Lillian Penobscot

Concept: Art Gallery Owner/Occult Fence

Desc: A slim caucasian female in her late 50’s (Although she doesn’t look a day over 35.) She does yoga, is a strict vegetarian, rarely drinks to excess, and has had a small amount of “work” done.  She’s not ready for botox...yet. She is however in fantastic shape and is likely to destroy you at Tennis or Golf. She favors light colors to go along with blonde/silvering hair and favors linen over silk. She can wear heels but hates them.

History: Captain Tremlett haunted the old Penobscot ancestral manse, and a chance encounter with the old dead man wandering around the attic solidified an interest in the occult for young Lillian at the tender age of 10.  It was always something she’d piddled and dabbed at. She read books. tried spells. Danced naked a time or two. (Naturally, there was more of this away at college.)  She was interested in a degree in Art History but took courses in parapsychology when her course schedule permitted. It was a flirtation with a largely invisible world that never really left her. But by that same token, it was a world that never really took her fully into its grasp. Eventually, she married a rich man she’d known since pre-school and more or less forgot about it all.

   And that would have been that if Leonard hadn’t had a heart attack while shtupping his personal secretary. Lillian didn’t blame Maria at all. Didn’t even blame Leonard all that much.  Her taste in sex had always been a little too vanilla for Leonard and they hadn’t really been all that active in a while...They were like friends who used to fuck, who settled back into being friends again. She missed him some of course, but to a degree, it was also a bit of a relief.

    Over the years, Lillian had acquired the necessary wherewithal to run a gallery of her own. Very upscale. Very exclusive. So exclusive, many people don’t even know about it at all. The few artists who do know about it, consider it to be like the great white whale.

   One evening, a man came to the gallery,  giving his name as “Therion Laveau” he made an impassioned pitch to allow his art to exhibited at the gallery, as the security man was getting ready to throw him out, Lillian stopped him momentarily to ask him about his name.

“Names have power.” He said. 

“I know that. You’ve chosen to crib the names of two very powerful people. Aren’t you worried that there will be consequences?”

He looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. “Not particularly. I hope to honor their spirits...May I challenge you with a work that I have created?”

Intrigued, she had him show his wares.  When he returned from his pick-up truck, he was holding what could only be a Hand of Glory.

“ I see that you’ve seen something like this before.”

“Yes.” She said, “But never...never in the flesh.”

“Do you know what it does?”

“I...It enhances the ability to study.”

He smiled. “Something like that. It enhances experiences, for those who are awake enough to appreciate them.”

“Really?”

“Oh yes. Would you like to see?”

And with her assent, he lit the fingers of the grotesque candle. It’s powerful vibration filling the gallery,  The suspicious security guard slipped into a deep sleep right in front of her. Therion laughed musically next to her. as he took her delicate wrist in his thick strong hand.  “They’ll all be asleep by now. All of them. None of them are as awake as you and I.”  He looked at her with a look of naked hunger, and Lillian felt something stirring in her that hadn’t stirred in years. 

Hunger for knowledge.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, she screwed him too. But it was more about finding out what he knew and it was just kinky enough...but not TOO kinky.  Ya know? 

Within six months, Therion was off in Europe doing a tour, and Lillian had made the acquaintance of a goodly portion of the occult underground in town and the surrounding environs.  Fencing the occasional stolen article has become something of an interesting side business for her and while she doesn’t have the kind of research capability that Goodlow and Haversham might possess, she is at least a talented amateur.  And she learns fast.

Attitude: 

“Ugh. Dearie, these grimoires of yours are sadly bog-standard stuff, Although, If you’re willing to part with Crowley’s hookah.  Well, then you and I can talk seriously.  Mario, will you be a dear and fetch us another round of mimosas and finger sandwiches? Look. We can talk hard numbers all afternoon, but I think you know what I’m really after.  Introduce me to that tall, dark, dead friend of yours, and I’ll see if I can’t make this happen for you.”

Skills: Lillian has a pretty good head for business and family money to back it all up. She’s got a wide circle of friends and hangers-on, and she’s a known quantity for the most part in any group that would consider itself part of high society. She’ll have Occult as part of her range of Contacts and Allies.  She’s also usually got some mook on the string as Mentor for at least a few months at a time. When they start to get demanding she usually finds a way to get rid of them.  Money is pretty effective for that as many serious practicing magi don’t have a lot of dough.  Also: Lillian has a few connections in the Art-Mafia world. Yeah, that’s a real thing...and some of those dudes are serious.  She knows at least one large Serbian metal-worker who is more than willing to tune people up with his monkey wrench if it will get his work shown.

Story Uses:

“That? Oh, that’s perfectly harmless...”

Lillian, is well-read, does her homework, has enthusiasm, and is careful to a fault. She’s also in WAY over her head to the point of not knowing how far in over her head she is. So far, she’s been able to succeed on sheer bravado and learning fast, but it’s likely that she’s going to run up against the hard limit of how much she actually knows. Imagine she’s got a dozen occult specialties but only 2 dots of actual Occult to work with, and you’ve got a pretty good idea of where she is.  She’s not overly furnished with a lot of direct experience.  Moreover, she hasn’t really dealt with anyone in the occult world who wasn’t sane, or overly excitable. (She’s not met a werewolf yet. nor seen a vampire frenzy.)  

“Yes...I think I could spend eternity with HIM...”

Lillian...How to put this delicately...Lillian is a ghoul wannabe. To quote RHPS, She’s tasted blood and she wants more. Not because the blood itself has its hooks into her yet, But because she has a slightly romanticized idea of vampirism, She’s looking for some likely vampire to attach herself to.  They must be awfully lonely she thinks. And she has read that the blood of vampires is supposed to be slightly addictive, but as long as she’s not asked to do anything TOO degrading, that will probably be just fine.

Yeah. Those of you who play vampires are rolling your eyes at Lillian’s naivete.  It’s one of her few blind spots. Otherwise, she’s a sharp operator and you won’t do well to cross her.