Nerissa Aleshire

Nerissa Aleshire is the Tremere primogen of L.A and Chantry leader. A well respected woman few dare cross her but some question her closeness with the Prince, Edward.

History
She was brought to Germany, Berlin from somewhere in Ghana as a slave as a young girl. Separated from her parents she had to learn how to survive on her own very quickly. For better or worse she kept in the house due to her young age and youthful beauty. Silence was her norm as she rarely spoke her mind, instead just silently judging and praying for the ill of her owners.

The Christian God that had been forced upon her wouldn't answer so she turned to other powers, learning from some of the older and more wise slaves present she begun her interest in the occult. That did seem to do something as the families daughter fell deathly ill. With them rather distracted she fled Berlin.

There was not much work out there for a woman like her so she took a low paying job of cleaning a hostel. At least there were few after her as she was pretending to be a poor orphan that sunk aboard a ship from the colonies in search of a better life.

At this hostel she begun to get to know a permanent resident, Edgar Aleshire. Who while strange with his collection of books, odd hours, and many occult knick knacks, was very kind to her and the two had the most wonderful conversations. As it would happen Edgar was a scholar of the occult traveling all over Europe learning all there was to learn about it. While at this point she was only a young adult Edgar felt she had a natural talent for it and decided to ask her to accompany his journeys.

Of course she said yes leaving with him on the next train to of town. They two of them had much to learn from each other, Nerissa was taught reading and writing alongside several languages and much history, meanwhile Edgar learned a lot of perspective upon life and society from her experiences which she shared with him. After a couple months she decided she wanted a new name, not one given to her by the people that mistreated her. She picked Nerissa from the novel and just went by no last name for the time being.

After three years of traveling together as an incredibility competent duo the two married each other despite the sociological issues at hand. They settled down back in Germany and got a home with a large personal library for their research which they continued feverishly. In this research they uncovered information valuable to the Tremere clan and items the clan wanted and stored said things in their home.

Soon afterwards they found themselves being stalked and threatened to sell their research and cease anymore of it. At first they assumed this was due to their relationship but it soon became very clear that it was purely about the research. Nerissa, never one to simply set back when in danger did more unearthing and discovered the dark truth of who was after them, vampires.

The both of them became incredibility paranoid and driven to protect themselves it caused them to meddle in the affairs of magi and uncover some magic in hopes of protecting themselves. Unfortunately none of it would work as on September 5th, 1890 late at night the home was broken in to. Nerissa was in the library after falling asleep meanwhile Edgar was in their bedroom. She awoke to a clatter from out in the hall. She grabbed a oil lantern and peered out.

Noticing several people she fled back into the library. She was surrounded and had to assume the worse had happened to Edgar. Four Tremere entered the library and were surprised to see her with such a face of determination on. She had demands which at first they laughed at the idea of but she quickly made it clear that she was willing to set the library on fire with herself inside it if she had too. That shut them up and interested their leader, Martin Tanzer.

She demanded answers to her questions, to who they were and what they wanted. She demanded that if they wanted to use her and Edgar's work for anything then she'd have to be involved in it. And lastly she demanded to be kept alive and well treated. Otherwise she'd burn down it all down and take the knowledge she knew that wasn't recorded down to her grave. Martin was impressed by her boldness and how she demanded respect and decided to have her embraced, in fact he'd do it himself.

After her embrace she was made to be Martin's protege. She did miss her husband who she received confirmation of his death but she was excited to continue their work, possibly for forever. She took to her studies well and quickly became a valuable asset to Martin and his Chantry. She asseted in sevreal searches for rare magical items along with aiding in travel as she was familiar with the more odd routes around europe.

The early 1900s were fairly peaceful as she continued to learn the ways of the kindred, was presented to the local prince, and grew in power (both magical and social). Then of course the Nazi's took over Germany. Martin was very concerned about the Chantry's many magical items ending up in the wrong hands so sent a group led by Nerissa to take those items to the U.S as it was uninvolved in the conflict and deliver them to one Maximillian Strauss who could certainly keep them safe. Nerissa was allowed to decide whether or not she'd come back to Germany as Martin understood the danger she'd be in. She choose to stay with Strauss and apprentice under him for a while.

After the war Stauss requested for her to remain in the U.S and given his status Martin could not deny him. Nerissa would become a permanent member of Staruss' Chantry and coterie thanks to her expertise in occult lore and her willingness to do the hard research. Untill the early 2000s she was mostly just doing research and earning the respect of the other Tremere.

Staruss took her with him to L.A when Sebastian was attempting his power grab and she was earnestly interested in the area and how this would all turn out. When the casket showed up she was both interested but also wary of it due to a lack of prior knowledge of it. Hearing of Beckett's presence she did attempt to meet him but failed to find him before he fled the city. She still wishes to meet him to this day and greatly regrets not getting too do that.

As being one of Staruss' most trusted people in the area she was given the role of Seneschal when he became prince. She took her role very seriously and did it well. She was of the only people informed of what Edward had done to garner power as Staruss told her the loose details and asked her to remain to keep an eye on the city, the chantry, and most of all Edward.

Edward appointed her Primogen and she also became the Regent after Staruss had left. She made a point of getting close to Edward, to the point they dated for a short while and then broke up on good terms as it just was not working out.

Personality
A woman who's very presence demands respect she holds herself in a high regard and does not tolerate disrespect. Few dare to think of crossing her thanks to her forceful personality and the very clear threat she can pose when she wishes too. Rare is it for her to lose her head or have her temper flare up, instead her veins run cold. In her life she has been mistreated by people and she will not allow that to happen to her again at any cost.

Trust from her has to be earned and can be quickly taken away for crossing her. She rarely speaks about herself and is very good at keeping things to herself, it is hard to get to know her and she has been described as mysterious as a result. She prefers it that way as it gives her foes less ammo to fire against her, plus it allows her to undertake more secretive missions and goals.

Her main goal is to simply learn all there is too learn and to be beyond disrespect. In a practical sense she'd like to unravel what on earth Edward thinks he's doing and return the L.A court to the respectable nature it was in under Staruss' control, although she no longer holds any loyalty to Staruss himself.