Sierra Van Burrace, born as Lucy, is the childe of the famous Lasombra Talley the Hound and the one responsible for bringing her clan into Chicago’s Camarilla as its Legate.
Biography[]
| “ | “So let’s get down to brass tacks, shall we? I have money, and your business is failing. Drop your posturing masculinity, and let’s discuss how you are going to help me profit.” | ” |
Mortal Days[]
From a young age, Lucy enjoyed spending time with movers and shakers, attending galas and social events. When Lucy’s father, Shinji, emigrated to Chicago to continue running their international hotel chain from there, she found herself frequently traveling back and forth between Japan and America, staying with her dad whenever possible.
During their time together, Lucy’s father trained her on the delicate balance of running a successful company. He allowed her to sit in on meetings, introduced her to his business partners, and frequently allowed her to negotiate deals on his behalf. She was a natural diplomat and salesperson, helping the company grow exponentially. Shinji quickly grew to consider her one of his trusted business advisors, taking pride in his daughter’s accomplishments.
When Lucy’s father passed away, she took over the family business. She knew how to make profitable business deals, but also to not bend easily when faced with adversity. Lucy ruthlessly negotiated large-scale acquisitions for her company, a task not easily completed due to the ingrained prejudice she met everyday. She was a woman and she had inherited her role. Lucy constantly called out those business owners who used her gender against her, publicly shaming them. While her vocal attitude dismayed some potential partners, she never let it stop her from meeting her ambitions.
Lucy fended off many attempts to buy her out, wed her, or take over her business, but when a colleague aggressively solicited Lucy for sex, she lost her temper. Years of suffering peer underestimation made her lash out. She swung a marble paperweight and killed him instantly. Following the act, she coolly put his clothes in a black bag, kept his jewellery, wallet, and other identifying baubles separate, and took a shower. Only then did she contemplate what to do with the body. A few hours after the murder, she’d paid a hefty sum to the pimp of some of the escorts who used her hotels to make the body disappear.
Kindred Nights[]
It was her skills as a ruthless negotiator and her refusal to let anyone diminish her self-worth that caught the attention of a Lasombra admirer. Lucy demonstrated a strong conviction that this vampire, named Talley, found intriguing. He took Lucy under his tutelage as a ghoul for a while, allowing her enough time to transition the company into the ownership of a prefabricated Mask named Sierra Van Burrace. She had the board take over day-to-day running of the business once she could not safely continue her position, but Sierra acted as majority shareholder. Lucy continued to conduct operations from the shadows, using it as a way to help her sire.
Talley eventually Embraced Lucy, inducting her into the horrors of the Sabbat. As far as the mortal world was concerned, Lucy Asako died when her car went off the Wells Street Bridge in a well-publicized accident. She only had one mortal relative remaining at the time of her “death” — her nearly 100-year-old grandmother, Aiko. In a care home and possessing little contact with the outside world, Aiko is the only person to whom Sierra is still Lucy.
For all the bloodlust and carnage the Sabbat embodied, Sierra remained out of the fray, choosing to align herself with those who showed restraint. Sierra wasn’t a street-fighting fool; her sire kept her mind unclouded while encouraging self-control. She was bound to a pack, but he was never far from her ear. Sierra spent many nights gathering influences and pulling strings to assist in the agendas of the Amici Noctis, via her sire.
When Talley informed her she and her brother-in-vitae, the Camarilla-Sabbat war hero Preston Malenkov, would be leading the clan defection to the Camarilla in Chicago, Sierra saw new opportunity for growth. She never thought much of her pack, the Dirty Titans, using them more as shields and lackeys. When the time came for her to return to Chicago for the first time in years, she sent the Titans ahead, deliberately setting them in the path of the city’s Gangrel Wolf Pack, leaving them to die on the battlefield. Sierra still has nightmares about it. She doesn’t agree with the demands the Camarilla will put on her clan, and is working to try and lessen some of those requirements.
She worries her clan will be left without upper leadership and guidance, and that may cause a fall from grace for the Lasombra.
The Sacrifice[]
| “ | Cameron is ash. Rest of them missing or ash. Their haven is FUBAR. Lombard is a situation, but by and large cleanup has been successful. Get word to Malenkov. It's time for you to move, my dear. Do your daddy proud. | ” |
| — Talley writing to Sierra Van Burrace | ||
After being appointed by the Amici Noctis to negotiate the Lasombra’s entry into the Camarilla, Talley assigns Sierra and her brother-in-vitae, Aleksandr Malenkov, to handle the negotiations with Prince Kevin Jackson in Chicago. They arrive at O'Hare Airport and are escorted by a coterie representing the prince. During their journey, Sierra’s attempts at diplomacy and etiquette are constantly overshadowed by Malenkov’s hostile temperament, as he openly despises and insults Chicago’s domain and its sect.
While waiting for the negotiations to take place, Malenkov separates from Sierra and the group during the day, taken away by his ghouls. The result is a rogue Lasombra roaming Chicago, causing turmoil. Meanwhile, Sierra proceeds to the Succubus Club for an audience with Prince Jackson and the city’s primogen.
Sierra’s arrival sparks great interest and unrest among Chicago’s Kindred. Her official announcement regarding the Lasombra’s entry into the Camarilla is met with heated reactions. After intense discussions, an agreement is reached: for her clan to be accepted, Sierra must hand over her now-uncontrolled brother to the sect’s justice in a blood hunt.
What follows is a trail of chaos and destruction. Malenkov, completely out of control, flagrantly violates the Masquerade—attacking mortals at Red Noº 5, killing indiscriminately, and even confronting Bennett Steadman, whom he assaults and stakes before continuing his rampage. The hunt spreads across the city until he is finally subdued and staked at the Glory Pith Brothel, then taken to Garfield Park Conservatory
After the votes are counted, permission is granted: the Lasombra are accepted into Chicago’s Camarilla. The event concludes with Sierra fulfilling her part of the bargain—she beheads Malenkov, sealing her clan’s fate and securing their future in the city.
Appearance[]
Sierra is a young Japanese-American woman in her 20s. She prefers flowing gowns and dresses over business wear, but also wears patterns common to her heritage in a unique merging of her background. She intends to always look striking, if not fashionable. First impressions matter.
As a former member of the Sabbat, Sierra tends to make others uncomfortable by forgetting to imitate breathing, failing to blink, or feeding with a little too much gusto. She has been working on these things at her sire’s order.
Sierra is a walking Mask, her original identity considered dead for the last decade. She pays taxes, appears on the census, and votes. As far as Sierra’s concerned, she does the Masquerade better than most Camarilla Kindred.
Character Sheet[]
Gallery[]
References[]
- VTM: Chicago by Night 5th Edition, p. 126-129
