Bridging the Divide:NepentheBio

BIO

Julia Ward was born and raised in New Haven, Connecticut. Her parents, Daniel and Eileen, were both from old money families and successful in their own rights, he an author and she a clinical psychologist. Julia was not planned; indeed, she came along late in her parent's lives when they'd both already gotten comfortable with the idea of remaining childless and focusing on themselves. Being the devout catholic she was, though, Eileen would hear no talk of her husband's 'alternatives'.

The pregnancy was difficult and full of complications, as they often are for a woman in her mid-forties. Julia was born on a crisp November night, the fifth, into the waiting arms of exhausted and apathetic parents. Eileen suffered from severe postpartum and could hardly stand to be in the same room as the baby, and Daniel's approach to childcare involved a steady stream of nannies while he holed up in his study. After a few months Eileen decided to return to work, and Daniel left on a tour to promote his new book. Only the nannies stayed.

Julia was a clever child, independent and willful, but without a strong presence from either of her parents in her life she grew increasingly aloof as well. She learned early on to keep people at a distance. Daniel and Eileen happily provided for whatever material whims or desires she had in lieu of any actual parenting, and so she came to find comfort in things instead of people. She also excelled academically, so they had plenty to brag about with minimal effort.

As she grew and advanced through her schooling, Julia came to see the value in having other people around. Her clique of girlfriends, the boys that chased her, her parents who viewed her as little more then an achievement... they all had their uses. She learned to both cultivate relationships and how to use those relationships to best benefit herself. She approached people as if they were puzzles to be solved, and once she'd figured them out getting them to do what she wanted was simple enough.

When it came time to start looking at universities, Eileen insisted that Julia attend the same ivy league she had. She majored in law, with a focus on business. The complex intricacies inherent to large-scale operations fascinated her to no end. With an eager mind and a 'flexible' set or morals when it came to other people, Julia was consistently at the top of her classes and graduated summa cum laude. There were a plethora of job offers awaiting her, but it was a position with Keystone Pharmaceuticals that drew her attention. It wasn't so much the pay (though it was certainly adequate), the benefits, or the nature of the work; no, what interested the ever-ambitious Julia was the fact that Keystone was a subsidiary of The Cheiron Group, one of the largest conglomerates in the world. Keystone was merely a starting point. Her sights were set much higher.

It didn't even take Julia a year to draw corporate's attention. In '99, after Cheiron came under heavy fire and legal challenge from religious groups who claimed the company promoted satanic practices, she was chosen to be part of its defense team. They were exceptionally successful, eviscerating their accusers in court and crushing them with countersuits. The company made a killing from all the press. The board of directors was quite pleased with the outcome, and it meant a huge leap forward for Julia's career. She was given a position with Cheiron's corporate legal department... and that was when things started to get strange.

It started slowly at first,

- IN PROGRESS -

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

Nepenthe is a caucasian woman in her early-mid fourties. Her mostly Irish heritage is betrayed by a pale complexion, naturally copper-red hair, and the smattering of freckles that appears across her face and arms if she spends any amount of time in the sun. Her deep-set eyes are a dusky hazel, her cheekbones classically high, her small nose slightly upturned. She stands at 5'8", fairly tall for a woman, with a voluptuous figure that curves pleasantly into an hourglass.

She typically wears her long hair in a neat chignon, or perhaps a ponytail if she's going really casual. Since going underground she frequently dyes it, most commonly blonde. When it comes to clothing, her style is actually fairly conservative. Skirts, blouses, blazers. She isn't afraid to show a little skin if she feels a situation might warrant it, but she dislikes having to rely on her body to open doors or solve problems. She favours functionality in her wardrobe choices.

CONTACTS & OTHERS

At one point in her career, Julia's list of contacts would have been near-infinite. With the ugly stains Chieron has left on her reputation, though, only a few remain that she trusts enough to reach out to.

D'Arcy Evans (Business Contact) - 44. A senior operations executive at Creed Industries, an engineering and manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit. D'Arcy was Julia's roomate and sorority sister at university, and is the closest thing she has to a 'best friend'.

Kev Walsh (Law Contact) - 45. Senior partner at the Boston-based firm of Leroy, Leroy, and Walsh. Julia dated him off and on for a year while they interned at the same law firm, and they remained friends afterwards. A prominent defense attorney, Julia believes Kev is her best hope of freeing herself from the false murder charge Cheiron has saddled her with.

Eileen Ward - 83. Julia's mother. A retired clinical psychologist, Eileen suffers from a form of dementia known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and resides at a care home in her native New Haven.

Corvus - ??. Assumedly a mage, Julia encountered him as an 'asset' aquired by Cheiron. It was through reading Corvus's many journals, which had been given to her by the company after her name was found to appear in them, that Julia came to her Awakening. She only had the opportunity to speak to him on one occasion, shortly before her Awakening occured. Although she was told that he did not survive one of Cheiron's test procedures, part of her believes that he's still out there somewhere.

ON MAGIC

Like most Libertines, Nepenthe doesn't see her magic through the lens of archaic Atlantean mysticism. To her, magic is just another tool in humanity's belt. A powerful tool, yes, but a tool. She doesn't consider herself as anything other then human, and her Arcanum are closely tied to that. Being primarily focused on Mind, her magic is inherently entwined with that which she considers to be the true essence of humanity; the ability to think, reason. To remember... and to forget. And what is Space, other then how we relate to the world around us, or perhaps more precisely, how it relates to us?

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