Revenant in the Know

The Salamanca branch of the Grimaldi revenant family has served the Sabbat of Mexico with distinction since before Independence. Bankers, financiers, diplomats and majordomos to their Cainite betters, they help maintain the coffers of the Sword of Caine and turn prying mortal eyes aside lest they offend those who have abandoned the concerns of the day.

Or at least, so goes the official family history. In actuality, the Salamancas are- like revenants and ghouls across the globe the Sabbat’s bitches. They tend to some purse-strings, keep key politicians too busy with bribes, whores and smack to care much about stories of nasty shit in the shadows, and have to deal with the aftereffects of every wannabe bishop’s new and oh-so-disturbing rim.

Of course, the Salamancas enjoy the benefits of being one of the richest families in Latin America they have the best cars, the best drugs, the best homes and suffer the E least grave consequences for their indiscretions. But ult mately, the Salamancas are a family of slaves, and somewh: tawdry ones at that.

Pablo Salamanca y Grimaldi has spent almost tw decades trying, very carefully, to change all that. He is th only son of the family patriarch Ernesto Rivera Salamanc and his eighth wife (and third cousin) Francesca Grimald Francesca was brought over from the Grimaldi homelan around Florence to reinvigorate the Salamanca breedin stock, but Ernesto kept her for himself.

She complained I course, but plucking out her tongue and eyes solved a that. Her only revenge was to die during childbirth. Pablo was born during the Revolution. He grew u watching his father and uncles gain concessions an build the family’s wealth on the backs of every pett general and president who came along.

When he becam a man, he drank the blood of Rafaela Lapaz, one of th Tzimisce who tended the Salamanca line. He spent 6 years as her loyal thrall, and she blessed him with sever: fleshcraftings and other marks of her favor. Then, i 1985, came the earthquake.

When the ground split open, he rushed to his belove mistress’s lair only to find her cowering in a corner in small patch of shade the rest of her haven exposed to th sun. He saw the last bit of masonry crumble and the fles ofhis undead mistress bubble, tear andcrack. She screamec collapsed and burst into flame.

Within a few minutes, th perfect monster Pablo had worshipped for six decades wi exposed as nothing but a terrified weakling. The bond c blood that had kept him enslaved was broken. Pablo’s father also died in the earthquake. Pabl quickly rose to a leadership role and now serves as pres dent of El Grupo Salamanca , the family’s diversifie financial and legal services company.

From his offices hip in the Torre Latinamericana, he manages the numerot accounts, properties and holding companies needed t Mwco h BY NIGHT 92 assist the Sabbat as a functional entity. Most Cainites take his services for granted, and that’s what he wants-for the time being.

While they see him as the powerless fool, he uses his influence to goad key members into dangerous situations be it raids into Los Angeles or ill-advised Monomacy duels and fire dances. None have noticed just how much of the natural Sabbat attrition over the last couple decades has come from the ranks of those who serve as domitors for Grimaldi revenants.

Or just how many of these revenants are now free of the blood bond imposed to keep them loyal. For his own part, Pablo does his best to hide the fact that he is now dependent on vampiric blood. Approaching a century in age, he needs vitae to keep himself capable, but is all too aware of the emotional effects of drinking vampire blood.

Even were he to avoid the all out blood bond, but a single sip creates loyalties and emotions to which he is not anxious to subject himself. To solve this problem, Pablo has created a network designed to bring neonates and other weaklings (mostly American refugees from the chaos in California) to Mexico, where his relatives exsanguinate and destroy them.

Although the blood loses its potency quickly, he and many other Salamancas can restore their inhuman reserves by drinking on the spot. The few Cainites who have escaped from the Salamancas met their fate at the hands of Mexican Sabbat. Pablo maintains a variety of properties, including his high rise offices on Eje Central and a large home in San Angel.

He is most proud, however, of the family holdings in the town of Guanajuato. Once the site of the richest silver vein in the Americas, Guanajuato was quite literally carved into a ravine. It includes such strange sights as city streets dug entirely underground and others sunk into crevices with overlooking balconies blocking out sunlight.

Guanajuato was once the haven of a clutch of Nosferatu untitribu, most of whom met their ends during the earthquake of 1985. Those who didn’t ended up on the sharp end of Salamanca stakes. Pablo was to meet with Regent Galbraith during the Palla G r a d of 2000, both to discuss some financial matters and to satisfy her hobby of parodying mortal sexacts.

When he arrived, she simply ignored him and proceeded to the ball. He investigated and found signs of a struggle. Over the following months, he came to understand that the current regent was an impostor, and a less-than-brilliant one at that.

Pablo has since expended a great deal of resources to keep this secret, both because a weak leader suits his needs and because he suspects the true Galbraith is still out there. Many members of the so-called Sword of Caine never even wonder about the resources required to maintain the sect’s presence in the city. They think such things are quaint mortal concerns.

Pablo is constantly amused by just how panicked his targets become when they can no longer access the resources they once took for granted. This advantage is now very much under threat from the newly arrived Eleiserde Polanco, one of the rare Sabbat who pays attention to mortal affairs. An accident, it would seem, is once more in order.