SchreckNet Data File
- Real/Birth Name: Mohini Joshi
- Known Identity/Mortal Alias: Mohini Loshita Vinchhi
- Place of Origin: Replace
- Height: 167 cm (5'5¾")
- Occupation: Dancer/Assassin
- Apparent Age: Early-20s
- Embraced: 1984
- Kindred Status: Neonate
- Sire: Khawaja Qureshi
- Clan: Assasmite (Warrior caste)
- Clan Status: Respected warrior-caste neonate
- Sect: Camarilla
- Sect Status: Hound
- Player/Type: NPC
Appearance
No information in database.
Background
Mohini was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata) to a traditional Hindu family led by a strict but loving father who raised her according to traditional Hindu beliefs. Despite low literacy rates in India, especially amongst women, Mohini's father allowed her to attend school; predominantly so that she could better study The Vedas (the Sacred Hindu Texts), as well as dancing, cooking and other skills that could make her a good Indian and Hindu, and help with the family business, such as learning English which would help when dealing with tourists. Although traditional and strict, Mohini acknowledges he was quite open-minded in allowing Mohini to make her own choices about what she wanted to do with her life, including being educated and getting employment - things not common for traditional Indian women, who were typically expected to simply prepare and be good wives and mothers. Mohini was a bright and spirited girl and found herself enjoying school, especially dance and music, which she participated in after school in events such as dance festivals and Hindu ceremonies. Overall, although she had a busy childhood between school and working in the family shop, it was a happy one. She grew up independent enough to want more out of life than be a mother and wife, yet traditional and faithful-enough Hindu to make her father proud.
Her life took its first major change when Mohini was 8, when her little brother was stung by a red scorpion that took shelter in his blanket and nearly died; a sadly common occurrence in their area during the summer months. This prompted Mohini's father to finally accept his cousin's offer to join him in America in his grocery business and moved the family to Pawtucket (Providence County, Rhode Island, USA) seeking to improve the quality of his family's lives. This introduced Mohini to American culture, which she took to with enthusiasm. She made many friends and did well socially and academically, especially in Charles E. Shea High School, where she was popular because of her exotic, good looks, natural charm and her participation in both the cheerleading squad as well as the Glee Club. This is where she met the man that would become her future husband, a football player and fellow Indian who's family hailed from Jaipur, a city in the Rajasthan province.
She became increasingly involved in music and (especially) dance and after high school chose not to go to College so as not to put the financial burden on her family. She worked in the family grocery store for the most part but took part dancing in theatre and as a private tutor (especially teaching traditional classical and folk Indian dance to young girls). After six years of dating, she married her high school sweetheart in a beautiful and traditional wedding ceremony. A short while after, she and her husband travelled to his family's home city of Jaipur on what was meant to be an extended holiday.
In Jaipur, things initially began well, with her being perceived as from respectable Indian heritage by her husband's family, but things quickly turned sour. The family was more extreme in their traditional and social beliefs than her own and seemingly took offence to everything she did. They blamed her (and her father) for not providing her husband with a dowry for marriage which, considering Mohini's advanced age should have been considerable. They disapproved of her having an education and career of her own - things a good wife did not need and brought shame on her family. And most of all they disapproved of her independent streak and the fact she stated that she had no desire to have children for a few years until her intended career as a dancer or actress had taken off. Amongst all this, her husband's true colours began to show, and he began getting increasingly aggressive. It wasn't long before he became physically violent and beat her after being informed by his family that she had been seen talking to a strange man in the market; an act seen as dishonourable and unfaithful to her husband, despite her pleas of innocence. The next she knew, her husband had cancelled their return flights and confiscated her passport, trapping her in what was now to her a hostile and foreign country.
Although she attempted to seek sanctuary and help from the local police she was, according to Indian law, simply considered her husband's property and found the authorities unwilling to help at first, then later angered by her continual annoyance and disloyal attitude as, not only was marital violence not against the law, but the law considered marriage in itself to even be consent; therefore her failure to carry out her husband's desires and deny him his conjugal rights, were considered to be both a social disgrace as well as civil offences. The police would return her to her husband, telling her to be grateful if her husband chose not to charge her for her defiance.
The beatings from her husband and his family turned worse, especially whenever she attempted to assert any free will or defiance. She was not allowed to have friends except those he approved of (never any male friends) nor leave the house without one of her family chaperoning her to ensure she acted respectfully. Whenever he desired the pleasures of the flesh, he would beat her and force himself on her whenever she did not willingly consent - which was ever time, since her love for him had long ago died under his abuse. She received no sympathy from his family or any other women she was allowed to be friends with, all of whom saw her as a disobedient wife who should learn her place, and even her own family were unable to provide any help when she was finally able to escape the house long enough to make a desperate call to her parents for help. By law, she was no longer considered part of her father's family since they'd married.
Against her will, soon after she became pregnant, resulting in her giving birth to a daughter shortly after her twenty-second birthday. Even in this, she was a disappointment to her husband and his family, who blamed her for incurring the unnecessary expense to the family by creating the need to raise a dowry for the girl's eventual marriage. Her husband refused to even hold the child and, too weak from childbirth to prevent it, Mohini's darkest moment occurred when the father ordered the nurse to suffocate the child to death. He never even gave the girl a name - though Mohini always remembers the child with the name Riku, meaning innocent.
This broke something in Mohini, however, and her hatred for him still raged like a flame several weeks later when, whilst undergoing postpartum recovery at her home, she witnessed a red scorpion taking shelter within a garbage pail in the garden. Careful not to attract attention, she captured the creature using a small box and, later that night, lured her husband into the bedroom with the promise of desire. As he lay snoring in postcoital slumber, she retrieved the box and, careful not to get stung, took the creature by the tail and dropped it into his mouth. A frantic struggle ensued and although he was stronger than she, the venom almost immediately caused intense pain and vomiting, then quickly began to cause respiratory and cardiovascular problems, debilitating him as she launched herself on him and vented all her rage and fury. She didn't cease repeatedly striking his pulp and bloody face, even long after he'd stopped moving or breathing, until she was pulled off him by his family, alerted by the noise of the commotion.
Rajasthan society never saw her as a victim of abuse who snapped, or as a grieving mother suffering from mental illness, as modern-day courts might have considered. In court, her Magistrate charged her with murder instead of culpable homicide - branding her as a disloyal wife, a demoness who murdered her husband - a good member of society, faithful Hindu and provider to his family - for no good reason, and sentenced her to death.
On the day Mohini's sentence was to be carried out, however, a man appearing to be of Indian ethnicity and jewellery depicting traditional Muslim iconography but with skin like ebony visited her in jail. He had learnt of her actions and felt that they were both justified and skilful. He offered her freedom and power she'd never dreamed of provided she was willing to kill again... and again. An offer that Mohini accepted with little hesitation.
The stranger took Mohini away from the area, gave her his blood and began training her. Mohini would soon learn that her domitor was an Assamite elder of the warrior caste, but one who believed in the old traditions rather than what he considered the corrupted blasphemy of the Web of Knives who dominated the clan. Mohini gathered that he wanted to prove a point to his political rivals, which is why he even considered a female warrior Assamite, a non-muslim, without even a background relating to being a warrior or assassin. He saw in her simply pure potential and gave her the chance to prove it. Knowing the price of failure would be death, Mohini was a loyal and driven student. But it was not enough to simply train her to be an assassin, he had to mould her to the old ways. To this end he made her practice her abilities by slaughtering her husband's family, allowing her to take her revenge and guiding her to even more cold-bloodedness against others - initially those deserving of torture or death, then later without any explanation at all as to the reason, other than his say so. He stripped Mohini of her conscience and humanity then, when her soul teetered close to being lost, taught her the ethics of the Road of Blood and guided her to increase her conviction and dedication.
Three years later, he was satisfied with her moral development as a Sentinel and her Kalaripayattu skills with weapons, or her bare hands, and use of poisons to undergo the final test. He gave her a picture of a kindred, a name, and nothing else except for the instruction that if she delivered him to final death she would receive the Embrace. If she failed, then if the target did not succeed in killing her, her mentor would mete out the punishment that had been deferred since he rescued her. One way or another, her mortal days were over. It was difficult to catch the target unaware - he was well-trained as an assassin himself, but Mohini succeeded using her cunning, and had the Embrace bestowed upon her. What Mohini later learned is that her target was a newly-Embraced member of the Web of Knives, the childe of her mentor's political rival and the two childer had been a form of competition between them, observed by many in the clan. Mohini had been the underdog, expected to fail as her target was both a kindred, and one of the Web of Knives, but in succeeding, she had proven her sire's belief over the fallacy of the Web of Knives' rhetoric. Shortly after he left her to her own devices, giving her the freedom he had promised, now that she had claimed the power he promised by herself.
Mortal Society
Mohini does not interact much with mortals beyond hunting or assassination jobs - it's not that she holds herself higher than the kine as many kindred do but because she is a devout follower of the Road of Blood considers those of the blood of Caine to be a separate race and she has no need to attempt to pretend or hold on to her humanity, which she discarded when she joined the path. Nevertheless, she has made it a point of keeping active connections with the local Indian community (especially those associated with the Hindu temple) mostly for utility and entertainment. She still loves music and dance, and these things would be pointless without an audience or others to enjoy them with. Cynically-minded kindred have pointed out that whilst she enjoys associating with humans for these reasons, they are much like a human would enjoy associating with pets. The human may enjoy the pets company, but will always know that the dog is a separate and (to most humans' mentality) less important race.
Mohini works predominantly as a dancer at Kelara Spice, an Indian-culture club/lounge which is quite popular due to its traditional Indian menus and entertainment. This serves as both a source of income as well as a way to keep close to her Clan - as the club is essentially the clan's base of operations. She typically functions as one of the many traditional Indian dancers (specialising in the 8 classical Indian dances, although she is familiar with others such as Bhangra) and a main attraction. She also serves as a private dancer and may even masquerade as one of the private dancers/harem girls, typically as a way to hunt or get close to a target.
Mohini freelances in other areas, however, which can vary from participation in Indian cultural events, private dancing, film and theatre, or dancing in nightclubs or strip bars. Often these jobs are taken as a means to an end, such as to get close to a target or to carry out recon, if not simply as an easy way to hunt. When taking temporary jobs, or involved in Kelara Spice's Harem, she is likely to use fake names and employ careful use of Obfuscate to conceal her true identity from the kine.
Mohini is a known member of The Guild, a semi-secret organisation of elite spies, bodyguards, mercenaries and assassins operated by Mira Panikkar, the Assamite Primogen, as a source of income, a cover for a rumoured secret coterie of kindred spies, bodyguards, mercenaries and assassins, as well as being a good way to scope out potential new talent for recruitment into the comparatively small schismatic warrior caste. Although Mohini's services as an assassin can only be contracted via Mira, she can be directly approached by interested parties and will make the proper introductions. Mohini is known in the criminal underworld as an assassin for hire, although only underworld-connected kindred actually know that she is an Assamite. Mohini is careful to keep Mohini's name legally clear - not because she is worried about the police, but because it is easier to keep her Indian community contacts without the associated stigma of being a known assassin. She has some limited connection with the Punjabi-Canadian mafia and has done work for them, but again this is done via Mira, who has the active connections with the Punjabi-Canadian mafia.
Personality
No information in database.
Draft: She believes that it is her role as a Sentinel to monitor and Judge the worthiness of the children of Caine, although her selective feeding habits show she extends this belief to the kine as well, feeding off those she deems unworthy, as well as accepting contracts against them, or dispensing vigilante-style justice.
Other Notes: Hound
Mohini is a known Hound for the Sheriff. Although her loyalty is first and foremost to her Clan, she is effectively "contracted long term" to the Sheriff as a Hound. This not only helps to build proof of the clan's commitment and loyalty to the Camarilla by assisting in its defence and law-keeping, but as a devotee of the Road of Blood Mohini is a Sentinel and considers it a sacred duty to observe those of Caine's blood and judge their worthiness - and being a Hound allows her to participate in doing this with Camarilla sanction.
Combat Style
Despite being in the "warrior" caste, Mohini is an assassin, not a soldier. She underwent three years of training prior to her embrace, which principally focused on learning Kalaripayattu (an Indian ancient battlefield martial art) and as such is trained in traditional weapons such as a range of swords, knives and daggers, spears, unarmed combat, bows and shields - as the consequence of failure to learn was death, Mohini became proficient enough in these to satisfy her sire and earn the Embrace and then her [relative] freedom. In the three or so decades since her Embrace, she has kept practising (and employing) her skills regularly enough to be a highly competent warrior even in a straight-up fight. When paired with respectable levels of celerity (for a Neonate), she is both swift and deadly against mortals and kindred without physical disciplines or combat training. She has also learnt to combine her Celerity with her Obfuscate to make her a harder target during combat.
But despite this, straight combat is something she gets involved in only when there is little option. Mohini prefers to stealthily take out kine targets using poison, such as by poisoning their drinks or lacing her lips with poison and seducing them. More directly, she will strike from range or concealment using her bow or katar, probably laced with poison, typically her signature red scorpion venom which can be fatal but most commonly causes hypotension, pulmonary edema and myocardial dysfunction; all of which can weaken a target, for her to then move in for the kill. Against the kindred this is of little use, but her use of Quietus allows her to turn her vitae into a virulent venom that can weaken kindred, or an ichor capable of causing aggravated wounds. These venoms can be applied to her weapons in combat.
Social Style
No information in database.
Signature Equipment
- Katar dagger - a traditional Hindu and Kalaripayattu weapon.
- SAS Recon Folding Bow - a metal, survival takedown longbow that can be unstrung and folded into a small package easy to conceal and carry in a jacket or bag, including three break-down arrows within its frame.
Signature Quotes
- No information in database.
