Joanna De Mountford
Tradition: The Celestial Choir
Essence: Pattern
Nature: Survivor
Demeanor: Bravo (Protector)
Concept: Caretaker
Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2
Social Attributes: Charisma 3, Manipulation 2, Appearance 3
Mental Attributes: Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 3
Talents: Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Alertness 2, Brawl 3, Leadership 2
Skills: Drive 3, Firearms 4, Meditation 4, Melee 1, Performance: Flute 2, Survival 3
Knowledge: Linguistics (Latin, French, Spanish, Mayan) 3, Cosmology 3, Lore: Nephandus 2, Lore: Demons 1, Medicine 1
Spheres: Prime 3, Life 3, Forces 3, Spirit 2, Matter 1, Mind 1
Backgrounds: Allies 2, Avatar 3, Contacts 3, Dream 4, Mentor 3, Resources 4, Status: Community 1
Resonance:
Merits: Crack Driver, True Faith, Prestigious Mentor, Danger Sense and Church Ties
Flaws: Nightmares, Hatred (Nephandi)
Arete: 3
Fate:
Willpower: 9
XP: 2
Updated: 12/23/2018
Notes: Joanna has been involved with a number of different charitable causes over the years -
Allies:
Tyler Saphron bani Solificati - Alchemist with Serenity Valley
Janet Evans (CO in The Sisters of Gabrielle and close friend)
Against Domestic Violence Against Men
Joanna only provides money for this one, as the men here have been beaten up by women. Joanna is subtly working to promote this charity, so it changes the worldview of women=victims, men=aggressors, but only subtly as it's something the Technocracy would be dead against and would probably shut the charity down by cutting all funding if they thought it would be a threat.
Contacts : Tony, who is the Finance Manager and Remy, who does publicity for the charity.
The Dove Centre (this is a real charity I heard about, which teaches women who have a history of bad relationships how not to get into them (I hope this is still going))
Joanna funds this heavily and until her pilgrimage had input into the programs they were running and kept a close eye on things. Now she's back from pilgrimage she'll check in with them and make sure everything is okay.
Contacts : Tracy, who is the Programme Manager, Adele, who is the Finance Manager, Betty and Rachel who do Admin
DrugsAid (a charity run by former users that helps to clean up users and get them off the streets)
Joanna funds this one, but also can be found talking to the staff and people it is helping. She's done several stints helping users who are moving from heroin to methadone to getting off drugs, as this charity provides support when the users move from one to the other, as there are physical ramifications from moving from one drug to another. Joanna can be more proactive with this, as the Technocracy will not see this as a threat.
Contacts: Sally, Tracy and Honore, all ex-addicts who Joanna has helped. Elizabeth, who is the Program Manager (Contact 1), Dave, who is the Finance Manager and Charles, who is the Director,
Member of Clan Tremere, part of the coterie of vampires based out of ASU
Possessions: When she left to go on pilgrimage (see notes) Joanna had to rid herself of her possessions in order to travel and also because it was part of becoming a pilgrim. She has her pistol, foci, a battered Bible and credit card.
Background Descriptions: Joanna is a privileged upper class white kid of Britain’s version of the hunting, shooting and fishing brigade who had always done pretty much as she liked. Life was just a game to her until a friend asked her out to a party. Joanna went, but the party felt somehow wrong. To a casual observer, it was a good party, but Joanna had been to many parties and had never experienced the sheer sleaziness of it, the people passed out on the floor with no-one caring. She tried to move several of them into the recovery position, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.
The man before her told her that what she was doing wasn’t necessary. Joanna flinched at the man’s gaze and then for the first time in her life, she ran. Terrified, she had gone through the door into the garden by accident. The man followed and shifted to the form of a Nephandus. Joanna blacked out.
Having Awakened, she came to in a dormitory with a nun watching her, who calmed her down and sent her back to sleep. Later she realised that this was her Avatar.
The next day a priest introduced himself to her as Father Dennis and explained what had happened. Joanna spent a year in their cabal, healing and coming to terms with what happened. During that year, Joanna decided to join The Celestial Choir and become a Catholic.
Unfortunately their cabal was going through a period of upheaval and while she had been taught bits and pieces, including meditation to calm her mind after what she had gone through and stop her having nightmares (this did not work) they could not take the time to formally instruct her. Father Dennis contacted his old mentor, who had a lot of prestige in The Celestial Choir and got him to take Joanna on as a student.
It was the first time Joanna had found life difficult. While Joanna had always been intelligent, she had never bothered much with school or learning. Other students resented her upper class background and/or the fact that her mentor had taken her on.
Fortunately her mentor relished the challenge that Joanna posed as he had given up taking on students as he was bored of their predictability.
Towards the end of her Catechumen, Joanna began to feel uneasy about a friend of hers. Denise had changed a lot in the last few months. At first she had been going out more, drinking more and arguing more with others. Lately, some of the arguments had begun to worry her. One in particular, was that there was no such thing as evil, it was all in people’s perceptions. They had had several bad disagreements over that and when Joanna realised that the reasons she gave for going out were just a cover story and saw track marks on her arms when previously Denise had hated drugs, she realised that something was wrong.
An older mage caught her coming out of the Chantry out of hours and demanded to know what she was doing. Joanna saw the faded track marks on her arms and told her all. The mage sent her back to bed and reassured her that she would find Denise and help her.
The next day, her mentor and the mage broke the news that Denise was past helping as she had become a Nephandus. Joanna collapsed on the floor in tears and had to be comforted. Since then, she hates the Nephandi and has her pistol about her at all times. When she wakes from a nightmare, the first thing she does is check where her pistol is.
The mage who dealt with Denise was a Sister of Gabrielle and later inducted Joanna into the group. Her mentor worried that Joanna would burn too brightly chasing Nephandi or stop caring, as she hated them so much.
Joanna fought the Nephandi successfully for years, but in the past year has come to realise that her hatred is not fulfilling her. While she was realizing this, news broke of the news of child abuse at the hands of Catholic priests. Joanna felt sure that the Nephandi were behind this, only to find that (except in a few cases) they had nothing to do with it. She left the Sisters of Gabrielle and sought the counsel of her mentor. He advised her to go on pilgrimage to find out what she should do next.
Joanna has been in Britain, Ireland and France on pilgrimage with no success, so she prayed to The One for a sign and since then has been seeing pictures of Phoenixes. She remembered a mage she came across on pilgrimage who asked her to look up her/his? chantry if she ever went to Phoenix, so bought a plane ticket. (Bill, this last is at your discretion, as there may be no member who has travelled recently or the members who have travelled would not have talked to a Chorister. Her mentor could also have given her a letter of introduction to give to the chantry).
Joanna is a devout Catholic and will convert people, but will not talk to people about it unless they come to her. She reasons that if they talk to her about it, then The One has sent them. If they do not talk to her about it then they are not ready for conversion.
Joanna believes in Interfaith and that many things are not harmful (e.g. sex) if taken in moderation. She uses most of her resources to fund shelters and programs to help victims.
Joanna is 29 years old, slim with long brown hair and blue eyes. She currently wears travel-stained designer clothes and a Rolex.
PARADIGM
FOCI
Song in the form of chanting and a sun symbol in the form of a Brigit’s Cross in gold. This version of the Brigid’s Cross (see Irish Folk Ways by Estyn Evans for more forms of Brigit’s Crosses) is a diagonal symbol with arms sticking out. This has caused her to be mistaken for a pagan or Verbena on occasion as Brigid is both a saint and an Irish deity of fire, smithing and poetry.