Step 1:  Character name/ Clan/ Covenant
Miriam Vue (Hmong name: MeMee Vue)
Mehket - Agonistes Bloodline
Invictus

Striking Looks (●)
Honey Trap (●)

Dynastic Membership, Harthford Dynasty (●) - Harthford Dynasty
Speaker for the Silent, Baron Kevan Harthford (●●●)
Status, Mehket (●)
Status, Invictus (●)

Feeding Grounds, Bricktown (●)
Allies, Downtrodden of Bricktown (●)

Step 2: Who you were.
Miriam Vue was the daughter of an unmarried Hmong woman and a Caucasian father she never knew.  Her father abandoned them before Miriam was born, and her mother, Sua Vue, would never speak of him.  Traditionally Hmong women join the clan of the father, but Miriam's grandparents were very traditional and didn't allow her mother to marry outside her culture.  As no man would take her mother, Miriam was essentially clanless among her people and was an embarrassment to her traditionally minded family.

Miriam grew up in inner city Detroit.  Her family was quite poor.  Her mother worked several jobs and she was raised by her grandparents, who often reminded her of her mixed heritage and how she wasn't truly Hmong.  She had few friends in her predominantly Asian neighborhood, and she learned to fend for herself in order to fend off some of the more aggressive Asian gangs.

Although they didn't always treat her kindly, they took care of her and for that reason Miriam's grandparents are her touchstone.

Step 3: Why they took you.
Because Miriam was striking, both in looks and in personality.  The petite, aggressive girl attracted the eye of Kevan Harthford, the almost legendary Mehket Invictus Baron of the First Estate, who admired the way she seemingly took the world on single-handedly.  She was first a meal for the Baron, who offered his protection in exchange for her blood, and eventually his childe.  Her firecracker personality amused him with her aggressive outbursts and animal-like fight or flight instincts in the face of things that threatened or upset her.

For her part she was infatuated with Kevan Harthford, who treated her like a princess.  She loved the way he laughed at her antics, even if it frustrated her at the same time, and the way he allowed her to do anything she wanted.  For the first time in her life she was treated as a rare and exotic flower, if a slightly dangerous one, and she found that she liked that lifestyle very much.  She fell in love with the elder Mehket...or she thought she had.

Step 4:  How you survived.
Miriam's pampered new life was short lived.  Eventually, after a few years, her fickle sire got bored of her and dumped her into the urban wilderness that was Detroit to fend for herself.  Without any support or a coterie she went from being a princess to struggling to survive.  She regressed back into her survivalist self, taking on a solitary lifestyle based on survival instinct, losing herself to her base vampire nature.  For five years she was more animal than human.  Hide, hunt, feed, hide.  Move from place to place.  Keep out of sight.  She fed on the poor while keeping away from other vampires in whose territory she trespassed. It was during this period in which she was in hiding that Carthian upheaval took place and the Invictus fell out of power.  It was while Miriam was "in the wilderness" that her sire both took another Child (Russel Harlow) and, shortly thereafter, fell into torpor.  She was unaware of both.

Her one saving grace--the thing that kept her from degenerating into the beast--was that she began to develop an affinity for the downtrodden around her.  Many of them are abandoned--abandoned because of a physical or mental deficiency, an addiction, and the lack of life supporting work available in the city. While at first they were merely chattel and food, something in her begins to see herself in them.  It is fleeting in the beginning, and takes the form of small acts of kindness towards those especially bad cases among the homeless and downtrodden.  Eventually she takes them as a flock, feeding on them and protecting them as her own.  Some among them come to know her, and though a few may suspect her for what she is, they see her as one of them.  What is the loss of a little blood if it means her love and protection.

Miriam's Mask is Survivor.

Step 5:  Who you are now.
It was during this time of base survival that Miriam wandered into Bricktown, a territory claimed by Phoebe Deegan, who was desperately trying to hold it after the Carthian takeover wiped out most of her old Coterie.  It didn't take long for Phoebe to detect the trespasser.  It took somewhat longer for Phoebe to smoke Miriam out.  What ensued was an epic game of cat and mouse, in which Phoebe worked diligently over several months to get closer to Miriam and recruit the debased vampire girl into a new coterie she was bringing together, while Miriam, ever distrustful, worked as hard as she could to keep well away from her fellow Mekhet.

While this was happening something strange began to happen to Miriam.  Unbeknownst to her, the blood of her sire that she carried in her veins began to act as a conduit between Miriam and Kevan Harthford.  She awakened as part of the Agonistes Bloodline (or maybe she always had been one) and Kevan, in torpor, could reach out to her mind and speak through her. This was extremely unnerving and alarming to the confused and animalistic Miriam, who despised her sire and wanted nothing to do with him.  She eventually learned to hold him at bay and to keep him out of her mind as much as possible.

Pulling Miriam out of her shell was like taming a feral cat, but Phoebe was up to the challenge.  Beneath the fearful survivor facade that she used to protect herself, Miriam wanted intimacy and companionship, and as Miriam came to trust that Phoebe wasn't out to harm her she slowly let the other girl get closer.  Over and over Phoebe invited Miriam to join her, but it was only after several shared hunts and shared conversations that Miriam came around.

After that Miriam attached herself to Phoebe, letting go of the beast that she used as a crutch and slowly returning to the vampire she should have been.  After having grown up in a world that thought the worst of her, and then living in the opposite extreme where she was treated like a princess before being cast out onto the street, having someone who was, in essence, a friend, was a strange and alluring experience for Miriam. At first she was fearful and reliant upon Phoebe, but slowly she found strength in herself and grew more independent.

Today Miriam is a stalker of shadows, a cat-like creature who is both serious and playful.  She'll disappear into the night, wandering their feeding grounds to look for prey or for some other reason, stalking around back alleys and snatching the unwary, returning with "prizes" to share with Phoebe or other members of the Coterie. Miriam is emotional, instinctual, cunning, wary, determined, and can get easily flustered (this emotion tends to show on her face, much to her consternation).  She is intensely loyal to those who are loyal to her, but does fear that one day she may be abandoned again.  She likes being taken care of, even if she won't admit it to herself, as well as intimacy and contact with others.

Miriam continues to watch out for her flock in Bricktown.  While Douglas makes grandiose plans and Phoebe works in more subtle ways, Miriam does the little things.  She watches out for the most downtrodden among the people who come through the Newberry Transitional Living Facility or through the neighborhood, offering them protection or "gifts" when they need it.  She is the eyes and ears on the street and knows what's going on in the neighborhood.  She is not the leader or a strategist, but she may be the emotional heart of the Coterie.  She sees through the bullshit to what is important at the most basic levels.

Miriam's Dirge is Child (modified if given permission)

Step 6:  What you will become.
Miriam continues to find herself.  She is gaining in confidence and growing emotionally stronger and less dependent on others in order to achieve that strength.  At the same time, she never wants to be on her own again.  In life she longed for companionship and that emotion is something she recalls on a daily basis.  She struggles between that longing that drives her and her fear that she will be rejected and abandoned.

Miriam is also learning that she has power in the Dance Macabre by virtue of her blood ties to Kevan Harthford.  Intentional or not, her membership in his dynastic house, in good standing or no, gives her influence and respect in Invictus.  Others are naturally taking an interest, and Miriam is learning she can take advantage.  If word got out that she were a Speaker for the Silent, like her vampire brother Russel Harlow, she might wield even more influence...should she choose to wield it.  Douglas Hood is encouraging this re-connection to the Invictus Covenant, taking her around as if she were a young debutante.

It may be the case that Miriam continues her "sneak-thief" ways in order to help her flock one person at a time, but there is a part of her that relished who she was becoming when under the influence of Kevan Harthford. She has learned to respect the power and influence wielded by Douglas Hood, her fellow coterie member, as well as the perks of that lifestyle, and she is being tempted to leave her alley-cat ways behind by the lure of a lifestyle more suited to the aristocracy.  In other words, even though she despises her sire, there is a part of her that would not hesitate to become him.

Aspirations:

• Help New Renaissance accomplish it's goals in order to better protect my flock.
  
• Form an intimate (romantic or other) bond with another.
  
• Take my sire's place among the Invictus as revenge for casting me out into the wilds of fallen Detroit.

Step 7: Personal Description *New*
Exotic and slight, Miriam is hard not to notice when she enters a room, and despite her best efforts is not easily forgotten once she has your attention.  Although she is not much below average in height, she is a wisp of a girl, and is almost always the smallest creature in the room.  There is something animal in her movements and in the way her dark eyes cast about suspiciously or watch you intently.  It's as if she is driven by instinct above all other things.  She looks constantly ready to fight or flee.

Miriam's ethnicity is difficult to place due to her mixed heritage.  Most people see her simply as different and exotic.  Her features are soft and young, her cheeks full, her lips lush.  She appears even younger than she was when embraced.  Dark, shiny hair cascades over slim shoulders to the small of a narrow back, contrasting with pale skin with a slight olive undertone.  She dresses in a variety of styles depending on her mood, from street chic to bohemian.  She enjoys bright colors made of soft materials or flowing white dresses that allow ease of movement, but is not against a cute top and tight pair of jeans.

Miriam finds it difficult to hide her emotions, despite her best efforts. When she's not paying attention her emotions show plainly on her face, from joy to anger, hunger to lust, and sadness to frustration.  This tends to reinforce the effect that she is childlike and, together with her diminutive size, causes many vampires to dismiss her as a serious threat or fail to take her seriously.

Miriam is introverted and wary of strangers.  She can be nervous or fearful around people whom she has not met, and will hide among those with whom she is comfortable in a new situation.  Still, she is never shy or bashful.  Among those she knows well she is direct and unafraid, louder than one might expect, and forceful.  Many people go out of their way to help her or treat her like a princess...something that she quite likes, even if she would never admit it to herself.