Shanakdakhete Meroë
Follower of Set (Exiled)
Assayer of the Inconnu
Nubian Lilin of Butana
Adjunct of the Mao'lung Fragments
Description
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 135 lb.
Ethnicity: Black
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Long simple black
Clothing: Black and gold clubwear
Comportment/Cadence: Confident
Distinctions: Stunning and fabulous: "Shanak" is a Nubian queen, wearing an amazing and unheard of combination of contemporary and ancient African fashion.
Supernatural Qualities: No, really. Many Black women think of themselves as "Nubian queens", but Shanakdakhete Kandake literally was; mesmerizing and almost serpentine eyes hold you in place; that beauty, grace, and elegance are mythical characteristics that leave all around her in trembling awe, fearful for their lives yet grateful that before those lives ended, they got to behold her divine majesty at least once
Accoutrements: Moderate jewelry
Traits: Appearance 6 (bewitching); Style 6 (classical)
“The serpent is a symbol of both wisdom and evil, for wisdom and evil are casual bedfellows, like the caduceus.”
History
Date of Birth: July 19th, 180 BCE
Home: Meroë, Kingdom of Kush
Family: Eoeri and Shukura (parents), Pisanhor (older brother), Neema (older sister)
Embrace: External Supernatural Trigger (Shanakdakhete was born into one of two great families aligned to the throne of Meroë, and she became the first true queen of Nubia because her older siblings died and the competing family's son was a child and no regent ably took his place; she was raised as royalty, trained for it, and she embraced the role, proving herself one of the mightest leaders the dynasty would ever have, keeping even Rome at bay with her generalship and political savvy; so fearsome a ruler was she that no man dared try to court her, and caring only for her country, she accepted the other family's son as her successor, even helping to groom him for the role; she saw herself more as a custodian of honor and justice than power; Kanika was drawn to this regal lady, hinting the offer of the Embrace several times over the years of her reign, which Shanak finally accepted once her successor was ready), 151 BCE
Sire: Kanika Tauaw
The Test: Trial by Influence (Kanika respected Shanak's desire for legacy, and it was through that sentiment that Shanak had finally accepted the offer of the Embrace, and through that lens that she served her sire and accepted the monster-affirmative Path of Lillith as well)
Comrades: Kanika Tauaw, Tulliola Cicero, Nekoko
Key Event #1: War (part of her relent included a demand that Kanika, as a Ptolemaic Egyptian herself, help Shanak keep Meroë independent from Roman imperialism, and the two Setites did so from behind the scenes, undermining Roman Kindred's efforts to direct their mortal pawns successfully south of the Fifth Cataract of the Nile River)
Key Event #2: Personal Tragedy (but after the Romans came a threat from the east: the Aksumites; their empire included too many Brujah for even she and her sire together to contain, never mind Shanak alone, and eventually included early Christians crusading and converting; so the best she could do was help keep the Kushite religion alive in "mystery cults" exiled to the deserts)
Key Event #3: Awe & Wonder (while Rome faded, Christianity spread and threatened the old world order; Shanak moved further southwest, and with Kanika and now Tulliola's help, too, they helped create the kingdom of Nobatia, keeping the old faiths alive, and driving out Blemmyes medjai from their protectorates)
Key Event #4: War (Nobatia became Shanak's top priority, her "childe", and neither Kanika nor her sister Tulliola interfered; early Christians lost in True Faith became tireless witch hunters not just of Shanak but her people and their pagan beliefs)
Key Event #5: War (but a greater threat came as the Middle Ages began: the Makurian Kingdom annexed the ailing Nobatian realm, but they were themselves soon conquered by the Muslim Abbasids, who included a foe far worse than Brujah...Assamites began harrying Shanak and her dwindling forces)
Key Event #6: War (no all-out war ever declared between Shanak and the local Assamites, but minor skirmishes took their tolls; she personally proved an unstoppable thorn in their side)
Key Event #7: Awe & Wonder (Shanak ironically became an Osiris: dwelling in the desert wastelands, keeping pagan cults around her to maintain her culture and keep a ready source of food; she would later reject keeping her own people for their vitae)
Key Event #8: War (the Muslims pushed deeper south, this time the mighty Saladin's Mamluk forces driving into the land, and with them arrived more Assamites, driving her to the edge of survival)
Key Event #9: Treachery (desperately, she fomented civil wars and revolts of her people against the Mamluks, versus these usurpers and Muslim pretenders)
Key Event #10: Personal Tragedy (while the Anarch Revolt shattered the Kindred of Europe, she was far too busy trying to save her homeland; tragically, the Black Plague put an end to all her hopes; her loyalists, cut off from the best supplies and medicine, suffered immensely)
Key Event #11: War (Kanika dropped word that the Baali may have been responsible for the great plague, and she dug angrily through the Sahara in search of the vile diabolists for revenge; the Mamluks and Ottomans battling over territory, including hers, but with her people all but assimilated, culture extinct, she cared now only for vengeance)
Key Event #12: War (in the Fezzan of Libya and especially Murzuq Desert, she uncovered three separate nests of Baali, obliterating them and their demonic allies mercilessly, even though these specific Baali likely had nothing to do with the Black Plague)
Key Event #13: Awe & Wonder (in part to hunt for more Baali, but also to at last expand her horizons, Shanak began to explore the rest of North Africa, and then up into Europe, Central Asia, and then finally down into sub-Saharan Africa; her immense personal power kept her safe and satiated wherever she traveled, having long compensated for a lack of her sire's talent with blood magic by commanding a mastery of her physical undead form instead)
Key Event #14: Awe & Wonder (in the Lake Chad area, she encountered Laibon vampires, and after a peaceful council with these exotic Kindred, after comparing vampiric theology and lore, they recruited her into the Inconnu, the sect to which they [very nominally] belonged)
Key Event #15: War (though she loved her homeland, and she loved her sire, Shanak found a sense of kinship and solidarity with Africans, and she spent much of the 20th-century helping the Laibon and other locals kick the colonziers out of the continent)
Transition: Shift in Purpose (but Kanika called upon her again eventually, presenting the unusual sense of mystical magnetism that was this "Exigency"; Kanika sought her childe Shanak out in N'jamena for counsel; Shanak advised resisting the "call", but Tulliola advised investigation with caution; both childer agreed to accompany their sire, as Shanak feared a trap by Baali or Assamites, and even after meeting the mortal mage involved, her suspicions lingered)
Lineage
Shanakdakhete Meroë, childe of
Kanika Tauaw, childe of
Nathifa-Kebi Asenath, childe of
Kemintiri, childe of
our sire, Set, childe of
Zillah, childe of
Caine, son of
our Mother Lillith.
Significant Others
Names: Kanika Tauaw, Tulliola Cicero, 45 BC; Nekoko, 2012
Nature: Erotic
Kanika
Tulliola
Nekoko
Weakness
Blood Queen
Shanakdakhete revels in her ancient royal majesty and she is never afraid to show it. Her deadly affection simply tends to reveal itself by fang and claw more than it should. She has a taste for visiting violence upon those she views as mere prey...which includes most people.
Likelihood of Corruption
Very low.
This rating isn't due to her resistance to corruption but embrace of it: Shanak is so corrupt that she's come out the other side to be an avatar of corruption and destruction itself. She isn't some monster. She's the monster, and while there are of course more powerful monsters out there, not many. Not any that could or would corrupt her any further than she already is!
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