Interests
Most museums, especially the Ministry of Culture national museums. Also hotels, prostitution, fashion, some sections of TV through the workers' union. Police officers.
In his youth, Niccolo was an outstandingly beautiful and androgynous young man, famed in the 17th century as a the most powerful castrato opera-singer of his age. He was embraced by his lover Michaeli, who was later destroyed in the Great Fire. Through grief, Niccolo left and travelled for many years, after which he returned. He became Primogen member in 1811 after the destruction of Sofia.
Niccolo is languid, strong and beautiful, and still enjoys performing on stage to rapturous audiences, although he limits himself so as not to attract attention. He is a great patron of the arts, and controls many theatres, orchestras, galleries and museums through a network of private charitable foundations. Although not especially interested in maintaining power over others (except through his art), he is immensely wealthy, and has interests in finance, commerce, property and a vast share portfolio, much of which is managed by trusted retainers.
Appearance
Niccolo is Italian, with long black hair, very dark blue almond-shaped eyes. His skin is flawless and his face oval and androgynous; depending on his mood and the catch of the light, he can seem softly feminine with soft red lips, or manly with angular cheekbones and strong arching brows. He was 29 when embraced but being a castrato he looks a boy, easily passing for 22 or so with his soft beardless skin.
Madame Constanze (as she is socially known) was an Austrian aristocrat (though today usually dispenses with the "von"), widowed at an early age after marrying a wealthy young Count who met his considerate demise during the War of the Austrian succession in 1740. She was a lauded musician and patron of artists and composers, and her famous balls and soirees provided the debuts for many promising musicians of the day. She travelled widely and was very well read, being intelligent and educated and speaking five European languages. She was Embraced by her Sire at a summer ball in Paris when, realising what a dreadful social faux pas he had made after drinking so heavily from the pretty young countess, he gallantly embraced her on the spot. (This is the version given at Toreador parties, usually after the other kindred guests having been drinking rather heavily from intoxicated pretty young kine.)
Constanze is still a prominent socialite
in the City, famous for hosting the most lavish and celebrated
events in the social calendar. She tries to stay out of the limelight
- her parties are generally held ostensibly by someone else -
but everyone in the know recognises her flair for a social occasion.
Though not famous in a way that she is recognised by passers-by,
she has a vast array of friends and acquaintances amongst the
rich, the powerful, the beautiful and the talented. As a result,
although considered a poseur by Toreador, she is still highly
regarded.
Constanze is very rich and very shrewd, running a number of large
hotels, restaurants and other businesses throughout Portugal ("I'm
afraid I just couldn't stand those Austrian winters a moment longer"),
where she settled more than a century ago.
Appearance
Constanze has long white-blond hair, usually perfectly coiffeured, with pale make-up which accentuates her full lips and blue eyes. She is full-figured and curvaceous, and is seen in public in selections from her vast wardrobe of chic and stylish outfits a la mode. She was thirty-four when embraced, but with her good looks and youthful disposition, even her Sire (who reputedly was rather drunk) believed her to be no more than nineteen. Suffice it to say that she is agelessly attractive.
In mortal life Tomás was a painter, the natural son of a nondescript northern aristocrat and a Lisbon serving maid. Brought up in a succession of tavernas, theatres and houses of ill-repute, he developed a passion for the sleazy underside of life which he famously captured in his many paintings. He was never either famous or rich, and many of his paintings were unsigned, but his pictures of sailors carousing, wenches, theives, whores and drunkards had a passionate intensity which captured the imagination of many - and in particular, the vampire who stalked and embraced him.
Today he operates the more "irregular" side of Toreador enterprises - prostitution, slum gangs, theft and burglary. He still paints, but much of his time is taken in administering the underworld empire which rivals the Ventrue's in control of the underside of the city. His art, he feels, is encouraging this passionate expression of life in filth and decay, that he may capture it through his work. Unlike the vulgar Ventrue he is not interested in the exercise of power for it's own sake, merely as a means to an end.
Appearance
Tomás has dark and very curly black hair, left a little long, with soft brown eyes, and a strong jaw. He is very broad, muscular, strong and hairy, and was 28 when he was embraced.