Oenone Cortez (E-no-knee Core-tez)

As seen in

Tacoma by Night: Vamptober Tales #1

Oenone Macario Cortez (a.k.a. The Ochre Inferno)

The Ochre Inferno, with blazing fury and hair like fire to boot. The Diesel Missile, rocketting forward into the future with an engine roar. The Baron of Spanaway and Parkland together, and the daughter of tragedy she fights to see averted, Oenone Cortez is a rare thing among Kindred: a noble soul. While she's just as falleable and monstrous as her fellows, each sane action she takes is fueled by protective instincts, anger at injustice, and a desire to see the innocent lead their best lives.
Part of The South Sound Barons, Oenone is one of their strongest fighters, alongside Raul Bazzoli in sheer strength and Gervais Wen in efficiency, tempered by a lack of personal self-interest or dramatic flair.
Even from mortal origins, Oenone's life has been full of restrained fury and rolling with the tragic punches of existence, and the Embrace didn't change that one bit. But now more than ever she has the strength to fight back against it and rip her future from the throat of those who would devour it, and she'll be dead before she gives up without a fight.

---

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Oenone is relatively average in height with a slightly larger build, and had a lot of core strength before the vampiric enhancement took hold.

Body Features

Oenone inherited the darker skin of her mother's family while gaining the copper locks of her fathers family, with her shimmering turqoise eyes coming seemingly at random in the genetic lottery.

Physical quirks

Oenone fidgets constantly, whether that's tapping, picking, or spinning something in her hands. She needs to keep active in some way at all times.

Special abilities

Oenone's greatest-trained skill is the discipline of Potence, giving her weighty words the benefit of destructive power as well. Following that, she's trained the dextrous skill of Celerity, as well as learning the force of Dominate, because why bat your eyelashes with Presence when you can just tell someone to fuck off?
They've began to gain some skills in Auspex as well, but more of the emotion scanning than ghost sight.

Apparel & Accessories

Oenone is a fan of leather, metal, and looking cool as hell. While she isn't opposed to more feminine clothing, with a love for sundresses, she likes to pair them with at the very least a leather jacket and pair of kickass boots.

Specialized Equipment

While they don't have any particularly unique items on hand, Oenone has her unique babies: a pair of classic motorcycles she refurbished, a Triumph Bonneville by the name of Sasha and a Ducati PS1000LE named Eleanor, as well as a 1968 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 she calls Monica.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Part 1: Uneventful Youth

Spoilered for Length

Oenone was born to an average, and unassuming family. Her parents were immigrants from Mexico who escaped the labor exploitation in the farms of Eastern Washington, Pasco specifically. Moving to Tacoma wasn't easy, but both her father and mother got hard to work where they could find it to provide for their children, while their grandmother was more than happy to look after them.
Oenone was the second oldest of five total, the last being born when she was 12 years old, and she and her older brother doted on and defended their siblings. It wasn't an easy life, being an immigrant family in the 60's and 70's, but they had each other and found community where they could to make it through the days.
But this is also where Oenone began to struggle with her anger. She always had a bit of a temper, something her father blamed the greek side of his family for, but as a child it was easier for that to pass by or be assuaged. As she grew older and started going to school, it became harder and harder to ignore. She was growing up in a world where everyone was ready to see her fail, waiting and salivating for her to fail and fall to the level they placed her people at. She heard it in the racism and jeers of her classmates, the snide looks from teachers and staff, the lingering eyes of the beat cops, they all had the same line written on their faces: "You'll never make it."
This was, rightfully so, absolutey infuriating for her to deal with day in and day out, but she knew one single slip-up would mean a whole world of trouble for her. As she was entering middle school, it began to reach a boiling point, where the amount of stress and repressed rage she felt was beginning to affect her health. But, her mother intervened, saying that it was alright to be angry, and that she could let it out at home or with people she was safe with, but otherwise she needed to turn it into something that could push her forward. The fuel of an engine, rather than the tinder of a funeral pyre. While it wasn't the perfect solution, there was no solving the base issues at hand, and it worked to some extent.
As she pressed through her teenage years, her fury became the spiteful drive that pushed her to near valedictorian success. She still jumped hurdles higher than the majority of her classmates, but found more success than she had prior to her viewpoint-adjustment, and even began to find solidarity with similarly disadvantaged students.
But, after graduation, things would take an unfortunate turn for her family.

Part 2: Adult years, Pre-Embrace

Spoilered for Length

The summer after her graduation, the Cortez family was dealt a terrible blow. While the crime rate and danger of Tacoma is mostly exaggerated in the modern day, where it's no more or less safe than any other large city, many areas were truly dangerous back in the 80s and 90s, with gang violence being all to present.
Unfortunatley, that would come to be a reckoning for Oenone's family, as her father was caught in the crossfire of a sudden shoot-out while running errands one night. When the news was broken to the family, it shredded them to pieces, especially Oenone's mother, who became an inconsolable wreck for the better part of two weeks after the fact. It was almost comedic with how random and meaningless his death was in comparison to how harshly it was felt.
Oenone and her older brother prepared to take on the pressure of supporting the family. He was already working hard with a local moving company, and while she was gearing up to go to college, she too was ready and willing to go into the workforce for her family. This, unfortunatley, would become a necessity less than a month later.
The official report is that their mother was caught in a hit-and-run incident, and tragically perished, but Oenone knew better. The speeding traffic might've been the instrument of her passing, but it was grief that really killed her mother, an inescapable mire that planted her feet in place on that dark night.
Fury grew alongside their own grief, with Oenone furious at her mother for not living for her families sake, and at the violence in the city for taking her father away in the first place. But she also grew furious at herself for feeling such anger at the time, although they knew they had no other reprieve. Fortunatley, the family would not need to be seperated, as Oenone and her brother were old enough to be guardians for the younger children, and they were found to be safe options for them.
Despite the hardship, Oenone and her brother followed their mothers words from oh-so-long ago and let the fury and hardship become fuel to reach their goals. While she originally wanted to attend the University of Washington in Seattle, with a dream of mechanical engineering in her heart, Oenone found an alternate path to take for the time being, scraping money and time away with the help of meager government assistance to attend Tacoma Community College for a spell.
While finishing up at TCC, after having to take a gap year to focus on making enough money, she heard that University of Washington was going to be opening a campus in Tacoma, and decided that after obtaining her Associates to wait around for that to open before going further, as staying close in town would allow her to stay with the family and keep working in the area.
But perhaps waiting that long was a mistake, as who knows what would've happened if she hadn't been in Tacoma on that fateful day.

Part 3: The Embrace

Spoilered for Length

Oenone's work mostly consisted of various part-time positions that wouldn't last too long for a variety of reasons, but she'd often suplement them with plenty of odd-job doing around town. While she always did jobs that were above-board, refusing to associate with the gangs that took her father from her, it was more often than not under the table. This made it so she skirted the line, more often than not, but always stayed on her side of it.
That changed on one night in 1991. While she was returning a car she had been paid to touch-up, she was approached by a strange man with too fine of a suit for the neighborhood they were in. He offered her a large sum of money to be a simple bodyguard for just one night, no more than two hours, and she only had to stand outside. At first, she flatly denied him, as it was obviously for something she had no desire to get caught up in, but as he produced the suitcase full of legitimate, big bills, she began to be swayed.
She made sure they were real, and he promised that they weren't tied up with any problems, and that this was merely the down payment. She was clearly immensely suspicious, but the amount of money she was flashed would fully cover her tuition for the newly-opened UWT, and the tuition of all her siblings to boot, if not more!
Internally, she prayed that her parents and the Virgin Mary would forgive her, and then agreed to the job for just that one night. She was scared she might've just made a deal with the devil, but figured she'd burn that bridge when she got to it. Fortunatley, or unfortunatley depending on your view, she would not have to worry about that.
She was allowed to take the money with her, and she made sure that neither the money or herself were being followed. As she told her brother about the money and where she was hiding it within the house, the two of them began to get into a fight about the legitimacy of this act, but Oenone was in no mood to hear him out. One night, and they could be set and safe, at least for a while. This wasn't some money-hungry bid of disaster, this was the chance of a lifetime.
No emotions were sated, but the argument would go unfinished.
Night fell, and Oenone showed up on time, alongside a few other clearly more trained individuals in sleek suits with plenty of guns between them. The fine suited man was beside a tall, sleek figure who gave Oenone a dozen kinds of creeps, but she wouldn't have to worry for long. They went inside the small abandoned building, while she was left to watch the entrance.
The couple of hours began to tick by, and with each passing minute all of Oenone's instincts were telling her to run. But, each time, she'd squish them down, by reinforcing that this was just one night, just a little bit longer, just one more hour, just this and that and the other thing.
She didn't know what to do when she heard fighting break out inside the building. Her orders were to stay outside, but she'd never get the rest of her money if the guy in the suit died. She hesitated, but began to run in. She wouldn't make it past the threshold, however, as an explosion burst from the inside of the building, coating her in flame and tossing her back onto the street outside.
As her ears rang, and her body shocked from the pain, she heard the sound of more aggressive violence, and then silence save for the sound of approaching sirens. But she was still alive, and saw one figure leave the building. A heavy-set man with a distressed leather jacket, blood covering his hands, and clearly ragged and panting from something, but largely in control.
He almost stepped right over her, but she grabbed onto his leg, catching his eye with her own, filled with pure rage and determination. "Give...it...back..." She wheezed out, barely cognizent. He tried to pull his leg back, but ended up dragging her along, and even with her body bruised and sore she lunged up and grabbed onto his shoulder, using the momentum to sock him in the face. "GIVE MY FUTURE BACK!"
She reeled back to give another hit, but he grabbed her by the throat instead, lifting her away from his body. But he didn't look angry. Instead he looked oddly pleased, almost hopeful. "You get potential, kid. Sorry about this."
Her last second of conciousness was spent feeling his fangs enter her neck, before the euphoric flood from the Kindred bite made her body shut down, as the adrenaline was no longer powering it.

---

When she awoke, she found herself in the basement of some dingy biker bar near the outskirts of town, her body all but healed, and with several emptied and torn bags of blood around her body.
"You chilled out yet, kid?" The same man asked, looking better himself, and sitting casually in a chair opposite her.
"Who the fuck are you? Where the fuck am I?" She asked, panicked and scared, but cognizant and rational.
"Well, at least you can talk. Sit down, there's a lot to explain to you..."

Part 4: Oenone the Anarch

Spoilered for Length

Her new sire, the Anarch known as Elias Larson, explained her new condition, the war between Anarch and Camarilla, and the nature of the Masquerade that they both have to play by. It was a lot for the young woman to take in, but she got up to speed faster than he expected. What took her a bit though, was understanding exactly why they needed to maintain such secrecy, and why she should bother picking a side in their war.
For the second question, Elias had already explained the authoritarian and "traditional" hand of the Camarilla, and the (some might say minute) difference between how the Anarchs weave into a society and how the Camarilla infects one. But, he hit gold when he mentioned one particular resource of theirs: unwitting human gangs. The Camarilla certainly didn't invent gang violence in the area, and it's not like Anarch hands were squeaky clean, but the Camarilla got their vessels, their weapons, and part of their control via the funding and manipulation of these otherwise human gangs and the violence they commit.
Oenone couldn't know if her father was caught up in a Kindred-ordered attack, but the thought that someone's father might be, that some other children would lose their stability over some fucking vampires chess game, that infuriated her. And as a part of Clan Brujah, her fury was already boiling close to the top for her, without the sheer focused channel she had provided it before.
Still, she refused to hide anything from her family, she couldn't possibly abandon them when they needed her to step up, so the younger ones wouldn't have to. Elias, while warning her nothing good would come of it, let her go.
At first her plan was simple. She'd just tell them she got knocked out in a freak accident, but that she just needed some time to recover. If they questioned her about blocking out her room and sleeping during the day, just tell them the explosion gave her some head issues. She could take night shifts, she wouldn't have to buy food for herself, she could take night classes and watch over the house while her siblings slept, and when she needed blood she'd either find a blood drive or take out the monsters who'd terrorize the night. With each step on the way home, her plan became more solidified.
Only for it all to be blown away when she saw her own vigil outside her home.
She stood in shocked silence, and saw into the house, saw her siblings huddled together in front of the tv, mourning written on all their faces. All she had to do, she told herself, was walk in. Tell them whatever they knew was wrong. Lie to them. Hide from them. Never let them know. All she had to do was take that one step, and say "I'm home" to her family again. It was all too simple.
Elias wasn't surprised to see her walk back into that bar, but he was sympathetic to her plight. While he had searched for it, apparently her wallet had blown away from her in the explosion, and since none of the charred bodies inside had identification, she was placed among them. In the week before her senses came back, the news had been broken to her family.
From that moment on, Oenone threw her lot in with the Anarchs. If she couldn't be within her family, she'd fight to make Tacoma as safe as she could for their sake. The Ochre Inferno was born from this tragedy.
Within the first few weeks of her Embrace, Oenone got to meet Fintan Breen, the leader of Tacoma's Anarchs, and was enraptured by his charisma and planning. This enthusiasm was short lived, however, as this was also around the time that Vincent Gravenstein was made Prince of Tacoma, and began his abject slaughter of the cities Anarch population.
Oenone was present at the public debate that became Fintan's personal execution. Despite only being a few months undead at that time, she was one of the first to leap into the fray to fight Gravenstein after the deed was done. While she had to retreat the same as him, she lived that day, with her skills in the Kindred discplines growing at a ferocious rate. Oenone was an engine firing on all pistons, racing through her growth as a Kindred, and roaring just as loud.
With Fintan dead, many other voices rang out for the Anarchs of Tacoma, with Oenone being one of them. As the stalemate between Anarchs and Camarilla began, the fury and drive in her voice never died. It was that voice that led Fiore Choi-Yun and Arnd Weiss to her when gathering a cotorie of future leaders, and while she didn't like the formers smirk and the latters...well just about everything, she accepted that they weren't just blowing smoke up her ass when they spoke of their goal to create a network of true leaders for Tacoma's Anarchs. She joined the cotorie that would become The South Sound Barons and was ready to fight for their vision.

Part 5: Cleansing Nights, Oenone the Baron

Spoilered for Length

The Sabbat invasion in late 2019 was as much of a shock to Oenone as anyone, but she was one of the few who didn't run from the city. While the monstrous Tzimisce and sheer force of the Lasombra were terrifying, she planted her feet the same as ever and rallied other to her cause.
While complex planning isn't her best skill, even she was able to see that the cotorie had a uniquely ideal situation currently, and Fiore agreed. While the others spread their influence outward, spreading among the scattered groups of Kindred who fled from the city, Oenone focused her power inward. Even though she was terrified for herself and her family, who she had been watching, guarding, and supporting from the shadows, she plunged her fist into the heart of dozens of monsters all the same.
Night by night, fight by fight, she saved Kindred still in the city, and gave them something vital: the spark of hope and determination. This dark night didn't have to be their last, and it wasn't some insurmountable fate. 

"If you're angry, put that into your fists. If you're sad, mourn with your actions. If you're scared, turn your shivers into earthquakes! Don't sit down, don't wallow, don't give up! We may be dead, but still we march towards tomorrow, towards our immortal destiny!"

In the year of preperation, her actions kept much of the fighting force alive in Tacoma, and when the time was right, Fiore and the others brought the remainder. Anarchs who stayed, Anarchs who fled, Camarilla Kindred, Independents, outside Kindred ready to fight, even local Mages and Werewolves were ready to fight. As snow fell on Tacoma in late 2020, their attacks were launched.
As The Cleansing Nights began, Oenone led many charges into Sabbat strongholds and breeding grounds, elimating the Kindred themselves and decimating their stockpiles and stores. When the time came to cut off the head, she joined Raul Bazzoli, Gervais Wen, Fiore Choi-Yun, and their temporary Garou allies in raiding the Sabbat Cell's leadership, and took down their monstrous seige creations alongside her fellows. 
Finally, victory was attained, first from driving the Sabbat out of the city, and then from pushing the Camarilla out just the same. Finally, 30 years after she had been brought into the fold, Fintan's goal had been achieved, and Oenone could not be happier.
As the new Barons had the support of their community, their lots were drawn. While it's a decently large swath of territory, and taking in two of the several conjoined cities, Oenone was given Parkland and Spanaway, as she already had quite the reputation in the area and, as they had one long main road connecting them, her skill and interest with driving would allow her to keep a better eye on it than any of the others.
For now, everything has turned up for Oenone. Her family still lives, although they mutually hurt from her absence, her Kindred fellows are in a better position than they've ever been in, and she is one of the honored few at the head of it all. While the title of Baron comes with its own difficulties, and new troubles are on the horizon for Tacoma, The Ochre Inferno is ready to crush them one by one, come hell or high water.

Gender Identity

Oenone identifies as enough of a woman, but has never cared much for what many would consider typical femininity. She'd also place herself at a "solid 6, maybe 6.5" on the Femme-to-Butch scale.

Sexuality

Oenone has been a lesbian from the first day her brain unlocked romantic attraction. While this comes down to presentation and identity more than literal genitalia, regardless of physical makeup: Oenone is in charge.

Education

Despite outward perceptions of her and her combative nature, Oenone was a stellar student althroughout school, and prior to the Embrace was waiting for the then-new branch of University of Washington to open up to pursue a degree in mechancial engineering. Despite not being able to get that title, due to being legally dead, she has spent the years since the Embrace gaining just as much knowledge, especially for cars, motorcycles, and all manner of other motorized vehicles.

Employment

Oenone worked plenty of side jobs after her parents passing, but after her Embrace she mainly has taken jobs as a bodyguard or fighter, and on the side has commission jobs fixing up cars. With her reign as Baron, she's gotten some more offers and can afford to be choosy, but mainly sticks to the same fields.

Accomplishments & Achievements

Oenone does her best to celebrate all the little accomplishments in nightly life, from stopping a turf conflict to repairing a new vehicle, but her proudest historical moments are surviving a 1-on-1 fight with former Prince Vincent Gravenstein, and fending off at least a dozen Shovelheads at once during the Cleansing Nights.

Failures & Embarrassments

Oenone hasn't had many public embarrasments, at least nothing she hasn't been able to roll with. Personally, however, she considers the fact that she was Embraced in the first place as a great failure. To this day, she regrets having to leave her siblings behind.

Mental Trauma

She'd never admit it, but Oenone has intense abandonment issues around herself. She utterly refuses to leave her people behind if they need help, and feels the tingle of regret even in casual situations. It's not that she hates being alone, or that she fears herself being abandoned, but she has an instilled complex that she, under no circumstances, can abandon others.

Intellectual Characteristics

When it comes to people, Oenone is very surface level. She isn't gullible, but generally is disinterested in those who hide their intent, not wanting to put in the effort when she could cut the gordian knot. When it comes to vehicles, they're a veritable dictionary and sherlockian-investigator, whether to fix vehicles or purposely dismantle them.

Morality & Philosophy

Oenone wants to be an upstanding figure of righteous freedom, someone who fights for the underdog and for freedom, even before she became a part of Clan Brujah. Often, she is able to maintain that image and that ideal for herself, but more and more she's being faced with issues she can't fight her way out of, and each night tests her supernatural anger more and more. Luckily they have their most trusted allies to keep them steady, but every Kindred has a point where they stumble.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

Their greatest goal in life has been to simply survive as themselves. The first generation child mocked in the classrooms, the determined student in the college halls, the hard-working provider for their family, even when faced with the horror of the Embrace they refused to simply give up and took on the role of the empassioned revolutionary, and now they will wear the sash of Baron as far as it leads them.

Savvies & Ineptitudes

Oenone is most skilled at mechanic repair, specifically for motorized vehicles. While they can apply that knowledge in a variety of situations, that is her niche. They also aren't too bad at conflict resolution and were a jack-of-all-trades after their parents passed, but those skills are largely understated in the modern night.
They aren't too fond of lying or dealing with subterfuge, although she's great at bluffing.

Likes & Dislikes

Oenone keeps an open mind to just about anything, but she likes chocolate, strawberries, chocolate strawberries, and grunge music more than anything else.

Social

Reign

Oenone has officially been the Baron of her area since the Cleaning Nights finished in early 2021, although she had a lot of unofficial sway over the area since the early 2000's.

Contacts & Relations

They have a wealth of contacts and influence among the community, both Kindred and human alike, and generally has racked up a lot of favor by just keeping the general area as safe as she's able, inspiring many others to do the same.

Family Ties

Oenone has three younger siblings and one older, all of which she has been forced to entirely divorce herself from, as her death was publically announced. She still finds time to keep an eye on them, and makes sure they stay safe, but they want to keep their family entirely out of the Kindred world if they can.

(Icon made with Bright's Picrew Hell)

Alignment

Chaotic Well-Meaning

Current Status

Hunting down reckless dragsters

Current Location

Parkland & Spanaway, Washington

Species

Kindred Vampire

Honorary & Occupational Titles

• Baron of connected Parkland & Spanaway (shortened to Parkaway in quick conversation)
• The Ochre Inferno (Gained during the Cleansing Nights)
• The Diesel Missile

Currently Held Titles

• Baron

Age

26 (Physically) 56 (Actual)

Date of Birth

September 5th

Date of Death

April 7th

Life

1965 CE 1991 CE 26 years old

Circumstances of Death

Embraced

Pronouns

She/Her and They/Them

Sex

AFAB

Gender

Demi-Femme

Presentation

Biker Butch

Eyes

Turquoise

Hair

Orange-ish Light Brown

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Darker Bronze skin

Height

5' 8"

Weight

198 lbs

Belief/Deity

Raised Catholic, not attatched

Aligned Organization

The Anarch Movement

Other Affiliations

• Clan Brujah
• The South Sound Barons

Known Languages

Oenone speaks English, Spanish, and a small amount of Greek.

Name

Oenone Cortez

Chronicle

Tacoma by Night

Sire

Elias Larson

Concept

Single-minded Rebel

Ambition

Dismantle the Camarilla

Desire

Destroy their scouts

Predator

Scene Queen

Clan

Brujah

Generation

12th

Attributes

Physical

Strength

Dexterity

Stamina

Social

Charisma

Manipulation

Composure

Mental

Intelligence

Wits

Resolve

Health

Willpower

Skills

Athletics

Brawl

Craft

Drive

Firearms

Melee

Larceny

Stealth

Survival

Animal ken

Etiquette

Insight

Intimidation

Leadership

Performance

Persuasion

Streetwise

Subterfuge

Academics

Awareness

Finance

Investigation

Medicine

Occult

Politics

Science

Technology

Disciplines

Auspex

Sense the Beast (1)

Celerity

Rapid Reflexes (1), Fleetness (2)

Dominate

Cloud Memory (1), Compel (1)

Potence

Lethal Body (1), Soaring Leap (1), Prowess (2), Spark of Rage (3), Earthshock (5)

Hunger

 

Humanity

 

---

Chronicle Tenets

Touchstones & Convictions

Always defend your home - Mother Never let them walk over you - Grandmother

Clan Bane

Subtract 2 dice to resist fury frenzy.

Advantages & Flaws

Eat food

Allies - mechanics

Influence - anarchist crew

Resources

Fame - bikers

Contact - snoop

Haven

Status - baron

Enemies - camarilla

Prey exclusion - her people

Blood Potency

Blood Surge

Add 2 Dice

Mend Amount

1 point

Power Bonus

None

Rouse Reroll

Level 1

Feeding Penalty

None

Bane Severity

2

Experience

Total Experience:

Spent Experience:

---

Background

True age: 56

Apparent age: 26

Date of Birth: 9/5/1965

Date of Death: 4/7/1991