Nora Beaconsfield

Concept: “My Secret Weapon” "The Governor's wife."

AKA: Nor, or Nor-easter if she’s pissed

Desc: Petite with a lovely bob that frames her face perfectly. (for serious, her personal stylist Reynaldo has it down to a science.) pert and relatively fit, she has a well engineered and genuine smile. intelligent eyes favors dark colors and has the legs for a predilection for pencil skirts. Wears a wristwatch because hunting for the phone all the time bugged her.

History: Nora grew up in a political family so it wasn’t exactly a shock that she majored in Poli sci in college. But she also took a journalism minor which has served her very well over the years. her first job was writing political analysis for the local paper and it was something she was actually quite astute at. She met Ben Beaconsfield on the campaign trail and liked what she saw. he wasn’t an empty suit. He had his own money. and he had his own mind. he probably would have lost that first city council election had not Nora come bouncing into his life, and his heart.

        Which makes it all sound so much more cynical and calculating than it actually was. Nora saw that Ben was a decent guy in an indecent biz and she saw that he had miles and miles of potential. That’s what really got to her. His simple raw charisma and intelligence. she had opportunities to see him at his absolute best and her cool calculating side simply caught fire, So she quit the paper and threw every single bit of her talent behind his campaign. Nora Beaconsfield is not just the governor’s wife. She is his de-facto chief of staff as well. And it doesn’t hurt that she’s telegenic as hell and so polished that the electorate in this state loves her to pieces. Nora is also hella good with campaign finance and has an intuitive feel for how far ben will go to get an endorsement. She has successfully sued opponents for libel during campaigns for the temerity of stating that she or anyone else had appropriated funds. Her books were a model of efficiency and record keeping for forensic purposes. She’s noticed that the Democratic machine in this state will crucify you for small things, while the GOP round these parts are famous for large long con-corruption and finding small shit that the Democrats do that will cause the democrat's party machine to eat itself. So Nora takes it upon herself to keep a tight ship.

So it’s a little weird about how much Nora is into understanding the occult. It came about as the result of seeing something peculiar once while following a story for the paper. it made Nora realize that maybe her understating of the world wasn’t as “Holistic” as it needed to be.  This led to reading up on horoscopes, and when she found that following that stuff actually helped their numbers to the tune of about 9-14% improvements. she started learning how to read tarot.  She reads every single new person who gets added to the staff and it hasn’t steered her wrong yet. Nora’s still relatively new at this and isn’t aware of the Vermillion house, although they are well aware of her. She hasn’t run afoul of anyone yet who’s willing to hire someone like Walter Blevins. But she doesn’t have a mentor or a coven willing to run interference for her or anything like that. She is however on the lookout for something like that

Attitude: “I was always told by my parents that “with great power comes great responsibility.” I don’t know as I always believe that, But I always see how the really rich and powerful abuse that idea and how it ALWAYS causes needless suffering.”

Skills: Physically, she’s fit but nothing terribly special nor is she some kind of secret combatant. She's got more juice on the social end of things. strong presence and composure and has middling Manipulation.  She works hard at the social skills because they truly aren’t as natural to her. She’s honestly more of a bookworm.

Intellectually, she’s fairly tough. She’s strongest on Resolve but isn’t so intelligent that she intimidates people. or at least is wise enough not to do so... She’s got a ton of dots shoveled into academics including specs in accounting, journalism, and psychology.  Strong dots in politics to the point of being able to read the room or crowd with nearly subliminal speed. her knowledge of the occult is more, “I read it in a book” based than experiential.  her current project is to find someone skilled in making protective talismans for her and Ben, Which may be how she crosses paths with the characters.

Gear: Smartphone, tarot deck, a panic button that summons the governor’s security staff on the hop.

Home: The Governor’s mansion naturally. Although she can always lay low at her families place. Not that that will protect her from the Vermillion House should they be the problem. people with that sort of wealth all know one another really and few can keep their mouths shut. Nora’s mother sure can’t.

Circle: Nora’s reach is actually pretty long. she is professionally friendly with a number of people, and she seems to have a knack for figuring out who the hub of a particularly influential group is. Moreover, she is pretty good about checking in with them regularly and offering favors to stay in their good graces. She’s still tight with enough of her former fellow journalists that they occasionally still invite her out to drink.

Story Uses:

“SO I’m told you have something of a reputation around these parts.”

Nora already knows she needs someone who can backstop her some. the omen for the next election look particularly dire. So she may be casting around in Occult circles looking for real help or muscle.

Options: 

Probably any of the hedge magic templates would serve except for Apostle of the Dark one. it’s even possible that Nora might awaken in the course of traumatic events.

Connections:

*Shiri McSwain "they met at a fundraiser and she and her husband have become fast friends with her and Ben. To the degree that Nora will look for excuses to go round to the PCPL.

*Merl's "heard about this place but Google maps are not very helpful."

* Reverend Dr. Miranda Goines One of Nora's "Hubs"

*Alex Mahoney  I keep seeing the tower coming up in conjunction with the 5 of Wands.

* Dr. Dennis McMurtry  He's one of the best. taught me a LOT.

* Patricia "Carnie" Pitt  "I kick Trish any work I can. I've heard she's had a hard time in recent years. She's still wire tight though.