Gypsy families during the Early Modern period). The name went over fairly well with the local Harpies, with the best compliment she received being that it was “soft on the tongue.”

It was also during her residence in 16th century England that Adria established the two staples that her reputation would be founded on over the next five centuries; her successful (if not sometimes dubious) business practices and her utmost brutality towards those who crossed or who had failed to settle their debts with her.

Directly emulating her experiences in her homeland of Wallachia during Vlad III’s rule, Adria always chose the cruellest ways possible to torture or kill her enemies. And, although impalement was often her most preferred means of execution, methods such as burning coals to the genitals or soles of the feet, pouring salt on skinned limbs and having livestock lick off the salt, roasting over a spit, and boiling alive were also attributed to her in the name of settling accounts. Whilst none of this was uncommon in England at the time, the extent of how she practiced such barbarity in her policy of “repayment or retribution” made her both a feared and respected addition to the Kindred of London.

The early years passing into the 17th century were marked by many tragedies in the mortal world; the death of Queen Elizabeth I, a woman who famously declared herself “married to England” and whose dedication to her country proved to be an inspiration to many in the centuries to come, the attempted assassination of King James IV during the Gunpowder Plot, and eventually in 1616 the death of the Bard of Avon himself.

The death of William Shakespeare affected many; his fans amongst the Toreador especially… and, although Adria cared little about the mortal himself, having never met him or had any business dealings with them, she had enjoyed Twelfth Night and a few of his other plays, and felt that was enough for her to decide to capitalise on their recent passing and put together a private ball to celebrate the life of this exceptional mortal. Although some more cynical vampires thought her an opportunist for hosting the event, their criticisms were often quiet out of fear… or more often drowned out by the intense grievances of London’s Artisans.

Theodore Bromley showed up that night to pay his respects, as she had anticipated… but he brought with him a rather unexpected guest; their name was Morgan Terre’Blanche, and she was his childe.

With her deep strawberry blonde locks, glossed cherry lips, ample bust, and an hourglass figure to rival even that of Adria’s, Morgan had little trouble turning heads that night and, knowingly or not, had earned her sire a fair amount of status amongst his peers… particularly after revealing they were an accomplished amateur artist and promised to include one of Morgan’s works in his private gallery at some point in the near future.

She didn’t know why, but the half-Scandinavian found herself being strangely captivated by this young Toreador during and after their introductions to one another. She felt a pleasant swelling rise up as Morgan’s eyes gazed upon her, followed by a churning feeling of elation deep within her breast as they shook one another’s hands, and finally concluding with a lingering sense of want as they departed from her company to mingle amongst the other circles of guests present that evening.

For a long time after their initial meeting, Adria had thought perhaps that Morgan had attempted to use the Presence Discipline on her, possibly in some fell effort to usurp her position. Though such thoughts gradually cooled with the passing of time, the feelings still remained… and worse still, they began to grow into an obsession, an obsession that proved to be quite a distraction for her; an unrequited love that howled like a pack of ravenous wolves, haunting her dreams like a ghost from a misty past.

Eventually Adria came to the conclusion that these feelings could only be sated or undone by a face-to-face meeting with Morgan, so she sent them a letter requesting to meet with her at the George Inn in Southwark one fortnight hence to discuss “matters of great importance to each other.” Four days later, much to her surprise, Adria received a reply from Morgan informing her that she would be delighted to meet them at the suggested time.

Even in the relative security of a dark and discreet corner in one of London’s countless public houses, Adria was paranoid of the kind of backlash and loss of status she would incur following an outright confession of herself to Morgan, this being an intensely taboo subject in more ways than one to both Kindred and kine alike. As a result, Adria downsized the extent of her feelings and used a kind of doublespeak to describe her desire for amity with the Toreador several centuries her junior.

Although Adria was not certain as to whether or not they had picked up on the hidden meanings in her words, it brought her some measure of relief to see Morgan respond to her with a delighted smile, even if the Toreador ostensibly misinterpreted her veiled assertion as a wish to form a close business relationship… but, nevertheless, their meeting still met a positive conclusion; Adria agreed to use her connections to search for Kindred and kine seeking artists capable of drawing portraits or landscapes and recommend Morgan to them. For every client that came at a recommendation, Adria would receive a cut of the profits. In addition, Adria would infrequently commission Morgan to create copies of certain desirable paintings on their request, which Adria would then fence them off to her own clientele.

Despite it being a less than ideal situation, Adria felt their dealings with one another would allow her to see more of Morgan without arousing suspicion from either their Sire or any of their respective peers, Adria being a very materialistic Ventrue by reputation. And, if nothing else, her acquaintance with the young Toreador also allowed her to learn the Auspex Discipline in exchange for partaking tuition in the art of Dominate.

It should not have come as any great surprise that England started to become unstable halfway through the 17th century. The civil wars and rebellions springing up all across the kingdom were enough of a hint to suggest that this quaint and isolated island barely thirty miles off the coast of France was quickly becoming a very dangerous place to live. In addition to the ban on torture in 1640 and the execution of King Charles I in 1649, the rumours of tremendous wealth to be found in the recently discovered New World far across the Atlantic Ocean gave Adria a tempting reason to emigrate… but it wasn’t until the Great Plague of London in 1665 and the Great Fire of London in the following year that she finally made up her mind.

But, however much Adria desired to leave the country and cite her own fiefdom in the fledgling Provinces of British America, she couldn’t bare the idea of leaving Morgan behind… so she decided to try and take steps to convince them to come with her.

It took her thirty years of careful planning and subtle temptations, but eventually Adria was successful after telling Morgan of the many beautiful landscapes to be found in the Americas and how someone with their talents should not limit themselves the way they had done since their Embrace.

Their decision could not have come at a better time, as the formation of the Bank of England in 1694 and the government’s decision to start issuing banknotes as a means of currency brought with it a revolutionary new means for Adria to conduct businesses and to insure her financial assets against theft or destruction… accidental or otherwise.

And so, with Theodore Bromley’s blessings and Adria’s considerable wealth and reputation to back them up, the two of them boarded an ocean liner, the Elizabeth, primed to sail across the Atlantic Ocean to the colonies of British America on the 28th of May in the summer of 1697.

Six nights into the voyage on the 3rd of June 1697, Morgan presented Adria with a gift; a 19-carat gold medallion pendant necklace adorned with domed cabochon stones mounted on gold settings and elongated teardrop pearls; a beautiful high-quality replica of the famous necklace worn by Catherine of Aragon in 1530. Without question, Adria was exceptionally delighted with the gift… even more so when Morgan suggested that she draw them wearing it, them still having quite a journey ahead of them until they reached the shores of the New World.

Adria gladly accepted their offer, but then Morgan reiterated herself with a sly grin and a daring twinkle in her eye; “Wearing only this.”

The half Roma-Gypsy was stunned. Had she been one of the living, she would have surely blushed the instant she locked eyes with the young Toreador. Her stomach churned with embarrassment, fear… and excitement, as she knew for a fact that they were the only Kindred aboard the Elizabeth and were not due to reach port for another few weeks. Although she knew it would be a calculated risk, her intuition was telling her that this would be the perfect time for her to finally open up to Morgan, them being so far removed from the manipulative backstabbers and gossip-mongers of their society. Content to let the cards fall as they may, Adria agreed to Morgan’s proposal.

Ever the perfectionist, Morgan spent the better part of half an hour arranging the scene as Adria made some eleventh-hour adjustments to her make-up and mentally prepared herself for what was about to take place. When she finally emerged from behind the dressing screen, clothed only in a dark silken dressing gown, Morgan was sat with all her artistic instrumentation on a chair in front of a luxury chaise longue they had brought up to the private cabin the two of them were staying in.

Seeing they were ready to start, and deciding not to beat about the bush any longer, Morgan almost immediately asked Adria to strip… which, after a brief moment of hesitant deliberation, she did. A pang of self-consciousness washed over her as she noticed the Toreador lightly smiling at the sight of her stood naked before them, greeting it with typical British understatement (“Very nice.”) before requesting that she lay down on the couch provided.

Lying down and positioning herself according to the Artisan’s suggestions, Adria’s body froze in a state of relaxed tension as Morgan began drawing the half Roma-Gypsy, meticulously detailing every aspect of her physique as she laid before them. A little over two hours later and Morgan had completed the drawing.

As well as being undeniably impressed by the extent of Morgan’s talents and not to mention flattered by the way they had accentuated all the positive aspects of her appearance whilst doing their best to hide the negatives, seeing the finished product for herself brought Adria a sense of direction; now with nothing left to loose, the Ventrue Elder summoned the courage she needed before beginning to vent her spleen to the younger Kindred.

Like the raging white-water rapids of the French Alps, Adria emptied out eight decades of frustration towards the unrequited love she’d had for them; she confessed to having felt it the moment the two of them first met, even though she knew how unusual it was for two women to love one another. She began to admit that she had delayed her emigration to the Americas for their sake, but was silenced in an instant by the sensation of Morgan’s lips pressing against her own.

The shock of the young Toreador’s actions was fleeting as they deepened the kiss they shared with Adria, pushed the half-Scandinavian towards their cabin’s four-poster bed, and laid them down against the soft silken sheets. Morgan parted from Adria’s side only to disappear temporarily behind the dressing screen and extinguish the candles lighting their quarters, returning wearing only the assortment of pearl necklaces they had been wearing that evening before closing the curtains behind them.

Their exchange of conversation both during and after their night of intense physical intimacy revealed many things; firstly, that Morgan had long known of Adria’s affections for her since their meeting at the George Inn back in London and secondly, that she had long fantasised about having a sensual affair with another woman, Adria especially, but had not acted on it out of fear of alienating herself from both her Sire and the Ventrue Elder.

They eventually reached the New World in early July of 1697, touching down on the shores of the then-named Province of Maryland in the port town of Annapolis, where they were met almost immediately by agents of Alexandra Ruthven, the local Prince, whom they had the pleasure of meeting with in person that very same night in the privacy of the lodging quarters of a local inn under their control.

It came as something of a surprise to Adria when Prince Ruthven professed that Annapolis, despite it being a relatively important port of entry for British America, was actually held in very little regard by the Kindred of the New World, whom would much rather have settled in one of the other more larger townships in the colonies, preferably ones that were closer to the cotton fields, gold mines, manufacturing industries, and other items of financial interest that Kindred sought to influence.

Although the desire to be close to the source of one’s livelihood was completely understandable, this event marked the beginning of Adria’s gradual inclination towards the influence of import/export businesses as the centuries progressed, the middleman being the most profitable role in any given trade route or agreement.

One of the most notable events following the turn of the century was the invention of the piano in 1709 by Bartolomeo Cristofori of Italy. Although Adria’s initial thoughts of it were negative, it being an unusually large and cumbersome instrument to use at first glance, the device slowly began to grown on her due to the elegantly wonderful sounds it was able to produce, able to evoke a wide variety of emotions in the hands of a proficient player. So, at Morgan’s behest, Adria purchased one at the earliest opportunity and slowly began learning how to play over the course of the next century or so.

Overall, the 18th century was quite a profitable period for Adria, earning money from the export of cash crops and the import of rum, textiles, and other luxury goods… aside from in the advent of two notable wars that disrupted the trading routes between Great Britain and the Americas; firstly, the War of Jenkins’ Ear between 1739 and 1748, named after a British merchant, Captain Robert Jenkins, who had his ear severed by a Spanish coast guard after their boarded his ship in 1731… and secondly, the Seven Years War starting in 1756 and ending in 1763, a war which started as a result of overlapping concerns involving colonial and trade interests between most of the European superpowers at the time.

The news of the start of the American Revolutionary War in 1775 took both the half Roma-Gypsy and her Toreador lover by surprise, it being so audacious an attempt to break away from the British Empire and something one could easily have seen as a major move in the Jyhad, considering how the New World colonies had swelled the wealth of the Elders on the other side of the Atlantic, and how the New World establishing its independence would undeniably create a substantial dint in their respective purses.

On the plus side, however, Annapolis stayed relatively quiet as far as the conflicts of the outside world were concerned. Neither mortal nor Kindred alike thought to use the town as a battleground for testing or asserting their dominance over each other, and that suited Adria just fine… but that didn’t stop her from eventually emigrating to the town of Baltimore in 1780 after it became an official port of entry and began rapidly skimming trade away from Annapolis.

Although Adria was able to reacquire the extent of the profit she had in Annapolis, her and Morgan’s stay in Baltimore was short, at least by Kindred standards; the eruption of the War of 1812 and the threat of the British Navy bombarding the town led to the two of them to decide to flee deeper inland, away from the dangers of the fighting to the city of St Louis in the state of Missouri.

Starting afresh once again after being granted permission to operate in St Louis by Prince Jacque Riau, the half Roma-Gypsy found the start of the steamboat sails travelling up and down Mississippi River in 1817 to be an ideal new opportunity for her import/export businesses due to the river’s direct connectivity to several riverside cities including Minneapolis, Memphis, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans. To her misfortune, however, this perfectly good trading route became disrupted by the start of the American Civil War in 1861 after a blockade of river traffic to the largely Confederate South was implemented for the duration of the four year conflict.

Aside from her up and down struggle with her finances in the advent of the Industrial Revolution, her tenure in St Louis during the 19th century was host to three significant events in her unlife; her meeting the man that would go on to become her Sheriff almost a century-and-a-half later, the breakup of her relationship with Morgan, and her decision to sire the man who would become her childe.

The first occurred during the spring of 1867; it had been a quiet night at Elysium, filled with all the usual Machiavellian scheming, casual mingling, and clashes of repartee amongst the guests. Overall, the night had been quite boring… but fate had a strange way of throwing a curveball, sometimes.

It came to her attention that something was brewing when she spotted Morgan talking with the Regent of the local Chantry on the other side of the room. Curious, Adria began approaching the two of them and quickly realised what was going on; Morgan had baited the typically ice-cold Tremere into a battle of wits and the conversation was quickly starting to take a hostile bent to it… and, much to her surprise, Morgan was winning.

But then the unexpected happened; the Regent suddenly descended upon her in a frenzy. In Elysium. And right in front of Prince Riau. With fangs bared, the Regent reached out for her neck and was stopped only by Adria herself, several of the Regent’s Apprentices, and a Spanish Lasombra antitribu by the name of Markus Calavera. The Regent, expectedly, had to be put down… and the result of the incident earned Morgan quite a bit of status from the harpies as well as teaching Adria to keep her lover within earshot in the event something like this happened again.

Her meeting with Markus that night sparked the beginning of a relationship that would continue to the modern nights. A relationship that was built not on mutual business interests but a friendship that was built on shared philosophies to unlife. Whilst there were some things they couldn’t agree upon, one of the key foundations of their shared beliefs was the Kindred’s constant need to adapt in as progressive a world as they lived in, and that, whilst there would likely always be haves and have-nots in their society, it was the responsibility of a Prince to confer the needs of their subjects in proportion to the population… least there be a Second Anarch Revolt, resulting in the destruction of the Masquerade, and the extinction of their species.

During their time in St Louis, they had many such discussions, both in person and though letters. The latter especially, due to their mutual obligations often keeping them apart outside of Elysium and because Adria didn’t wish to make Morgan jealous because of the attention she gave him.

Although Adria considers the tragedy of her breakup with Morgan to have started on a certain evening in the summer of 1883, the truth of the matter was that that particular event merely acted as a catalyst for their relationship’s collapse…

Ever since the start of their affair, Morgan had wanted Adria to be the “man” of their relationship. And, whilst the Artisan had been successful in convincing her to straighten her hair out from the braided curled locks she’d had for last few centuries, the Elder Ventrue flat out refused to have it cut and was bullheadedly adamant about maintaining her femininity.

Dissatisfied she had not been able to convince her lover to think otherwise, Morgan decided to try and search for a compromise… which she eventually found in the hands of a Tanzanian dealer in the backroom of an unscrupulous establishment somewhere in the city. The dealer apparently specialised in certain exotic goods not suitable for wholesale marketplaces.

When Adria was presented with the device, described to her by Morgan as “a little toy from Zanzibar,” made out of padded leather and smoothened hardwood, she really didn’t know what to say; half of her wanted to laugh, thinking it was all just a big joke, whilst the other half felt only exasperation for the Toreador. In the end, however, Adria still loved her… and thus decide to indulge in their suggestion, in spite how perverse it was.

Overall, contrary to her lover, Adria got very little pleasure out of their experiments with the device. It was awkward for her to use and she felt their trysts with it were often lacking in the passion and romance she’d been accustomed to all these years and, at worst, they were just trying to emulate the male form. The half Roma-Gypsy procrastinated its use as often as possible whenever she and Morgan had an intimate encounter… but, sooner or later, it began to crop up to the point where it came to dominate such relations. Adria’s dislike for the device grew into hatred.

The first major fight they had occurred on a lonely winter’s eve on the 28th of January 1889 when it got to a point where Adria couldn’t take it any longer. The Elder Ventrue vented her spleen at her lover, stating categorically that she could no longer stand using the instrument. And although Morgan tried to reconcile and reach a compromise, Adria refused to yield, asserting that; “It is either me or it.”

Seeing she could not convince her lover to think otherwise, Morgan reluctantly submitted to her ultimatum and eventually got rid of the device. And, for a time, all was good in their relationship… until their mutual insecurities and vindictiveness got the better of them.

Over the course of several months, Adria started to notice Morgan was eyeing up certain people in their nightly unlives together in a subtle but no less deliberate effort to try and make her jealous. This was especially evident in Elysium when they were amongst others of their kind… and at the mercy of the harpies. Unable to bare the kind of embarrassment they were giving her and worried they would damage her reputation, Adria challenged her on her behaviour.

With a condescending smirk on her face, Morgan began her retort and attempted to bait the Elder Ventrue into a duel of wits, just as she had done to that Tremere Regent just over two decades prior. Unwilling to be just another notch on her belt, and this being a private matter, Adria chose to remain calm and not raise her voice at the Toreador… but everyone has their limits, and Morgan eventually pushed her to the edge of her tether. Although seething with rage, instead of physically assaulting Morgan, as they likely wanted her to, Adria channelled her vitriol into a spiteful rant full of profanity in her native tongue of Romanian… right in the middle of Elysium.

Although few present understood what was being said, those that did took particular note at Adria referring to Morgan as a “selfish spoilt little cunt” and other such blasphemies that humiliated the Toreador in front of virtually the entire vampire population of St Louis before the Elder Ventrue stormed out of Elysium in a rage. She couldn’t have known how deep her words had affected Morgan.

After coming home to the haven she shared with her lover, Adria decided it would be best for them to sleep separately that following day, so not to start another argument if and when Morgan came back that night. Using Protean’s power of Earth Meld, the Elder Venture submerged herself in the dirt of the gardens surrounding their haven where she spent the duration of the daylight hours and emerging the following night to make an unnerving discovery; Morgan was gone… and not only was she gone, but all of her clothes, drawings, possessions, and even her ghouls had disappeared.

The half-Scandinavian’s retainers told the story as it was; throughout the entire day, her lover’s ghouls had systematically separated everything that was Morgan’s from everything that was Adria’s before packing it all up and putting them, along with a large crate big enough to contain a human body, into the back of a horse-driven cart. Morgan had apparently given her ghouls instructions to kill any of Adria’s if they attempted to follow them, something they apparently stated to her retainers with great reluctance, them all having been generally good friends as well as colleagues for the duration of their employment.

The only things they had left to remind her of their relationship were the various gifts Morgan had given her throughout their years together; the 19-carat gold medallion pendant necklace she’d given her aboard the Elizabeth in 1697 and the engraved gold and nickel-plated Colt Single Action Army she’d given her for her birthday in 1874 to name but a few.

Adria consulted her contacts, but they were unable to find anything remotely concrete as to where Morgan could have gone; some suggested she went back to the East Coast, others down the Mississippi River towards Memphis or New Orleans, and some even suggested that she went back to England or took a steamboat for Africa. All this hinted that she likely had help from the Nosferatu, as amazing as it might have been to conceive.

It was heart-breaking for Adria, but eventually she came to accept that she would never see Morgan again… and, if she did, it would be as her enemy. As a precaution, the Elder Ventrue moved her haven to another part of the city… a move which unveiled that Morgan had committed a form of vandalism on her; they had tuned every key on Adria’s grand piano to D Minor, an act which caused the half Roma-Gypsy to tip it up and smash it in a rage.

Although she did her best to adapt and carry on as normal, Adria found herself in a state of depression for the next decade. She was alone and possessed of a yearning for something no amount of money could buy her; her own childe. Having been a long-term resident of the city and having a good state of rapport with Prince Riau, despite all the drama of her breakup, she was able to acquire permission to sire without too much trouble… but who to give the gift of the Embrace, however, was her real problem.

Although she had been extremely atypical of the kind of mortals her Clan would Embrace, Adria still felt the need to adhere to Clan traditions. Searching far and wide within the scope of the city limits, Adria looked at travelling businessmen, passionate evangelists, college students, junior officers in the military and more until she found the one she was looking for; a doctor.

Their name was Demetre Hienberg, PhD, son of German immigrants and one of the best minds of his generation. During his lifetime, Demetre’s work contributed towards the development of the then fledgling field of haematology and the eventual classification of different blood types and other properties that helped develop the practice of blood transfusions.

Although his academic contributions would go on to save countless lives over the next century or so, his real selling point for Adria was his claim that, within a generation or two of development, they would likely have the capability of synthetizing human blood… something that, from a vampire’s perspective, would allow them to feed without the risk of violating the Masquerade and would also garner her considerable profit from those willing to invest.

Her decision to Embrace Demetre was done with the utmost hast, however, as Adria had caught wind of a rumour that a local Tremere was looking to court permission from the Prince to bring them into their Clan.

Adria awakened Demetre into the world of vampires on the 12th of May 1899 after luring him to a safe house with the offer of sponsoring his research. Her decision to Embrace him was done with the utmost haste, however, as rumours that a local Tremere was attempting to curry favour with the Prince and acquire permission to bring Demetre into their Clan prompted Adria to take all the necessary steps.

The half Roma-Gypsy educated her childe on the fundamentals of their new existence prior to their presentation to Prince Riau. Their subsequent introduction in Elysium to the rest of the Kindred of St Louis was not without its inequities, however; the night was notable for the cold shoulder Adria and Demetre received from the Tremere that evening.

Nevertheless, Adria continued Demetre’s education in the etiquette and traditions of their kind well into the 20th century. And, for a while, it were good… until one fateful night in late January of 1929 when she was summoned to Prince Riau’s office to answer for certain acts her childe had committed against the same Tremere that had saught to Embrace him three decades before.

The testament the Regent and several of his Apprentices gave was almost unbelievable for one not even in their first century of unlife; Demetre had cunningly manipulated one of his rival’s retainers to bring him knowledge of certain blood magic rituals that they needed to perfect his work on Blood Spice. Although Adria was impressed by the way they had used her lessons in Jyhad, the consequences of his actions forced her to enter into negotiations with both Prince Riau and the Tremere, in order to save her childe from the Blood Hunt the Warlocks were proposing.

After several hours of back and forth mediation, they eventually agreed on a compromise; Demetre would be allowed to live as long as they annually donated a percentage of their profits from Blood Spice to the local Chantry as compensation and gave the Clan a sample of his blood as insurance, in the event he attempted to steal further information from them again.

Overall, as a Ventrue, Demetre was quite a disappointment to her, though she felt she had not completely squandered her investment in him and decided to just keep a closer eye on him and his actions from now on.

The half Roma-Gypsy’s induction into the late modern period was met with a great deal of ambivalence…

Whilst many of the younger generations of Kindred took to the idea with zeal, Adria was one of few Elders from the Old World that got around to overcoming her expected fear of using a telephone upon its invention in 1876, the concept of it being almost a form of witchcraft in the eyes of many superstitious Elders. Although she didn’t quite understand how a bunch of copper wires and other pieces made of plastic and metal could project a person’s voice across long distances, she understood that adaptation was necessary for her continued survival in an ever-changing world… but that didn’t stop her from getting irritated at having to re-learn how to use one in the advent of the touch-tone telephone during the 1960s or from getting confused at the appearance and growing popularity of mobile phones during the 1980s, and eventually unequivocally annoyed at the insufferable ringtones of their modern counterparts.

Banking was an especially tedious but ultimately imperative concern for Adria. Although she initially banked her money in America as a matter of convenience, the Elder Ventrue quickly realised that she needed to keep her money somewhere out of reach of the Kindred of the New World and with people she could trust… which was were her decision to use a complex network of bank accounts in the United Kingdom and in her homeland of Romania, in addition to using her affiliation with Lars Scherba, who was by then the Prince of Zurich and possessing considerable influence over Credit Suisse in one of the most notorious tax havens in the world, to launder or exchange currency in addition to protecting her wealth.

The advent of both the First and Second World Wars brought to light the many startling advancements humanity began to make during the 20th century; nerve gas, machine guns, tanks, rockets… though, more than anything else, the one thing that shocked Adria the most was the sheer volume of casualties that were inflicted on both sides of the conflicts, collectively amounting up to over eighty million human lives. Never before in history had humanity the power to destroy themselves as they had now.

And, although she lost most of her assets in the Old World during the carnage of the Second World War, and the subsequent acquisition of all private property by the newly installed communist government of Romania, something that irked at her for many decades until the regime’s collapse in the Revolution of 1989. Following this event, Adria embarked upon an aggressive and multi-faceted mergers and acquisitions campaign to reclaim what she had lost more than half a century before.

The tale of Adria Boswell’s Machiavellian-esque rise to power in Los Angeles is a chapter in her unlife all but written in blood…

She made her emigration to the city shortly after the fall of the Anarch Free State and the Camarilla’s subsequent claim of its holdings in early March of 2002 during a period of considerable unrest in the world. The hysteria of post-9/11 America brought with it a new sense of paranoia and fear the west had mercifully thought forgotten following the end of the Cold War not even a decade before… and this was to say nothing of the turmoil the Kindred of the West Coast were experiencing.

Cathayans, enigmatic Eastern vampires from across the Pacific Ocean, not all that dissimilar to the Kindred themselves, invaded cities all along the west coast of the North American continent, infiltrating the Asian communities, and gradually began to colonise in the lands. The Anarchs did their best to drive them back into the sea, but the Cathayans fought back wielding powers even the most eldritch of Kindred had never before witnessed, severely weakening an already fractured coalition of roving gangs of Kindred constantly at each other’s throats.

Taking advantage of the confusion, the Camarilla stepped in to bring order to the chaos, leading to the formal closure to the Anarch Free State, shattering the dreams of many Anarchs. The majority of Anarchs that were lucky enough to have survived the conflict chose to side with the Camarilla out of necessity or fled California altogether. Some even chose to defect to the Cathayans and their New Promise Mandarinate though, to date, only a small minority of Anarchs still declare themselves independent of the Camarilla.

Adria, herself, came to Los Angeles with the intent of citing domain just like everyone else… though, disappointingly, she found that the position of Prince, and most of the Primogen, had already been established on her arrival. On the plus side, however, her reputation preceded her enough to make her entry into Los Angeles an expedient affair. The newly crowned Prince of Los Angeles, a Toreador by the name of Joseph Borodina, granted her permission to reside in his city, feeling the half-Scandinavian would help bolster the local economy and make good sport for him in the Jyhad.

The Elder Ventrue quickly acquired the Empire Arms Hotel in the downtown area of Los Angeles shortly after her meeting with the Prince, both as a monetary investment and as a temporary haven until she could find a more permanent residence in the city.

Although Adria was initially happy to just continue in her usual business practices, as she had done for the last five centuries, it was only during Elysium at the Nocturne Theatre later that week that she started to entertain the notion of further political aspirations in wake of her developing an opinion of Joseph Borodina.

The gossip she had overheard from the harpies painted a perfect picture of the Prince; she learned that they had been born in Sicily during the early 17th century to a family that would go on to become one of the first mafia families on the island following its annexation by Italy during the 19th century and during the country’s shift from feudalism to capitalism. And, most importantly, she learned that they had been placed into power by their Sire, Carlo del Plata, whom resided far across the Atlantic Ocean on his estate somewhere on the Spanish isle of Majorca… which, through no effort of their own, allowed Borodina to control Los Angeles with an iron fist wrapped in a velvet glove.

In Adria’s eyes, however, Borodina was little more than a presumptuous dumb opportunist who hid their ambitions behind a thin veil of lofty ideals and a two-faced adherence to the laws that governed all Kindred. And it was during this night that she started a train of thought that would inevitably come to the conclusion of her making a decision that bordered on unthinkable; she decided she was going to amass a coup d’état against Joseph Borodina and assume the mantle of Prince of Los Angeles for herself.

It was a risky proposal; the laws set in place by their centuries-old society forbid such conspiracies and its failure would result in her being on the receiving end of the axe. Its success, however, would not only allow her to gain a permanent foothold in the city, and earn her a great deal of prestige by her peers, but it would also allow her to access to a larger pool of resources by proxy of her Primogen and those whom they had influence over.

First things first, however, the most important thing she needed to instigate the coup d’état was money; like many Kindred of his age, Adria felt it would be safe to assume that Borodina and his cronies had business deals in areas of the city under his control and that there would always be a chance that she would end up stepping on his or another Kindred’s toes should she start an aggressive grab for real estate in the city, the result of which would obviously end her ambitions prematurely.

The bodiless nature of the import/export companies under her control prior to her arrival in Los Angeles made it easy for her to bring exotic goods from Eastern Europe to the local business she owned, the Empire Arms Hotel especially, which thanks to her efforts began to drag itself out of the slump it had been in following the Dot Com Crash shortly after the millennium… and, as a plus, the attention the companies drew from local businesses also allowed Adria to subtly send out her proxies to search for her rival’s business interests.

In addition to a copious amount of financial muscle, the second most important thing one needed in mounting a coup d’état was allies… and influential ones at that. Lucky for her, however, she wasn’t the only one who was discontent with the way that Joseph Borodina handled his position; she found that several of the Primogen, in particular Tanan Cain and Laertes Dorset, the Primogens for Clans Ventrue and Malkavian respectively, were displeased with Prince Borodina and the way he conducted himself.

Feeling she had no need to be coy with him about it, Adria approached Tanan following the conclusion of his weekly meeting with the Prince and the rest of the Primogen, beginning a conversation and bringing him down to the parking lot where, in the safety of the inside of her limousine, the half Roma-Gypsy laid her intentions down in his lap.

Although Tanan agreed that that Prince Borodina had to go and that he would support her every step of the way, he would not take any action unless Adria gave him something in the way of a guarantee that her venture was not a fool’s errand… which was a sign in and of itself that she had gained her first ally in her quest for greater glory.

It came as something of a surprise when the Malkavian Primogen, Laertes Dorset, enigmatic as he was disturbing, approached her on the matter of her coup d’état, bringing the matter up during a private meeting he requested at the Empire Arms Hotel. Although his exact wording was not so obvious at first, it quickly became clear to her that he had somehow become aware of her plot and was keen to offer his support due to Adria being, in his words, “a more stable personality than our current Prince.” Honoured by the sphinx-like Malkavian’s words, she graciously accepted his proposition.

As one could expect from creatures as eldritch and as patience as Elder Kindred, the process of her coup d’état was slow but nonetheless effective. Within five years Adria had systematically manoeuvred and schemed with her allies to bring about the demise of one Joseph Borodina; her influence over the import/export companies under her control allowed her to unearth a damning piece of gossip on the Prince…

The half Roma-Gypsy discovered that the Prince had been making business deals with the enemy; he had approached certain fringe elements of the Sabbat with an offer of giving them the location of a Camarilla Archon he had discovered was operating in the State of California in exchange for a boon. It was shocking, it was sickening, and it was unforgivable; and even more disturbing it seemed as if Borodina thought he could actually benefit from such a deal.

This being a catastrophic mistake that could have potentially cost the unlives of countless Kindred and sent the State of California into a state of chaos like no other, Adria took the initiative and put her plan into action during a meeting with the Prince and the Primogen…

Uncharacteristically, the Elder Ventrue came to the meeting carrying a sheathed kilij made out of Damascus steel, the same one that her sire had given to her over five centuries prior, which she promptly surrendered to Laertes Dorset in a gesture that she felt would not appear suspicious to the Prince, given the fact they were in Elysium and giving the weapon to Tanan Cain, who was also present in the room with them at that time, would have likely been interpreted as nepotistic.

Confident in the presence of her allies, Adria challenged Borodina about the deal they had made with their enemies. In a panic, Borodina inadvertently shot himself in the foot, denying ever having made a deal with the Sabbat, and giving Adria the chance to humiliate him in front of his peers for his stupidity in almost the same manner as her lover had attempted to do to her just over a century ago; Adria baited Borodina into a battle of wits and deliberately provoked the younger Toreador into making a frenzied attack on her…

In a motion that was every bit as improvised as it was planned, Adria unsheathed the Damascus steel kilij she had put in Laertes Dorset’s custody before cutting off both of Prince Borodina’s hands and kicking him to the ground. The act stunned the Primogen present, with the obvious exception of those who had been aware of the half Roma-Gypsy’s plans beforehand, even more so in light of Joseph Borodina’s dealings with the Sabbat… but it was an act that the vast majority of them would come to accept was justified and, due to his crimes against the Kindred of Los Angeles and his failure in his station as Prince, would permit Adria to have Borodina summarily executed.

Joseph Borodina would go on to meet his Final Death after being impaled on a ten-foot wooden spike set up on the roof of Westport Towers. He suffered for nearly four hours before the inevitable sunrise.

News spreads quickly amongst the Kindred of LA and the near-unheard of level of brutality of Prince Borodina’s execution was quick to silence many dissidents in wake of Adria’s assumption of the mantle of Prince of Los Angeles, following the unanimous ruling by the Primogen that she assume the throne… though it became generally accepted as time went on that she preferred the title of “Queen of Los Angeles” as opposed to Prince.

On her first night as Prince, Adria issued the decree that several radically new policies begin practice in her domain;

The first, her intending being to create a new start for the Kindred of Los Angeles, Adria decided not to judge all in her domain according to her beliefs, believing that too many heads would roll as a result; instead, the half Roma-Gypsy asked only one thing of her subjects… since they were the ones who had brought the Camarilla to where it is now, they would be the ones to take it to where it should be.

Secondly, she decided to wipe the slate clean; all who had been sentenced to death by her predecessor were to be pardoned. All who had been imprisoned were to regain their freedom. Everyone’s mistakes were to be forgiven, no matter how serious… though, from that night on, all forms of lies, treachery, and other crimes were to be punished as severely as possible.

This was initially looked upon as a harsh policy, but Adria justified it by stating; “All should understand that I am asking each and every Kindred in my domain to be their own judge, to decide for themselves whether they deserve to live or die. And if, by their actions alone, they decide that they deserve to meet their Final Death… then so be it.”

Punishments during Adria’s reign became standardised in their brutality; during the medieval period of her homeland, and in particular that of her peers, her preferred means of execution, that of impalement, was viewed as a punishment reserved for only the lowest of sum… but it was one that the half Roma-Gypsy decided to use to serve as an example to all.

Justice would be the same for all Kindred, without heed to Clan, age, prestige, or privilege; the fledgling would be impaled next to the Elder, the Brujah next to the Ventrue, and the Primogen next to the vagrant.

After attaining the position of Prince of Los Angeles, Adria was quick to realise that she needed enforcers to make sure that her decrees did not simply fall upon deaf ears…

Her first action was to make contact with an old friend of hers, Markus Calavera, and offer him the position of Sheriff of Los Angeles in addition to his own modest domain and a few privileges on her behalf.

Her second action was to begin recruiting new ghouls to act as her bodyguards; the position she held demanded only the best that money could buy, as the alternative was simply unthinkable. After a discreet international search, Adria recruited and subsequently ghouled a team of six former special forces operatives, giving them both lucrative salaries and a blank cheque to use as they saw fit to ensure her protection.

Since then, her tenure as Prince of Los Angeles has been an expectedly up-and-down struggle; greeting every visitor to her domain, listening to every whining complaint her subjects present to her on a nightly basis, dealing with ranting Anarchs and diabolical Sabbat, and even breaking up an attempted coup by one of her subjects… but if there was one lesson from the last eight hundred years that Adria had learned the most it was this; “the ends justify the means.”