Embraced to cement Vicario's control over the newly arrived American interests, Paul Delacroix's life prior was marked by outstanding business success and a less remarked upon failed personal life. Forced into marriage by his mother's Creole family in order to reinforce his highborn aristocratic heritage, he and his wife hated each other before the vows were even voiced. Trapped by their separate social pressures and with diametrically opposed expectations of marriage, Delacroix quickly descended into abuse and threw himself even more fervently into his work. Utilizing his father's connections in the north and his Creole inheritance of several sugarcane plantations, he was quickly able to outdo his competitors. Not really an innovator, his skill lay in his negotiating and management skills.
During a particularly heated fight he struck his wife and sent her falling down a flight of stairs. Once he had confirmed that she was indeed dead, he fled into the night, only to be met by the Spanish Lasombra who offered him a means to escape the justice which would soon follow his hot temper and poor judgement. Seeing little recourse, Paul accepted. His death was attributed to suicide with little concern that his body was never recovered from the river which was assumed to have been the mechanism of his demise. Meanwhile, he was versed in the extensive Lasombra economic interests and given leave to expand upon them as he saw fit. Since his talents weren't tied to his former industry, he found little difficulty in applying them to the import/export trade and other areas deeply influenced by his sire. At the same time, he tried to come to terms with what he'd become and avoid the realization that he'd only damned himself further.
Again, absorption in his work saved him from the painful fruits of self-reflection. He threw himself into management of the Lasombra interests and took advantage of the new opportunities sprung forth from the colony's statehood. He pleased his sire greatly with the results of his obsessive pursuits and Vicario began to deal less with the economic affairs of the clan and concentrate more on politics and the ongoing Camarilla threat. Paul might have collapsed eventually had it not been for his 'brother' Lafitte. The two men found much in common and learned from each other's expertise in very different aspects of business. It was Lafitte's influence more than anything which helped Paul get through the first fifty years of his existence as a vampire.
Lafitte's betrayel stunned Paul and hurt him deeper than anything had since his Embrace. This had the effect of breaking him out of the numbness he'd cultivated to deal with his existence since and tapped the emotions which he'd been surpressing. The effect was not what anyone would have predicted. Rather than crack, his rage revitalized him and hardened him. Shedding the last of his supressed humanity, he adopted the edicts of his sire's path and channelled his rage into the pursuit of power.
This change of perspectives altered his approach to his work. Rather than seeing his economic pursuits as a business endeavor, he became more competitive, more predatory. His ventures became more bold and aggressive, just what the difficulties the Civil War brought called for. Diversifying his influence into corrupt politics and criminal enterprises, he strengthened the Lasombra power structure against the assaults of Reconstruction. His sire could not be more pleased and left him to his devices, concentrating his attention on the newly arrived Brujah. Whereas before Paul did not have much business foresight, now he grasped at any new innovation which his sharp business sense told him would bring profit or power.
Much of Paul's attention during the first part of this century was on the development of the new petrochemical industry, though he played his share of chess games with the Brujah on the board of Louisiana politics. For the most part, however, he left sect concerns and politics to his sire while he strove to excel on the economic front. The oil boom in the 70s would have been a period of great personal satisfaction for him and seen the fruitation of all his efforts were it not for the brutal destruction of his sire at the hands of the Brujah.
Thrust into a situation he had neither foreseen nor planned for, he struggled to retain control of his assets and saw that the only way he could do so was to take his sire's place. Rallying support from the other Sabbat, he made his case to Malena, who seemed cold to her grandchilde's proposal. It was only when Legba returned from Haiti and offered his support in exchange for an equal position that she yielded. All things considered, though he had been forced to concede his clan's singular rule over the city, it was much better a situation than it could have been. So Paul settled into his new role and began to try and acclimate himself to the new perspective.
For the last twenty or so years, he has done an admirable job. Although not a natural or experienced politician, he has proven to be a quick study and is applying his manipulative skills well to the task. He is also astute enough to note the odd agenda of his granddame and the threat that the other bishops present to his interests. To this end, he has been increasing his brood, choosing men whom he judges capable of filling in the weak points in his power structure. His decisions thus far have proven quite competant and he has impressed the more elder kindred of the city in how well he has managed.
Paul Delacroix was a decent man with a quick temper who has had the former aspect whittled away over the years while he learned to channel the latter into those things which now seem important to him. His work has always been his refuge and it is now the sole source of interest for him. Everything in his life has been reduced to its potential profit or gain and anything which doesn't measure up is discarded. In this respect, he is much more like an elder in his mindset than an ancilla, and this is probably the key to his survival.
In person, Paul is very businesslike and unerringly calm. His temper has long since been contained and now is expressed only in a viciously aggressive ambition which is evidenced in even the most cursory conversation with him. Such is the rage behind it that he takes an almost predatory glee in attacking obstacles, be they people or simply circumstances. Each victory for him is a validation of the path he has chosen for himself and justification for his shed humanity.
Paul had a very good relationship with his sire, up until his destruction. Now he tends to look to Legba for guidance and advice, though he is intelligent enough to always keep the Serpent's motives in mind when weighing it. The two have a very good working relationship, based on a similar approach to the world. He is less enamoured with the Serpent's childer, particularly those who have turned to the Path of Cathari, for much the same reason their elder despises them for it.
He shares the same opinion of the Krewe of Rex, though mixed with considerable disappointment. He has always been fond of Ange and had great expectations for her, as did his sire. Indeed, she seemed to be a match for even Marie Laveau when it came to blackmail and social influence. Her deterioration over the last few decades has been a source of considerable irritation for him.
He is wary of the third Bishop of the city, as are most of the other kindred of New Orleans. The Baron has a dangerously complete picture of the intrigues of the city due to his army of wraithly spies and informants, which makes moving against him difficult, if not impossible. Further, he is reticent to share any of this acquired intelligence, which doesn't endear him at all to his presumed allies. Instead, he keeps to himself and pursues his occult interests and consorts with strange alien kindred. Paul just cannot grasp at all where he and his childe are coming from.
Even after more than a century, nothing burns more brightly in Paul's heart than his hatred for his former 'brother' Lafitte. His most brutal aggression is saved for when he attacks Lafitte's shipping interests or spars with him on the field of gulf banking and industry. It was at his urging that his sire called upon the Tremere Antitribu to wipe Galveston from the face of the earth in 1900, as retribution against the wayward Lasombra, and the failure of that endeavor still burns in Paul's mind. His current ploy to destroy him involves a plot with the Castille revenants of Galveston and the corsair's new childe, Sandra Fuentes.
He is quite proud, however, of his own progeny and has been quite liberal in allowing them to act on their own judgement, a policy which will either give him considerable strength or destroy him, depending on their loyalty.
Paul has large interests in several of the biggest corporations operating the gulf, from shipping to oil to sugar. He also has a lot of weight in the banking community across the state and in several of the cities prominant in gulf trade. Through several proxies, he owns a fleet of ships, a local airline company, and massive amounts of choice property around the city. He employs an army of lawyers, accountants, and businessmen to take care of it all and a call to any one of them can bring instant pressure to bear. He has been consistant in making sure that the corrupt members of city, state, and federal government get their campaign contributions with the assurance that they know who their friends are.
Much of this was built up by his sire but since Paul had been running the financial end of his affairs since his Embrace, it didn't fall apart on his death and he wasn't forced to scramble to keep up the payments and the books. Thus, he is in much better shape than, say, Fiori, who had limited exposure to the full scope of his sire's affairs.
Paul maintains a rather impressive stable of ghouls, whom he keeps on a short leash, bloodwise, but whom he compensates richly in other areas to maintain their loyalty. The foremost is his personal bodyguard, Eric Keller, a former member of the FBI whose work in the city took him too close to kindred affairs. Almost killed by the Setites, Paul came to him in his hospital room and offered him an alternative to a lifetime as a cripple. After his miraculous recovery, he left the agency and came to work for Delacroix as his head of security.
Resat Madakbas is Paul's lawyer and accountant, a brilliant mathematical genius capable of keeping the vampires diverse holdings straight and make sure the money goes where it needs to and gets lost, when necessary, without a trace. As Paul's been forced to take over his sire's duties, he's been unable to see to his business interests personally and has come to rely on the Turk more than he'd prefer. He is aware that the man is skimming for himself and finds this satisfactory. He knows Resat is too intelligent to get greedy and believes the allowance will keep him happy and loyal.
Ken Ryan is the head of security at the New Orleans International Airport and oversees the modest smuggling operation required to allow kindred to take advantage of air travel into the city as well as being Delacroix's primary tool against the Setite and Brujah drug-smuggling operations. He's a stern, fiercly competant man who has a deep loyalty for his domitor from an incident when Paul saved his career after the Setites tried to frame him for sexual assault and attempted rape against a co-worker.
Oscar Bonneville is the chairman of the Vieux Carre Business Association which, despite its name, actually has members throughout New Orleans and its suburbs. With deep antebellum roots, it is one of the more powerful forces in local business and has a lot of sway with the local government (some claim it exists just to make bribery of public officials more efficient). While he has no direct power, he does have a hell of a lot of influence and his suggestions are taken very seriously.
Mark Vaughn is the Vice-President of Operations at Blondel Shipping, the family business. An underappreciated youngest son who takes care of most of the actual running of the business while his two older brothers attend board meetings and collect triple his salary, Mark was only too happy to accept Delacroix's massive bribes to make small changes to shipping schedules and allow a few uninspected pieces of cargo to slip through on occasion or lose a little paperwork now and then. He feels he is getting overpaid for what he does, actually. The favors his domitor asks of him are minor, almost eccentric, and their aim utterly incomprehensible to him.
Constance Kert is the head of the legal department at United Petrochemical, one of the larger oil interests in the state. Her advice is vital to the operation of the company and her bosses have long since stopped asking for justifications or explanations. As such, she has a lot of subtle influence over the company, which Delocroix takes full advantage of. As competitive as the industry is among the kindred, he's been careful to shroud his associations with her and her influence over her superiors. The lack of recognition hurts her pride somewhat, but his bonuses more than make up for it.