Danika "Dani" Astor

Danika Astor"Skill to do comes of doing; knowledge comes by eyes always open, and working hands; and there is no knowledge that is not power."- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Pronouns	She/Her
Clan	Ventrue
Sect	Camarilla
Sect Faction	Ivory Masks
Social Class	Neonate
Morality	Humanity
Lineage	House of the Griffon
Social club	The Garden
Position(s)	Servire to Josian Archon Artemisia Martelo, Primogen Of Clan Ventrue for New York City

Further Information

Description

Reputation Traits:

• Acknowledged
• Triumphant by Prince Nissim Melamed of New York City for killing the Forsaken Dr. Reynaldo of Clan Tremere
• Courteous by Claude De Bourbon, Harpy of New York City
• Loyal by Prince Nissim Melamed of New York City
• Noble (in New York only)
• Enforcer (Josian Servire)

A tall, well muscled and intense transgender woman who appears strangely ageless, with the eyes of an old woman who has seen too much but the face of a modern young woman in her 30's following her recent fleshcrafting and the other events of December 2022 (the picture at the top of her page is her current appearance, the second is her appearance from her Embrace to December 17th, 2022.) Danika “Dani” Astor is a neonate of Clan Ventrue and The House of the Griffon and the childe of Christian Whitechapel of Boston, former Seneschal of London, New York, and Boston and former Prince of Boston. Like her sire, Danika is openly queer, and she does not hide the fact that she is transgender. Her features are sharp and her eyes are probing and somewhat hungry, and her nose is crooked as if broken, healed, and expertly reset several times over the decades. She tends to dress in practical but smart black business-wear or tactical-chic gear in the field, but has foregone her previous colorful accents and eclectic accessories for mourning black. She always wears two necklaces following February 2022: a simple black choker with a silver crescent moon, and below it a small silver necklace with queen chess piece and a phrase inscribed on the back.

When on assignment, Dani wears a leather tactical harness and back-sheath which contains an unadorned but expertly cared for silver and black two-handed sword, which she has dubbed "Hatred." She also once carried a fox-headed cane with a sharpened point in her role as Defender of Elysium in December 2022, but has not been seen wielding it again following the events of that night.

Timeline

• 1946: Born in Yonkers, New York to middle class Irish-American parents. Her father claims that their lineage stretches back to the O’Kelly kings of the Irish petty kingdom of Brega, but Dani privately doubts these claims.

• 1961: At age 15, Dani visits her spinster aunt in Greenwich Village during the summer, working at a cafe by day and attending beatnik poetry readings and sneaking into dive bars at night. Her aunt all but encourages Dani’s evening adventures and first experiments with more “flamboyant” fashion, particularly after seeing the way Dani could handle herself when accosted for it.

• 1961-1975: Vietnam War

• 1964: Dani attends NYU on a scholarship, but drops out after one semester and begins working as a barback and doorman at several semi-clandestine gay bars, making a name for herself as a young, femme, bisexual man who can handle herself in a fight, especially when motivated by profit. She begins going by “Dani Astor,” abandoning her family name so that her parents can’t find her. She is still somewhat shocked when they don’t even try. Dani takes to carrying a walking stick when leaving for her shifts and grows proficient at defending herself and her community with it (as well as breaking the occasional leg for the mob.)

• June, 1969: The Stonewall Riots. Dani, now on the payroll as security at several mafia owned gay venues, is working the door at a club where Maypop Sickle (then performing as Violet) is performing. Before the Riots begin, Maypop notices from the stage the rapt awe, wonder, and admiration of the feminine young bouncer watching her from the crowd. Privately, Dani admits to herself that she wishes she could be as beautiful and wondrous a creature as "Violet", but comforts herself by privately swearing that she will at least protect such beauty if she can't have it. She is given a chance to put that oath into action when the Riots begin, and while the club's other bouncers desperately flush drugs and contraband and try to bar the door, Dani is seen by a fleeing "Violet" fighting back cops at the door and ushering fleeing queens inside. Following the Riots, Dani attends a handful of other marches and early meetings of the Gay Liberation Front, but is kept at a distance by both many of the more “respectable” activists and many of the “street queens” excluded from the mafia-owned gay bars where Dani worked.

• December, 1969: Vietnam War draft begins.

• 1970: Dani finds the employer she is looking for in Christian Whitechapel when a recommendation from Maypop Sickle leads to a position as head bouncer at one of Christian’s gay clubs in Lower Manhattan. Choosing to fight for someone who accepts her, she publicly burns her draft card after refusing to hide her queerness during her draft board meeting and being deemed ineligible to serve due to her “homosexuality."

• 1971: Following one year of excellent performance, displaying her aptitude as both a negotiator and a fighter when necessary, Christian reveals what he is to Dani and offers to make her his ghoul, with the eventual possibility of the Embrace after a decade of stellar service and rigorous education. Dani feels that this is her moment to seize her fate, and inspired by the stories she heard of Christine Jorgensen growing up in the 1950’s, the handful of drag queens, trans women, and other gender-nonconforming people she encountered over the years in the Village (especially seeing Maypop Sickle perform before the Stonewall Riots), and her employer’s honesty in “coming out” to her as a vampire, she reveals to Christian that she is transgender, and offers to serve him loyally and with distinction if he will finance her transition in addition to granting her this chance at immortality. He accepts and she begins her service as Christian’s ghoul.

• 1971-1980: Danika takes over running the daytime side of Christian's businesses. Her education is as extensive as it is exacting, but she proves herself more than competent in his service. She also begins physically transitioning and using the name Danika and she/her pronouns more often, doing so consistently by 1980. During the beginning of her service to Christian, she also becomes friends with the then still-mortal Dr. Marcel Trevisani, keeping a protective eye on him during his more wanton club nights while he supported her during the day by helping her access hormones and transition care "on the low" with Christian's financial support. By the late 70's the two drifted apart as Marcel was increasingly consumed by his research into HIV and Dani devoted herself to managing her domitor's assets and business empire in anticipation of her pending Embrace. By this point, referring to her as “Danny” instead of Danika or Dani is a quick way to meet the business end of her walking stick.

• 1979: At the urging of Claude De Bourbon and with her sire's encouragement, Dani takes a one year sabbatical from her duties to travel the world. Claude encourages Dani to seek experiences that she won't be able access with the power of her will as a Ventrue. To eat fine foods, and feel the sun on her skin, and the warmth of another body next to her in bed. In short, to experience the mortal world with her new body before accepting the Embrace. ((Seeking ties with kindred, mortals, or ghouls she could have encountered on her journeys and search for novel, mortal experiences. Could have been anywhere on the globe an experienced Ventrue ghoul could relatively safely travel, especially looking for aesthetes, adventurers, artists, nightlife or vice-connected figures or those highly connected to high or low mortal society.))

• December 1980: Marcel hears Dani is back in New York and tries to resume their friendship after a few years of largely discussing business. Dani says she is interested in meeting socially again, but soon declines Marcel's invitations and eventually entirely cuts off non-business related contact, and even that only through intermediaries. Unknown to Marcel, this sudden severing of contact was due to her Embrace and a need to focus on mastering her new hunger to protect her friend. This betrayal by a friend who he had supported and been supported by further hardens Marcel and contributes to his becoming a firebrand activist in the coming years.

• 1981: After a decade of loyal service, Christian seeks permission from the Mad Prince to Embrace Danika and does so.

• 1981-1987: Dani begins her Agoge and works directly under Christian in New York, learning essential knowledge of Clan, sect, and lineage for an ambitious young Ventrue and getting lessons of a different sort during her occasional night of fun out on the town with Maypop.

• 1987-2010: Danika continues her Agoge and is sent by her sire to study under members of the House of the Griffon while furthering Christian's interests and continuing to develop her skills. Wanting to prove herself worthy of the embrace and deeply curious about the world of monsters and magic she now operated within, she throws herself into her study and duties for her sire and his allies. While acting as a consulting diplomat, messenger, courtier, and negotiator for her House, Clan, and sire, she also busies herself poring over archives and speaking with the kindred she served about their experiences negotiating with or warring against other supernatural beings. She also takes this opportunity to hone her street-fighting skills into the discipline and knowledge of a trained warrior, learning both the formal art of fencing and how to wield a two-handed sword (which she finds more to her liking.) Other than fleeting encounters with Wraiths and the walking dead during her studies with some of her sire's more "eclectic" allies, she does not actually manage to put any of her accumulated knowledge to the test before she is forced to rapidly and clandestinely return to New York. ((Seeking ties with Camarilla or Camarilla-friendly Independent ancillae or elders she could have studied and served under, or the childre and associates of those Kindred she encountered in her travels. Teachers of lore, melee, security, potence, or the Ventrue in-clan disciplines especially sought.))

• 2010-2012: Warned about FIRSTLIGHT by Christian, Danika returns to New York to lay low. Satisfied with her ability to use what she learned over the years to safely navigate her way back to New York and help mitigate the threat of FIRSTLIGHT, Christian releases Danika from her Accounting and allows her to pursue her own studies and interests. While she is released from Accounting, Danika immediately voluntarily swears Fealty to Christian. She spends the time studying Project Twilight and surreptitiously reconnecting with some of her underworld contacts and making strategic under the table investments. Inspired by Maypop's encouragement during the celebration of her Release that she would "have all of this in time if she returned to New York," Dani begins paving the way for her eventual, permanent return by reconnecting with trustworthy old contacts, greasing the right palms, and bending the will of the occasional minor official or mid-level mook in order to establish a foothold. ((Seeking ties with NYC kindred she could have met or begun negotiations with in this time, especially any neighbors in the East Village, anyone countering the Hunter threat, kindred involved with Manhattan nightlife, and Christian's associates or their childre.))

• 2012: The Second Inquisition begins. Danika wholly focuses herself on studying and subverting the multi-headed hydra that is the Inquisition. She continues to travel between cities on her sire’s behalf in search of new intel on the Hunter threat.

• 2015: Increasingly stymied by her inability to use the internet or advanced data analytics to continue learning about the Inquisition for fear of breaking the Camarilla’s prohibition on technology, Dani offers a young, queer “grey hat” hacker, corporate spy for hire, and unlicensed PI, Nadia (She/They), the opportunity to become her ghoul after using the mortal as a consultant on several jobs against minor SI front organizations and off the record bank accounts. Danika tells the young operator that they remind her of herself in her younger days, and Nadia accepts her offer and becomes Danika’s ghoul, personal assistant, bodyguard, aide, and sole companion in her travels.

• 2015-2021: Dani, with her ghoul in tow, continues traveling between domains, with Dani promoting herself to her sire's allies as a “risk management consultant” and security professional against exterior threats (particularly the Inquisition.)

• Spring 2022: Danika receives permission from her sire to permanently return to NYC and work on behalf of his interests, but also to build her own base of power with which to serve her Clan and Lineage and protect the Camarilla and Masquerade. With the assistance of her sire, she purchases a townhome between her namesake landmark and Tompkins Square Park and sends Nadia with her security detail to prepare her haven and begin reconnecting with her old contacts, establishing useful new ones, and scouting the neighborhood. Danika also reconnects with Maypop to announce her return and request the proper introductions to the Court.

• July, 2022: Danika returns to New York, eager to put her knowledge and influence to use. She rapidly receives her chance, going from being Accepted into the domain by Prince Melamed to being appointed to the Primogen Council for Clan Ventrue within the span of an evening during her first night at Court.

• August 19th, 2022: Danika attends the Toreador Grand Ball and plays an unfinished game of croquet with Justicar Diana Iadanza alongside an eclectic group of other Kindred. She and Dr. Reynaldo also share a fascinating conversation while watching the battle against the possessed Baali Elder mere feet away. Danika finds herself instantly drawn to the young, knowledgeable Tremere, unaware that she is being charmed by an Infernalist while watching her elders fight a demon.

• August 20th, 2022: Danika takes part in the battle against the 7-headed abyssal dragon that clan Lasombra managed to contain on an oil rig off the coast of Mississippi. Along with two other kindred ((if you were one of these other two Kindred, please let me know so I can link to your page and give proper credit, I don't remember your names)) and their Lasombra escorts, Danika steps through The Shroud and does battle with three of the dragon's heads at the edge of the Shroud while her Elders and mightier combatants battle the beast's primary heads on the oil rig itself. Danika delivers the deathblow to the aspect of the creature she fights by shoving the pointed end of her walking stick through its central head and claims one of the beast's talons as a trophy. She affixes this claw to a necklace and wears it proudly to the September Elysium with the Prince's permission.

• October 8th, 2022: Danika travels to Trenton in order to meet her grandsire Charles Hakstege, MD at his newest club and accompanies a war party of local kindred into the abyss to battle another monstrosity, this one in the shape of a massive octopus combined with a spider. With the destruction of the arch-predator in the abyss, the flood of abyssal spiders being pushed into our world ceases. She is bitten by one of the creature's mouths during the battle and is haunted by nightmares of the abyss.

• October 15th, 2022: Danika helps lead an operation to shut down a hot dog seller selling human meat to the public in NYC and captures and interrogates a strange and inhuman spirit-being riding a hollowed out human body, a "fomori." As best Danika can tell, the human meat is being used in order to create more of these "fomori."

• November 5th, 2022: While visiting Trenton to celebrate the opening of its newest Elysium, Danika accompanies a party which investigates a former Sabbat safehouse after it had been raided by soldiers from PROJECT: Twilight. Following the investigation, she enjoys a long and fascinating conversation about their very different pasts with Declan.

• December 17th, 2022: After serving as the Defender of Elysium for Dr. Reynaldo's first Elysium at the Museum of the Bronx, undergoing fleshcrafting in the museum's tower from the talented hands of Darcy Whitmore, and fighting alongside Dr. Reynaldo, Nox, and Whitmore to destroy a Hunter cell, Dr. Reynaldo's infernalism is revealed to the Court in an ambush and Danika delivers her death sentence after being offered the "honor" by Prince Nissim. In the minutes preceding the Doctor's execution, the shortlived but passionately devoted relationship between Danika and Dr. Reynaldo becomes public knowledge. Following the execution, a weeping Danika is granted Triumphant status by Prince Nissim and enters a period of seclusion and mourning.

• January 7th, 2023: During a visit to Trenton, Danika makes her first public appearance in Camarilla society since her Triumph and execution of Dr. Reynaldo. She recounts the details of her triumph to Harpy De Luca, meets and proves highly suspicious of and immune to the considerable charms of Ministry visitor Lynda DiAmbrosio, and receives a new sword from Elder Alaric of Gaul, accompanied by vital advice to wield the sword against the infernal "not in anger, but in hatred."

• January 21st, 2023: Danika attends Claude De Bourbon's Harpy Salon, where she is given the adhoc title of "Associate" in lieu of Deputy and granted the status of Defender on an ongoing basis for her role in regularly assisting Sheriff Kesef in the defense of the city. She once again matches wits with Lynda DiAmbrosio, whose salespitch is not received warmly by the gathered Kindred of New York, particularly Harpy De Bourbon. Danika agrees to work with Claude to begin the process of restoring her lost humanity following the events of December 17th, and receives a portentous tarot reading from Solomon which gives her a path forward.

• February 6th, 2023: Danika attends the Prince's gathering in Trenton as a guest. There, she reconnects with Eloise Fulton Miller, a former client and fencing partner from her consulting days following her release from accounting and Trenton's newly appointed Malkavian primogen. She is a witness to the events of court that night and reconnects with her kin and allies in Trenton, but largely stays out of direct involvement in local affairs on this journey.

• Early February, 2023: Danika takes two brief sojourns abroad, making a brief trip to Eastern Europe pursuing rumors of a dangerous ritual and visiting Toronto on a quest to seek out the Josian Archons.

• Early March, 2023: Danika travels to Croatia pursuing further rumors of the dangerous ritual, with her sword "Hatred" tasting Kindred vitae for the first time in a moonlit battle at the gates of Erdut Castle. Danika draws "Hatred" and takes blows using Fortitude for those in the middle of the group like Nissim before dispatching the sources of those attacks with brutal efficiency. Her swordwork is precise, powerful and unpretentious, and she mixes in the kicks, elbows, and trips of a brawler, seeming to revel in the opportunity for violence and the chance to slip back into the role of bodyguard and soldier ((from quest flair.))

• March 11th, 2023: Danika visits Atlanta to attend her friend Ava Melamed's club opening. She meets the notorious Pirate Queen Teuta and Capitana Gabriella Giovanni, who she had long been fascinated by from afar based on her sire's stories. During this meeting, she presents Teuta with the gift of a nightstick that she "took off of a cop the hard way" as a mortal at the Stonewall Riots. As the night ends, she gleefully volunteers to put her mortal skills to use in order to "bounce" Lynda DiAmbrosio out of Ava's club alongside Mal, Fiadh, and Ava.

• March 20th, 2023: Danika is officially appointed as Servire to Josian Archon Artemisia Martelo.

• April 15th, 2023: Danika leads her first mission to hunt a demon as Josian Servire against NYC's local menace "Ralph." She collaborates with Sheriff Kesef to organize reconnaissance of his towering office building, subvert the demon's hired mercenaries, shut down the building's electricity and defenses, protect the Masquerade with a lockdown, and organize a helicopter to the roof of the building for infiltration and exfiltration. The gathered Kindred (an eclectic group including Camarilla members from Boston, Springfield, Trenton, and New York as well as a handful of Independent Alliance visitors) attack the demon's office in a pincer maneuver after landing on the roof via helicopter. Nox leads a small team to break through the ceiling of Ralph's office while Danika creates a diversion by leading a frontal assault on the demon's mercenary team, with Sheriff Kesef providing astral overwatch. After making short work of the mercenaries, Danika leads her team into the demon's office and draws first blood by striding through his Majesty, impaling him through the chest with her blade, "Hatred," and pinning him to the well-stocked bar of his office. She is taken out of the battle however when a stray fireball from an ally ignites the alcohol behind the bar and sends her into a fear frenzy. She is kept held and kept from fleeing by Seneschal Virgil as Prince Nissim delivers the deathblow to the creature using his roots and Cauldron of Blood. After regaining her composure, she recovers her blade from Nox and leads a smaller group to hunt and interrogate the demon's minions while Seneschal Virgil distributes status to those who aided in the battle after Danika arranges to see them properly rewarded.

"If knowledge is power, clandestine knowledge is power squared; it can be withheld, exchanged, and leveraged."
- Letty Cottin Pogrebin, founding editor of Ms. Magazine

Bio

Danika “Dani” Astor is a neonate of Clan Ventrue and The House of the Griffon and the childe of Christian Whitechapel of Boston, former Seneschal of London, New York, and Boston, and former Prince of Boston.

She acted as a traveling consultant and student to allies of her sire for over four decades, occasionally returning to New York or Boston to report-in to her sire but generally staying in the domains she visited for only a few months or years at a time. Since being given permission by her sire to permanently settle in New York she has rapidly built a small but dense influence web amidst the street and nightlife professionals of the East Village, and is known within the domains of New York and Trenton as one of their frequent defenders against the forces of the Infernal, Abyss, and Inquisition.

In Kindred politics, Danika traditionally has not demanded the spotlight and generally worked behind the scenes (or behind the throne) as a trusted courtier. However, she has been forced closer to the spotlight in her new role as Ventrue Primogen of New York and frequent backup to the Sheriff and Scourge, and while she continues to act as a supporting player to more powerful and ancient kindred, she seeks prominence amongst those of similar age and station. This desire for prominence and worthy service has culminated in her appointment as Josian Servire to Josian Archon Artemisia Martelo. Despite her previously laconic air and academic curiosity, she is an enforcer by trade and remains brutally efficient with a knife, sword, or club and incredibly stubborn in a fight, calling upon years of experience as a bouncer and occasional freelance legbreaker honed by decades of eclectic training by her sire's contacts. Following December 2022, she seems to fight even harder, motivated by either a deathwish, hatred of the Infernal, an outlet for her anger, or all of the above. Likewise, her previous curiosity has been tempered by her experience with Dr. Reynaldo and she now only seeks knowledge that will allow her to better defend against and destroy her enemies and the enemies of her patrons.

She is also not afraid to get her hands dirty, and now seems to see doing her a violent duty as a respite from her ever mounting ghosts.

"Fire on the innocent and the guilty
On the saints and sinners alike
Though Apophis knows no mercy
He's an angel compared to the man
Who has nothing to lose
The sad hunter, the forsaken swain
Society's most malignant creation
If idle hands are The Devil's playthings
These hands will crack the earth to tear The Devil apart"-
-Days N Daze, Call In The Coroner

Playlist: Business goth jams 4 sad vampire trans

Rumors

-Danika has a fleshcrafted tattoo of the three heads of the Abyssal Dragon she slew on the left side of her body, with one head terminating at her collar bone, one at her hip, and one at the top of her wrist.
-Danika witnessed the death of the Demon calling itself "Lilith."
-Danika stole back the portrait she gave Dr. Reynaldo for Christmas on what ended up being the day she executed her. Some say she destroyed it, others say she uses it for target practice, and some whisper that she has some kind of shrine to her lost, infernalist love.
-Danika publicly gave Nadiya Ibrahim a lap dance that was as passionate as it was amateurish during a game of Truth or Dare at a Garden Party.
-Danika and Nadiya Ibrahim dated for less than a year before deciding to wed.
-Danika used a glowing, holy spear (allegedly the Spear of Longinus) to deliver the death blow to to Sturbridge's colossal "perfect child" that she fought against alongside Elder Alaric of Gaul and Servire Mary Petersen and an Anarch Ishtarri
-In addition to the True Brujah and the Ishtarri, Danika and the others were also aided in battle by three Baali Elders. And one of them, Roth The Defiler, is the one who gave Danika the spear in combat. Others say she traded insults with Roth throughout the night even while wielding the spear and that they saw her throw the weapon at Roth's feet later in the night and refuse to keep it despite his claims that it wasn't tainted.
-After several inexplicable experiences connecting Danika more deeply to her humanity by engaging in religious rituals, as well as her connections and time spend with several religious Kindred, Danika is beginning to find some form of "religion," or at least believe that a "positive" or benign spiritual force exists in the universe that is hostile to Demons but seemingly not categorically opposed to Kindred.
Edit Rumors: Add your own!

Quotes

• "Primogen Astor is a welcome and timely addition to our city." - B̷̨̹̘̞̙͉͑̉͑̄ ̷͚̜̮͚̑͌̆͠ë̸͈̘̤͚̠́́̍̏̿̽ ̵̻̱̣̫̹͉͒̏̋́͗͂͘͜͠á̶̢̺͖̔͐̎̒͌̔̎̈́ ̸͍̣͍̺̮̜̈́̐̿̈͒͗̅͝ț̷̛̦͙̤̭̋̈́̍̓̒ ̸̨̡̟̖̰̹̭̭̈́͂̾̓͜ŗ̸̡̼̘͔͚̮̇̋͂͛͝ ̷̧̧̮̣̰̻̩̘͈̏͊̅̕͝i̵̧͎͕̩̳͊͘ͅ ̵̤͓̀̀̃͜͝x̸̻͔̪͕͔̮͆̍
• “Do you wish to know the very worst thing about Primogen Astor? She’s far too capable and clever by half. By consistently meeting and exceeding our expectations, she will raise the bar for all her clan. What a disappointment her peers will be in comparison.” — Claude
• "There is nobody I would rather have fighting by my side." - Dr. Almeda Reynaldo
• "😒🙄👉👌" - Lynda DiAmbrosio
• "In a word, vaulting. How else would you describe how quickly they overcame each obstacle in their path, rising to the heady position of Primogen of the Clan of Kings in the economic capital of the world? Then, not content with a capstone most other Kindred could never aspire to, they continue on to be appointed as a Servire of the Josian Archons? This is clearly a King to watch..." - Michael De Luca
• "I've never met a Ventrue like her before... the way she handled that demon hunt was truly impressive. I'd love to get to know her better." - Nadiya Ibrahim
• "One of the brightest of the line of Ventrue, as she shines from the Clan of Kings. Courageous, cunning and resourceful is only the tip of the blade of her character. I have watched her progress as a Josian and though I Shepherd her, she as well Shepherd me. She will say it is her honor to stand with me, in truth, it is has always been my honor as my Servire. A decision, I will always cherish." - Jahangir Al-Tanin
  

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OOC Information

Player	Charlie K.
Pronouns	She/Her
MES #	US2022060019
Domain	NY-004-D
Storyteller	Jacqui A. (Downtimes handled by Sean M.)

Other PCs: Delphyne Lamb , Amanita Zantosa