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Sierra Van Burrace, Lasombra
Characters | Submission Guide | Submission Forms | Character Portraits
Sierra Van Burrace, Lasombra
Haven: Velvet Rose Hotel in New York City Disciplines Obtenebration 6 Dominate 3 Backgrounds: Resources 5 Status 5 Influence 3 Generation 2 Contacts 2 Retainers 2 Note: No humanity due to Path of Power and the Inner Voice, rating 5 Physical Description Platinum blonde hair, Green Eyes, 5' 7'', looks about 22, Slim, elegant appearance History Sierra Van Burrace was born in the growing town of Canterbury, England to Lord Phillip Van Burrace and Lady Carmina Van Burrace in a large manor on a grassy hillside. Being brought up in the wealth and riches of the turn of the century, 1696, Sierra easily knew the delicacies of the good life. Born with attractive rose red hair and deep green eyes, she easily made friends and even some enemies. Eventually her family decided to use their fortune to make a claim in the growingly popular lands of America. Packing up onto a luxurious vessel, the Van Burrace family, with 6-year-old Sierra, made way to the Americas. Once there, they established an overwhelming manor in a quaint little town, which would soon be known as New York City. Passing time, Sierra attended the most prestigious of schools and grew to an attractive and popular young adult. On the eve of her 18th birthday Sierra decided to take a walk through the barren streets of New York. Seemingly out of nowhere a beggar lurched from the alleyways and tried to attack Sierra. Not knowing any methods of defense Sierra did what any timid rich girl would do and cowered into a corner, but much like small animals, when backed into a corner she knew she had to fight back or be killed. With an explosion of adrenaline, Sierra ripped at the man, and didn't stop till she felt her hands go numb from the pain they had endured. When all was finished and she felt no movement, Sierra looked down at the effect of her fury. A figure, which used to represent that of a man was strewn over the snowy ground, bloodstains ran deep within the snow. Covered with the blood of another’s, Sierra knew she had to cover this up, or it would ruin her family’s reputation and her chance for anything within the future. Covering the body and the red stains with piles of snow, washing her hands off in the melting ice, and disposing of the pieces of her clothing that blood had spattered on, she returned home to never speak of this event again. What Sierra didn't know was that during the whole fight, a woman, a very powerful woman, was watching as if she had planned this all out. Over the course of the next four years the Van Burrace family hit a patch of bad luck. Lord and Lady Van Burrace met an ironic end while dining at a party their new neighbors, the Rockefellers, were throwing. They both apparently were allergic to the oysters that were served to them. Without present day medicine, they quickly died. The thing that struck the Rockefellers unusual was that they hadn't planned on serving oysters, but they shrugged it off and decided never to be catered by THAT woman ever again. Sierra being all alone and of age and the only air to the Van Burrace estate and fortune, had a tough time dealing with all the responsibility. Many men flung themselves at her, claiming to be madly in love, but she knew better, all they wanted was her fortune. Needed some sort of help around the place Sierra hired the assistance of Nancy Porce. Nancy helped Sierra with what taxes and politics she and her family name had to account for. A week before her 20th birthday a man came to the Van Burrace estate, and demanded that their taxes be paid. Nancy, unbeknownst to Sierra, had kept all the tax mail and hid it from Sierra. Sierra claimed the man mad and that she had paid all taxes ever sent to her. The man decided to search the house and found 29 notifications of taxes and written on each letter was little doodles about "I'm not gonna pay this" and whatnot. The tax collector, furious, stormed out of the estate and brought back a signed document to take away the Van Burrace estate, and it's money away. Once the tax collector came the next morning, Sierra was thrown on the street, and all the manor attendants fired from their jobs. Now truly alone, and worse off than ever imagined, Sierra tried to get together and figure out exactly what had happened. She decided that this wouldn’t keep her down. Somehow her great granddaddy Jack Van Burrace had proceeded to the top and made a name for the Van Burrace family, and she would reclaim back what she used to have. Knowing what she could from her schooling, Sierra found a job as a maid in an up and coming hostel known as the Ritz. Her first week there brought a whole new world to her. The lowly conditions of the hostel allowed Sierra to be able to live within any conditions. Loving her job, one night Sierra observed a new resident checking in. This woman seemed so familiar to her, but yet, she’d never seen her before. While working, she had the distinct feeling that she was being watched somehow, but she just shrugged it off and continued whistling and having a good time. One night while preparing for her shift to end, Sierra noticed a smoke entering her room. Opening the door, she was taken aback in seeing the whole hallway in front of her ablaze in coiling spirals of fire. Feeling for her life Sierra decided the only way out was a jump from her second story window. Taking all her courage and forcing it out, she took a running start and smashed through her window and while riling in pain she watched another of her loves being burned to cinders in front of her. The next day she was woken up to an inspector jostling her asking her what she knew about the fire. Having just woken up she hardly understood anything the inspector said. Once regaining consciousness she answered with what she knew was right and then proceeded to ask what exactly happened. The inspector fills her in that the Ritz was burned down and they suspect fowl play, and that they found a melted candle thrown against the wall by some drapes, and next to the candles, the cinders of the Van Burrace family letter sealer. They have reason to believe that Sierra burned down the hostel. Without another word some guards carried Sierra to a horse drawn buggy with an apparent cage on the back. The guards locked her up and took her to a prison in the lower parts of New York. In that prison she spent 2 very long and depressive years, but strangely Sierra kept her wits about and an aura of succession. She knew once she’d get out of there she’d be able to make it big and show everyone that she’s the best. Her cellmate for those two years seemed suspiciously familiar, but Sierra knew she could not have possibly known a criminal before. Rightly before she was 22 Sierra devised a way to escape from the cell and run away to some place and start anew. She made it seem as though she had become deathly sick within a short time. One of the guards came in to check on her. Knowing how foolish the guards were Sierra took the blanket off her bed and in a flash strangled the guard to death. When done she took the guards uniform and switched clothes with him. She made her bed and put the guard on it as an image if her sleeping. Her cellmate appeared to be totally calm through the whole ordeal, almost even laughing. On her way out Sierra could have sworn that her cellmate wasn’t there anymore, but she shrugged it off and kept right on out of the jail. Once out on the street Sierra headed for the woods and kept on running for her life. She ran until sunlight, and then just collapsed on the ground in exhaustion. When Sierra awoke it was dark out, but she could see the glimmering of torches in the distance, it was another town by the name of Utika. Once in the town Sierra knew it was late so she found a prospective household and the people there took her in, gave her new clothes, and fed her. Later that night when she was thinking how nice these people were, she heard a crash downstairs. She opened her first floor and saw against the wall, shadows of the people that took her in. They were holding a lantern apparently. The lantern was thrown to the ground right in front of Sierra’s door. The fire easily spread across the doorway and started up the stairs. Shocked and baffled Sierra started up the stairs to safety. On her way up she caught one glimpse out the first floor door and could swear she saw the old couple on the floor with their bodies covered in darkness and a strangled expression on their faces. Again fearing for her life Sierra got up to her room. She saw there was no window. With the blazing death approaching it seemed to creep into the room and appeared to burn everything around her, but saving her for last. As Sierra was motioning towards the back wall, she heard a faint cracking and behind her the only wall not ablaze gave way and cracked off. Behind the wall was darkness no person, no mortal person could explain. It seemed to draw the very soul right out of you and leave an empty husk of a body behind. Within the darkness could be seen a moving mass, a shape of nothing, but yet something. Sierra lost all thought of the inferno behind her, as a patch of the darkness seemed to come alive and take form right in front of her. As the darkness materialized into a figure Sierra began to get that familiar feeling she had back in the hostel and in her cell. The figure finished transforming into a being. With a gasp of bewilderment Sierra recognized the figure of Nancy Porce, but then suddenly it shifted to that of her cellmate’s. With a growing speed the shape shifting continued until it rested on one form, perhaps a true form. With a voice so cold and uncaring, but a sense of timid power the woman began to speak. “I have been watching you these last four years Sierra. You have proven to be a force to reckon with. I have seen what you can do when forced into a corner. My name is Odessa Cantion. I can offer you the power you so deserve, the power to show the petty what the mighty can do, and the strength to make those beneath you succumb to your every commands. You can either go into the light behind you and waste anything that may be, or embrace the darkness in front of you and create whatever you may want it to be. The choice is yours.” As the words of Odessa spread through Sierra like wildfire, the surroundings grew dim. The only distinguishable aspects around her now were the blazing fire, which seemed to feed and burn off of the darkness itself, and Odessa in front. With a knock of sense Sierra realized the potential of the situation. With a quick and almost commanding YES, Sierra walked slowly into the inviting darkness. The fire behind her blinked into nothingness as the darkness entangled her very being. She felt a sharp pain in her neck and realized a feeling of overwhelming ecstasy wash her over. As the ecstasy increased so did the feeling of her life slipping from her, when finally an eternal darkness swept over her. Within what seemed like millennia Sierra awoke to the darkness again, but this time with pain and agony. This was like no pain she had ever felt before, but more overwhelming than the pain was a deep seeded hunger, which seemed to grow stronger till the point of almost lashing out to quench it. Eventually a hand appeared in front of her and with an almost automatic response she bit into the wrist and proceeded to drain this morsel of whatever was inside. The fluid tasted sweet and filling, and eventually she regained some sort of sense. She remembered everything. Suddenly as fast as the darkness had entangled her it unraveled. She could see she was still in her burning room in the house. As the darkness receded she felt a longing for it’s comfort, a need for it. In her mind a voice started up, and with the same timid power of Odessa’s voice it said: “The darkness is not gone. The darkness is within you. Use it to use others. You are master of it as it is master of you. Just will it and it will be.” The voice trailed off and out of her mind. As Sierra stood there on top the blazing house. The soulless shadow gone, she began to concentrate and use her very being to create that of which she needed and longed for. The shadows of the dancing flames appeared to shift and almost dance with a movement of their own. All the shadows created by the leaping flames combined in the middle of the room, and as Sierra willed it, jumped and leaped right at her, almost consuming her in a ball of shadow. Sierra turned around and faced the outside. When she did so, the ball of darkness frayed out and behind her, as to form huge shadowy wings. An imposing figure with the fire behind her, the shadow wings spread at her command and Sierra leapt into the night sky, the beautiful dark sky. She felt a place here, a new strength, and a definite sense of power. When her flight had ended Sierra landed on the ground outside the town of Utika. The shadows receded back into the darkness from whence it came. Behind her Sierra heard a voice. Turning around it was Odessa with a much-pleased expression on her face. Over the course of the next 50 years Sierra stayed close to Odessa, learning all there was to learn about the new world she entered, all the restrictions, dangers, and blissful rewards from being an insignificant human. A key thing Sierra learned was her absence in mirrors or reflected surfaces. Not being able to see herself, she broke down into a crisis. It took her a while to discover that her lovely rose red hair had turned a platinum blonde, almost white. Odessa explained the complications of an embrace and some had even turned out worse than a hair discoloration. Later she decided to avoid mirrors and let others do the grooming for her. She has thus come to fear mirrors. Sierra then spent the next 150 years obtaining her place in the Sabbat world. From becoming known to bishops, archbishops, Cardinals, and final the regent itself, she obtained a high status mark. Sierra obtained one aspect of what she wanted now, the name Sierra Van Burrace was known and respected. At the turn of the 19th century she returned to the damned city of New York and decided that the place of her downfall would be the place of her great achievement. With a profound sense of luxury and knowing the only work she had done was in that of a hostel Sierra began the plans for a hotel. Using the money she had “come into” over the last 200 years, she created a renowned hotel. This blasted and decrepit city would once again know and respect the name of the Van Burrace family. On October 14th, 1918, the Velvet Rose hotel was opened and preceded to be a phenomenal success in the business world. Sierra Van Burrace was known among the business goes as a master of finance and spending. Major figures in politics chose the Velvet Rose as residing places and thus Sierra began her gain in influence. During the next 83 years Sierra maintained the Velvet Rose and improved upon it’s standings, and managed to keep explain her age by telling that she was a childe of the recent Sierra Van Burrace. Today she stays within the hotel, helping the Sabbat where possible, and still climbing the chains of status. Advantages/Disadvantages:Sierra is well versed in the arts of diplomacy, conversation and battle when necessary. She seems to rely on her obtenebrational arts a bit, but mostly just to master different uses of it to benefit her. Even though she is Sabbat she keeps close ties to mortals and uses them without their knowing. She does have an enemy in a one Eillee Sanchez whome she took a position from next to the regent. Sierra has many pack mates and friends whom help out a lot. Special Equipment: Garnet Ring if blood-adds 2 more points to blood pool Crystal Ball able of using Chimerstry up to level 2 Fetish of Eille Sanchez protects Sierra from Eillee's doings to her, somewhat. Submitted by: Corey Bauman |
