3/02/02 - The Arrival

I'll try to summarize the events of the last two months, some of the newer members, and maybe even some of the older members are not quite clear on all the events that have transpired. It is my hope that chronicling these events can spare someone else from making some of the mistakes I have made. When I arrived in St. Louis, there was a new Prince, a harpy seized praxis in the wake of a mysterious disappearance of many of the resident Kindred. Emmanuel Rieux, a Toreador, seemed inexperienced and ill-prepared for the duties.

It wasn't long after that he appointed another Toreador, a personal friend of his, named Eliza Fairhaven as his seneschal. Fairhaven and I had a fairly good relationship prior to that, I had met her first in an east side club (Jackals) that I had acquired upon my arrival. She was timid at first, friendly. I even helped her to arrange a party for Mr. Rieux's "coming-out". At some point though, that relationship fell apart, and to this day I'm not sure what precipitated it. What followed was a rather vicious campaign by Eliza to discredit the clan. Her personal attacks against me were succint and vicious, perhaps a by-product of her harpy days. It also became apparent how deeply the Prince owed the setites. Territory was given to them, and even more territory, including the area of Jackels. Favor upon favor upon favor, and Riz Mickanes, the setite elder was well esconsed into Camarilla society.

While the status of ventrue clan members dropped under the weight of the seneschal's ire, Riz Mickanes became even more of an influence. There were at one time a few detractors to Mr. Rieux's praxis. One of them, a man I had never met, was Malice Aforethought, primogen of the Malkavians. He disappeared, though it did come out later, that he was assassinated by the word of Emmanuel Rieux. This information came from Emmanuel, then to his seneschal, Eliza, who told others. Its unsure how many were told, but the primogen of the Ventrue was one of them.

With Reiux being fairly absent during this debacle, the seneschal arranged a meeting to discuss a recent sabbat attack. The attack occurred on Marketstreet: myself, Arkady Filitov (the sheriff), Robert (setite) and Gideon Carpenter (scourge) were present. The attack was unsuccessful. The meeting Eliza Fairhaven arranged was however, successful. Successful enough to raise the ire of the prince, who gave Eliza such a tongue lashing that she left the meeting and then later left the city. With things deteriorating at a rapid pace, Emmanuel Riuex also left the city, with parting words to me that the setites were indeed out to get the Ventrue.

This being no surprise. I had spoken to Riz Mickanes recently about a life boon that Reilly Ceatson owed him. The incident was suspect, and my contention that reilly's life was never in danger at all. Mickanes was adament about the boon, and it was left as is. But the meeting itself brought other things to light...the reason why the setites had spread their territory, and the obvious hatred that mickanes holds for Ceatson. In a petty display, he claimed also that Reilly had infringed upon his domain for ghouling a young girl named Reagan. Apparently, he'd received permission to ghoul the girl from the prince, though he took no action in that regard, nor ever made it known that she was his property. He made it known that that was no excuse, the permission alone meant that she was his property and Reilly violated domain. Again, like the issue of the life boon, its a weak argument.

Meanwhile, Ms. Hawkley, the fearless leader of the Ventrue, stepped down from her post, leaving things even more shakey for the clan as a whole. Eliza Fairhaven returns as Rieux exits stage left. I'm sure she intends to claim praxis as her clan cohort did two months ago. Much convenience there though. She'll be sympathetic to the setites, as Emmanuel was, and in the wake of all this "unsympathy" clan Ventrue is in some serious trouble.