Metalheads: Purpose
The metalheads are an informal coterie formed by two neonate Brujah friends with a shared interest in Metal music, and the recent addition of a Malkavian with similar. They have no stated purpose as the coterie is not official in name, and simply a way that Tifa has described the trio's commonality. It is a bond of mutual friendship and respect, and an awareness that neonates of the "low clans" are often ignored or abused by elders, and therefore need to stick together for both physical protection, as well as that of their respective businesses and influences.
Metalheads: Background
The coterie's semi-official formation occurred in 2017 shortly after the end of the Sabbat Crusade, with the addition of Abi Davis, but the seeds were formed around 2014 after Lilith, who had previously respected but had no actual connection to the Anarch Movement, began working alongside Lilah Fox after [what Lilith perceives to be] the murder of Lilith's sire and lover, Lakisha. Whilst working with Lilah, Lilith met her progeny Tifa, and the two became fast friends over their interest in metal music, and participation in Brujah Bashes. They have been allies and supported each other since, sticking together for mutual defence and to take the fight to the Sabbat during the Crusade. In the post-Crusade environment, with many of the surviving Elders and Ancilla eager to expand their powerbases into areas previously controlled by now-deceased rivals, and other neonates seeking to steal these opportunities for themselves, both Kindred realised they could benefit from an alliance to help each other protect their businesses and Domains.
Metalheads: Domains
Both Lilith and Tifa have their own, individually small domains.
The Dragon House: The Dragon House was long the Domain belonging to Lilah Fox, until she moved to her current domain on the outskirts of Ashford. She left the physical building to the Jung Sing family which had long served her faithfully. Although the building was no longer officially Lilah's domain, it was known that she was protective of it - so few kindred would bother to mess with the Jung Sings or the Dragon House. After Tifa's Embrace, Tifa spent most of her time on her own endeavours or at Lilah's domain, but the death of Tifa's parents and elder brother in the Crusade left Tifa the unexpected inheritor of the Dragon House, and it was recognised officially by the new Prince as Tifa's domain shortly after. Although all the coterie members are welcome at the Dragon House, it is rare to see them there unless they are there simply to socialise with Tifa whilst she is dealing with business concerns or performing, which she does several times a week at the Dragon House.
Club Heresy: Lilith's club was also recognised as her personal Domain post-Crusade. Whilst Lilith and Lakisha set up the club she had suffered predations from other kindred previously for years - Goths, Emos and BDSM fans are regular willing blood dolls and kindred could easily hunt them with less caution about the Masquerade, meaning many kindred would come to the club to hunt, then leave, often forcing Lilith to have to deal with the aftermath (unconcious humans) and restricting her own ability to hunt in her own club (too many people being attacked/hurt/falling unconscious in her club could damage the business) - but could do little about it as her club was not a recognised domain, although she would use her own physical prowess to drive away any kindred she found hunting in her Club, if able to. Now that it is recognised as her own personal domain, she enforces this protection with far more zeal. Kindred hunting there without her permission are likely to get a sound beating by Lilith or Maxim (a Malkavian elder who has worked as her bouncer on the busy nights ever since the Crusade), or both. Only after taking her pound of flesh will she call the Sheriff to report the breach of the Second Tradition (and possibly also the Fifth). Because Club Heresy was where Lilith and Abi enjoyed socialising (with both kine and each other), as well as Tifa when she performed (or to enjoy other live metal music), it has become the logical location for the three to meet regularly for social purposes - and less likely to raise curiosity eyebrows than two goths (Lilith and Abi) going to the Dragon House.
Metalheads: Members
At present, members of the coterie include:
Member Profile: Lilith
Full Article: Lilith
- Real/Birth Name: Lilan Wilson
- Known Identity/Mortal Alias: Lilith
- Place of Origin: Dayton, Ohio, USA
- Height: 5'4" (163 cm)
- Occupation: Nightclub Owner / Musician / Artist
- Apparent Age: Early-20s
- Embraced: 2007
- Kindred Status: Neonate
- Sire: Lakisha Basquez (deceased)
- Clan: Brujah
- Clan Status: Iconoclast
- Sect: Anarch Movement
- Sect Status: Known
- Coterie Role: Leader (unofficial).
Background
Lilith's real name is Lilan Wilson and she admits to being born to a "junkie white trash" single mother in Ohio. She realised from an early age that she was different to most - not only because of her background, which was already a reason for other kids to avoid or bully her, but because her defiance of their attitudes led to a defiant "do what I want" attitude of embracing her interests, no matter how deviant others considered her to be. This led to conflicts with the reigning cliques in high school and despite her being the one bullied, ended with her being expelled because she was the one with a knife (the fact that there were 3 girls against her was apparently not important). She says the only good thing to come out of high school was that the Daytona curriculum forced learning of arts and languages, and she used this to focus on art and music, two of her loves, and learnt the basics of Latin and Mandarin Chinese - which she admits were odd choices, but she states that there were few Latinos in Dayton to grab her interest in Spanish as a utility, and getting into goth and occult interests she though Latin was cool. And Chinese, why the hell not - it's different and the Chinese are awesome.
After high school she began dating her notably older weed dealer, who she'd been fucking (for weed) since she was 15 and when she turned 18 they decided to start filming their sex lives and selling the videos online. She became very popular. He didn't. Growing fans and income always wanting to see her naked, but not keen on him being involved led to problems that culminated with him beating her - but never the victim, she clawed his face, scratching his eyes, and fled to her favourite goth club to gather her thoughts. There she met Lakisha, a goth friend, with who she went to the bathroom to get a mood-lifting fuck, and ended up being Embraced. She returned home to a psychotic boyfriend who reattempted to beat her for scratching his eyeball, and ended up triggering Lilith's first frenzy which only ended when he was completely exsanguinated. Both to cover the murder, and because Lakisha hadn't asked for permission prior to Embracing Lilith, the two fled Dayton for California, dumping the corpse in the Great Miami River as they left.
Shortly after arriving in Ashford Lilith and Lakisha opened a goth social group called Club Heresy, held monthly at an ailing local bar/lounge. Then biweekly. Then weekly as it grew in popularity until the kindred lovers had raised enough money to purchase the ailing bar, refurbishing and reopening it as Club Heresy. A couple of years later, Lakisha was (falsely) accused of being an Anarch and fabricated evidence of her actions to destabilize the Camarilla was presented, leading to her execution - which made Lilith become the Anarch that they'd believed Lakisha was. Whilst most remember the 2016 Ashford Sabbat Crusade as a tragic and dangerous time, Lilith thinks of it as a time of karma with Lakisha's murderers getting what they deserved, and the Anarchs rising in power. Shortly after, Lilith proposed an alliance to a fellow Brujah neonate and a young Malkavian goth who'd been forced to become an Anarch by the Camarilla's arrogance, and the Metalheads were born.
Other Information
Lilith is still a young neonate, only a handful of years elder to Tifa and approximately the same power level - yet she's the unofficial leader of the Metalheads. This is a de facto position, as Lilith has a strong, gregarious personality and confidence that leads to her naturally being the one to drive the focus of the group and its activities. Tifa is no wallflower, but she has a lot on her plate and isn't as socially aggressive, and Abi obviously defers to Lilith (who she has more in common with) so she tends to follow Lilith's lead, unless she disagrees - and she will voice her opinion. It is rare but, on occasion, those disagreements have led to having to replace various furniture due to the brief-but-vicious spat that ensues.
Member Profile: Tifa Sing
Full Article: Tifa Sing
- Real/Birth Name: Tiffany Jung Sing
- Known Identity/Mortal Alias: Tifa Sing
- Place of Origin: Ashford, California, USA
- Height: 5'8"
- Occupation: Restaurant Owner/Musician
- Apparent Age: Early-20s
- Embraced: 2011
- Kindred Status: Neonate
- Sire: LongWu (Lilah Fox)
- Clan: Brujah
- Clan Status: Individualist
- Sect: Camarilla
- Sect Status: None
- Coterie Role: Peer.
Background
Tifa's family background has parallels with the Revenant families of the Tzimisce and Giovanni - they came into the LongWu's (Lilah Fox, as they knew her) service about a century ago due to an honour debt after she saved Ed Jung Sing, the youngest of 7 siblings, from the Scarlet Fever plague that robbed his family of his other siblings. Ever since, the Jung Sing family has served the LongWu as allies, with one of their number serving as LongWu's ghoul retainer and bodyguard. The rest of the family have operated the Dragon House, originally a saloon belonging to LongWu which she converted to the Dragon House during the height of Ashford Chinatown's days, before handing it over to the Jung Sings when she set up a new saloon and domain now known as the Rusty Forks Saloon. As the middle sibling, and with her uncle Remy serving as Lilah's retainer, Tifa was not expected to have to either serve LongWu nor run the family business - though family duty compelled her to assist the business, she was free from the responsibilities of duty and instead studied to be a music teacher. She worked hard her entire educational life to excel in both her education and physical training (both in high school athletics and the family tradition of studying Dragon style Kung Fu and Yang style Tai Chi) only to, unfortunately, develop an aggressive form of Lung cancer. With only months to live, a defiant Tifa obtained an audience with the LongWu and attempted to convince her to allow Tifa to serve her and be saved, as her great-great-grandfather Ed Jung Sing had been saved. When the LongWu refused, Tifa became defiant and aggressive - and this impressed the LongWu, who saw in her the spirit that her Brujah clan respect. Instead of becoming a ghoul in LongWu's service to hold the cancer at bay, Tifa was instead Embraced into the Brujah clan.
Learning the reality of what Lilah (the LongWu) was, her nature, and the rules of the Kindred (and how these things made her aspirations to be a music teacher impossible), was a hard blow to Tifa who struggled to reconcile it all - especially as the First Tradition (the Masquerade) prevented her telling her family that their entire history of service was built on lies and deception (and, largely, unwanted by Lilah who simply accepted the self-propagating lie/servitude the Jung Sings had created themselves). Lilah wasn't the most helpful sire either - too hard-grained individualist (and Anarch) to even attempt to make Tifa do what she (Lilah) thought best - teaching her only the basics and letting her be, determined to let Tifa make her own destiny and sense of self (though keeping a watchful eye). Eventually, Tifa found her footing (more or less, some days she admits that she still struggles to get her shit together), especially after her band Chop Styx began performing at Club Heresy after she met Lilith via her sire, and got to know her at Brujah Bashes. The two became friends and began to support each other personally and musically.
Then the Sabbat Crusade resulted in the death of her elder brother and parents and ownership of the Dragon House (and the duty of care) fell to her. She could have passed it on to her younger brother Jason, but the Jung Sing's were an honourable, duty-conscious family and she thought that Jason was not up to the task, therefore forcing her to assume control. The Dragon House is now registered as her personal Domain, and she struggles between the requirements of running the business, preventing her little brother from uncovering her secret and breaking the Masquerade (she does not want to ghoul him unless he absolutely must), and following her desires to be a musician. The formation of the Metalheads coterie has helped somewhat, as it's reassuring to know that there're other kindred officially there to back you up when you need it.
Other Information
Tifa loves Metal music and typically dresses in a fairly "hard rock chic" style, especially during performance nights, but in many ways she's the "most vanilla" of the three coterie members as she's certainly no goth (and "too extreme gothness" can at times disturb her as much as it would any other non-goth). But She looks beyond the outside (she is used to Caucasians treating her as a foreigner/Asian, despite the fact that her family has been American-born for a few generations now, and it irritates her - so she's not going to treat others based on similar misconceptions about their appearance) and has enough in common (due to being young, and interested in similar types of music) with Lilith and Abi to be able to relate to them more than to most of the other kindred in Ashford. Although her character (and interests) are quite different to Abi, Tifa sympathises with Abi because both of them lost their parents and siblings during the Crusade - and this common pain has helped them deal together.
Member Profile: Abi Davis
Full Article: Abi Davis
- Real/Birth Name: Abigail Grace Davis
- Known Identity/Mortal Alias: Abi Davis / @Ashfordabi_18
- Place of Origin: Ashford, California, USA
- Height: 5'8" (173 cm)
- Occupation: Waitress / Social Media Celebrity
- Apparent Age: Late teens
- Embraced: 2017
- Kindred Status: Thin-blooded Fledgling
- Sire: Paul Bairstow (deceased)
- Clan: Malkavian
- Clan Status: None
- Sect: Anarch Movement
- Sect Status: None (Anarchs) / Outcast (Camarilla)
- Coterie Role: No information available.
Background
The youngest (in every sense) and newest member of the coterie, Abi's life had some parallels with Lilith's in that she came from a broken marriage and working-class family, and discovered her bisexuality and alternative (goth, punk) interests in her early teens. Like Lilith, she was bullied in school for it but, unlike Lilith, suffered heavily as a result and developed depression and an eating disorder. By embracing goth culture and becoming active on TikTok, she made some supportive friends and online fans that, together with her father, provided enough emotional support for her to beat her eating disorder, and help her fight her depression. Things became better for a while, until shortly after her 18th birthday, during the Sabbat Crusade, her home was invaded (seemingly randomly) by the turncoat Malkavian Paul Bairstow - a gun-fetish Malkavian with Borderline Personality Disorder, who had always felt stifled by the Camarilla's silly rules (such as not being allowed to freely shoot people at-will with his illegally-obtained military-grade guns because it would bring attention that would risk the Masquerade). Bairstow bound Abi and her family, then used them as living targets for his new guns, in the knowledge his new Sabbat masters would approve of his fun. Abi, however, he inexplicably decided to exsanguinate and embrace - and left discarded to awaken alone and afraid. Abi was lucky that the Scourge, Sheriff and Prince had all been killed by this point, as she would have certainly been executed - but she was "lucky" and, in confusion, went to her favourite nightspot - Club Heresy, where Lilith quickly realised what the teen had become, and sheltered her and managed to ascertain who her sire was and introduce her to her Clan's Primogen. Lilith has been protective of Abi ever since, and it was Abi's addition to the group of friends that turned them from a couple of friends, to a small, unofficial coterie.
Other Information
Abi doesn't bring much to the group to be honest. Although her Clan Primogen and Whip have explained the rules to her, and Lilith has taught her to hunt, Abi has had to deal with a lot in a very short period of time (death of her family, her own death, no longer being depressed but now suffering Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder) and is barely coping. She is strong-willed and proud enough that she doesn't want help (and Lilith, in typical Brujah manner, respects this and tries not to coddle her) but desperately needs it. Abi always felt that "she's a kid, and belongs with kids" and is conflicted between understanding that Tifa and Lilith are old enough to be "adults" and thus not the age group she'd want to be friends with, yet physically look about her age. Also, knowing and understanding the rules and how things work are completely separate issues. Abi is staggering in the dark, too proud to really accept help but desperately in need of it. Her coterie friends are simply letting her stumble her way through this tough time, but keeping an eye on her and being nearby ready to step in if she needs them. That said, the three of them, even together, are still only a few young neonates - and they're not as powerful or influential as they like to think they are.