| Back Burner |
[Jun. 8th, 2008|09:14 pm] |
I'm putting Francis Hudson (Changeling) and Searchlight (Mage) on the back burner for a while. I realized that I only have time to devote to a few characters, and I'm really grooving on Mage right now (but I needed to go with a different character concept to make things work for me). |
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| Background - Schmiede Vorfahr (Mage) |
[Jun. 8th, 2008|09:06 pm] |
I have recently made a new mage character, Schmiede Vorfahr (a Moros of the Silver Ladder). I am looking for Moros and Silver Ladder ties for my background. I have a preliminary wiki here:
http://silverladder.cam-wiki.org/index.php?title=Schmiede_Vorfahr
The short concept is an engineer who creates custom personal electronics for rich folks (like those made by Vertu who used to be a political advisor and
Atlantean lore expert for many Silver Ladder mages through the 80s and 90s, before retreating from society to shape his soul (I'm also looking for contacts with the Forge Masters). He's come back because some folks in the Ladder asked him to provide his services to the Vox Draconis "one last time."
Just about all the dates on my background are flexible.
* 1946: Born in East Berlin.
* 1961: Escaped East Berlin right before the Berlin Wall was put up and fled to England.
* 1964: Fatally injured when a car chassis fell on him while he was working in a car factory. He died for a few minutes in a hospital, which caused his Awakening.
* 1965: Started using his knowledge of Matter to rise in the factor to the rank of engineer. Came to the attention of his mentor, who started to teach him the ways of the Supernal and the Silver Ladder.
* 1967: Released by his mentor, he moved to the United States and went to MIT to earn an engineering degree.
* 1975: Started his own engineering firm, Hammer Ltd.
* 1980: Began to travel around, under the guise of expanding his company, to educate various mages and Consilii on politics and tradition, as well as to help the Ladder keep a technological edge against the rapidly growing Free Council.
* 1999: Mentored a newly Awakened Hollywood in Los Angeles.
* 2001: Released Hollywood. Mentored a newly Awakend Saffron in Washington, DC.
* 2002: Released Saffron.
* 2003: Withdrew from Awakened society to focus on his studies and shaping his soul.
* June 8, 2008: Returned to Awakened society in Atlanta, GA, to help the Vox Draconis "one more time." |
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| [Background] Vitya |
[Apr. 10th, 2008|07:24 pm] |
This is a background for my secondary character, Vitya. He's a Russian Carthian I'm playing in the Requiem Casablanca VSS. If you want to make character ties, please let me know (leaving a comment is fine), but I have very specific needs for my character ties for Vitya.
Viktor Petrovich Alexandrov was born to Piotr Ivanovich Alexandrov and Lyudmila Boryavich Alexandrova in 1965, during the Cold War. At an early age, Vitya was fascinated with Western culture and the accumulation of wealth, and soon became a "thief in law" (vor v zakone).
In 1990, a Russian Invictus named Elizaveta promised Vitya power and wealth for all eternity. He quickly agreed, and he was embraced into the Daeva clan and started his training as a young Master of the Invictus. However, the breakup of the Soviet Union followed soon after in 1991. Vitya's sire tried to escape the coup against Gorbachev, but Vitya sold his sire out. He thought that his sire would only get put into torpor while Vitya could steal her assets, but the assassins he hired did their job too well and killed her. Vitya fled with his ill-gotten gains to South America, and from there joined the Carthian Movement.
For a decade Vitya moved all over the world, quietly meeting with various Kindred and influential people all over the world to get allies and resources (and protect himself from his sire's allies and vassals). Around 2002, he decided that he had gotten away with his crime, and moved to Casablanca, Morocco to build a powerbase for himself. When suicide bombs rocked the city in 2003, Vitya distanced himself from Kindred society and focused on trying to insinuate himself in the crumbling underworld of Morocco.
Now, after five years, he's ready to start building his network in the Kindred world again. |
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| [Jack Spade] The Deed Is Done |
[Nov. 24th, 2007|10:51 am] |
Part 1: I once was blind
Part 2: ... but now I see
Part 3: The Woman in Red
Part 4: The Devil You Know
Part 5: The Beast In Me
Jack finished buttoning up his shirt and leaned back, looking over the interior of his small RV. He had just cleaned it up after a long night with...
Donna? Tina? Something with a -na.
Jack had led her into his haven after their initial exchange. He had told her stories of his own Embrace in the heat of a gunfight, dying of consumption and bullet wounds. He had carefully stroked her hair as he purred his French-slurred words into her ear. She had closed her eyes, and begged to become Damned.
And then the Beast had roared up in his mind, and he tore her throat out. Anna. Her name was Anna.
He drank long from her sweet, rich blood. For a while she tried to lay still, lost in the haze of the Kiss and hoping that this was part of the Embrace. As she began to feel her body die, she struggled. His inhuman strength held her close to him as he drank, like the caress of a lover. She grew weaker and weaker, until she was no more.
* * *
After he finished changing into a new set of clothes, Jack stepped out of the RV and walked to a freshly-turned mound of dirt next to it. "I said I would help you, cher," he murmured to the grave. "I've saved you from a lifetime of frailty and disease. I've saved you from a dangerous quest of seeking out Damnation. And I've saved you from being painfully destroyed for being a breach of the Masquerade at the hands of some zealot with more duty than brains."
He knelt down next to the dirt and kissed the tips of his fingers before putting them on the recently overturned earth. "Someone will miss you, or someone will find you. They will realize that monsters lurk in the night, willing to do terrible things to sick women. Perhaps one of them will turn to Him in comfort during such dark times. And in so doing, my place in His plan is assured. For that, I thank you, cher. I hope you find peace in His arms."
He recited a short prayer, thanking God for His wisdom and grace, and drove to find his sire.
Amen.
Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.
- Isaiah 57:2
Note: This was an experiment in free writing -- sitting down to write a story without knowing where it was going. It started when X, Jack's sire, was struck blind while looking for her sire, and I thought "man, wouldn't it be cool if someone drew a 1 during blood sympathy, and Jack was struck blind as well?" I decided to jot it down and see what happened, and a few people wanted to read more. So I kept tossing pieces up, just trying to write to an interesting cliffhanger each time. As it came together, I realized that I had had a story in the back of my head that I wanted to tell with Jack for almost a year, showing the darker side of this so-called "nice guy." Vampires aren't nice guys, and the Lancea Sanctum aren't harmless religious folk. Due to the nature of LARP, you don't often get to see how vampires deal with humanity, but nomads have a lot of unique story opportunities dealing with humans and the world outside of Kindred functions, and I wanted to explore that space a bit. I may do more in the future, as the mood strikes me, because I personally like this style of much shorter pieces in LJ stretched out over time instead of a dense block of text that may be harder to read.
As a side note, this scene actually did happen in Jack's continuity. As a result of his actions, I've voluntarily lowered Jack's Humanity from 7 to 6 -- he feels no remorse for his murder, even though he feels he's done the right thing. Plus, it's bugged me that he's been such a high Humanity since I started playing him almost 18 months ago, so this is an entertaining way to validate a mechanic change I personally thought was overdue. |
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| [Jack Spade] The Beast In Me |
[Nov. 23rd, 2007|09:38 am] |
Part 1: I once was blind
Part 2: ... but now I see
Part 3: The Woman in Red
Part 4: The Devil You Know
"Everyone dies, cher," Jack said quietly. He unconsciously licked his lips -- he hadn't fed in almost a week, and his Beast was slamming against the walls of his mind, wanting him to tear open her throat and cover the red leather in warm, dark crimson.
"Not like this," she said. "I have Huntington's disease. It'll chew up my brain until there's nothing left. Unless, of course, I die first."
"How do you know that it won't just affect you after you turn, cher? You studied a lot of vampire pathology?"
For the first time, she looked uncertain. Jack unconsciously took a step toward her. Why does her heart have to beat so loudly?
"I... don't know. I mean, I've read all the books. I figured that once you become a vampire, that's just how you are. Forever. If you don't grow old, why would you still have the disease?"
Jack took another step closer to her. "But you don't know. Anything could happen."
She looked away for a moment, showing Jack the side of her pale neck, the blood beating just under the surface. "I don't care," she said quietly as she looked back at him. "I want to become one of you. I'm going to die either way, so I'd rather die in a manner of my own choosing. With dignity."
Jack shook his head. "Ain't no such thing as dying with dignity. You can live with dignity, but you can't die with it. It's always messy, painful, embarrassing, and you always die alone."
She started to put her helmet back on. "Listen, I don't need a fucking lecture from a cripple. If you're not going to help me, I'll just find someone who will."
Jack smirked. "I didn't say I wasn't going to help you." |
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| [Jack Spade] The Devil You Know |
[Nov. 21st, 2007|08:22 am] |
Part 1: I once was blind
Part 2: ... but now I see
Part 3: The Woman in Red
"Excusez-moi?" Jack said. "What do you mean?" He kept his voice slow and pondering, while his mind raced. How in the hell could she know? Had I done something? Said something?
The woman shook her head. "Listen, 'Jack,' assuming that's your real name...."
"It is."
"Stupid to use your real name, then."
"Tell me yours, and we can be stupid together, cher."
She ignored the request. "The point is, I've been following your kind for years. Colorado Springs, Kansas City, Boston, Phoenix. There's always some strange reports of people with blood missing or gaps in their memory afterward."
"I ain't a doctor. I can't rightly say. But I suspect you won't find 'vampire' in Grey's Anatomy, n'est-ce pas?"
"There are also rumors that vampires can sleep in the earth and then leave it without disturbing it at all." She looked at the ground where Jack woke up, and then back at him.
"Ah." Bitch has me there.
"So you must be a vampire, and I want to be one."
"Let's just suppose for a moment, cher, that you're right and I am one of these mythical blood-sucking creatures of the night bent on spreading evil throughout humanity. Which I ain't. But iffn' I was, why would I have any reason to make you one of my 'undead minions'?" He curled his fingers in the air with air quotes as he said the last two words.
For the first time, her face softened. "Because I'm dying anyway. And I don't want to die." |
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| [Jack Spade] The Woman in Red |
[Nov. 20th, 2007|03:53 pm] |
Note: Because I love y'all so much, I'm posting another part today. Don't expect it to be a habit, though. Also, since this is ended up being more parts than I anticipated, I'm going to drop bible quotes until the last part. Whenever that is. Here are the first two parts for reference:
Part 1: I once was blind
Part 2: ... but now I see
Who in the hell are you?
Jack rolled the question around in his head for a while as he stared at the woman. She was wearing a red leather jacket with black trim, and holding a red helmet under her arm. Her blond hair was pulled back into a small pony tail, but her bangs were too short and hung in front of her eyes. She pushed the hair back and looked at him. "You Jack?" she asked, her voice reminding him of New York concrete shining with oil and smelling of broken dreams.
"Who in the hell are you?" he asked.
She pulled out a piece of paper -- his forged vehicle permit. "Saw you wandering around your RV last night. Thought it was interesting that a blind man is the owner of an RV, especially when he didn't have anyone else with him to drive it. Even more interesting that he's suddenly not blind anymore."
Jack left the scowl on his face, but inside he laughed. A human trying to shake a loner down for his money, non? All right, cher, I'll dance with you for a spell. He shoved his hands in his pockets and dipped his head, the brim of his hat shading his eyes. "So what do you want?" he asked.
She carefully folded the paper up and shoved it in her pocket. "It's pretty simple. I want to be a vampire." |
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| [Jack Spade] ... but now I see |
[Nov. 20th, 2007|09:42 am] |
Now I really am a fucking cripple.
For days, he sat near his RV, listening to the slow trickle of humanity that flowed through the gas station. After he growled at the night manager and told him that he was waiting for his wife to come out there and help tow his RV, he stayed away. At first, he could only hear the sounds of cars and the dull, inane conversation of people who have just met and will never meet again. But as the nights stretched out like a roll of barbed wire, he could hear their hearts beat, the sound of warm, delicious blood pumping through their veins. He couldn't heal his leg because he wasn't sure when he would be able to feed again, and there's no way he was going to be able to hunt while blind and lame.
The first night was easy. Everything was focused on protecting himself and his property. He briefly experimented with leaving the RV behind, but after stumbling and falling a dozen times, he spent the rest of the night working his way back.
Later nights proved more difficult. He listened to his iPod until the battery died. He tried to fumble with the radio, but found only static. He looked for anything that would drown out his own thoughts. But his thoughts had the tenacity of the Beast, and eventually they overcame him.
On the sixth night, he could see again, and a woman was waiting for him.
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt—darkness that can be felt."
Exodus 10:21 |
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| [Jack Spade] I once was blind |
[Nov. 18th, 2007|11:20 pm] |
Sometime in late October
Jack drove away from the woman that had confused him so, after a night he felt he should regret but couldn't bring himself to. He drove and drove until he felt his body sag from the weight of dawn. He pulled into an old gas station and sank into the earth.
The next evening he awoke, but could not see.
I will bring distress on the people and they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their entrails like filth.
Zephaniah 1:16-18 |
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| One lost, one gained |
[Aug. 31st, 2007|11:01 am] |
I've removed Alex Lopez from my list of characters. If I do play Forsaken again, I'll probably make up a new character -- he just never panned out the way I hoped he would. (Interestingly, I still have Nick on the list, even if he is dead -- people still reference him and want to do the occasional back-dated scene with him, so as long as he's a factor in the chronicle, I'll keep his records around.)
However, I have added the wiki writeup for my Changeling PC, Mr. Francis Hudson. I don't have a background or a character sheet sorted out yet, and I'm keeping it a lot vague until I reread Changeling and see how the Addendum pans out, but it's there to start giving people ideas. |
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| A change in policy |
[Aug. 3rd, 2007|10:14 am] |
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Since I don't post here very often, I went back and skimmed most of my entries. There's very little that's really a secret, or at least, secret enough to warrant a friends-only posting -- it's all still OOC information, so don't bring it into game, please. There's a couple of entries that I'd rather keep to a few people just because of their content, but otherwise most of my entries are now public. As a caveat, most of my posts are either first drafts or quick edits of collaborative scenes, so don't expect my most polished writing here. :) |
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| [Jack Spade] Finding Jack |
[Aug. 1st, 2007|04:16 pm] |
Note: Yes, it's been a while. I was able to carve out some time to cobble together a lengthy email scene into a vaguely-readable LJ scene. It's not been proofread, so I apologize in advance for any errors. But hey, it's more Jack stuff!
June, 2007. A rest stop near Fayetteville, Tennessee.
( Charlotte appears... ) |
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| Song Meme |
[Dec. 28th, 2006|10:26 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | meme | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  curious | ] |
I was getting ready to go into surgery when this came out. My time is kind of weird right now, but I wanted to give this a try.
Each person who participates chooses one of my characters. Give me a song (and, if possible, a link or MP3 so I can hear it), and I will try to write an LJ entry around it.
Characters available for this are:
Cpt. Jack Spade (Gangrel/Lancea Sanctum)
Nicholas D.C. Ebon III (Mekhet/Invictus) Note: He's dead, so it'll likely be a historical scene.
Chance (Acanthus/Adamantine Arrow)
I have a Forsaken character, but it's been so long since I've played him that I would have trouble writing something for him that wasn't similar to Chance. |
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| [Jack Spade] Cursed be their anger |
[Dec. 12th, 2006|10:57 am] |
1890, just outside of Texas
The hotel room closed in on the three Gangrel. They wait for the sun to rise because the boredom and tension choked off all other forms of recreation. Their other contact isn't supposed to be here for three more days and no one but Ihsan, Jack's grandsire, wants to go wander around aimlessly in the desert. Ihsan hasn't stopped staring at Jack in two days. ( Read more... ) |
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| [Jack Spade] If He Comes Alone |
[Dec. 12th, 2006|10:32 am] |
November 30, 2006. St. Louis, MO
Jack sits in the driver’s seat of the Winnebago, holding the brake down as he gently pressed on the gas peddle a few times, making sure that the lines were clear now. He’s satisfied with the results when he hears the door to the RV open and the voice of his sire, Xeneia, rises over the noise of the engine. "Jack, we've got a visitor! Kill the engines and come say hi."( Read more... ) |
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| [Jack Spade] The Blood of Brothers |
[Nov. 9th, 2006|11:09 am] |
November 9th, 2006
"I think I've been here before." Lawson frowns and looks at Jack. "This looks familiar as hell. How long has it been here?"
"Somet'ing like 80 years, I think. I don't rightly know," Jack responds. Lawson glances up at the gray, aging barn and looks thoughtful.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I might've slept here once. Long ago. Ah well," he says with a shrug as he opens the barn door, the ancient hinges creaking as it swings open. Jack enters first, the lantern held up in front of him. He steps over a fallen support beam and sets the lantern on a hook jutting out from the barn wall.
Lawson enters, pulling his duster off and setting it aside neatly. He removes his battered cowboy hat and sets it on the duster. He begins rolling up his sleeves as if preparing for work. "He say when he'd be here?"
Jack shrugs. "Any time now, mon ami. Are you so eager?"
Lawson chuckles. "To get this over with? Yeah, I am. One way or another, we end this here. All the fightin', the arguin', the insults. Ain't a man on this planet that pisses me off more'n Exodus." He frowns. "Sometimes brothers have the worst fallin' outs, y'know?"
"Wait... you ain't one of Hers, are you?"
Lawson looks startled at the question. "Hers? No. But we're still brothers in our own way, I guess."
The barn door creaks and both men look up as Exodus steps into the warm light of the lantern. Lawson grimaces, holding back his beast at the powerful Kindred's appearance. He nods slowly as Exodus makes his way in, his gaze taking in the dusty innards of the old barn.
"My, Jack, you sure know how to pick 'em." Exodus grins.
"I do my best, mon ami." Jack looks over at Lawson. "You two discuss the rules?"
Exodus nods. "We did. Three passes, whoever walks away hurtin' the worst apologizes, publicly." Lawson nods in agreement as Exodus sets his jacket aside.
Without another word the two circle slowly, a soft grunt coming first from Lawson as the claws spring forth from his hands, then from Exodus. Jack watches as the two call on their blood to power their disciplines in the battle. Lawson, a large man, looks imposing enough with his shaved head and full red beard. It's the claws that spring forth that draw attention, though: large talons, like those of a hawk or falcon. As he watches, Lawson's skin takes on the appearance of granite, growing rocky and hard.
Exodus does the same, his features darkening as his fortifies himself against attack. His skin, like blackened steel, glints briefly in the lamplight. They crouch almost as one and, with a flash, the two move at each other silently, the only sound their footsteps as they pound toward each other. A kind of clacking noise as claws hit home, slicing into one another and both men grunt in pain. Blood splatters, and the two pass, seperating. They turn to one another again, the wounds closing slowly.
They charge again, Lawson moving slightly faster, and as he brings his claws down to strike Exodus feints and steps in, bringing his hand up in an arcing motion. Lawson's head snaps back as claws slam into the bottom of his face, dragging up and through an eye, nearly taking his entire nose from his face. He staggers forward and past Exodus, turning and glaring through his uninjured eye. He wipes the blood from his face with the back of his hand as Exodus glances down to the shallow wound inflicted on his shoulder. After a moment, it closes, and the two begin to circle again.
They pace slowly, circling, each seeking the opportunity. The weakness. Three times they each pass Jack in their circling, until finally they charge one another with a gutteral growl, the ferocity of their blood taking over, the strength of their vitae fueling their attacks as they charge. Claws slam home, burying into both men's chests as their foreheads come together with a loud crack. Each pushes, looking for some advantage, digging deeper, and the blood flows down their torsos and drips to the dirt floor of the barn. Finally, with something akin to a sigh, they pull away, almost staggering a step back.
Both men are wounded, massively so. The blood begins to congeal, and Lawson crouches, his head hanging. "I know," he manages to mutter through shredded lungs and clotted blood. "I know."
Exodus looks down at his own wounds, nodding. "Yeah."
Jack sits in stunned silence, the usually loquacious man looking at the two warriors in something akin to awe. He clears his throat, almost startled at the sound of it breaking the silence. "Who won?"
Lawson stands, stepping forward to take Exodus' hand. "He did." They two shake, unspoken words passing between them, and Lawson turns away to find a seat. Exodus pulls another near, and the two begin to talk, like brothers, for the first time in a long time.
But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.
- Psalm 130:4 (New International Version)
Note: This was actually written by ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) thekithless. It was a mediated combat between the two PCs. All I did was format it for LJ and put the bible quote at the end. |
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| Updates |
[Nov. 2nd, 2006|09:32 am] |
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I've added quite a few new readers. I took a stab at guessing which filters you wanted to be on, but skim through my journal -- there should be entries for every PC (except my Forsaken, Alex). If you're not seeing entries for Jack Spade, Nick Ebon or Chance, and want to be on those filters, leave me a comment. |
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