Vanessa Kalderas

**Vanessa Kalderas** is a Romani woman that lived in Villefranche, on the coast of France.

## History

In 1916, Vanessa lived in Villefranche with her grandmother. It had once been a thriving harbor, but when the plague came and the dead rose again, the people of Villefranche loaded up the plague dead on ships and set them to sail while burning. By the time Lord Baltimore arrived in Villefranche, most of the remaining boats were only small fishing vessels. Though her grandmother warned her that Lord Baltimore was cursed, Vanessa believed he could help her get safely out of Villefranche. She was so convinced of this, she even helped him escape from prison.

The two set sail for Livorno, Italy, aboard a merchant ship, *The Marianne* (which had once been captained by Vanessa's father when he had been alive). During the night, *The Marianne* was caught in a storm and wrecked. Vanessa and Lord Baltimore managed to make it to an island, the Furiani Graveyard, where they discover that one of Villefranche's plague ships ran aground. That night, Vanessa fought alongside Baltimore against hordes of revenant vampires. When it became too much, Vanessa took refuge in a submarine wreck until dawn. In the morning, she found the beach scattered with corpses, and decided that her grandmother was right, Lord Baltimore was cursed. When the pair where rescued, Baltimore continued on after Haigus and Vanessa returned to her home in Villefranche, where she found that her grandmother had been tortured and hanged by Judge Duvic of the New Inquisition.

A year later, Vanessa had succeeded in finding Judge Duvic in Austria-Hungary. She broke into the prison where Duvic was conduction his inquisitions with the intent to murder him, but Duvic caught her at the last moment and killed her with her own blade. After her death, her corpse grabbed Duvic and cursed him. Afterwards, Duvic's right arm was forver stained with the blood from her handprint, which had supernaturally marked him, even through his clothing.

## Abilities

   Vanessa's grandmother had several powers. She used scrying to observe Lord Baltimore while he was fighting revenant vampires and she was able to see a glimpse of his fate with the Red King. She called down lightning to destory a Zeppelin, and she seemed quite confident in her ability to deal with revenant vampires in the absence of the Elders, suggesting she had other lethal powers at her disposal. However, Vanessa showed no sign of any supernatural abilities in 1916, and even suggested she may doubt some of her grandmother's powers.

In 1917, she had a powder that easily took care of a prison guard. This could indicate some magical ability. After she was killed by Judge Duvic, she cursed him. Whether this was a power awoken in death or an ability she already had is unknown. However, given that the knife she tried to kill Judge Duvic with was marked by sigils, it seems she had some magic about her.

## Relationships

### Family

Little is known about Vanessa's family, except that her father once was the captain of *The Marianne* before his death. He was well-liked by his crew, who were more than happy to help Vanessa out whenever they could. By the time Vanessa met Lord Baltimore, her only remaining immediately family wass her grandmother, who worried for her safety. Vanessa seemingly doubted at least some of her grandmother's abilities, and she certainly doubted her foresight, but she also seemed to have learnt a lot from her too; her grandmother taught her "cleansing fire" would kill the revenant vampires.

## Appearances

* *Baltimore: The Plague Ships*
* *Baltimore: The Inquisitor*
* *Baltimore: The Infernal Train* (flashback)
* *Baltimore: The Wolf and the Apostle* (flashback)

## Quotes

* "This place is *hell*, Monsieur." —Speaking of Villefranche in *Baltimore: The Plague Ships*
* "I'm afraid to *die*... I'm not afraid to *live*." —*Baltimore: The Plague Ships*
* "You are a good man, Lord Baltimore. But my grandmother was right... You are cursed, *Damned.* I would fear for my soul were I to remain with you. And I do not want you to have to remember me with a hammer and a nail." —*Baltimore: The Plague Ships*
* "Nu pute? I ascunde fiara în inima ta." (Romanian: "You cannot hide your heart, beast.") —Vanessa's dying words in *Baltimore: The Inquisitor*