 About Lauren Rae Weiss
Nature: Penitent
Clan: Malkavian
Age: 77
Virtues
Humanity - ●●●●● ○○○○○
Blood Pool - 4
Physical
Social
Mental
Talents
Skills
Knowledges
Allies - ●○○○○
Auspex - ●○○○○
Auspex Powers
Obfuscate Powers
Necromancy Powers (The Ash Path)
Necromancy Rituals
Touch of Frost: Plants wither as you approach and die at your touch. Your touch leeches heat from living beings, as though you were made of ice. Haunted: You are haunted by an angry and tormented spirit, most likely one of your first victims. This spirit actively attempts to hinder you, especially when feeding, and does its utmost to vent its anguish upon you and any- one in your presence. The Storyteller determines the exact nature of the spirit, its powers, and whether or not it can eventually be laid to rest. Expendable: Someone in power doesn’t want you around. Maybe she wants territory you possess, or is jealous of the attention you’re getting from a prize mortal retainer — the details are irrelevant. What does matter is that she has the power to maneuver you into dangerous situations “for the good of the Sect,” and has no compunctions about doing so. Additional Discipline: You can take one additional Discipline (Storyteller discretion) as if it were a Clan Discipline. All costs to learn that Discipline are paid out as if it were native to your Clan. A character cannot take this Merit more than once, and Caitiff vampires cannot take this Merit. Medium: You possess the natural affinity to sense and hear spirits, ghosts, and shades. Though you cannot see them, you can sense them, speak to them and, through pleading or cajoling, draw them to your presence. You may call upon them for aid or advice, but there will always be a price. Also, your difficulty is reduced by two for all Awareness rolls involving the spirits of the dead. Spirit Mentor: You have a ghostly companion and guide. The identity and exact powers of this spirit are up to the Storyteller, but it can be called upon in difficult situations for help and guidance.
Penitent: The Penitent exists to atone for the grave sin she commits simply by being who she is. Penitents have either low self-esteem or traumatic past experiences, and feel compelled to "make up" for inflicting themselves upon the world. Penitent Archetypes are not always religious in outlook; some truly want to scourge the world of the grief they bring to it. Repentant sinners, persons with low self-esteem, and remorseful criminals are examples of the Penitent Archetype. Penitent Kindred include those who scourge themselves of the Beast like medieval monks, vampires who stand up for the rights of mortals, and those who subsist entirely on the vitae of animals. — Regain a point of Willpower whenever you feel that you have achieved absolution for a given grievance. This redemption should be of the same magnitude as the transgression — the greater the crime, the greater the penance. The Storyteller is the ultimate arbiter of what constitutes a reasonable act of reparation. Caregiver: Everyone needs a shoulder to cry on. A Caregiver takes her comfort in consoling others, and people of- ten come to her with their problems. Vampires with Caregiver Archetypes often attempt, as best they can, to protect the mortals on whom they feed. Nurses, doctors, and psychiatrists are examples of potential Caregivers. Caregiver Kindred are often the type who — tragically — Embrace mortal loves they’ve left be- hind in hopes of softening their loss, or even those who create situations of grief in order to ease it and thus validate themselves. — Regain a point of Willpower whenever you successfully protect or nurture someone else.
In Life
Originally from Chicago, Lauren Rae saw her older brothers ship off to fight in the Great War, not one of them coming back. She learned from a young age to look out for yourself, cause ain’t nobody gonna do it for you. When Prohibition began, her family started up a speakeasy. She waitressed first, and then learned to bartend. When Johnny Torrio retired and left control of his family to Al Capone (who was only 26), Lauren Rae (then 17) and her family came to be at odds with the growing “Chicago Outfit”. There were murders on both sides, with Lauren herself having committed a handful by the time she was 20. Both her parents were dead, from violent gang attacks, and after a terrible bombing (one of many at the time), she abandoned the family business in 1929. The early 30s saw Lauren Rae as something of a murder-for-hire / femme fatale, before her untimely death in 1934 (after choosing what can only be described as "the wrong mark"), at the age of 26. In Death A Malkavian, Lauren Rae’s brand of madness is a form of Cotard’s Delusion - that is, she believes that she is dead. Which, she is, she remembers dying. But more specifically, she doesn’t believe herself to be a vampire, but rather a ghost, a wandering spirit. Lauren believes herself to be trapped in a sort of purgatory, to be lingering on this plane because of the crimes she committed in life, and believes that her mission is to help other spirits like herself to cross over. In her delusion, she doesn’t see herself as having fangs or drinking blood, but believes “feeding” to be a harmless sharing of energy. “Ghosts,” she says, with a wholly unearned certainty, “Don’t replenish energy like the living do. We fade over time.” She believes that dying of “starvation” would mean blinking out of existence, and being eternally damned. She also has an interest in helping the living, acting as a sort of “guardian spirit” where she can, in the hopes of saving others from a fate like her own. Contacts & Allies Lauren currently resides at a carnival, where it is not strange for her to be asleep during the day and active at night. Her delusional reason for living here is that she believes the local Fortune Teller is someone who can see and hear her. In reality, the old woman’s about as psychic as a wet sock. Madame Esmerelda knows what Lauren is, and indulges her out of fascination (and likely some jealousy). There are a few carnies that Madame Esmerelda has convinced to act as cattle for Lauren - making her “pet vampire” safe for the town, and giving Lauren more reasons to stick around. She sometimes serves as part of an act, but is mostly left to her own devices (Madame Esmerelda has seen how Lauren’s moods can shift rapidly, and is hesitant to push her too far). Lauren’s in regular contact with a spirit that calls himself Orpheus. Orpheus initially found her wandering, calling out into the void, and has since been helping her, mostly by teaching her how to communicate with other spirits. What his motives are, whether they are altruistic or nefarious, or even who he really is, is unknown to Lauren. But in the absence of a proper Sire, he has taught her about the Masquerade (changing some particulars to help her understand, since she rejects being told she is a vampire). There is another spirit that also heard Lauren’s call - one that I’ll refer to as Phaidra. I don’t know who Phaidra is - whether it’s someone Lauren killed in life, someone she killed early after being turned, or even just a vengeful spirit that has become attached to her. But I like the idea that to Lauren, it’s almost a manifestation of her guilt - by which I mean, she perceives it differently than what it actually is. I kind of like the idea that she sees/hears a different person every time, even if it is the same being taunting her. Calling her killer, telling her she's damned, etc. Today it comes as one of Capone’s goons, tomorrow it might be her parents who she failed to save. Is it actually them? Is the spirit using her fears against her? Or is she projecting onto the spirit herself? If Sired I left Lauren’s Sire blank, to throw my hat into the potential mystery pot. But in case a different character is better suited to that development (especially since I may already get some cool twists with Orpheus and Phaidra), this is what I had in mind for her Sire: Lauren’s sire is Lysander Delacroix, an oft-disheveled old Malkavian who claims to have dream visions of the future, which he later paints. While not taken seriously, the art itself is compelling and known to vampires in the region (it’s not uncommon for princes to have some of his art). But Lysander believes a sort of Doomsday to be approaching, and those he sires he does so intending to create what is essentially an army. He abandoned Lauren fairly quickly upon realising that she was unwilling to be a part of that force - her particular insanities twisted in such a way that she is much less dangerous than she was in life, and additionally, under delusions about what her powers are or how they work, making her useless for his purposes. He still hopes she’ll come around, but has been around long enough to know it’s unlikely. |
