Background

Camellia was born to Polish immigrants in Norway in the early months of 1972. Her parents decided that they would not bring too much of their past life with them when they moved. Because of this Camellia was raised culturally Norwegian with Norwegian as her primary language. English would only be taught to her later in life as her second language. She was very attention-seeking as a child and enjoyed performing. Her mother caught on quickly and began entering her into child pageants and contests before sending her to auditions as she grew older. Small print advertisements and TV cameos soon turned into acting jobs. Camellia was comfortable around cameras, costumes and rehearsal spaces from a young age. If she was not acting, Camellia was usually dancing. She trained for several years to not only improve her technique but to feel comfortable while on stage. She also began learning how to play guitar at a young age, only because she wanted to and not because it was another skill she needed for her career. She took extra classes in school for English, to learn the language and have a bigger chance at an acting carreer. This wasn't easy for her and ended in sleepless nights and piles of homework.. but she got there. Her father taught her how to sew. What began as teaching her how to mend her clothes soon allowed her to alter them. And before she knew it, she was making her own clothing as well. As Camellia grew into herself and her sense of style, sewing was something she loved to do. During her teenage years in the mid to 1980s, Camellia began booking odd acting jobs. She was hired quite often for playing disturbed teens, outcasts, antagonists, and eventually even paranormal characters. Instead of complaining that she was being type cast, Camellia ran with it. Her style started changing as well. Alternative fashion, horror and darker forms of art became some of her interests. She altered her own clothing and developed a style that was all her own; allowing her to stand out from everyone else whether she was working or not. The vampire persona wasn't far behind. Camellia began joking that she was a vampire. But her jokes were so extreme and she delivered her lines so matter of factly that nobody could tell if she was serious or not. Staying away from sunlight became an activity and being hundreds of years old were all part of her quirky act. What started out as a joke became Camellia's persona. Now that she was 18, her childhood acting jobs turned into seeking acting jobs as a career. It was not easy by any means. Having to go to endless auditions was bad enough, not to mention getting rejected. Small roles in movies, tv shows and plays kept her occupied while trying to break into the industry but that didn't stop her. In fact, she became fluent in English because Camellia knew working internationally could allow her to work in countries other than her own. Camellia was about twenty years old when the world broke. She had been living in Norway at the time still working on an independent film project. Filming had been stressful, but that all went out the window when they had to try and survive with Rifts opening up around them. The survivors Camellia spent that first day with became some of her first bunk mates. She didn’t believe she would ever fit in with life as a survivor, but somehow she did. Dance had taught her quick reflexes and great hand-eye coordination. Knowledge of skills such as sewing came in handy now that she was making clothing rather than buying. Violence was something Camellia struggled with however. She had lied and shot hundreds of people on film but actually hurting people was far worse. Killing others didn’t come to her as second nature at first, but soon she grew used to it. Rifters seemed to not to bother her much after the first few. Humans however were far different creatures. Give Camellia enough reason or mind her moral code far enough and she was just as dangerous as the next person. Something about actually having to kill clicked in her head one day and Camellia was every bit as violent to people as she was to monsters. She continued living this life for almost two years, surviving Norway as best as she could. Life was flipped upside down yet again however only two months ago; Out of nowhere and without warning a Rift had opened up beneath her. One minute she was fine, next the ground was gone and she was in agonizing pain and falling. Her first memory was waking up in a random house. Hurt and some stranger was hovering over her. They didn’t speak Norwegian but Camellia quickly got the feeling that something felt...off. She was clearly not in Norway. The strange man told her she was in Knox County, Kentucky. The stranger insisted she stay with him for the next couple months as she recovered from her wounds. When Camellia was ready to leave and continue her journey she gathered up what supplies the benevolent man would allow her to take before departing.