Post by san⋅guine on Sept 26, 2010 11:22:15 GMT -5
Name: Ofelia Ivana Baquero Macías
Alias: Ofelia Vidal, Princess Moanna of the Underground Realm
Clan: Malkavian
Sect: the Red List
Sire: Drusilla
Parents: Federico and Carmen Macías
Sibling(s): --
Children: Myca Perttu Vykos
Love Interest: Sascha Vykos
Past Relationships: --
Crushes: --
Childer(s): --
Ghoul(s): --
Year Born: June 11, 1933
Year Embraced: 1944
Heritage: Spanish
Place of Birth: Barcelona, Spain
Residence: --, Agricola
Height: 4'3"
Weight: 70.04 lbs
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Distinguishing Features: --
Properties: --
Derrangement(s): Obessive Compulsive, Delusional
Animal Form(s): Black Cat and Raven
Disciplines: Auspex, Obfuscate, and Dementation
Out of Clan: Fortitude, Potence, Protean, Celerity, Presence, Vicissitude
Merit(s): Enchanting Voice, Medium, Oracular Ability
Flaw(s): --
Personality: Observant, Patient, Romantic, Daring, Resourceful, Loyal, Stubborn, Imaginative, Strange, Unusual
Brief History: Long ago, Princess Moanna of the Underground Realm, curious about the world above, escaped to the Earth, where the sun blinded her and, forgetting her past, she weakened and died. Nonetheless, her father retains hope that her spirit will eventually return to him.
In post-Civil War Spain in 1944, with Francisco Franco firmly in power. Ofelia, a great lover of books and fairy tales, traveled with her pregnant mother, Carmen, to join Captain Vidal, her new stepfather and father of Carmen's unborn child, at his post in the mountains where he is rooting out Spanish Maquis guerrillas.
Ofelia discovers a stick insect that she believes to be a fairy, which follows her to the mill where Vidal is stationed. She chases it into an ancient Labyrinth nearby, where she meets Vidal's housekeeper, Mercedes, who treats her kindly but takes her home.
Captain Vidal is cruel, tyrannical, and bloodthirsty. One night, his men find two farmers, an old man and his son, in the forest with guns, arrest them for supposedly aiding the rebel cause and bring them before Vidal. After hearing the farmers claim that they were merely out hunting rabbits, Vidal beats the son nearly to death with a bottle, then shoots them both. After they are killed, he searched their bags and found a dead rabbit, proving that they were telling the truth. He lambasts his men, telling them "Maybe you'll learn to search these assholes properly before you come bothering me."
Later that night, Ofelia overheard Mercedes and the local doctor conspiring to help the rebels. After waking her in the middle of the night, the insect appears in Ofelia's bedroom where it changes into a fairy and leads her outside and through the Labyrinth. There, she met a Faun, who says that he believed her to be the reincarnation of Princess Moanna. He gave her three tasks to complete before the full moon to ensure that her "essence is intact" so that she can return to her father's realm.
Meanwhile, Captain Vidal had some associates over for dinner. Carmen presented Ofelia with a beautiful new dress and shoes, which she was expected to wear to the meal. However, soon before the dinner, Ofelia received her first task from the Book of Crossroads. She headed into the woods to find a certain fig tree, which is being eaten from the inside by a monstrous toad that lives deep beneath its roots. Inside the toad is a key, which Ofelia must retrieve. After crawling through the muddy tunnels under the tree, she encounters the huge toad. She tricks it into eating magic stones that the faun gave her, which causes the toad to vomit out its insides, including the key.
During dinner, Captain Vidal dismisses any conversation unrelated to the war. A guest remarks on how Vidal's late father, also a prominent military figure, had smashed his watch at the moment of his death on the battlefield so that his son would know the exact time he died. Captain Vidal claims that his father never owned a watch. However, he has an old pocket watch with a cracked glass that he meticulously maintains, which it Ofelia assumed is the watch he denied his father owning.
Ofelia returned to the house, late for dinner and with her new dress ruined. Her mother sent her to bed without supper, but Ofelia was nevertheless happy that she completed the first task.
Soon after, Carmen had an episode of severe bleeding, and was prescribed bed rest until she delivers. As her condition becomes more fragile, Captain Vidal told the doctor "If you have to make a choice, save the baby." Vidal was positive that the child would be a son, and cared only about producing an heir for himself. Ofelia was moved to another bedroom.
The faun told Ofelia of a way to restore her mother to health: placing a mandrake root in a bowl of fresh milk underneath her bed, and feeding it two drops of blood a day. After carrying out the faun's prescription, Ofelia than undertakes the second task of using the key to retrieve an ornate dagger from the lair of the Pale Man, a grotesque, child-eating monster who sits absolutely silent and motionless in front of a large feast. Although she was gravely warned not to consume anything, she ate two grapes, awakening the Pale Man, who ate two of her fairy friends and pursued her. She narrowly escaped by drawing an escape door with a piece of magic chalk. However, infuriated at her disobedience, the faun refused to give her the third task.
Events took an even grimmer turn as Vidal captured and brutally interrogated a rebel. The doctor, who had been staying with them to help Carmen, is ordered to tend the wounds of the tortured rebel, so that he can be interrogated further. Instead, at the rebel's request, the doctor euthanizes him. Vidal, in turn, killed the doctor for his disobedience and treachery — the doctor had been aiding the rebels and providing them with medicine. Vidal then catches Ofelia feeding the mandrake under her mother's bed. He aggressively questioned her, but Carmen begged him to let her speak to Ofelia herself. Carmen told her daughter that fairy tales are not real, and to prove her point she burned the mandrake. As the root is destroyed, Carmen goes into labor and dies in childbirth. However, she delivered a healthy son. Ofelia was devastated, and now has no protection from her stepfather's tyranny.
Vidal discovered that Mercedes was a spy. She attemptted to escape with Ofelia, but was caught. Ofelia was locked in her bedroom, and Mercedes was taken to be tortured; however, she freed herself using a hidden knife with which she stabs and gave Vidal a Glasgow smile on one side of his face. He survived, and had his men follow her as she ran for her life. They caught up with her in the forest, but as they surrounded her, unseen snipers shot the men off their horses. The snipers turned out to be rebels, among them Mercedes' brother.
The faun returns to Ofelia and gave her one more chance to prove herself. He told her to take her baby half-brother into the Labyrinth. Ofelia snuck into Vidal's room, drugged his liquor and grabbed her brother from his cradle, but Vidal saw her before she could escape. She ran outside with the baby, chased by Vidal, who was feeling the effects of the drug. Ofelia entered the labyrinth as the rebels attacked the mill. Mercedes, who now cared for Ofelia like a daughter, frantically searched for her. Upon reaching the centre of the maze, Ofelia encountered the faun, who wielded the ornate dagger that Ofelia had taken from the Pale Man's lair. The faun explained that the portal to the Underworld will open only with the blood of an innocent, so she must hand him her brother. Despite his insisting that it will be "just a pinprick," Ofelia refused. The faun vociferously berated Ofelia for her disobedience, asking her if she was willing to give up her chance of being an immortal Princess to protect a child she barely knows. Ofelia nodded solemnly. The faun replied, "As you wish", then disappeared. Vidal stumbled upon the scene, and witnessed Ofelia having a conversation with thin air. Vidal approached, forcibly takes the baby, and shot Ofelia in the stomach. She fell to the ground, bleeding.
When Vidal left the Labyrinth, he was met by Mercedes and the rebels. Realizing that they would kill him, he calmly handed Mercedes the baby, and started to request that they tell his son the exact time his father died, just as his own father did. But Mercedes informed him that his son "will never even know his name". Mercedes' rebel brother shot Vidal in the face, killing him.
Mercedes and the rebels entered the labyrinth to find Ofelia dead. Ofelia's blood drips onto the altar that was the gateway into the Underground Realm. Ofelia is reunited with the King (her deceased father, resurrected) and Queen (her mother, alive again) of the Underground Realm. The faun is there, as are the fairies. Ofelia learned that by sacrificing herself, instead of her brother, she has succeeded at the true final task, proving herself to be the Princess Moanna and achieving immortality. The moment Ofelia learns she is the Princess of the Underground Realm, she smiled; at that same instant, upon Earth, she died. A distraught Mercedes wept over the girl. She was buried in the Labyrinth.
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