Nicholae Zaitsev, The prodigal Prince
Image:
“Aggressive” is the best way of describing Nicholae’s appearance.
Embraced at a young twenty-eight, Nicholae still has managed to retain
all the ferocity of youth, even in death. His
eyes often contain a smouldering intelligence and drive, veiled with an icy
calmness and an analytical mind. Often
dressed as a young man, donning leather jackets and loose fitting white shirts
as well as sporting a “five o’clock shadow”, those that view him are taken
aback at first. However, once a
more thorough appraisal can be made, Nicholae shows a frightening intensity that
makes it quite conceivable that this young man could have achieved so much in so
little time.
Background: Nicholae was born in the Urals of Russia and attended public school. He went to work for a shopkeeper at the age of 16 and gained the attention of the shopkeeper’s accountant with his uncanny ability with numbers. After completing high school graduating at the top of his class, he received a full scholarship to Harvard Business School. He graduated Magna Cum Laude and enrolled in Harvard Law studying Business law and theory, completing the course in only two and a half years and graduating in the top 2%. He was courted by several companies but instead chose to return to Russia to accept a position in the Soviet government. Instead he was attacked and embraced by Vigo.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he acquired stock in a small company and covertly built it into Chimaera Corporations. He has served as Tremere primogen twice in St. Petersburg and Moscow, excelling in boosting Chantry efficiency and inter-clan relations as well as shocking the Tremere inner council by devising a whole new path of thaumaturgy, the art of Siberia’s wrath or “Cryomancy”. He has served as both financial and mystical advisor to both princes in Russia, superseding the usual Ventrue financial deadlock. He has also been responsible for many successful repairs to breaches in the masquerade. After continuous success Nicholae has been raised another circle of mastery as a regent and has been transferred to Vistalki, to maintain the battle against the Tzimisce from the front lines. A transfer to Eastern Europe is a “make or break” career move in the Tremere; success against the Tzimisce equates to great clan status, failure equals death or worse.
Nicholae thus plays a juggling game, balancing out running a Fortune 500 corporation, managing a trans-Atlantic law firm, keeping abreast of the winds of change in Russian politics, and managing both intra-clan affairs, Chantry resources and his warlocks relation with both the other clans and the sect as a whole, while maintaining vigilance against the vile Sabbat. Now with his recent coup of the prince hood, Nicholae’s proverbial plate is full. It’s a daunting challenge but Nicholae has never known anything less than total success.
Roleplaying Hints: Driven. The Tremere must either sink or swim, evolve or rot within, and that’s exactly what you’ve proven. You’ve shattered so many stereotypes everyone else is playing catch up. No one is more competent than you and while you realize one cannot run a city by oneself, you certainly are the best equipped to do so should the necessity surface. Unfortunately, you sometimes suffer “Lonely at the top” syndrome and as you stare out the glass of your tower and view the kingdom you made, you can’t help but wonder, isn’t there more to life than conquest?
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