Laidlaw and Singh, Inc.

Laidlaw & Singh is an American real estate company run by the Invictus. Unlike the other factions of the First Estate, however, the firm 'employs' vampires of all Clans and Covenants - by invitation only, of course, but still it does make them rather unusual.
The company is legal and works in daylight as well, most of its mortal employees unaware of their bosses' true natures. Their main area of interests is, of course, real estate - they buy out buildings and places and sell them to someone else. What only few know, however, is that all of these places have one thing in common: occult significance.

Is that old warehouse in East Town occupied by Lupines? Oh... they probably won't be happy to know it's already claimed and going to be turned into a Kindred nightclub by Sunday, unless... how much would they pay to have it back?

Naturally, this isn't the only thing they do with these places, but shush!

-

And what does the picture portray exactly? These are just three directors of the much larger (capital 'B') Board, which is the managing coterie of the recently opened Roman branch of Laidlaw & Singh, whose major project in this city will be excavation of the Necropolis - remnants of the ancient vampire society of the Camarilla, whose 'capital' used to be right there beneath the Eternal City.

What will the archaeologists and... realtors find down there? What will happen to Rome in the process? I do not know yet.
This is for a certain coterie of enterprising Kindred to determine over the course of the Chronicle played here: [link]

And now, our three Major Players, from the left:

Maria Rosetta of Clan Daeva, Priestess of the Lancea et Sanctum, President of the Law Division and Liaison to the Prince's Court.
"I have another appointment in three minutes, give him some form to fill out and send off to my assistant's assistant's office instead."
Maria is native to Rome and also the first local Kindred to have betrayed the Court for the benefit of Laidlaw & Singh - fact that makes her job as a Liaison difficult at best, but still perversely delightful to the firm's CEO.
In addition to the many offices she formally holds, the Daeva also acts as the unofficial Keeper of the Elysium for Montenegro's mock 'Court', while still devotedly attending to the matters of her Covenant.
One can only imagine how busy this young Daeva must be with so many official titles and duties in different divisions. And yet, quite surprisingly - she doesn't mind at all.

She represents the main power that keeps Laidlaw & Singh running despite many obstacles that should have brought them down years ago - talented in many areas, active and ambitious Neonates who fear no challenge and know how to operate in the modern corporate world. Vampire equivalents of so-called 'yuppies'.

Lady Evelynn Abigail O'Hannigan of Clan Daeva, Speaker of the Invictus and member of the Board in the 'outside director's' capacity.
"This is a difficult decision... I need to think of it some more to best express my eventual refusal..."
Well... How did someone with virtually no business experience and... rather questionable sanity get appointed to be a member of the Board? Few know, but since her appointment was issued directly by the powerful CEO of the Las Vegas branch of L&S, nobody risks to ask.
She spends most of her time attending the various Elysia of Rome, unless called to participate in the firm's meetings. Although she is not officially employed by the organisation, the Daeva does have significant sway over the decisions made by the Board. Much to Montenegro's increasing dismay, since while he doesn't know where her loyalty truly lies, he is certain that it is not anywhere near him.
She arrived in Rome quite recently, but thanks to prior preparations and agreements, she was quick to establish herself in the city, but even despite her Elder status and high standing within the Invictus, the broken state of the Domain prevents her from expanding her influence beyond the confines of Laidlaw & Singh.

Evelynn represents another group of Laidlaw & Singh employees and associates - young Elders and Ancillae, who, although not very much at home there, make temporary use of Laidlaw & Singh to advance their own agendas through mutually beneficent deals with the firm.

Eric Montenegro of Clan Ventrue, Philosopher of the Fiery and Sanguine Terror of the Ordo Dracul, CEO of the Roman branch of Laidlaw & Singh, President of the Special Projects Department of the New Orleanian branch of Laidlaw & Singh, self-proclaimed Co-Prince of Rome.
"Enraged werewolf? Please, direct him to Archives and Records..."
The CEO of just recently opened L&S' operation in Rome certainly does have a lot to deal with. Opposition of the Prince, manning the great excavation, an influential Wayward Victorian Girl manipulating his Board of Directors and lack of qualified Kindred employees to manage the most essential offices. Fortunately, even despite its problems, L&S is by far the most stable faction in the city. Unfortunately, for Montenegro it's not enough - he has to show his competence and not let the Roman branch fall, while at the same time make sure that the excavation of Necropolis proceeds according to plan and that L&S benefits from it.
He has quite a task ahead of him, but he's experienced, powerful and, most importantly, determined as hell to see it through.
Everyone is well aware of the Prince's dislike towards Montenegro and his firm - and there's no word to describe how delighted the Ventrue is to provide more and more reason with every day for his rival to hate him.
Some people joke that this rivalry is so heated that it almost looks like it's been going for centuries rather than months.
On the second telling, however, this joke doesn't seem so funny anymore - it actually sounds perfectly plausible...
Either way, it appears that Montenegro has made it his mission to upset the Prince as much as possible - he made Maria the Liaison to the Court, and went even so far as to unofficially proclaim himself a "Co-Prince of Rome".
The Prince has remained calm so far, occasionally responding with similar 'niceties' towards his rival, but everyone knows it's just a matter of time until this childish game spins out of control...

Montenegro is an example of the second power that allows L&S to remain stable and powerful - Elders who, despite the odds, have adapted to the workings of the modern world and made it their playground. If L&S consisted only of Neonates and loosely affiliated Ancillae, it would have either fallen on its own within a couple of years or been crushed down by the rest of the vampire society. It's the Elders that provide the company with their considerable wealth and influence, ensuring its survival. There aren't many of them, but their contributions are indisputable.

---

Now, a few words out of my heart...

I'm thinking about directing a film. I even have the title already:
"Edward Shakyhands"

Sounds good, eh? It will be a tragic tale of a humble, enterprising artist who, despite his supreme talent and exceptional genius, suffered greatly, for his cursed hands just WOULDN'T DRAW A BLOODY STRAIGHT LINE.

---

All right, I feel better now.

And you know? I think I finally understand what the greatest mystery of art is!
I've always strived for perfection, spent hours upon hours fixing little details which probably would never have been noticed; I could use a hundred useless layers for one little picture; I used countless references and was afraid to even remotely deviate from them.
But while making this piece, I just finally lost the rest of my patience and went into a... drawing frenzy, no longer caring about these little things. Weirdly a lot, it took me less time than ever before and there hardly was anything to correct afterwards o_O

Oh, and look at their hair! I can finally draw decent hair!

I love myself so much!

---

Time taken to make it:

Over three months...

... of procrastinating and about eight hours of actual work

Credits go to:

- Myself, for being so gorgeous
- Muses, for inspiration
- Mum, for tea
- Juliet Landau, for existing and being gorgeous too
- Emilie Autumn and Melora Creager, for playing to my ear when I was bored
- Wolfram & Hart, for... guess
- ~blackRabbit4, *Dkelabirath, ~Fairy-of-the-Woods and *kingspikearcher, for saving me from RPG withdrawal.
- ~AilinStock, for providing high-quality stocks
- ~Queen-Bee-66, for allowing me to use one of her photos as a reference/base
- My hair, because apparently something made me give Eric the same hair as mine o_O
- ~szantovitch for Vampire the Requiem Brushes
- Nescafé for saving my life and consciousness on several occasions.
- Uh... I wanted to write something, but forgot what it was. Mhm...