Carmelita Neillson

Carmelita Neillson is a Toreador archaeologist.

Description[]

Desperate elders seeking ways of staving off Gehenna and the Beckoning increasingly seek out the Brazilian-Irish Toreador archaeologist Carmelita Neillson. She unearths the past and interviews Kindred, chronicling a vast array of vampire history and conversations with vampires as old as two millennia. The Camarilla forbids her from archiving any of her findings electronically, so she has established several “Neillson Libraries” in discreet locations.

Her friendly manner, natural curiosity, and abilities as a polyglot make her a natural choice to debrief a Methuselah just awakening from torpor, investigate a ruined temple, or interpret a captured Sabbat scripture. Believing that art need not be in a frame or museum to be admired, Carmelita strongly feels the greatest art, one ignored by Kindred for so long, is the storytelling of their own kind. A gifted storyteller and writer, Carmelita’s skills appeal to many Toreador who wish to break the “pretty and talentless” stereotype.

In 1999, Carmelita and Guillaume Giovanni, under the direction of the ubiquitous Beckett, uncovered the resting place of the Katherine of Montpellier. Guillaume fell under Katherine's fangs, sating the hunger of centuries, as did the ghouls who had accompanied the two explorers. Shortly after this, Katherine, recognizing the surviving Kindred as one of her descendants, shared her knowledge about Toreador history and artifacts such as the Lamp of Constantine with Carmelita.

Loresheet[]

The Art of Story: You and Carmelita share the belief that storytelling is one of the lost art forms. Whenever regaling other vampires with historic lore or tales of myth and legend, Toreador naturally gravitate to hear your words, regardless of your standing toward each other.
The Art of Will: A specific objet d'art or relic, entrusted to your safekeeping by Dr. Neillson, inspires and enthralls you. If you spend an hour meditating on this object (and make a Resolve + Academics test at Difficulty 5) before resting for the day, you awaken with one extra Willpower point. You can meditate in this way once per session.
Neillson Library: Carmelita Neillson's small libraries dot the world in Camarilla domains, serving as hives of information used to prompt and support elder vampires' memories. You are the curator or warden for one of these libraries, which counts as a two-dot Haven. Other vampires and Kindred historians meet there as well, which has both advantages and downsides.
Interview With the Methuselah: You have obtained a recording of Carmelita interviewing an impossibly old vampire who divulges secrets about one of the clans in your domain. Once per story, you can ask the Storyteller to provide you with such a secret. Whether Carmelita knew of this recording and gave it to you or someone made the recording in secret, the information in the interview gives you an advantage over the vampire in the clip and the clan discussed. Interestingly, the voice following Carmelita's at the end of the tape mentions further recordings.
Ancestor's Tomb: Carmelita has entrusted you to guard the supposed resting place of one of your ancestors. As long as you keep it safe, you can call upon her for a major boon once per story. Should you fail to keep it safe, there will likely be... other consequences.