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History
Serena Markov, born in Offetstine to a Russian father and English mother, grew up with a passion for computer science and cryptography. She became a skilled programmer and was an early advocate for cybersecurity cybersecurity, and identified with the cypherpunk movement. Markov was commissioned by the Coalition to develop an encryption toolkit called CEST (later known as CREST), unaware of its true purpose.
When she discovered the truth, she resigned and was marked as a human dissenter. A bounty was placed on her head, and she was confronted by her vampire overseer, known best by her online handle kami or pseudonym Athena, who turned her into an Eris vampire. Failing to elicit her cooperation as a programmer and dissatisfied to simply cut her losses, Athena bet on turning Markov into a ruthless and unfeeling assassin for the Coalition. Markov's memories were erased, and she was left for dead in a dumpster outside Daniau's Restaurant.
Rebirth
Markov was reborn on 24 June 1991. Initially in shock from her transformation and starved for blood, the nascent vampire searched for anyone to satisfy her hunger and get her bearings. She eventually latched onto Clément Daniau and attacked him for his blood, biting his neck before pushing him away in an attempt to preserve his life. She fervently apologized to Clément in fear, accidentally compelling him to grant her forgiveness in perpetuity. While neither of them initially realized what she had done, Clément offered to invite her home and take care of her, understanding she had nowhere else to go.
Clément eventually became the vampire's formal caretaker and adoptive father, granting her the name Modeste Daniau which she assumed as the core of her identity. He helped her regain her forgotten societal and cultural knowledge, as well as life skills and professional experience. As the owner of Daniau's Restaurant and a skilled chef, Clément also trained Modeste in the culinary arts. After a year under his tutelage, Modeste officially joined the restaurant's staff.
In the meanwhile, a member of the Coalition and arachnid centaur named Wisp was sent after Modeste to recruit her formally as an assassin. He approached Clément offering to give Modeste a place to explore her vampiric identity, and Clément, not familiar with demi-human affairs, accepted to have her daughter grant Wisp an audience. While the Coalition was a criminal organization, Clément did not oppose the idea of Modeste joining, under the presumption that human and vampire morality were free to diverge.
Modeste eventually did join the Coalition, and during her early years, ascribed to the cold and ruthless personality that Athena had groomed her for. Despite her recent recruitment, she quickly rose up in the ranks due to Wisp's and Athena's lobbying, confident that she would become one of the organization's most effective members due to her lack of human memories. However, she eventually grew disillusioned with the cruelty she had adopted and made a vow to abstain from assassination jobs in 1995, maintaining her stance until the Coalition's collapse in March 1997.
Affiliations
In February 1996, Modeste contracted Clover Lamont to investigate the death of her close friend, Dara Bauers. She discovered Bauers had been killed by Robin, a fire spirit and Coalition defector, whose own body had grown weak. He planned to use Bauers's body instead, though with the collaboration of Lamont, Modeste managed to intercept the operation and prevent Robin from ousting her mind. Bauers currently lives on as a fire spirit and remains a friend of Modeste's.
In January 1997, Modeste was instated as the manager of the Golden Chalice, a since-defunct demi-human owned casino in Hallingmere. The casino was affiliated with the Coalition and held a monopoly on the gambling market in the city. However, due to the death of its founder and then president, Eleanor Remington, Wisp assigned Modeste to the title. She temporarily withdrew from her title as a chef at Daniau's Restaurant, and remained the president until August 1997, through the fall of the Coalition, noting a particular disdain for the organization.
Lamenting the extortive and monopolistic business practices of the Golden Chalice, Modeste orchestrated a plan to dismantle the organization from within. She anonymously contacted her own office to deliver a message demanding a large sum of money under threat of detonation of the Golden Chalice building. Knowing the organization would be able to survive neither, she eventually followed through with the latter plan, detonating the building in collaboration with Lamont. She eventually resigned her title as the president of the Golden Chalice after the building was bombed.
She was briefly pursued by Renata de la Cruz, a succubus and employee at the Golden Chalice, on suspicions of intentionally campaigning for the death of the Golden Chalice. During this interim, she was aided by Lamont and the owner of a hotel associated with the former Golden Chalice brand, Eve Stafford. However, these charges proved unsuccessful and Modeste eventually returned to Daniau's Restaurant in November 1997.
Character
Modeste is a kind and soft-spoken lady who expresses a level of self-consciousness about her vampiric traits. She is markedly ashamed of her power to enthrall humans, and is a firm believer in the sanctity of the human mind. She is often opinionated and is a staunch advocate of indiscriminate kindness and respect. She is able to communicate with many nonhuman animals to a limited extent, and sympathizes readily with them.
Modeste remains unaware of her former identity as Serena Markov. Despite this, she treats her former identity with a great deal of respect, often talking in grandiose terms of the sacrifices they must have endured to enable her present life. She considers herself a conclusively different person, and bears a similar respect for her own name, especially her surname, as she believes it is earned from Clément.
Modeste is 5′8″ (173cm) tall and has brown eyes which glow purple when she bares her fangs. She often carries a brown satchel and wears a brown leather jacket. Her hair is long and brown, and falls straight down, giving her an overall unassuming appearance that allows her to blend in easily. Despite this, she does not often venture into daylight. She has a neutral smile and generally pleasant demeanor.
From her tenure in the Coalition, Modeste possesses a great wealth (in excess of £1 million, though little of which in liquid) that is not reflected in her often frugal lifestyle. She is seemingly desperate to offload this wealth through philanthrophy, as she believes it is ill-wrought from the destruction of others' lives.