Mariana Sartanio

CHARACTERS NAME: Mariana Sartanio

WRITER: Andria

EMAIL: Ashalenn@juno.com

AGE: legal

CHARACTER'S AGE: about 120 years total, was 26 when turned

NATURE: Vampire, non-master

DESCRIPTION: Mariana has smoldering black eyes, thick black hair that reaches midback in a riot of curls, and deep olive skin that has barely lightened in the 100 years she's been a vampire. A petite 5 feet 3 inches tall, she's very curvy and weighs 120 pounds, though no man looking at her would ever use the word "plump" to describe her. Despite her curves, her face would best be described as strikingly handsome as opposed to beautiful, and despite her lack of height she's one of those Italian women who, when they come into a room, *no one* overlooks.

PERSONALITY: She's been a performer for over 80 years and tends to be flamboyant, though that is actually a mask as her true personality is much more serious When she feels something, she lets you know. Not very good at hiding her feelings, she can be tactful and polite despite them when the situation requires it. After so long, she's learned to keep control over herself no matter how angry she is. Doesn't mean she won't flay you to pieces with her tongue if you truly anger her, but she isn't physically violent. Her Italian heritage left her a full measure of the temper, but she cools off quickly and is not one to hold a grudge. Very loyal to her friends, she has few people that she'll let close.

ABILITIES: Well trained with a strong gift of voice, she also has a strong stage presence and can speak Italian, French, English, Spanish, Greek and German fluently, as well as a smattering of several other languages. She can hold other non-master and humans still with her voice, and sometimes younger Masters too. Good at evoking emotion and weaving worlds of imagination with it.

HISTORY: Born 1882 to a middle class family of merchants in Northern Italy, in the province of Piedmont, Mariana grew up mostly ignorant of life outside the families estate. The third child, with two older brothers, she knew from an early age that her lot in life would be to marry to gorm good ties for the family, and at age 6 she was promised to Martino Lencia in marriage. Taught to always be quiet and ladylike, she was trained to run a household and be the perfect hostess, and discipline was enforced with an iron fist.

At 18 she left her family to marry Martino, and the two moved to the nearby town of Turin, where Martino set up office and began to learn to manage the shipping aspects of the family business. The two were civil to each other, but no strong emotions tied them. Within the year, Mariana was pregnant, but miscarried a boy-child. A couple years later she again became pregnant, but again miscarried, to the growing dismay of both families.

Alone and ignored by both her husband and her family, Mariana began exploring the city, and learned to read and write, becoming an avid reader, trying to escape her dull life. When she was 22, a band of the Rom came to town, performing for the crowds, and as her husband's business affairs had been keeping him later and later at work, and more often away from home, Mariana was able to sneak out to see them perform. She caught the eye of one of the young men, Luigi, and he seduced her.
A few weeks later when they were leaving town, he convinced her to run away with them, and with barely a backward glance Mariana left her life behind. For the next four years she traveled with them, performing with song and dance, reveling in the freedom and blossoming into a whole new person, totally different from the meek and shy mouse she'd been, before her smoldering looks and husky, bedroom voice attracted the attention of Marco Stevrino, a three hundred year old master vampire that was impressed by her voice and amused with her spirit.

Whisking her away, he changed her, and although she was angry at first, she soon came to accept her new life and even to like her Sire. Marco had an incurable wanderlust along with the money to support it, and they travelled extensively in Europe. Though they were never lovers, as Marco preferred men to women, they ended up good friends and under Marco's care she received extensive training using her voice, for he was an avid lover of music. She would perform for him, sometimes at private parties and sometime in clubs or music houses.

When vampires were given legal status in the United States, Mariana begged him to go overseas, to explore the new world, but he decided to stay in Europe. Having found a new lover, a young man also gifted with a beautiful voice to "keep him company for a few decades", Marco released he to travel to the Americas on her own, and with sadness they parted, she being well provided for with the investments of her earnings from over the years that he released to her.

Once in America, after a few years of exploring, she began performing again, usually in small clubs, preferably those that were vampire owned as they began appearing. She developed a reputation as an excellent singer and performer among the vampire community and was always careful to avoid politics as much as possible. While her shows for mixed audiences of vampires and normals were wonderful, private shows that were vampires only were stunning, as she would use her voice to create worlds of fancy and emotions for them. Very, very rarely she would perform that type of show for mixed audiences, but always with the non-vampires being adults and having signed written permission forms to avoid any...legal hassles.

Though she still loved performing, she tired of large cities and moved to Sanctuary about two months ago, spending some time settling in before starting to look for a job. Now, however, she's ready to step back on to the stage...

                                             

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