03.2023 | WELCOME BACK! Hello friends old and new! I'm so excited to welcome you all back to SITW! I've made some changes to the plot and added the ability to play supernatural charcaters! So come and check it out! I can't wait to jump back into this little town with all of you!
A strange history surrounds the town, it is a place where mysterious and supernatural things have been known to happen. The reputation of the town reguarly draws in visitors and newcomers alike. While some residents avidly believe in the supernatural, others are far more skeptical. What do you believe?
Species: Vampire Species Appearance: N/A. Occupation: Owner of Aesthete Galeria and Studios Residence: Country Home Age: 918 Birthday: November 13 Height: 5'1 Weight: 110 Hair Color: Purple (natural hair is brown) Eye Color: Hazel Sexual Orientation: pansexual and polyamorous
Notable features: Often wears dark, gothic dresses with corresponding accessories, has dyed purple hair, and has pierced ears. Otherwise she has unblemished features and pale skin.
PERSONALITY
Likes: quality coffee, dark fashion, collecting art, encouraging young artists, blood, expensive wines, beautiful people, orchestral music, independence, Giacomo Dislikes: The British Museum, electro-pop and edm music, being “mansplained to”, plagiarism, people pretending to be informed on topics that they aren’t, being under control of someone else Strengths: has an eye for artistic talent, pretty intelligent, plenty of money, protective of her own, adept at not being involved unless she wants to be Weaknesses: possessiveness, indifference to conflict/politics only until it personally affects her
General personality: Annika is possessive of people and things she considers hers, from Giacomo to art to books, to the various young artists that she has sponsored via scholarships over the decades. But for those she is possessive of, she treats very well. Her possessiveness is second only to her desire for independence and autonomy for herself. But on the other hand, she loves to have her favorites dependent on her. Even if they stray from her side, she knows they will eventually come back and that is the only reason that she is not jealous of Giacomo or the young woman she’d turned before him. In her mind, it is her reward for the life she lived before she was turned.
Publicly, she is a quieter woman with a sharp mind and expensive tastes. She is passionate about her love for the arts and her partner(s). She’s charitable to the arts both locally and nationally, deceptively soft-spoken, and remarkably laid back about the openness of the relationship she has with Giacomo. (She is also very passionate about her distaste for the British Museum and their stolen artifacts.)
HISTORY
Education: Multiple collegiate degrees - As Annika, she has a Bachelor's of Ar History and a Master’s of Art Management. Years in Sweetwater: 5 Family Members: Has sired 2 vampires. One is a woman that is in the wind and was once a trusted companion. The other is currently with her in Sweetwater. As for her human descendants from before she was turned, there are probably quite a few that could be traced back to her human life centuries ago (including violin maker Simon Straub).
General History: Annika (first Ottillie) was born in the early 1100s in a small town in the Black Forest called Rötenbach. Her name was initially Ottillie and she was taught by her mother and her mother's family that there was something that lived in the Black Forest that long before now, they had once served. But it was a Secret that stayed in the family for generations because of the Catholic Church. So she went about her days with her mother, learning what she would need to be a good wife and mother, and secretly going inside the edge of the Black Forest at night with her. She grew older, was married to a man she did not like but had no control over and by the time she was 21, had two living children, and hid bruises beneath her clothes. The church did not help and her mother had passed so her only recourse was the Forest. She was barely 23 when she was turned, having been chased deep into the Forest by her husband after he followed her. She knew the Forest better and deep within the shadows, the demon of the Black Forest from her mother's stories spirited her away. Her husband returned to Rötenbach, claiming a wild animal killed her. In reality, she was turned. Ottillie Straub was reborn.
Under the guidance of her sire Gotfrid deep in the heart of the Black Forest where even the Romans hadn't dared to tread, she learned to read and write. The Allemanic vampire taught her everything that he knew over time and passed on his own opinions on covens. Given that the constant fighting with the Romans was a constant fighting between the Alemanni coven-tribes and the largest Roman coven tribe, Gotfrid had broken away from his coven as they were systematically cut down over time. “Better to rely on oneself” was the most powerful lesson she learned from her sire. Even so, she blossomed under the attention but eventually she left to begin her own travels while Gotfrid remained in the Black Forest.
She passed herself off as Ingina who was a younger daughter of a nobleman, invoking Guest Rights as she traveled and accumulating wealth as she did with a young woman as her companion (the first vampire she had ever sired). She grew to love the arts, donating funds here and there. She flitted north to the modern Netherlands, then France and Spain. Eventually, she followed word of this revival of arts to Italy where she basked in the beauty of the country. She built herself a reputation of a patron of the arts, one who was selective of those she chose.
It was during the Renaissance that she discovered Giacomo Ettore and initially started as his patroness but over time decided that she wanted to keep him for herself. Permanently. She delicately manipulated events here and there until he was in a position to agree and eventually turned the young artist. The only artist that she had ever allowed to paint a portrait of her.
Over the years, they moved across the continent and the Middle East, going from court to court often in variations of a rich noblewoman and her kept artist, whether as her lover or partner or something adjacent. However, unlike other vampires, Annika (then Mistila) never joined a coven. Between her own history with her abusive husband and how Gotfrid then educated her with his own opinions on covens, she avoided them. She made deals and alliances across the continent to maintain their independence while traveling until World War 1.
Even down in Greece they weren’t able to escape the reaches of the coven war spanning the continent, eventually facing Nadine Cartier from the opposing side. Though not a member of any coven, she abided by the alliances that she had made but only after her, Giacomo and her first companion were targeted. With her two progeny being targeted, Annika (then Helene) was vicious in her protection of them and eventually saw the end of the Coven war.
She kept more abreast with the rumors of the European covens even as she slipped down to Egypt next. With the onset of World War 2, Annika stayed out of the conflict until she heard rumors of the Nazi party stealing and hoarding art. As a patroness of the arts herself, she was offended by this and as Nazi Germany fell, she snuck in and stole as many pieces that she could. While pieces were eventually returned anonymously, some pieces were retained and made part of her personal collection that very few have ever seen. In the aftermath, Annika (then Elsbeth) and Giacomo left for Canada and then the United States.
Tired of the constant conflicts of Europe, she was seeking somewhere a bit more peaceful. Eventually, Sweetwater caught her attention. That Nadine was now a coven leader here was not a deterrent, as she had respect for the younger vampire but not enough to join the coven. As she had in Europe, she forged an alliance instead that allowed her and hers to retain their independence. Now named Annika Straub, she set up an art gallery and studio space for her partner.
