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The Protagonists
Cecily Bain
The Prince's Dirty Boot.
A Brujah Anarch turned Camarilla "Dirty Boot" trying to make it in the Kindred world.- Action Girl: Cecily Bain is one of the Prince's dirty boots and before that was a seasoned Anarch warrior that helped drive out the Sabbat during the Nineties. Even when a Blood Hunt is called on her, she tears through most of her opponents with ease.
- Became Their Own Antithesis: Cecily went from being one of the champions of the Anarchs to being one of the Camarilla's enforcers.
- Category Traitor: Most Brujah, correctly, see Cecily as one. Doubly so because she's a former Anarch who moved to the Camarilla when the entire clan was cast out.
- Country Mouse: Cecily turns out to have been one of these, raised on a poor farm in Minnesota.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Cecily euthanized her crippled father.
- Disco Dan: A big part of the series' humor is the fact that Cecily is a Goth and Punk who has found her style of music as well as cultural rebellion now dated.
- Easily Forgiven: Ignores the fact Calder Wendt called a Blood Hunt on her and threatened to murder her sister because it's just easier since he's now the Prince.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Much of Cecily's efforts are devoted to the safety of her geriatric demented sister, Karen.
- Hidden Depths:
- Cecily is a capable traditional Irish folk music singer. Not something you'd expect from her Gothic Punk fandom.
- Cecily wanted to teach elementary school music.
- Hunter of Their Own Kind: Cecily strongly loathes other vampires and it is implied she became a dirty boot to vent this.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Does terrible things but usually has some reasoning behind them.
- Kick the Dog: Cecily has a bunch of these.
- Murdering Cordell's girlfriend for violating the Masquerade and then revealing that she never would have violated the Masquerade to his face.
- Arranging for Alejandra to feed on a drug dealer, making sure she killed him, and then driving her to his mother's house.
- Mercy Kill: Cecily gave her father one of these after decades of him suffering as a cripple.
- Morality Pet: Cecily's sister is the only thing in the world she cares about and she's dying of Alheizmers. She seems to be trying to make another with Alejandra despite the fact vampires make poor ones in 5th Edition.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: Reversed. Cecily makes it clear she has no loyalty to the Camarilla and is just working for favors. This irritates the Prince and her court because it makes them look insufficiently generous.
- Rank Up: Becomes Prince of the Twin Cities despite her best efforts.
- Replacement Goldfish: There are strong hints that Alejandra is this for Cecily's sister.
- Riot Grrrl: Used to be one of these as a major part of her characterization.
- Rule-Abiding Rebel: Despite her punk attire and history as an Anarch, Colleen goes above and beyond what Prince Merrain demands of her.
- Vampire Monarch: Is crowned Prince of the Twin Cities by Ian Carfax.
- You Are Too Late: Cecily has been vacillating over Embracing her sister for decades. Eventually, she discovers that she's now too far gone to ever be whole again.
Alejandra
A orphaned vampire who is adopted by Cecily and passed off as her childe.
- Abusive Parents: The Mortician was emotionally manipulative and abusive even before he had her Embraced.
- Ambiguously Brown: Alejandra's ethnicity is not explicit but she is not white and Cecily finds her name exotic.
- Becoming the Mask: It's heavily implied that Alejandra is developing more sympathy for vampires and Cecily in particular than her human father.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Alejandra has a stake and hook ready to kill Cecily in the morning before she decided not to. She's also had flashbacks that indicate she's a lot more dangerous than she seems.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: One interpretation of why she didn't stake Cecily in her sleep.
- The Chessmaster: Reveals herself to be one of these as she manipulates both hunters and vampires both.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Plays both Kindred and hunters against one another while working to become Primogen despite being only a few days old.
- Consummate Liar: Ali proves to have this as an ability when she easily charms all of the vampires hanging around Mother Joe's.
- Eviler than Thou: Pulls this on Cecily when she reveals she'd been playing the hunters against the vampires.
- Face Death with Dignity: Submits to this after Cecily successfully corners her.
- Killed Off for Real: Is diablerized by Cecily at the end of Winter's Teeth #10.
- The Mole: Cecily receives a message that Alejandra is an agent of a Hunter, Embraced deliberately, to destroy them from the inside.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Her reaction after Cecily has her kill a scummy drug dealer, only to reveal he was his disabled mother's only support.
- Mysterious Waif: Cecily doesn't know anything about her past or motivations.
- No-Sell: She has a powerful resistance to mental manipulations.
- Not Quite Dead: She continues to haunt Cecily from inside her mind in Crimson Thaw.
- Out-Gambitted: Cecily and Calder manage to reveal her treachery to the Justicar, thus ruining her ambitions.
- Replacement Goldfish: Serves as one of these for Cecily and her sister.
- The Social Expert: Is capable of manipulating and playing Elder and Ancilla vampires despite being a fledgling.
- Vegetarian Vampire: Averted. Alejandra can't survive on bagged blood and is presumably very low generation.
Colleen Pendergrass
This life sucks.
A Thin Blooded vampire who is the unofficial leader of an Anarch group.- Amicable Exes: A Downplayed Trope example. Colleen and her husband are estranged but still in the same coterie.
- Cute Little Fangs: Doesn't possess any and thus has a lot of difficulty getting blood.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Was Embraced by her husband against her will then forced to abandon her children.
- Daywalking Vampire: An ability that gives her a massive advantage to compensate for her disadvantages as a Thin Blood.
- Family of Choice: Colleen, Priscilla, King Rat, and Mitch are a coterie of Anarchs. Subverted by the fact Mitch and Colleen were married in life but are now estranged while Priscilla is a Ministry plant.
- Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: The only one in the book. Colleen is able to live off of blood that the others can't and doesn't need to frenzy.
- The Heart: Is easily the warmest and friendliest vampire in the series.
- Morality Pet: Colleen is the Morality Pet of her Anarch coterie. The Anarch coterie is hers, especially her husband. In reality, hers are her mortal children that she lives far away from.
- Team Mom: Serves as this to her Anarch group, getting them food and keeping them in line.
- Vegetarian Vampire: Colleen prefers a bagged lunch over something direct from the tap.
The Courts of the Twin Cities
Calder Wendt
Bloody good fun.
An ambitious Tremere warlock who is one of Cecily's few "friends."
- Affably Evil: Is one of the more police and charming vampires in the series. Which doesn't stop him from stabbing Cecily in the back the first time its conveinant.
- Awesome Moment of Crowning: What he plans for himself. But doesn't go quite according to plan.
- Big Bad: Of the first story arc where he turns out to have been behind everything.
- Blood Magic: As befitting a Tremere wizard, he has excellent control over sorcery.
- Evil Is Petty: Orders the execution of a child he just helped rescue from the Culling because he's worthless and a witness to the Masquerade. He also insists that Ali do it.
- I Have Your Wife: Uses this with Cecily's sister to serve as leverage during their meeting.
- Inadequate Inheritor: Utterly fails as Prince. He is then replaced by Cecily.
- Karma Houdini: He murders the previous Prince and utterly botches the handling of the Moritician's Army. If not for being Tremere, it's certain he would have been executed by Ian Carfax.
- Mundane Utility: Uses his blood magic to put on entertaining shows.
- Not So Above It All: Pushes Ali into his swimming pool with blood magic when she outsmarts him.
- Nothing Personal: Tells this to Cecily while sitting in bed with her demented sister.
- No-Sell: Alejandra's attack on him is utterly useless as he immediately hogties her with his powers.
- Rank Up: Of sorts. He's made the Sheriff of the Twin Cities but this is a significant step down from Prince.
- Smug Snake: Varies between this and
Magnificent Bastard as he's utterly terrified of Ian Carfax. - Take That!: Compares himself to the Nazis and Republicans in terms of ability to peddle disinformation.
- Vampire Monarch: Becomes this after the death of Prince Merrain.
- Would Hurt a Child: A revelation that helps cement him as complete scum in a setting full of bad guys.
Erin Runningbear
A Native American member of Prince Merrain's court. She serves as the city's Seneschal.
- Consummate Professional: Her job as the Prince's advisor and protector of the Masquerade were her primary duties.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Erin Runningbear was a biracial half Irish/half Native American girl who was forced into a school designed to obliterate knowledge of her culture's history.
- Evil Chancellor: Played with as she is both evil and a Chancellor but very much loyal to the Prince.
- Fate Worse than Death: Is suspended as a trophy in the Prince's room, fully aware. Played with as Erin acts like she'll eventually get loose.
- Freudian Excuse: Being educated in a Native school certainly explains a lot of her issues with the faith.
- Hollywood Atheist: Revels in her hatred for Christianity due to growing up in a Native school.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Assumes that Cecily planned to destroy her reputation as part of a power play. Cecily has no interest in power and an actual aversion to it.
- Kick the Dog: Seduced and murdered a nun for fun.
- Magical Native American: Averted. Humorously, Erin is one of the least magical members of the cast. Working alongside an actual wizard, vampire or not.
- Undying Loyalty: To Prince Merrain. This gets her in trouble when she tries to avenge her death by betraying Calder Wendt.
Twin City Anarchs
King Rat
You won't see him coming.
Real name: Marcus W. King. An African American Vietnam veteran Embraced and turned into a Nosferatu. He is the oldest and strongest of the Anarch cell.- Black and Nerdy: A huge James Clavall fan (where he took his name from). Played with in that he was also a talented tunnel rat and Vietnam veteran.
- The Cavalry: Manages to rescue the rest of his group when they get taken by the Second Inquisition.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Didn't get any recognition for his heroism as a Marine during the Vietnam War.
- Friendly Enemy: Is still friends with Cecily Bane despite remaining an Anarch while she has turned to become a Camarilla enforcer.
- Invisibility: One of the abilities, called Obfuscate, that comes with being a Nosferatu. King Rat has apparently developed it to the level he can disappear but not disguise himself as a human.
- Looks Like Orlock: Comes with being a Nosferatu (usually).
- Old Soldier: It helps being a vampire. He's a Vietnam veteran and also a seasoned fighter of the Sabbat.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: He continues to wear his Army helmet years after and is apparently still haunted by his actions during wartime.
- The Vietnam Vet: He is an Old Soldier from that time, and it led to his belief that War Is Hell.
- War Is Hell: Has this opinion of Vietnam. It's hard to blame him.
Mitch Pendergrass
A former tow truck driver who was Embraced by the Sabbat and then embraced his wife.
- Amicable Exes: His wife still cares for him but their relationship was destroyed by his Embracing her.
- Defector from Decadence: He was Embraced as a Sabbat shovelhead.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: None of the Duluth Anarchs seem to care much for Mitch.
- Half-Witted Hillbilly: Easily the dumbest character in the series. In addition to not finishing school, he makes the most poor decisions.
- Heroes Love Dogs: Mitch can transform into a lovable looking pooch.
- Hidden Badass: Mitch is a screw-up but it turns out he's a successful veteran of the war against the Sabbat.
- Just Eat Gilligan: A conclusion several of the Anarchs debate. Which is why he finally leaves the group.
- The Load: Most of the problems in the group are caused by him and his inability to control his hunger.
- Oh, Crap!: Mitch's justified reaction to seeing a Crinos-form werewolf.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Led the werewolves of the countryside into the Twin Cities during Crimson Thaw.
- Vegetarian Vampire: Mitch can actually survive on animal blood and would be better off doing so than feeding on their blood supply.
Priscilla
God's chosen double-agent
A young Toreador actually Ministry woman who is new to the Anarch coterie.
- Always Someone Better: Priscilla feels this way about Cecily Bain. As far as the others are concern, she's filling a seat for their former member.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: She subjects one of the Hunters to this, turning him into a ghoul and inducting her into her cult.
- But Not Too Evil: Priscilla finds herself intimidated and horrified by her mentor's actual evil.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Priscilla thinks of herself as one of these but is a pussycat compared to her Ministry superiors.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Comes with being a vampire and having dark hair.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Priscilla is appalled by her Ministry superior killing a hunter that she promised safe passage to.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Averted. She's a Ministry agent. However, she was once a prostitute working the streets of Memphis.
- Irony: The most religious of the Anarchs and deeply sincere in faith is the most opposed to the Second Inquisition. Of course they don't worship the same God.
- Meaningful Name: She's Priscilla and from Memphis.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Is physically very attractive due to the contrast on the page.
- Religion of Evil: She's a worshiper of Set. Notably, she never refers to him as anything other than God.
- Token Evil Teammate: The most outwardly evil of the group. Which comes with being a member of the Ministry.
Hunters
Wolves in Sheeps' Clothing
A group of ghouls that have since taken up surgery and magic to implant themselves with Kindred parts.
- Body Horror: They are surgical nightmares with lots of implanted Kindred parts.
- Canon Immigrant: An entirely new kind of monster introduced into the World of Darkness.
- The Dog Bites Back: They're formerly ghouls and slaves to the undead but now hunt down their old masters.
- Evil Versus Evil: Kindred are terrible people but the Wolves in Sheeps' Clothing are even worse.
- Hate Sink: In a series of Villain Protagonist and Antihero characters, these are just vile.
- Hollywood Cyborg: They are a combination of magic, technology, and organ theft.
- Horrifying the Horror: Has this effect on even hardened Kindred.
- Human Resources: They are quite fond of making themselves immortal with the body parts of the undead.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Cecily calls the Wolves in Sheeps' Clothing cannibals. Alejandra calls her out on the hypocrisy of this.
- Organ Theft: Their M.O. is to hunt vampires to get these.
- Outside-Context Problem: They're unrelated to the Second Inquisition or politics of the Twin Cities. They're just a bunch of lunatics wanting to steal Kindred organs.
- Van Helsing Hate Crimes: They are every bit as monstrous as the vampires they hunt.
The Mortician's Army
An organization founded by the mysterious Mortician to rid the Twin Cities of vampires.
- Big Bad: They serve as this for the second Winter's Teeth arc.
- Child Soldier: They employ multiple examples of these and they're all supremely screwed up.
- Dead All Along: The Mortician has been dead since before the comic began.
- Elite Mooks: They have machine guns, body armor, and even a helicopter unlike the majority of hunters.
- Gone Horribly Right: Their plan to insert Ali in as The Mole gets them information on the vampire power structure. Too bad Ali is a sociopath.
- Knight Templar: Zealous and fanatical in their desire to kill as many vampires as possible.
- Pride: They want a "fight" with the vampires versus attacking them at their most vulnerable.
- Too Dumb to Live: Their catastrophic failure could have been averted if they'd just attacked the vampires all during the day.
- Total Party Kill: Virtually the entire organization is wiped out by Ian Carfax once the Justicar gets access to enough blood to attack them all at once.
- Vampire Hunter: This is their organization's purpose and MO.
- Van Helsing Hate Crimes: They go after the Thin Bloods and other harmless vampires as well as monsters.
