Frederick de Gorizia

Frederick de Gorizia

Pronouns	He/Him
Clan	Ventrue
Sect	Camarilla
Social Class	Master Elder
Morality	Humanity
Lineage	House of the Griffon
Position(s)	Prince of Pittsburgh

Further Information

Description

Frederick de Gorizia appears to be a white man in his late 30s. He is just below average height for men based on modern standards. He is slightly heavyset. His left leg is unusually stiff, leaving him with a limp for which he uses a walking stick. He typically wears "timeless" fashions that allow him to blend in with mortal society without actually keeping up with the latest fashion trends. He is typically seen wearing clothing of black, burgundy, and gold with gold and ruby jewelry. Since moving to the New World in 1812 he has hidden his face behind a golden masquerade mask.

Timeline

• 1266: Born to Meinhard II, Count of Gorizia and Elisabeth of Wittelsbach on June 10th.
• 1300: Sent to serve Grifo Leon Pippen Martel.
• 1303: Ghouled by Grifo Martel.
• 1307: Embraced by Grifo Martel on September 17th.
• 1330: Released from the Accounting. Acknowledged by his grandsire, Julia Antasia, Prince of Frankfurt.
• 1300s-1500s: Led battles against inquisitors throughout the Burning Times and anarchs throughout the Anarch Revolt.
• 1392: Embraced Liutward Villicus in Dresden.
• 1458: Embraced Regnault Dannoy in Lyon.
• 1460: Embraced the English Mercenary Gerald Houndstooth in Lyon. After finding the young childe too unruly, he sends him to Prentice Clarke to help train him. Gerald would later be destroyed in the waning months of the Anarch Revolt (July 1493).
• 1493: Present at Thorns as attaché to his sire Grifo Martel.
• 1513: Embraced his ghoul, Maxwell Berk.
• 1703-1747: London’s Ventrue Primogen
• 1812: Led a group of Camarilla kindred to the New World for the purpose of doing battle with the Sabbat and claiming domain over North American cities.
• 1816: Succeeded in driving the Sabbat out of the municipality of Pittsburgh. Claimed praxis and influenced the mortal government to declare Pittsburgh a city. His left leg was bonecrafted during the final battle, leaving Frederick with a limp.
• 1845: Great Fire of Pittsburgh.
• 2011: Attended the Conclave of Prague
• 2018: Attended the Toreador Grand Ball, participating in and presenting a topic at the debates.

Bio

Frederick was born in the city of Gorizia to the House of Gorizia on the 10th of June in the year of our Lord 1266. Frederick was the third born, and second son, of Meinhard II, Count of Gorizia and Elisabeth of Wittelsbach. Frederick’s parents were retainers to the Ventrue lord Grifo Leon Pippen Martel. In exchange for their lord’s favor, Meinhard and Elisabeth swore the life of their second-born son to the vampire. Frederick was raised with the same love, care, and education as his siblings, but was intentionally left off the genealogies. His education focused on the knowledge needed by stewards such as etiquette, finances, and politics as well as the education of a military general with a heavy focus on military strategies and tactics. Frederick found a great deal of fun throughout his life playing games of strategy such as chess or stones as well as training in swordplay.

Frederick continued this education into his 30s, even serving for a time as his father’s steward and leading his father’s bannermen into battle on a few occasions that they were called upon. However, in 1300 Grifo Martel called upon his retainers to send their son to serve him as agreed upon. Frederick quickly made himself invaluable both as a steward running Grifo’s manor and as a keen mind offering military advice. In 1303 Frederick’s service was rewarded when he was made a ghoul, taking over the running of part of Grifo’s business interests and being placed in charge of the household guard. Again Frederick proved to be an indispensable asset, leading Grifo to seek permission to embrace Frederick. On the 17th night of September in the year of our Lord 1307 Frederick de Gorizia’s heart ceased beating. Frederick was now a member of clan Ventrue.

Grifo spent a great deal of time ensuring that Frederick truly understood the ins and outs of what it means to be a vampire and how to survive the nights that had become quite dangerous with the rise of hunters. Frederick was under the Accounting for nearly 23 years during which time Grifo, Frederick’s grandsire Julia, Grifo’s other childer, and other trusted kindred took part in teaching Frederick the history and reality of what it means to be a vampire and more specifically a Ventrue. Frederick especially felt a kinship to his grandsire Julia who would often chastise Frederick for butchering her native Latin tongue, to the point that Frederick’s Latin even going into the modern nights is now far more Roman than is typical for one born so far removed from the fall of the Western Roman Empire. During this time Frederick also spent a great deal of time listening to Julia’s stories of the hated Brujah and learning of that clan’s history and treachery.

Finally, in 1330 Frederick was released from the Accounting and Acknowledged by Julia Antasia, Prince of Frankfurt. Frederick then spent most of the rest of that century and the next acting as a tactical leader in many cities, especially across the Holy Roman Empire and France, discussing with other vampiric tacticians how best to beat back the threat of hunters and how best to avoid their attention going forward. When some young vampires began to rebel against their elders and form the start of the Anarch Revolt Frederick again continued to use his tactical acumen to help protect domains allied to his sire and grandsire. During this time Frederick met many other tactically and military-minded kindred that he would count as allies, and in some rare cases friends, for centuries to come.

In 1493 many kindred were invited to a gathering at the Abbey of the Sacred Crown near the village of Thorns in England. Frederick went along with Grifo as Grifo’s attaché and was enraptured by the enlightened debates of the various kindred around him. Frederick’s experiences battling the hunters and Anarchs already had him of the same mind as those kindred of the Camarilla, but these conversations lit a fire within him. By the time the Convention of Thorns had ended, Frederick found himself a fanatical supporter of the Ivory Tower, the Traditions, and all the ideals its members espoused.

After the Convention of Thorns Frederick felt the need to strike out on his own for a time and develop new relationships with other kindred of the nascent Camarilla. To this end, he relocated to London and began developing relationships with the Kindred of England. While London was the location of his haven, he nonetheless continued to serve as a tactical leader to Camarilla cities throughout Europe that found themselves embroiled in conflicts with those Anarchs that did not submit to the Treaty of the Convention of Thorns and especially those of the newly formed Sabbat. These were trying times while the Sabbat broke the Masquerade left and right and the Inquisitors and other hunters remained hot on the trail of any potential vampires. Eventually, as the light of the Ivory Tower spread to more domains and more kindred began to follow the Traditions the threat of the hunters lessened. The Sabbat however continued its war on the Camarilla throughout Europe and even made its way to the colonies of the New World.

While fighting the various threats to his existence, Frederick embraced a pair of young nobles that showed tactical brilliance and whom he was told showed skill upon the field of battle. In Dresden, in 1392, Frederick embraced Liutward Villicus. Then in Lyon in 1458 Frederick embraced Regnault Dannoy. Sadly, while fighting against the Sabbat in Toledo in 1520, Frederick had brought along his childe Regnault, who met his final death in the battle.

Throughout his long nights, Frederick always remained on the lookout for useful retainers to carry out his business, and particularly skilled ones were occasionally given the gift of becoming Frederick’s ghoul. So it was that a young Englishman named Maxwell Berk came to Frederick’s attention. Maxwell turned out to have a brilliant mind and was quite skilled at gathering and recalling esoteric and hidden secrets about various occult topics. Frederick found Maxwell to be quite useful and chose to reward his aid with the Embrace in the year 1513.

While Frederick continued traveling to many Camarilla cities to aid in their defense against the Sabbat, London remained Frederick’s home for several centuries. Frederick took advantage of London’s position on the world stage to continue studying strategy from the imperial-minded English leaders. He also studied the changing winds of finances as technology changed throughout the centuries, eventually learning to predict those tides of change and how to remain ahead of the economic turns. After making a name for himself among the many prominent Ventrue of London, Frederick eventually rose to the position of Primogen in the early half of the 18th century.

As the 18th century came to a close Frederick decided to travel to the New World to fight the Sabbat that had taken root there. Frederick gathered a number of Camarilla kindred eager to take the fight to the Sabbat, secured safe ocean passage, and made his way to the American seaboard. Using England’s renewed war on the newly founded United States as cover, Frederick landed in Baltimore, Maryland in 1812.

Frederick and his group of Sabbat hunters began looking for cities where they could make inroads by attacking the Sabbat, decreasing their numbers, and weakening their hold on these domains. While staging these attacks Frederick received a letter from the Prince of a border town in the west of Pennsylvania named Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, currently in the hands of the Camarilla, was under siege by the Sabbat and the Prince, knowing Frederick’s history in defending cities from such attacks, sought his assistance. Frederick was very willing to assist in the defense of Pittsburgh. During the Sabbat’s siege however the Prince was killed, and Frederick believed there were no appropriate kindred of a significant age, might, and bearing to claim the city’s praxis, so he claimed it himself. Frederick successfully drove the Sabbat from Pittsburgh, held on to his claim of praxis, and set about building his influence to build up the city.

Over the coming years Frederick set about creating influence in several aspects of the city’s mortal power players, using his understanding of the whims of the economy to predict how best to make use of the city’s resources. In the city’s earliest years he supported coal barons, emptying the Pittsburgh hills of their coal deposits and making use of the three rivers surrounding the city for easy transportation to other markets. He then influenced the steel barons, again taking advantage of the easy river travel and later influencing the creation of major trainyards in the city. When the steel industry began drying out in the later parts of the twentieth century Frederick realized that technology was the next rising star and set about influencing the venture capitalists to bet on a variety of tech interests. All the while the city grew quickly in population and size, becoming a home to culture, innovation, and for the tastes of kindred less inclined towards the higher class of society, so too did Pittsburgh become a home for disparity and crime. Always with kindred fingers in the pots so that tastes could be satisfied in a safe manner. Meanwhile, Frederick maintained a strict view on the Traditions, and carefully watched over the numbers of kindred he allowed into his city, always being mindful of the risk that comes from overfeeding on the population.

Frederick was always of a traditional and conservative nature. Being raised in a minor noble household and taught the ways of etiquette and stewardship meant that he had a very keen mind towards everything and every one having its proper place. He saw high society as an ideal and viewed the manners and entertainment of the lower classes to be uncouth. This did not change with his Embrace. Frederick generally found far greater joy in socializing with kindred of the more civilized clans and truly believed those clans, especially his own, to be the most worthy of ruling a domain. Further, as a neonate during the Burning Times, the danger posed by mortals was something he quickly came to understand. When Frederick heard the debates made at Thorns he was quickly won over by the arguments for how the Traditions help safeguard the knowledge of the kindred from the mortals and he has believed in a strict interpretation and adherence to them ever since. This was also when Frederick developed an acute intolerance for Anarchs. He truly believes that the Camarilla is the way to protect kindred from outside threats, and while he may tolerate the Independents and Autarkis, he cannot stand those that intentionally and actively turn their backs on the Traditions, which is how he views the Anarch Movement.

He maintained these views throughout his years as an Ancilla fighting the enemies of the Ivory Tower and ingratiating himself to a variety of Camarilla courts across Europe. However, when Frederick found himself in the Americas he learned quickly this was not the civilized lands of the Old World. The “lower” clans had far greater numbers, and he often found himself relying on aid from local Brujah, Gangrel, and Nosferatu.

In 1845 a great inferno engulfed much of what is today downtown Pittsburgh. Thankfully, no Camarilla kindred lost their lives to the flames. With all of the aid offered by the “lower” clans over Frederick’s first few decades in the New World his view on those clans softened and Pittsburgh became a welcoming place for the less civilized clans of the Camarilla. His views on the Camarilla, the Traditions, and the importance of remaining hidden from mortal eyes however never wavered. Frederick was less inclined to travel to other cities to come to their defense, though he still did so on rare occasions, and instead he kept his focus on his responsibilities to his own domain.

After the turn of the millennium Frederick once more turned his eyes to the greater events affecting kindred around the globe. Frederick attended the Conclave of Prague and witnessed the events of that occasion unfold firsthand. He attended the Toreador Grand Ball in Reims and spoke passionately about the importance of the Camarilla, its views, and the Traditions. He also presented a debate on the dangers of technology and how the mortals can use modern technology as a weapon to see through our Masquerade and hunt us down. Within his own domain, a group of hunters did precisely that, using his own Seneschal’s cell phone to ambush several members of the court, resulting in Frederick creating a prohibition on modern technology among the kindred of his domain. Frederick has a fearful and paranoid view of the rumors of the Second Inquisition and attempts to ensure the kindred of Pittsburgh remain off their radar with strict discipline of any vampire who he feels might endanger the Masquerade.

Rumors

• Frederick is rumored to have had a childe that defected to the Sabbat. Possibly a broodmate that defected as well. It is possible that this is what led to Frederick hunting the Sabbat to the New World.
• The Great Fire of Pittsburgh is rumored to have been an attempt on the Prince's life.
• Some believe Frederick to be, or possibly have been in the past, a member of the group known as Teloah de Canilu.
• Frederick exhibits rather extreme hatred towards anyone identifying as an Anarch, possibly dating back to the Anarch Revolt.
• The number of childer Frederick has created over the years is unknown. It is believed that almost all of the kindred he sired perished in combat with hunters, Anarchs, or the Sabbat.
  

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Quotes

• Louis IX , King of France, speaking to his eldest son: “I would rather have a Scot come from Scotland to govern the people of this kingdom well and justly than that you should govern them ill in the sight of all the world.”

• "Vie Victus - Woe to the Conquered. And woe to any who step in Frederick's way. Ruthless on the battlefield as he is in the boardroom. Cross at your own peril." - Grifo

• We have agreed and we have disagreed in the past. However, Prince de Gorizia continues to show that he is a Kindred who understands that the strength of the Tower lies with the strength of its Domains and its Praxis holders. - The Mastiff

• "A stern traditionalist and knowledgeable strategist, he has kept Pittsburgh safe and stable for its citizens and a bastion of Camarilla power. What more can we ask?" - Malcolm Crane

• "In battle, one must feint. One must be willing to turn into a blow, to suffer the hit, and to use it to maneuver to a place of greater advantage. Frederick de Gorizia brings the tactical mastery of a Ventrue Elder to every encounter before him, be it a battlefield, a boardroom, or a ball. Watch him, and you will learn much about the long game." - Beatrix
  

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OOC Information

Player	Steven Shaffer
Pronouns	He/Him
MES #	US2019100129
Domain	PA-020-D
Storyteller	Kevin Tapper