Aisling Sturbridge

Aisling was born in 1890 in upstate New York to a banker and his wife. Her mother died when Aisling was two, and her father chose to let his daughter THREE: ALL THE B W ~ F U L 19 run wild like a hoyden with her brothers rather than endure his wife’s meddling relations’ attempts to raise her.

During this long period of freedom, Aisling gravitated toward mysticism through her Catholic upbringing and studied whatever she believed would be necessary to learn more. She taught herself Latin and Greek to read occult texts from the church library (she persuaded her elder brother to borrow books for her).

Aside from reading, she attended seances and corresponded with a number of occultists, many of whom had little idea they were communicating with a teenage girl. When her mother’s family finally got wind that Aisling was accepting an invitation into an “Enlightened Society” or somesuch, they put their collective foot down and ordered her to finishing school.

Aisling instead took her trust fund and abandoned Victorian America for the decadence of London. In turn-of-the-century London, Aisling inserted herself into the occult scene, and her remarkable scholarship drew many eyes, including those of Aleister Crowley.

Her brilliance did not go unnoticed by others; her sire-to-be, Lucien de Maupassant, met her during askance salon, and the two became close confidants. In 1910, Crowley, apparently embittered that a girl so many years his junior was outstripping him in the Hermetic mysteries and attracting far more attention by her scholarship, requested that Aisling become his next Scarlet Woman.

In essence, it was a demand that she submit to rape. Lucien, already considering Aisling as potential progeny, took her away from London and Crowley’s grasp, and on an extended tour of Europe and the Middle East to secretly test her fitness as a Tremere. When he was satisfied, he brought her to Vienna for the Embrace and to meet the rest of the clan.

For the next 30 years or so, the pair served as free agents, delivering messages between chantries, building chantry libraries and investigating on Inner Council orders. World War I1 separated them for long periods as Aisling tended the chantries in Nuremberg, Warsaw, Krakow and Dresden.

Her friends in high places often could not decide what to do with her; on one hand, her questioning of the Tremere’s role with theNazi regime was intolerable to her superiors, but on the other, her work during air raids to preserve the treasures of embattled chantries was faultless.

In 1948, her sire and longtime companion abruptly went missing during an assignment supposedly given him by the Inner Council. According to certain upper-level gossips, it was Meerlinda who turned the young woman’s talents to America, with hopes that it might distract her.

Aiding’s commentaries on the McCarthy hearings and the Age of Aquarius remain among the definitive studies on the periods, both in and out of the clan. Certain that she would have felt or heard of Lucien’s destruction, she continues to search for word of him even now.

Aiding’s last city of residence was Atlanta, where she served the regent as his assistant before she was abruptly called to New York. She was field-promoted to her current position after someone spread her predecessor’s ashes across Sheepshead Bay (see A World of Darkness Second Edition). As lieutenant, and by popular accord, she ascended to the Regency in November 1996.

Aisling iseminently qualified toserve inNewYorkfor a number of reasons. Her intense study of the Tzimisce, time spent in Eastern Europe, and fluent command of Hungarian make her an excellent foil against the Fiends. Her years in Europe during WW I1 proved that she can handle herself under fire and that she is resourceful.

She is young enough to be expendable to the upper echelons but old enough to be taken seriously by the rank and file. Unlike most of her contemporaries, she does not mindlessly despise the Sabbat; she has a specific list of crimes that she holds against them and fights them for.

She is well aware of the old saw that persons who hate their enemies without reason become like their enemies, andshe watches herself carefully to avoid that path. Recently, some of the higher ranks have begun to watch her with growing concern. She is one of the most dynamic and popular regents, and she has a number of high-placed friends in and out of the clan.

She has shown no qualms about making deals with other Kindred for assistance, eschewing much of the traditional Tremere insularity. Aisling herself attributes some of the success of the Battle ofNew York to this diversity -Thaumaturgical aids to the physical efforts of other clans made several key assassinations and captures possible.

And so far, she has managed to avoid becoming completely blood bound to the Council (some fear that her early Embrace ties have seriously atrophied due to her long time as a free agent). Reviewing all of this success in a darker cast, however, are several of the powers that be among the highest ranks of the Tremere.

In the opinions of several of the old guard, Aisling is a loose cannon, as evidenced by her own desires not to be prince. While the Tremere do have another strong candidate, the fact that Aisling would let the NEW YORK BY NIGHT 80 ;weetest plum go unpicked causes alarm in some elders. 3thers cite her willingness to work with other clans as abandonment of the Tremere cause.

One thing is certain Ln nights to come: Aisling’s loyalty will indeed be tested. Whether from within the Chantry of the Five Boroughs or as a result of an outsider’s influence, the Tremere may well have to make an example of one who insists upon going her own way.