Difference between revisions of "Augusto Vidal"

Latest revision as of 20:16, 4 October 2015

Among the Kindred, the name of Augusto Vidal has come to be synonymous with two things: the city of New Orleans and the determination of Ventrue superiority. Few cities in the New World can claim so many trials and tribulations as can New Orleans, and yet through it all, Vidal has endured. He is the first and only Prince the region has ever recognized, and as a result, he has come to be seen as something of an icon among young clan members across the United States and beyond. Sadly, few realize the toll that unceasing dominion has taken on Vidal.

Valencian by birth and Cordoban by marriage, Augusto Vidal was a petty Spanish noble who believed that his only hope for greatness was to earn it in battle. He entered the military and aspired to attain the rank of general, hoping that he might eventually amass enough power to sway national politics. Yet his military successes, while consistently solid, came few and far between. Therefore, in an ironic twist, Vidal was ultimately forced to marry into greatness. He was betrothed to a land-owning Andalusian noblewoman whose father sought to legitimize her through marriage.

When his bride died under mysterious circumstances, Vidal was approached by an ancestor of hers who, in a single violent night, removed him from public noble life and indoctrinated him into the private world of the Damned. In addition to being subjected to the Vinculum, Vidal owed both his holdings and his Kindred reputation to his sire (an elder of some regard), and he found himself the subject of an unending series of tests of worthiness and loyalty to both family and country.

The last and greatest of these tests came during the Seven Years War, when Vidal’s sire bade him to take a direct role in the Spanish victory over France. Although Spain did indeed win Louisiana as a result of the war, the region’s French citizens revolted in 1768 and Spanish soldiers were dispatched to restore order. Vidal’s sire asked that he go along and represent Spanish interests in the French-dominated city of New Orleans. Vidal saw his chance at freedom and accepted, knowing that it would mean an end to both the Vinculum and the infuriating tether that kept him tied to his sire. The sense of duty he’d shown his sire, however, would be replaced by a sense of duty to his clan and the Catholic faith.

At every turn during his reign, Vidal has done whatever was necessary to keep his hands firmly gripped on the reins of power in New Orleans. He was always known for his disapproval of vodoun, but this impatience has grown feverish of late. His crackdown on the rising numbers of Kindred within his domain has led many to question the Prince’s motives (and some his sanity). Many believe, and rightly so, that he is simply running out of time. Vidal must take his rest soon, and with no immediate heir apparent, many wonder what he will leave behind.

Vidal is tall for a Spaniard, with crisp, Mediterranean features and broad shoulders. His slick, black hair always appears wet, and he still wears the neatly trimmed Van Dyke he kept as a mortal. Unfortunately, the maintenance of this perfect facial hair takes up a considerable portion of the first hour of every night when Vidal rises, due to the fact that he was Embraced scraggly, without being given the chance to first tidy his appearance. Vidal dresses to impress, but he never forgets the lesson of function before form. He speaks with the sharp, authoritative staccato that characterizes his countrymen, and even after so many decades in the New World, has never shed his thick accent… or even cared to.

It is rumored that Prince Vidal may gain nourishment only from the blood of other Catholics. Then again, since his Blood Potency is so high he might feed only on Kindred….