PC Mercoledi

EXPERIENCE POINTS: 8

SUMMARY

Aradia Mercoledi is whimsical, yet calculated - loyal, yet untrusting. Born into the Napulengere clan of Romani travelers amidst Shadowfest celebrations in 1923. Named for the female messiah of witches, Aradia was raised in the Stregan tradition of Paganism, and comes from a long line of sorcery, leadership, and wisdom. She is deeply devoted to the goddess - a true believer in the old ways.

Player: Felicia DeRosa

Name: Aradia Mercoledi

Epitaph: n/a

Clan: Tremere

Sire: Camilla DeBreno

Embraced: 1956 (Born: Oct 31, 1923)

Apparent Age: 27-30

Nationality: Romani/Sicilian

Ethnicity: East Indian, Arabic, Greek, Egyptian, and Italian

Hair: Black, with punky red

Eyes: Blue

Height: 5’ 6”

Weight: 150 lbs (muscular/athletic)

Gender: Female

Ambition: Become a demigoddess.

Convictions: Never prey on or harm children / Family first

Touchstones: Locket from murdered daughter / coven / photo of AL Pacino

Humanity: 6

Generation: 12th

Blood Potency: 1

Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 1, Charisma 3, Manipulation 2, Composure 2, Intelligence 4, Wits 2, Resolve 2

Secondary Attributes: Health 4, Willpower 4

Skills: Athletics 1, Brawl 3, Stealth 1, Insight 3, Intimidation 2, Leadership 3, Performance (Guitar, Painting,dance/sing) 1, Persuasion 2, Streetwise 1, Academics (Linguistics) 2, Occult (Blood Magick) 4

Disciplines: Auspex 2, Blood Sorcery 3, Presence 1, Dominate 2, animalism 1,

DESCRIPTION

Aradia at Camilla's haven

Lithe, strong willed, driven, snarky, and confident, Aradia cuts an impressive figure. She is typically dressed in black velvet, red, and silver. A BoHo look accented with lace - a nod to her familial roots, crossed with contemporary accents of tule, bold patterns, colorful bangles, band tees, buttons, and denim. She is exotic, mysterious, and playful: kind and matronly to those in her care - attentive, aggressive, and generous to those she beds. A loyal friend and ally, but quick to anger when threatened or betrayed, making her a vicious, calculating enemy, and an unrelenting huntress. All her movements are fluid, graceful and feline, influenced by years of ritual dance. Her long, ebony hair is often in braids, or gathered in a scarf, or under a hat, unless she is leading a ritual, or performing. In such instances, her hair seemingly floats about her head, unrestricted and wild - her blue eyes, piercing and focused. If ever you were to encounter Aradia out of context of performance or ritual, and she appears before you in this focused, wild way - run for the light: you've been marked as prey.

LANGUAGES

Spoken: Kalderash, Italian (Sicilian dialect), and American English Read: Hebrew, Greek, Egyptian, Latin, Arabic

HAVEN

Aradia's Haven

Aradia's Airstream, a classic 1950's "Flying Cloud" trailer hitch model, is a rolling, plush, climate controlled studio apartment. This is Aradia's nest. The place she goes to when she needs to paint, meditate, observe the sabbatts, and commune with the goddess. It is also a highly psychically charged location that gives greater focus and potency to her spellwork. On April 13 (1986), in celebration of the return of Halley's Comet, and the coming of the goddess, (april 25th full moon) - Aradia and Camilla hosted a two day "pot luck" romp, that ended in a pre Sabbatt ritualistic hunt through the woods.

Aradia's wheels

Typically, Aradia parks her Caravan off the beaten path in the Big Woods Preserve, South Hampton, NY, Where it is safeguarded by a forest ranger who studies the craft under Aradia's tutelage. Generally, Aradia crashes with Camilla in her upper west side loft apartment, but from time to time, she will crash with one of her herd. On occasion, she will spend the day at Leah’s haven, a centrally located club in Brooklyn shared by her coterie.

Aradia is one for exploration. She often takes road trips to explore the sites of her new homeland, and has modified her car trunk to be a comfortable, lightproof, napping nook.

HISTORY

Aradia's early life was spent learning the ways of her people as they traveled along the Salerno coast, developing her skills as a performer, artisan, and mystic. By the age of nine, her skills with the craft rivaled her mother, a powerful sorceress known as Mother Lavinia, who once proclaimed her daughter to be the chosen vessel of Diana herself.

Mother Lavinia and some of Aradia's cousins, circa 1926 (Aradia not pictured)

Their clan arrived in Sicily by late February 1936, and set up camp just outside of Palermo. Aradia was thirteen. Almost immediately, they began performing in the town square; selling crafts, doing odd jobs - and in the case of Mother Lavinia - reading tarot, providing herbal remedies for the local townspeople, and on a few instances, serving as midwife. One day, in late June, Ardaia gathered her few belongings and essentials, and ventured into town with her cousins to perform, as she had been doing since they arrived. Townfolk would flock to the square when they heard her singing the tales of her people. Her presence was magnetic, her singing, enchanting. Each movement, a form of spell work meant to lighten, and entrance her audience, and gain their favor. And true, her admirers would freely offer coins, and fresh fruit in praise of her artisity. On this day however, as Aradia and her cousins came upon the square, they were met by local authorities, who were preparing for the arrival of Mussolini, later that day. The group were arrested as vagrants on the spot, despite assurances from Aradia - who had picked up much of the local dialect, that they would vacate peacefully. Moments before receiving a sharp blow to the head, Aradia heard one of the men proclaim; "outsiders will not be tolerated," and that "in the name of nationalism," Sicily was to remain "pure."

Istituto San Carlo, as it is today (file photo)

She awoke that evening to find herself in a convent; Istituto San Carlo, being tended to by a nun; Sr. Marie Therese, who spoke a dialect of Aradia's language; "Kalderash." She learned that she had been unconscious for three days. There had been a raid on her camp by the authorities around the same time she and her cousins were arrested. The few who escaped, gathered the children and fled. The majority of the camp, some 20 men and women, were executed on site - including her mother, who burned alive in her caravan. Many that had not been shot, were later hung alongside her cousins from the square.

Over the next 2 years Aradia settled into her new life of service at the convent. During the day, she would cook for the nuns, run errands, and keep house. In Turn, Sr Marie Therese taught Aradia reading, writing and arithmetic. Having a flair for language, Aradia dove deep into her studies, reading ancient texts and familiarizing herself with Hebrew, Greek and Egyptian languages and mythology. The sisters of the convent were kind to Aradia, and so over time earned her trust. Out of respect for them and their kindness, she familiarized herself with their beliefs in the false god, keeping her true beliefs and practices secret. She in turn, shared her music and art with the convent, filling the halls with fresh flowers, and maintaining a modest garden of herbs and spices.

WWII bombings, Palermo, Sicily

Then, came the war and bombings.

Aradia fortified the convent with charms and spells, and amazingly, the convent remained unharmed. The convent then, became a safe place for the wounded and sick. Aradia worked tirelessly with the nuns to hold the community together until at last, allied forces arrived, finally declaring Sicily free on September 3, 1943. The community began rebuilding and gradually began to settle into a new level of normalcy and recovery.

The Day of her 23rd birthday, Aradia accompanied the sisters into town for the farmers market, in preparation for All Souls Day. This is where she first met Luca.

The Market

Luca was a war vet, and the apprentice to the town butcher, who was retiring that year. His deep set, hazel eyes sparkled with flecks of gold and followed Aradia as she moved from vendor to vendor, bargain hunting. He was distracted by a small rush of elderly women seeking fresh lamb and chicken for the next day's meal, when Aradia approached his stand, in search of a suitable roast and cured meats. Her voice was like music and he stammered a bit as he spoke to her. He was big, and muscular, and smelled of the field; wild and musky. His dark complexion stood in bold contrast to his white undershirt. They chatted a good while before Sr. Marie found her, and began leading her away.

After a brief, chaperoned courtship, Luca proclaimed his love and proposed marriage.

File:Wedding aradia-and-lucajpg

Aradia and Luca's wedding, 05/01/1946

They were wed six months later on May 1st, in honor of the goddess and then, nine months later - to the day - their daughter was born. This was a bittersweet time for Aradia, as on the same day, after so many years in service, Sr. Marie passed into the shadow realm. It was hard to say goodbye to the woman who, in many ways, mothered Aradia even longer than Lavinia. So, to honor them both, she named her Daughter; Lavinia Marie.

This was a time for healing and great joy for Aradia. Luca was a good man; hard working, devoted, kind, and loving. Lavinia, always at Aradia's side, was the cheery light of her life. She had a gift with animals, was deeply tuned with nature, and like Aradia, had a musicians ear.

As is the way of all things, Time passes and change occurs. Recovery from the war took a heavy toll on the community. It was difficult to maintain a sustainable living. The mafia resurfaced, and began offering goods, services and protection to the people in exchange for financial compensation. It was understood that their "generosity" was not optional.

The Mafia gains control (file photo)

Luca was one of many who resisted the Mafia influence over the Christian Democratic movement, lamenting: "It's becoming impossible for an honest man to make an honest living." And so, after several heated discussions, Luca and Aradia decided that life in Sicily had become too volatile and uncertain. So, to preserve their family, it was time to begin the process of immigrating to The United States. It was September, 1955. Aradia began the long process of obtaining the appropriate papers, while Luca took on several odd jobs in an effort to build enough savings to cover the costs of such a huge endeavor.

Luca's butcher shop, moments after the explosion

Lavinia was with Luca when it happened. Aradia, who was at the consulate that day, filing papers and applications, never got the complete story as to what happened. From what she could piece together, Luca had gone to the shop, to assess its value and determine potential buyers, when the bomb went off. Some say it was a remnant from the war that had gone unseen all this time and suddenly detonated, but it was the consensus of many, that Lucas' resistance had inspired others, and that he was seen as a threat. So, the Mafia had targeted him to teach an important lesson of compliance to others.

Aradia was beside herself with grief, and fell into depression. She begged the goddess to end her life and return her to her family, but to no avail.

It was October 31st, 1956 when Aradia, grief stricken, entered the cemetery and set up an altar across the headstones of Luca and Lavinia. She cast her circle, lit her candles and attempted to pierce the veil, to find her loved ones, and to join them. She ran her athame up her forearms in blood sacrifice to the horned one, begging relief. "What a waste." The voice came from behind her. She turned and fell into the arms of Camilla, a tall, lithe woman with black eyes and short, modern, auburn hair. "I have been forsaken," cried Aradia. "By whom?" Camilla sat with Aradia cradled in her arms, and began drinking from Aradia's wounds. "I've lost everyone, my clan, my mothers, my love, my child. Why has the Goddess abandoned me?" Camilla, threw back her head in laughter, blood glinting on her fangs. "The goddess has not forsaken you, sweet one. The world of men have." She waved her hand before Aradia's eyes, murmuring intelligibly. "Not yet dear, stay with me. I've waited quite some time to meet you, it'd be rude for you to leave in the middle of a conversation."

The Noto cemetery, as it is today (file photo)

Aradia stared blankly at nothing, bloodless... somewhere between life and death. "I have lived for over a hundred and fifty years. In all that time, the indomitable human spirit continues to amaze me. I have been searching for one like you," she said, brushing the hair from Aradia's eyes. "A born witch. You have potential, my dear, and I tire of this unending loneliness. I had thought of merely bonding you to me. But then you had to go and kill yourself." She shook her head, leaned in, and kissed Aradia gently, first on the left cheek, and then the right. "SO. As we do not have much time, I'll get to it. Travel with me. Explore your potential. Build a new clan. What do you say, love? Tick, tock, goes the clock." Aradia, near gone, replied; "Only if we can destroy those who destroyed all I loved. Help me take revenge, and I'll follow you."

INSIGHT

Sketch of Aradia during Sabbatt practices circa 1958

Aradia by nature, is a rebellious leader and spiritual teacher, though in the tenants of her spiritual beliefs, would never belittle anothers’ philosophy. She uses her entire being as a tool for self empowerment, as is the way of the Strega, and will often employ her feminine instincts and sexuality to hide her true intent and to establish power over those who seek to control her. As a witch, she is cunning - an unrelenting huntress, skilled healer, and matriarch. As was taught to her by both her mothers, Aradia strives to be at peace with those who differ.

Not long after her embrace, she abandoned the peace and light of the goddess in order to take in the dark, and enact her revenge on those who had destroyed so much of her human life. The sacrifice of the wolf she offered to the darkness - to fuel and empower her bloodlust - is a shame she carries with her to this day. Since that night, Aradia has committed herself to only kill as a protective measure to either herself, or to one under her care and then - only as a last resort. This is often a source of conflict to her Vampiric life, which keeps her from fully embracing the light of the goddess, which to her is salvation.

Her humanity then, is an aspect of her identity that is carefully safeguarded.