Constance O'Day

Charismatic, Generous, Friendly, Subtle, Calculating

Constance O’Day was born to two poor Irish immigrants on the boat across from Ireland. She was praised and hailed as a miraculous child as the chances of a child surviving birth in those conditions were very slim. As was the case with so many immigrants, Constance’s parents’ hopes were shattered when they arrived in the New World and found it not so different from the one they had left. Patrick O’Day ended up working long, hard hours on a farm and died at a young age in an industrial accident. Mary O’Day had little option left to her and worked for a while as a seamstress but, when this work dried up, she turned to prostitution and was killed by a rough customer when Constance was only13.

As often happened in these instances Constance had to fend for herself. She spent a short while on the street but soon realised she had little going for her other than her good looks and blonde hair. Like her mother before her she turned to prostitution. However she played the game better than her mother, using her looks and wits to gain entrance to one of the higher class brothels in Philadelphia. Her she became a courtesan to the rich men of the city.

Whilst her life was not perfect, she was frequently beaten and sexually assaulted, Constance found companionship and solidarity with the other women in the brothel. She worked for twelve years under the kindly eye of the brothel’s Madame and, when she passed away, Constance was unanimously offered her position. O’Day accepted and set about raising the profile of the brothel. She had looks but, coupled with this, was an effortless charm and charisma as well as a business head and sharp mind.

The brothel became an escort agency for the well-to-do and important. The ladies were confidents and companions as well as sexual partners. O’Day herself was the finest among them, working only with the wealthiest, most powerful men and it was at this time that she first met the Kindred of Philadelphia. In her natural way she became very close with some of them, including the then Prince of Philadelphia, Mattias Sloane.

Shortly after she turned thirty Constance O’Day was diagnosed with syphilis at the top of her game. Her brothel was renowned across the country and she had became a very popular figure in Philadelphia social life. When news of her illness reached Sloane he was distraught and Embraced O’Day, defending his actions by saying she would make a wonderful addition to the ranks of the Kindred.

So it proved. O’Day left Philadelphia shortly after her Embrace, wanting to save Sloane embarrassment, and was introduced to Karel Reznik in New York. Her she quickly re-established her trade in the world’s oldest profession, gradually taking control of the entire prostitution scene in Queens. For decades she built up her influence quietly, branching out from prostitution to gambling, strip clubs, bars and other entertainments. She learned many things about various visitors of these establishments and used this information to expand her sphere of influence still further. By the mid 20th Century O’Day had quietly assumed control of some kind of nearly all the sex industry in New York, though now she operated solely in a management role. She had been made a Primogen, the Duke of Queens, in 1943. It is widely believed that Reznik had not realised the power O’Day had acquired until too late and this was his attempt to try and bring her under his influence somewhat.

In the current night O’Day is a popular and powerful Kindred. She has many fingers in the pies of legitimate business as well as vast power in the sex industry and entertainment industry in New York, though the owners of individual establishments may not know it. Many people, Kindred and kine alike, owe O’Day a favour or two. Her subjects enjoy her rule as she is a charismatic, generous and fair ruler, one of the primary exponents of the democratic Carthian movement. She knows almost every Kindred in New York by name and is polite and friendly to a fault.

Those who assume O’Day is nothing buy a beaming politician often receive a nasty surprise. Constance has never forgotten where she came from and the lessons she learned in Philadelphia. Her power is unmeasured but undoubtedly immense. Those who challenge her or interfere with her business often “disappear” though these occasions can very rarely be linked directly to her. What is certain is that those elders in the New York Kindred community treat O’Day with deference and respect, never overstaying their welcome or pushing her too far and fledglings would do well to follow their example.