Frances Benowitz

"*Only someone like Fran Benowitz could have two childer abscond from the clan and not be staked and left for the sun. And when those two childer were as promising as Howland and Velasquez were, it's almost hard to believe there are still so many who believe she deserves the chantry more than Strauss.*"
―Unknown
**Frances Benowitz** is a Tremere elder, the sire of James Howland and Verity Velasquez, and the grandsire of Kamila Mansouri in the Spectre chronicle.

## Appearance

Solely going off of appearances it is hard to get a full sense of Frances Benowitz as a person, as so much of her is felt in the way she expresses herself and the sheer overwhelming presence she conveys with only so much as a raised eyebrow. Her dress sense is a simple and conservative blend of formalwear, usually opting for a black turtleneck and pencil skirt with black stockings and ankle boots. Fran also often wears a red lipstick with a muted bluish eyeshadow behind gold-rimmed, tinted-lens glasses.

## Personality

Everything is business with Frances, from her rigid thaumaturgical study and practice sessions to murdering an entire family simply because it could provide some small benefit to her, very little emotion ever slips out from behind her mask of pragmatism. She appears almost perennially displeased as a baseline for her expression and those around her do their best not to deepen that displeasure into anything worse. When presenting something to Fran or reporting back to her after a completed task, the most you can hope for is that she dismisses you without finding something that isn't to her satisfaction. On very rare occasions she has been known to show a sardonic flavor of happiness or gratitude but typically only to those of similar social status to her or those she has a vested interest in placating such as her childer.

It is rare for Frances to lose her composure, as the extreme violence she is capable of as a result of having totally mastered the Movement of the Mind thaumaturgical path speak more strongly than she ever could. One of her grandchilder once raised their voice at her in the presence of Maximillian Strauss and without Fran even so much as lifting her eyes away from the grimoire she was reading the insolent kindred's skull burst like a watermelon as their body slumped to the ground in an undignified heap.

She takes her study of the thaumaturgical arts incredibly seriously and is unquestionably one of the greatest practitioners of the discipline in Los Angeles, California, perhaps even the entire United States. Movement of the Mind is her signature path of mastery and she has perfected it to a level hitherto unforeseen in kindred of her age. Frances is able to effortlessly fly, manipulate objects, and dish out fatal psychokinetic attacks without breaking so much as a sweat.

## Trivia

* She was first mentioned in *Pancho and Lefty* by Jocelyn Eisner and first appeared in *Sit Down*.
* Though she is widely respected among the Tremere clan for her immense thamaturgical talents, there are still some who whisper behind her back about the fact that both of her childer defected from the clan proper.
	+ The reason that both of her childer abandoned her was the discovery of the fact that she had personally killed James Howland's wife and son to prevent him from being too caught up in human affairs.
* Frances likes people to treat her with respect and making grand entrances. She dislikes Christmas and people who talk without really saying anything.
* She was chosen specifically for the Tremere and signed an embrace contract with them.
* She wishes she could have tried soul food while she was alive.
* Frances can be startled by thunder and lightning. It seems as though she once had an intense fear but is in the process of overcoming it.