Deverra

Deverra was the head of the Telyavelic Tremere of Lithuania and part of the inner circle of the Gangrel Khan Qarakh.

Biography
Deverra was born under a different name in Livonia, as the daughter of a blacksmith who revered Telyavel. Interested in the workings of the world since an early age, she developed talents that led some of her village whisper that she was a witch. A traveling Tremere wizard by the name of Alferic noticed her talent and forced her father to release her into his apprenticeship. She became a member of the mortal House Tremere during its time within the Order of Hermes, often traveling through medieval Europe with her teacher in the course of her studies. Her hermetic name was derived from Dea de verra – Goddess of Strife, a nickname among her old master that was adopted by her fellow students. When she became a full maga, she adopted the name as her own, with a changed meaning, deriving it from de vera –“of Truth”.

When she was turned into one of the vampiric Tremere by her mentor only a short time afterwards, she had a hard time to accept what she had become. She asked to be transferred to her homeland Livonia, in order to study the Koldunic Sorcery of the Tzimisce. There, she found spirits and began to hope that they could restore the Tremere to life again. Searching for like-minded individuals among the Clan, she spread the news, while dutifully reporting her progress to Etrius. She reported that she and her followers had themselves set up as priesthood to the god Telyav, accepting blood sacrifices from the population. Their turning to paganism invited the suspicion of their fellow Tremere, and soon, the Telyavelic Tremere under Deverra found themselves censured and shunned.

Over the centuries, the Telyavelic Tremere grew attached to their mortal retainers, and strengthening their ties with local supernatural community. When their pagan religion became threatened by the encroaching Christianity, Deverra sought allies and found them in the form of Qarakh, a Gangrel from Mongolia, in 1155. Together with him, they founded a tribe where mortals and vampires lived in harmony with each other and in accordance to the spirits around them. Deverra adopted the Mongolian custom of yostoi for herself, to live in balance with the world around her as well as with her own Beast. Eventually, the two became lovers. As a voice of reason, Deverra kept the tempers of the leading members of the tribe, Qarakh and Arnulf, at bay. She warned Qarakh of the coming of a prince with the face of a boy, referring to the arrival of the Ventrue Methuselah Alexander. In the Grove of Shadows, she bartered with an entity she identified as Telyavel to grant Qarakh protection. Later, she participated in the battles between Alexander and Qarakh, absorbing the spilt blood from the ground and altering the territory into a bog to force a confrontation between the two. Providing Qarakh with an enchantment that would grant him power as long as he would stand on Livonian soil, she sacrificed her youthful body, turning into a wizened old hag, to allow him victory and diablerize the ancient.

In the aftermath, Deverra discussed with Osobei Vasilevitch, a Tzimisce who was sent by the Voivodate to negotiate with Qarakhs tribe. She tried to calm the Gangrel in the aftershocks of Alexander’s Diablerie, when the soul of the ancient (secretly strengthened by other Tremere) tried to assume control over the body and was made head of the tribe by him after Qarakh himself left in order to master himself again. Confronted with Jervais, who had been sent to root the Telyavelic dissenters out, she nonetheless invited him into their camp and listened him out. Learning from him that Ceoris had decided to destroy them, she decided to take action. Both sides began to struggle: The Telyavs tried to turn the land itself against the Tremere of Ceoris, sending them nightmares and speaking curses against them, while the Tremere of Ceoris resorted to burning down the sacred groves of the pagans and defiling the vis within the earth of Livonia.

Eventually, Deverra attacked the loyal Tremere directly, calling the power of Telyavel. Seeking to slay Jervais as the leader of the hostile Tremere, they lured him into their woods by taking one of his companions, but Jervais was saved by loyal Gargoyles. Sensing that everything she had built was in danger, she ordered Qarakh’s representative, the Brujah Alessandro Garcia, to move the camp. In return, the Tremere under Jervais resorted to sending their allies among the Teutonic Order against them, using the weakness of the Telyavs against the symbols of Christianity and True Faith against them. Eventually, Deverra decided to sacrifice herself to allow the other members of her coven to escape. In her last confrontation with Jervais, Etrius used the mystical connection made through the grandchilde of his rival to enhance his magic, destroying Deverra. Her remains were ritually preserved and taken to Ceoris.