So,,,,,,,, future castings of the Nordic Blood Bone Rune Stones........
MC will turn out to be the toughest non elder in the city. Probably tougher than most elders because most vampires think they have forever and have a superiority complex.
Due to Fabian's and Calisto's support, MC will almost certainly have a position of prestige which will equal if not eclipse most of the elders, and of course Sharon's tiny holding of Scottsville.
Now on that topic, I think Merrick is digging through the Nos site that is buried near the hospital where the feral Nos-Wight was roosting. Probably all kinds of Antique computer goodies for him to attempt to wake up and modernize, and frankly he saw to his mission for Markus, and helped out on the feral Nos, and likely found the Nos stronghold, so he probably has instructions to go radio silence just to piss off Marcius. With a major Nos stronghold in her domain, Sharon will be welcoming more and more of the Nos to join her domain. She might even begin plans to expand it to a reasonably large and important burb of the city. I think initially, she will select the MC as her Sheriff, and he will perform far above average for his age, which will of course cause all kinds crazy speculation about just who he is connected to.
So in order to deal with the southern Archon, and the unsanctioned blood feud that Andrew has with him, it can only legitimately be handled one of a few ways.
1: Sharon could challenge him to a blood duel, which she is not a fighter, but could name a champion since she is an archon. Her logical choice would be Andrew. Andrew has spent 50ish years as a ghoul, and that means it is conceivable that he has a decent blood pool available to boost attributes and heal as needed. He also has had time to add to his discipline repertoire. Most ghouls/thralls start with Potence 1, which basically is like taking a normal human and doubling their strength. For many reasons that I can point out, Sharon is most likely a Ventrue. Ventrue are aristocratic, which she certainly has the feeling of, she calls Eloise one of us, which Eloise objects to as Sharon is not a hound, not old and aristocratic enough, and asked her to train a mongrel (MC). So there is little doubt based on Eloise behavior and claimed kinship that they are both Ventrue.
2: That means Andrew, if he has been a good boy practicing and learning all he can, likely has Fortitude in addition to potence, and possibly some of the presence and a touch of domination. He has demonstrated his physical traits, which do not include hyper speed which would make Toreador unlikely for Sharon. His quick recovery from the Nos attack points to some resilience in his background.
Problem with all this is while Andrew may be driven, and angry enough, with a couple of decent powers to help him in his fight, ghouls/thralls are just not seen as able to do this challenge of an actual vampire. Either Sharon, or a proxy such as the MC could fulfill the terms of the challenge, but this massively short changes Andrew.
3: Much more likely is that Sharon as an Archon of her own realm, can allow herself to create her own progeny, which would make Andrew her blood bound childe, and in addition to keeping all his military training and powers from his thralldom would pick up some boosts from becoming a vampire, thus giving him a much better chance against the southern archon. I see this as a likely route, as Andrew will serve as her continued body guard, confidant and oldest friend, as the MC pulls back some to spread his own wings.
3-A: ****
Ayhsel You have legitimately caused me brain damage here
Astrid as a sleeper agent Tzmisce who can body sculpt is really messing with me... It also would make her a far more dangerous opponent for Sharon to openly fight..... That said- Additional action for Sharon that can not be avoided once pretty much anyone opens their mouth regarding Astrid being in Scottsville and capturing Gregor, and even more so if the MC mentions the conversations he had with Carmen and the beefstick hunter before the staking attempt. This will require Marcius to remove his protection from Astrid, to save his own reputation and save face, and possibly save his own life.
This would pit an older, most likely Toreador (as the Tzmisce option is too horrific in my mind for HER at the moment), almost elder if not elder against Sharon, who is a relatively gifted, relatively wise young adult vampire wise (Ancilla) and I continue to maintain is a Ventrue as the best fit for her gifts.
Toreador can make very good combatants and assassins (Tzmisce obviously superior). Presence has an awe power, and at higher levels, the ability to summon and render basically helpless any victim. So those powers could both be present in the vampires outlined as Astrid -Toreador and Sharon- Ventrue. (Or Astrid could have the Zulo war form which is what whacked the shit out of Sharon, thinking she killed her, but her fortitude pulled through for her......damnit
Ayhsel) War form of the Tzmisce is big, fast, strong, and would leave aggravated wounds requiring elder type blood to heal effectively.((which fits almost too well, with Astrid being active around the old Hospital and singling out Sharon for an attack-which would be both faster and more powerful than a feral Nos))
Add to this that Toreador have Auspex and Celerity, and it becomes a fast, hard to fool or hide from opponent. Sharon on her part would be harder to kill, and if she gets eye contact it is basically over.
Such a battle does not NEED to be to the death unless someone is requiring it. It could require that the loser becomes the winner's thrall for some amount of time (there are painful ways to break the blood bond) In a Sharon/Astrid bout, I could see that. If Andrew is in it as her champion, he will do what she says.. IF the MC is in it, I believe he would enthrall her rather than kill her on general principle. So Sharon can have two fairly serious challenges on the horizon for her newfound nobility. I think Markus and Lord Carius would keep Marcius in line, or possibly if Marcius is paying attention, his own doubts about the MC will keep him behaving for a bit. Even with Marcius relatively behaving, Sharon's social calendar is looking very full in the near future.
Ok- Vision Girl gets a lot of attention. I think we should all be prepared for her to be the most powerful vampire in the area, but very much not Lilith, or even Arikel or some other female founder of a clan. There are numerous 4th and 5th generation (I know I said I would lay off this, and I will but need to restate a point) that are active in modern nights. There are no reliable records of anything earlier/more powerful being up and around except for some crazy claims about Caine.
I had been operation on the assumption that Vision Girl was of the same clan/bloodline of the MC. This absolutely does not have to be true. She could be some other clan, and just using her oracular powers to influence the receptive brains of Crazy Frank and Newbie MC. If that is the case, all bets are off as to what she is trying to accomplish. She could have influenced Calisto to sire the DJ that she had been observing for some time, and whom she had already been working on severing his family ties. Further- Ms Olivia has for sure been someone's midnight snack. Someone who wanted to keep tabs on the MC but not be super obnoxiously obvious about it. My first thought is Astrid of course. Next would be Sharon herself, but I am eliminating this as I believe that Sharon does not yet have the necessary guile to pull this off, even though there are scenes when she is clearly dominating Ms. Olivia....Vision Girl has apparently not risen yet and if she had, I doubt she would pick a used up female equivalent of the man whore we all want to be to snack on and show restraint. In all likelihood, if Vision Girl is what we think she is, she will need vampire blood to drink in any case.....Marcius,,,,, Maybe... Cindy,,, more likely... Calisto not likely. Fabian not likely... a Nos, not likely.
So fun speculation.
Carmen get's thralled, Mirri gets thralled, Sharon is closer to being thralled than she thinks and may already have the beginnings of that. 1-drank his blood to heal after woods attack. 2-tasted his blood when opening him up to give Laurie her first dose. 3-MC bit his own tongue when Sharon shared her blood with MC, thus giving her 3 tastes of the blood. There is no harem tag on here, as it won't be classical sex harem. It will be an operational harem in that his harem will take care of his worldly concerns, and they will all love on him through blood.
Blood Dolls that Calisto reminds MC to have on hand are not to give him an erection, they are common courtesy to provide sustenance to a visiting vampire lord when they enter your domain, so she was just reminding him of his obligations.
Ok much less source materials, still good stuff!
Peace
