SchreckNet Data File
- Real/Birth Name: Kathleen Zingmark
- Known Identity/Mortal Alias: Evelina Astridsdotter
- Place of Origin: Umeå, Västerbotten, Sweden
- Height: 5'11" (180 cm)
- Occupation: Librarian II at Kern County Library (Beale Memorial Library)
- Apparent Age: Early-20s
- Embraced: 1979
- Kindred Status: Neonate
- Sire: Viktoria Engdahl
- Clan: Malkavian
- Clan Status: Known
- Sect: Camarilla
- Sect Status: None
- Player/Type: NPC
Appearance
Evelina is naturally a dark blonde with dark blue eyes, but most of the time she keeps her hair dyed red in some form - typically ginger (sometimes natural, sometimes a little too bright to be natural), henna red, or dark brown/black with red highlights. On occasion, she dyes her hair a lighter blonde, but other combinations (including grey, white or multi-coloured) are not unknown, especially during her manic phases. She has a pretty face, and wears large, round glasses to correct her eyesight that, depending on who you ask, either hide her natural prettiness or add to her cuteness. She tends to wear comfortable and casual, modern clothing but isn't particularly fashion-conscious. Primark and Walmart are her typical clothing places, though occasionally she may indulge in a handbag or item from a more fashionable make - though this is usually more of a coincidence of seeing something that appeals than a fashion choice. Whilst on the rare occasion that she wears contacts, prepares her hair properly, and wears something nice she can look quite striking, for the most part, she is easily dismissed as a pretty but otherwise standard bookish mouse whilst wearing glasses - but when wearing contacts and making a little effort, can be surprisingly striking.
Background
Evelina was born named Kathleen to a Swedish father and German mother who were young when they had Kathleen after a shotgun wedding, which is where Kathleen thinks things began to go wrong. Although Kathleen's father loved her mother, it wasn't truly reciprocated and before long Kathleen's mother began cheating on her husband and, when she was 8, left them and moved back to Düsseldorf... and that's when her father started drinking. Kathleen's father was an angry drunk and blamed Kathleen for her mother leaving. The beatings begun as "accidental" slaps from loss of anger but got increasingly worse, and soon he was physically beating her for any perceived wrong as in his eyes Kathleen, who looked much like her mother, could do no right. Kathleen cannot recall at what stage the beatings turned into sexual abuse, just that they were frequent and he would repeatedly tell her what a worthless whore she was, and how she'd ruined his life. This led to Kathleen socially withdrawing and losing friends at a time when she should have been at her social peak, often considered the weird kid and everyone oblivious (or uncaring) towards her plight. Kathleen found reading books to be her only solace, a regular escape from reality. Then one day when she was still 15, her father finally went too far and nearly beat her to death when she revealed that her period was extremely late. This led to her hospitalisation, a miscarriage, and a police investigation Kathleen that was years too late - but at least her father ended up in prison (on a far-too-lenient sentence); and Kathleen was placed in a caring foster family and finally began to receive councelling.
Things got better for a time. A natural linguist and quick study, she ended up achieving a Bachelor's degree in Linguistics, which she followed with a Masters degree in Library & Information Science. She was content working at one of Umea's libraries, until one day her father turned up again, having been released from prison on parole. He was initially apologetic and reconcilliatory but Kathleen was now older and stronger, although dark memories and terror came flooding back she found the strength to reject him, telling him to leave her alone forever. She was relieved when he left peacefully, albeit upset, and thought perhaps his time in prison had helped him - and in hindsight believes she was foolish to have gone against her better instincts and not contact the police. She felt true terror once again when he broke into her house later that night, very drunk and in a murderous rage. The old accusations and insults came back and he physically assaulted her once again. Unwilling to be the passive victim again, Kathleen struggled with him, scratching his eyes and fleeing to the kitchen where she rang the police. She was unable to finish the call, however, as he knocked her to the ground and began to force himself on her once. Kathleen does not remember exactly what happened then, only vague dream-like recollections of screaming, flashes of a monstrous face, and blood - but when the police turned up investigating the call they found Kathleen curled up and crying in a corner, hugging a bloody kitchen knife. The coroner's report states that her had been stabbed in the face and chest an estimated 86 times.
The courts saw Kathleen as a victim and no murder charges were pressed against her, although she spent several months in a mental asylum receiving psychiatric treatment that she would never leave alive. One of the other patients, a child of Malkav, saw her as a perfect new addition and Embraced her, faking her death to get her out of the asylum, and taught her the essentials about Kindred society. Kathleen took a new name to both sever her connection to mortal society, as well as to allow her unlife to be a fresh start from her unhappy past and travelled to California (which she had always wanted to see) intending on making a new start.
She wandered around the Anarch States a little before finally settling in Ashford, primarily because of its low Malkavian population. Although this was due to Prince Kratus' authoritarian rule, excessive punishment and lack of Embrace permissions for Malkavians, she preferred the stability of a Camarilla domain over the socially confusing Anarch Free States, and the Prince's authoritarianism didn't strike her as an issue as she had no intention of Embracing, and preferred her own company anyhow and knew she was "stable enough" to not endanger the Masquerade, and therefore be at risk of Kratus' displeasure. She got employment at the Kern Country Library. Soon after, she practically controlled it by ghouling those above her - her own little corner of the universe away from everything.
Helping run the library, and making it available to Kindred after dark, has made her popular with other kindred (read: not treated by other clans as negatively as Malkavians usually are), especially her own clanmates who respect her intelligence and helpfulness. Although she didn't really do much other than hide and entertain others in the Malkavian/Nosferatu safe-houses, during this time she became well-acquainted with the neonates Willa Jade of clan Senya and 1337 of clan Nosferatu, which led to Evelina being invited to join their coterie The 1337 5kw4d (the Elite Squad) in 2017, where she is known as B00kw0rm. The coterie mates have become like family to her - taking care of her when she has depressive episodes and having fun with her during her normal and manic phases, whilst valuing and taking advantage of her intelligence and knowledge for the benefit of the coterie.
Mortal Society
Evelina works as a Librarian II (senior librarian) at Kern County Library, based at Beale Memorial Library branch (the main one). As one of the few librarian II's she has a lot of influence on how the library operates - including book acquisitions. She has managed to secure to always be on the night shift, which entails the closing shift and then mostly cataloguing and returning books, statistical tracking/analysis and other administrative work. This also enables her to be able to allow in and assist kindred, and she is renown for being particularly helpful to fellow Malkavians.
To the kine, Evelina is known to be a helpful and friendly, if by-the-book librarian who also happens to run the evening book club (which, despite the name, actually begins after sundown). Although this is predominantly an educational outreach for children, many parents and adults participate and assist - which has allowed Evelina to build up a respectable herd.
Personality
Evelina had a rough life of years of abuse that she had to keep secret with no support or sympathy from her teachers, other children or society as a whole. She was always simply assumed to be an introvert or "weird kid" and left to her own devices. Her years of abuse and neglect actually made her strong-willed - a necessity to both hide the pain of her existence, the constant mental sorrow, and desire to try to succeed despite her home relationship. She learnt to take care of herself from an early age - from doing her own washing and cooking, to taking care of her cuts and bruises after a beating and hiding them from her teachers/school children for fear of further social ostracisation. Her only real comfort were books. Books were always her friends - always entertaining, educational or interesting and never demanded anything back. A good book made her happy when she was sad, or let her escape into a fantasy world when reality became too harsh. Books helped her learn many languages, history, science, and many skills and other pieces of knowledge. With her eidetic memory and intelligence, books enabled her to absorb knowledge like a sponge. Even through the darkest times, Evelina always believed that, one day, her getting a good education would allow her to break free from her abusive father and enjoy life on her own terms and desires. Books helped her endure and promised a brighter future.
Although that didn't exactly pan out the way she planned it, she is now free from the shadows of her past - but her passion and reverence for books and knowledge has not diminished. Her reliance on books and lack of social contact means Evelina's social skills are generally underdeveloped, with the exception of her ability to express herself or debate, empathise with others, or lie. Despite this, she has a natural charm and friendly disposition that makes her likeable and popular, and she has proven to be a good performer, popular with the children when she does book reading and storytelling. Perhaps because she has spent so long without much social contact, Evelina enjoys contact with others and is naturally friendly - especially with children - and always happy to be helpful, especially when it comes to either discussing her interests (which generally is anything that can be read in books or online - especially linguistics, classical literature, the humanities and the sciences), or informing others. A simple question or comment about a topic can quickly end up with her giving an impromptu lecture on it - and Evelina seems to know at least a little about everything. Although she is quite social, she is still an introvert at heart and prefers to spend time alone with a good book than socialising. It is not uncommon, when dragged out by her coterie mates, to find her reading an ebook (or listening to an audio book) even when she's in a nightclub.
When she is going through one of her depressive episodes, she almost completely shuns social contact - becoming even more introvert and socially anxious, with low morale, willpower and low self-image. Typically, in these episodes she will isolate herself and lose herself in books as a coping mechanism although, on occasion, she has been known to self-harm as a release valve to suicidal thoughts.
When she is going through a manic episode, she is a voracious reader (typically more likely to be more "happy" topics, such as current fiction, science-fiction or romance novels) and then seek out an audience to excitedly share her love with (often giving them a book and expecting them to read it quickly so they can talk about it) - and can become quite chatty, sociable and a natural storyteller during these times. Sometimes, she is even the one to suggest her coterie have a girls night out (which, despite the name, includes the male member)!
Although strange for Academics (or scientists) who tend to scoff at such things, Evelina is actually extremely keen on the Occult. She loved the writings of Edgar Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft growing up (both for the subject matter and the linguistic excellence) and only delved more into it as she got older. Since her embrace, her occult research has turned more serious, trying to sift the truths of the occult world from the myths and legends. Although some wonder how she can tolerate the dark things she uncovers - she claims that when one grows up living with a monster, the others she learns about seem less terrifying.
Other Notes
Derangement
Whilst the madness of Malkavians can be hard to professionally identify, as they often have a scientific basis but combine elements of different psychosis that may not be likely, or even humanly possible in mortals; and have even been known to change over time.
Helen Quinzel, the Malkavian Primogen (and renown Psychiatrist) has identified (with high degree of reliability) that Evelina suffers from Bipolar Disorder. She believes that she may even have suffered this since before the embrace, although bipolar swings are typically measured in number of events per year in the case of the kine, whilst for Malkavians the swings could potentially even be hourly. As a bipolar sufferer, Evelina suffers from severe mood swings and may be upbeat and confident one moment, then uncontrollably lethargic and pessimistic the next; constantly on a hair trigger, never knowing when the next mood swing will strike.
Whilst most of the time Evelina is a friendly, level-headed and helpful and caring girl, when her mood swings (and it can do so unpredictably) she can become so depressive and insufferable that she regularly drives off those she has managed to get close to. In these depressive episodes, she has been known to self-harm as a way to "feel something, anything" or release valve for suicidal thoughts. Upon emerging from the depressive state, Evelina is energetic, relentlessly upbeat and active (obsessively so) for approximately the same amount of time as she spent in depression. In this manic state, she is actually more likely to succumb to frenzy because of her heightened emotional state.
New Age Blood Magic
Evelina has been into the occult since her mortal days and, as a kindred, moreso. Over time she has managed to gain contacts who provide her with rare information and esoteric books, and has amassed a personal library of occult books that would make the Tremere lick their fangs in hunger. Some of these books include writings by the famous Gangrel noddist Cuthbert Beckett, fragments of the famous Book of Nod, Geneology lists by Phantomas and other esoterica. Amongst these are some Hermetic tomes regarding magical treatises. Study of these tomes, and experimentation, has led to her becoming a practitioner of what the Anarch Movement calls "New Age Blood Magic" (although Evelina does not identify as an Anarch herself). Although she is still young, her knowledge of these arts is growing - aided by collaboration and knowledge-sharing with other non-Tremere Thaumaturges and Sorcerers - and she has become quite proficient at the rare Path of Teleportation and, to a lesser degree, the path referred to by the Tremere as the Movement of the Mind, in addition to a respectable number of rituals. New Age Blood Magic has become her principal focus of personal development, to the exclusion of her clan (or other) disciplines, which she feels are sufficient enough and not as intellectually interesting.
Combat Style
Evelina isn't a fighter. She carries a Leatherman Charge+ usually kept in her handbag or pocket - as a multitool it is legal in California - but it's mostly for practical usage than self-defence (though she has added the wards she knows to it, just in case) but the only time she's ever actually used a knife in combat is during her mortal days, when she killed her father. She has received a crash self-defence course from Maxim Lundgren, a clan elder, but it is minimal so far. She is strong-willed and determined, which makes her tougher than her slender frame might indicate, but she is not physically strong. In combat, she would be nothing but a physical liability.
Despite this, she is fairly quick-thinking and highly intelligent person, and her blood magic - though not very powerful - can give her unexpected advantages that she may be able to exploit in combat to either help her escape, or to strategic advantage for herself or her allies, such as teleporting to a strategic location and remaining hidden by her Obfuscate power, whilst using her telepathic powers to manipulate things as improvised hazards.
Social Style
Evelina is a bookworm with underdeveloped social skills, but a generally kind person. The only way to get on her bad side is to blatantly manipulate her or be antagonistic to her - both of which will get her to dislike you, and very possibly trigger depressive episodes. Her moods swing unpredictably, but she is far more likely to be helpful and eager when going through a manic phase (or when "normal") and so approaching her with apparent friendliness generally yields positive returns. When she undergoes depressive episodes, she can be hard to deal with and tends to push people away, suffering from low motivation and self-loathing. It is common for people to "leave her be" but often one of two approaches can yield returns:
Taking advantage: when in a depressive episode Evelina has low will and can often be more easily manipulated into doing or saying things (especially if it does not require physical action/effort from her), especially as she has a desire to just make everyone go away - and giving them what they want makes them go away faster - or lack the will to put up a fight. This yields "short-term" benefits but, when she recovers from her depressive episode, Evelina will remember what happened and will be angry or hurt. Whilst she doesn't have the character to be vindictive, it will mean that she will shun that person afterwards - seeing them as a form of abuser taking advantage of her, and will likely refuse to help or socialise with them in the future out of spite. Also, this is likely to get her coterie mates angry too, and the last thing any kindred wants (especially those with bank accounts, social media, or legal/financial assets) is a group of pissed-off Hacktivists deciding to "pay back" the abuser in a show of solidarity to their friend.
Being supportive: this can be very difficult and requires patience because Evelina can be very trying, dismissive and, sometimes, even fairly hostile and verbally abusive when in a depressive episode - but putting up with it and supporting her, and not taking advantage, means that when she recovers she will think more positive of the person who showed her apparent kindness and compassion, and therefore more helpful. It will also likely impress her coterie-mates, and having a group of Hacktivists in a good mood with you is always a good thing.
Signature Equipment
- Leather jacket (or other jacket)
- HUAWEI MateBook X Pro (2019 14" model) with LG 27UD88-W 4K monitor
- HUAWEI P30 Pro smartphone
- Leatherman Charge+ multitool
- Peugeot 307
Signature Quotes
- "I think I never valued career highly, but been more impressed by intellectual and personal achievements."
- "I think the key is that I’ve been reading, studying and doing other stuff for so long that it has become natural for me to use all the little spare time I get to work (like bus trips, waiting for the Uber), always plan a few days in advance and always have a plan B in the back pocket. The result is that I’m very bad at the spontaneous hang outs, I almost never go to town to have night out with a friend without planning it a few days before."
- "Leave me alone. Please."
- "OMG have you read the new John Grisham novel? It's SO good! Here, take my copy! Read it, then we'll chat about how good it is!" [1 hour later] "You finished it yet?"
