Campaign of the Month: August 2014
The Concord of Ashes
This Byzantine elder is responsible for the secular interests of the Tzimisce Obertus Order, as well as serving on the Quaesitor Tribunal of the Queen of Cities. His lordly and dignified aspect seems more in keeping with a Ventrue than a Tzimisce.
This man is strong and hale, with the aspect of a natural ruler. He has a pale olive complexion, dark brown hair and confident, compelling brown eyes. Although dressed in the finery of a Byzantine aristocrat and dripping with jewels, he looks like a warrior, and wears a sword and dagger at his belt with practised ease.
It is known that Symeon was a mortal favourite of the late Ventrue methuselah Antonius, who raised the boy from birth to be the perfect Ventrue. Gesu’s Embrace of Symeon in AD 703, just two years after his own disastrous Embrace at the fangs of the Dracon, forever shattered any hope of unity among the Trinity. Some years later it also indirectly led to the destruction of Antonius himself (sanctioned by Michael and the Dracon) at the hands of his own childe, Caius.
Symeon is one of the most powerful Cainites in a city of powerful Cainites. He and Gesu, both his sire and his brother, have shared responsibility for the Obertus Order since their master, the methuselah known as the Dracon, deserted the city centuries ago. Lord Symeon administrates the secular holdings of the Order with brilliant efficiency and political skill, easily matching the machinations of any number of Antonian Ventrue or Lexor Brujah. Many of these worthies are humbled by the sure knowledge that Symeon could do several of their collective jobs by himself, and far better as well.
The internal politics of the Byzantine Tzimisce are mysterious, even to their fellow Trinity families. What little is known indicates that Gesu, from the Monastery of St. John Studius, is the spiritual head of the Order, guiding it’s philosophies and heart. Symeon, from the Church of Christ Pantokrator, is the head, and makes decisions regarding more pressing matters such as politics and distribution of funds. The Baron’s Gangrel, in turn, serve as both Symeon and Gesu’s hands and, if necessary, claws…
Currently ensconced in the intrigues of the Quaesitor Tribunal and the politics of Elysiums of the Great Palace, Lord Symeon leaves much of the minutiae of mundane duties of administration and mediation to a small brood of descendants. Foremost among them is his oldest survivng progeny, the brilliant Myca Vykos, who serves as his chief diplomat.
Veceslav, Gunther ritter, Iulia and Sir Conrad owe Lord Symeon two boons: the first for providing an introduction to the city’s secretive Assamites, and the second for providing a letter of introduction to the Baron’s Gangrel. Both introductions substantially eased the course of their investigations into the murder of Bishop Alfonzo’s childer, Juliano and Adrianna.
Lineage Childe of Gesu, Childe of the Dracon, Childe of the Eldest