SchreckNet Data File
- Real/Birth Name: Belinha Azevedo
- Known Identity/Mortal Alias: Belle Azevedo
- Place of Origin: Ashford, California, USA
- Height: 5'7½"
- Occupation: Business Administration
- Apparent Age: Mid-20s
- Embraced: 1962
- Kindred Status: Ancilla
- Sire: Neil Hargrow (deceased)
- Clan: Tremere
- Clan Status: Magister (Quartermaster)
- Sect: Camarilla
- Sect Status: Whip
- Player/Type: NPC
Appearance
Belle is a strikingly beautiful woman in her prime. Her mother was Brazilian (and her father of Portuguese descent) and the influence of her Brazilian heritage is clear in her tan, figure and dark hair, which is contrasted by her piercing blue eyes that only adds to her allure. She has inherited her mother's sense of fashion and, although she does not have any particular favoured style, always looks impeccable, elegant and fashionable; generally favouring Boycon, Halter, Sheath or Pencil dresses in social occasions, all of which compliment her figure. On a normal daily basis, however, she typically wears smart business-type suits which give a more professional and authoritative image, more appropriate for her role as CEO of Azevedo Construction and dealings with other Kindred. Whilst typically besmoke clothing made from Italian and other fashionable fabrics, her suits (and various other fashionable jackets she wears when not wearing a suit or dress) are also ballistic clothing, frequently from Aspetto or Miguel Caballero. She jokingly refers to her favoured Aspetto suit as her John Wick suit.
Her hairstyle varies based on the dress she is wearing and the situation she is going, but typically tends to be long or medium-length and straight or slightly wavy for general use, and tied up or styled for business or high etiquette use. No one has ever seen her without makeup, leading some to theorise that she may have had permanent makeup tattoos done, but regardless she evidently has an extensive range and variety of cosmetics and is an expert at applying the right type of makeup to best suit her presentation for whatever cause she applies it for. Belle is not a person who, even when sporting a natural look, is ever actually natural (ie makeup free).
Background
Belle's mother was a Brazilian fashion designer who married an American with Portuguese, German and French ancestry who was the owner of a construction company, Azevedo Constructions Inc. She grew up speaking Portuguese and would frequently spend seasons in Santos, Brazil where her mother was born and learnt to dance, play the piano and make dresses from an early age. She attended the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Parish and Elementary school, and then the Garces Memorial High School, a co-educational Catholic high school. She then finally ended her educational journey at California State University Ashford, obtaining a BA degree, Majoring in Business Administration, with a Minor in Political Science. Throughout, she excelled in her studies, graduating summa cum laude, and found languages easy to pick up.
Belle had always been a better-looking woman than she'd really wanted to be. Bright, intelligent and well-educated, she'd have much preferred to have been judged on her own merits. Instead, she too-often found herself destined for a front-office position when she would have liked to have been in the back room, where she knew all the power plays were being made. Too many companies and clients were only willing to hire her for her ornamental value. When she tried to achieve higher status, she found herself constantly overlooked - "Too valuable to promote" was the term used to describe why she was so frequently rejected or overlooked.
Within the Tremere, Belle found she could be rewarded for her personal achievements, and finally found ways to take advantage of her looks, as well. Although her fellow kindred may be beyond sex, they still find her charms irresistible. She was initially recruited, unfortunately, for much the same reason she found her career in the business world going nowhere: her stunning good looks. The Tremere saw nothing more in her than a beautiful woman, someone they could use as bait - a seductive lure to use against the mundanes or those kindred who would be affected by her charms, helping the clan to further its schemes - and someone who was expendable at a moment's notice.
Belle spent the next five decades showing them how wrong they were, although Belle found herself unable to learn Thaumaturgy due to a combination of natural inability (perhaps caused by a conflict between the requirements of the often-brutal rituals of blood sorcery and her Catholic upbringing), as well as a lack of proper tutelage from her sire, leading Belle to have to become useful and prove herself to the clan in other ways. She soon proved herself to be adaptable, cunning, driven and a natural player at the games of Kindred intrigue and managed to prove herself enough to become a Quartermaster, managing the mundane operations of the Chantry's stores, maintaining and organising its mundane supplies. She did this so successfully that she earnt the respect of the Chantry's Regent, Michel Reinhard, who conferred upon her the title of Magister - a title typically given to Tremere who help run the Chantry and educate Apprentices under the direction of the Regent but occasionally granted to more distinguished members who have not sought Thaumaturgical power and instead have become trusted advisors. As Magister, in addition to her duties as Quartermaster, she also assisted in oiling the wheels of the Clan, organising training and seeing to disputes and punishments. A Clan role much in common with the role of the Camarilla Whip, a position she would eventually also earn.
Although many of the more-proficient Thaumaturgists derided her as being little more than the Regent's secretary Belle learnt quickly how to use her position and title to grow her own influence. When Reinhard became the Primogen, her position of trust and influence with him proved advantageous when he officially appointed her as his Whip, despite her not being one of the eldest, nor a Thaumaturgist. Although in practice her responsibilities did not change much, other than more formal representation of the Tremere to the Primogen council, the position granted her the same status in the Camarilla as she held within the Clan. In practice, this meant that defying her was no longer simply defying the Magistrix, but defying the Camarilla's official representatives. The kindred equivalent to the difference between defying a city council member, and a member of the state senate. This was something that, occasionally, would cause problems with some Tremere but Belle quickly proved that she was up to the task of keeping the Clan in line - knowing when to crack the whip (pun not intended) and when to allow slack to best keep the Ashford Tremere loyal to the Clan and towing the Primogen's line. On the few occasions when her own abilities were unable to coerce those who resisted her, well... she had the ear of her Primogen and Regent, who was extremely unforgiving about disloyalty and dissent, and renown for merciless discipline.
As Belle is not a Thaumaturgist and her positions as Whip, Quartermaster and Magister often involve her dealing with kine and kindred of other Clans, she is one of few Tremere allowed to keep a Haven outside of the Chantry. This would ultimately be what saved her life when the opening wave of the Sabbat Crusade resulted in the destruction of the Chantry, and the death of most of the neonates and Thaumaturges, as Belle was not present at the Chantry during the attack (and evidently was not considered a primary target, likely due to her renown lack of Thaumaturgy). She now finds herself one of the eldest remaining Tremere in the aftermath of the Sabbat Crusade and actually more respected by those who remain, and the new recruits, than she was previously.
But now there's a new Chantry building (constructed by her own construction company) which needed to be rebuilt anew elsewhere. Although the building is now finished, provisions need to be obtained, resources gained, connections reestablished or replaced and the overall status and influence of the Tremere Clan need to be restored. Whilst she is in a better position of power and influence than she ever has been, Belle has a lot of work ahead of her - but is determined to prove she is up to the task.
Mortal Society
Belle interacts little with the kine outside the necessities of her role as Magister and Quartermaster - and when she does she presents herself as a businesswoman/agent representing a registered business that is essentially one of many organisations (or registered fronts) belonging to the Tremere, as appropriate for the purpose.
Although Belle was not particularly successful in her kine business career, she is still the daughter of a man who owned a successful construction company and inherited his company after he died. It took her a short while to successfully fend off a lawsuit from her elder brother challenging the surprise, almost-last-minute change to her father's Will that redirected the inheritance of the company from her brother to Belle, who was always considered by the family to be distant, at best. Things were eventually resolved out of court and Belle's ownership is now unchallenged.
Whilst not as large or influential as Montclair Realty, a subsidiary of the Montclair Corporation owned by Genevieve Montclair, the Toreador Primogen, it has been somewhat protected from the potential ravages of Montclair's otherwise aggressive policy of crushing or absorbing competitors as Azevedo Construction is considered a Tremere asset by the Clan, and so action against it would be considered inter-Clan conflict. Due to the good long-standing relationship between Ashford's Toreador and Tremere Clans, this has ensured the organisation grow unimpeded and, at times, Azevedo Construction has been subcontracted by Montclair Realty. Every few years Genevieve Montclair makes a generous offer to purchase Azevedo Construction but Belle always refuses. Belle thinks that either Genevieve does not realise that Belle is uninterested in the money, that her interest in Azevedo Construction is as an asset and tool for her Clan; or that Genevieve actually DOES understand this all-too-well and is attempting to steal the asset for her Clan's benefit with a charming smile and large cheque. Nonetheless, Azevedo Construction has grown to become a respectably large construction and realty company and made Belle a wealthy woman with an influential company under her skirt.
Although Azevedo Construction belongs to Belle, she actually typically has little involvement with its daily operations. She is the majority shareholder and company CEO, but relies on her board to operate it. She initially had to share some control of the company with her brother - which she achieved by Dominating him into accepting her reasonable offer of shares in return for dropping his challenge against her father's Will giving Belle ownership of the company; Belle realised she had to at least give him a reasonable settlement or eventually he may resist the Dominate and he, or his family, may re-litigate. Since then she has kept him thoroughly conditioned (Dominate) to run the company for her and serve as its public face - which suited her both because she really knew little about construction, and because it allows her to focus her efforts on serving the Tremere instead of distracted by the business. As her brother aged, she began conditioning his son too (she ensures her brother chose to only have one child, who was groomed to choose to follow his father's career, inherit his shares and assume his business responsibilities; she saw little point in her brother having more children, especially since if he dies the shares will be inherited by Belle). She, therefore, runs the organisation chiefly through her nephew César Azevedo who is the Chief Operations Officer (COO), with her acting as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President. She gets involved on the PR side of business - meeting with clients and helping attract contracts, do damage control, advertising and so forth - the more political and business direction side of things, whilst the management and control is handled by César. Just in case, Belle has conditioned most of the most important board members, both to ensure their loyalty and to prevent other kindred (such as Genevieve) from sneakily taking control of them to undermine or steal the company from Belle.
Personality
Belle wants to prove she's every bit as good, if not better, as the next Tremere and a benefit and asset to her clan despite being a mundane (non-Thaumaturge). She will do anything that she believes may benefit her clan and, whilst she might make contacts and allies outside the clan, she thinks of them much like humans would "work colleagues" - appreciated and liked, but ultimate not friends and secondary to the needs of the clan, and therefore as expendable to her as her clan believed she was to them. This doesn't make Belle a bad person, or so she believes anyhow, just that she knows where her loyalties and priorities lie. Although little distracts her from her relentless climb towards the top of the pyramid, she does allow herself to indulge in a little revenge against the patriarchy now and then.
Unsurprisingly, she is a member of The Unbowed Mundanes secret society within the Tremere - a faction of members who either lack the aptitude, like Belle, or who simply do not take to Thaumaturgy. They are indignant that their contribution to the Clan often goes unrewarded as the elders (unsurprisingly) are prejudiced against non-Thaumaturges, believing those who cannot master Thaumaturgy are simply not trying hard enough, or lacking in true value and potential and useful as expendable servants. The Unbowed Mundanes are a group dedicated to righting the balance between those with and without Thaumaturgy, and they even count some Thaumaturges among their ranks who agree with their goals who claim that Clan Tremere is about more than just magic - it is about loyalty and survival. Her appointment as Whip and Magister are simultaneously achievements that the Unbowed Mundanes praise as proof of their beliefs, yet is also as high as Belle (or any non-Thaumaturge) is likely to get as the elders will likely never promote a non-Thaumaturge to Regent or higher. Belle is hoping to prove her worth - and that of other mundanes - and change those attitudes. Maybe some day become a Primogen, a position which - she argues - is mostly political and involves interacting with the Primogen of other Clans with no need for Thaumaturgy as a requirement; and one can be a Primogen without being a Regent, and vice-versa.
Other Notes
The Chantry
The Tremere Clan in Ashford was once one of the most powerful on the US West Coast and their chantry an example to other Tremere. The Sabbat Crusade brought an end to that. The Chantry had relied on secrecy for protection - its location known to only a select few and access obtained via the Key of the Lost ritual - but the Sabbat uncovered the location and attacked with overwhelming numbers of Shovelheads, vicissitude-altered szlachta ghouls and a Vozhd war ghoul, killing most of the Acolytes and Apprentices at the Chantry. Surprisingly, however, the central library fared better than expected as the Sabbat focused on eliminating the enemy, yet limited the destruction in the library so they could steal the secrets of Thaumaturgy for their own purposes. The Tremere have now set up a new Chantry in a building constructed specially for it by Azevedo Construction. Now that it has been a few years since the end of the crusade, the Chantry building has been finished and most of the recovered resources and library have been transferred, but there is much work still to go. Whilst the building is finished, the decimated influence of the Tremere and knowledge lost during the crusade means that although it has a much more notable emphasis on security, and room for expansion, it does not have the Thaumaturgical and Occult knowledge and facilities the previous Chantry did as yet, though more than sufficient for the remnants of the Clan and will no doubt be expanded as the Clan regains its numbers and power.
Tremere Chantry Game Details:
Point Value: 17
Guardians: ••
The chantry has 5 well-armed and trained ghouls and 1 Gargoyle, all ready to fight and die for the chantry (in addition to mundane security guards dominated or employed in non-secretive areas).
Library •••••
As mentioned, the Chantry's library survived the Sabbat Crusade relatively unscathed and their impressive Library was quickly one of the first things set up. Whilst some rituals and tomes were lost, the Library still contains a plethora of Occult and Magickal knowledge as well as rituals of first through to the fifth level.
Research •••
Whilst the previous Chantry had full laboratories for every Warlock and basic laboratories for Acolytes, the new Chantry does not yet have these facilities, although they have enough spare space to be able to develop this in the future as their need and resources increase. Presently, there is a properly equipped laboratory in the chantry, but Warlocks need to share its resources and time.
Sanctity: ••••
The previous Chantry was constructed before Belle's Embrace and, as Belle describes it, relied on magickal wards, secrecy, and Tremere arrogance of its own untouchability for safety. Belle has had this building purpose-made both for future expansion ability, as well as to be a fortress inside and out. This includes windows augmented with toughened glass, steel layers in the walls and security stations in addition to the well-trained guards and wards. It has been designed to survive a siege and even includes secret tunnels - both to aid non-Thaumaturges, Ghouls and dominated or mundane retainers without compromising secrecy, as well as to enable defensible emergency escape routes in case of another attack that manages to breach this proverbial fortress.
Stores: •••
The Chantry has an extensive collection of items found only in specialist stores. It also has a variety of non-military-grade weapons and explosives. It once had a more impressive collection, including military-grade weapons and explosives, but with many of their connections lost the Tremere need to reacquire the contacts needed to obtain these levels of equipment. They are aware they could purchase through other sources, such as the Brujah or Nosferatu with underworld control, but they do not wish to be indebted to these Clans nor give them any hint of their capabilities (or lack thereof) or opportunity to tamper with the equipment.
Rival: Roland Berrill
Main Article: Rolan Berrill (WoD) Whilst the Tremere clan is famous for presenting a united front against outsiders and the loyalty of its members towards the Clan, it is equally infamous for the aggressive political infighting and ambition of its members, often having a "if it's good for me, it's good for the Clan" attitude, whereby usurping other Clansmen and taking their position, is considered to only make the Clan stronger by eliminating the weak and ensuring those in positions do not become complacent.
It is believed that such a position now occurs between Belle and Magister Roland Berrill who, since the Sabbat Crusade, has become one of the Chantry's most senior Tremere and accomplished Thaumaturges. Whilst he has nowhere near the raw Thaumaturgical or personal power or political influence to be considered a serious rival/challenger to the Chantry's Regent and Primogen, it is evident to even casual onlookers that he has a strong enmity towards Belle; perhaps because she is not a Thaumaturge, or perhaps because she is a woman in a traditionally patriarchal Clan. For whatever reason, whilst those who do not know them would see their interactions as professional, civil and (usually) polite, those who have interacted with either Roland or Belle at any length will easily notice that this civility is almost a form of hostility. In Belle's case, her civility is opposed to her natural friendliness, charm and grace; and in Roland's case, infamous for talking down to those he deems his intellectual inferiors (which, apparently, is almost everyone), it is a forced restraint and politeness with a veneer of cold sarcasm. Why Belle herself resents Roland is not known (especially as both Kindred will claim nothing is wrong and say nothing but praise for each other to those outside of the Clan), so most just assume Belle's animosity is simply the natural reaction to Roland's enmity - but others notice that other Tremere visibly stay clear of events involving these two, or as one Brujah described it, "getting out of the way as it's close to High Noon, and you don't want to be between them when the shooting starts."
Retainers
The Tremere keep a literal record of the ghouls in service to the Clan, typically vetting them well beforehand as well as monitoring and restricting their activities after they become ghouls. Belle has one registered ghoul retainer and a second non-ghoul retainer:
César Azevedo
César is Belle's nephew and is a well-preserved man in his late-50s. He runs Azevedo Construction as its Chief Operations Officer, handling the day-to-day business, personnel and construction operations, leaving the legal, financial, public relation and general direction to Belle (not by choice, although he believes it is his choice) or other staff more appropriate. He has been Dominate-conditioned and Presence-Entranced by Belle thoroughly over the years and has no real will of his own left, serving her every desire and happy to do so. Belle takes little overall interest or control in his life outside the company, both to uphold the Masquerade and out of a general lack of interest anyhow, so César actually has relative freedom in most aspects except to bear children - Belle does not want him fathering more children and this has been a problem as his wife does, forcing Belle to have occasionally had to intercede to "change her mind." Although in good shape and with no major health issues, Belle is working on gradually conditioning César's son Gabriel to take over when Belle decides he should retire (or death decides to retire him first, whichever sooner). Gabriel is in his mid-20s and presently a junior manager at Azevedo Construction, building experience as he works his way up the corporate ladder to the position he will eventually inherit.
Neither César nor Gabriel are ghouls, or ever likely to be as Belle wants them to age and die naturally, whilst being ruthlessly conditioned to her will, as this lets her operate the company through them, whilst not having to worry about the side-effects of being a ghoul (such as the blood lust and oh-so-tiresome fawning and begging for vitae) and people (and their family) noticing their lack of ageing. In many ways, this is a mercy for them.
John Martinez
John is Belle's ghoul retainer and serves as her personal assistant, chauffeur and bodyguard. He came to the Tremere's attention as he was a police officer serving as Driver-Security Aide to the Chief of Police at the time of the Sabbat Crusade. As the Chief of Police was a known pawn of Prince Kratus, the Sabbat targetted him. Although John did commendably, for a human, he was no match for the frenzied shovelheads and their Sabbat master and the Chief of Police was killed and he was lucky to only end up in the intensive care unit. However after his release from hospital his investigative and curious nature made him investigate the "riots" - even after being warned off by his new superiors (ie those put in place by the Kindred to restore control of the police and protect the Masquerade). Whilst usually this would have resulted in a visit from someone to correct his recollections and pacify him, this instead marked him as a promising ghoul candidate. So Belle left a trail of breadcrumbs that, if he was smart enough, he would follow - and he did, both proving his ability as well as getting himself into a trap of Belle's devising which resulted in his discharge from the police. Of course, Belle was there shortly after stating her disapproval over the unfair handling of a good officer and offered him a job as her person aid and bodyguard. He took it mostly as he needed the job even without needing special persuasion but of course soon after Belle had both ghouled him, ensured his loyalty through both the blood bond and Dominate conditioning; and then began to entrust him with more serious and vital tasks and a little more knowledge.
John's purpose is to serve Belle. She sees no reason why he needs to do anything other than that and only allows him occasional contact with friends and closest family to ensure they don't become a problem (especially as regards the Masquerade). She treats him well, however, for a ghoul - like a trusted and favoured servant. Some might even think their relationship is friendly, but this is an effort Belle makes because she's discovered that the carrot works better than the stick when it comes to ghouls.
Combat Style
Belle is politically adept and intelligent - but physically weak, to Kindred standards. She lacks any of the physical Disciplines that would empower her and, although she has evolved physically over time as all Kindred do, she is otherwise physically unimpressive.
During her mortal days, Belle took up karate and learnt to use handguns as a form of self-defence - a stunningly beautiful, young woman, is always at risk from sexual predators, abusers and jealous females, and Belle is intelligent enough to recognise this. As such she is capable of handling most kine in a fight (without requiring the expenditure of vitae to empower her physical attributes) and is a decent shot with her Glock handgun (which she typically carries with her in a purse or handbag), but she lacks real combat experience and so cannot provide more than basic fire support and self-defence with a weapon really intended more to protect her/intimidate kine rather than supernatural threats. She could use a higher-calibre weapon, but knows the futility of even heavy pistols against supernatural threats, and is aware of her own limitations in experience and prefers to use a smaller calibre pistol for defence and to perhaps distract or wound more serious threats enough to be able to escape. Her ghoul bodyguard is better armed and she would rely on him for defence (his weapon would not be that much more effective against supernatural threats, but she cares little for his fate as long as he serves his purpose to help her get away).
What she is, however, is a master controller. She is a mentalist who has mastered the Dominate Discipline, adept enough at the Auspex Discipline to read minds, and has developed good levels of the Presence discipline as well as some combination disciplines. Unless attackers take great pain to avoid her gaze (and this assumes kindred with an awareness of the Dominate discipline, which kine would not), she can easily take control of would-be attackers via commands or, in the case of the weak-willed, direct puppet-control. Therefore she can simply redirect most threats away, often in indirectly fatal ways (she was once observed telling a would-be mugger to "close your eyes, turn quarter circle to your left, then walk forwards 100 steps" which took him directly onto the SR 128 motorway during high traffic). She has proven to be quite vicious and vindictive in her application of mental power against threats - punishing them for the temerity of threatening her. When faced by groups, she will use her abilities to sow discord amongst her attackers, pitting them against each other or conscripting them to her defence. Either way, Belle will try to avoid direct combat and would prefer to use the chaos as a distraction to get away, rather than manipulate events to a conclusion.
Social Style
Belle is a social butterfly. Charming, graceful and highly intelligent with distractingly good looks that she wields like a weapon, she is disarmingly easy to get along with and get distracted into making mistakes. Whilst she is true to her word as if it were a legal contract (which, often, it is), it can be assured that she will say whatever she needs, and do whatever is required, to get what she wants. If this can be done amicably, all the better for all involved. But if she needs to apply a bit more pressure, then she can be heard saying "you can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs." Of course, those eggs usually belong to those on the other side of the negotiating table.
Those dealing with her would be best advised to take into account two factors:
- Belle will do whatever is in her or her Clan's best interest (if there is a conflict, she will almost certainly choose the Clan's best interests over her own).
- Never underestimate her. She has spent a lifetime playing the bait, decoy or pretty face and is an expert at playing the naive, pretty face who likely got employed based on her looks but has little between her ears other than a lovely smile. She actually finds it quite amusing playing this role and allowing others to believe they have the upper hand, underestimating her until it is too late and they have revealed their hand or fallen into her trap. Most learn quickly not to underestimate her, and she drops the empty-headed Barbie doll routine the next they meet.
This does not necessarily mean she's a shark waiting to devour the witless - simply to expect that she has a goal and ambitions, and will do what she can to achieve them. If she is offered good terms or things that clearly are to her or Tremere benefit, she can be surprisingly easy and pleasurable to deal with. Just make sure to dot your i's and cross your t's as, if it becomes advantageous to her someday (maybe in a few days, maybe in a few decades...), she will mercilessly exploit loopholes to her benefit.
As the Tremere clan is in its weakest state in Ashford since its founding, there is much that Kindred can offer to help the clan rebuild its power-bases, influence and reputations. Offered freely to Belle, this can elicit favourable terms and assistance from the Tremere that might previously have required more onerous payment. Whilst generosity will be appreciated, those who would expect their kindness to be reciprocated in kind later will be in for a nasty surprise. As she states, "A transaction requires a mutual exchange; a gift is freely given and there is no obligation to reciprocate."
Signature Equipment
- Stylish bullet-resistant suit, or fashionable dress
- Glock 19 Compact
- Jaguar XF Prestige
Signature Quotes
- "People assume that because I'm from a Catholic family and was educated in Catholic Elementary and High Schools, that I'm going to be a model kind, self-sacrificing and forgiving Christian. That's a mistake many have found very costly."
- "Confidence is the sexiest thing a woman can wear."
- "You can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs."
- "No need to rush revenge. Just sit back & wait. Those who hurt you will eventually screw up themselves and, if you're prepared, then you'll be in a position to destroy them."