I've never met Shiad Aria in person, but tales of her journeys and accomplishments have reached me from a variety of sources. She seems to be well-respected among the elders of our kind, particularly for her reputation as a person of integrity who always keeps her word. If the story of her Embrace holds any truth, it makes her a sympathetic figure in my eyes. But make no mistake... like each one of us, Aria is no longer human. How these past experiences shape her vampiric existence might be far darker than you imagine.
One thing is certain about her, though: Aria has traveled far and wide in her years as a Kindred, and this alone sets her apart from most. I would be honored to meet her someday—and perhaps even interview her.
"Alamut is more than just a place. It is more than a sanctuary. Alamut is an idea. An idea that, when found, can never be lost."— Shiad Aria
Ariadne, known as Aria within the kindred community, hails from the warrior caste of Haqim’s clan and was embraced over five centuries ago in Transylvania. After enduring countless trials and tribulations, she discovered her calling within The Shiads—an elite order sworn to combat the world’s greatest threats: infernalists and demon worshipers. Her unwavering dedication to this mission has earned her a reputation for being absolute, even narrow-minded, in her pursuit of these enemies.
Mortal Life
Ariadne was born in Constantinople in the mid-15th century, growing up as a homeless child with only her younger sister, Lito, for family. Constantly struggling for survival, she faced starvation and was often pursued for her acts of thievery. To protect herself and Lito, she learned to fight. Despite living in the shadow of the city's splendor, Ariadne yearned to escape her miserable life and build a new one elsewhere. When the opportunity finally arrived in the form of a wealthy nobleman, Lothar, she grasped it without hesitation. What he offered seemed life-changing—and it truly was.
Lothar, seeking someone inconspicuous and disposable for a shady task, settled on Ariadne. To his surprise, she didn’t ask for money but instead requested passage out of Constantinople for herself and her sister. Intrigued, Lothar agreed. Their new life seemed to begin as they boarded Lothar’s ship, but it ended abruptly in a cold, unforgiving village in Transylvania, just a few months later.
Embrace
Lothar kept his promise, though only to a point. A week before Easter, Ariadne and Lito arrived in Transylvania, their anticipation quickly giving way to dread. Lothar had assured them that a Venetian lord would welcome them as servants in his newly acquired mansion.
Claudius Giovanni, became a name that haunt Ariadne for centuries after their first encounter. He was a nobleman, a vampire and the leader of the dreaded
Conspiracy of Isaak.
Claudius had meticulously orchestrated a grand feast to celebrate the impending success of the conspiracy’s dark and sinister plans. The event, shrouded in secrecy, was attended by thirteen conspirators, including Claudius, and thirteen unsuspecting mortals. Ariadne and Lito were among these mortals, led to believe they were honored guests at a lavish banquet. In reality, they were to become the central elements of the horrifying feast.
The night of the feast marked a turning point in their lives, as the conspirators revealed their true intentions. The evening devolved into a nightmarish display of predation and betrayal, setting the stage for Ariadne’s brutal and unintended embrace.
As the conspirators reveled in their anticipation
the Founders, launched a brutal assault on the mansion. In a desperate bid to evade capture and ensure their survival, Claudius and his fellow conspirators resorted to a grim strategy. They hastily embraced their human guests at random, turning them into fledgling vampires meant to serve as expendable cannon fodder.
In the midst of the chaos, amidst the screams and bloodshed, Ariadne endured the horrors of her forced embrace. She emerged from the nightmarish ordeal as one of the newly turned vampires, her survival against the odds marking the beginning of a harrowing new existence.
Early Years
After the chaotic events of her embrace, Ariadne spent her early years in relative obscurity. With her sire vanished and no way to contact her clan, she drifted to a small town in central Transylvania—then called Balgrad, now known as Alba Iulia. For nearly two decades, she existed there as a forgotten Caitiff, living in the shadows. It wasn’t until the arrival of
Fatima al-Faqadi that her fate took a new turn.
For reasons still unknown, Fatima took Ariadne under her protection, becoming the bridge that would guide the young vampire back to her clan—a path that led to the legendary fortress of the Children of Haqim, Alamut.
In the years that followed, Ariadne lived at Alamut, among her kin, learning the ways of the Children of Haqim, particularly those of the Warrior Caste to which both she and her sire belonged. It was here that she was shaped, discovered her purpose, and forged a new identity, ultimately embracing her true nature as one of the immortals of the night.
Iberia
A hundred years passed from the night of her embrace, when Ariadne found herself on the Iberian Peninsula—a place that would shape her path for the centuries that followed. There, she worked to restore the presence of the Children of Haqim, who had once flourished in the region under the influence of the Ottoman Empire. She met with some of the most prominent members of her clan, like Silsila Hilal, that she admired and respected immensely.
Through a series of missions and alliances, the Children of Haqim gradually restored a portion of their former influence on the Iberian Peninsula, especially in the Andalusian regions. Ariadne was deeply involved in many of these efforts, and guided by her unwavering devotion to her clan, she never questioned the decisions of the Vizier Caste caste regarding what needed to be done. By the late 16th century, with the help of others, she succeeded in establishing and maintaining a small outpost for the Children of Haqim of Haqim in the coastal town of Alicante. There, she discovered something entirely new—a place she could truly call her own. While Alamut always felt like home, the modest forge she built in Alicante became her first real sanctuary since her mortal days.
The Children of Isaak
Aria was not the only one to survive the twisted supper of Claudius Giovanni and his conspirators. Of the thirteen mortals present that fateful night, only six survived their Embrace and the conflict that followed. This group is still known today as "The Children of Isaak," though they were never united under a common banner as their sires once were.
Aria never cared to hold this mantle and disliked being recognized as one of Isaak's children. Yet, over the years, the shadow of the conspiracy caught up with her and the other survivors alike, pulling them all into a relentless pursuit of the Sargon Fragment- an apocryphal ritual believed to have been devised by the Antediluvian Cappadocius himself.
The Demon Hunters
Aria joined The Shiads- a term for the Children of Haqim dedicated to hunting down the infernal- around the mid-18th century. It was the final wish of her sire, Bazajet al Nazir with whom Aria had finally reconciled, and she was eager to explore the path he had envisioned for her. She journeyed to Tunis, where she met the demon hunters and her future mentor: her sire's sire, Bakr.
Within The Shiads, Aria found her true purpose. She learned of the primordial enemies not only of Kindred but of the entire world- the Baali. She was trained to recognize their insidious influence and was taught that their kind deserved no mercy. For many years, Aria dreamed of the moment she would finally confront one of her dreaded enemies and prove her worth to both her clan and Bakr. That moment came nearly two centuries later, in the most unexpected of places: India.
India
Aria arrived in India during the Second World War. Her initial purpose for the trip was to investigate rumors surrounding the appearance of the Dark Magister- an infernal black ship she had been hunting since her days as a neonate in Iberia. Yet, even though the rumors proved true and the ship was indeed there, there was also something else steering- something far more dangerous and vile: one of the Baali.
Of all the places she could have encountered one of the Baali, it was in the secret valley of Golconda that Aria met her ancient enemy, and it was there that she succeeded in vanquishing him. It was not an easy feat, and in the end, she found herself forever changed. In that moment, she fully grasped the significance of her role as one of The Shiads. She knew then that she would be willing to sacrifice herself to ensure that the malevolence of the Baali would not spread.
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Author's Notes
Aria's complete journey- from her mortal years to modern nights- is explored in the manuscript below.
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Of blood and Judgement