Nothing is True. Everything is Connected.
Category: <span>Character Introduction</span>

Sylum Inspiration: Bessie Coleman

Ghost/Darkness: Member

 

Coleman was born on January 26, 1892, in Atlanta, Texas, the tenth of thirteen children to sharecroppers George Coleman, who was mostly Cherokee and part African-American, and Susan, who was African-American. When Coleman was two years old, her family moved to Waxahachie, Texas, where she lived until age 23. Coleman began attending school in Waxahachie at the age of six. She had to walk four miles each day to her segregated, one-room school, where she loved to read and established herself as an outstanding math student. She completed all eight grades in that school. Every year, Coleman’s routine of school, chores, and church was interrupted by the cotton harvest. In 1901, George Coleman left his family. He returned to Oklahoma, or Indian Territory, as it was then called, to find better opportunities; but Susan and her family did not go along. At the age of 12, Bessie was accepted into the Missionary Baptist Church School on scholarship. When she turned eighteen, she took her savings and enrolled in the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University (now called Langston University) in Langston, Oklahoma. She completed one term before her money ran out and she returned home.

n 1916 at the age of 23, she moved to Chicago, Illinois, where she lived with her brothers. In Chicago, she worked as a manicurist at the White Sox Barber Shop. There she heard stories from pilots returning home from World War I about flying during the war. She took a second job at a chili parlor to procure money faster to become a pilot. American flight schools admitted neither women nor blacks. Robert S. Abbott, founder and publisher of the Chicago Defender, encouraged her to study abroad. Coleman received financial backing from banker Jesse Binga and the Defender.

With the age of commercial flight still a decade or more in the future, Coleman quickly realized that in order to make a living as a civilian aviator she would have to become a “barnstorming” stunt flier, and perform for paying audiences. But to succeed in this highly competitive arena, she would need advanced lessons and a more extensive repertoire. Returning to Chicago, Coleman could not find anyone willing to teach her, so in February 1922, she sailed again for Europe. She spent the next two months in France completing an advanced course in aviation, then left for the Netherlands to meet with Anthony Fokker, one of the world’s most distinguished aircraft designers. She also traveled to Germany, where she visited the Fokker Corporation and received additional training from one of the company’s chief pilots. She then returned to the United States to launch her career in exhibition flying.

“Queen Bess,” as she was known, was a highly popular draw for the next five years. Invited to important events and often interviewed by newspapers, she was admired by both blacks and whites. She primarily flew Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” biplanes and other aircraft which had been army surplus aircraft left over from the war. She made her first appearance in an American airshow on September 3, 1922, at an event honoring veterans of the all-black 369th Infantry Regiment of World War I. Held at Curtiss Field on Long Island near New York City and sponsored by her friend Abbott and the Chicago Defender newspaper, the show billed Coleman as “the world’s greatest woman flier”[12] and featured aerial displays by eight other American ace pilots, and a jump by black parachutist Hubert Julian. Six weeks later she returned to Chicago to deliver a stunning demonstration of daredevil maneuvers—including figure eights, loops, and near-ground dips to a large and enthusiastic crowd at the Checkerboard Airdrome (now the grounds of Hines Veterans Administration Medical Center, Hines, Illinois, Loyola Hospital, Maywood, and nearby Cook County Forest Preserve).

But the thrill of stunt flying and the admiration of cheering crowds were only part of Coleman’s dream. Coleman never lost sight of her childhood vow to one day “amount to something.” As a professional aviatrix, Coleman would often be criticized by the press for her opportunistic nature and the flamboyant style she brought to her exhibition flying. However, she also quickly gained a reputation as a skilled and daring pilot who would stop at nothing to complete a difficult stunt. In Los Angeles she broke a leg and three ribs when her plane stalled and crashed on February 22, 1923.

In the 1920s, in Orlando, Florida on a speaking tour, she met the Rev. Hezakiah Hill and his wife Viola, community activists who invited her to stay with them at the parsonage of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church on Washington Street in the neighborhood of Parramore. A local street was renamed “Bessie Coleman” Street in her honor in 2013. The couple, who treated her as a daughter, persuaded her to stay and Coleman opened a beauty shop in Orlando to earn extra money to buy her own plane.

Through her media contacts, she was offered a role in a feature-length film titled Shadow and Sunshine, to be financed by the African American Seminole Film Producing Company. She gladly accepted, hoping the publicity would help to advance her career and provide her with some of the money she needed to establish her own flying school. But upon learning that the first scene in the movie required her to appear in tattered clothes, with a walking stick and a pack on her back, she refused to proceed. “Clearly … [Bessie’s] walking off the movie set was a statement of principle. Opportunist though she was about her career, she was never an opportunist about race. She had no intention of perpetuating the derogatory image most whites had of most blacks” wrote Doris Rich.

Coleman would not live long enough to establish a school for young black aviators but her pioneering achievements served as an inspiration for a generation of African-American men and women. “Because of Bessie Coleman,” wrote Lieutenant William J. Powell in Black Wings (1934), dedicated to Coleman, “we have overcome that which was worse than racial barriers. We have overcome the barriers within ourselves and dared to dream.” Powell served in a segregated unit during World War I, and tirelessly promoted the cause of black aviation through his book, his journals, and the Bessie Coleman Aero Club, which he founded in 1929.

For More Information Contact the Vampire Council Library.

It was during her time as a pilot she met Steve Trevor.  He liked her instantly, she reminded him of his own Mate … kicking ass and taking names.  He liked her idea of a school, but knew it wouldn’t be easy for her – yet knew she had already surpassed so many obstacles.

He told her about Vampires and gave her the opportunity.

She didn’t hesitate to take it.

Sylum Inspiration: Arianne

Camelot: Member

Arianne was raised as a Picts, until she was marked and cast out of the tribe because of her abilities with herbs.

The scar along her face was warning to all those who saw her that she was a witch.

She made a home in the forest, wanting nothing to do with her tribe or the foreigners.

She doesn’t know how she was Turned, just that she was attacked one night and ended up one of the undead.

Sylum Inspiration: San Lin

Oceania: Member

 

San Lin was raised between Tokyo and Brazil.  She loved either being in the jungles of Brazil or the Forests of Japan, learning new things.  She worked her whole life to become a Biologist.  Some of her early heroes was Robert Campbell and his work with ants.

She met Houston Brooks when he ended up her lab partner while she attended Yale.  He asked her out for coffee at the end of the semester.  A year after dating she took him home to meet her family, and though they didn’t like that he was an American, they appreciated he was good to her.

Six weeks after they graduated they were married.

After their first year of Grad School, Houston went to study on a six week expedition in Australia.  She had an internship working at a bio tech firm called Dali Moon.  When he returned her life was changed.

He told her about Vampires and that he had been Turned, and she was his Mate.  After a long of discussion, they decided to finish their degree before going to Australia.

Once they settled in, Houston Turned her and they were Mated.

Sylum Inspiration: Pocahontas

Medjai: Member

What is left out of the history books, is the fact while Pocahontas was in England, she met Gwenhwyfar.  The two bonded quickly, and when Pocahontas became ill, she came to her side and asked if she wanted to be Turned.

She decided that this was her next journey.

Knowing she could not stay in England or return to her people, she seized the adventure and left to visit the oldest of Vampires to learn more about different cultures and tribes.

She soon became great friends with many of the Medjai tribe, and found her Mate in Immutef.  They both have related to how their lives and names have more myth than reality.  She decided to stay with the Medjai, swearing loyalty to Ardeth.  With help from Scheherazade she wrote her peoples stories and language down.

Today she works in education, teaching children about all cultures and is an adamant speaker for aborigine, first nations, and native rights.

***

Quick Note: It would seem that the blog had posted an autosave that didn’t actually have anything in it.  Sorry about the delay from epic tech fail.

Sylum Inspiration: Claire Temple

Tallikut: Member

 

Claire Temple was born in Chicago’s southside in 1917. She’s of mixed Puerto Rican and Afro-Cuban descent, but never let that stand in her way. Her father willingly served in the Army during the first World War to better both himself and his family and to support his country. Unfortunately, he never returned home.

However, Claire inherited her father’s passion and drive to help. She worked hard to become a nurse and worked in Chicago’s Provident Hospital. She was surprised that a white doctor would willing setup a practice in the hospital. But Doctor John Carter didn’t see skin colors, just people that needed help. When he offered to teach her medical techniques above what she had learned in nursing school, she took the chance.

Over the next few years she worked closely with Carter and soon learned about Vampires because they came to him, and later her, when they were hurt.

She was in the wrong location at the wrong time and was shot during a drive-by shooting. When she finally made it to the hospital she was close to death and took the offer from Carter to be Turned.

Sylum Inspiration: Megan Tillman

Sylum: Member

 

Megan and her sister Gabrielle grew up in the suburbs of New York.  She adored her older sister, looked up to her in so many ways.  She felt helpless when her sister was raped, and  he got away with it, because it took Gabrielle two days to report it.

When her sister died on an overdose of drugs, she felt lost.

She went on, got her degree, became a doctor and found a job in New York working in the ER.  And then her life changed when she saw her sister’s rapist just order a coffee.

Megan will be the first to tell you, she wasn’t proud of her plans to kill him, but it had to be done.

Then she met John, who helped her see past her anger and hatred.  She gave him the keys to the van, and walked away.

A week later she found him in her ER, a small smile on his face.  He told her, that he had been arrested in Mexico on drug charges and will never see the light of day.

She went on with her life.   Until the fateful day, Harold called her and said John needed help.  She grabbed her gear and made her way to the safe house.  She tried to get past Harold to fix her patient, when he politely informed her John just needed the blood.

She learned about Vampires.

The next few days she was introduced to Zoe and Claire Temple.  She stayed as their Chosen Ones, making sure they had enough blood, or patch up wounds that needed more care.

Until finally she saw her purpose and sought out a Vampire Doctor … Gregory House was exactly everything she was warned about.  In time she figured the best option for her, was just to become a Vampire.

Sylum Inspiration: Naomi Bennett

Ghost/Darkness: Member

 

Ask anyone who knows them and they will tell you that Naomi Bennett is the opposite of Addison Montgomery. Where Addison is that bright spark, Naomi is the quieter (and slightly more broody but she’s working on it) ember. She’s driven to succeed in the way that really focused people sometimes are: focused on the goal and not so great at some of the other things in life.

Naomi and Addison met in medical school and they became best friends. Where Addison is a rock star as a neonatal specialist, Naomi is the same as a fertility specialist, board-certified in reproductive endocrinology, obstetrics and gynecology.

In Naomi’s eyes, she’s done all the right things: gone to school, gotten a great career, married and had a daughter, named Maya. That’s why she’s broadsided when her husband, Sam, tells her he wants a divorce. When pressed for the reason why, he says he’s unhappy but also there’s no good reason beyond wanting to leave.

Addison walks back into Naomi’s life after a number of years looking for a change and wanting to have a baby. Although a baby is not in the cards, Naomi offers Addison the chance to join her practice, Oceanside Wellness Group, which Addison accepts.

There’s also another small wrinkle: the practice’s receptionist and midwife trainee, Dell Parker. Naomi tries to write off his feelings for her as a crush given their age difference. But there’s something about him that unnerves her in a way that she hadn’t expected. He also brings her cake which does nothing for her waistline.

When Maya becomes pregnant with a less than desirable boyfriend and Naomi loses it a little; (okay, she loses it a lot) Dell and Addison are there to talk her off the ledge.

Things go sideways when an accident puts both Dell and a laboring Maya in the hospital. Maya and her baby survive but Dell is down with a severe head injury that needs surgery, which is only stopped when Dr. Cooper Freedman comes forward and has to out Dell as a vampire to the rest of the practice.

When the dust settles, Dell takes Naomi aside and tells her everything.  He also tells her that she’s his mate.  That particular truth settles something inside of her and though she asks him for a little time to think about it, she already knows what her her heart says.

Sylum Inspiration: Chris Beck

Ehre/Weishet: Member

 

Born in 1976, Christopher Beck is the only child of Marcus Beck, a US Marine Embassy Guard stationed at the US Embassy in Vienna Austria, and Emily Beck, a nurse. He was born in Vienna, Austria but at age six moved to the Hartford, CT when his father was reassigned.

He knew from a young age that he wanted to go to space and wanted to be a doctor. His first chance came when he was thirteen years old and was able to go to Space Camp. He was placed in a special group for advanced students. The group named themselves “Newton’s Nerds” and he met his best friend –even if communication was first by letters and phone, and then later emails– Jacob. The trip to Space Camp only made his dream of becoming a doctor in space more real.

Chris finish high school at age 16 and started college at Yale. He graduated cum laude from the Yale School of Medicine where he was the recipient of the Norma Bailey Berniker Prize (which is awarded to graduating students that best exemplify the disciplines and precepts of the Hippocratic Oath). He also has a Master’s degree in biomedical science. Once he completed Medical School, Chris joined the US Air Force and became part of the 99th Medical Group to focus on becoming a flight surgeon with hopes of joining NASA.

He was stationed at Mike O’Callaghan Military Medical Center on Nellis Air Force Base when he meet Captain Janet Fraiser and his life changed when she offered him a job. The job, well, he was a doctor in space, just not how he originally pictured it.

His promotion to Captain came with reassignment to Atlantis. Plus, he’s a natural gene carrier which comes in handy.

While in the Air Force he has received the Air Force Commendation Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal. The how and why he received those medals are still classified. Though the record does state he was injured on a mission.

Sylum Inspiration: Steve Trevor

Medjai: Member

 

There isn’t much information on Steve’s childhood.  He’s from the United States, and was raised on a farm.  He was always looking for something, and ended up volunteering to work intelligence during the Great War.

Come to find out he was a really good spy.

While trying to find out what General Ludendorff and his pet scientist Isabel Maru were conducting, he discovered they had invented a new version of Mustard Gas.  He stole her notebook, and fled.  During the flight away from the Ottoman Empire, he got caught in a windstorm crashing him just off a Greek Island.

He discovered he was on Themyscira, and had met an Angel.

He told them about the war to end all wars, and how if he didn’t get the notebook back, millions more would die.  He hadn’t expected Diana to come with him.

Taking her back to London was strange, but he admired how she handled all the strange things, though he still wasn’t sure about the ‘Asgardian’ worlds.  She was determined to find General Lundendorff and stop the war.

Steve watched as she took on shockingly Sir Patrick Morgan, but knew it was her fight.  He had to stop the plane from crashing into London with enough Mustard Gas to take out the city.  He  handed her his father’s watch, told her he loved her … ‘I can save the Day, you can save the world.’

He regretted not having enough time with her.

As he sat in the pilot’s seat he took a few moments to hold onto his memories of Diana, before pulling the gun and aiming it at the canisters … just as he fired he startled when ice began to move across the window.

He woke up freezing.

And in the desert.

Steve stared at a boy … who looked just like him. He introduced himself as Jack Frost and he had been so excited to see someone who finally looked like him.

Heneru had sat him down to explain about Vampires, and that if he wanted to stay with his Amazon, he would need to be Turned.

Steven never doubted for a second, he wanted a life with Diana.

Sylum Inspiration: Ron Butterfield

Sylum: Member

 

Ron grew up in New York, his grandfather an immigrant who worked long hours to make sure his son had a better life.  Ron’s father worked just as hard, leading to Ron being able to get an education and work for the government.

He became a member of the Pinkerton Agency which was the early stages of the Secret Service.  Devastated at the loss of Abraham Lincoln he was determined to change how protection details worked for the President.

As he had started investigating exactly what happened that night, he found small discrepancies that led him to Sylum Manor, two years after the President had died – only to find Mr. Lincoln.  He demanded information, sat quietly and listened to everything not only Lincoln had told him, but also General Meridius.

He nodded, then left.

Six months later he returned, stating that if he was going to make sure another President didn’t die on his watch he needed to be Turned.  He gave Abraham a pointed look and said.  “Well Mr. President I suggest you make sure no one suffers your fate.”

Sylum Inspiration: Larry Daley

Medjai: Member

 

Larry grew up in a working class neighborhood in New York.  He had always wanted to be a professional hockey player, but it never went anywhere past college.  He at first got a degree in business, and started working on Wall Street.

He realized quickly he couldn’t stand the typical 9-5 job.  So he quit to go back to school … this didn’t sit well with with his wife, who wanted more stability.

They ended up divorced and she had custody of their son, Nick.  To make sure not to lose his part-time custody, Larry decided to take a job as a nightwatchman at the National History Museum.  From that he learned to love history, and switched his degree to consider going into teaching.

He became friends with the head night guard, who was set to retire Cecil Fredericks.

It was the perfect job, that let him see his son and get his degree.

Everything changed when it was robbed and he learned about Vampires.

Sylum Inspiration: Callum Lynch

Camelot: Hunter

 

(To keep with this month’s theme, introducing some of the new Male Characters)

 

Callum was raised with his twin brother Aguilar at Masyaf.

They’re parents were Assassins, the little they knew of them, was that their father, Sebastiano was from Spain and their mother, Brigit, who was from Ireland.  Their father was trained at Masyaf, who on a mission, fell in love with Brigit, brought her back and trained her.  The two had been killed during the Spanish Inquisition, a year after the boys had been born.  They ended up raised by the Assassin Order, and trained to follow in their parents footsteps.

When they set out on their own missions, Callum went to Ireland, while Aguilar went to Spain.

Callum kept a low profile, finding an a small farm owned by the Lynch family, they took him in, and became the son they never had.  When they died he took over the farm, and used it as a hiding place and information stop.

During one of his own missions, he heard about Il Duce and the vendetta he seemed to be on. He made sure to casually meet him in the pub, only to discover his own mission.

The two became friends, and in time Callum knew the next step was to be Turned.

Il Duce gave him a new life.

Sylum Inspiration: Roland Deschain

Oceania: Hunter

***

For this year we’re doing specific themes for each month.  January is introduction of new male characters we’ve recently added to the wiki.

***

Roland was born into slavery, on a plantation in South Carolina.  When the war broke out between the states, his father took the advantage and fled with him and his mother.  He found himself out west, moving from town to town.  His mother had taught him how to read, and his father taught him how to survive.

He learned quickly to use a gun, became known for his natural skills.

And when a posse came for him, he ran.

Roland ended up in Australia, if you ask him how, he really couldn’t tell you.  He used his skills to help those he could, and in time found himself protecting the aborigines and those who were being pushed out of their lands by wealthy men with power.

He kept to his father’s code:

I do not aim with my hand;
He who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.
I aim with my eye.


I do not shoot with my hand;
He who shoots with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.
I shoot with my mind.


I do not kill with my gun;
He who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father.
I kill with my heart.

It was Jake who finally caught up with him, along with Dundee and Quigley.  They sat him down to explain about Vampires.  He was intrigued by the way they lived their lives, and protection they gave.

So he agreed to be Turned.

Sylum Inspiration: New Characters – James/Mason

Oceania: Member

James Conrad is from Westminster area of London. He attended school and then like his father, joined the military. James does not talk about the regiment he was assigned to that brought him to Australia or how his enlistment ended. Just that he parted their company and says, “it was best for all I leave.”

After separating from the British infantry James easily blended in with the growing British and American population moving north across Australia where he was often hired by families as security. During his travels he learned about each of the local tribes –from their language and interactions with other tribes to the animals and plants in their area. He tried to keep the peace between the ever growing settler population and the shrinking aboriginal populations as he traveled.

He found that reading his environment and tracking came naturally to him. And he was often called upon to find people who found themselves separated from their settler caravans.

He’s somewhere in Queensland at a bar when he has first meets Michael Dundee. He’d just dropped off a group of settlers and Dundee is there at the bar next to him. They share a drink and then Dundee is gone. James thought him an interesting fellow. James stays in the area for several months returning people who get lost and learning from the natives.

He doesn’t meet Dundee again until 1862 when they have both somehow become part of the Queensland Relief Expedition who is searching for the missing Burke Willis Expedition. Shortly after arriving in Melbourne James takes ill and Dundee offers to Turn him.

James accepts.

***

Mason Anne Weaver was named after her grandfather. And since her first roll call most people think she’s going to be a boy. Now she mostly uses that to her advantage. She grew-up in suburbs of Chicago during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Her fascination with photography began in her teens when she borrowed her father’s old Leica III camera. She began taking photos of the her neighborhood, kids riding bicycles, local pets and the animals at the zoo, the “L” train, and the city. She entered several of her photos in local contest and even managed to win a few.

In 1963, her future prospects, according to her mother, were to find a husband or go to college to find a husband. She opted for college but omitted the plans to find a husband. She decided that her hobby was a good start for a degree in either photography or journalism and pursued it along with a degree English. She began working for the college paper and in her senior year earned a spot to travel to New York City to hear Martin Luther King speak at Riverside Church.

After listening to the “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” speech Mason began taking photos at Civil Rights gatherings; as well as the protests in D.C. A few of her photos appeared in newspapers and magazines.

By 1970 she found herself in Vietnam as an investigative photojournalist or, as some would call her depending on what was on the other side of her lens, an “anti-war” photographer. She believes the pictures speak for themselves and she she tried to stay out of the politics of it all.

She was embedded with the MAC V-SOG (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group). And, by the end of the war in 1973 Mason had one of her photos on the cover of Time magazine.

Her last excursion before leaving Vietnam was to take one more trip into the jungle following a former SAS Captain who was reportedly looking for a down helicopter and it’s pilot. The little adventure was more harrowing than being embedded with the MAC V-SOG. After all, she had been right, there was something very suspicious about the story of the downed craft and the pilot. There were chases, gunfire, vampires, dying, and James.

By the end only four people walked out of the jungle. No one talks about it.

Oceania: Member