Poppy is persistently happy, tending towards optimism and making the best out of any given situation. She wants to live life to the fullest and thinks every day should be cherished — largely because she's come from such a dismal and shitty home life. She was born into a cult that largely stripped freedoms (and schooling) from her and her mother, and only managed to escape with her when she was 13. Poppy grew up without any technology, with only bare necessities. Despite her mother settling into poverty/a minimum wage job, she finds something new to be excited about every day online, through the people she meets, or out exploring the world.

• Líadan Byrne - a fellow cultist that Poppy dated for a few years when she was a teenager. They got along well, and were sweethearts up until Poppy was sent out into the world to bring back converts. Despite Líadan being assigned as her future bride, nothing ultimately came of it.
• Caitria Dwyer - a human woman that was brutally murdered by her sire, Angelo, after Poppy took an obsessive interest in her. Poppy first met Caitria coincidentally when she was twenty, and kept making inadvertent appearances in her life until she was a staple in hers. Poppy eventually jumped ship and began discreetly dating her in her 40s. Angelo found out a few scant years later and, in his fury (humans are cattle, they are not meant to be “loved”), he brutally tortured her to death to make a statement. Angelo made a mockery of Caitria, displaying her broken, battered body in their bedroom with a trail of flower petals. Poppy never dated another human again.
• Alessio Ricci - a “young” vampire that Poppy fooled around with long-term after the death of her sire, Angelo. Their relationship lasted almost 250 years before Alessio went missing. Poppy never found out what became of him, and she finally gave up looking a hundred years after the fact. Poppy purchased a tombstone for both Alessio and Caitria, and she visits the plots occasionally to update them on what's happening in her life.

Poppy was born and raised in an isolationist cult that worshiped the concept of the “upcoming” apocalypse, which they welcomed and aimed to bring about. They’d collected enough “evidence” of its impending nature over the years that, with their charismatic leader, Tallulah, they were able to amass a group of about fifty people. They lived deep in the countryside, away from normal civilization, and only a select few were sent out into the world. Their members emptied their bank accounts and gave away every last penny they owned to Tallulah, and she used their money to pad her pockets and give them a “paradise” to reside in until their time came.

After a lifetime of brainwashing, Poppy was sent out into society with the goal of converting more people to their cult. She was twenty-one and eager to please, and her inability to take no for an answer ultimately led to her untimely demise. Having made a nuisance of herself for a week, most of the folks in town were aware of her. Angelo, a visiting vampire elder, sent one of his vampire spawn to keep an eye on Poppy, and it was no surprise when he was informed of her approaching, imminent death. As Poppy lay battered, dying, and in pain, a shadow fell over her. Angelo offered her life, and Poppy took it, unwilling to let it end at the beginning.

The bite was heady and hypnotic, but the transformation into a vampire was excruciating, a new trauma by its own right. By the end of it, Poppy wasn’t sure she’d survive it — or even that she wanted to. She was still groggy and disoriented when she next became aware, but she helpfully told Angelo about her life, the cult, and her duty to them. Poppy was forced to watch every subsequent death from every person who refused to bow down before Angelo and accept him as their new leader. One or two were turned, but the vast majority were terrorized into obedience. Angelo took his place as the ruler, easily fitting into the groove left behind as he barked orders. Poppy’s parents were left alive, but threatened every time she went head-to-head with Angelo.

Two hundred years passed before Poppy rebelled against Angelo and killed him. The cult began to fall apart at its seams without a leader, people falling into despair while others took advantage of the chaos to escape or commit acts of brutality. Both of her parents died in the mess, along with most of the people she loved and cared for. In the end, Poppy was forced to pick up the reins of the cult and wrest control away from its masses. He corralled them back into routine, where they fell into line and began to act with some semblance of humanity. Poppy lives in horror of the atrocities committed in her name, which worsened as she did, falling into the same cycle of abuse as Angelo had.

As the years waned, Poppy found herself neglecting the cult and her status in it. The cult grew more obsessive at the idea of death, and Poppy was forced to disperse it to break the cycle. The ensuing chaos was worse than it’d been after the first power vacuum, and the few who survived the initial break eventually ended up committing mass murder-suicides after poisoning the alcohol they’d produced and sold to a bar in a city a few hours from there. Poppy's sick with guilt in the aftermath, but concedes that it likely wouldn’t have ended any other way. How is she meant to deprogram people with knowledge she didn’t have?

To this day, Poppy wanders from city to city, lost and purposeless, but attempting to make a home to settle down in. She tightly controls every aspect of her life in order to achieve the peace she deserves, but struggles with cynicism. At her core, Poppy believes that the world is cruel and cares for no one. If she wants peace, she’ll have to pursue it doggedly herself. She is greedy for what should have been, and is of the mind that she’s entitled to whatever makes her happy to make up for her loss and suffering.