Julian Luna

Julian Luna was a vampire of clan Ventrue, depicted in the TV adaptation to Vampire: The Masquerade called Kindred: the Embraced. According to the TV series, he was the Cainite Prince of San Francisco.

Biography
He was born in Sonoma County, California in the year 1830 and was married to a woman named Evelyn. The Lunas owned a vineyard known as the Old Mission Winery in Manzanita Springs and proved to be very successful. Evelyn Luna died in childbirth in 1856, but their son survived and was able to carry on the family business. Shortly after her death, a Ventrue vampire known as Archon Raine turned Julian Luna into a vampire - one of the Kindred - through an act known as the embrace. As far as the official record was concerned, Julian Luna died in the year 1899.

Julian left the Old Mission Winery and traveled to San Francisco where Archon Raine held position of Prince of the city's Kindred population. Luna regarded Archon as a mentor, a father figure and a friend and was fiercely loyal to him. Over the span of the next several decades, Julian served as Archon's enforcer - his veritable "Angel of Wrath". He was often called upon to commit acts of great violence and ruthlessness.

In the year 1985, Archon Raine was involved in a longstanding grudge against a rival vampire clan, the Brujah. A nest of Brujah vampires had inhabited the old winery in Manzanita and though they had committed no actual crime against Archon, he felt that this was an ample opportunity to exterminate his hated enemies. Lying to Julian, he let him believe that the Brujah had grossly violated Kindred law and needed to be exterminated. Julian went to the winery and slaughtered all of the Brujah present. He set fire to the building, disposing of the bodies. The only thing that remained were bullet holes and blood stains on the walls.

By the early 1990s, Archon elected to retire from his leadership role and elevated Julian to the position of Prince of the city. This gave him complete control over the vampires in his territory of San Francisco. Though many of the vampires under his charge were loyal to Luna, many more were just as willing to conspire against them to serve their own ends. Through his various business enterprises, both legitimate and criminal, Luna garnered a reputation as a powerful and influential crime boss.

Kindred: the Embraced: Episode 1 - "The Original Saga"

As his reputation grew, he began to catch the notice of the San Francisco police department. Luna had several Kindred infiltrate the SFPD to keep attention off of him, but one detective in particular, Frank Kohanek, doggedly labored to bring Luna down. What Frank didn't know was that one of Luna's own childer, Sonny Toussaint, had been secretly feeding Frank information to help him build a case against Julian's rival Eddie Fiori. The scheme unfortunately put Luna at risk as well and Frank began gunning for him. Publicly, Sonny worked as Frank's partner.

Frank tried to get to Luna by way of one of his former lovers, a woman named Alexandra Serris. Frank and Alexandra ended up falling in love, and through the course of their brief relationship, she revealed that she was a vampire and the fact that Julian was as well. Alexandra knew that by breaking the Kindred's commandment of secrecy regarding their true natures, her life would be forfeit. Luna still loved Alexandra, but when he learned that she had broken their "Masquerade", he had little choice but to issue a blood hunt for her. Before the sentence could be carried out, Alexandra met with Luna in secret. She made him promise that he would spare Frank Kohanek's life. In honor of their time together, Luna agreed.

Alexandra was executed soon after and Frank blamed Luna. He encountered him face to face in a garden near Luna's mansion. He shot him twice in the chest, but knew that this would not cause any permanent damage to the vampire. Luna tried to make peace with Kohanek, but Frank swore that he would find some way to destroy him, even if it meant becoming a vampire himself.

Episode 2 - "Prince of the City"

Julian grew to like Frank, and had no desire to see him come to any harm. He met with him several times later and the two came to an uneasy accord. Frank began to realize that Luna was too powerful for him to take down as he would like, but Julian knew that Frank could be useful to him in exposing renegade Kindred. A temporary truce was established between the two men.

A few nights later, Julian learned that his "niece" (in reality, his great-great granddaughter) Sasha had been thrown in jail after slugging an undercover police man. He bailed Sasha out and invited her into his home. Sasha was young an reckless and couldn't understand why "Uncle Julie" would care enough to help her out. Julian confessed that the only thing that could ease the pain of loneliness was family. When they arrived at his mansion, he introduced her to a young Gangrel vampire named Cash. Cash had taken the place of head of security for Luna's organization following the death of his sire Stevie Ray. Luna also made him the Primogen of Clan Gangrel. Despite this promotion in ranks, Julian did not like the way that Cash and Sasha took to one another and he warned him on more than one occasion to stay away from her.

Julian learned that an investigative reporter for the San Francisco Times named Caitlin Byrne had been trying to dig up some dirt on Luna. Julian invited her to The Haven and said that he would be willing to grant her an interview, but under certain conditions. He would be free to not answer any question that he chose, but for every question that he did answer, he would then get to ask Caitlin something personal about her life. Caitlin agreed, but when Julian's questions became too probing, she stopped the interview. Julian liked Caitlin, though his current mistress, the Toreador Primogen Lillie Langtry did not care for her, and felt that she endangered the Masquerade. Julian disagreed, believing that by helping Caitlin's career, he could in fact manipulate her into protecting the Kindred. To facilitate this, Julian purchased the San Francisco Times and promoted Caitlin to the position of City Editor. Julian visited the reporter several times and despite her misgivings, Caitlin developed a strong attraction to Julian.

Julian soon called together a conclave of the city's Primogen elders to look into the death of Paulie Boyle. The unauthorized murder of a human was a breach of the Masquerade, and as such, whoever violated this edict risked their own existence. Julian presented Paulie Boyle's ruby ring to the clan elders, including Eddie Fiori. Each of them took turns examining it and using their powers to perceive the mental impressions of what happened in Paulie's final moments. They discovered that Eddie's lieutenant Nino Donelli was responsible for murdering the man. By Kindred law, Nino's life was forfeit. Julian sought to use this incident to make a move against Eddie. He cited that since Nino's actions were committed on behalf of Eddie Fiori, then Eddie should bear responsibility for Paulie's death as well. A vote was cast, but the ruling was in Eddie's favor.

Episode 3 - "Nightstalker"

A short time later, Julian learned of a new vampire that had come to his city, a man calling himself Starkweather. Julian saw Starkweather at The Haven and witnessed a brawl between him and Cash. The police arrived to break up the fight and both of the vampires were sent to the Suncrest psychiatric hospital. Julian couldn't allow them to keep two vampires in the hospital for any length of time so he arranged to have Cash let out on bail. When he arrived however, he found that Starkweather had suffered a psychotic break, murdered a doctor and escaped. Over the span of five days, Starkweather murdered seven more people.

Julian knew that action needed to be taken quickly. He called the city Primogen together and declared a Blood Hunt for Starkweather. He wanted to keep the matter restricted to the Kindred, but when the body of Starkweather's father was discovered by San Francisco police officers, there was no way he could keep Frank Kohanek out of the investigation. He met with Frank and offered his assistance in tracking down Starkweather. Frank didn't want Luna involved in his affairs any more than was absolutely necessary, but Luna told him that with the help of the Kindred, they might be able to stop the serial killer before he committed any more murders.

A few night later, Julian learned that Starkweather had abducted a young lounge singer named Elaine Robb and taken her to The Haven. He alerted Frank and both men headed down there to stop him. Frank arrived first, but Starkweather disarmed him and was preparing to kill him by hanging from an amplifier cord. Julian arrived in time to prevent Frank's death then had a standoff with Starkweather. Using a large, curved blade, he beheaded the rogue vampire. Frank promised to keep Luna's name out of the official report on the incident.

Episode 4 - "Romeo and Juliet"

Things continued to worsen between Luna's camp and the Brujah vampires led by Eddie Fiori. Eddie wanted to be rid of Julian altogether and believed that a clan war would be the most efficient means of realizing that goal. Eddie wanted the battle to be on his terms however, so he needed to do something to affect Julian's reason and judgment. He accompanied a group of Brujah to The Haven where one of them began provocatively dancing with Sasha. This proved to be the spark that Eddie wanted to ignite and Julian flew into a rage, throwing the Brujah across the table. Eddie then knew that the key to getting Julian lied with Sasha.

Eddie was not the only one who had a strong interest in Sasha though. Cash continued his secret romance with her, but felt guilty for hiding the affair behind Julian's back. He finally confessed that Sasha and he were lovers and asked for Julian's permission to embrace her. Julian always wanted to keep Sasha clear of Kindred affairs, so he denied the request. Later, Sasha approached Julian directly. She knew that people like Cash and he were different from others and she wanted to be part of their world. She wanted Julian's blessing to see Cash. Luna gave the matter considerable thought. Ultimately, he approached Cash and gave his consent for him to embrace her. As things turned out however, the Brujah had other plans for the young woman. One of Eddie's thugs broke into Sasha's room and embraced her before Cash could reach her. When Julian learned of this gross violation of Kindred law, he went to Eddie Fiori's office to confront him. He restrained himself from attacking Eddie directly, but warned him that either her would deliver the head of the Brujah who took Sasha, or he would claim Eddie's head a moment later.

Things eventually came to a head between the factions and the two groups held a stand-off against one another in the dark recesses of an empty back alley. Eddie and the Brujah had stronger numbers, but Julian's camp had superior firepower. He also had the added support of the Nosferatu clan, who generally remained neutral when it came to internecine clan conflict. With the Nosferatu padding Julian's ranks, the Brujah backed down. Julian had Cash lock Eddie inside the trunk of his car. After which, he drove him out into the middle of the desert and left him in the sun. Julian circled the area for a brief period, long enough for Eddie's body to blister and begin to burn. He allowed him back into the car and told him that the only reason he was still alive was because he allowed it.

Episode 5 - "Live Hard, Die Young, and Leave a Good Looking Corpse"

Julian worked hard to rectify the situation with Sasha, but there was no denying the Brujah blood that now flowed through her veins. Despite his efforts, he knew he was losing her. He tried to keep her safe at the mansion, but Sasha poignantly told him that the time for playing the role of "daddy" never worked out well. Sasha would have to determine for herself whether or not she wanted to remain loyal to Luna's camp or embrace the heritage of the Brujah.

Complicating Julian's life even further was the arrival of an unruly Toreador vampire named Zane. Zane was a rising rock star and the progeny of Lillie Langtry. He became the star performer at The Haven, earning the adoration of a throng of female groupies. Julian immediately saw Zane as a wild card whose indiscrete antics were liable to threaten the Masquerade. Julian warned Zane that so long as he continued to live in his city, he would obey Kindred law.

Zane had little respect for authority and even less respect for Julian Luna. In an act of pure spite, Zane turned his charms towards Sasha Luna, who was instantly intrigued by the rebellious, young vampire. This, coupled with Zane's flagrant disregard for the Masquerade greatly enraged Julian. When Luna learned that Zane had also embraced a young woman named Grace Dugan against her will, he knew he needed to take action. Out of respect for Zane's sire, Lillie, Julian did not order a blood hunt, but rather, told Zane that he needed to leave San Francisco immediately - forever. Zane refused to kowtow to Julian's authority and continued to embrace several more of his female followers. Luna's initial decision to spare Zane's life was giving the appearance of weakness to rival vampires such as Eddie Fiori and he ultimately called together a conclave to determine Zane's fate. All but one voted in favor of executing Zane for his crimes (Lillie abstained). Sasha, still enamored with Zane, freed him from his prison and the two ran off into the night. Julian and the other Primogen members tracked them to a covered bridge over a set of train tracks where they found Zane and Sasha standing directly in the way of an oncoming train. Julian could not bear to see his blood relative ready to give up her life in such a fashion, so he placed himself between them and the train saying that if this was her choice, then it would be his choice as well. Ultimately, cooler heads prevailed and everybody moved from the tracks as the train passed. Julian lovingly took hold of Sasha while Lillie performed the unenviable task of executing Zane.

Episode 6 - "The Rise and Fall of Eddie Fiori"

With Zane gone and his relationship with Sasha reconciled, Julian still had one major obstacle to face - Eddie Fiori. Eddie not only wanted revenge against Luna for leaving him to blister in the sunlight, but also wanted to remove him from San Francisco forever. To facilitate this, Eddie enlisted the aid of his sire, a Los Angeles vampire named Cyrus, who provided him with a shape-shifting Assamite assassin. The Assamite found Luna outside Caitlin Byrne's home. It took the form of his bodyguard Billy and tried to kill Julian with a large knife. Julian fought back and managed to survive, but the Assamite managed to escape. Complicating matters even further was the presence of a private investigator named Benning who took photographs of the fight between Luna and the Assamite. The photographs eventually fell into the hands of Caitlin Byrne. When Caitlin asked Julian about them, he dodged the issue in typical fashion, but Caitlin could no longer abide his perpetual air of secrecy. Telling him that his world scared her too much, she broke up with him.

When Julian returned to his mansion, he found Eddie Fiori and the Assamite ready to finish the job they had started at Caitlin's house. With the help of Cash, Julian survived another assassination attempt. The Assamite assumed Julian's form and when it encountered Fiori, it was mistaken for the real Luna so Eddie shot it. Eddie proclaimed himself the new Prince of the city, but Julian emerged at Eddie's office accompanied by a group of well-armed loyal Ventrue. Although the two were sworn enemies, it was actually Lillie Langtry who ended the feud once and for all when she beheaded Eddie Fiori with his own samurai sword.

Afterward, Julian returned to Caitlin. The two reconciled their differences and got back together.

Episode 7 - "Bad Moon Rising"

Julian learned that an old adversary, an exiled Nosferatu vampire named Goth had returned to San Francisco, along with his lover Camilla. Daedalus provided Luna with information regarding Goth's recent activities, not the least of which involved the abduction of an infant named Jesse Doyle. He told Luna that Goth intended on using the baby as part of a blood ritual. Julian could not allow such action to take place and he instructed all of the Primogen to keep their ears out for Goth and Camilla.

Later, he met up with Daedalus who informed him that Goth was marshalling the city's Nosferatu to act against him. He knew that he would soon have to handle the matter personally, so Daedalus provided him with a serum to increase his chances should Goth and he come to blows.

The story of Jesse's disappearance quickly reached the ears of the San Francisco police department and Frank Kohanek was determined to rescue the child no matter what. Julian met up with Frank at their usual meeting place and warned him about dangerous Goth could be. Frank was undeterred however and was displeased with Julian's reluctance to enlist the aid of the police.

Julian learned that Goth's blood ritual was scheduled to take place at Golden Gate Park on the night of the full moon. He went there and tried to find a more palatable solution to the problem. He offered himself up to Goth's ritual in exchange for sparing the baby's life, but Goth refused to allow Julian to enjoy such noble satisfaction. Instead, he bludgeoned him across the head with the butt of a shotgun and took him prisoner. Julian awakened inside an underground cave chained to a wall. Also in the cave was Caitlin Byrne, who had been captured by Camilla due to the selfish machinations of Lillie Langtry. Julian watched Caitlin speaking with Camilla and learned that his lover had once bore a child herself and gave it up for adoption when she was only seventeen-years-old.

Julian soon freed himself and returned to the ritual site to confront Goth. Playing on the vampire's pride, he challenged Goth to a dual and the two vampires squared off. With the added strength supplied by Daedalus' serum, Julian was able to defeat Goth, first by driving and axe into his chest and then by beheading him. He found Caitlin, unconscious in the cave and brought her home. When she awakened, Julian was waiting for her. Fortunately for him, she had no memory of what had transpired and thus the Masquerade was still protected.

Episode 8 - "Cabin in the Woods"

Julian and Caitlin decided to take some time away from their worries for a weekend getaway. At Caitlin's suggestion, they drove to the Luna family's Old Mission Winery in Manzanita Springs. Julian owned a cabin in the middle of the woods near a cemetery and they were able to enjoy an intimate Friday evening together. The following day, Julian gave Caitlin a tour of the winery as well as the cemetery. She found Julian's original tombstone, but Luna told her that it actually belonged to his great-great grandfather.

That evening, the sins of Julian's past came back to haunt him. Three vengeful Brujah named Cameron, Sorel and Clyde, survivors of Julian's 1985 clan massacre, learned that he had returned and coordinated themselves to ambush him. Sorel grabbed Caitlin in the middle of the forest and forced her to call out for Julian. Luna took the form of a wolf and leapt out from the trees to confront them. Sorel dropped Caitlin and went for Luna, swiping at him with his large hunting knife. He managed to deliver a brutal slash across his abdomen, while Clyde stabbed Julian in the back with a knife. Feeling as if they had successfully rid themselves of Julian Luna, the vampires turned into wolves and ran off into the night. Julian tried to follow them, but his injuries were too grave and he collapsed on the ground. Caitlin was horrified by what she had seen and brought Luna back into the cabin to nurse his injuries.

The following evening, Julian awakened to see Caitlin at his bedside. He knew that he could no longer keep his dark secret from her and told her that he was one of the Kindred. He explained how he was once a ruthless and dark man, but has been laboring to keep his past behind him. He told Caitlin that she brought out everything that was good in him.

When Sorel learned that Julian was still alive, he tracked them to the cabin and burst through the bedroom window. The two fought one another, but Julian was able to get the drop on him, pinning him to the ground and knocking him unconscious. The effort taxed Luna's body however and he grew very weak. He told Caitlin that only blood would allow him to heal. Caitlin offered him her own blood, but Julian refused. She insisted however and Julian was too weak to refuse her. She cut open her own wrist and poured blood into Julian's mouth. By the following morning, all of his injuries were healed. The more pressing problem however was the fact that Caitlin was now aware of the existence of the Kindred and thus presented a viable threat to the Masquerade. He told her that there were only two options available to her to resolve this. Either she had to be embraced, or she had to be killed - neither of which were acts that Julian was ready to consider. Though she protested against it, Julian was forced to use his vampire powers to erase Caitlin’s' memory of the affair. When she awakened, Julian told her that she had fallen gravely ill from fever. She maintained no memory of what had transpired, but trace elements of the incident haunted her in her dreams.

Julian returned to San Francisco, but when he arrived he found that the third Brujah, Cameron, had assassinated Archon Raine. Further, Cameron proclaimed himself as the new Primogen for the Brujah clan, replacing the late Eddie Fiori. Luna was enraged and lunged for Cameron, but Daedalus held him back. He stated that Cameron's actions against Archon were justifiable and that before he died he confessed to abusing his power to destroy Cameron's clan mates. Julian conceded to the rule of law, but warned Cameron that he was embarking upon a dangerous journey by filling Fiori's shoes.

Julian Luna returned to Manzanita Springs to bury his old friend and mentor. Archon was laid to rest in his original grave with all of the Primogen present.

Gallery
Kindred_Episode_1x02.jpg|The Primogen of San Francisco