Adalina Marianato

With their new contacts, a wider world is opened up to them, and business booms. Adella has a newfound strength and resolve to make their business great, to bring glory to God through their success. and truly these two must be His servants. Since meeting them, business has never been better.

They regularly attend dinners at the villa and make plans for their futures. Adella found herself feeling more and more fondly of Gabriele and Regina in a way that made her feel... sinful. It was wrong to covet thy neighbor's husband, but of course Gabriele was an angel. Wasn't it natural for her to feel such a strong affection for him?

She began to see him in her dreams, to fantasize about being with him in a more... biblical fashion, and at first it frightened her. She prayed to God for forgiveness for thinking of His angel in such a manner, and when it did not stop she thought herself a sinner. Perhaps God would not listen to such a sinner as her, so she turned to the only one that she could, to her direct line to God; to Gabriele himself.

She stopped at the villa one evening, wringing her hands as she begged an audience with Gabriele. She was led into a chamber to meet with him. When he enetered, she threw herself at his feet and confessed her darkest sins, praying for forgiveness. Forgiveness he gave her. And other things. But is it really a sin if it is the will of the angels? Adella didn't dream that it could be.

They carried on their affair in secret. Her angel was equal parts love and vengance, and she submitted to his every whim, the dark and the light. Meanwhile, her husband and Regina were doing much the same, unknown to Adella. But neither of them truly knew what was going on. What they thought was a passionate love affair was their new Regnants feeding on them. And this was only the beginning of them being used.

Gabriele and Regina decide that it is time to move on, and Adella and Antony are given new identities with which to start a new life. Angelo, now 20, takes over the family business with his younger brother as their parents "travel abroad to make more contacts for the business."

Their new identities purchase one of the shipping vessels from the Parodis, chartered a crew and sail to Sardinia. Once on the island, Alda and Alfonso Giordano (their new identities) start to set up shop once again using the purchased ship as their first source of revenue, hiring it out to other merchants for shipments while they proceeded to establish their own shipping business.

Three months after they have settled, Gabriele and Regina send a message back to the sons in Genoa telling of their parents tragic illness and evental passing. Along with the letter, the Regnants send a considerable inheritance and their parents wishes that their sons continue in the tradition of their family and that they might pass it to their sons after them. Under their new identities, they continue to do business with and keeping tabs on the business in Genoa.

In Sardinia, the quartet helped to establish a few local merchants, mostly goat cheese and wool. After 5 years, they hire a few locals and begin the work to keep the business running after they leave. They establish a reputation as good suppliers of local merchandise in a timely manner. Business wasn't booming here, but it was good enough to keep them around for 12 years. Again they begin a few years before with forged documents to establish new identities with a good trade history. When they move on, they use both their previous identities and their sons business as references to establish themselves once again.

Adella begins keeping careful track of their business dealings in private journals that she keeps with her throughout the years.

While her religion had always been important to Adella, her devotion to her "angels" soon comes to override her devotion to anything else, her God or her husband. While she still practices Catholicism outwardly, she feels she practises something higher, worship of God through direct service to his angels.

Gabriele she believes to be the earthly incarnation of the archangel himself and treats him as such. Regina, his consort, is revered as well, though less so than her beloved Gabriele (her Regnant, Daeva Lancea Sanctum). She serves him above all others.

Now out of his own business, it become clear that Antony's success was laregly due to his already successful family and assisted by the determination of his wife. While he runs the shop on his own, Adalina works the books to their advantage, supervises shipments and plans their next move. She shows an aptitude for manipulation and dealmaking when he husband is out of the shop and she takes over the show. She makes several lucrative deals with local merchants and crew members for their ships, much to the chargrin of her husband.

Her regnants notice, and she notices that they do. Adella secretly delights in the fact that they seem to prefer her to her husband. Subtly she begins taking more control over the business, trying to make it run smoothly and more efficiently.

At this time, both Adella and Antony were expected to be able to defend their regnants while they slept. Adella hired a local to teach Antony more technique, which he then passed on to Adella. Together they became capable, if unrefined, defenders of their holdings. Throughout the years abroad, Adella continued to seek out training for Antony so that the could both learn. After 50 years of training on and off, both were rather formidable.

The couple had made many contacts in Syracuse over the years of business, but this was a move that Adella was not excited about making, especially after years of living in Sardinia which had, in the not so distant past, been attacked by Muslim fleets aiming to conquer.

Syracuse, at the time, was under Muslim rule. Adella and her husband had always been devout, but now the were forced to put aside their faith, forsake it, to further the goals of their regnants. Adella felt reluctant. It was difficult to truly reconcile her feelings about Muslims after her devout upbringing, the participation of herself and her husband in the First Crusade and the attempts of the Muslim fleets to take Sardinia in their time there. She prayed long and hard and finally sought the counsel of her angel Gabriele. He told her that he understood her reluctance, but that God's will is as it is, and she would bring glory to his name by continuing as she has been commanded by Him. It is quite the lifestyle change, but she endeavours to please her angels and complies with gusto.

The first year and a half was difficult. It was hard to put behind her the feelings that had been so engrained in her, but she persevered for the sake of the group. After some time, she gets used to the different culture. She must back off from any real work with the business as it is unheard of for a woman to run a business like a man. She does paperwork and gives her husband advice when he needs it, but concentrates on playing the good wife and keeping the home and her husband "happy." She struggles with not being able to assist as much as she would like, and so does the business.

While they play the happy family for the outside world, the growing disdain between Adella and Antony becomes more and more apparent when they are alone. It is clear that they no longer love one another, but merely tolerate the presence of the other for the good of their regnant. As Adella become steadily more confident and assertive, Antony become angrier and verbally abusive in the privacy of their home. At first, it took Adella by surprise, she decided not to let it bother her. It was obvious that her angels prefered her, and as long as they did, what Antony thought didn't matter.

Trade is good, but not as good as the group would like. After only a few short years, and the prompting of a message from a contact of Regina's near Constantinople, they leave the city.

Only weeks after they leave Syracuse, it was recaptured by Byzantine general George Maniakes.

While in Otranto, the couple expanded their business to include a stable for a local courier's business. Here, she developed a love of the animals. She admired them for their strength and beauty, and found a sense of calm in caring for them. Her favorite was a chestnut Calabrese stallion she called Altero. After acquiring him for the business, she decided to start making local deliveries herself with Altero and, using the extra money she was able to make, purchased the stallion from the business for her personal use. Altero stayed with her for 14 years, her respite from the day to day chaos of running a growing business.

During that time, Adella bred the horse out for extra money. He was of good stock, beautiful and strong, and many of the merchants, and even some of the upper class, were willing to pay to have a horse of his stature. She began keeping meticulous records of the horse and those that he sired.

Naples, now a part of the Kingdom of Sicily, was good for business. It was a cultural center as well as a center of trade, allowing the group to make a considerable number of contacts through both Europe and the Middle East. The group slowly works its way into the upper class of the city through the wealth accrued by the Ghouls and the considerably influential power of the Kindred.

Unfortunately, they were not to only Kindred in Naples. While they had encountered Kindred before on their journey, this was the first time that their presence was not welcome. Their business horned in on the business of another local Kindred, and did not go unnoticed.

First, rumors of low quality product and absurd price increases tried to ruin the business. It took considerable effort from the ghouls to keep business afloat and dispel the rumors. After three years, things seemed to be going better. That was when their rival poached three of their best clients from Rome and had an inland caravan attacked, destroying an entire shipment of wool to Capua. Her husband thought that the business in the city was doomed, but she held out hope. Calling a a few favors from the merchants they had met in their travels, she was able to procure a new shipment at a lower cost and able to get it shipped from Sardinia with only a 2 week delay. It wasn't easy, but she did it, and her regnants were impressed.

Finally, in 1158, their rival pulled out all the stops. He Dominated a local into visiting the business after hours and she caught the regnants feedings. A Masquerade breach was sure to ruin them, perhaps even get them killed. She sprang into action, chasing the woman down the narrow corridors near the business. When she finally caught the spy, she was unable to stop the girl from screaming “Demons! Demons! Keep away from me!”

Thinking quickly, she bashed the woman's head against a wall, cut her own purse strings and sliced herself carefully along her own throat, screaming and crying as guards came to see the commotion. “Demon!” she cried. “This demon was going to kill me! Stole my purse, cut me with her knife! She tried to kill me!” Between her tears and her blood, the guards led her back to her home and told her stunned looking husband the entire story, how she was lucky to be alive. Her attacker ranted and raved about the demons in the shop, and the guards investigated and found no bodies, only the Kindred there waiting to Dominate the poor girl who got caught in the middle. The poor, sick woman was remanded to her family and she was given to God to heal her sick mind. (first loss of Morality, now 6)

Disaster averted, the Kindred presented themselves to the Court of the city. They spoke with the Prince and told him that though they were unsure who it was that had set this woman upon them, they solved the problem. If someone was desperate enough to breach the Masquerade to protect their business in the city, the Prince should be more wary of those he allowed within his walls. While the Prince offered them a place in his city, a more permanent residence, the Kindred decided that they had been here long enough, and would be leaving the city in the near future. They thanked him for this graciousness and left Naples behind them.

Rome is amazing for business. rather tha competing against local Kindred, the regnants strike mutually beneficial bargains to assist one another, and business is good all around.

The foursome arrived in Venice at it's prime. The republic had been seeing increased trade with the Byzantine Empire over the course of the century, and it was marvelous for business. A center of culture as well as trade, the group easily made their way into the upper crust and enjoyed many of the luxuries the city had to offer.

The return to Genoa was bittersweet for Adella. The city she had grown to know seemed so different from what she remembered. For the first time, she truly understood what it could mean to be ageless, to watch the world around you change as you stayed the same. 80 years had gone by. Everyone she had known was surely dead now.

She felt hollow inside as she visited the graves of her sons and their wives and the old exports company, still thriving, run by her great grandchildren and their children. She met a tiny child called Adella, her great, great great granddaughter, and could not bear it. It was the only time she visited what was once her family.

After over a century in Italy, Gabriele and Regina decided it was time to expand and made plans to venture through the rest of the continent.

Adella studied furiously to learn French, Spanish and Portugeuse both before and during their time abroad. She used some of the money they had accrued over the years to hire tutors, and took notes ferociously. She proved to be a quicker learner than Antony.

While she had experiene with different cultures before, it seemed so different now, surrounded by unfamiliar land and an unfamiliar tongue. She did not find it quite as difficult to adapt as she had at Syracuse, but there were strggles in the first few months. Some of the French made fun of her faux pas, just a silly forgeiner. It only strengthened her resolve.

Barcelona was their first extended stay. Regina had reached a point where she must take a long rest or deal with the consequences of her age and power, so they found themselves a quiet and remote villa with a secure cellar and stayed put.

Instead of moving every few years from city to city, they replaced staff of their business every 10 years. Adella and Antony would trade of playing heads of the house, and every 10 to 15 years they would visit with a new relative who would be taking over the business. It was the first time in ages that the two were not at the shop every day. The job of guarding the resting place was now full time, and they had to be entirely commited to the task.

For the first time since they had met, she would be the only woman in the house, and she relished the thought of finally having Gabriele all to herself.

Unfortunately for her, it was the first time that there had not been another woman in the house for Gabriele to take his temper out on. After only a few months without Regina, his patience began to wear thin. He was at times viciously cruel in word and in deed, yet she loved him through it. For every hurt there was a kindness, for every barbed word was one of praise. She bore the scars, both internal and external, with as much dignity as she could muster.

Thirty years passed, and on a particularly poor night, she was made to deliver some bad news. A local Kindred who had been competeing for business and had run one of their smaller shops into the ground with no hope of recovering the investment. Gabriele's anger was worse than she had ever seen. She reached out to him, trying to console him, and he lashed out, throwing her against a stone pillar in the corrridor. Adalina felt something snap as she collided with the immovable object.

For a dreadful moment, she felt nothing below her neck. She lay there, motionless, as slowly she regained the feeling in her limbs, felt her bones rearranging back into their proper places. She looked up to see her angel gazing at her from acros the room, eyes impassive as stones. Her eyes filled with tears as she watched him stand and walk slowly toward the door.

Never again did she reach for him without permission.

After over 100 years of service, Regina feels that Adella ought to be Embraced. She has proven herself a survivor and an asset that Regina does not want to risk losing. Gabriele believes she still has value as a ghoul and should remain a servant longer. It sparks an arguement that Adella overhears as she goes about her nightly routine before bed. When she hears Gabriele threaten to leave, she is distraught. after so very long, she cannot imagine being without her angel. In a panic, she hurries to her room, gathers some clothes and rushes back to his sleeping place to find him before he leaves. As she turns the corner, a red cloaked figure, back to her, strode toward the door.

She called out to him. "Gabriele!" The figure stopped. "Please, take me with you!" she cried rushing toward him. "You cannot leave me here, my angel! You cannot leave me here alone with them!" Catching at the corner of the cloak, she gasped in astonishment as the face that turned toward her belonged not to Gabriele, but to Regina.

Regina glared at her, catching Adella's wrist in her strong hands. "Your precious angel does not love you, does not see what you are worth. But I do." Regina's fangs flashed in the torchlight. "I do."

It was very fast; Regina lunging forward and catching Adella in the throat, the quivering warm cold feeling of being drained of her blood, the vague memory of another figure in the hall and a fight, and slipping into blackness. The sounds faded away and then, suddenly, rushed back up ith a gush of cold in her throat.

When she opened her eyes again, her head was cradled in Regina's lap. Regina's cloak was ripped and her hair mussed. A cut ran across her cheek, though no blood flowed from it. There was, however, blood flowing from the gash in her wrist.

Regina told her new childe that Gabriele had fled, and Adella was distraught. She moved to stand, but Regina held her in place. She told Adella that Gabriele was angry with her for thinking to abandon their happy little family, that he had tried to kill Adella for her betrayal, and that Regina had stopped him. And with a liberal application of Dominate, Adella believed her.

Of course Adella thought, in some perverse way, that had her Gabriele killed her she would have deserved it. But he did not. He could not. Deep inside she knew that he could never truly have killed her. He loved her, and she, wretched mess that she was, did not deserve it. And now he was gone.

Adella was a sobbing mess. Regina quickly snapped her out of it. "You are better than this, and you will prove it. Do not let him control you any longer. You will stand and become stronger than you have ever been, beholden to no man. Stand and become one of us."

That night, she chose the name Adalina Marianato, Noble of the Sea

Zaragoza was meant to be more than a simple pit stop. Adalina was no longer assisting in running as much of the business as she was used to, but she had much learning that took up the bulk of her now significantly less time. Regina had taken her under her wing and was teaching her more and ore about the true nature of Kindred. They spent nearly all their time together.

One day, while she slept, Adalina felt a disturbance. Her eyes flew open to see Antony hovering over her, a silver knife in his hand. Instinctually she flew into action and seized the knife. He struggled against her strengthened hands as she flung her weight toward him, toppling together to the ground. The rolled and kicked and clawed until he had her pinned to the ground. The knife was only a foot away and he could not reach it without letting go of her hands. He took the risk and she did the only thing she could.

She bit him. She bit him and she drained him. As she felt his life slip away, she heard him gurgle Regina's name as he pulled her head closer into his neck. It was the last word he ever spoke.(Second loss of Humanity, now 5, gains Suspicion)

Regina was less than happy when she woke. Adalina tried to explain what had happened, showed her the tears in her dress, but she wouldn't hear it. Regina lamented the time and training now wasted, that she could never get the time back that she had spent trying to make something of this man. Finally, she waved her away. "You killed him, you can take care of him," she sighed.

Adalina wasted no time planning how she would remove the body from their home. And, to her mind, her plan was brilliant.

First, she boiled the flesh in a large kitchen pot until the bones separated, then picked them out and threw all but the skull in the fire until they became brittle enough to grind. The resulting bone meal was worked into the garden of the home. The skull she had a special plan for. She acquired a tinted varnish to make it look aged. She still keeps the skull in her home as a reminder that nobody is to be truly trusted.

Toledo was a change in practice for Adalina and Regina. Yes, they set up shop in one of the business districts, but it was more the culture that became their focus. Toledo had become a cultural center in the 13th century, and while business was less than they could have hoped due to all the competition, they decided on an extended stay.

While in Toledo, Adalina gained a renewed interest in the sword. Famed for the alloy with which they crafted their blades, she found the blades beautiful. She purchased one. Regina did not entirely approve, but she began to practice with it nightly. She found that her nightly ritual gave her more focus, more confidence, and had a very calming effect on her nerves. It reminded her of her childhood painfully, but also of her time with the Crusading armies, of having a higher, nobler purpose. It made her feel truly powerful, self sufficient, and wha tit was like to have something that one held dear. She felt it had been so long since she had truly cared for anything other than Gabriele, and that perhaps having something else would help to ease the ache in her soul.

Here her Requiem Diaries become more about culture and politics than about business. She vaguely references any Kindred court scandals under the guise of a social group of which she is a member, always careful not to include too much detail about their preternatural life.

Becomes a perspective member of the Invictus in 1298.

Regina has a short torpor, Adalina has learned enough to survive, but Regina does not feel safe leaving her alone. Leaves her with an Au Pair of the Invictus to continue her learning.

Joins Invictus in 1391

Adalina fell into her torpor in one part of Lisbon and woke in another. A significant earthquake in 1597 damaged the vault in which she slept, but she was unable to wake. Cracks in the walls of the vault let the sunlight in enough for it to be a possible danger to leave her there, so Regina's staff moved the torpid body to a shipping warehouse for three nights until a new vault could be secured. Luckily no one asked any questions of the large crates being moved from the house afterward.

When she woke, she woke to a Lisbon that had been taken and won back again from the Spainish, yet was ever thriving and becoming more and more a hub of trade for the continent and into the New World. The pair remained a few more years so that adalina could get her barings back before they headed off again.

By way of Rochfort. Though Paris is a beautiful city full of interesting people, and Kindred, the beginning of the War of Spanish Succession forces them out to avoid any possible conflict.

Took up fencing to hoone her skill with a blade.

Adalina was present and fought for the formation of the Court in Mount Pleasant as opposed to Midland due to its placement near the middle of the state making it an ideal spot for industry and transportation, bringing more people to the area.

The Princedom was decided between three members of the city. Adalina, Lord Frederickson, (Ventrue Invictus) and (Daeva Unaligned). Adalina was opposed to being Prince. She had other things to do. Lord Frederickson didnt believe that (Daeva) was a good choice but could be a force to unite the wanderers in the area under a Princedom. However )Daeva) did not think it was right for an Unaligned to be Prince, and Adalina agreed. At the insistence of the others that he take the role, he vowed to join the Invictus, Adalina was to be his Tutor, and he seized the very first Praxis of the city.

Adalina seized the titles of Earl of Mid Michigan and Baroness of Mount Pleasant for the conquering of the Domain.

Seizes Praxis from (Daeva) as he no longer wants the position.

During the Stock Market crash, she helps save local farms and sets it up to look like Frederickson did it so that she could set him up to be Prince when she needed to take a Torpor in a year or so.

Sets up an agreement with Fredrickson for him to take Praxis so she can go "traveling".

Stages an argument between herself an Fredrickson, Fredrickson calls for an accounting and seizes Praxis.

Adalina enters torpor under the watchful eye of Usa Adami of Clan Nosferatu.

Woken from torpor by break of blood bond to her sire, Regina Romana.

Upon waking for Torpor, goes to court to speak with Prince Fredrickson, who immediately calls her into a meeting. He is tired of Praxis and per their agreement wants to give it back. She doens't want it, but sees his distress and knows it can't be good for the city as a whole. He has made stupid childish mistakes, and she can help her protege save face.

Fredrickson calls Usa Adami into the meeting, Adalina tells them that she can save Fredrickson the embarrassment of stepping down and can assure that the city has a new Prince, her or not. She will stake Fredrickson and drag him into Elysium, declaring an old issue now taken care of and seizing the Praxis that he "stole" from her, under the guise of Monomacy.

Nobody objects.

https://sites.google.com/site/womenofcrusade/about-us/women-in-general

http://www.umich.edu/~eng415/topics/women/women-article.html

http://history-world.org/crusades.htm

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/nigel.nicholson/hn/CrusadeFAQs/f-women.html

https://sites.google.com/site/womenofcrusade/products/annotated-bibliographies/heathers-annotated-bibliography

http://what-when-how.com/women-and-war/crusades-women-and-the-wars/

http://books.google.com/books/about/Gendering_the_Crusades.html?id=OpT_v3fOtR0C