Governmental Structure
- Daeva Priscus:
- Gangrel Priscus:
- Mekhet Priscus:
- Nosferatu Priscus:
- Ventrue Priscus:
- Prisci Harpy:
City Laws
To Come
To Clarify:
The First Tradition, To Come
The Second Tradition To Come
The Third Tradition To Come
The Tradition of Elysium To Come
Regarding the administration of Feeding Rights:
To Come
Regarding Visitors and Unacknowledged Kindred seeking to enter the Domain:
To Come
Regarding Prestation:
To Come
Kindred of Sarasota by Status
Status •••••
Admired Residents
Status ••••
Respected Residents
Status •••
Valued Residents
Status ••
Recognized Residents.
Status •
Acknowledged Residents
Honored Guests
The following Kindred are considered favorite guests of the Prince and are offered all hospitality and protections while they stay.
Protected
To come
Unwelcome
To Come
Wanted
To Come
Blood Hunted
To Come
Deceased
To Come
Missing
Kindred that have not been seen for a considerable time.
- Former Prince Janus Masterson
Rumors
To Come
OOC Information
- Calendar: Every other Friday Night
City Overview and Notable Locations
The City of Sarasota is composed of several districts. Those districts are composed of most of Sarasota and Manatee County. The districts and the domains contained in them can be found here at Sarasota, FL.
The City has several Elysiums. A few of the more prominent are the Ritz Carlton, The Ringling Museum, and the famed Traditional Elysium that has stood as long as the city has hosted a Kindred population, the Sarasota Opera House.
The Ritz Carlton
Description
The Ringling Museum of Art and Cà d'Zan
Description
The Sarasota Opera House (4th Tradition Elysium)
Description
Bird Key/Lido Beach
Description
Timeline & IC History of Sarasota, FL
Sarasota is a region with a short but troublesome past. Kindred only arrived in the area in the 1850's. The city that developed was a roman style senate where “land owners” advised the Prince Valkis on matters of state.
IN 1914 a fire destroyed much of the town and the prince Valkis. The resulting political vacuum created much strife and conflict. Eventual Nanclus, Valkis’s childe won the support of the remaining “land owners” and unified the cities of Venice, Bradenton and Sarasota under one praxis. In 2004, Nanclus paranoid that the “land owners” of the two of the largest domains in Bradenton. (Bradenton and Northern Manatee county) would ally against him. He made a preemptive strike to againt them destabilizing their domains, but ensuring his own downfall . When the other “land owners’ discovered that Nanclus was responsible for attacking and destabilizing the nearby domains, they immediately removed him form Praxis. Nanclus had done his job too well though and the prisi were too evenly matched for one of them to secure the praxis and so they slipped in to the darkness to control their own domains and engaded in a shadow war with each other.
The counties of Sarasota and Manatee are a testament of opposites. Sarasota County has a reputation of a clean county, home to numerous financial and cultural institutions attracting droves of part time residents and retirees. Manatee County on the other hand is a dark industrial county polluted with violence and corruption home to the less fortunate and deprived.
Kindred History/Timeline
Common Knowledge:
The first coterie of Vampires began influencing the area around Sarasota in 1855 when Manatee County broke from Hillsborough County. The coterie’s agents had informed them of the land of opportunity and the riches to be found in the new world peninsula and the frontier of Florida. That place would become the garden of their Empire. Utilizing land speculators the coterie managed to purchase all the land that currently makes up Manatee and Sarasota Counties. With the land in hand they began preparing colonization.
Secret knowledge:
Two elders Troy North and Allen Knox, began Influencing the area around Sarasota in 1855 when Manatee County broke from Hillsborough County. The Elder’s agents had informed them of the land of opportunity and the riches to be found in the new world peninsula and the frontier of Florida. That place would become the garden of their Domain. Utilizing land speculators the coterie managed to purchase all the land that currently makes up Manatee and Sarasota Counties. With the land in hand they began preparing for mortal colonization.
The Founding
Common Knowledge:
The colonization took decades but by the beginning of the 20th Century the population of the area could now comfortably support the coterie and their childer which immediately began to relocate, abandoning their former positions and severing all connections outside their new province.
Secret knowledge:
The coterie consisted of four members Valkis, Valkis’s childe, his grandchilde Nanclus,
and Nanclus' own childe Marina.
1868 Valkis and his childer Nanclus establish an Invictus presence in the area first in Venice with the Knight family then later in Sarasota.
1870 The first Ordo members arrive in the area to study the Miakka Perilous Nest.
1872 The Lancea Sanctum establish a presence and start gathering influence to create permanent "haven" the First Church of Longinus was established in 1975.
The Coterie of Valkis, composed of an Elder of the Circle of the Crone, the Ordo Dracul, the Lancea Sanctum and Valkis himself who represented the Invictus had unearthed a secrets about the City of Sarasota, a powerful locus and a labyrinth of unknown origin. The locus gathered energy and fed it into a labyrinth. They decided to focus and store the energy for use in a great ritual which would deem them all indestructible, or so they thought.
They embarked on a 20 year construction project to build a focusing tower with the facade of a mortal building. and to expand The labyrinth of tunnels beneath the city into a Necropolis. The tunnels are unaffected by the low water table of Florida.
The Clan Wars
Common Knowledge:
The Greatest challenge to the early Aeternalis years was the death of Valkis in a citywide fire. Clan leaders fought and argued over who should lead the budding Imperium. The region split into to two rival provinces of Sarasota and Bradenton. From the maelstrom rose the Imperium’s next leader: Nanclus, the grandchilder of Valkis.
Secret knowledge:
The coterie of Valkis constructed a focusing tower on the site of the Ritz Carlton. He believed that with the energies of the locus he could perfect the powers of tenure and use them to claim domain over the entire continent. Unfortunately others in this coterie had different plans. The dragons planned to use the energies to transcend vampirism. Someone sabotaged the ritual and instead released the entity known as Vetuus and the C'thari. These “evil spirits” ultimately destroyed Valkis in his attempts to banish them and lit the city ablaze starting a new “ritual” to make permanent their stay in this realm. The C'thari led by Vetuus, who knew all too well how to use that energy of the locus, sought to rend a hole in the barrier between worlds. Only by Valkis sacrificing himself by channeling a Spirit of Cleansing Flame were the C’thari banished and sealed in the labyrinth beneath the city. Vetuus and the C'thari lay in wait until the force of negative emotions, and violence in the city above became so great as to waken them and allow them to begin anew their goal of intersecting the Leylines and rending open the way between worlds.
Clan leaders fought and argued over who should lead the budding Domain after the death of Valkis. The region split into to three rival provinces of Venice, Sarasota and Bradenton. The third and oldest providence, Venice, tried to look neutral while quietly siding with Sarasota. This alliance is what allowed Nanclus, the grandchilder of Valkis, to ascend to the throne.
At that time the typical meeting Elysium was what is now Selby Botanical Gardens though the Sarasota Operahouse remained the most stable and secure Elysium for more official gatherings. The senate consisted of 7 regents/land owners. Two Deava who controlled most of Bradenton, 2 Ventrue who controlled Venice and Sarastota, 1 nosferatu who controlled the swamps and bogs, 1 Gangrel who controlled Myakka State Park and one 1 Mekhet who controlled the waterfont (keys).
The Covenants were not as important during this time in the Imperium.
Reunification
Common Knowledge:
Under Nanclus’s guidance, the Clans' hostilities toward one another ended and was redirected to expanding the Imperium’s influence. Nanclus captured Bradenton and declared the entire region the Manasota Province, birthplace of the Aerternalis Imperium.
Secret knowledge:
The Kindred that controlled Bradenton, Anna the Red Queen, and her Gangrel associate after being defeated by Nanclus fled toward Tampa settling in the St Petersburg area.
Anna and her associate were defeated and run off by summoning them out of their Domains and ambushing them. Since then Anna has refused to deal with any “unknown Kindred” in person. She uses proxy minions to deliver messages.
Manasota -Tampa Conflict
Common Knowledge:
In their quest for territory, it was inevitable that the Imperium would encounter other Kindred Domains in battle. Where the Imperium had anticipated acceptance and glorious return to Kindred society, instead they found themselves in a decade long debacle that cost many lives and gained the Imperium nothing.
It began with a chance encounter in Ybor City, as an Imperium scout was captured within the Domain of Tampa. Prince Aysha al Busaidi interrogated the Imperium spy for days before any information of his origin could be obtained. Demanding answers, agents of Tampa were sent south of Tampa Bay. When the agents failed to return, al Busaidi was furious.
What could have led to a reproachement between the Kindred peoples instead led to all-out war. For a decade this covert warfare persisted, with more and more Imperium espionage and sabotage attempts being conducted within the Domain of Tampa and Al Busaidi defeating the aggressors every time. This left its mark on the Aeternalis people, who learned first hand of Tampa’s Prince’s ferocity in battle, and of her follower’s willingness to destroy civilian targets as a means to an end.
Secret knowledge:
So much was done in the shadows that all that occurred during this time is shrouded in mystery.
The Imperium Fades:
Common Knowledge:
The Imperium was stung by its defeat. Their Empire began to collapse, as resources had been wasted on supporting the war. A political coup prevented the Imperium's fall to ruin by debasing and replacing the Praetor as a figurehead instead of supreme ruler; ending all hostilities toward al Busaidi and Tampa. Slowly over the decades the Senate managed to rebuild the Imperium. The Imperium remained in isolation throughout this period never once revealing itself to outsiders.
Nanclus continued to serve as Praetor, growing more and more paranoid and determined to expand the Imperium. With his honor and prestige at stake, he decided to strike again. Nanclus sent coteries of his best honor guards to surrounding domains in an attempt to destabilize them. When discovered by the Senate, Nanclus was immediately removed from the Praetorship, as his actions were conducted without their support.
Fearing retaliation from the neighboring Domains, the Senate sent emissaries to assess the damage and repair them; thereby breaking decades of isolation. The Aeternalis Imperium now found itself exposed and vunerable. Nanclus went into hiding as did several of the other Kindred of the old regime. This left the city ripe for recolonization as several Kindred moved in to stake a claim to the city.
It is during this time that the first of the new conflicts of Sarasota began. (Chronicle start)
The Contested Praxis of Sarasota
Common Knowledge:
As Sarasota became well-known and immigrants and visitors flooded into the city, the existing population had to deal with greater and greater upheavals in its government. One newcomer, Giuseppe Mancini, was appointed Praetor by the Senate after Nanclus was found and staked at which point they, themselves, promptly went into hiding. Yet shortly after this, Mancini was deposed by a Bishop Thomas Allan who was a newcomer from the Tampa Domain who arrived in the city with a ready made court in an attempt to expand Tampa's influence there. Two weeks later the Praxis became contested in bloody coup led by Dietrich Eckhart, the Prince of Fort Myers who installed his grandchilde, an Invictus named Janus Masterson, as the new Praetor. Thus began a bloody political tug of war over the domain between the powers of Fort Myers and Tampa.
To make the new government seem legitimate, a new Senate was reformed electing Janus Masterson, the Praetor and continuing to follow the laws of the city as previously established under past leadership. Another Invictus, Joshua "Paladin" Cartwright, then rose to prominance in the Senate. Mancini, no longer the Praetor, had become the head of the Senate (a position known as the Proconsul). Paladin maneuvered the Senate to vote "no confidence" against Mancini, due to differences of opinion about the pasing of certain laws, and became the new Proconsul rewriting the "constitution" in the process.
A few months later, Janus Masterson unexpectedly went missing while travelling to Port Charlotte and is to this day presumed dead. In the political chaos that ensued, a Crone named Metus declared himself Prince and abolished the Senate. His rule lasted for approximately two months before his own death, after which praxis was once again assumed by Thomas Allan.
Unpopular as a Prince, Thomas Allan's court was eventually attacked by The Rusty Crowbar (a coterie of Kindred "Problem Solvers") who were hired by a dienfranchised Kindred citizen. Though Allan himself escaped, his court was more or less wiped out and continued rule was impractical. The former Proconsul, Lord Paladin, was still well respected in the city and agreed to take over the postion of praxis from Thomas Allan with unanimous suport of the remainder of the city and the public promise of a Major Boon to Allan.
After a year of rule, Paladin stepped down to "travel some" and was awarded the title of Duke. Juliette Castelle was appointed Prince after much backroom negotiations between her and Paladin.
Secret knowledge:
It was during this time that the city was split into two factions by a rigged political vote.
A very small faction followed the Lancea Sanctum Bishop, Thomas Allen who many despised for his policies regarding demand of Boons in return for acknowledgement in the City and other irratic behavior including demanding sexual favors from a local Invictus lady in return for a "slight" against him in the form of a minor insult at best. On the other side of the political aisle stood those who felt a responsibility to maintain the city's longstanding governmental structure of a Roman Imperial Senate who were backed by the City officials of Fort Myers and Deitrich Eckart, Prince of Fort Myers.
A small faction of Kindred predominantly from the north had allied themselves with Thomas Allen, though they never truly held dominance in the city but by a mere technicality. The larger citizenry of the city, including many immigrants from the South set up court despite Allen's claims of Praxis, led by Guiseppe Mancini as Promagistrate and Janus Masterson as Praetor of the city. Heavilly supported by the Ordo Dracul of Ft. Myers, Allen stood little chance against the amassed citizenry and the two factions largely ignored each other, save one notable skirmish. Allen was a Ventrue who always used ghouls to shield himself from danger and who did not actually reside within Sarasota and thus evaded numerous attempts to locate him by the amassed citizenry. His court however, was not so lucky.
Eventually Thomas Allen returned to Sarasota after the unexplained death of Janus Masterson at a meeting in Port Charlotte and the dissapearance of Guiseppe Mancini at the hands of his own Carthian Movement in Ft. Myers. He finally abdicated his Praxis to Joshua "Paladin" Cartwright in 2007 after an official of his own court secretly contracted the Rusty Crowbar of Gainesville to eliminate him and his court. They were successful in capturing his two remaining loyal Kindred who were later executed after Allen fled.
The domain had five claims for praxis in the years 2005 - 2006, until Prince Paladin claimed the domain in the name of the Invictus. The period of strife still echoes in the halls of Elysium. Flocks of white ravens; mysterious labyrinths that span the city; and other, stranger tales go unexplained. The modern nights of Sarasota continue to bring more questions than answers.
It was also during this early time that Vetuus rose once more due to the spilled blood and surge in negative emotions in the city and thinking his power to be penultimate, attempted the Ritual to intersect the Leylines himself without the aid of the other C'thari, but failed miserably. The power was too great for him alone and caused the Leylines to move in an unstable fashion intersecting not on the Ritz Carlton as it should have, but instead a small Baptist Church.
The effect on the surrounding area was extreme. The dead rose from their graves, supernatural powers acted in unusual manners and the ground itself began to litterally pulse with power. A focused beam of Leyline energy shot toward the sky from the Church like a beacon to the heavens for several nights. A flock of White Ravens also appeared, heralds of the other plane whom the presumed dead Valkis, trapped in the other realm, had used to breach the barriers between worlds and communicate to the Kindred of the city that he would return to lead them once again against Vetuus. This phenemenon was only perceived by those with supernatural senses.
Vetuus realizing that he lacked the power to complete the ritual himself decided to wake his C'thari from their slumber one by one. In order to do this he needed to seed discontent and misery throughout the Domain. In order to do this Vetuus posessed the body of the Deputy Mayor of Sarasota and arranged for the death of the Mayor himself. Once the Mayor was dead Vetuus was free to set his plans in motion.
On the night that the Ritual to return the former Prince Valkis to our realm was to take place, the Kindred of the city, led by their new Praxis holder, Janus Masterson attacked Valkis and his Coterie ending their attempts. Janus and the others were ignorant to the true intentions of Valkis and his Coterie and simply attacked Valkis due to his posturing to them that he was the Praxis holder there. They did not agree, so they did as Kindred often do and eliminated the "usurper" leaving Vetuus unknown to the new regime and free to proceed with his own machinations unhindered.
A history of violence: 2007-2008
Common knowledge:
As 2006 drew to a close, the Brood moved into the domain and Prince Paladin's rule was under challenge as a lack of faith plagued the Domain. Already important mortals are being killed of in mass, the City Hall Massacre of 07.(Killing most of the politically well connected and may of the police force). Reports of brutal murders, and political scandals became commonplace in this once serene city. Rumors of a darker entity crept into the polite conversations of Elysium more frequently than before. Eventually the Kindred of Sarasota united and defeated the Brood there but the underlying force controlling them was still an ever present threat.
With the Brood expelled from the city one would think that things would begin to calm. But to the contrary, the city began to spiral into a downward arc of depravity and destruction. As the local gangs and crime families ran rampant over the city and its citizens, the police, in a futile effort to stem the coming tides of violence dispatched their own special units to deal with the escalating situation which only served to spur on the fires of hatred and violence that had begun to grip the city. It is during this time that Prince Paladin decided to "travel" and transferred Praxis to the former Seneshal of Fort Myers, under Prince Deitrich Eckart, Juliette Castelle, who had been a prominent figure throughout the city's modern history.
Secret knowledge:
Several Brood initates looking to make a name for themselves and having been informed that the city was weak by an uknown source immediately began wreaking havoc, first by committing the City Hall Massacre of 07.(Killing most of the politically well connected and many of the police force). This threw the mortal population into a state of panic which led to strict new local laws and enforcement being put in place by the city's new Deputy Mayor (Secretly posessed by none other than Vetuus). This is the time that the new Anti-Gang Task Force, or the AGTF, was instituted.
This in turn led to the local gangs of the area going into overdrive in an attempt to survive the heightened security. It also led to a swell in local gang numbers due to local minorities feeling the coming oppresion of the heightened security. The rising tide of violence and anger in the city was building and affecting the Leylines of the city, feeding, and repowering the C'thari who would rise then again. Eventually the Kindred of Sarasota united under the common banner of defeating the Brood and manage to eliminate most of the Brood. The rest fled south out of the domain. But the damage was done and the C’thari were awakened.
Vetuus, posessing the Deputy Mayor, caused immense strife, using his private militant force of Anti Gang SWAT officers acting with impunity in the ghettos and Barios of the city subjugating the underprivileged. While at the same time another of the C’thari was manipulating the street gangs. One of these gangs was the Ded Reds, and their ruthless leader Ded Dawg. Ded Dawg currently in the middle of a violent rivalry with a local Mafia family led a kidnapping mission to kidnap the daughter of Don Tortelli. Unbeknownst to Ded Dawg and Tortelli alike, his daughter was secretly the Ghoul of Prince Paladin. During the "rescue" of the ghoul Ded Dawg became aware of Kindred and ultimately sought immortality for himself. Driving the Gangs actions from a distance until he finally captured a Kindred citizen. Ded Dawg then forced the captive Kindred to embrace him or be destroyed. Ded Dawg, now a Daeva began embracing his gang lieutenants to gain an edge over the other gangs, the Los Muertos (a latino gang of vampire hunters originally from Fort Myers) and the newly arrived Dred Posse (a Jamaican Cocaine gang led unknowingly by a member of the Circle of the Crone).
Toward the end of 2007 the C'thari, having thrown the city into utter chaos, once again attempted to complete the Ritual and nearly succeeded. They managed, through a clever maneuver on Vetuus' part, to call an impromptu teleconference as the Deputy Mayor. This gathered together the 300 souls that were necessary inside the Ritz Carlton to fuel the Ritual's power.
The sky had darkened, the portal had once again opened sending the beam of light to the sky and the Leylines had converged on the focusing tower, the Ritz Carlton, when one Kindred, Lord Vulkar of the Invictus "assassinated" the Deputy Mayor, in sight of hundreds forcing Vetuus inhabiting him to disperse into the crowd.
The Kindred of the City battled the remaining C'thari both inside the Ritz Carlton and on the streets, managing to destroy two of them permenantly by using the notes left behind by the Ordo Dracul member of Valkis's Coterie from the last attempt. They were able to discern each of the C'thari's given weaknesses from that cryptic text.
Unbeknownst to the assembled, Ded Dawg had gathered his people and had arranged to fight the Dred Posse at the same location as the teleconference. When the shot that killed the Deputy Mayor rang out both gangs drew their weapons and began a full scale gang war right there on the spot, inadvertantly herding all the civillians straight into the Ritz Carlton. As the AGTF on site, the Ded Reds and the Dred Posse engaged in their three way battle Vetuus siezed his opportunity and posessed Ded Dawg himself. He then entered the Ritz Carlton to complete the Ritual. Upon the rooftop, near to completing the ritual the Kindred of the city burst in and Vetuus was thwarted from completing the ritual. He was hurled bodily from the roof of the Ritz Carlton into the sea where he was attacked by then Prince Juliette Castelle who jumped into the sea after him. After an underwater battle and the gathering of sharks Vetuus dissapeared and was presumed destroyed.
The surviving but defeated C’thari fled and the city returned to normal, the mortal's minds erased due to the backlash of energy from the failed ritual. The 300 mortals walked from the Ritz Carlton in a fugue state and for reasons unknown to them, no one seems to recall clearly the events of that evening at all, other than the Kindred who participated and the C'thari themselves.
Since them, The C’thari have been laying low, attempting to gather together a Cult in hopes that they can eliminate the Kindred who thwarted them and attempt the Ritual again.
U'Lara the Beautiful has since been captured and destryed by Kindred, when she attempted to take control of a shifty mortal company, the Excel cooperation, by seducing it's board of executives.
This left only Azlest the Devourer, and Vetuus himself (who did manage to escape once again). Azlest escaped in a slow oozing form from the Ordo Dracul, in the battle of the Ritz Carlton, and into the city's sewers and eventually made his way into the Labyrinth beneath the city where he is feeding on the energies storied there until he can regain his full mass.
2008 to present: A tale of two cities
Common Knowledge:
Several of the “old court” of Valkis had come out of hiding, summoned out of their hiding places by the white Ravens of Valkis.
A strange new player had come onto the political scene in Sarasota claiming to be connected to former Prince Valkis I. She claimed to be a Kindred by the name of Valkris and had claimed Praxis over Prince Juliette Castelle's territory and had backed up her claims with the support of Valkis' former subjects who had recently returned to the political arena after years of seclusion.
The court of Sarasota met at the Sarasota Opera house where they discussed the state of the city and formulated strategies on how to best handle the issues that the city was now facing. After much investigation it was learned that Valkis may not have met final destruction as was once thought and may have returned from the "Other Realms" in the form of this female Kindred, Valkris. His persistance in the city cannot be tolerated by the new ruling body so several Kindred including the Scourge and Sheriff were sent out to investigate the rumors of Lord Valkis' return to power. According to several of the "new" vampires in the city, he had retaken his title of Prince and claimed Praxis over Bradenton.
Kindred of Prince Castelle's court were dispatched to discover the whereabouts of this Valkris' Herald, a Kindred named Maxwell, to question him and eventually find Valkris him/herself. The Scourge, Carlos Mendoza was able to find and bring Maxwell the Herald to the Opera House for questioning. There he declared his Prince's intent to claim the entirety of the Manasota Domain as her Praxis and violence ensued resulting in the Herald meeting final death aparently at Carlos' hands. It was soon learned however that "Valkris" was actually just an unkown Kindred using the city's sordid history to her advantage. This mysterious figure was quickly found and destroyed shortly after by the citizens.
History Ongoing
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