Inactive: Serina

 Character: Elizabeth Holland or Serina
Game: Monsterhearts, Urban Shadows
Episodes Played: ~15
Theme Song: Going to Hell by the Pretty Reckless, You Don't Get Me High Anymore by Phantogram, Fuck Like A Star by Porcelain and the Tramps
Keywords: Manipulative, scheming, dangerous

A long time ago, about the time of Henry VIII, there was this woman named Anne Boleyn, you might've heard of her. Well, her and Cromwell were mastermind witches called Ink Drinkers. They were the kind of people who wanted to fell the Catholic church, their true enemy, and sot hey put Anne in power beside Henry and convinced him to abandon the Catholic church. To protect Anne, they turned her ladies in waiting into a magical version of a vampire.

Thus, Elizabeth Holland became a vampire, with a magical tattoo that let her walk in the sun.

From there, shit went to hell and the vampire ran away. She escaped to the rest of Europe, eventually to the new world, and has been landed in North America ever since. In our reality, she first appeared on screen when she rolled into town in Toronto. The Ink Drinkers were after her, yet again, and she decided the safest place she could go was where they wouldn't expect to find her: beside the slayer.

Serina met and subsequently hooked up with the chosen, a kid named Deckard. He was egotistical and had a saviour complex that Serina knew would be the best way to exploit him. So she helped him, and played nice, and asked him if he wanted her to do things to help him out, like hypnotize loved ones. She also abused the shit out of Deckard's best friend, Cage, the ghoul, who was the town bicycle. At every turn Serina made Cage's life hard. In fact, she made most people's lives hard.

But because she played nice with the chosen, most weren't allowed to hurt her. In game, it looked like Serina always came out on top and that I was a mastermind orchestrator. Which wasn't true. I am very good at watching people misstep and figuring out where they're going to go from there. Which meant my vampire could avoid the bad things and push hard other places because people were predictable. Naturally, I would have her enter when it benefitted her the most and it would all look like a grand scheme.

Serina wasn't a schemer. She was an opportunist. When that campaign ended with the Ink Drinkers being destroyed, Serina continued on with Deckard for awhile before Cage and he eventually came to blows. She claims she had nothing to do with that, but well, she says it with a smile. From there, Serina returned to Toronto, a place she hadn't been in years, to meet up with her partner, Riley, a fae. And partner is a loose term to describe someone she kept fucking and lived with in a more permanent way. They met in the 70's, it was a good time.

On paper, Serina always looked like one of the good guys. She fought the good fight, was running away from really bad people, and made a point of never really killing people in front of the good guys. Of course, it was deliberate and methodical on her part. I wouldn't say Serina was an idiot, but she enjoyed being played if someone could actually figure out how.

Toronto was a fucking mess so Serina brought a party of dragons and other magical powerhouses with her. She lived to stir shit up. Within a few hours of landing she found a new party, found out which asshole werewolf was in charge, checked in on the wizard war, and killed the asshole wizard while getting the hunter to fall for her, at least a little. When it comes to Hunters, Serina always goes for the heart instead of the throat.

I only played Serina for about four episodes. In that time she made the werewolf she found interesting become the new powerhouse, made the wizard who owed her more powerful, destroyed the vampire coven's leader by having someone else kill him, left her lover after Riley threw a tantrum, ensured the wizarding factions fell apart, kept the Hunter so busy wanting more they weren't very useful, and overall destroyed the way the factions were working and put them together in new ways.

It was an exercise in power, to see what she could do now that she was free from the Ink Drinkers. Her next stop? London, UK. Time to take home back, bitches.

I love playing Serina. She's catty, clever, and quick to always come out on top. As I got to play her for a second time, I really got to dig into her in an adult setting instead of a teenage one, and see what made her so fucking scary and badass. It's her ability to land on her feet in any given situation. She's careful, but doesn't seem careful. She reacts rationally in a way that isn't human, and I enjoy that about her. I really love the way she looks at every situation and figures out just how to make it work for her.

There was no love or interest in love for Serina. Everyone was a pawn and she made sure they were willing to be used. I immediately ensured I tied myself to the two most gun happy characters, the hunter and the fae, simply because I knew their players playstyle was the kind that would get someone like Serina killed. Serina doesn't kill very often, she makes others do that, and the hunter and the fae both did that for her.

It isn't often I play someone who's harsh, has no emotional output, and is just trying to manipulate everyone to where she wants them. Serina is who I get to play when I'm going to hurt you all but do it from a distance. I loved her. And I will always jump at an opportunity to play her. I brought her into Urban Shadows after Trish's death to stir up the pot because everyone was getting along too well. It was time to cause a commotion.

My next challenge with Serina is to make her have a real emotional connection. It's been 500 years. You'd think she'd eventually find someone to love. I wanna know what that looks like and how she functions when there's someone she should be genuinely protective and loving towards. I don't think it'll work out. I think she'll hate it.

As a partner so far, she's been fairly lovingly without being in love. She sends flowers, takes her partner out places, buys them the nicest things, says nice things to them, is affectionate and sexual... she's everything except for actually in love. She won't try to protect them or stop them from doing stupid things. They do their thing. If that gets them killed, she's fine with that too. But what would happen if she actually fell in love? When and if she wins London, or any other city she sets her eyes upon, and becomes master of her own realm, what then?

That's where I want to see her next, powerful, in control completely, and bored. Ready to take on something new, and that new thing will be finding a person to share that mastery with. Or perhaps, accept that she is best on her own.