PERSONAL HISTORY:
Before Maria‘s time, a young vampire named Benito, from Dallas, used the strength of newborn vampires on a massive scale to wipe out neighboring covens and take over their land.
Once other covens realized what was happening, they, too, created armies of newborns, to try to defeat Benito. The Volturi eventually had to step in to clean up the havoc these reckless armies had created in the South, destroying every newborn they could find. To serve as a deterrent to future newborn armies, anyone associated with the newborns was also executed.
When the Volturi returned to Italy, the survivors in the South quickly laid claim to the land. Before long, the covens began having border disputes and the wars resumed, but on a smaller scale. Newborns were used again, but more quietly. No one wanted to give the Volturi a reason to return.
It was during one of these battles that Maria lost her coven, which included her mate and two older vampires who were — for all intents and purposes — her parents. Along with them she lost control over Monterrey, Mexico, and the surrounding area. Defeated and alone, she looked for allies to help her get revenge. She found Nettie and Lucy, both of whom were survivors of other battles, and together they formed a coven. Maria‘s goal was to reclaim her land and exact vengeance; Nettie and Lucy hoped to gain more hunting territory.
Maria took newborn armies to a new level by choosing humans with combat potential and giving them more training than anyone had bothered to do before. When Maria met a young Confederate officer named Jasper Whitlock, she hoped his physical stature and military experience would make him a helpful addition to her army. She also sensed that there was something special about him, and her instincts were on target. After assessing his abilities, she put Jasper in charge of her other newborns. He was able to facilitate cooperation between the members of the group. Casualties dropped, and Maria‘s army swelled to around twenty newborns — a large number for that time. Even Nettie, Lucy, and Maria were able to work together more easily with Jasper around.
Maria grew fond of Jasper, depending on him more and more.
Thanks to her planning and Jasper‘s gifts, Maria‘s army was very successful. Maria grew fond of Jasper, depending on him more and more. Eventually Nettie and Lucy betrayed their alliance with Maria and planned to turn against her. Jasper was able to give Maria early warning, and she killed them both. Jasper became her only ally. However, she never treated him as an equal or thought of him as her mate. As was normal for the vampire temperament, Maria never forgot her deceased mate or moved on.
Several decades passed, and Maria noticed Jasper growing depressed. He was no longer interested in their lifestyle of conflict and acquisition. Maria grew paranoid that he might turn on her the way Nettie and Lucy had, and she made plans to destroy him first. She selected a few of the older, more promising newborns and plotted secretly with them, offering them Jasper‘s position and perks if they got him out of the way. Jasper was well aware of her shift in feelings toward him, and began making similar defensive plans against her with the newborns he most trusted. Before it came to that, however, Jasper found an alternative and left her coven for a new way of life in the North. Maria eventually forgave Jasper for his defection, and considers herself to be on good terms with him. She continues to zealously defend her territories in Mexico against interlopers.
FAMOUS QUOTE
“I truly hope you survive, Jasper. I have a good feeling about you.” Eclipse, Chapter 13
NETTIE
NAME: Nettie
DATE OF BIRTH: Unknown
DATE OF TRANSFORMATION: Unknown
SOURCE OF TRANSFORMATION: Unknown
PLACE OF ORIGIN: Arkansas
HAIR COLOR: White blond
EYE COLOR: Red/black (vampire)
HEIGHT: 5‘3‖
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Nettie was petite, but taller than Maria.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: She did not possess a quantifiable supernatural ability.
FAMILY/COVEN RELATIONSHIPS: Nettie was part of Maria‘s coven, along with Lucy.
PERSONAL HISTORY:
Like Lucy and Maria, Nettie was the sole survivor of a lost battle. The two older males in her coven were destroyed, and Nettie was driven out of Arkansas. Maria and Lucy approached her and offered an alliance. Nettie wanted the safety of numbers, and she liked Maria‘s plan for a special newborn army. However, Nettie had less self-control than either Lucy or Maria, so she was not very involved with the creation of the newborns. It was Nettie who originally suggested to Lucy that they kill Maria and Jasper and take over the coven.
Riley‘s Coven
Riley was the only authority figure the newborns knew.
This coven of newborns was created by Victoria but controlled by Riley. Riley was the only authority figure the newborns knew. They lived in and around the city of Seattle and existed as a coven for less than a year. In their final organization as a newborn army, they became an illegal creation. None of the newborns knew of the Volturi laws that prohibited their lifestyle.
While Riley knew of the newborns‘ ultimate fate as an army, none of the other newborns were aware of this fact until a few days before the attack that ended in the demise of the coven. There were three survivors of the coven, who went on to become nomads; none of them were present for the attack against the Cullens.
RILEY BIERS
NAME: Riley Biers
DATE OF BIRTH: October 8, 1986
DATE OF TRANSFORMATION: April 13, 2005, at age 18
SOURCE OF TRANSFORMATION: Victoria
PLACE OF ORIGIN: Santa Fe, New Mexico
HAIR COLOR: Blond
EYE COLOR: Brown (human); red/black (vampire)
HEIGHT: 6‘3‖
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Riley was muscular and tall.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: He did not possess a quantifiable supernatural ability.
FAMILY/COVEN RELATIONSHIPS: Riley managed a coven of newborns created by Victoria.
PERSONAL HISTORY:
Riley was born in Santa Fe and lived in several places in the Southwest and along the Pacific coast during his childhood and adolescence. He lived with his parents and siblings — an older sister and a younger brother. He attended Oregon State University. One night near the end of his freshman year, Victoria saw him playing soccer with his intramural team. Victoria was panicked and seeking protection; Riley looked large and strong. She attacked him on his way home from the game. When he was lucid, she told him that she‘d been watching him and had fallen in love with him. Riley was awed by Victoria; he bought her story and quickly returned her perceived feelings for him.
Victoria told Riley many stories, half-truths, and outright lies, and Riley had no reason to disbelieve her.
Victoria told Riley many stories, half-truths, and outright lies, and Riley had no reason to disbelieve her. It was true that Victoria was scared and on the defensive; he could see that with his own eyes. She told him about her enemies, the Cullens, but gave him a false story about why they wanted to kill her, claiming she and her older sister, Anne, had trespassed on their territory, so they had killed Anne and hunted her still. She told him about the talents the Cullens possessed. Though this was the truest part of her story, Riley found it the hardest to believe.
When she decided to create more vampires to protect herself, Riley was initially jealous.
However, when she explained her plan, told him that the new vampires would never see her face or know her name, and asked him to choose them for her, he was appeased. Clearly, she had no desire for any romantic companionship besides Riley; she didn‘t even want any particular kind of human. She asked only that he choose humans who wouldn‘t be missed, or whose disappearance could be easily attributed to another source. The original plan, as Riley understood it, was for the new vampires to eventually be trained as a guard for himself and Victoria, after they were past their newborn wildness and were teachable. Victoria had the idea to tell the newborns that the sun could kill vampires, as was commonly beli
eved by humans. She thought this would make them easier to control during the first year.
Victoria was very aware of the laws of the Volturi, and while she did not inform Riley of all of them, she did tell Riley about their existence, and about the necessity of keeping a low profile. She did not have him instruct the newborns about the Volturi; they agreed that until the newborns were old enough, there was no reason to overwhelm them with information. Riley never realized how similar he was to the other newborns, both in Victoria‘s opinion of him and in her treatment of him.
When Victoria sensed that she was being tracked, she decided to run rather than hope her unskilled newborns could protect her. She left Riley with instructions to keep the newborns as quiet as possible, and she disappeared.
Riley wanted to go with her and was unhappy to be left behind.
Riley wanted to go with her and was unhappy to be left behind. He worried that she would be killed, and he also worried that she would lose interest and never return for him. But he accepted her logic that, in the long run, the guard was worth the time investment. He grew friendly with some of the newborns in her absence; he enjoyed Diego‘s company in particular, though he was always entirely loyal to Victoria. Of course he did not find Fred easy to be around. He thought little of Raoul personally, but found him useful in organizing newcomers to the coven.
When Victoria returned, Riley was overjoyed. To Riley, her return meant that she really did love him. He was enthusiastic about her idea to act offensively by creating an army, rather than maintaining a guard for an indefinite amount of time while she waited for her enemies to come after her again. She told him of the necessity of not making decisions and instructed him to keep watch for any possible talents in their army.
Newborn production went into high gear, which meant that Riley was not with Victoria as often. He was busy containing the newborns and searching out more humans whose disappearances would attract little notice. Riley was unaware of Victoria‘s trip to see Laurent, or of her repeated attempts to get into Forks. Victoria did not tell him about the werewolf problem she‘d observed.
As the army stabilized at around twenty members, Riley felt like the time had come to strike.
As the army stabilized at around twenty members, Riley felt like the time had come to strike. He was frustrated that Victoria still wavered. He wanted to train the newborns, particularly the older ones, so that they could fight more effectively. He and Victoria discussed training methods, but she was afraid that putting the training into action would alert Alice. Her hesitance to strike upset Riley; until they got rid of the Cullens, they couldn‘t really be together.
He wondered how committed to him Victoria actually was.
Victoria sent him to Forks to obtain the scent of the Cullens‘ pet human for a few reasons. First, if she did decide to attack, it would mark her true target. Second, she knew of Riley‘s impatience and felt this assignment would make him think they were moving forward.
Third, and most important, she wanted to test Alice‘s ability without putting herself in danger. If Riley was instructed to make no contact with the Cullens or any humans in Forks, if he was committed to doing no damage and remaining unseen, would Alice know he was coming?
Victoria was thrilled to find out that the answer was no. The more she could learn about Alice‘s ability — and the flaws in her visions — the better she could know how to proceed.
When the Volturi visited, Riley was terrified but also relieved. He did not understand that he and Victoria were in trouble not just for the attention the newborns had gotten in the news, but also for a truly illegal creation. He just knew that now he would get to act. And once the Cullens were destroyed, he wouldn‘t have to take care of newborns all the time; he could be with Victoria.
Over the course of his time as warden to the newborns, two vampires, Doug and Adam, had discovered the truth about the sun. Victoria had told him to bring any newborns who knew the truth to her. At first he was shocked and a little frightened when he learned that the penalty for this knowledge was death. However, once Victoria explained what it would do to the coven if all the newborns knew the truth, it made sense. He used the disappearance of Doug and Adam to reinforce the idea that the sun was deadly. He did the same with the disappearances of Steve and Shelly, though those two had simply run away together. When Diego came to Riley and told him about the sun, Riley was disturbed. He hoped that, given the situation with the Volturi, Victoria might reconsider and let Diego live. He knew Diego could keep the secret. However, Victoria‘s response was even worse than he‘d feared.
After it was over she and Riley would run fast and far, until the Volturi got tired of chasing them.
The next few hours changed Riley. Victoria made him choose between being with her and saving Diego‘s life. Riley chose Victoria and refused to acknowledge the feeling that he had chosen wrong. Victoria was high-strung and paranoid after the Volturi‘s visit. She insisted on extracting as much information as possible from Diego. In the end, Diego told her everything that he and Bree suspected. Riley was horrified by her actions and the things she made him do, but because he loved her he had to find a way to reconcile who she was with what he loved. He had to close himself off to his feelings of pity and humanity. He tried to enjoy Diego‘s pain the way she obviously did. Victoria was pleased with the change. Now that she felt Riley had proven himself, she told him the truth — mostly — about the coming battle. The majority of the newborns would be slaughtered before the Cullens were destroyed. She would not join the fight; she would observe to make sure the right members of the Cullen clan were destroyed. If a chance presented itself, she would act. After it was over she and Riley would run fast and far, until the Volturi got tired of chasing them. She lied about only a few things — including who her real target was, and that Riley would be escaping with her.
Riley did well in his last days with the newborns. He was able to manipulate them into exactly the mindset Victoria wanted. He did not entirely understand why the focus should be on the human girl — Victoria said the Cullens would be less effective if they were trying to protect the human — but he primed them perfectly. His only failure was in losing Fred; of course, in the end, he couldn‘t remember that he‘d lost him. After sending the newborns on their way, he met up with Victoria at the rendezvous point she‘d chosen. She told him that a key member of the coven had hidden to avoid the fight, and together they were going to make sure he didn‘t survive.
DIEGO
NAME: Diego
DATE OF BIRTH: November 1987
DATE OF TRANSFORMATION: July 2005, at age 17
SOURCE OF TRANSFORMATION: Victoria
PLACE OF ORIGIN: Los Angeles, California
HAIR COLOR: Black
EYE COLOR: Brown (human); bright red/black (newborn vampire) HEIGHT: 6‘0‖
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Diego had thick, curly hair and a faint olive tone to his vampire skin. He was lean but muscular.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: He did not possess a quantifiable supernatural ability.
FAMILY/COVEN RELATIONSHIPS: Diego belonged to Riley‘s coven of newborns.
PERSONAL HISTORY:
Diego grew up in a lower-class, single-parent home in Los Angeles. He lived with his mother and younger brother. When he was sixteen, his mother relocated to Portland for a job that then fell through. Diego worked part-time jobs to help out while he went to school. He was determined to go to college, and to help his younger brother get an education as well. Diego had some trouble with a gang at his high school, but he did his best to avoid them. He was furious when he found out that the same gang was pursuing his younger brother. He tried to convince his brother to stay away from them, and he talked with his mother about switching his brother to a different school. Before they could come up with a plan to remove his brother from the situation, his brother was killed in an initiation ritual.
Diego went crazy with grief. He stole a gun from the house of one of the gang members.
&n
bsp; He‘d learned who was actually responsible for his brother‘s death, and he tracked him down and fatally shot him. The other members of the gang came after Diego. They had him cornered when Riley interceded.
FRED
NAME: Fred; nickname: ―Freaky Fred‖
DATE OF BIRTH: April 1985
DATE OF TRANSFORMATION: August 2005, at age 20
SOURCE OF TRANSFORMATION: Victoria
PLACE OF ORIGIN: Vancouver, British Columbia
HAIR COLOR: Blond
EYE COLOR: Blue (human); bright red/black (newborn vampire) HEIGHT: 6‘2‖
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Fred is tall and broad-shouldered.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: He has the ability to make anyone feel physically repulsed. He can use this ability to make someone unable to think of him for a period of time.
The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide (twilight) Page 21