“ | The more you try to hold a rose, the more you must bear her thorns. | ” |
Emem Louis is a twelfth generation Toreador of Boston and the childe of Primogen Hilda McAndrews.
Emem is a former jazz diva, Embraced by Hilda, the love of her life. Emem's jazz clubs are an institution in Boston and serve as unofficial Elysium. She has close ties with the Kindred of the city, and often acts as an emissary.
She is one of the protagonists of Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong, a video game based on Vampire: The Masquerade, developed by Big Bad Wolf and published by Bigben Interactive.
Biography[]
Born in Harlem in 1901, Emem grew up in a family of poor African American performers. Her father Mayson was a musician by night and window washer by day. Her mother Clara sang when she was not taking care of her four children. When he was drafted in 1917, Emem's father enlisted in the 15th Regiment of the New York National Guard, the "Harlem Hellfighters," and participated in the liberation of France. He joined a jazz band in his unit that became a phenomenal success after the war ended. Pathé Studios had them record an album which would become the firt jazz record to be played nonstop on French phonographs. Following this success, Mayson decided to bring his family to Paris and to make a living playing his music in the jazz clubs that were beginning to sprout up throughout the capital.
Emem was 17 years old and was a dancer. She spent time with the elite who would come to listen to her father, and it took little time for her to get noticed. She discovered the Folies Bergères and their international shows. She auditioned for it and passed with flying colors. From odd jobs backstage to subbing in for other performers, she proved herself and became headline act at just 21 years old. Her burlesque stripping act took Paris by storm, making her extremely popular. Emem began traveling through Europe, dancing to packed houses in the hottest cabarets. Emem was young, beautiful, and radiant. Her life was the night, as the champagne and money flowed. She was determined and alluring, the embodiment of a free and independent woman of the early twentieth century. She had a fiery temperament that soon attracted the attention of Europe's Divas...
In December, 1923. Emem performed eight times at the Vienna Carltheater. On the first night, she was introduced to Hilda MacAndrews by the theater director outside her dressing room. Emem was immediately captivated by this mysterious aristocrat who attended each of her performances. They spent the nights that followed in bars exchanging stories about their lives and their art, their passions and their struggles... Hilda was cultured, charismatic, and politically engaged in the suffragette movement and the woman' artistic community. Emem, to her surprise, fell under her spell and gave in to this irresistible attraction. A passionate relationship formed right away between the two women, who became inseparable. Hilda confided in Emem and told her about her vampiric nature over the course of the next three ears. For their love to endure, but also seduced by the promise of eternal youth, Emem asked to be sired right away. It would take yet another three years, however, before Hilda managed to get the local Prince to agree to it. The Prince feared that the young woman's notoriety could be a danger to the Masquerade. With the Prince's blessing at last, Hilda threw a spectacular celebration in honor of her companion, whom she would Embrace at the end of this memorable evening.
Having lived in Vienna since their meeting at the Carltheater, Hilda and Emem left Austria in 1934 for Paris, then Bordeaux. Alas, France's surrender in 1940 forced the couple to reconsider their plans. With the help of her contacts in London, Hilda managed to negotiate a crossing to Boston, her hometown. Though hesitant at first, the city's Malkavian Prince, Quentin King, finally granted them asylum. Emem and Hilda were introduced to the Court, where fifty years of intrigue would bring their passion to its inevitable end.
Following her breakup with Hilda, Emem moved to a suburban Boston neighbourhood far away from King, political schemes, and her sire. The area, however, with its infamous reputation due to the large population of thin-bloods and Anarch sympathizers, did not make for a wise investment, but Emem refused to give up. She renovated a small theater and transformed it into a club that she named the "Black Rattlers" in homage to her father's battalion. Then she returned to the stage and progressively regained her visibility and reputation. She met Kindred from all walks of unlife and, against all odds, managed to bring renewal to the neighbourhood, which the Bostonian youth began to frequent. The Black Rattlers grew more prominent and became one of the city's leading clubs, where anyone was welcome regardless of their clan, faction, or origin. In ten years, Emem had managed to create a zone of "peace" where vampires from the Camarilla and thin-bloods could sit together and listen to the finest jazz. It was here that she met Hazel Iversen. Charmed by the Ventrue's temperament and ideas, Emem sympathized with Iversen, who claimed the throne of Boston in 2014. Although the departure of Quentin King and his hordes of minions delighted Emem, she still obstinately refused to return to the Court. The only thing that mattered to her were her clubs. She has three now, with a growing social and political power that Hazel had not forgotten.
In 2019, Emem is assigned by Prince Hazel Iversen to meet with Deneb Osborne of the Hartford Chantry to investigate the mystery of the Unification Party.
Character sheet[]
Ambition: I need to decide whether forgiveness is a better course than vengeance.
Convictions: Whenever someone breaks me down, I must break them in turn.
Touchstones: Dolores Harris, great-niece, teacher, and Black Lives Matter activist.
Humanity: 7
Generation: 12th
Blood Potency: 3
Gallery[]
Video[]
- Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong Character Trailer.
- Vampire The Masquerade - Swansong Emem character spotlight.