Sidney Barnes

Chief of Espionage
Nosferatu antitribu
Chief of the Shield of Skulls

Description


~Oh, dear God, what is that thing?! Sidney usually wears a long, flowing brown robe, frayed and weatherworn. This long garment conceals its horrid corpse from immediate notice. Gender is indeterminable. A cowl covers its face, shadowing monstrous features from sight. However, the stench of festering meat, putrid fluids, and raw sewage is truly foul, and emanates from Sidney regardless of what the creature wears. Should it sweep the hood of the robe back, women would scream, children would hide, and men would balk. The creature lacks any hair and the pale skin peels and rots. Here and there, little lumps -- huge, fattened leeches? -- clutch and pulsate to the creature's scalp and face. And in some places tiny holes have been bored and like ant hills, the bits of rotted flesh piled up in tiny mounds on Sidney's scalp. Worse, critters occasionally crawl out of one of those holes and vanish down the nape of the robe, perhaps to burrow elsewhere in Sidney's lean, sexless body. Sometimes they crawl into Sidney's mouth instead; and why not, it's constantly agape in a silent, inhuman shriek. Most of the teeth in that dark, foul orifice are rotted, broken, missing -- save the canines, which are unusually sharp though not unnaturally long. Sunken, yellow eyes compliment that horrifying expression with a boggling, wide-eyed stare that gazes off a thousand miles. For some, vampirism means bringing horror and terror back to the night. For others, that horror is just eternal and complete.~

OOC: Appearance 0; Monstrous, Notoriety, Parasitic Infestation, Stench

"The Jyhad is a battle to win, not claim honor. Only fools fight unwise battles of honor. Follow me if you want to win and live like vampires, not lose and die like dogs!"

History


Mortality

Was it 1815 or 1816? Sidney stopped remembering decades ago. But she recalled she was born a simple farm girl in Ohio at the time. The British were whipped…again. But she lost a brother she never met in the conflict. She was an only child: her parents were too old to have any more children, and the rest were married and lived on other parts of the farm with their own plots. Sidney blamed her parents for the loneliness she felt. The only respite she ever got was when she visited the farm animals. A strange girl, people said, she would never get married.

But Sidney did get married in her late teens, just to escape the Barnes farm life. Her husband, Jason Staynor, was another farmer -- almost everyone in Ohio was a farmer back then. She didn't mind. She didn't really love Jason, but she didn't dislike him either. And she did love the four children she bore for him over the decade of their marriage. That marriage ended, however, and not because of unhappiness. (Divorce was unheard of anyway.) Vampires descended on the Staynor farm. A nomadic pack of Sabbat revolutionaries came seeking easy prey and they found it. Sidney was forced to watch in horror as the monsters massacred her husband and her children. They drained them of their blood and laughed in Sidney's screaming face. And just to be especially cruel, they had the Nosferatu antitribu in their pack, Matilda Hardt, Embrace poor Sidney. The ugly hag cackled as she drained Sidney of her blood, and then replaced it with the beast's foul humours. The Change was agonizing and she didn't stop screaming once.

The Change

Perhaps that was why Sidney's torn, ruined features included her mouth from failing to close, as if her jaws and mind were forever unhinged. Her fangs had plenty of space to grow in with that gaping maw, and did so to great lengths. Everyone besides her sire and the Tzimisce in that pack was quite disturbed by the new vampire's appearance; the Fiend was intrigued and Matilda was quite pleased with her work. Sidney was promptly buried in a mass grave, the drained corpses of her husband and children piled atop her. Shrieking and frenzying, Sidney clawed her way out of the earth, covered in her offspring's gore. What did she do to deserve Hell?!?!

The pack, known as the Heartland Hardies, dragged Sidney off on their midwestern circuit. She learned all the ways of the undead, and the Sabbat, from Matilda. She was introduced to new belief systems and philosophies, but rejected them all. Of course, she claimed to adopt the Noddism the Fiend suggested. Sidney found it close enough to her biblical, Christian beliefs -- but she still rejected the near-worship of Caine, the murderer. Indeed, she rejected her entire new life. But she was terrified of the monsters that adopted her. She was frightened that they would fulfill their threat if she disobeyed and diablerize her -- destroying her body and soul both. This fear became her raison d'etre. Not even the Vinculum bonds formed from Vaulderie ceremonies changed this fact. Sidney never loved anyone -- her fear-bound hatred, her cowardice always kept her in line. And that was enough for the Sabbat anyway.

The 19th Century

For decades more, Sidney remained a part of the Heartland Hardies. Members came and go, were Embraced and destroyed, but she stayed "alive". Her cowardice kept her to the shadows and background, acting as a scout and little more. With little interest in the pack's physical activities, she took to book reading in her spare time. Otherwise, she helped the pack explore new territories. And their nomadic status helped keep them out of the problems of the Sabbat's Civil War. Of course, they often ran afoul of Lupines instead. Thank goodness Sidney's inherent powers kept her unnoticed during what were usually slaughters of her packmates. Even Matilda, bold and sadistic Matilda, was in over her head in a conflict against the "Wendigo" cannibals in the Montana Territory. Sidney didn't weep for her sire, or any vampires that fell, Camarilla or Sabbat. Ever. They all deserved to die as horribly as she saw Matilda die -- frozen to the bone, encased in a column of burning ice, then shattered like glass by one of the werewolf's great clubs. No. More horrible than that, even.

By 1915, the Heartland Hardies were all but gone. Sidney and a few others were all that survived the constant run-ins with Lupines. And the country was not to her liking anymore. The pack split up. She retreated back east, and ended up in Detroit. At the time, the city was Camarilla-controlled. But she retreated to the sewers where Nosferatu were all "equal" in each other's eyes. They asked fewer questions of each other. She retreated into a corner and hid from the night, from the world. Sidney emerged only to hunt for food -- and she had no grievance against eating rats -- and to steal a new book or two from the town's citizenry.

Animal Kingdom

And it almost seemed like Sidney could have left the Sabbat behind. But then Nosferatu began to come to her, inquiring her allegiance. Despite her best efforts, she could not lie to them. Fortunately, those that asked were not Camarilla. They were Nosferatu antitribu like she. Still, their discovery of her origins worried her to death. She found a new corner of the sewers, began to set up traps around her new haven, and altered her nightly routines. It took awhile before these other Sabbat Nosferatu could find her again. But they didn't try to destroy her. On the contrary, they were impressed by her unusual degree of ugliness and her ingenious (or just desperate) methods of "sewer maintenance". This group of vampires appointed her their Queen! In other words, she was in charge of the local Nosferatu antitribu Kingdom.

Although shocked, Sidney took this advantage of "control" to better maintain her independence. She issued duties to her subordinates, first having them drive off or subvert all Camarilla Nosferatu. To her pleasure, most joined her side. Her fear worked as an asset, too. The few challengers to her power found themselves outwitted by her desperate cunning. Over the years, even as Detroit boomed and global wars waged, Sidney stayed below ground. She sank into a mire of filth, the putrescence of the sewer world becoming part of her flesh. Her voice grew more hoarse with the decades of grime building up inside her body as well as outside. No one could even tell if Sidney was a man or woman. She didn't care anymore. Survival was all that mattered to her.

Motor City

So when orders from the Black Hand itself began to filter in, she obeyed once more out of fear. The Detroit Kingdom of Nosferatu antitribu were to sink their talons into the city machine from below and prepare the way for a Sabbat invasion in the future. Sidney saw to it that they did so. She emerged occasionally from the sewers, spying on Camarilla vampires, but mostly commandeered the secrets her underlings discovered to add to her reports to the Hand. And even as she grew more disgusting, a true representative of her warren, Sidney honed her mind and cunning skills until no Critter could successfully challenge her power.

Finally, 1978 heralded the opportunity for which the Sabbat was long waiting. The sect's Civil War was over and they were conquering city after city. With Detroit's economy in tumult and the Camarilla's grip on the city loosened, the Sabbat made their move. Sidney's Nosferatu Kingdom was to spearhead the campaign. Black Hand agents moved in with them to claim the city and slay many of the Camarilla pawns. But Sidney herself refused to fight. She sent forth her underlings, but stayed behind in her haven as the Jyhad raged. Wasn't the intelligence she gathered on Camarilla identities and positions helpful enough?

Apparently not in the Black Hand Dominion's opinion. The Hand's agents stormed her haven, avoiding (most of) her traps. She was captured and dragged before the Dominion, who sentenced her to bless the city's new Sabbat Temple by becoming one of its pillars. She was solidified in cement, and then buried under the abandoned church. Sidney soon slipped into torpor…and hoped it would be better than what she had to deal with for the past century or so. It wasn't better. It was nightmarish. Terrible dreams of her mortal life, of her family's slaughter, taunted her nightly. Almost twenty years later, the sect finally dug her up and released her from her prison, feeding her blood and stirring her to wakefulness. The Archbishop of Detroit laid a new punishment on the Critter, claiming that her blood was too foul (and curiously, it was) for brave Sabbat members to taste. But Sidney would still have to drink their blood in the Vaulderie ceremonies. Soon Vinculums were formed to the Detroit diocese, although no one shared the bonds with Sidney -- and many, even fledglings -- heaped insult upon her for the coward she was.

Centropolis

But Sidney didn't care. She retreated to the sewers once more, emerging when called, obedient to the leaders' whims. And once more it was out of fear and horror, an apathetic terror, which commanded Sidney more than any other feeling. That was always enough for the monstrous Sabbat, however. Her elder powers were put to the sect's use once more, and she scouted the city above and below ground for signs of enemies. The Cardinal found another use for Sidney in 2004, though. She was sent south to the midwestern territories, which were mostly Camarilla-controlled and barely contested. She would aid the Jyhad directly to make up for her cowardice in the past.

Thus, Sidney was dispatched to Centropolis, Missouri. As in Detroit, no Sabbat would be made to drink her foul and cowardly vitae, though she would have to drink theirs in proper Vaulderie. And all the while, Sidney wished for the nightmares to go away. If only she weren't so terrified of her own shadow, this Nosferatu antitribu could probably become a powerful asset to the Sabbat…or the Camarilla, if she were to defect. And the more mistreatment and monstrous mismanagement heaped upon this ancilla's unlife, the more likely she would be to turn to other patrons. All she wanted was to be left alone forever.

Pack (Shield of Skulls)


Sidney acts as leader of the pack, the Shield of Skulls. This pack specializes in management of the diocese's various resources, and its ruling membership offers it a measure of prestige above the other packs. The Temple Priestess, Lanesse Fil, also acts as pack priestess. Suzette Exauria, Vincent Tyrel, and Calin Martinek are merely rank-and-file in the pack. Together they all oversee the sharing of communal havens, handle the sect's limited influence in mortal society, and keep an eye on the diocese's growing territory. Ignoblis ritae include rites like the "Beastmatch", "Brother's Keeper", "Offspring", "Nod to Noddism", "Offspring", "True Sabbat's Memory", and of course Vaulderie.

Weakness
Punk-Ass Critter!


Sidney has no problem with "running away to live and run away another day". This does not endear her to the sect. Indeed, it is only by Sidney's definitive information-gathering skills and developed powers (thanks to a couple centuries of survival) gladly put to good use for the sect that his elders have not slain him for cowardice.

Likelihood of Corruption


Very high.

That is, as corrupted more as Sidney can get, being Sabbat and all.

Links

Character Stats

Character Profiles

Centropolis by Night

E-mail me!

Main Character Hub

Back to Game Hub