Bloodbeat Chronicle Repository
Daywalker Chronicle - Character Diary
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Diary of Dr. Matthew Heinrich 1453 - Born to Intrigue Marcus's father was born in 1406. Marcus was born in 1453, christened Marcus Mandeli. Marcus had two siblings, Mario born in 1435 and died in Constantinople in 1453 and Flavia born in 1456. After his brother's death, Marcus was raised to take over the running of the family merchant business. Marcus's father was very strict with him and set impossible goals. Flavia was not allowed to marry because of money concerns and was instead expected to look after the parents. Flavia tended to act as Matthew's only form of escape. Matthew was brought up to deal with the Machivellian politics of the time. An example of this was his use of this was a faked ships log showing a false route around Africa so that he would have the use of the normal routes. He grew to learn that House Mandeli was in vasselage to House Benedetto. A house which had grown beyond the need for mercantile concerns. His Father's biggest imperative was to always please House Benedetto. There were several ominous encounters with agents of House Benedetto. Always pale, harsh individuals, who new more than they should. Only ever seen to drink red-wine, and that from there own reserve. They seemed to diminish both his Father and the (larger than life) "image" of his brother portrayed by his family. Marcus soon started wanting to be as "powerful" and impressive as these agents. It started to become obvious that the Mandelli house were mere puppets of House Benedetto. 1488 - The Chosen One (age 35) Matthew's best friend Umberto was a cousin of his family with a slighlty younger sister, Violetta. They were picked to be his companions as he was growing up. Their branch of the family was slightly wealthier than his. Matthew refused to turn this relationship to his advantage. Umberto was 1 year older than Matthew and tended to play big brother (in a good way). Umberto tended to validate Matthew's efforts as they both had much the same responsibilities. Umberto's Father was much more supportive however. Matthew's Father arranged a marriage between Matthew and Violetta when Matthew was 35 years old. With the marriage to take place a year later. Umberto was not happy about the marriage but was willing to forgo opposition for the sake of there friendship. On the night of the formal announcement there was a huge party arranged by Matthew as a compliment to his would-be bride and her immediate family. Much merriment was had by all and the party went well. Even the Benedetto agent Lord Balthasar seemed to be enjoying himself. Matthew was dragged of into a corner by his would-be Bride. They began to make out when Matthew felt a sharp pain in his neck and fell unconcious. He woke up in a guest room and noticed to his horror that he was covered in blood. Looking over he found that it was Violetta's blood and that she was lieing dead next to him. He scrubbed himself clean using the urn by the bed. He heard voices approaching the room, commenting about preventing the happy couple from doing things they shouldn't. Not immediatly seeing his clothes he went out the balcony and onto the roof. He immediatly scampered over to his room. Not seeing anyone in it, he climbed in his window. Unfortunetly there were two people in his bed. He managed however to bluff having come in the door. At this point he heard the alarm cried out. He ran to the room with the body calling for directions from the guard. He showed massive horror at what had been done and called for Umberto and for the the guard. Flavia noticed his bloody clothes on the bed, but talked his way out of that dilemma. Umberto arrived and noticed a dagger sticking out of Violetta's chest. (It had not been there before!) Realizing that all was lost Matthew jumped out the third story window and was fortunate enough to land in the canals. He swam as much as possible under the water to the House Benedetto, where he entered through the tradesman's door. He was told Lord Balthasar had been expecting him. He then began his interview with Lord Balthasar. In it Balthasar let slip that the appearance of the dagger was unfortunate for Matthew. (He has not been told of its sudden appearance - thus showing that he was involved with the murder and Matthew's framing.) He also intimated that any old family or acquaintances Matthew felt the need to visit would be met with an unfortunate accident. Matthew was taken into the sub-sub-basement (?Venice) for his interview with the head of the House. A truly dark and for-boding entity. He was told that by failing to recover the knife and cover his "part" in the murder he had almost failed the "test". Balthasar then turned him (while he was unconcious). His only memory was being bound to obey the House. Matthew then spent some time serving the Houses interests in Paris. Matthew's next major event led to the sacking of Rome. 1527 - The Sack of Rome Matthew was ordered by House Benedetto to arrange for the sacking of Rome by French allied forces. (Actually the former Duke of Bourbon.) He arranged to cause dissent between the Duke and Charles V who he was nominally supporting. (He had been labelled a traitor by the French King.) Matthew arranged to hear from a representative of the French. One Lady Sabine who he immediatly recognized as kindred. A discussion ensued in which Sabine tried to convinvce Matthew to let her see the Duke. When asked why she wanted to see him, Sabine said she wanted to give him an offer from the King of France. When asked what her interest would be she stated that she wanted to make sure no troops came marching into France. When asked for his interest Matthew claimed to be looking out for the fair city that he was living in. Matthew agreed to let Sabine see the Duke, however he then eaves-dropped on the conversation. Matthew heard them finagle over how far the Duke would be willing to trust the French king who had already tried to trap him once. He also heard the beginning of a relationship between the two. Matthew was then visited by an agent of House Maximillian. In this interview Matthew tried to arrange to borrow large sums of money. To do this he tried to convince the arms-merchants that a state of tension and arms-race would be more profitable than open war. He also got a feeling for how it would be to exist in the house. Another interview with Sabine in which he made sure that they were aware of the build up of forces in Southern Italy and the building of a navy. Used the Maximilian contacts to carry a similiar message about French troop build ups to the Italian court. Arranged to meet with Maximilian's agent and discussed switching allegiances due to the poor treatment he had suffered through as a minion of House Bernedetto. He told them of the plan to sack Rome. They agreed to take him on if he could cause Lady Sabine to look at something specific in the Vatican. Matthew arranged to have the Duke's men march on Rome. He bullied Sabine into accompanying by threatening to march in the other direction if she did not. Arranged with Maximillians agent to fake MAtthew's death. Easier to get out from under House Bernaddeto that way. Sacked Rome. Sacked the Vatican. Observed Maximillians agent performaing great acts of magic. Faked my own death by touching a "trapped" door. |
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