50 Shades of Vampire: the Cult Leader

As I prepare for a vampire game, I find myself with cornucopia of character ideas. Here is one of the rejects. Hopefully you find it useful.

Since the game in question will be an Elders game using Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition and the Primacy rules from Damnation City, I'll be posting stats as a starting PC Agent, a 25 XP Rank Elder and a 75 XP Mover and Shaker.

This week I have a character based on an Vampire: the Masquerade character I briefly played. His plans to make peace with his Beast are a little less crazy in the new World of Darkness.

The Cult Leader

The screams started 2 hours after dusk. Though muffled by the insulation of the newly painted Landyacht Airfloat camper, the hoarse yelling drifted over the dusty field of campers and RVs of Empyrean Gardens until past midnight.

The inhabitants of what was once Kings Villages knew then it was safe to approach. Two, a thin plain woman and a tired eyed teen, entered bearing a bundle of clothes and a large pitcher.

At 12:20 AM, a handsome young man emerged from the trailer. His loose shirt billowed in the cool desert breeze. A device, like a cylinder suspended in a frame, hung upon a copper chain around his neck.

Stepping down from his camper, Sariel breathed in the night air. A loose crowd of his followers had gathered to greet his rising.

"Greetings my children," he said passing through them slowly. "I bring tidings from the farther shores."

He placed a hand on a woman's bare and sun savaged shoulder. "Nancy, Thomas continues to perform well in his duties. His dedication brings some redemption to his progenitors. See me soon."

Her nervous eyes flashed to the young man even now emerging from the camper. Sariel continued on, praising those who served him well and dispensing dark glances to those out of favor.

A tall awkward man came up beside him. The pair walked to the sole permanent structure in the compound. Sariel's companion's long and dark hair made him appear older, perhaps as old as he truly was. He leaned in and said, "There's been some 'citement in town, your eminence."

Sariel continued in his slow measured pace but a certain tension climbed up his body and through his back. "Gary, walk with me."

They passed through the crowd and into the old offices of King's Villages. Sand and grit had snuck under the door and decorated the floor of the musty office. Sariel settled into a rotten executive chair behind the desk, leaving Gary to choose between a cracked plastic chair or a piece of lawn furniture. He chose the lawn chair.

Sariel leaned back. "Now tell me the day's news and how you think it might affect the Lord's work."

History

Sariel (a.k.a. Suriel, Surial, and Jakob White) enjoys recounting his part in the American Spiritualism movement but that was already well over by the time he was born. A child of the Great Depression, he was not a British aristocrat, an East Coast Old Money, an heir to an ancient tradition, or any of the other nonsense he spouts. His origins began in dismal but mundane surroundings. His mother drank herself into an early grave after putting him up for adoption. His father remains a blank page. He spent his childhood in and out of foster homes, youth detention centers, and jail.

What truth lies in his stories is that during his stints in prison, he studied. Turning his mind to the darker and stranger parts of the world, he researched spiritualist movements, magical orders, Scientology, and more obscure groups. Somehow he found in his work some kernel of the truth, a truth that put him in the path of a vampire.

His sire hoped for a potential research assistant and a way into the criminal underworld. Jakob disappointed him. A mere petty criminal, he had no connections worth exploiting. Jakob's history with the occult put him at odds with his mentor's preconceptions. Jakob saw humanity as a weakness and bought into psychological quackery as a solution to the problems of the Damned.

He left his sire's company as soon as he could, travelling the backroads and highways of the West Coast throughout the 1960s. Along the way he built up a cult, recruiting from the weak and broken of the Hippie Movement. In addition to the usual conditioning tricks, he also flavored their drugs with his blood. Now decades later, he and his followers have settled down in a dusty town in the Southwest. They've occupied a trailer park, making all within part of the cult. Some, like his lieutenant Gary, have been with him since the beginning. Others are new "recruits", bound by blood and supernatural conditioning. And many are descendants of the original followers, having his tainted vitae in their systems for generations.

Description

Sariel pairs his boyish good looks with simple loose clothing, typically of a stark white or black to match his hair. His strong hands and firm handshake fit his easy smile and low gentle voice, a depiction marred only by a subtle uneasiness about him, a strange pallor and the unblinking gaze of his pale blue eyes. A copper chain hangs about his neck holding some pendant or locket hidden beneath his billowing shirt.

Stats: Agent

As an agent for a more powerful elder, he's a loose cannon, more focused on his own work than serving others. He's also prone to frenzy as he tries to approach his "inner Beast".

Concept: Psychonaut Cult Leader
Birth: 1931             Embrace: 1956
Clan: Ventrue         Covenant: Ordo Dracul
Mask: Cult Leader  Dirge: Visionary

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 2, Resolve 2
Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2
Social Attributes: Presence 4, Manipulation 3, Composure 2

Mental Skills: Academics 3, Investigation 2, Occult (cults) 4, Politics 1, Science (psychology) 1
Physical Skills: Brawl 2, Drive 1, Survival 1
Social Skills: Empathy 1, Expression 1, Intimidation 2, Persuasion (charming) 2, Subterfuge 1

Merits: Herd 2, Retainer (Gary) 2, Resources 1

Blood Potency: 2
Disciplines: Dominate 2, Mystery of the Wyrm (Coil 1)
Touchstone: Gary (Retainer)

Stats: Rank Elder

As a power in his own right, he's a bit more interesting. Perhaps he could be a very distracted mentor or source for unusual lore.

Concept: Psychonaut Cult Leader
Birth: 1931             Embrace: 1956
Clan: Ventrue         Covenant: Ordo Dracul
Mask: Cult Leader  Dirge: Visionary

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 2, Resolve 3
Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2
Social Attributes: Presence 4, Manipulation 3, Composure 2

Mental Skills: Academics 3, Investigation 2, Occult (cults) 4, Politics 1, Science (psychology) 1
Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 3, Drive 1, Survival 1
Social Skills: Empathy (hypnosis) 2, Expression 1, Intimidation 2, Persuasion (charming) 2, Subterfuge 1

Merits: Allies (cult) 3, Herd 3, Retainer (Gary) 3, Resources 2

Blood Potency: 2
Disciplines: Dominate 3, Mystery of the Wyrm (Coil 2)
Touchstone: Gary (Retainer)

Spent XP: 25

Stats: Mover and Shaker

Here we have someone dangerous and powerful, someone who is also on the path to self-destruction. He will destroy what he has built up. It's only a question of when.

Concept: Psychonaut Cult Leader
Birth: 1931              Embrace: 1956
Clan: Ventrue          Covenant: Ordo Dracul
Mask: Cult Leader   Dirge: Visionary

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 2, Resolve 3
Physical Attributes: Strength 3[4], Dexterity 3, Stamina 2[3]
Social Attributes: Presence 4, Manipulation 3, Composure 3

Mental Skills: Academics 3, Investigation 2, Occult (cults) 4, Politics 1, Science (psychology) 1
Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 3, Drive 1, Survival 2
Social Skills: Empathy (hypnosis) 3, Expression 1, Intimidation 3, Persuasion (charming) 3, Subterfuge (seeming normal) 2

Merits: Herd 5 (free via Secret Society Junkie), Status (cult) 5, Retainer (Gary) 3, Resources 2, Riding the Wave 4, Secret Society Junkie 1

Blood Potency: 4
Disciplines: Dominate 3, Mystery of the Wyrm (Coil 4), Resilience 1, Vigor 1
Touchstone: Gary (Retainer)

Spent XP: 75