Anika Stormlight (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
heartstorm) wrote2022-05-13 01:43 am
heartstorm) wrote2022-05-13 01:43 am
Brief History
From Northwestern Pennsylvania, Anika was an only child and didn’t get along well with her parents. They wanted her to use her dedication and passion for a ‘good career’ that would give her opportunities they never had in life. Despite her sharp mind, Anika preferred drama club to FBLA. As a freshman in high school, she got the lead in the fall play which skyrocketed her to popularity. Unfortunately, being in such a position let her see just how fake people were and how everyone wore a mask. She found that unless she was on stage, she didn’t like being in the spotlight.
Anika had no idea she was descended from Garou until her sophomore year of high school when everything went wrong in one night. While attending the Homecoming dance, Anika confronted one of the popular boys that had played a cruel joke on another girl. She’d never cared for bullies and had reached her limit. Unfortunately, that limit came with the First Change as her Rage howled and became more than she could contain. By the time Anika regained herself, she was covered in the blood of her classmates and surrounded by shredded bodies. Half the attendees hadn’t been able to run fast enough from the nine-foot-tall furry chainsaw of death and lay dead by her claws and fangs.
Fleeing from the scene, Anika made it home and locked herself in her room. Hours went by before some Garou from Erie showed up on her doorstep. They took care of covering up what happened at the dance, turning it into a gas explosion, and tried their best to explain what had happened to her. Her parents had no ties to the Garou, as far as they knew, and wanted nothing to do with werewolves. Treating Anika like a monster, they sent her away with the Garou in exchange for money to keep silent, never wanting contact with her again. The Garou, a pack of Glasswalkers, took her back to their sept to begin her education. They got her emancipated at age fifteen and was able to track her family tree back far enough to find out she had a distant great, great uncle of Shadow Lord blood. With that knowledge and the potential they saw in her, Anika eventually joined the Shadow Lords.
As a member of the Rolling Thunder pack, Anika established herself as pack beta and keenly watched the Garou politics around her. Her pack aided the Glasswalker pack that first found Anika and journeyed to the CyberRealm to help free some foolish Garou. By the time she achieved Fostern rank, she was approached by a higher ranked Shadow Lord from the Bringers of Light camp. He’d been watching her for a while and thought she’d be a good addition. Though her offered her entry, he didn’t take her under his wing, for all Shadow Lords needed to be self-sufficient and able to acquire information without it being handed to them. She asked questions and sought individual teachers to learn what was needed to be able to walk amongst the Nation’s enemies without immediate detection. She enjoyed the challenge before her. Her first foray into masquerading as part of the other side was with a roaming band of Black Spiral Dancers that had moved into the area. Convincing them she was a representative of the local Spirals, she was able to lead them into a trap where her sept laid in wait to slaughter them all.
Now that she had cut her teeth on the necessary deception and dangers involved, Anika was sent to infiltrate the vampires in the town of Indiana, Pennsylvania, to discover why there were so many vampires in such a small town; it shouldn’t have been sustainable. Pretending to be a Brujah Anarch, Anika played the long game, taking months to discover that Indiana was in reality a battleground of sorts for two neighboring vampire domains. Instead of causing conflict within each other's borders, they came to Indiana to settle scores, exert political influence on the weak Prince of the Indiana Domain, bullying their way to getting at each other without open warfare. Never having been keen on bullies, Anika was more than delighted to use her influence and knowledge to work this conflict to the Garou’s advantage.
Playing all three sides off each other, as there were vampires from Indiana that knew what was happening and displeased, Anika helped orchestrate some assassinations, destruction of assets, and though the information she provided her fellow Garou, was able to help reduce the vampire population in Western Pennsylvania by a sizeable amount. What was left of the Indiana Domain was wiped out by Black Spiral Dancers that had gotten wind of a weakening in the vampires and a desire for control over the nuclear power plant in the area. Anika had thankfully been extracted from her cover as a vampire before the Spirals moved in and mopped up.
Rising to Adren in rank, Anika was sent by the tribe to pass on the information she’d learned to the Silver Fangs regarding the various vampire domains. She was given instructions by her tribe to ingratiate herself with the Fangs and confirm if the son of the Fang leader was consorting with forces of the Wyrm. She hated every minute of her assignment there, seeing with her own eyes how infirm the Silver Fangs had become. It was too easy, in her opinion, to see that the son was indeed consorting with a Wyrm corporation. She was convinced the Fang leader suspected it and yet seemed to do nothing about it. She called them both out in a moot and revealed to the Fang sept the weakness in their leader. She had just enough hard evidence on the son that her accusations stuck, but the alpha sent her back to her tribe in ‘disgrace’ for accusing him of being complicit. Yet, within the Shadow Lords, her actions were recognized and she was given a choice of assignments for her next infiltration. She decided to look into what the Spirals were doing with that nuclear power plant in Indiana, PA.
It took time to get her way into that group of Spirals for they weren’t the conventional kind of pack but something more loosely allied. These Spirals were different than the others she’d encountered and had a different take on the upcoming Apocalypse – namely that it was already over and the Wyrm had won. The more she was around them, the deeper she went in her assignment, the more she found she could see signs that maybe the Spirals were right. Maybe Gaia was dead and the Garou were fighting to protect a corpse. It made her uncomfortable and consider pulling out as surely these thoughts were just a product of the minor taint she inevitably acquired while swimming with the Wyrm. But then she learned what the Spirals were doing with the power plant.
Using the nuclear energy and the waste, the Spirals had been breeding Thunderwyrms. Seeing that many in one place, the power and terror of such monstrosities, and how casual these Spirals were about it made Anika realize that those that were more fanatical and driven would do even worse. The Garou Nation couldn’t possibly win a war against these kind of forces, especially with even worse things just biding their time in Malfeas. Anika no longer believed that the Nation had a chance. They were all doomed and those thoughts about Gaia already being dead crept back into her mind. She knew she couldn’t go back to her tribe and stand next to them and fight with her all; she was a survivor and going back would get her killed. But she couldn’t keep her charade up indefinitely; it was only a matter of time before she was discovered. So there was only one option left: join the winning team and see if they were right. So she did, and they were.
Now as a Black Spiral Dancer, she embraced the philosophy of the Princes of Ruin and sought to enjoy the spoils of war. Along the way, she sought to bring other Garou out of their delusions about Gaia and the Apocalypse, using her skills to infiltrate their ranks now instead of the Wyrm. Each Garou she got to question the Nation or give in to their darker impulses was a victory. Direct confrontation or forcing the Garou to choose between the Wyrm or death had never been her style; it was always sweeter when they went willingly.
Anika had no idea she was descended from Garou until her sophomore year of high school when everything went wrong in one night. While attending the Homecoming dance, Anika confronted one of the popular boys that had played a cruel joke on another girl. She’d never cared for bullies and had reached her limit. Unfortunately, that limit came with the First Change as her Rage howled and became more than she could contain. By the time Anika regained herself, she was covered in the blood of her classmates and surrounded by shredded bodies. Half the attendees hadn’t been able to run fast enough from the nine-foot-tall furry chainsaw of death and lay dead by her claws and fangs.
Fleeing from the scene, Anika made it home and locked herself in her room. Hours went by before some Garou from Erie showed up on her doorstep. They took care of covering up what happened at the dance, turning it into a gas explosion, and tried their best to explain what had happened to her. Her parents had no ties to the Garou, as far as they knew, and wanted nothing to do with werewolves. Treating Anika like a monster, they sent her away with the Garou in exchange for money to keep silent, never wanting contact with her again. The Garou, a pack of Glasswalkers, took her back to their sept to begin her education. They got her emancipated at age fifteen and was able to track her family tree back far enough to find out she had a distant great, great uncle of Shadow Lord blood. With that knowledge and the potential they saw in her, Anika eventually joined the Shadow Lords.
As a member of the Rolling Thunder pack, Anika established herself as pack beta and keenly watched the Garou politics around her. Her pack aided the Glasswalker pack that first found Anika and journeyed to the CyberRealm to help free some foolish Garou. By the time she achieved Fostern rank, she was approached by a higher ranked Shadow Lord from the Bringers of Light camp. He’d been watching her for a while and thought she’d be a good addition. Though her offered her entry, he didn’t take her under his wing, for all Shadow Lords needed to be self-sufficient and able to acquire information without it being handed to them. She asked questions and sought individual teachers to learn what was needed to be able to walk amongst the Nation’s enemies without immediate detection. She enjoyed the challenge before her. Her first foray into masquerading as part of the other side was with a roaming band of Black Spiral Dancers that had moved into the area. Convincing them she was a representative of the local Spirals, she was able to lead them into a trap where her sept laid in wait to slaughter them all.
Now that she had cut her teeth on the necessary deception and dangers involved, Anika was sent to infiltrate the vampires in the town of Indiana, Pennsylvania, to discover why there were so many vampires in such a small town; it shouldn’t have been sustainable. Pretending to be a Brujah Anarch, Anika played the long game, taking months to discover that Indiana was in reality a battleground of sorts for two neighboring vampire domains. Instead of causing conflict within each other's borders, they came to Indiana to settle scores, exert political influence on the weak Prince of the Indiana Domain, bullying their way to getting at each other without open warfare. Never having been keen on bullies, Anika was more than delighted to use her influence and knowledge to work this conflict to the Garou’s advantage.
Playing all three sides off each other, as there were vampires from Indiana that knew what was happening and displeased, Anika helped orchestrate some assassinations, destruction of assets, and though the information she provided her fellow Garou, was able to help reduce the vampire population in Western Pennsylvania by a sizeable amount. What was left of the Indiana Domain was wiped out by Black Spiral Dancers that had gotten wind of a weakening in the vampires and a desire for control over the nuclear power plant in the area. Anika had thankfully been extracted from her cover as a vampire before the Spirals moved in and mopped up.
Rising to Adren in rank, Anika was sent by the tribe to pass on the information she’d learned to the Silver Fangs regarding the various vampire domains. She was given instructions by her tribe to ingratiate herself with the Fangs and confirm if the son of the Fang leader was consorting with forces of the Wyrm. She hated every minute of her assignment there, seeing with her own eyes how infirm the Silver Fangs had become. It was too easy, in her opinion, to see that the son was indeed consorting with a Wyrm corporation. She was convinced the Fang leader suspected it and yet seemed to do nothing about it. She called them both out in a moot and revealed to the Fang sept the weakness in their leader. She had just enough hard evidence on the son that her accusations stuck, but the alpha sent her back to her tribe in ‘disgrace’ for accusing him of being complicit. Yet, within the Shadow Lords, her actions were recognized and she was given a choice of assignments for her next infiltration. She decided to look into what the Spirals were doing with that nuclear power plant in Indiana, PA.
It took time to get her way into that group of Spirals for they weren’t the conventional kind of pack but something more loosely allied. These Spirals were different than the others she’d encountered and had a different take on the upcoming Apocalypse – namely that it was already over and the Wyrm had won. The more she was around them, the deeper she went in her assignment, the more she found she could see signs that maybe the Spirals were right. Maybe Gaia was dead and the Garou were fighting to protect a corpse. It made her uncomfortable and consider pulling out as surely these thoughts were just a product of the minor taint she inevitably acquired while swimming with the Wyrm. But then she learned what the Spirals were doing with the power plant.
Using the nuclear energy and the waste, the Spirals had been breeding Thunderwyrms. Seeing that many in one place, the power and terror of such monstrosities, and how casual these Spirals were about it made Anika realize that those that were more fanatical and driven would do even worse. The Garou Nation couldn’t possibly win a war against these kind of forces, especially with even worse things just biding their time in Malfeas. Anika no longer believed that the Nation had a chance. They were all doomed and those thoughts about Gaia already being dead crept back into her mind. She knew she couldn’t go back to her tribe and stand next to them and fight with her all; she was a survivor and going back would get her killed. But she couldn’t keep her charade up indefinitely; it was only a matter of time before she was discovered. So there was only one option left: join the winning team and see if they were right. So she did, and they were.
Now as a Black Spiral Dancer, she embraced the philosophy of the Princes of Ruin and sought to enjoy the spoils of war. Along the way, she sought to bring other Garou out of their delusions about Gaia and the Apocalypse, using her skills to infiltrate their ranks now instead of the Wyrm. Each Garou she got to question the Nation or give in to their darker impulses was a victory. Direct confrontation or forcing the Garou to choose between the Wyrm or death had never been her style; it was always sweeter when they went willingly.