The Eight Shadows of the Empire:

Guests of the Cittie of Yorke Tavern, September 16th, 1549

((This is a collection of Pre-Gens going out at Momocon 2025))

As a chill wind drifted off the Thames and mist rolled low through the darkened streets of Tudor London, five Kindred arrived beneath the veil of clouded starlight. Their ship — Die Herrlichkeit — bore the banners of Lübeck, though it traveled under no official record. These five, scions of the Holy Roman Empire, moved swiftly from dock to alley, shadow to lantern-light, until they reached the black oak door of the Cittie of Yorke Tavern, the most sacred Elysium in southern England.

When they entered, the fire in the hearth dimmed slightly, as if the room itself took note of their arrival. They carried with them a letter sealed with blue wax and the sigil of the Imperial Cross — Konrad von Babenberg’s unmistakable mark. With formal courtesy and carefully weighed words, they requested sanctuary until the setting of the next sun. The Keeper of Elysium granted it, noting aloud that with their arrival, every coffin-chamber and resting niche in the tavern was now claimed.

— The Five Newly Arrived, 6 Hours Before Dawn —

1. Freiherr Adalhard von Zollern (Clan Ventrue)A warlord in life and still regal in death. Once a knight of Swabian lands, Adalhard’s armor has since become a doublet of midnight brocade over fine chain. A crusader of the Long Night, he sees the Camarilla as the Empire’s extension into shadow. He serves Konrad as both champion and enforcer. Quiet, proud, and quick to draw steel when protocol falters.

2. Sister Margarethe von Einsiedeln (Clan Lasombra), once the Abbess of a mountain cloister, now buried beneath snow and secrets. Margarethe embraced the silence between prayers and the darkness beneath stained glass. A penitent creature of commanding presence, she wears black velvet trimmed in bone white. Her eyes never blink. She does not speak without purpose. The candlelight recoils from her.

3. Erhard Köhler (Clan Tremere)A former alchemist of Regensburg turned blood-mage scholar. A man of short stature and immense arrogance, Erhard has come seeking forgotten lore said to be hidden in London’s ley lines. He carries scrolls sealed with wax and salt, and often mutters phrases in Greek, Hebrew, and High German. His aura distorts flame and makes mirrors ripple.

4. Lukas Dietrich (Clan Brujah)A Lutheran pamphleteer in life, now a fiery anarchist in death. Turned in the aftermath of the Peasants’ War, Lukas carries with him the scent of rebellion. He wears ink-stained gloves and a weather-worn coat bearing Protestant scripture sewn into the lining. He watches everyone and trusts no one. His presence in London is an unspoken challenge.

5. “Zerlin,” the Painted Man (Clan Malkavian)Face like a fresco, mind like a shattered psalter. Zerlin is swathed in layered finery, each cloth bearing the sigils of forgotten saints and strange, half-remembered heresies. His face is painted white with cobalt tears. He sings old tavern songs in perfect Latin and speaks to shadows as if they were his cousins. Yet his words, though mad, are often wise.

— The Three Who Came the Night Before —

6. Baron Rüdiger von Altenhain (Clan Ventrue)A knight turned statesman, Rüdiger is a tactician of old blood. His presence commands respect, and his voice is tempered steel. Sent ahead to secure relations, he brought the writ of passage signed by Konrad von Babenberg himself. Now he watches, ever the strategist, for signs of weakness or alliance in London’s Camarilla.

7. Sister Evangela of the Hollow Flame (Clan Toreador)A former abbess turned Kindred, Sister Evangela walks the line between religious ecstasy and aesthetic obsession. She sees the divine in suffering and beauty in fire. Her hymns are haunting. She sees herself as an instrument of divine judgment, but in truth, she is as much a poet as a prophet.

8. Levi Garin, the Bone-Waker (Clan Nosferatu)A whisper from beneath Kraków’s catacombs, Levi is a carrier of secrets and diseases of the soul. Cloaked in black leather and stitched cloth, he brought offerings of information for London’s sewer clans. Already, the Nosferatu of the city call him "Brother Grave". He sees the future in rat bones and whispers from the water.

Now within the walls of the Cittie of Yorke Tavern…

With all eight Kindred occupying every darkened bolt-hole, stone crypt, and sanctified chamber below the tavern, the Elysium pulses with foreign power. Rumors flicker like candlelight: What mission has Konrad von Babenberg truly sent them on? Why now? And why so many?

London holds its breath, awaiting the fall of night. And the Empire watches… from the shadows behind stained glass.