Baron of the French Quarters, The Baron comes from Italian and French heritage and was prolific as a behind the curtains bank roller for various Sicilian crews in the city during the prohibition. He is however older then that and has been around in town for as long as the current Monarch, serving as a general of sort during the conflict. He will, upon it striking his fancy, regale his court about stories from the French Revolution. If these are really true is yet to be determined. Not that anyone would openly doubt him.

Of the same bloodline as Lyra and her Sire, his incredible ease in maintaining Thralls has made him a massive power player. Having been one of the Barons appointed by the monarch, the "Gentleman" enjoys a iron grip on his domain. He rule by deceit and manipulation, like any good manipulator and With his Madame Blanche and others by his side, he has means to both find you and compel you to do as he please.

He is however, a very hands off person. If business is smooth, and upstarts know their place he see no big reason for kicking the nest. He knows he can very well kill anyone that gets on his radar either way.

South of Broad is the Charleston’s thriving Arts District. The area caters to a multitude of arts and patrons. There are wealthy galleries sporting decor and pieces that range from modern to classical. There is a smaller area with more eclectic styles catering to a younger hip crowd. The Dock Street Theater was converted into the building that stands today around 1935 and is used for a multitude of arts, from concerts to ballet. The operators of the majority of businesses are either vampire or associated with them (even if they are unaware).

Ealdgyth is the Baroness of this district and for good reason. She has nurtured and developed it into the thriving hub that it is today. She is an aristocrat by both birth and nature; early European. Her appearance remains classical, exuding both youthfulness and control. She is soft spoken, always choosing her words carefully and is generally viewed as polite. Her own art collection and influence on the art community may have started as a pebble in the water, but the ripples have touched across continents.

Her abilities, like her children, include a radiating presence. This may have something to do with her quiet and coy nature. She’s never had to assault a room to be known, but rather it just happens naturally. This does not always result in positive emotions. Strong willed are usually bristled by this ability and sense something is a bit off. No bother, she is good at soothing any differences that arise. While her kind have the ability to nurture and follow many paths for abilities she has focused heavily on art. She has the ability to feel the emotions of artists and their intent when viewing art pieces, but also has the same pesky issue of becoming enthralled herself to certain pieces. It is said that for a solid year in the 1940’s all she could do was dwell on an obscure piece until the Monarch came and removed the temptation, placing it in an unknown storage.

Eriko Nishimura is the rightful Baroness of the Business District. Her small stature and femininity has suited her well, ensuring she is always underestimated. It also created barriers in business and early on she saw a need for a partner she could trust and who would be trusted by the white male upper-class. Thus her other half was born.

Her first child, Jean Bontemps, the perfect right hand; practically a mirror image of her views, goals and personality. It is exceedingly rare to see them apart. Prior to their death both were involved in piracy, strong leaders, and shrewd negotiators. They moved to Charleston from New Orleans around a century ago, replacing the previous Baron through negotiations, not war.

Some of the more approachable of the Barons; they lack the air of regality that some of the others don like a dracula cape. They prefer to drink in the company of others and can be rather good story tellers. It should not be forgotten that they are always searching for a way to gain power. They are extremely focused, tactful and goal driven. They both have a high stress tolerance, lack remorse and are ruthless, egocentric, charming and manipulative. When it comes to vampires living in their district they strictly gauge acceptance and respect for others based on their usefulness.

Their exact power is unknown, but they seem to be extremely lucky in business and in undeath.

His ability is well known, though the true expanse of his power is hard to gauge. With physical contact he can remove the abilities of other vampires, or he can enhance them. On humans the power manifests as something that can drain a human of all energy to the degree of coma or he can energize them like a shot of adrenaline. His power is extremely demanding on the human body. For this reason many of the vampires in his employ are not his own progeny and are instead involved in a blood pact. They are hand chosen for their skills which vary almost as much as the Monarch collection.

If anyone has their finger on the pulse of Charleston, it's this man. He came with the Monarch to Charleston and has served him longer than any of the other Barons. He worked for awhile as a go to between all of the Barons until juggling the politics of the human and vampire world became to much for him. Instead of letting him retire, the Monarch gave him a Baronship and continues to rely heavily on his skills and monitoring. He is, debatably, the Monarchs closest confidant. Many believe that the Monarch may be his sire.

His blood pact force have taken over most of the day to day operations, infiltrating almost every level of the human justice system. Deputy Chief Simon Fuller is one of a handful that he trusts. Many use thralls for day time information collecting but also hold positions with access to information for themselves. The Baron himself has no human recognized position, but busies himself making sense of the large amount of both pertinent and useless information that crosses his desk.

While many of the Barons have their own cleaners, those who need something swept under the rug without any complications will get in touch with Marreck or one of his children. They do an exceptional job keeping the vampire world separate from the human.

What do you want? Girls? Boys? Stolen Art? Weapons? Ancient tomes? Underhanded or discreet services? You can find all of this and more, if you know where to look in The Burroughs. The lovely and ever gracious Baroness of this district has fundamental rules for her children, and any currently in her district. Do not steal within the district without consent. Do not kill in the district without consent. Do not bring attention from the human population, ever. And that's it. Follow the rules, and your stay will be enjoyable. Break the rules and you wont make it out of the Burroughs with your undead life.

Of the Barons, her origin story is one of the most cliché. Born in Transylvania at the edge of the Carpathian Mountains, the youth of her undeath was entirely opposed to the life she lives now. There were no rulers beyond her sire, but there was a true and haunting fear of discovery from the human populace. She has a subdued, but very real fear of humanity and has human dealings as little as possible, if at all.

Her most often discussed ability is the manipulation of shadows. She can fuse them about herself to the extent she can survive briefly beneath the sun. She can access areas in the shadows unknown to most, both for storage and camouflage. She can almost entirely become the shadows themselves when there is a lack of light. The lesser discussed perk of her genetic line is the ability to hibernate. It requires them to be buried in the dirt of their homeland and there they will fall into a dreamless sleep until they are awoken. It was probably Daciana who buried her sire and left him. If he is ever unearthed it would not bode well for her or any of her ilk.

Orthrus came to Charleston from New Orleans where the terrors he inflicted upon human and vampire slaves is still a whispered travesty. He started the blood sports early in Charleston's conception to feed his own joy and taste for violence and brutality. He is a true showboater; loves attention, be it good or bad. He enjoys holding extravagant parties where you will find humans bleeding out from hooks and chains decorating the walls. He can be absolutely charming, as long as you aren't afraid. The problem is, he knows what you are afraid of. He knows how to become the boogeyman crawling out of your mind and across the ceiling.

Torture is possibly his greatest joy and he loves pressing the limits of absolute terror. It's bred into him, he grows strong in its presence and it is just as addictive as any drug. Thanks to this he trains his line in all forms of terror, removing it from them so that all is left is a shell. The caterpillar eating itself to become the butterfly. This shell has little option but to fill it's being with the terrible addiction and anger. Most of his ilk are viewed as deranged serial killers and blood hungry thugs (though aren't most vampires?).

Even at his age his thralls can not help but fear him so they often prickle the vampires instinct to kill. His age has made him terrifying enough to instill loyalty when it comes to betrayal, yet he still feels human are an animal to be hunted. Due to this he is completely untrusting/uncaring of thralls and has been known to enslave or slaughter the thralls sent unaccompanied into his district.

Some say she talks to the dead; some say she can hear the inner most thoughts of those around her or those she has killed; and some, some say she is just insane. One may never know because you surely can't believe the stories she tells. Whatever the cause of the insanity, it doesn't matter, because it's real and it's contagious. She can infect the minds of others. She has had centuries to learn how to handle it, but when she reaches out for you what preparation have you had to contest the tentacle grip of an absurd reality wrapping about your mind and senses? Progeny are usually chosen from already insane mentalities because of their ability to handle the bite. It is documented that occasionally the transformation isn't survivable. It is thought that a mind too rational can't handle it. You will find a higher number of youthful cleaners from this line.

To define her or her morals is a completely impossible task. She keeps a sort of childlike glee about life, terrible and good. She is a bubbly flighty thing, speaking in exaggerated hand gestures of long dead philosophies while gingerly nibbling on the finger of a prepubescent child. She likes to giggle and flirt, batting lashes over brilliant dead eyes, playing the part of extended youth dripping with distracting but delightful insanity. Then the facade would crumble and the vicious untrusting monster would whisper the contained madness of her mind, directly assaulting any rational foothold one possesses. Though most with a rational foothold didn’t care to find themselves in her presence. Even with her flaws, she is debatably the most caring and loving of the progeny she creates and those she takes in. She believes in family; albeit sick and twisted, but family.

The Baroness helped fund the human endeavor to build a large psychiatric institution on the island. Other than that the island is rather devoid of activity. It is surrounded almost entirely by the ocean and an expanse of bayou wilderness. She was chosen for her ability to protect a large portion of the outer border, though illegals in the city have been light in the past couple of decades. She should not be underestimated.

The Oracle’s abilities are pretty self explanatory. She doesn’t have the ability to force visions about specific events easily; it requires extreme focus. Normally she just picks up tidbits that relevance wavers from what her neighbor will have for breakfast to outcomes in war. The vampire community seems torn when asked about the truth of her visions; some claiming her ability is more about current perception than fortune telling. That said, she is still taken seriously; if she speaks, people listen. She very rarely speaks and is viewed as withdrawn and quiet. She attempts to never involve herself in vampire politics and has proctors that control the day to day politics of West Ashley for her.

She seems to be one of the most unwilling Barons; claiming it’s irrelevant and tedious. Her ilk are rarely considered for positions of power because they generally lack the means to protect themselves. It is common for them to sell their services for the protection of stronger barons, but Berrak has gained enough favor and protection to hold her own in the political world.

On a whole the line produces kind and gentle vampires, if not a bit flighty and delusional, which is reflected in their low numbers. They trade out their progeny for muscle and other helpful skills. They generally find killing, through feeding or sport, extremely distasteful. She chooses intelligent thralls, usually philosopher types, that she builds strong relationships with. She prefers the company of her thralls and humans much more than most vampires. This should not lead you to believe she is weak or feeble minded. She predicted the rise of the Monarch and has gained many unanswered favors from a plethora of vampires over the years.

It is difficult to see the human he once was through his current form, but whatever race he came from they bred them tall. He stands at an imposing 7 feet, but can maneuver through under ground tunnels and sewers as easily as the rodents he occasionally dines upon. If the Lady Umbra has a cliché history, then Ánhaga has the most dramatized façade. Nosferatu often comes to mind, and to be honest the Baron delights in the bit of fame that shines on his otherwise hidden existence.

The other Barons are weary of him, not only because of his appearance, but for his ability and his seemingly unlimited knowledge about what goes on beneath the lights of the city. He craves company and has been known to hold younger vampires for lengthy period of time; bordering on kidnapping, but it is usually overlooked as one of eccentricities. Vampires will offer their children in return for some of the secrets he keeps and to stay in good favor. Should he ever decide against your favor it would be advised to stay away from alleys, sewers, darkness....well, you should probably just pack your bags and run.

His nature forced solitude has provide him with plenty of time to hone and manipulate his own abilities. The blood filter present in his children has been shaped into a rather unique ability. The Baron can hold diseases in the memory of his blood and inflict them upon vampires and humans. "Blood Rot" is his most common infliction against vampire foes and it is a slow and excruciating death. The vampire will feel sick, like a human with a cold. Soon it escalates to a gnawing within them. The pain flares; the vampire feeling the rot eating at their brain, some have said you can hear it whispering your own death as it rips apart your being. When the pain is so much that most vampires would choose death, it is to late for release. The disease has devoured the weaknesses of vampires and there is no release. Burning the infected vampire to ash seems to be the only remedy and is often carried out by their sires for fear the Blood Rot will spread. He studies the diseases he holds on the vampires given to him, always seeking a way to reverse his kinds deformity or to expel the inherent vampire weaknesses; though as of yet he has failed.

It is his ability that is rumored, and truly must be, the catalyst in the transformations of this kind, though the effects vary depending on the vampire. It appears that the more they succumb to their ability and tainted blood the more deformed they become.

From North Charleston the vampires have access to a plethora of sewer lines and underground tunnels that lead throughout the territories. While the tunnels below each district do technically belong to the Baron above, it is commonly understood that The Recluse holds right of way.

Faol tends to keep to himself, which doesn’t help the rumors that his beastlike appearance is indicative of a primal personality. Those who count him as a friend argue that the rumors are wildly exaggerated and that he is actually quite pleasant, considering. His line’s transformation forces the beastlike appearance and gives the vampires much higher physical attributes than the other vampire lines. Due to his inability to regain full human appearance it is argued that his line is one of the original relating to animal kinship. Younger vampires in his line are usually more primal and this is something they either embrace or, like himself, compartmentalize as a piece of them that does not define the whole.

Those under his rule have always maintained a pack like mentality; with a strict hierarchy in play, but they also genuinely support one another. He has close relationships with many in his district and allows access to his company by appointment instead of stealing away. He personally deals with all issues and squabbles in his district. While he isn’t cruel, he does not gauge his acceptance of others on their own alignment. He’s accepting of the monster that vampirism creates and chooses not to judge.

Her specific line has the ability to control scavengers and other smaller creatures. From the youth of her undeath she has nurtured a relationship with ravens. She uses the ravens, feeding them her blood, so that she can keep an eye on the city. This gives her the unique position of having a plethora of eyes out during the day, a built in spy ring with no question of loyalty. She hand selects competent thralls and human consorts, oblivious to her nature, to control her shipping enterprise and day to day operations. Mount Pleasant is a wealthy district and almost all shipments requiring discretion due to vampiric or supernatural value go through her.

There is a strong claim the baroness can transform into an unkindness of ravens; some have even claimed to see it. The claim, while terrifying, is not completely unreasonable. Lenore has maintained control of the Mount Pleasant Baronship since the Monarch took control of Charleston and she was one of the strong contenders for the Monarch position herself.

Her outward demeanor is quiet and watchful, which often leads people to believe she is pretentious. She does nothing to dispel this belief, nurturing any rumor that distracts from her true calculating nature. She can be both cruel and conniving, if necessary, and is said to hold a grudge almost as well as the Monarch himself. Other Barons pay her the respect she has earned and do all that they can to stay off her radar.

The Cainhoy Peninsula is not a welcoming place. Legends and horror stories surround the district so that most humans know to stay out of the woods at night, and most just avoid the area all together. The skeptics blame animals for the disappearances, claiming a black bears, gators or bobcats are at fault. It isn’t the wildlife, but rather the Frisian, Baroness of the district, that allows for unabashed hunting, as long as the dead are buried in her district. She holds an annual hunt in her district where a select few receive an invitation. It is a hedonistic event, catering to the animalistic need suppressed by many Barons. While most vampires have acclimated along with the humans, she seems to create and thrive in a world entirely separate. She can not create thralls of the living so has no real purpose to associate with them and her humanity and empathy has suffered. Most barons are either for or against humans, but the Frisian truly sees them as game as nothing more.

The dead being buried on her land serves more than just the purpose of hunting and disposing. Her ability, summoning the dead, benefits greatly from fresh bodies awaiting reanimation. There are restrictions on her abilities and the dead she can resurrect, though no one other than her kin are quite sure of the “rules”. Her ability crosses into the vampire world of dead by allowing her to summon other vampires, though she can not force or control them like she can her zombies. She comes from one of the oldest known vampire lines; her sire is an exceedingly powerful and influential force in Europe. They rarely create progeny due to the implications of their abilities and the lack of control there is in youth. To create a progeny they must set aside a large amount of time to dwell in an unpopulated area.

Very little is known about the Baron of Summerville. The vampires that reside under his rule are an eclectic bunch as he is not opposed to taking in strays. This adds to the rumors that the Baron is extremely powerful because of the obvious dangers inherent in taking in unaligned. One rumored power is the control of memories, more importantly, the ability to remove them. Politically they have remained neutral and relatively quiet. Those who have met the Baron claim their mind feels weaker in his presence, though this may be psychological due to the rumors surrounding him.