Helena (VTM)

Helena is one of the most powerful active Methuselahs in the Modern Nights and her feud with Menele has reached legendary proportions over the course of the centuries. She used to lie in Torpor beneath the Succubus Club, until she awoke in 1990. She then assumed the guise of Portia, a Toreador neonate and a regular at the Succubus Club, until the War of Chicago destroyed both the club and prince Lodin.

The Achaean Princess
Even before her Embrace, Helena was regarded as the most beautiful woman who had ever lived. She lived in Argos, as the most beloved daughter of the king, until she met her future husband, Minos, who was withered and ugly. Desperate, Helena ran away from her home, taking only a single handmaiden with her. When she had collapsed from exhaution, she was found by a prince of Asia Minor, Prias, who matched her beauty and the two immediately fell in love.

The Embrace and the Betrayal of Carthage
Ten years lasted their happiness, until Minos found her, revealing himself to be not quite human when he raged through the palace, effortlessly defeated Prias and took Helena with him to Argos. There, he fed from her in a slow agonizing way to punish her for her and when he gave her the Embrace, her first meal was her own father. at first, she seemed to accepted her fate (fueled by both the Blood Bond and powerful Domination), but secretly plotted to destroy her hated sire and usurp his heartblood. Her chance came when, 13 years later, Prias came with an army to lay siege to Argos and pierced Minos's heart with his spear. Eager for her revenge, Helena jumped forward and drained her sire of even the last drop of vitae.

At first Helena offered Prias the same eternal youth that she had received from Minos, but Prias refused, terrified at what she had become and the thought of consuming the blood of  the living. Then Helena told him how mortals could achieve immortality also by drinking vampiric blood, without being turned vampire themselves. This offer Prias accepted. Helena gave him her blood, making him into her Ghoul and the two continued to live happily together, eventually venturing off to the splendid new city of Carthage in the south.

When the Punic Wars began, Helena and Prias fought for Carthage at first, but soon Helena realized that the struggle was futile. The romans, who were supported by Ventrue methuselahs, could not be defeated. So Helena traded her and Prias safety for important details about Carthages defenses and the two left the city before the fatal final siege that laid waste to the city. For her help, the Ventrue rewarded Helena with the fiefdom of Pompeii. Unfortunately a survivor, the philosopher warrior Menele, found out about her treachery and swore vengeance for his slaughtered friends and the shattered dream of unity between Kindred and Kine. He traveled to Pompeii and used his knowledge of blood magic to conjure a great spirit of fire to destroy her city. Unfortunately, he lost control over the spirit and had to flee,as well as Prias and Helena, who went for Egypt, plotting their revenge. This would made up the majority of her unlife by now, as no side of both of them managed to gain the upper hand, until Helena seemingly managed to deal Menele a fatal blow in Spain. After that, all traces of the Brujah had vanished. Helena, however, was faced with a new problem; the Thirst of Ages had begun to take its toll on her, denying her substenance from mortal blood and forcing her to devour her own kind.

The New World
Helena noticed via her considerable Auspex power that traces of Menele's aura were found on the other side of the ocean. Fascinated, she helped fund the expedition of Hernan Cortez and followed him over the Atlantic. Helena was accompanied by Prias and a number of her own female progeny intended to provide her sustenance since she no longer could subsist on mortal blood. Helena supported Cortez in his conquest of the Mesoamerican cultures in her search of her nemesis. Menele continued to avoid facing her directly, until the two met in a terrible showdown by Fort Dearborn, Helena supported by Prias while Menele had found an ally in the Indian chief Black Hawk. Both ended up in Torpor and both were saved by their helper. But even in Torpor, the two battled on, using their incredible powers of Auspex, Dominate and Presence to stir up people and cities against each other. After the American Civil War and the founding of Chicago, Helena focused on gaining footholds in the upper echelons of Kindred society.

Endgame
Helena rose from torpor in 1990, calling on the blood of her descendants to nourish her back to strength. After the destruction of her haven in the War of Chicago and the death of her beloved Prias, Helena actively walks again under the night sky, assuming the identity of the neonate Portia. She actively seeks out Meneles resting place, hoping to finally destroy him and and their feud right now.