Chicago By Night - for Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition
Created by Onyx Path Publishing
Help create a beautiful Chicago By Night tabletop RPG hardcover source book for Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition !
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Sunday Story: First Trip to the Second City (part 1 of 4)
over 5 years ago
– Sun, Nov 04, 2018 at 06:07:29 AM
Four Trips to the Second City
1
Three dead men cruised through Chicago. Their motorcycles roared as they sped through its busy streets. Ramrod and his ghouls took the rear, keeping any cars behind them at a wide distance. Dread rode in the middle. Tyrus rode in front, leading his gang to one of the city’s union halls, where the Anarchs were meeting.
For Tyrus, meeting in respectable places like this was a bad sign. In the old days, the movement kept itself to squatted buildings or crumbling warehouses. Those were better times. Now, so many of the old faces had died or left for the deserts. In their absence, the Anarchs were getting bolder. Tonight Maldavis, one of their greatest shames, called them together for a “discussion on our future.”
So, the Wolf Pack went on the hunt. As agents of the Camarilla, they were duty-bound to put the fear of God into them. Kicking their skulls in was just for fun.
Tyrus pulled a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his jacket. He glanced at the ghouls. “You two got your shit together?”
He didn’t remember their names. He didn’t care. Ramrod mentioned something about them being siblings, the latest in a line of people desperate enough to drink his blood. Tyrus never asked where he got his ghouls, or why they vanished every couple of years. As long as he wasn’t embarrassing the pack, what he did was his own business.
“Yeah, yeah,” the brother said. Like his sister, he was fresh from feeding, eyes open and wild. He whipped out a switchblade.
“You’d better be,” Tyrus said. “The Anarchs are wusses, but you get enough of them in one room and they think they can take on anyone.”
He lit his cigarette. Dread and Ramrod flinched in the presence of his lighter’s flame.
Tyrus took a puff and grinned. Thirty years and it still spooked them. “Let’s dance!”
He kicked the thick wooden door open, heralding his presence with a cloud of dust and splinters. The other four rushed ahead of him. One of the Anarchs leaped for them, only to get pinned down by the ghouls. Dread held off any other wanna-be heroes with a sawed-off shotgun. Maldavis stood at the front of the hall, glaring at Tyrus.
She growled. “Did Jackson send you?”
Tyrus shook his head. “We were in the neighborhood, and thought we’d pay a house call. Make sure no one’s got any big ideas.”
“Bullshit.” Maldavis stormed down the steps in front of the stage. “Who else could you answer to?”
Tyrus strolled up to meet her halfway down the aisle. “Just us.” He blew smoke in her face.
Maldavis didn’t blink. “You could have walked away, like the rest of your clan. Then you could fight for something that really matters.”
He pulled the cigarette from his mouth. “You think I care about what my ‘clan’ does?”
He held the butt up to her face, close to her cheek. Maldavis grimaced.
“I’m a member of the Wolf Pack. That’s all.”
He crushed the still-lit butt into his arm, not breaking eye contact. “I know where my loyalties lie. But what about you? See, I heard—“
A shot rang out from above. Tyrus turned to see one of Ramrod’s ghouls hit the floor twitching. His head was blown open.
“Ray!” Ramrod ran towards the ghouls.
Dread aimed his shotgun upwards but the other gunman hit first. The blast tore through his throat. The shotgun flew from his hand.
Tyrus looked up to see a figure in the shadowy rafters above.
“Hey!” He shoved Maldavis to the ground and ran onto the wall. He crawled up to the rafters to see a man in combat fatigues halfway towards the exit. The man examined him with grey, bloodshot eyes.
Tyrus rushed towards him. “Got something to say for yourself?”
He didn’t know where the man pulled the pistol from. All he knew was that it was a point blank shot between his eyes. By the time he wiped the blood and bits of brain from his eyes, the gunman was gone.
To be continued...
It's Vampire James, your point person for this Kickstarter campaign.
Stretch Goal Achieved - New Add On Reward!
Add +$7 to your Total Pledge Amount to add a PDF Bundle containing classic Vampire Supplements compiled into 3 volumes: Chicago Chronicles 1 PDF, Chicago Chronicles 2 PDF, and Chicago Chronicles 3 PDF. PDF titles are the ones currently available from DrivethruRPG.com and were created as best possible depending on the state of the files. Quality may vary from title to title. Add On Rewards will be confirmed via Backerkit survey after the campaign has concluded.
To increase your total pledge amount, click the MANAGE YOUR PLEDGE button (on my screen, its on the top right; on mobile, I think it's listed on the pledge screen). It should take you to a screen that allows you to CHANGE YOUR PAYMENT METHOD or CHANGE YOUR PLEDGE.
When you select CHANGE YOUR PLEDGE, It will show you your current pledge amount. (For me, it's currently $60, which includes my +$10 shipping to Canada).
Now just increase your total pledge amount by $7 and press CONTINUE. (I changed mine from $60 to $67 and pressed continue)
The extra $7 will be part of your pledge amount, and after the campaign is over, you'll use the BackerKit pledge manager to allocate those funds and confirm the Old Traditions Bundle as part of your reward.
NEXT STRETCH GOAL
At $65,000 in funding - LET THE STREETS RUN RED – The first chronicle, set in the throbbing heart and ruined suburbs of Chicago, will be added to Let the Streets Run Red, a PDF supplement set in and around the Chicago and Midwest area, incorporating characters absent from V5 Chicago by Night and exploring the activities of Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and the rural Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana areas. All backers receiving the Chicago By Night hardcover will automatically have a PDF version of Let the Streets Run Red added to their rewards list.
STRETCH GOAL CELEBRATIONS
The two big drivers for our Stretch Goals will be the Chicago Folio (with 2 sections added already!) and Let the Streets Run Red (our next goal). We typically hit the larger funding numbers in the first and last week of the campaign, which leaves a lot of smaller days in the middle.
Rather than just spending those days dreaming about hitting our next targets, I like to have a lot of smaller "celebration" or "milestone" achievements mixed in. A lot of familiar items - t-shirts, digital wallpapers, new add-ons - will appear as we're building toward adding more content.
(That means, instead of putting up our next goal at $74,000, I'm going to put 3-4 smaller stops in between. If you only care about adding to Let the Streets Run Red, then you can ignore those for now...)
That's a sneak peek behind the curtain to see how I think about Stretch Goals!
So, let's go out recruiting! Spread the word on social media and in your social circle! Let's add some backers and hit some goals and start to explore the suburbs of Chicago and beyond...
#ChicagoByNight
#V5Chicago
- James
Fiction By Night: Red Noº 5
over 5 years ago
– Sat, Nov 03, 2018 at 03:56:28 AM
Hello Kickstarter Coterie,
One of my favorite things to share during a kickstarter campaign is the awesome fiction that is written for these books and in these settings! This weekend, I get to share some of the fiction from Chicago By Night, starting today with a story called Red Noº 5.
It's a bit too much to copy out into an update post (it's 6 pages, and formatting doesn't copy over, so I'd have to spend an hour just making it look right!), so for your reading pleasure, here's a download link:
In addition to an awesome story, we've got a Stretch Goal update!
A second section will be added to the Chicago Folio, doubling its size. The Chicago Folio will automatically be added to your rewards list if you are receiving the Chicago By Night PDF reward.
And, because we've added more content for Chicago with this second project, we're able to sneak in some more NPC naming opportunities. So, we've added another 8 slots to the *previously sold out* Elder of Renown reward tier. It's a popular one, so jump on it if you're interested and able.
And now, let's look ahead and look back at the same time...
At $60,000 in funding - NEW ADD-ON REWARD: “OLD TRADITIONS” PDF BUNDLE – A new Add-On Reward will be created. For +$7, backers will receive a PDF bundle containing classic Vampire supplements Chicago by Night 1E and 2E, The Succubus Club, Under a Blood Red Moon, Milwaukee by Night, Ashes to Ashes, and Blood Bond compiled into 3 volumes: Chicago Chronicles Volume 1 PDF, Chicago Chronicles Volume 2 PDF, and Chicago Chronicles Volume 3 PDF.
This is a fast and affordable way to catch up on the history of Chicago in the World of Darkness setting if you had missed this in the past, and full of great ideas that you can introduce into your chronicle.
At $65,000 in funding - LET THE STREETS RUN RED – The first chronicle, set in the throbbing heart and ruined suburbs of Chicago, will be added to Let the Streets Run Red, a PDF supplement set in and around the Chicago and Midwest area, incorporating characters absent from V5 Chicago by Night and exploring the activities of Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and the rural Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana areas. All backers receiving the Chicago By Night hardcover will automatically have a PDF version of Let the Streets Run Red added to their rewards list.
And then we introduce yet another supplemental book for Chicago By Night: Let the Streets Run Red. Let's get out of the city and explore the surrounding area. Like the Chicago Folio, we'll hopefully expand this project as we move through the campaign.
So, let's keep at it! Spread the word and share your enthusiasm and excitement for this kickstarter campaign! Talk about it in your social circle and social media! Let's keep growing and see if we can't stretch further into the midwest...
#ChicagoByNight
#V5Chicago
- James
It's Vampire James, your point person for this Kickstarter campaign.
Kindred of Chicago: Anita Wainwright
over 5 years ago
– Fri, Nov 02, 2018 at 06:07:54 AM
Hello Kickstarter Coterie!
We're progressing nicely! I think we're closing in on another Stretch Goal and will likely hit it this weekend! Amazing!
There's also been lots of positive buzz about our first few Sneak Peek previews. Lots of support for the format and information included, and enthusiasm at seeing some familiar names pop up in what we've shared.
If you're reading this and thinking about joining up in our campaign, or still on the fence about this project, I'm going to share another Kindred of Chicago today, this time it's Anita Wainwright. Those who back this project and pledge to support our journey have already received a Sneak Peek download link for the first (of seven!) sections detailing the Kindred of Chicago and have already read the details on Anita. So, if you like what you see here and are intrigued, please join us on our journey and help us grow this project as much as possible!
Anita Wainwright
Epitaph: Anarch Intelligence Exchange
Quote:“I know you have this misconception that all Anarchs are mindless thugs. I’m here to convince you otherwise.” Clan: Brujah
Mortal Days: Natural Rebel
Anita Wainwright has been fighting The Man since the 1950s, when she was a student at the University of Illinois. She took several Freedom Rides with mixed-race groups on public buses to Alabama, challenging the non-enforcement of illegal bus segregation laid down by Morgan v. Virginia. She joined up with the Diggers in New York City and ran a Free Store in Chicago, writing for a local underground newspaper, the Chicago Seed. Throughout her young adult life, she flitted from cause to cause, passionately believing in revolution through communal deeds — that helping the common man would leave to the overthrow of the rich and powerful.
During her time as a reporter for the Seed, she met a Black Panther named Theodore Dooley. She quickly struck up an intimate relationship with him. The relationship was the final straw for her conservative parents, who disowned her over her refusal to stop seeing Dooley. Spurred by the fight with her parents, she threw herself more fiercely into her activism, which was subtly encouraged by Dooley.
Anita was one of the organizers who helped plan the Vietnam War protests at the Chicago Democratic National Convention in 1968. Police were sent to break up the protests, and Anita lost Dooley in the crowd before she was badly beaten by an officer.
After she recovered, she went looking for Dooley to find out what happened to him. After several days and nights of searching, she eventually found him in the basement of the building acting as the headquarters for the Black Panthers. She stumbled across him drinking the blood of the cop that had beaten her in the protest. At first, she was horrified, but she quickly accepted the situation, even before Dooley had a chance to explain. She saw the act not just as a literal thirst for blood, but a metaphorical one. She was angry and wanted vengeance. They spent a few nights together, and by the end of it, Anita convinced Dooley to Embrace her.
Kindred Nights: At the Cusp
At first, Anita used her new-found Kindred strength to dive more fully into the concerns of the human world. But as the ‘70s came and went, her involvement in mortal society waned, as she and Dooley turned their attentions to the reformation of Kindred society instead. Her passion for change, and propensity for bloodthirsty revenge, hasn’t diminished one iota, however, and she is one of the few Anarchs in Chicago to develop connections all over the country. “Think locally, act globally,” she would often say, as she would spend countless nights making phone calls, writing letters, and even risking dangerous travel to meet with potential allies in her cause.
By the ‘90s, Camarilla control over Chicago was stronger than ever, and she was considering moving to one of the Anarch Free States in California. That’s when the Lupines attacked, slaughtering many of the local Kindred. She barely managed to avoid the claws of the werewolves herself, but many of her friends were not so lucky — including her sire and lover, Dooley. Her need for revenge intensified, and she swore to find and destroy the Lupines who killed her friends.
Anita stayed in Chicago and carefully planned her next steps. She spent years accumulating information about her foes. Her network of connections increased, as she became less discerning about the allegiance of her Kindred contacts. Anarchs, independents, and even moderately-high-ranking members of the sects traded correspondence and cell phone calls with her, all to accumulate whatever knowledge she could about the Chicago Lupines.
Indeed, it was Anita who received the first rumors about the Lasombra coming to Chicago. She attempted to trade this information to some of her local Camarilla contacts in exchange for the whereabouts of the werewolves (or their descendants), but by the time they came to trust her offer, the Prince announced the arrival of the Lasombra “delegates” to the whole court. Her information was useless, but many of her more reluctant contacts recognized the quality of her information network. Marc Levesque has also quietly joined her, helping to maintain her network while plotting his own revenge against the Kindred of Chicago.
Plots and Schemes:
• Solid Ground: Now Anita has moved from “occasionally useful” to “extremely useful” in the eyes of many powerful Kindred on all sides, she wants to tread carefully and reinforce her power base before she makes any big moves.
• Doubtful Connection: One of her Camarilla contacts is Critias. His well-known sexism worked against Anita for decades, and even though they shared a clan, she saw him as the embodiment of the patriarchal system that held her and her friends down. With the Entelechy School, she sees the potential value the elder brings to the city. Anita isn’t sure if she wants to suck up to the elder (and maybe convince him to join the Anarchs), or arrange to have him killed. She doesn’t know about the Eternal Academy or what happens to its failed fledgling students yet.
• Dark Past: Anita is still extremely well-connected. She has links to Brujah and Anarchs all over the United States, and she’s willing to get anyone in touch with anyone, as long as she trusts them and considers their cause to be worthwhile. She’s aware that her list of contacts is valuable, which is why she doesn’t disclose it to anyone. No Camarilla Kindred wants to have it known they’ve collaborated with an Anarch, so the implicit blackmail keeps her safe.
• Wolf Hunt: She hasn’t lost sight of her true goal: finding the werewolves who killed her friends. She recognizes some of them may be dead after 25 years of looking, so she’d be happy with vengeance against their families or loved ones at this point. She would do almost anything for concrete, first-hand information on how to kill werewolves, or where her enemies live right now.
Domain and Haven:
• Riverdale Community (Contacts 3, Haven 2, Herd 3, Influence 2, Resources 1) Riverdale is one of the areas allotted to the Brujah as feeding ground, back when Ventrue Princes were trying to shaft the clan. Today it’s still an area where crime is too high and the average wage is too low. Anita has quietly claimed it for the Anarch cause, and no one has contested her because very few Kindred actually want it.
• Riverdale Communal Homestead (Allies 4, Contacts 3, Haven 3) Anita lives in a house that looks condemned, but she has renovated the insides to be quite comfortable, modern, and secure. Several Anarchs use the building as crash space — most notably Marc Levesque, her informal enforcer.
Thralls and Tools:
• Francis (Retainers 3) When she started her plans of revenge against the Lupines, she created a ghoul — a young black man named Francis that reminded her of Dooley — to help her with tasks not requiring her direct attention. Now she’s more secure, she plans to Embrace Francis. Problem is, she either needs to get Camarilla permission for the Embrace (thus reducing her standing in the eyes of the Anarchs) or flaunt the Traditions for her own gain (thus reducing her utility in the eyes of her Camarilla contacts, and risking banishment or destruction). She’s currently debating Embracing Francis and blaming one of her rivals for “poaching” him.
• Nation of Islam (Allies 3, Contacts 3, Herd 3) Anita hides behind mortal protest groups and foundations for the disenfranchised citizens of Chicago and Gary. She’s genuinely respected among the Chicago wing of the Nation of Islam, despite her outsider status, and often relies on them for favors such as protecting her haven and tracking her enemies.
Kindred Relationships:
• Gérard (Problematic) Marc Levesque is her biggest supporter, and her biggest problem. He is passionately devoted to the Anarchs in general and to her specifically. He is also passionately devoted to kicking the shit out of Balthazar. Balthazar hasn’t exactly made a lot of friends within the Camarilla, but he is still part of the Ivory Tower, so the optics of a hardcore Anarch killing a hardcore Camarilla Kindred just don’t work for her. At the same time, she knows she can only put Gérard off of his murderous plans for so long.
• Critias (Work in Progress) Anita is developing a business relationship with Critias, the Brujah Primogen. Recently he’s started to display both more rebellious tendencies and a fervent desire to actually help the mortals in Chicago. The big problem is that he doesn’t seem to trust her because she’s a woman, which rouses her feminist instincts. They perform a careful dance to not set each other off, because both see the value in collaboration.
• Rosa Hernandez (Potential) Both women despise werewolves, Anita because they took her love away, Rosa because she feels betrayed by the savagery of their nature. Anita feels the two could form an effective coterie of Lupine hunters, if only she could convince the Gangrel to join the Anarchs.
Whispers:
• National Network: Anita is the Anarchs’ information hub. If you want any Anarch in the United States to know something, you only have to tell her.
• Big Game: Anita is a fearsome werewolf hunter, with over a dozen pelts hanging on her wall.
• The Little Things: Anita is such a hardcore Chicagoan that she has four stars tattooed on her back.
• Brujah Blood: Anita and Marc Levesque are lovers.
Mask and Mien:
• Anita is a Caucasian female of moderate size. She stands 5’8” tall, and weighs 125 pounds. She has auburn hair, and dresses casually in modern styles, although she tends towards a “retro” look that seems to cycle back into fashion from time to time.
• She has a carefully cultivated appearance. Her dress, demeanor, and speech patterns are carefully calibrated to give off the vibe of “young brash Brujah,” but she knows what she’s doing. She can dial her revolutionary rhetoric up or down at a moment’s notice to suit her audience.
• Anita uses the identity of Patricia Dooley as her Mask, the widow of the deceased Theodore Dooley. Patricia is a private woman who occasionally handles charity work at the city’s children centers, her stand-offish behavior enough to prevent most deep questions (Mask 1).
Sire: Theodore Dooley
Embraced: 1968 (Born 1941)
Ambition: Eradicate the Lupines who killed my friends
Convictions: Protect my memory of Dooley
Touchstones: Francis — the ghoul who reminders her of Dooley
Humanity: 8
Generation: 12th
Blood Potency: 2
And think about joining us on our journey! As mentioned, we're getting close to unlocking another Stretch Goal! We've recently added another project to our rewards list - the Chicago Folio. Now, we're looking to make it even bigger and better! Pledge now and help us all get more Chicago!
At $56,000 in funding - CHICAGO FOLIO: THE ANARCH ACCOUNTS – A second section will be added to the Chicago Folio, doubling its size.
So everybody, embrace a friend and see if you can get them to join our coterie! Remember to share this project on your social media and in your social circles, and let's add some Anarch Accounts to the Chicago Folio!
#ChicagoByNight
#V5Chicago
- James
Backers Only Sneak Peek - Kindred #1
over 5 years ago
– Thu, Nov 01, 2018 at 06:10:25 AM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
Kindred of Chicago: Edward Neally
over 5 years ago
– Wed, Oct 31, 2018 at 06:16:51 AM
Hello Kickstarter Coterie,
It's Vampire James, your point person for this Kickstarter campaign.
Now that we've funded and introduced some Stretch Goals, it's time to delve further into the shadowy world of Chicago and start meeting the Kindred who dwell within.
This is the first of many Kindred of Chicago previews I'll be sharing throughout the campaign. In addition to these individual spotlights, Backers of this Kickstarter will be getting sneak peeks at the complete Kindred of Chicago section of the book, broken out into themed segments in the upcoming days (starting tomorrow!)
For now, here is an example of how each Kindred will be presented, and what sorts of story hooks and information you can expect. You want intrigue, adversaries, allies, dangerous plots and deadly encounters? Get ready...
Edward Neally
Epitaph: Burned-out Defector
Quote: “I would do it over if I could, but sin is sin. There are too many bloodstains to wash out.” Clan: Ventrue
Mortal Days: Self-Loathing’s Gnawing Teeth
Neally’s was a pained childhood, abandoned at St. Patrick’s when his parents realized they couldn’t afford to raise him, schooled by nuns and priests who taught him a lot about guilt but not much about joy. His luck changed when a public servant investigating St. Patrick’s found the canny lad a willing source of information on the school’s scandals. The eventual Senator John Logan took Neally into his home and eventually Logan’s affection grew. He never publicly acknowledged his adoption of the boy, records tonight only showing Edward Neally’s service in the house scullery, but Neally spent all his time advising the politician, becoming his chief of staff in later years.
Neally befriended a fellow young man in the employ of politicians by the name of Jefferson, at this time. The two exchanged partners and even carried out a clandestine affair with each other for a time, Neally only breaking off their union when the guilt grew too much to bear.
Neally found you can’t just shut away a childhood of abuse. As he eventually went on to tell many a traumatized vessel, “closure does not exist.” For every success came the wash of guilt. For every profit came the wages of sin. Neally was not religious, but associated every pleasure with self-loathing. In fits of pique he tore apart his wardrobe for his self-perceived “poor taste.” He had sex and felt he wasn’t good enough. He masturbated and felt physically revolted that he’d put himself through such onanism.
Despite all this, Neally was a highly successful administrator and counsel in mortal politics. The greatest rush came when he accompanied his father figure to Washington. He put aside his feelings of unworthiness, at least until another staffer called him a “jumped-up bog-trotter.” That night, Neally took his first opium hit. He enjoyed it. It diminished his self-hatred. He took it again the week after. It didn’t take long for the drug to cloud his judgement and for Logan to quietly secrete Neally in an institution.
Kindred Nights: Second Chances
Lodin had long followed Neally’s career and decided he was well-equipped to serve as seneschal. Neally didn’t fully understand the offer. He accompanied the prince on a tour of Chicago and its underbelly, meeting vampires and finding out about Camarilla politics. Lodin Embraced him before he could say “yes.”
Neally disappeared from Senator Logan’s life, but continued to send the elderly mortal regular packets of money. When Logan died, Neally lost an anchor, and the tear in his soul was intense. Neally Embraced Jefferson to fill the hole, but in so doing made a long-term enemy as the two dueled over influence and the love of a ghoul named Emily.
It was in the early 1990s when Neally’s spirit took its biggest hit. Under the influence of a manipulative Jefferson, Neally frenzied, murdering a swathe of kine, including his treasured ghoul Emily. Lodin was furious that his seneschal had caused several blatant Masquerade breaches and would have destroyed Neally himself had the Sabbat not ferried him away.
The Sabbat poured words into his head about ancient elders controlling him and wanting to devour him. They told him Lodin was just using him. They assured him he was worthless and sin in human form. Such rites were similar for many Sabbat inductees, but usually came accompanied with the reassurance that despite all that, the vampire had a home and love from the Sabbat. Jefferson, who led the Sabbat pack, forbade such lovebombing. Instead, he turned Neally and his pack loose on Chicago as saboteurs, using Neally’s knowledge of the city to destabilize it, assassinating prominent Kindred such as the Caitiff hero Dickie Fulcher at the Sabbat’s behest.
When many members of the Sabbat migrated on their Gehenna Crusade, the bond with Jefferson’s pack snapped. He was free. He was in Chicago, a known Sabbat agent provocateur, but now he wanted in with the Camarilla. The first thing he did was tell the primogen council about all the Sabbat nests in their domains in exchange for sanctuary.
Once again, Neally has to start from the bottom.
Plots and Schemes:
• Power Once More: The disgraced Ventrue has aspirations of rising to high status once again. It was he who encouraged Joseph Peterson to make the step up to praxis, only to see his unpopular brother in vitae crash and burn. He courts his clanmates Naomi Stewart and Bobby Weatherbottom to gain their backing for Ventrue primogeniture, but he knows these Kindred carry little weight.
• Property Deeds: Until the werewolves attacked in the mid-1990s, the Succubus Club was under the stewardship of a Ventrue named Brennon Thornhill. He died in the assault, but Neally — as former seneschal — had custody of Thornhill’s property deeds. To Edward’s surprise, the deeds were in Thornhill’s name and on his death, spread between his mortal descendants. Neally has already made a ghoul of Thornhill’s oldest nephew, considering now how best to act.
• Rising Tide: Neally believes the Sabbat will return to North America sooner than anyone anticipates, and when they do, it will be in the form of bloated blood gods, fat on the vitae of Methuselahs. He sees the Sabbat holdout cities such as Miami, Montreal, and Kansas City as futile breakwaters containing Cainites too philosophically up their own asses to stop a returning crusade of blood-drunk knights. He leaks information wherever he can about the coming tide so the Camarilla might erect a suitable defense, even making information up to galvanize the Kindred.
Domain and Haven:
• Garfield Park Flat (Haven 1, Influence 2) Neally shares a second floor flat in Garfield Park with his ghoul, Oscar Thornhill, who he removed from the more opulent suburbs to be closer to the city’s heart. Neally feeds from the many addicts in the building, making the population of Anderson Halls high-rise his personal herd. Garfield Park is known for its danger, and Neally has plans to expand his territory from one building to the entire block.
Thralls and Tools:
• Oscar Thornhill (Resources 2, Retainers 2) Neally’s personal thrall is Oscar, a man of 26 who doesn’t understand the sudden interest his uncle’s old friend Edward is showing him. Neally has fed Thornhill several doses of vitae and regularly gets inside his head with the use of his Dominate Discipline. Neally is confident he can wrangle the entirety of the Succubus Club’s ownership into Thornhill’s name legally.
• St Patrick’s School (Influence 2) Neally’s mortal traumas compel him to exert control over the still-running St. Patrick’s on West Belmont Avenue, where he tentatively pulls the school system’s strings with blackmail and threats to the staff. He is undecided on whether to groom a herd, make a haven there, or just take revenge on the school he loathes so much.
Kindred Relationships:
• Naomi Stewart (A Leg Up) Bobby Weatherbottom (Kinship) Neally claims allegiance with Stewart and Weatherbottom as outsider Ventrue, though his crimes are a little too extreme for their tastes. They mostly keep him around as a source of old city information rather than through affection and he knows it.
• Sir Olaf, the One-Eyed King (Fear) Edward doesn’t believe Lodin died during the werewolf attack and is deeply fearful of what his sire will do when he finds him, given the way they parted all those years ago. His wishes to enlist other Kindred to find the truth behind Lodin’s fate, and if the former prince is still around, extinguish him.
Whispers:
• See Me: Neally staked Capone and stashed him away as a sign he’s taking the Masquerade seriously. He was always jealous of Al’s favor with the boss.
• Mortal Obsession: Neally obsesses over a mortal family that’s not his own. He’s taken them as his herd and retainers. He seems to be forcing himself back toward humanity in a crude way.
• Get a Fix: Neally was an opiates junkie in life and is no different now. He regularly uses the Circulatory System’s services to find kine deep in the melancholic humours.
• Distant Domitor: Jefferson is still pulling Neally’s strings and is waiting to set this double agent off like a bomb.
Mask and Mien:
• Edward Neally reverses his name to Neally Edwards to avoid casual scrutiny, but his strongest mask comes in the form of Theodore Logan, a low-level city functionary registered as an office worker on long-term sick leave. The role provides a meager income and little intrusion into his life, while providing him a pass to enter civic buildings when needed (Mask 2).
• Tall, slender, with a narrow face and feline-like eyes, Neally’s a moderately attractive male who appears to be in his mid-30s. He allows the thinness of his hair to show or shaves the top of his head each night, just leaving a sandy-colored horseshoe around the sides.
• Neally wears off-the-rack suits, his fortunes low since the ‘80s and ‘90s, but he keeps his shoes at a high shine, abiding by the maxim that “a man cannot be trusted if he doesn’t shine his own shoes.” After years of living among the Sabbat, he has forgotten many basic human traits, such as pretending to breathe, blinking, or even stimulating the vitae to work around his system.
Sire: Lodin
Embraced: 1896 (Born 1863)
Ambition: Rise to the position of Seneschal or Primogen
Convictions: Never betray my city again
Touchstones: Oscar Thornhill — nephew to deceased clanmate, Brennon Thornhill.
Humanity: 3
Generation: 8th
Blood Potency: 3
