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Character History
Mortal Life
"She went along with most of the recommendations for preparation, although murder was right out, obviously, because that was terrible. She focused Paula instead on feeding on animals, meditation, interaction with mortals, study of philosophy relating to the soul and morality, doing good deeds (why lower your humanity when you can raise it?), and intense psychoanalysis. She had a lot of trouble getting Paula to go along with the meditation; Grace herself had never had a problem with it, so she was at a bit of a loss as to what to Paula couldn't handle about being in a small, dark closed room for a few hours at a time. (...look, when you're occasionally awake for several days at a time you start forgetting how being a human works a little.) It was also impressed upon Paula that she should behave as closely as she could to how she did when she was a mortal and was isolated from other vampires (no one even knew she was Embraced, save the Prince and whatever bureaucrats handled the paperwork); Grace only informed her what Disciplines were after she started manifesting them, and told her not to use them—particularly not Majesty. She was also told to never, ever feed from non-consenting humans.
Finally, Grace was satisfied that Paula was ready to undergo the Chrysalis, and they took a trip to the Wyrm's Nest where Grace waited in quiet anticipation while Paula went through the transformation. There was a small earthquake during that time, but nothing that Grace thought disturbed the ritual at the time.
However, Paula emerged from the Chrysalis withdrawn and a little off-kilter—not unusual, but not the celebratory atmosphere Grace had been hoping for. To test whether it had worked and to celebrate, Grace took Paula out to mingle with mortals, but Paula shortly became a nervous wreck, and Grace had to take her home lest she accidentally frenzy and harm anyone.
Clearly something had gone wrong, but Grace wasn't sure what. California was, after all, known for earthquakes, and people regularly underwent the Chrysalis there anyway without difficulty; perhaps she hadn't been ready? Whatever had gone wrong, though, she was determined to fix it. She subjected Paula to a battery of psychoanalysis, relaxation techniques, and meditation. However, Paula just wanted to leave, finding the situation so upsetting, and finally Grace could do nothing but let her storm off, not wanting to hold her against her will and still wondering what had gone wrong.
She was distraught by her failure, and it ate at her. She wanted to be able to help Paula, but Paula wouldn't let her. In the end, she went to the Confessor, another Sworn of the Mysteries named Eleanor Bunker. She told her of what had happened, and the tremendous guilt she felt over it. Eleanor was, unbeknownst to Grace, a member of the Sworn of the Ladder, and saw that Grace wasn't looking for someone to tell her things were fine, but rather for a way to fix the wrong that had been done, and thought she might be Ladder-Sworn material. She had already caught their attention, but had not yet fulfilled a necessary criterion until that point—extensive experience with her own weaknesses and failings."
Vampire Life
- Paula Rosalena Pacheco Ruiz
- Born in LA late 1930's
- " she was an awkward teenager, but very intelligent, and had a strong desire to rise above the roles that society had prescribed for her, something that resonated with Grace. Something that also resonated, as she investigated, was that Paula's life had become not entirely her own—a series of misfortunes had befallen her family, including the death of her brother. Her parents, fearing for Paula's safety, pressured her harder to give up her ambitions." --paraphrase
- Met Grace Yi in 1953 at a church event, and they discussed political issues together. Grace offered Paula a chance to study law at the University of California.
- Paula wrote articles for underground publications and her goal was to use her knowledge to fight for Chicano rights
- Soon, she figured that Grace's odd behavior meant she was hiding something. Grace revealed that she was a member of a secret society, and in 1959 told Paula that she was a vampire. she assumed the secret society was the Ordo Dracul, but it really was the Sept
- "They had originally been an offshoot branch of Gnostic Christianity, formed entirely of vampires. In those days there were many different factions and beliefs within the Lancea Sanctum, and they had originated as one of them. They saw Longinus as an emissary of a being called the Demiurge, who had created this world as an imperfect copy of the spiritual "true" world, which had been emanated by God. Furthermore, they began to disagree with the Lancea Sanctum's core philosophy of needing to be the wolves policing the flock, considering it to be going against the principles of Christianity and only a means to justify doing what they wanted in the name of God."
- Paula would still write essays, just work at night, and she'd be part of the secret society as well. Awesome!
- In 1960, she gets her J.D., is Embraced, and unknowingly undergoes preparation for Coil of the Soul
"She went along with most of the recommendations for preparation, although murder was right out, obviously, because that was terrible. She focused Paula instead on feeding on animals, meditation, interaction with mortals, study of philosophy relating to the soul and morality, doing good deeds (why lower your humanity when you can raise it?), and intense psychoanalysis. She had a lot of trouble getting Paula to go along with the meditation; Grace herself had never had a problem with it, so she was at a bit of a loss as to what to Paula couldn't handle about being in a small, dark closed room for a few hours at a time. (...look, when you're occasionally awake for several days at a time you start forgetting how being a human works a little.) It was also impressed upon Paula that she should behave as closely as she could to how she did when she was a mortal and was isolated from other vampires (no one even knew she was Embraced, save the Prince and whatever bureaucrats handled the paperwork); Grace only informed her what Disciplines were after she started manifesting them, and told her not to use them—particularly not Majesty. She was also told to never, ever feed from non-consenting humans.
Finally, Grace was satisfied that Paula was ready to undergo the Chrysalis, and they took a trip to the Wyrm's Nest where Grace waited in quiet anticipation while Paula went through the transformation. There was a small earthquake during that time, but nothing that Grace thought disturbed the ritual at the time.
However, Paula emerged from the Chrysalis withdrawn and a little off-kilter—not unusual, but not the celebratory atmosphere Grace had been hoping for. To test whether it had worked and to celebrate, Grace took Paula out to mingle with mortals, but Paula shortly became a nervous wreck, and Grace had to take her home lest she accidentally frenzy and harm anyone.
Clearly something had gone wrong, but Grace wasn't sure what. California was, after all, known for earthquakes, and people regularly underwent the Chrysalis there anyway without difficulty; perhaps she hadn't been ready? Whatever had gone wrong, though, she was determined to fix it. She subjected Paula to a battery of psychoanalysis, relaxation techniques, and meditation. However, Paula just wanted to leave, finding the situation so upsetting, and finally Grace could do nothing but let her storm off, not wanting to hold her against her will and still wondering what had gone wrong.
She was distraught by her failure, and it ate at her. She wanted to be able to help Paula, but Paula wouldn't let her. In the end, she went to the Confessor, another Sworn of the Mysteries named Eleanor Bunker. She told her of what had happened, and the tremendous guilt she felt over it. Eleanor was, unbeknownst to Grace, a member of the Sworn of the Ladder, and saw that Grace wasn't looking for someone to tell her things were fine, but rather for a way to fix the wrong that had been done, and thought she might be Ladder-Sworn material. She had already caught their attention, but had not yet fulfilled a necessary criterion until that point—extensive experience with her own weaknesses and failings."
Vampire Life
- Storms off in 1963, sick of Grace's treatment of her and resenting ever trusting her. She hated the Ordo, she hated her "false sweetness", she wanted to become powerful enough to enact vengeance.
- Lives on the streets for a few months, developing Majesty because Grace told her not to so screw her. And she needed it to make her feel better about herself.
- Joined House Aragona in 1964. It was unusual for a House to invite someone not Embraced into the Covenant, but her fiery determination convinced the Head to adopt her. It was a multiracial House, different from the typical Eurocentric ones.
- Worked as a consultant regarding law, learned how to code, used hacking skills to spy on mortal institutions and support the House. Her rank went up
- Blah blah Masquerade drop. She didn't care as long as Vampires were still in power
- The Rain came and Sonia was the only living member of House Aragona
- Cowatrice - Crazy Ivan had a bunch of weird animals living in and underneath his some, and Sonia was dragged into a mission to retried a golden egg from atop the Cowatrice that lived there thanks to the Invictus Herald and his twin brother. The two regularly frequented the shop, much to Sonia's annoyance, as they were eccentric. But an ally was an ally, and she accepted their proposal. After all, he was of higher rank. She was the only capable righter of the group, but as she didn't care much for anyone who wasn't a member of the Invictus, she didn't bother to really get into a fight unless the Herald was threatened.
- Nate ended up riding the Cowatrice like a rodeo bull. Everything was stupid. Vampires turned into stone. But the two got the egg and took it home for their bizarre work.
- Sultan of Shit - Nosferatu Invictus of the sewers. The Price of Poo. The Count of Caca. The Duke of Doodoo. Vied for elections of a new Prince but was scared off by Dominate, hating a bunch of PCs. Sonia and her posse searched for him, finding his culting followers who wielded plungers and worse toilet paper. Statues spewed filthy water. She had to help him get information in exchange for his alliance, and when she did, thanks to a conversation one of her lackeys had with the Sultan, he let the statue fountains spray rose-scented water. Elysium's toilets also became smelling like roses.
- Investigating headquarters
- Working with Gary to build Invictus support
- Being the only physical person when investigating an evil underground vampire testing facility, where one of the prisons (relevant to another PC's plot) escaped. She was smart enough to grab broken wire to help with lock picking.
- Having the other Invictus players join her cool club
- adventures
- fighting bad guys
- attacking HQ of the promethians, Their weakness is electricity, and it caught on fire. Sonia stood by to make sure nothing really bad was happening
- killing one of them. At one point, she kept blowing Majesty so that she wouldn't be targeted. Let the non-Invictus do the fighting first.
- building a cool mansion
- fixing the local neighborhood and gaining the love of mortals
- taking in homeless vampires, who changed their covenant because the Invictus are cool
- Grace Yi broke the Masquerade and is bloodhunted. Sonia laughs with salad
- And that's how she became the fresh prince of Bel-Air
- Actually The Good Alder Aragona, Viscountess of Bel-Air, Head of House Aragona, Almoner