MADAM SHADE
Notes from Freedom City setting for Madam Shade
Contents
MADAME SHADE
aka. Graciella Barlow
M&M2e Stats
PL: 10 (150 pp)
Personality
Arrogant and proud of her heritage, Madame Shade believes in the "do what you will" philosophy more common to Paganism than Voodoo. She is not like by other practioners because of her determination to be indpendent even from the Loa spirits.
Physical Appearance
Madame Shade has mocha colored skin and medium length dreadlocks. In her civilian identity she dresses reather conservatively, as she thinks is proper for a layer. As Madame Shade she wears bright colors, a turban, and a mask to hide her identity.
Villainous Motivations
Graciella Barlow started out as a idealistic young lawyer who wanted to work with the system to bring justice to those who flaunted the law. Unfortunately, New Orleans was full of corrupt policitians and lawyers. After a few years as assitant DA she decided to take advantage of the system and gain power where she could. She still wanted to help those who deserved it, but she no longer had any faith in the system.
Allegiance
(who do you believe in or are you loyal to)
Madame Shade's first loyalty is to her city and her family. She has added the Band of Steel to the few people she trusts.
History & Heroic Origin
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Battle Tactics
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3x3 NPCs
FRIENDS
- Marie Barlow: Graciella's Grandmother and confidant. She spent her summers growing up living with Marie and learning what she had to teach. Marie died almost a decade ago, but it is possible that her shade might haunt the house she loved.
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CONTACTS
- Logan Gardner: New Orleans Cheif of Police. As Assitant DA Graciella Barlow worked with Cheif Gardner and his officers in putting criminals behind bars. As the mysterious Madame Shade she used information gained from talking with his wife, who went to her for "advice," to get information out of him.
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ENEMIES
- White Knight: A vigilante working in New Orelans. The White Knight fought for the little guy, going after small time crooks and corrupt officials. The White Knight is the one who arrested Madame Shade after finding out that she was using her position as assitant DA and her voodoo powers to get the goods on city officials.
- Baron Samedi: Madame Shade believes that humans are both good and evil, there are no extremes. She has heard of the struggle between Baron Samedi and Siren and in this particular case was rooting Siren. Her own personal beliefs have to do with choice. The zombie powder that the Baron uses takes away all choice and she hates the very idea. If someone pointed out that she had her own zombie under control she would shrug and say she never said she wasn't a hypocrit.
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LOCATIONS
- Old Barlow Mansion: An elegent old estate on the edge of New Orleans. When her Grandmother died, Graciella inherited the house and all it's contents. Mrs. Marie Barlow was a powerful voodoo Bokor and she taught her granddaughter everything she knows.
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ORGANIZATIONS
- The Mayombe: While Madame Shade practices Voodoo, she has tried to walk a fine line between the Loa. The cult of Mayombe disgusts her and she did her best to thwart them when she still lived and worked in New Orleans. She sees Voodoo as a tool rather than a religion.
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Excerpts from the Memoirs of Graciella Barlow
Confessions of a Modern Voodoo Queen
When I was a child in New Orleans my Grandma Barlow told me that she was descended from Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen. She never offered any proof of this, but considering the fact that Marie had 15 children it is quite possibly true.
Marie Laveau
I was the only one of Grandma Barlow’s many grandchildren who was willing to spend time with her. She repaid me well with stories and cooking lessons. I loved being with her and exploring her beautiful mansion on the edge of the city. No one ever explained to me how a family descended from slaves and free people of color could afford such a large and expensive house. Grandma would only say that it was given as a gift. A very expensive gift which still makes me wonder what price was paid in return. Or perhaps one of our ancestors used his or her skill with Voodoo Magic to force the gift to be given. The house is known as the Magnolia Mansion. Whenever I picture it in my mind it is surrounded by magnolia trees of every color.
I didn’t learn until years later that along with the cooking and stories my grandmother had been giving me lessons in magic. You would think that it would have been obvious, but I think my mother had told her not to talk to me about that part of our heritage. Instead of making gris-gris bags, she called bags of herbs, to be used instead of perfumes. She also never explained to me why her handyman, Joe was such a strange man. I suppose I just thought that he was the strong and silent type. I also thought that he was in love with my Grandmother. Even though she was in her 60s when I was a child, she looked like a much younger woman. It wasn’t as unlikely as it might seem. It wasn’t until after she died that I learned that Joe was actually a “zombie.” Not the undead as some people might think, but a useful fellow that Grandma had used magical drugs and ceremonies to make into the perfect servant. I don’t know where he came from, but I’m pretty sure that he doesn’t have any family.
When I was 13 my parents decided to move from New Orleans to New York. I think part of the reason was my Mother’s desire to separate me from my Grandmother. It didn’t quite work out, since I was able to convince Dad to let me spend part of my summer vacations back in New Orleans. Those were wonderful times. Living with her away from my parents was a teenager’s dream. Part of her belief was “do as you will” and she didn’t lay out a lot of rules for a young person on the way to womanhood. I had no curfew when I was in New Orleans and loved it when I invited friends over for a party. She would dance and drink along with the rest of us. When I reached college age I decided to make my parents happy and went to Yale on a scholarship. I did well enough and decided to continue my education in Law School. I was pretty happy with my life, but then my Grandma died. To my cousins’ surprise and shock she left the mansion and all her worldly goods to me. It turns out that all of her money went into maintaining the house so there wasn’t much left over to divide among them. Since they never paid any attention to her while she lived, I don’t see why there were so surprised. They even tried to dispute the will, but that’s where Law School paid off. I wasn’t my own lawyer, but I had some very good friends that were already practicing and one of them made short work of the hack my cousins’ hired. I finished my schooling and started my own practice back in New Orleans. It made a great front for what I was really doing, studying magic. Part of Grandma’s worldly goods included a number of grimores and notes on what she’d been up to during her life. It seems Grandma had followed in the footsteps of Marie Laveau and used her magic to learn prominent people’s secrets. All of their secrets were locked away in a safe deposit box at her bank. I inherited these along with everyone else. Let’s just say that my law practice grew quite a bit faster than some of my friends.
With all these tools what could I do but decide to become the power behind the throne in New Orleans. I’ve never been greedy, so I simply wanted power in New Orleans. I never planed to take over the country let alone the world. I would have been perfectly happy blackmailing and magicing my way to power in my home town, but then these aliens invaded. We need to get rid of them so we can all go back to our own lives.
