Vanessa Kole

=The Kole Family= The Kole family goes back generations. The family's first membership with the Templars goes back to the late 1700's with their first member, Lucien Kole. The Koles served dutifully under several "renaissance" and reinventions of the order. They moved into what would become their ancestral home several kilometers outside of Loughton in the early 1800's. Having a strong financial backbone in trade, import, and merchants, the family enjoyed much financial success.

Of course most of these activities had a strong backbone in serving the Templar interests of the family. Often having books and items imported from several of the expeditions and archaeological digs that they sponsored. Vanessa's grandfather, Marcus Kole was a longstanding member of the society though he never shared the fact with his children until they were adults. Vanessa's father Alexander has one brother and one sister, Marcus and Mary who are both heavily involved in the Society.

Membership in the Templars has been a family rite of passage and a legacy dating back to Lucien. Every generation has had membership and devoted activity. Vanessa and her brother Johnathon are the latest generation to have joined the Templars. John has a much more 'devil may care' attitude towards his life in general and his duties to the Templars.

=The Younger Years= Vanessa was born a child of great fortune. Her father's investments left the family a great amount of influence amongst British society and their legacy left them a great reputation amongst the Templar. She had big shoes to fill from the moment that she took her first step and unlike her brother John took to things quite aptly.

She was shown to be incredibly intelligent at an early age. Reading and comprehending books and subject above her general age range came naturally and she was a very eager student. Her father gave both of his children the opportunities to succeed but he was by no means handing them everything. Alexander prided himself and by extension his children on a hard work ethic despite their fortune.

She took on a wide array of activities growing up. Gymnastics was one that she continued with until her teens when school and her other activities took up much of her time. She was naturally athletic and agile, but she enjoyed her studies in both mundane activities and her steadily increasing education in the more esoteric and occult aspects of the world that she lived in much more.

Her father seemed to be preparing her specifically for her activities in the Templar. Falling to her more acutely developing abilities he had her trained in several forms of martial arts alongside her gymnastics so that she'd be able to defend herself. The real world was just as rough a place as the world that lurked beneath it and he could afford to have her able to fight if the need arose.

=Education= Vanessa naturally excelled at her various educations. She was a very bright and astute student and found herself placed in Honors and Advanced Placement classes from the point that the schools were able to permit it. She graduated one year early and was accepted into Oxford and started her studies in Medieval History and applied Linguistics. She was a very attentive and disciplined student as she had been through most of her primary education.

She continued her other studies as well, learning how to translate several dead languages and acquiring knowledge of even more of the supernatural denizens and items intrinsic to the other side of the world. She's currently in her graduate program at Oxford when she was called back by her father to become a part of the family legacy and join the Templars. While she would have rather stayed to complete her studies she couldn't deny her wishes to put her years of learning to the test and experience the things she had been learning about.

Accomplishments:


 * Can read and speak several dead languages. She's learned to read and speak Latin quite fluently and has a more than basic understanding of several ancient languages including Sumerian and Babylonian.
 * Has translated several books in her father's library to modern English. They may be more approximation than literal translation, but they're much more relevant in their current forms than they were.
 * Completed her initial studies in the top 25 of her class.
 * Has a very working knowledge of most folklore and mythology from around the world.

=Adulthood=

Vanessa has always been the dutiful daughter. She's taken to her studies in order to continue the family legacy with great zeal. Her intelligence is often underplayed due to her station in life. People assume that she is some vacuous dilettante whose closest encounters with the world beneath her was when her Volvo hit a deer. They would be greatly mistaken.

She is still very much a bookworm. She has the brains and the education to put her family's money to good use but she is still very inexperienced when it comes to matters of the supernatural. All of the booksmarts in the world won't prepare anyone for actually facing down a Vampire or other supernatural menace. She is learning this very quickly as her role in the Templar expands beyond just basic recruit.

She's had her experiences dating and has found most of the people who've tried to court her lacking in some fashion or another. While she may attend Oxford the men that she seems to attract lack the general intelligence that she looks for. She's had several ill-fated relationships since she's become an adult and struck out for the University campus. Some were looking for a free ride on her family's money train. Some were in it for her physical appearance. Very few cared to look beyond any of these and were intimidated by the brain behind the face.

This, of course didn't mean that she didn't enjoy a good party or a shopping trip. She loves to indulge herself in shopping trips to expensive boutiques and salons. While she didn't party as hard as some of the student body she did enjoy a good party, a busy club, and dancing. She didn't party as hard as her brother but she does still like to have fun when she's not preparing or on an assignment for the Templar. This part of her life she can't share with anyone aside from her family and other members and so she finds it difficult to relate parts of her life to her friends at college.

=Becoming a Templar=

Becoming a Templar was a much easier proposition than Vanessa had anticipated. Her mind was put to use right away as a more research oriented member. Using her knowledge of most things supernatural to help several groups through particularly tough assignments, she thought that she had hit the proverbial brick wall as far as the Order went.

She was incredibly knowledgeable but she wanted to be more than a researcher. She wanted to face these creatures up close so that she could have more than a simple book knowledge of these creatures. She wouldn't wait too incredibly long as she was given a mission to New York City to take out a cell of what was supposed to be vampires.

Her inexperience showed through far too strongly and thankfully certain strings had been pulled to ensure that she had back-up in the form of Sarah "Raveneye" Mitchals. Through teamwork they managed to destroy the cell that had been building in New York. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your outlook, her view of how fieldwork was done had been changed in the course of the assignment and she began doubting herself a bit. She wasn't used to going against her instincts to get the job done.

Fortunately another assignment came quickly on the heels of the first and she was sent to Solomon Island in order to discover the source of the undead uprising as well as the Draugr population that had suddenly come to light. Partnered up again with Sarah, she feels that she may be close to solving the problem of the undead if she could find just a little more evidence.

Her father was put in charge of recruiting members for the recently resurrected Scarlet Order, operating under the cover identity as the Scarlet and Cross Institute. She was placed in the Order as well as he brother John. She's done what she hopes has been a good job thus far for the Order. She still has a long way to go to get out from under her father's shadow but she is making solid strides daily.

=Abilities=

Anima manifests in a variety of ways and many people manipulate their energy in as many ways as there are people with the ability. Vanessa works her anima in a variety of traditionally psychic manners. While the argument can be made that there is no differentiation between "Magic" and "Psychic" abilities, she has learned to manifest her Anima in a more psychic display.


 * Telekinesis - Vanessa is a very able telekinetic, able to fashion "psychic weaponry" from thin air. She often uses her powers to manifest psychic Katars, claws, swords, and other quick, agile weapons.  She is able to use her telekinesis at a distance to lift and manipulate objects and people.
 * Telepathy - She is able to communicate through a form of telepathy and is able to enter others' minds. She doesn't often use this ability as her father has guidelines and rules for polite behavior.  She considers it very rude to enter another person's mind without being invited in.
 * Low-level "magical" manipulation - She has knowledge of magic and how it works. This is more part of her encyclopaedic knowledge of the supernatural.  She can identify and "feel" magical energy and workings.  She has a basic knowledge of wards, spells, curses and the like.  She can work some simple spells but requires a Focus in order to manipulate Anima in that fashion so she tends to rely on her "psychic" powers.