Character Profile: Johnny Suyuti

Cheery guardian of the sleeping dead

“Well, you know, sometimes the quietest people have an awful lot to say!”

Clan: Mekhet
Covenant: Ordo Dracul

Titles: Guardian of the Mausoleum, Baron of Lychgate (City Status 3)
Court: High

For someone who spends all their time in the company of torpored Kindred, Baron Johnny Suyuti is a surprisingly cheerful soul. He is a scholar through and through, always happy to help others progress their research and fond of lengthy discussions on obscure topics. Originally from Egypt, he came to England to to study artefacts that had been 'retrieved' from his home country and campaign for their return, but he came to work at the University of Norwich some years ago.

He made himself useful to the old Guardian of the Mausoleum and so was the natural choice as her successor when she had to give up the position. Johnny takes his responsibilities very seriously and is a stickler for protocol regarding the security of the Mausoleum. However, unlike his predecessor, he doesn't believe in keeping the great minds of the past locked away, and so will allow visitors to the torpored vampires in the Mausoleum, with appropriate precautions, of course. He even offers his services to act as a go-between for communication!

Likes: Downton Abbey; a good mystery; the smell of really good coffee
Dislikes: People who don't ask permission; bad debate technique; starfish

Rumours:

• He seem be all sweetness and light, but have you seen him when he's arguing with a rival in his field? Nobody's that nice all the time.
• Why’d you think he’s so interested in the Mausoleum - he’s got family in there, but not anyone he’d like you to know about.
• Has anyone checked his aura recently? If I was going to become a serial diablerist, I know where I’d get a job…
• Johnny has more than his fair share of secrets. He can speak to Kindred in torpor, and I bet they could answer a few awkward questions the higher-ups don’t want asked. Maybe he’s secretly got the whole High Court caught in a web of blackmail and corruption.

Character Profile: Maxwell Phillips

Hoodie activist with political clout

“Make a difference.”

Clan: Ventrue
Covenant: Invictus

Titles: Priscus of Clan Ventrue, Regent of Lakenham (City Status 3)
Court: High

“Max”, as he is known in the Kine world, isn’t exactly the classic visual of a high-ranking Invictus, more often seen in a hoodie and jeans than a suit, and more interested in the streets than the boardroom. However, his support for social programs and insistence that society can do better has been having a positive impact on Norwich. He’s a well-known sight in the shelters and community centres of Norwich, a friendly, vocal and articulate face for those who need help and the media alike.

His Regency contains some of the more deprived parts of the city, but he’s always pushing to change that. As Clan Ventrue has tried to distance themselves from their past, he has been guiding them in a different direction, towards making the Kine world better as they go, for more reasons than just plausible deniability. While the activities of his clanmates may have provided some doubt over the years, he has always remained humble and active in the face of adversity.

Likes: Progressive social programs, street art, foosball
Dislikes: Cuts to public services, clickbait, nationalism

Rumours:

• Maxwell’s trying to make up for something he did in his past. And, looking at the amount of effort he puts into his current activities, it must have been something pretty damn bad.
• “Max” has plans for those he helps, and they aren’t as fluffy as you think.
• Maxwell, as described by the other Prisci:
• Dana: “I’m withholding judgement on that one. Something’s off.”
• Adrian: “yeah, I have a lot of admiration for the work he does. You know, he’s a good guy.”
• Sati: “his policies often seem to support his Kine politics rather than what’s in the best interests of Kindred.”
• Simone: “Priscus Phillips is playing a longer game than any of us know.”
• You’d think a Carthian sympathiser would be subtler, hm? Maybe he’s not as smart as he thinks he is...or maybe he’s just hiding in plain sight.

Character Profile: Dana Pearlman

Tech-savvy networker

“Oh yeah, I know someone who knows someone who can help with that.”

Clan: Mekhet
Covenant: Invictus

Titles: Priscus of Clan Mekhet (City Status 3)
Court: High

Priscus Pearlman doesn’t fit your idea of a typical computer geek, but you can be sure she has the know-how to make your computer dance if she needs to. She’s a big deal in the local tech entrepreneurs scene, playing their social connections with as much skill as their Internet connections through her dining club, ‘The Network’.

If you want to know something about somebody, there are worse places to start, though information flows both ways, and Priscus Pearlman certainly knows its value. You might have to pony up something she likes before she’ll tell you anything, but it’ll definitely be worth the wait. Priscus Pearlman has served as Clan Priscus for a while, a clear climber in the Invictus ranks, but that doesn't make you a Priscus. She clearly knows how things work inside Clan Mekhet. I hear it’s Masks all the way down.

Likes: Encyclopaedias, meeting new people, innovative data-mining solutions
Dislikes: Dial-up, Internet trolls, 4chan

Rumours:

• Dana seems cool, but someone launched a cyberattack on her company a few years ago. Not only did it fail, but she also hunted the person down through everyone they knew and ruined their life. Not someone you want to tangle with.
• The previous Mekhet Priscus used to have the Mask of the Nexus. Now Dana does and he has the Mask of the Ash Pile.
• Dana, as described by the other Prisci:
• Adrian: ‘oh yeah, Dana’s great! Though she got my phone number before we’d even met...’
• Maxwell: ‘an extremely useful individual’
• Sati: ‘we often agree on things, though our aims sometimes differ’
• Simone: ‘Oh, Dana. Personally, I worry about that much information being in one Kindred’s hands, but who am I to say? I’m sure she’s very responsible…’
• Dana, like Batman, has a file on every single person she knows filled with their strengths and weaknesses. Let’s hope that never falls into the wrong hands.

Character Profile: Sati Barsamian

Spiritual Huntswoman

“If you can’t keep up, you shouldn’t be in the race.”

Clan: Gangrel
Covenant: Circle of the Crone

Titles: Priscus of Clan Gangrel, Mistress of the Hunt (City Status 3)
Court: High

Priscus Barsamian, Mistress of the Arena, has made her mark on the city over the years and provided a strong voice for Clan Gangrel. It might be expected that she would find conflicts of interest in representing the Prince’s clan, but either Clan Gangrel is remarkably agreeable or they manage to stop any disputes from reaching public ears. It seems that Priscus Barsamian is a good person to have in your corner.

While she might be a little blunt, Priscus Barsamian is known for putting her points across forcefully and clearly. She is one of the longer-serving Prisci, and firmly believes that the strongest person for a job should do it. She is known to take on challengers for her role with enthusiasm, though no-one has yet managed to unseat her. Her recent campaigning against the People’s Council has provoked discussion amongst Clan Gangrel, and some suspect that she has an anti-Low-Court agenda, though it is possible that a strong belief in a meritocracy could give this appearance.

Likes: To be impressed, competitive sports, tigers
Dislikes: Weak people, excuses, reality TV

Rumours:

• There is a separate, secret arena where Gangrel brutality is tested to its limits - but it’s not advertised so they don’t have to explain where people go when they lose.
• I heard Sati was a queen in India, so why is she satisfied with obeying another Prince? There must be more to that alliance than meets the eye...
• Sati, as described by the other Prisci:
• Dana: ‘she’s tough but cool’
• Maxwell: ‘she’s very...driven…’
• Adrian: ‘nice, I guess? Well, not nice exactly, but...well, she seems OK.’
• Simone: ‘a worthy opponent or powerful ally’
• She’s building an army of Gangrel on commission from the Prince to ensure Clan Gangrel’s dominance of the city - she selects potential childer and then takes them to the woods. Whoever survives is Embraced in secret and kept in a facility on the edge of the city.

Character Profile: Adrian Spooner

Hapless Priscus bullied into the job

“Uh...uh...uh...I think so?”

Clan: Daeva

Covenant: Unaligned

Titles: Priscus of Clan Daeva (City Status 3)

Court: High/Low

How do you solve a problem like the Daeva? Well, if you’re Adrian Spooner, you go along with what they want you to do. The ongoing arguments between the more excitable elements of Clan Daeva and those who just want to get along are well-publicised, so trying to find a Priscus everyone could agree on was a challenge to say the least. Enter Adrian Spooner, a nobody with no strong opinions and an unusually malleable attitude. The Pragmatists wanted someone who wouldn’t rock the boat but they could use to advance the clan’s position in the city; the Firebrands found the idea of an Unaligned Low Courtier representing their clan to be hilariously anti-establishment. He was perfect.

Remarkably, though, the walking satire that was Adrian Spooner, new blood from nowhere, became a relatively competent and trusted Priscus. While his proclivities for spending time with the Low Court are often frowned on, the clear support he has from the groundlings and the few High Court Daeva suggest that he’ll be around for a while. So, Adrian, what is your secret? Reports suggest that he’s just extremely agreeable. Let’s hope that keeps working for him.

Likes: The smell of popcorn, Star Trek, nice quiet evenings

Dislikes: Old Spice, celery, that stupid message tone

Rumours:

• His background is a mystery. Is that because no-one has bothered to ask him, or because he has something to hide?
• It was no accident that he was chosen: he is the unwitting pawn in a Daeva game, and he’s about to take the king.
• Adrian, as described by the other Prisci:
• Dana: ‘he talks a lot, says little'
• Maxwell: ‘he’s all right’
• Sati: ‘if power is handed to you on a plate, you don’t understand what you’ve got’
• Simone: ‘may have been elected as a joke, but now he’s the one laughing’
• Who is Adrian’s sire? Does he even know?

Character Profile: John Walker

Brutally loyal Sheriff

“I didn’t bring you down here to find out what you’ve been up to. I already know. But the Prince wants to show the good people of Norwich what happens to traitors.”

Clan: Gangrel

Covenant: Ordo Dracul

Titles: Sheriff (City Status 4)

Court: High

Sheriff Walker may be a bit of a legend in Norwich, but like all the best larger-than-life figures, his origins are shrouded in mystery. Many have remarked that he has a military bearing, and the rumour mill is abuzz with theories, but anyone who knows the truth isn’t talking. What we do know that he is an efficient and loyal Sheriff. If anyone remarks that he never seems to do much, well, I’d say that’s what he wants you to think. The Hounds are his most public assistants, but it’s well known that he has a lot more help than that. Be careful what you say around Norwich, because you don’t know who’s listening.

The official story of John Walker’s rise within the city is at least fairly clear: our Glorious Prince Anastasia Lockwood recognised Sheriff Walker’s clear competence and promoted him from obscurity.His methods seem to be working, though some would question whether the hard line the Prince draws is appropriate. Whatever the public perception of the Prince’s law, Sheriff Walker enforces it without hesitation or doubt, and many are simply relieved to live in peace, largely able to go about their nightly business without fear. Walker’s decisive handling of the Anika Lyle situation recently has been yet another example of why you can put your trust in our Sheriff.

Likes: Gadgets, well-tailored suits, competent people

Dislikes: Treachery, chaos, people who think they’re better than him

Rumours:

• You don’t do inhumane things for a hard-line Prince for over fifty years and still think like the rest of us. Don’t expect any mercy from our Sheriff Walker.
• Most people think Prince Lockwood holds the Sheriff’s leash, but John Walker’s the brains behind that operation.
• The Prince definitely knows what she’s doing with her pets - I heard she blood bonded the Sheriff when he decided he didn’t like her methods.
• The Sheriff had a sister, did you know that? Before he was recruited by the Prince, they were pretty close, but she hasn’t been heard from in at least half a century. Wonder where she went...

Character Profile: Steven Garrett

Morally flexible but fiercely loyal Hound

"I gotta say, kid, you’ve got some nerve. Would have been great if you'd got away with it. Problem is, you didn’t."

Clan: Nosferatu
Covenant: Invictus

Titles: Hound (City Status 3)
Court: High

Steven Garrett’s promotion didn’t surprise anyone. After years of paying his dues as an Invictus enforcer, Sheriff Walker recognised Garrett's usefulness and rewarded it. Garrett started out as a Nosferatu who was useful but not pretty, and he’s rumoured to have built up some boons with important members of his clan. You know, for a rainy day. He had it all figured out, that is until he was saddled with a newbie Carthian Hound, Jules Mendel. However, they quickly formed a resilient partnership and have become an effective discouragement to anyone who might try to advance themselves outside the Prince’s laws.

Steven is grumpy but a softie deep down (or so people who have seen ‘deep down’ say), and while he might be more accepting of the grey areas of the law than Jules (and not above profiting from them) his true loyalties aren’t well known. Mainly because no-one wants to try it and see. He usually only ends up at Low Court parties when there’s trouble, but he’s a reassuring presence in the city, usually found in a skeevy bar late at night. He’s known to have links to Kine law-enforcement agencies and criminal elements.

Likes: Things to go smooth (they never do), ‘mutually beneficial arrangements’, cats, artsy foreign films
Dislikes: Critics of his fashion choices, collateral damage, people dissing the Sheriff

Rumours:

• Garrett’s Embrace was illegal, but it was to cover an Invictus scandal, so the First Estate brushed it under the rug. After all, that’s what they do.
• He’s going Carthian. That’s the only explanation for why he hasn’t killed Jules yet. Watch him.
• The whole ‘gruff and uneducated’ thing is just an act to make people underestimate him.
• Ermenrich Fowler’s got something on him. That’s gotta smart.

Character Profile: Jules Mendel

Tough-as-nails Hound with a bad attitude

"Let them run. It won’t help."

Clan: Mekhet
Covenant: Carthian Movement

Titles: Hound (City Status 3)
Court: High

Jules Mendel was a surprising appointment to the position of Hound, a Carthian who would no doubt have to police rebels and dissenters as part of her job, but her initially rocky partnership with Steven Garrett, the other Hound and an Invictus, rapidly turned into a strong friendship that only an idiot would underestimate. Jules has since proven herself loyal and tenacious, and as long as the High Court are willing to let her unapologetic attitude towards authority go by, she seems to be quite happy being the strong arm of the government. Is this truly the Invictus meritocracy in action, promoting even a competent Carthian through the ranks?

A stunt driver in life, Jules is still a bit of a legend amongst racers in the city. While she doesn’t race any more, people who try to evade the Prince’s justice quickly discover that she’s definitely not out of practice. I wouldn’t try to get too close to this Kindred, though - she’s known for being blunt and antagonistic, and attempts to turn her against the Prince or the Sheriff are met with very little patience. Plenty of Kindred still don’t trust her, but they have her to thank for keeping them safe, and you can almost hear their jaws clench as they do it.

Despite mostly spending her time around the Low Court, Jules is High Court by virtue of her position.

Likes: High-speed driving, biker bars, classic rock, dogs
Dislikes: Snobs, bribes, posers

Rumours:

• Garrett’s only been paired with Mendel because the Prince wants her watched at all times. You wouldn’t want someone like that behind your back, right?
• The reason Jules isn’t driving any more is because she’s sworn an oath not to drive again until she has avenged her sire.
• Jules is secretly an Invictus plant in the Carthian Movement. Why else would they have promoted her?
• Jules uncovered a scandal right under the Prince’s nose, and that’s why she was made Hound. To shut her up.

Character Profile: Anika Lyle

Note: Since the publication of this profile, Anika Lyle was revealed to be a traitor against the Prince and the Kindred of this city, involved in blackmail, corruption and a direct attack upon the Arcology. She was arrested but died in her cell. The Keeper of the Low Court position has been reassigned.

Philanthropic Keeper of the Low Court

"You’re not talking about murdering Kine, are you? That’s not very nice at all!"

Clan: Ventrue
Covenant: Lancea et Sanctum

Titles: Keeper of the Low Court (City Status 3)
Court: Low

Anika Lyle’s dramatic rise from relative obscurity to the position of Keeper of the Low Court has impressed many Kindred, Low and High, and her ability to keep the Low Court in line without breeding resentment makes her a valuable asset to the city. She took over the role when the previous Keeper could no longer fulfil his duties, but if anyone had doubts about her suitability, she quickly dispelled them by proving herself competent and approachable. It is well known that she prefers to try and deal with minor infractions on an individual basis rather than passing people up the chain for punishment, and has made pleas for clemency in the past for Low Courtiers.

Like many of her clan, Anika is publicly involved in many philanthropic projects especially in and around the Arts and Theatre District in Tombland. Her flagship is the Brighter Futures Arts & Community Centre. She works with ex-convicts and disenfranchised people to help them get a start in life, and works with many arts and community organisations to provide opportunities in the art world. Her ethical approach has led many to re-evaluate their stereotypes of Clan Ventrue.

Likes: Helping people, pina coladas, Pride and Prejudice
Dislikes: Rudeness, cruelty, Internet memes

Rumours:

• Too good to be true? You betcha. I heard she only shows mercy to people she likes, and she sent someone to the Hounds for insulting her.
• If you think she sees her charity cases as people rather than pawns, you’re fooling yourself. She blackmails ex-cons into working for her, just when they think they’re respectable again. Blood will out.
• She had a very public spat with Carmilla Fitzgerald at the Blood Bank many years ago. Interesting how that all went away, huh?
• She deals drugs through Jack Snagsby, and keeps her public face and her secret life separate with the identity ‘Flyte’. Obviously, Brighter Futures is just a front.