The O’Donnells (Lancea Sanctum/Ventrue) “The Irish, The Green”
Patrick “Gran-pappy” O’Donnell was born sometime in the 1820’s in the county of Galway, Ireland. According to the family legend he was a shoemaker who inherited his little store from his father. Chances are high he would’ve lived his life like many other Irishmen at the time, oppressed by the British boot and starved in the famine to be nothing more. But fate had something different in store for Patrick and in the mid 1870’s he was embraced and born again. Facing the option of abandoning his family and kin to live in the shadows like other kindred before him or to stay loyal to his blood and lead it he chose the latter. Legend would have it that he slew whoever embraced him but the details are rather fuzzy. In either way he left Ireland soon after his embrace, along with his wife, his children and their grandchildren to come. The oldest son and his wife were informed of his condition and how things were going to change from now on. Once arriving on the east-coast the trail of the family set to the west, travelling across the Great Plains until they reached a newly founded city, Portland. Patrick claims he chose it because something about it reminded him of home while others whispered that he was running from something.
Either way it did not take long before Patrick embraced his oldest son and ghouled one of his daughters. The O’Donnell family was here to stay.
As the new century came creeping the O’Donnell family were prominent in the Portland community, with several county treasurers, church leaders, city councillor, advisors, district attorneys and so on and so forth hailing from their family. Human, the lot of them, of course, but always under the advice from their elders indirectly or directly, depending on how high their status was in the family.
Their golden age was during the years up until the prohibition where they took a serious blow in their conflict with the Qíang who recovered from the 1886 incident and now controlled the booze inflow and managed to push the O’Donnells away from the underground areas where the Qíang hid. Portland went from known as a sober frontier city to being known as one of the most dangerous port cities in the world, well up there with Shanghai. This reputation was hard to shake off and well and even when booze became legal again the crime gangs were there to stay. The O’Donnells found themselves in a constant battle until things cooled down by the 1960’s. The war with the Chinese had been culled, considered a draw by most, but not for long a new threat rose instead to the power, the witches.
As if the Chinese hadn’t been bad enough, these hippies talked about minority rights, gay rights, environmental issues, social “progression” and a break-down of power-structures that has tied society together for as long as anyone can remember. What had been an age long feud against the Qíang was put aside as the O’Donnells found their new undead enemy. A true rivalry grew in between the two organisations, although often The Circle of the Crone was the ones finding themselves on the run with the occasional challenge here and there.
Slowly the undead society cemented with various spheres of interest for the three families as they were now known, with the Qíang claiming ground in some corporations and city politics, often challenged by the O’Donnell alternative and standing on the side-line were the Circle who did not care as much for the long-term thinking of party politics but rather relied on the explosive powers of riots and protests, such as the little Beirut incident in the 1990’s.
What do they do these days?
While now as powerful as they were in ages past they are still a power to be dealt with many contacts in the church, amongst politicians and in different business corporations. As the decline of the traditionally religious has come to Portland the O’Donnells find that they must rely on other ways to gain influence in human society and as such the Irish mob is still strongly present in the O’Donnell home.
As for their leadership, Patrick is still alive and kicking, but since a few years back his mind has started degrading. There are whispers of a performed diablerie which has eaten at his mental health and that he nowadays goes from paranoid isolation to bursts of wrath. If this information is true it cannot be long until the other families move on them…
Who are they?
The O’Donnells consist primarily of direct descendants of Patrick O’Donnell. The extended family has some 100-120 humans or so living in the vicinity of Portland. They recruit mainly from this pool of people, more often than not turning them into ghouls for a couple of years before raising them to join the ranks of the kindred. Most O’Donnells, even humans, know who “Gran’pappy” is because of the large portrait of the stern man that hangs in the family mansion, known as the founder of the O’Donnell fortune. The story of the poor shoemaker who travelled to America and made it big is well known even by the smallest ones. Most would not guess that he rests in the basement of the family mansion and sits there during Christmas, St: Patrick and other festivities and plans with the other elders of what is going to happen next.
The organisation is tight and members meet up quite often, at the same time as the humans, during holidays and festivities. Additionally, the large family mansion is a common place to hang out on and update yourself with what is going on in the clan and the city. Ghouls are also available in the family mansion as they rarely work for a specific vampire but rather for the family as a whole.
With that said, the family does allow outsiders. It has happened before that the O’Donnells have taken in people of other ethnicities and even other clans to join their ranks, in particular those of Daeva blood, as long as they have shown themselves useful enough to the family. It’s hard though to become highly ranked in the family unless your last name is O’Donnell since birth.
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The Qíang (Invictus/ Mekhet and Nosferatu) “The Chinese, The Asians”
The Qíang were originally founded by a Han-Chinese immigrant, a man called Daniu Zhang with a simple background from a farmer family in Eastern China and later on a prospector in the 1850’s in California. His embrace is believed to have been done in America where the Mekhet claimed him as one of them. By the 1870’s he moved with a coterie friend, the Nosferatu Meifen, to Portland and established themselves as figureheads of the growing Chinese community there and in particular The Underground. They soon enough found themselves challenged not only by vampires, but by humans in the form of the Anti-Coolie-Act. Attacked on many fronts with the culminating riots of 1886, the Qíang looked like they were dealt with but this was not the case. The Chinese that stayed were protected fiercely by their vampire elders who also expanded their operations in the shadows of the underground, aiding in human trafficking, establishing opium dens and controlling the growing illegal operations.
By the turn of the century the Qíang had bounced back on their feet and stood strong from their home in Old-town (later China-town). What followed was an age of corruption and criminality which lasted all the way up until the early sixties when the Irish and the Chinese finally found peace in between each other. The O’Donnells found a greater spiritual foe and The Qíang were left to their own devices, doing what Invictus does best; rule from the darkness. From below the earth the Nosferatu stalked the sewers and above ground the Mekhet sat in the shadowy corners of any business hall and helped seal the deals that would strengthen themselves… and ruin it for others.
The old underground tunnels were where they found the greatest trouble, finding themselves losing ground as they were unwilling to commit to a full-scale war. Some would claim that the old heads of the Qíang had become so comfortable with living above ground that they didn’t even in particular care when the independents claimed more and more of the old “Shanghai”-tunnels. The Nosferatu wing of the family, the descendants of Meifen, is naturally upset but unless they can convince the Mekhets to act they might find their ancestral home completely lost to the newcomers.
What do they do these days?
Possibly the most powerful of the three families they operate largely out of Chinatown but aren’t the least bit shy to reach further than that, whenever given the chance. Indirect influence in corporations, amongst politicians and especially in restaurant and pub-businesses is very common. Although they have left most of their criminal operations behind them there are still a handful of humans willing to deliver painful violence upon any enemies of their organisation.
The leadership (and group as a whole) is somewhat split for various reasons. Daniu and Meifen rarely meet up and talk in person, as they used to, being on ends with each other on how to deal with the various problems in the city. Daniu is a proponent of a live-and-let-live strategy while Meifen prefers to strike out with brutal violence against anyone who threatens their power. Additionally the Qíang has since the fifties recruited non-Chinese to their group, mainly other east-Asians such as Thai, Taiwanese and Korean vampires and ghouls, which creates a few culture clashes that they did not have to deal with in the past.
Who are they?
The Mekhet and Nosferatu of the Qíang are stricter on human ethnicity than they are on clan- or covenant-affiliation when they recruit new members. For instance, it’s very possible for a part-Korean Gangrel Ordo dracul to become a member of the Qíang while it’s nearly unthinkable for a white Mekhet Invictus to be accepted as a worthy member. With that said, they do hire the services of non-east-Asians from time and some have even joined on a longer basis if they have very particular skills, but it’s common for them to be considered second class members. They in particular look for Ordo Dracul members to fill their ranks, enjoying the knowledge even from someone who is not from the right ethnicity.
Many members of the organisation do not meet each other very often, but are rather expected to run their own business while paying off a higher ranking member in a feudal system that goes all the way up the top. The most commonly exchanged goods are blood, hunting rights, information, protection and favours, just as you’d expect from an Invictus organisation.
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The Mother’s Army (Circle of the Crone/Gangrel) (The witches, The circle)
The other kindred of Portland may think that the Circle came to Portland with the hippie wave, but they couldn’t be more wrong. Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. The first time the Circle came in numbers to Portland was shortly after the Rogue River Wars, when several witches of the Chinook Native American tribes were forced to flee from their territories in the 1850’s. The most prominent of them was Elvamox who led her few survivors to live in the outskirts of Portland, in hiding. They gathered human followers for their ancient pagan rites and didn’t even identify as members of the Circle of the crone until they finally revealed themselves. They were simply survivors and nothing more. Whenever they needed blood, they moved in silence and picked off travellers and tourists. Whenever they needed a haven they hid in the outskirts of the city or simply dug themselves underground. It’s, of course, easier to hide if no one is expecting you to be out there, and the O’Donnells and the Qíang were too busy at each other’s throats to know what was lurking out there in the dark.
When the hippie waves of the sixties and seventies hit Portland they brought up not only environmental and gay rights but also the rights of minority groups, in particular the Native Americans from which the Circle of the Crone rose. At first the Circle could be considered just another independent group on the fringe of Portland kindred society but they quickly grew too strong to be ignored or simply brushed aside. They challenged not only for good hunting grounds inside the city but also for power in both kindred and mundane world. When the old families snickered at their feeble attempts they found that they grew out of hand and when they tried to react with claw and teeth they found themselves beaten back with a ferocity that they hadn’t experienced since the turn of the last century.
It all peaked during the Little Beirut incident when The Mother’s Army once more rose with their chin high. When challenged they bite back and their rivals have soon learned that it is better to negotiate than to headstrong challenge the witches as they are willing not only to shed the blood of their enemies but also their own if they believe it will bring them victory or gains in the end.
What do they do these days?
While the crones do not control large corporations or whisper into the ears of the politicians they still hold some power in human society, in particular the unofficial power. Several activist groups, which can be very efficient when trying to put pressure onto something in the human world, are directly or indirectly controlled by the members of the Circle. Some of them because they genuinely believe in what the people of these organisations propose while others simply because it offers a safe area for hunting. More important than the specific message of any group is the overlaying tone sent to the world: change is happening no matter if you will it or not. For the Circle, after all, there is only evolution or destruction and they are done hiding.
The Mother’s Army are probably the least organized of the major players of Portland, finding that you are encouraged to do your own thing for the most part, even forming your own little human cult to whatever ancient deity or power you chose to worship. With that said, they do meet up every so often, discuss guide-lines and where to go from there… And the crones are generally fiercely loyal to each other once threatened from the outside, no matter past grudges that might be seething within the group. And it is especially important to do so now considering how Elvamox is seen less and less often amongst the kindred and some start to believe that she has grown tired of it all and simply intends to leave… Or is she just trying to hint at weakness, inviting possible rivals to make a move so that she can root them out?
Who are they?
While the founders may have been Gangrel, The Mother’s Army accept any kindred from any walk of life as long as they swear allegiance to the Circle of the Crone. Native Americans, whites, blacks, Hispanics, mixed races and more are present in their numbers and they see no issues with it. The same goes for Mekhet, Daeva, Nosferatu and Ventrue who are all welcome to fill their ranks which in turn makes this group the most diverse, aside from the independents that is.
