Villain Templates
Mobea, Gangrel Elder
by: Bathsheba |
Summary
Powerful but territorial warrior who is uncomfortably close to falling to the Beast.
History
You were born the child of a peasant couple in a small village in Latvia. Life was very hard. Starting at age six, you farmed the land alongside your parents and older siblings. The only breaks to the routine were the festival days of the village. Life was calm and routine, even if it was not always pleasant. True, the oldest men of the village could remember the days when the great Crusade against "Pagan Livonia", as the Westerners called your land, had ravaged the countryside. You loved their tales of knights in shining armor being defeated by the people of the land -- a few of the men in the village had even fought in the battle of Tannenberg, where the Teutonic Knights were finally turned back from their pillaging through Latvia, Estonia and Hungary.
In 1465, you were thirteen: old enough to get married. Your parents picked out a local boy, Witold, for your husband. You didn't feel particularly strongly about him, but you figured that you would get married, have babies, and start a farm of your own. It sounded like a pretty good idea, but three days before you and Witold were to be married, refugees from nearby villages began filtering into your small hamlet, bringing news of armored men pillaging the countryside. The festivities were postponed and your family hurriedly began to pack, hoping to find a place to hide from what could only be the Teutonic Knights returned to slaughter the pagan infidels.
Unfortunately, your preparations had begun too late. Before the village could scatter, forty armored knights rode into town, laying about them with their great swords. You saw your mother decapitated in front of you just before a sword bit into your own side, dropping you to the ground in agony. Only a great effort of will allowed you to hold your body still, feigning death, as the knights laughed and joked about slaughtering your friends and family. Long hours after they rode off, you dragged yourself inch by bloody inch to the edge of the forest, where you waited for scavengers to investigate your broken body. As each animal came close enough, you ripped its throat out with your teeth, drinking the hot blood and eating the flesh raw. The rough meal gave you enough strength to crawl into a hollow and pull the leaves over yourself.
You spent the next few months recuperating from your wound and learning how to survive in the woods. You were afraid to go back to any gathering of humans, since there was no telling where the Knights would arrive next. This same paranoia made you notice when, two years later, tracks that weren't yours started appearing in your area of the woods. You lay in ambush for two days and leaped on the lone figure that dared trespass on your refuge. Unfortunately, he was far stronger, faster and tougher than you. Fortunately, he was impressed enough by your efforts that he decided to embrace rather than kill you.
After training you in the ways of the vampires for six months, Leander approached you one night, explaining that it was now time to see whether you truly deserved the gift you had been given. He would give you a week's head start; if he caught you, you would die. The next hundred years were a time of silence and isolation, punctuated by nightmares of tracking and hunting, narrow escapes and fierce combats. Because of the long hunt, you interacted with mortals very little except to feed from isolated houses since you ran from your village, and you nearly forgot what humans were like. By the end of that time, you had become vicious and feral - very nearly a beast yourself. The game had become more of a challenge: you began to suspect that your sire allowed you to escape many times near the beginning, but that he might have begun showing his true strength.
Eventually your sire acknowledged that you were worthy of his blood, or perhaps his little game ceased to amuse him, and he decided that he would let you live - though at the price of service. You were sent all over Europe to do his dirty work, mostly hunting down and destroying his enemies. When the Sabbat found you, you were more than pleased to engage in any rites they asked in return for their aid against your sire. Together with your newfound friends, your sire was the hunted and you, finally, the hunter - and after many years of the chase, you and your pack faced your sire. Though many of them gave their lives in the battle, however, you were unable to defeat him at the last. You knew your sire would never forgive this offense, and so you ran - leaving your pack behind - to a place where you thought he would never follow: the New World.
Your ship docked in America in 1781, and you quickly found the bustle of the cities far too overwhelming for you. You ranged far through the land, and as the pull of the viniculum faded, you realized that the Sabbat had held you in bondage just as much as your sire ever had - but they had lied to you about your enslavement, and so you grew to hate them with a fierce and passionate flame.
Now that you had escaped their clutches, you were determined to be free, no matter what the cost, to carve out something that would be yours and yours alone. You honed your warrior's skills against any foe who opposed the spread of your territory, and you spread the influence of your ghouls through the countryside. A large area of wilderness was widely known to be your hunting range, and only those of Gangrel blood were welcome there. You fought most fiercely, though, against those who had once been your boon companions and allies, the Sabbat. During those years, your life was one long dream of blood and hate.
And then one day in the middle of the nineteenth century, you were changed forever when you heard a girl's sobbing as you loped through the woods in the form of a great wolf. At first you thought only that here was an easy meal - but even as your teeth closed in her throat, the first pangs of human feeling in hundreds of years pierced your heart. She was young, alone, dying, frightened - just as you had been immeasurable years before. She might have survived - she might have made it - but you had just killed her. And so you chose to give her life, and on the night you made Xu Chen your childe, you gave yourself a new lease on your own life.
Xu was gentle, compassionate, humane - everything that you were not. You never asked about her mortal life, and she never told you, but you made a life together, and you made it your mission to protect her from harm. She was the only thing that could leash your bestial instincts. You even agreed to move nearer to the city with her when she became lonely for humans, though you quickly staked out your own territory on the outskirts and held it against all comers with tooth and claw - even as the city grew up around it. You would do anything rather than be forced to submit to another's authority or give up the two things you value: Xu and your land. You choose to appear a monster because you want nothing more than you want to have your own way.
Personality
Mobea's demeanor is monstrous, cold, and callous - deliberately frightening and intimidating. She very simply wants to always have her own way, and is very blunt and forceful about it. She expects submission from all who cannot physically overpower her and she hates being treated with any disrespect - though she has little tolerance for the usual social graces, finding them a mockery of true respect. She would never accept a job such as Sheriff or even Prince that would ever require her to do what others want. She very simply wants to be left alone with her turf and her childe/lover, Xu. Mobea has little need for anyone other than Xu. She prefers to remain outside the Kindred power structure of the city, operating as "muscle" for anyone who can aid her single goal. She does extend some amount of protection over the younger Gangrel around her, though she often expects their immediate submission and complete obedience in return - unless they find a way to earn her respect, a rather difficult task.
Influence/Activities
Mobea's main influence is, well, herself: she is a powerful warrior. She has accumulated some debt among the other elders, as they have called upon her to fight for them more than once. She also controls her territory with an iron fist. She has a sense for the normal rhythms of the community, and even if she didn't have human informants who she intimidates and forces to obey her, she would pick up very quickly on any outside interference. She focuses especially on street-level influence, and her greatest weak area is in the halls of government, as she refuses to leave her territory to garner power there.
Powers/Abilities:
Nature: |
Survivor |
Demeanor: |
Monster |
Attributes: |
Mobea has physical primary, mental secondary, and social a very, very distant tertiary. She likely has almost no dots left in any of her social stats - not more than two at the max. |
Abilities: |
Mobea has Talents primary, with Skills secondary and Knowledge tertiary. Foci: Brawl, Dodge, Survival. |
Disciplines: |
Mobea has very high levels of Protean and Fortitude, while she has much less Animalism - while she finds animals useful, she prefers not to rely on anyone but herself when it comes to the crunch. Her beast forms are of a wolf and a hawk. |
Merit: |
Acute Sight (all of Mobea's bloodline possess this merit) |
Flaw: |
Territorial |
Quotes (Attitudes)
General attitude toward mortals: They are irrelevant.
General attitude toward ghouls: At least they are properly obedient.
General attitude toward Sabbat Kindred: No quarter is asked and none is given. The war is not over. It will only end with my death or the destruction of the last Sabbat in existence. Only I know their true threat.
General attitude toward Camarilla Kindred: Fools. They are too cowardly to fight for what they claim to believe.
Relationships
Mobea has one very important relationship: her childe and lover, Xu Chen. Xu is gentle, compassionate and humane, all the things that Mobea is not and cannot be. Mobea shelters and shields Xu from the worst of the world and from the worst of herself, and that relationship is the one thing keeping her from falling completely to the Beast. Mobea also knows, deep down, that her sire Leander is still alive and has not forgiven her betrayal. This may have something to do with her insistence on carving out territory of her own - a base from which to protect herself against him, perhaps.
In A Game
Mobea can be used as either an ally or an enemy, but will most likely have elements of both no matter which role is chosen. Her interests are very narrow: defending the turf she has claimed as hers and keeping it safe from all comers, but most especially the Sabbat. She is violent and unpredictable, clinging to her humanity by a thread, and so she can be as dangerous to her ostensible allies in the Camarilla as to her enemies, even if she is also a powerful force against the Nemesis. She herself is not a member of the Camarilla, and so there will likely be conflict between her and the ruling forces of the city, which is a good opportunity for players to be involved on one side or the other. She has no tolerance whatsoever for disrespect or political games, and enforces her whims with violence. She rules whatever turf she has claimed as nearly a separate Princedom, taking on as enemies all those who would threaten her claim. She is nearly completely inhuman and completely terrifying - with the one remnant of some human feelings being her relationship with her quiet, gentle childe Xu. This is a relationship the PCs could learn about and exploit in many ways. She also assumes that the younger Gangrel will serve her whims, and any Gangrel PCs might well be drawn into doing Mobea's bidding in the political world she despises.
Alice Haverford, Ventrue Neonate
by: Bathsheba |
Summary
Swords-woman and diplomat. A pawn of an extremely powerful elder, who struggles with concepts of free will and obligation.
History
Born in 1902, Alice was the second daughter of a very aristocratic British family. She learned to hunt, ride, shoot, sail, and even fence - as her father had no sons, and her height, build and temperament made her the most adept at these skills. When her parents offered her the chance to get a 'real' education by sailing herself around the world, rather than going to some ornamental women's college, she leapt at the chance and succeeded brilliantly. As the first woman to sail alone around the world, her toughness and self-reliance came to the attention of a ghoul of the Prince of London. Her blood connections and her character merited the Prince's personal attention, and after a number of tests of her ability - the Embrace, in 1927.
For the last seventy years, she has been living with her sire, though she rarely sees him - getting a grounding in the diplomatic and social arts. She interacted occasionally with Kindred society, but she had great difficulty doing so, as people often attempted to use her to get to her sire in one way or another. Now that she has been sent away from her sire's city, she finally has a chance to prove herself and make it on her own.
Personality: Alice's core personality is tough, self-reliant, and wary. She expects people to try to use her, and they have to prove themselves before she will consider extending them any trust or friendship. While she is a competent diplomat, she is much more comfortable with actions than with words. She is a bit of a loner, especially for a Ventrue, but her sire's political needs keep her enmeshed in Kindred society. The strength of her blood and her intensive training make her as powerful as many ancilla, but she does not have the social standing of an ancilla. Neither the neonates nor ancilla accept or trust her, and she herself does not know which world she belongs to. She often wishes she could give up her power in return for acceptance, but she is savvy enough to know this is not possible. However, the chance of independence is something that could definitely lure her to act foolishly, if it were presented properly.
Influence/Activities
Alice's main influence is with her sire. While she does not want to call him in lightly - especially as she has no idea how he will react to anything she brings to his attention - it means that she is at a great advantage in the petty political and social games of the Kindred, as no one wishes to be known as the one who interfered with his childe. Her other main capacity is physical. She is a more than competent warrior and an excellent strategist and tactician.
Powers/Abilities:
Nature: |
Soldier |
Demeanor: |
Survivor |
Attributes: |
Alice has physical primary, with an even balance between mental and social. |
Abilities: |
She has skills primary, talents secondary, knowledges tertiary. Focus: Melee, Diplomacy, Alertness. |
Disciplines: |
In her disciplines, she focuses on Fortitude, with Dominate secondary and Presence tertiary. (She finds being liked next to useless, as she has had few positive experiences with others.) |
Other: |
Alice's weapon of choice is a two-handed sword circa 1450, an Embrace gift from her sire. She is highly skilled with its use. |
Quotes:
On mortals: I'm glad there are some people who aren't trying to suck up to my sire through me.
On ghouls: My sire sure has a lot. It's a bit creepy, sometimes.
On the Sabbat: I've never seen them before, but I hear they're tough. Well, I'm tougher.
On the Camarilla: I haven't quite figured this whole thing out, but I don't see anything wrong with it.
In A Game
Alice can be used effectively as either an ally or an antagonist. She has been sent to the city on a mission from her sire, who is watching her actions and possibly controlling her intermittently. The players can be encouraged to aid her in her quest or, alternately, stop her from completing it.
Using Alice as an ally can be done in two ways. Either the players can be co-opted to aid her in her mission in the city, or they can be given the opportunity to aid her mission and thereby gain debt over her. Her social problems may gain her compassion from the PCs as well, since she will likely be more powerful than they, but have fewer companions and allies. Her sire's control over her can also be a good plot point to make them sympathize with her, as the PCs may be in similar situations.
Using Alice as an antagonist can also be quite effective, as she doesn't particularly care about being liked. If the PCs get in her way, she will dispose of them in the most effective way possible. While she won't like what she has to do to them, this inner conflict can actually make her a better antagonist: she may hurt them repeatedly, but she does it out of a sense of duty, making it much harder for them to justify destroying her. (And they will have to be very clever in attacking her in order not to incur her sire's wrath.) If the PCs try to take advantage of her and she finds out, on the other hand, she will be an implacable enemy. Alice is not the forgiving sort.
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