Dying| Race | Vampire |
| Splat | Toreador |
| Title | Keeper of Elysium and Primogen |
Physical Description
Embraced in his mid twenties, Ettienne was a man at the time, yet now is less likely to be considered so. His complexion is dark and his brown eyes have an intense focus to them. Slender and of average height, The Toreador prefers to dress dapper and smart in light coloured suits.
Personality
Charming and genteel, Mr St Claire shares little of his clans bitchiness and sniping stereotype. Instead he wafts from one group to another with an amused gleam in his eye. When something does take his fancy, he can become intense and focussed, with a slight stutter at times. Ettienne is the perfect gentleman at all times and rarely looses his measured temper or breaches etiquette.
Story
As a favoured son of the Sancto-Claros, ('Holy-Light') a powerful Scottish family descended from the Viking Møre family and tied to the Templers, Ettienne was raised to the Chivalric ideals of the family and the orders once glorious past. They were keepers of Scotlands sacred Relics, the Black rood and the Stone of Scone and were made the hereditary Grande masters after the extirpation of the Templars outside Scotland by Robert the Bruce.
Ettienne developed well as a bard and poet in the Scottish highlands and was eventually taken as a protegee by an Edinburgh Toreador called Mary Duncan. Under her tutelige and eventual embrace the young man honed his skill with his tongue and his pen, as well a mastering several instruments that had fallen out of favour such as the Lyre and Pipe. All of this time to explore his Artistic temprement was cut short when Mary was forced into Torpor by a clash with the British Ventrue. Etienne returned to Roslyn Castle, his family home and settled himself into the affairs of his family. The family, now calling themselves the St Claires, were the driving force behind Scottish free masonary and Etteinne discovered a new love for Architecture and Mathematical form. Guiding his families rise to power, Etienne spent much of his life avoiding the large number of Celestial Chorus Mages among the Free masons and the secret order behind them, the Ordre de Sion.
Finally, when The Templars funded the 'discovery' of America, the land beneath the western star*, Ettienne travelled with them. The journey was taxing and harsh and Ettienne fell to Torpor before ever reaching the Shores of the new land. He remained in Torpor until the City of Gotham really took off and returned to Vampire Society sometime in the early 19th century.
The Growing port held Ettienne's interest as a bussiness oportunity and as a place through which many new cultures passed. Always drawn to interfere with the mortal world, he began to encourage and sponsor theatres and galleries as well as taking a keen interest in the archetecture. He also used his influence to help his family rise to power as the second teir in Gothamburg, careful not to displace the Ventrue favoured lines. While he helped to shape much of the old town he r ose in the ranks of the Dutch prince, Solomon Van Deering through his patronage of the city.
Despite being able to walk witht he ventrue on equal fooring, Ettienne was most taken with the Princes Childe Sebastian Montoya and the two became friends. A freindship destined to outlast the Prince and the rest of his progeny.
Towards the end of the 19th Century Ettienne was awarded the Primogen seat for his Clan after the former holder was slain by the Sabbat. The Prince had grown to rely on his Toreador advisor and with this new appointment Ettienne embarked on a series of improvements for the city. tempting skilled European artists and Architects to Gotham to bring his vision of the skyline to life. Satisfied with his place in Gotham's elite, ettienne asked Solomon for permission to sire but the Ventrue feared overcrowding in the city and flately refused, angering his former ally.
Ettienne began to concentrate on his family and thier rise to power rather than on the city itself. In time he had the Sinclair's power and fortune shadowing those of the Van Deering clan in every areana. During the depression he took a trip to his homeland and renewed his association with the Scottish branch. Bringing swathes of Scottish Sinclair's back with him the Toreador found some interest in previous pursuits and made a further three trips to the old land in the first half of the Twentieth century.
On the third and final trip Ettienne met a man named Ashlar. A rural youth with perfect pitch and the voice of an Angel. Much taken witht he lad Ettienne embraced Ash and brought him back to Gotham. Thathe had not sought the Princes aprovel became a sore point and Van Deering began to trust his former number 2 less and less. The fact that Ash had been embraced on another continent had little sway on the Prince and he looked as though he might even remove Ettienne from power.
And so Ettienne was more than willing to work with Montoya in his schemes to improve and strengthen Gotham without Van Deerings input. Hoping at first to shine in the eyes of the Camarilla without the need to impress their immediate superior the two played a dangerous game. No more so because of their attempts to broker a peace with the Sabbat and slow the incursions of war parties into the city.
The final assault on Gotham by the sword of Caine was a devastating barrage of war parties who struck with astounding precision. van Deering and his entire Line, all except for Montoya, were destroyed and the Sabbat gained a foothold in the southern burroughs of the city. Gotham seemd ready to fall. But then Peace was reached. in a series of meetings, Montoya and the Sabbat reached an accord. The Old Bishop was slain and the new holder of title, Santiago, was eager to draw a temporaryline in the sand rather than loose countless braves in an untenable stalemate.
Modern Gotham was born!
In the half century since the peace began, Ettienne has seen his family rise to the pre-eminant position in Gotham and has managed to guide much of the Northern half of the city to match his vision. Montoya relies upon his tactical foresight and his ability to manipulate the masses to hold onto his throne and rumours abound that Ettienne is the true ruler of Gotham. Ettieebe simply laughs at such nonsense. His Childe manages his bussiness empire along with his favourite descendant, Lady Marguerite Sinclair, and the Toreador is free to gloat over his success.
Recently that freedom has been almost entirely consumed with a Mortal woman called Sugar Kane. A singer who the Toreador is grooming for stardom.
*This star, Merica, was believed to be the marker of a perfect land across the ocean of the setting sun by the Nasoreans. It is uncertain whether their information came from Vampire pre flood adventurers or from the Garou tribes of the Pure land. That the Freemason Templers found America before Columbus and Amerigo (whose misspelt name is erroneously thought to provide the name of America even though the Name America was applied to the land 50 years before the explorers birth) is born out by the inclusion of Maize and Aloe in the stonework of Roslyn chapel, completed before the journeys of such men. Also by the inclusion of the new maritime flag (a ship sailing towards a star replacing the original skull and cross bones Templer Maritime symbol), as being the shield design of a knight and marking an early grave in America.