Brunhilde

Brunhilde’s mortal life is little more than a fragment of a memory now. She never knew her sire but remembers those early nights after her Embrace as she roamed the wilderness in search of sustenance. Eventually, she found others of her kind, and the fierce Gangrel taught her about what she had become. The group of female Gangrel she found believed there were Valkyries, the warrior-women of Norse legend. They saw themselves as the unliving extension of the Nordic myths, and they took it upon themselves to act accordingly. Brunhilde saw herself as a legend reborn. Brunhilde spent several centuries fulfilling her selfappointed station. The Valkyries swept down onto battlefields to decide the fates of brave warriors. Believing themselves guided by the will of Odin, they sent the valiant to Valhalla by the score. The Valkyries kept a relative peace with the other Gangrel who existed among the Viking warriors, and for many years no force in Europe could stop the ravaging hordes. The coming of Christianity brought great change. Ventrue and Toreador lords from England and Germany eventually conquered the Vikings. While the other Gangrel CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT 80 adapted, the Valkyries fought back. Striking from their forest havens, the Valkyries fought to keep the Scandinavian countries wild and barbaric. The Ventrue, Toreador, and even the Brujah finally hunted them down one by one. Valkyries who did not meet Final Death hid or fell into deep torpor. Brunhilde voluntarily went into such a torpor after 200 years on the run, only to be roused by the bloodshed of World War I. Whereas many of Europe’s Kindred were engaged in the war, she set about to find the Valkyries who remained. She regrouped the handful of Valkyries left under her leadership, and again set about retaking the land that was once theirs. They saw the culture and civility of the modern world as an affront to their beliefs. Brunhilde longed for the nights of bloodshed and paganism. In the decades since World War II, anarch activity in the Scandinavian countries has increased dramatically. The Kindred leadership of the region denies any problems but is, in reality, complacent and ineffectual. Brunhilde and her Valkyries encouraged the anarch unrest at every turn. She saw the anarchs as a means to help her topple the Ventrue and Toreador who had invaded her land centuries ago. Brunhilde apparently won’t settle with merely usurping the Kindred of Scandinavia. The sketchy description of the unknown assassin who took the life of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986 could easily fit the implacable Gangrel. If she was the assassin, it is unknown what she might have gained from such a move, except unnerving the Kindred of the region. Secretly, the princes of the Scandinavian countries are worried, and for good reason. Brunhilde, and the Valkyries, are not going to stop until Scandinavia is the harsh and barbaric land they remember.