Shadow Dragon
SpikeName: Rachel Bromberg
Age: 531
Date of Birth: August 5, 1489
Gender: Female
Where are you from: Ember Grove, by way of Madrid, Spain
Height: Five foot six
Weight: 160 lbs
Hair color: Red
Hair length: Shoulder
Skin Color: Extremely Pale
Eye color: Sea green
Sexuality: Straight
Relationship status: Single
Siblings: None
Parents: Long dead
Pets: Her familiar, a black cat named Schrodinger
Openness to friends: 10
Openness to romance: 6
Likes: Magic, cooking, reading
Dislikes: Rain, technology, being alone
Hobbies: Magical theory, cooking, painting
Skills: Immense magical knowledge, good connections, little wasted energy with spells.
Personality: Rachel struggles with the darkness she has let into her soul on a daily basis, but she still tries to be a good person. Her coven's rules state that there is nothing inherently evil in learning about dark magic, and in certain situations, even its use is acceptable. However, she is a pacifist, having seen far too much bloodshed in her many centuries to resort to violence except to save lives. She has a lingering dislike of the Church, after what they did to her, but can be convinced to open up to priests and the like, should they prove themselves to be good people. She also has a wicked sense of humor and enjoys pranks, and will take any excuse to make a necromancy pun among those who know what she truly is.
History: Madrid in the fifteenth century was a pretty bustling place, and Rachel's parents were influential members of the local Jewish community. Her father ran a small bank- since Judaism had no laws against charging interest, they were pretty much the only people who did so- and her mother worked in a bakery. At the age of ten, Rachel learned she had magic, but kept it hidden, for fear that people would find out. And it was a good thing too, for the Inquisition soon came into being.
And before you ask, she did expect them. She just wasn't able to put her plans into action before she got caught.
She was charged with summoning demons and cursing her neighbors, and while that particular charge was false, admitting to consorting with the dead would be a poor defense so she stayed silent. Her guilty verdict was assured either way. The night before she was to be burned at the stake, Rachel asked for a hood so she could at least not have to see the flames coming for her. The executioner granted her this request, and Rachel made one last gasp attempt to save herself.
The ritual was still half-theory, but it worked, and she managed to transfer her soul into the hood. There was nothing she could do to stop the burning, though, and she was put to the torch. For most people, that was the end of the matter, but there was one little detail they didn't know...
A friend named Jocasta took the hood from the pyre's ashes, and placed it on a fresh corpse in the local mortuary. Rachel was able to place her soul in the new body and return herself to a somewhat living state; though her skin is indistinguishable from a normal mortal, her internal organs have decayed into a mass of rot and her blood is a fetid sludge, though it still works for spells. After she was raised, she left Madrid and began a more nomadic lifestyle. Living in the same place for twenty years without aging a day tends to attract attention, after all. She came to the South in the 1880s, spending time in Georgia and Tennessee. Nowadays, she lives in Ember Grove, owning a small Mediterranean restaurant called La Perra Roja.
Coven: Leader of the Children of the Black Moon
How radical 1-10
Rachel founded the Children several years ago with the intent of providing a place where witches could share any knowledge they wished, even that of the Dark Arts. According to coven practices there is no such thing as a forbidden spell, though some spells should only be used to save and protect life. The coven is barely a blip on anyone's radar outside of Ember Grove, but they have raised a few eyebrows for providing support to Hunters going after a particularly murderous vampire. The Children's relationship with Le Coven Eclaire is a little strained due to their acceptance of dark magic, but Rachel tries to keep tensions to a minimum.
Goals: Promote magical knowledge
Skill Level: Advanced
Other: Rachel still has a tiny sliver of her soul in the hood (which has been refashioned into a purse), just to
anchor herself to the mortal plane in case things go wrong.
Every year, on September 23 (the anniversary of her burning and Jocasta helping her come back), Rachel and the long-dead Jocasta have a girl's night. One year it's at Jocasta's home in Heaven, the next in Ember Grove.
Age: 531
Date of Birth: August 5, 1489
Gender: Female
Where are you from: Ember Grove, by way of Madrid, Spain
Height: Five foot six
Weight: 160 lbs
Hair color: Red
Hair length: Shoulder
Skin Color: Extremely Pale
Eye color: Sea green
Sexuality: Straight
Relationship status: Single
Siblings: None
Parents: Long dead
Pets: Her familiar, a black cat named Schrodinger
Openness to friends: 10
Openness to romance: 6
Likes: Magic, cooking, reading
Dislikes: Rain, technology, being alone
Hobbies: Magical theory, cooking, painting
Skills: Immense magical knowledge, good connections, little wasted energy with spells.
Personality: Rachel struggles with the darkness she has let into her soul on a daily basis, but she still tries to be a good person. Her coven's rules state that there is nothing inherently evil in learning about dark magic, and in certain situations, even its use is acceptable. However, she is a pacifist, having seen far too much bloodshed in her many centuries to resort to violence except to save lives. She has a lingering dislike of the Church, after what they did to her, but can be convinced to open up to priests and the like, should they prove themselves to be good people. She also has a wicked sense of humor and enjoys pranks, and will take any excuse to make a necromancy pun among those who know what she truly is.
History: Madrid in the fifteenth century was a pretty bustling place, and Rachel's parents were influential members of the local Jewish community. Her father ran a small bank- since Judaism had no laws against charging interest, they were pretty much the only people who did so- and her mother worked in a bakery. At the age of ten, Rachel learned she had magic, but kept it hidden, for fear that people would find out. And it was a good thing too, for the Inquisition soon came into being.
And before you ask, she did expect them. She just wasn't able to put her plans into action before she got caught.
She was charged with summoning demons and cursing her neighbors, and while that particular charge was false, admitting to consorting with the dead would be a poor defense so she stayed silent. Her guilty verdict was assured either way. The night before she was to be burned at the stake, Rachel asked for a hood so she could at least not have to see the flames coming for her. The executioner granted her this request, and Rachel made one last gasp attempt to save herself.
The ritual was still half-theory, but it worked, and she managed to transfer her soul into the hood. There was nothing she could do to stop the burning, though, and she was put to the torch. For most people, that was the end of the matter, but there was one little detail they didn't know...
A friend named Jocasta took the hood from the pyre's ashes, and placed it on a fresh corpse in the local mortuary. Rachel was able to place her soul in the new body and return herself to a somewhat living state; though her skin is indistinguishable from a normal mortal, her internal organs have decayed into a mass of rot and her blood is a fetid sludge, though it still works for spells. After she was raised, she left Madrid and began a more nomadic lifestyle. Living in the same place for twenty years without aging a day tends to attract attention, after all. She came to the South in the 1880s, spending time in Georgia and Tennessee. Nowadays, she lives in Ember Grove, owning a small Mediterranean restaurant called La Perra Roja.
Coven: Leader of the Children of the Black Moon
How radical 1-10
Rachel founded the Children several years ago with the intent of providing a place where witches could share any knowledge they wished, even that of the Dark Arts. According to coven practices there is no such thing as a forbidden spell, though some spells should only be used to save and protect life. The coven is barely a blip on anyone's radar outside of Ember Grove, but they have raised a few eyebrows for providing support to Hunters going after a particularly murderous vampire. The Children's relationship with Le Coven Eclaire is a little strained due to their acceptance of dark magic, but Rachel tries to keep tensions to a minimum.
Goals: Promote magical knowledge
Skill Level: Advanced
Other: Rachel still has a tiny sliver of her soul in the hood (which has been refashioned into a purse), just to
anchor herself to the mortal plane in case things go wrong.
Every year, on September 23 (the anniversary of her burning and Jocasta helping her come back), Rachel and the long-dead Jocasta have a girl's night. One year it's at Jocasta's home in Heaven, the next in Ember Grove.