Willa Jade (WoD)

SchreckNet Data File

Real/Birth Name: Kimberley Willa Gordon
Known Identity/Mortal Alias: Willa Jade / 0r4cL3 (Oracle)
Place of Origin: Chelsea, England, United Kingdom
Height: 5'5"
Occupation: JadeTech CEO
Apparent Age: Early-20s
Embraced: 2003
Kindred Status: Neonate
Sire: Clarissa Jade
Clan: Senya (Oracles)
Clan Status: Thetos (Adopted)
Sect: Anarch Movement/Camarilla (officially)
Sect Status: No status
Player/Type: NPC

Appearance

Jade in her typical everyday look since 2016

Naturally, Jade is a pretty but skinny girl in her early 20s with hazel-brown eyes and long, loose chestnut-coloured hair. She seems unhealthily skinny and with skin discolourations that are a side-effect of a life of heart conditions.

Although she has yet to gain sufficient control in her clan discipline to make major alterations to her appearance, she usually uses it to both give herself a more "normal" (ie non-sickly) appearance as well as to vary her hair length and style (that is, preventing it regrowing or returning to its natural form every night, allowing her to keep hairstyles with an approximation of the same regrowth rate of mortal hair). Since her sire's death she had kept her hair fairly short, typically just above shoulder length, but sometimes cut quite short, depending on her mood. She feels it is more "modern" and therefore appropriate for her appearance, and makes her look more mature. She favours light make-up that accentuates her features, typically just a little lipstick or lip gloss and some light eyeshadow/mascara - something she did even during her mortal days when attempting to use make-up to appear more "normal" and less sickly when socialising.

Jade is usually observed wearing clothing appropriate for a work environment. Even when casual, she favours jeans and a blouse or (usually geeky) t-shirt. She self-admits to having little sense of fashion. If she is going to an event that requires it, she will plunder the Internet beforehand and determine what is reasonably fashionable enough to wear, then purchase it online. Although she has a preference for trousers and jeans, on formal occasions she quite enjoys wearing a ball gown or fashionable dress - perhaps because she feels she never got many occasions to dress glam during her mortal days, and enjoys the opportunity now. She will never be a trend-setter, however, as she relies too heavily on Google to inform her of what is currently in vogue.

When masquerading as Chantelle Taylor (see other notes) she makes her figure look a little more comely, with her hair wavy and blonde, whilst her eyes clear blue, typically with more obvious make-up designed to make her look "up for it, but not gagging for it."

Background

Mortal Life

Jade's common look after her embrace

Jade was born Kimberley Willa Gordon in the UK and the mortal grand-neice of Clarissa Jade of Clan Senya. She was born with a rare condition: Dextocardia with Situs Inversus; due to which Jade's heart was on the wrong side of her body, and this presented many heart-related problems as she grew up. Despite this, she grew courageous and strong-willed and defied her condition, achieving the Duke of Edinburgh award, but her ability to participate in physical endeavours was limited, and regular illness caused her to spend much time at home. A precocious fast learner with eidetic memory, Jade learnt much from books and the internet, and grew extrememly capable with computers which she felt allowed her to have an active online social life despite her condition.

She achieved a BSc Honours (First Class) in Computer Science from Middlesex University, and was undergoing her Masters degree when she suffered a major heart attack due to her dextocardia. Although she survived the attack, it had weakened her already-fragile heart, and a transplant was impopssible due to her condition. Her days were numbered. Unwilling to let her die, her grandmother told her a family secret - that her own sister had not died during the second world war, but had become a vampire - though she had not seen her in decades. Kimberley used her computing skills and in time managed to track down her great-aunt and begged for help. Impressed and touched by both her plight and skill, her great-aunt Embraced her, and helped her fake her own death before bringing her to her new unlife in America as Willa Jade.

Unlife

In Ashford Jade made up for lost time, completing her Masters and then achieved a D.Eng in Computer Science; following which she has worked at her sire's Jade Technology Ltd (alias: JadeTech) company, being elevated quickly to a managerial position. Whilst working for her sire, Jade's sire also trained her in the Path of Technomancy Thaumaturgy, and other secondary paths, and ensured she gained some basic martial arts training and competence with firearms. This would prove to be a wise precaution when the Sabbat Crusade struck. The infamous Opera House Massacre left Jade without a sire and mentor, and she found little solace from her Clan, with their Primogen seemingly having lost his mind in grief at the death of Clarissa Jade, who was his paramour, and most of the clan being too occupied with their own survival or insensitive to the neonate's grief. What little attention and aid they gave was often in the form of authoritarian instructions as to what the clan required her to do - or often what they objected to her doing, as during this time Willa began calling herself simply "Jade" as an homage to her sire (who likewise rarely used her first name) and grew close to various of the Malkavian clan, inclusing the Malkavian Whip AJ which who she was rumoured to have been romantically involved at one point.

The Sabbat Crusade

Jade's appearance on the night of the Opera House Massacre

For a neonate, Jade's involvement with the events around the Sabbat Crusade are not insignificant. As stated above, Jade was at the Opera House during the famous massacre, and was one of the few survivors - allegedly due both to her sire's sacrifice to open a window for her to escape and later because of a fortuitous encounter with the autarkis Tatjana who eliminated several Sabbat who, according to Jade, "would have almost certainly killed AJ and I had the Sabbat not been in her way, and refusing to move out of it." It was later revealed that the opera house massacre was caused because of a casual slip of the tongue when Jade and AJ had mentioned earlier to some Malkavians in a social event that they were going to the Opera House for that special performance - and it turned out that one of the Malkavians had been a Sabbat double agent, and the revelation of this opportunity caused the damaging attack. The revelation of this has caused elders from several clans (notably the Toreadors and Ventrue, hit hardest by the massacre) to have Jade executed, but her Clan (and their allies supporting the clan) have defended her innocence as an unfortunate neonate mistake, and that her (and AJ's) actions after are sufficient to avoid punishment.

Although AJ is accredited as being the key kindred who helped organise the Malkavians together at his sire's bequest, and approach and convince various elders to attend secret meetings that led to the formation of the new Primogen council and the election of a new Prince, Jade was a participant, contributor and motivator to all of these. In particular, helping keep AJ on track in the moments when his derangements overpowered him. She was also the person who convinced Valerie Leigh to return from exile in Vancouver, with Valerie forming one of the kindred who headhunted Grace Williams and finally ended the Sabbat Crusade - allegedly striking the killing blow. These actions are the reason why, despite her error and tragic consequences regarding the Opera House, her clan supported her and have been able to convince the other elders that she should be forgiven. This, however, has meant that she is perceived in mixed views by others - not everyone is ready to forgive and forget, even (if not especially) within her own clan who are unhappy with her overall refusal to follow clan instructions during the Crusade.

For her part, Jade has become disgruntled with her own clan. She now realises the clan was never silent and neutral, nor their Primogen incapacitated - simply she, along with all the other clan's neonates, were not on the need to know list because of the clan's authoritarian attitudes towards the role, responsibility and trust levels towards those who have not yet undergone The Becoming and given the title of Brother/Sister. She feels that this is old-school attitude which ignores the potential of those kindred embraced in the modern nights, who are more technologically capable than most elders could ever hope to be and could perhaps have made a difference, saved unlives during the Crusade and possibly aided locating the Sabbat leaders faster. The fact her clan's reaction has essentially been that she should be grateful that they are sympathetic to her loss (of her sire) and overlooking her disobedience and lack of respect for her elders' instructions during the crusade because of the eventual positive outcomes, has only fanned her discontent further. Although her clan believes Jade will eventually get over it, this disgruntlement has led to Jade forming a coterie of Kindred that are, at best, sympathetic to the Anarch Movement and, at worst, full-blown members. Either way, this is something many in her clan are now keeping an eye on.

Founding of the 1337 5kw4d

Jade's typical casual appearance around her coterie

Full article: The 1337 5kw4d

A white-hat hacker, Jade had at times clashed with other neonates (most notably with the Neonate "1337" of Clan Nosferatu) and become frenemies of sorts with them. She decided to approach them individually and managed to convince them that they had more in common than they realised, and together could form a power-group that could give even Camarilla elders pause; and in the short-term, mutually protect each other and assist their clans against the Sabbat Crusade.

As most of the founding members were either anarchs, anarch-sympathisers or otherwise saw benefit of joining (not least of which was not being controlled/abused by Elders), the coterie was formed under the initial alias of the D1g174L F4ng5, although this was changed later on to the present "1337 5kw4d" ("Leet Squad") after the group established ties with the Digital Draculas coterie and other Anarch Movement Hactivists, so as to not appear to have plagiarised the name idea. The initial founding members were (in order of membership):

Willa Jade, Clan Senya. Internet alias: 0r4cL3. IT Specialty: Telecommunications
1337, Clan Nosferatu. Internet alias: 1337Kw33n. IT Specialty: Digital Media
Peter "Garf" Garfield, Clan Brujah. Internet alias: Ȼя4ȥ¥ MØиk3¥. IT Specialty: Hacktivist
Arisha Pirozhnikova, Clan Toreador. Internet alias: Ste4mG1r7. IT Specialty: Engineering

Several weeks later, two other neonates were invited into the coterie, both with less hacktivism skills, but ability or potential with different fields of computing or digital information usage:

Evelina Astridsdotter, Clan Malkavian. Internet alias: B00kw0rm. IT Specialty: Research, Linguistics & Occult lore (sponsored by 0r4cL3)
Mackenzie 'Kenzi' Dubenenko, Clan Gangrel. Gamer Tag: K4mik3nzi22. IT Specialty: Video Gaming. (sponsored by Ste4mG1r7)

And the final member added a while after:

Vivian Gosiengfiao, Clan Assamite. Gamer Tag: 5n1p3yV1z. IT Specialty: Communications (Digital Media) (sponsored by Ste4mG1r7 and K4mik3nzi22)

Whilst all the members of the 1337 5kw4d who have degrees in computing-related fields have a high degree of competence in various IT disciplines, Jade is by far the one with the highest degree of computer science education and works actively in the IT field and hacktivism. She is a master coder and expert in network and media communications. This makes her a natural master hacker (she will state she does not hack - she finds errors in code or hardware that she can exploit).

Mortal Society

Jade in business attire

Willa Jade is known as the young, new CEO of Jade Technologies Ltd. Although her age is a surprise, it has been well-declared that she is the only living relative of Clarissa Jade, the previous owner, who recently died in the tragic Opera House fire. She is known to have great IT skills, and very intelligent, though inexperienced in business; and her reliance on letting the management team continue to run things like the previous owner did, helps add stability and keep the company's reputation. Willa oversees general company direction and is specifically known to be actively principally involved in areas of cybersecurity as well as software and web development and secretive special projects.

She is known to have an active online social life, though a bit of a recluse in real life. It is not public knowledge, but she operates with the online handle 0r4cL3, a self-proclaimed white-hat hacker affiliated with the Anonymous hacktivist group. 0r4cL3 has built a reputation for ruthless efficiency and the only reason she is not on an FBI list is likely that she appears to only target those who are unlikely to collaborate with the authorities on any issues 0r4cL3 has interfered with.

Alternate Identity: Chantelle Taylor

Jade as Chantelle

Although Jade is not proficient enough in her clan discipline of Apparitionem to be able to completely alter her own appearance, and thus effectively become completely unrecognisable or imitate others, she does have the ability to alter details enough to look different enough to allay casual suspicion.

With this, she has adopted the alternate identity role of Chantelle Taylor, a struggling college student. Chantelle is blonde, blue-eyed with an innocent, girl-next-door charm. Chantelle is active on seekingarrangement.com, a prolific website for young women (often gold-diggers, College students, struggling actresses, single mothers, or other women struggling financially) looking for Sugar Daddies - meeting rich, older men (often married) for discrete encounters in return for donations to help them; essentially a form of escortism. Whilst Jade has absolutely no intention of getting intimate with any of her sugar daddies, the secretive nature of it works well for her to enable Chantelle to remain anyonymous whilst gaining a herd that she call call on reliably. Whilst she certainly has no need for their donations (being richer than most of her herd) it is also useful to her to make connections with people in different industries that she (as Chantelle) can manipulate, control (Jade, via blood bonding) or coerce (as 0r4cL3, typically after gathering evidence to use for blackmail) if the need arises.

Personality

Jade's common appearance since the Sabbat Crusade

Jade is innately a nice person. She didn't have many friends growing up due to her heart condition, but those few friends (and family) who were around her were compassionate - as were the doctors and nurses of the NHS that she dealt with regularly. This has let her see the better side of humanity and she has been fortunate to have a sire with renown high humanitas, who introduced her to the kindred unlife with care and compassion, helping Jade transition whilst keeping her own humanitas. Although death has resolved most of her own health issues, this is because she was fortunate to have had physical ailments - but the Malkavians are not so lucky, keeping or developing mental illness during their embrace; and the Nosferatu gaining physical deformities. This leads to a natural sense of compassion and sympathy for those who have disabilities or derangements - whether mortal or kindred. She is naturally kind-hearted and caring, and very loyal to her friends. She is also incredibly intelligent (some say "too smart, and knows it") and her brain is hard-wired to technological thinking, and so she naturally sees things as problems to be resolved or figured out. She is too willing to give her opinion on what she thinks, believing she and her opinions should be valued for her intellect and reason, regardless of her age as a kindred; an outlook considered cute at best by elders, if not outright laughably naive and ridiculous.

But the events of the Sabbat Crusade have changed her. Although she made it through with her humanitas and sense of compassion intact, it has been a rude awakening to the nature of kindred society - and the realisation that the Sabbat may be the enemies, but that does not mean the Camarilla, or indeed the elders of her own clan, are actually friends either. Her ability to trust, and to be willing to help others because of a sense of right and wrong, has been eroded. Some refer to it with the pun "she became Jaded". She considers her Clan's ideology to be archaic, outdated and ageist - and the Camarilla's structure, ideology and support of Elder's rights to ruthlessly control, abuse and discard neonates at their whim, to be just as bad. Unsurprisingly, Jade has become friends with various known Anarch Movement members, including forming a coterie with some and now associates as a member of the Movement, to her clan's dissatisfaction (although most think it is a "phase" she is in because she's upset over her sire's death, and will grow out of it eventually). She will state that although she identifies as an Anarch, that does not mean she is an enemy of the Camarilla. She sees her role as an Anarch to be to challenge the Camarilla, to ensure it keeps to the agreements and concessions made with the Movement during the Crusade. Effectively, she hopes to change the system from the inside - something that her clan elders think is a good ambition that reflects the intentions of the Clan as a whole in joining the Camarilla, except that they think that she is naive to believe that, as a neonate, she has any kind of influence at all. Jade plans to prove everyone wrong.

Relationships

Anastasia Nikolaevna

Anastasia is an ancilla of Clan Senya and respected both within her clan as a Lorekeeper as well as kindred society for her services in protecting the Masquerade. She was known to be close to Jade's sire, as well as Primogen Donahoe's progeny Valerie, to who she was an unofficial mentor at times.

After the Sabbat Crusade a conclave was held by Clan Senya to discuss affairs. One such affair was the official recognition of Valerie Leigh's maturity, and acceptance as Sister within the clan. Following this, Braxton declared that, as his progeny was now her own kindred, that he intended to honour his deceased wife and become Godfather to Jade, adopting her as his ward.

To everyone's surprise, it was Anastasia, who had always been thought to have a good relationship with Braxton, who vociferously voiced her objection. Clan Senya's minutes record her rant as:

"You are our Protos Metaxy Ison, our Primogen, and elder than I... but you are unfit to be her Anádochos. My friend Clarissa Jade, your wife and Whip, was killed. Though this was not your fault by any means - you failed to protect her from our enemies. Your previous wife - who was, in fact, your progeny, was also murdered by your enemies; you failed to protect her too. You seem to attract enemies that wish you harm - and although you are renown for your survivability, those around you don't seem to fare as well. In fact, of your first two progeny, only your eldest childe achieved The Becoming and lived to tell the tale, whilst the third one has had a precarious journey so far.
As a Protos who insists on not-delegating the roles of Patriarch and Primogen, as is your right, you have many commitments. This affects the quality of your mentorship. One might argue that Valerie achieving sisterhood is despite your mentorship - your mentorship failed to guide her enough to prevent her from becoming Prodigal. Whilst you led the clan successfully during this Crusade, and I applaud your leadership, Jade - as she chooses to be called despite your insistence on referring to her otherwise - was left alone, confused, and at-risk during this ordeal because you were not there when she needed you to be. Although it was not your responsibility to be, if you were not there for her after the death of her sire and your wife, during a Crusade when her very life was at risk, you will forgive me for doubting your ability to be there for her now that death isn't around every doorstep. In summary: although your history shows you to be a formidable Boule, you are not suitable to become an Anádochos at this point.
My first progeny, however, is present and will soon be eligible to vote in this conclave as a full adelfoí and eligible to adopt himself. I do not think any here would deny Christian McMahon's status or personal achievements, and I think he will vouch that during his agoge, and even after, I have always been there for him as his mitéra, just as I was for Valerie when she needed me. And just as I will always be here for Jade, whether or not I am obligated by clan tradition to be. She is the childe and mortal family of my departed friend, and in her name, I would guide and protect Jade with my life. I am also an Athinaíos, as was her sire and, as Jade is from the Oracle bloodline, what she will likely aspire to become. I can guide her education for that title of function as her Anádochos.
But this clan has always respected individuality. So to claim Jade for myself would be as arrogant as your assumption that you should be. Therefore, I ask those gathered to vote not on which of us has the right or seniority to claim anádochos over Jade; but to give this Kóri, who has shown through her actions in the Crusade to have the intelligence and ability to make vital decisions for herself, the right to choose her anádochos based on her own preferences.

The conclave voted to allow this proposal (to his credit: Braxton also voted allowance) but Jade actually electing Anastasia as her anádochos (Godparent) over their prestigious Clan leader was nonetheless a shock. Although Braxton has not declared any animosity towards either Anastasia or Jade, it would be a rare kindred who did not take offence to both Anastasia's insulting him so publicly and vociferously, as well as a neonate rejecting his patronage in lieu of a kindred of lower status; and others are watching the ongoing affair with interest.

AJ

Jade is known to be allied with the Malkavian Whip, AJ who is also a neonate. They have been sighted together socially on various occasions and aided each other during the Sabbat Crusade. It is even believed that they are, or were, romantically involved. The revelation that the Opera House Massacre occurred due to their accidental slippage of information to a Sabbat double-agent of AJ's clan has put a serious issue on their relationship. Whether Jade somehow blames AJ, or herself and AJ is a reminder of her fault, is presently unknown and neither are talking about it - but they have not been seen together socially since the end of the Sabbat Crusade except for clan-related events. Although they seem friendly still, those who are observant have noticed that the relationship has cooled/changed somewhat. Time will tell how this situation will develop.

Other Notes

Misplaced Heart

A secret and minor advantage is that, due to her Dextocardia with Situs Inversus, her heart is misplaced. This is not common knowledge outside a small circle, and as kindred rarely allow themselves to be subjected to medical examinations due to the risk to the Masquerade, it makes it hard for anyone to learn it via current medical records. She is registered with Dr Romanova as her doctor, a kindred herself, who ensures that her recorded information is masquerade-proof, as well as highly secure.

This means, however, that anyone attempting to stake her would likely be attempting to stake her in the wrong place. It would hurt her, but not paralyse her - although she could certainly pretend to be, perhaps to gain a strategic surprise advantage.

Really, Really Smart

Jade is intellectually gifted, having an eidetic memory along with commensurate ability to learn things quickly. Whilst she may not seem like a typical nerd as her sire has taken pains to teach Jade to be more socially capable than she once was, people are surprised at how quickly she can absorb, assume and repurpose knowledge; as well as her cunning and wicked efficiency with IT. She is being careful as she is still learning to play the game, and knows the consequences of losing are dire, but has already begun setting her chess pieces by hacking assets, accounts and technology of elders and other kindred whose activities have riled her up, or she feels will someday intercede (or simply, just in case she someday needs it) but is cautiously doing so, trying to prevent poking the sleeping dragons until it becomes necessary.

Prey Exclusion

Due to a lifetime of living with a disability, Jade is sympathetic to the disabled and infirm and refuses to feed upon such individuals. If coerced or manipulated to do so, her anger could provoke her to frenzy.

Combat Style

Jade came into unlife with a frail, sickly body due to her heart condition - although surprisingly enduring. This was something her sire quickly took steps to remedy after her embrace, and taught her how to both take advantage of her slight frame, as well as how to increase her undead stamina. Although this was barely started before her sire's death, and she is still physically weak (even to human standards), she is now nimble, fairly enduring, has low-levels of her clan's Fortitude discipline, and is competent with sidearms.

This makes her able to hold her own against mortals or perhaps some younger or non-combative, kindred but not against more serious threats. Her secret weapon, however, is her Thaumaturgical ability. Whilst she is not a master, she is quite adept and capable of using thaumaturgical paths to cause disruptions and surges to electronic equipment, or mentally levitate up to approximately 200 lbs of weight (including giving herself a form of telekinetic flight, or levitating others). Given warning, she is capable of preparing wards against kindred or lupines, and can be creative in their use to prepare deadly traps for those that attempt to harm her.

Social Style

Jade is naturally easy to get along with. She's naturally friendly and amiable, and her sire taught her enough for her to at least be civil and respectful even when internally seething. When she wants to be (she has let her displeasure at things - notably her clan elders - be known a few times). She has always been respectful to her elders (both as a mortal and as kindred) so is (or at least pretends to be) deferential and respectful to other kindred of senior age and status.

Of late, however, she has a chip on her shoulder against elders as a whole (but especially that of her clan) and (what her elders would consider) a healthy distrust for other kindred. Whilst this isn't an animosity or antisocial attitude, it does mean that Jade will not naturally trust others, or accept at face value anything said by another kindred - especially an elder, and will assume there is an angle even if she cannot pursue it. Therefore she will carefull watch her words to prevent another accidental slip that could cause negative repercussions, and will no longer do anything to be kind or helpful (to other kindred) without an official recognition of a boon owed or payment/favour in return. This goes naturally against her nature, however, and so those who show her respect and kindness (especially to others, charity, or the disabled/infirm; with little apparent benefit in return) will quickly get on her good side and eventually begin to build trust.

Those who get into her circle of trust will find her a loyal ally willing to go far for them - and with the backing of a powerful neonate coteria as well as a multi-million dollar high-technology firm behind her.

Signature Equipment

Alienware Area-51 Desktop PC with 32" Dell UltraSharp Ultra HD 4K monitor
HP Spectre x2 tablet pc
Samsung Galaxy S10+ smartphone
Sig-Sauer P229 Nitro compact handgun (.40 S&W)
Pink 2004 Ford StreetKa or Jade-green Lotus Elise 111 (which belonged to her sire)