04:15 : Whitechapel Project
08:40 : Mouse Guard
10:15 : Dogs in the Vineyard
17:00 : Houses of the Blooded
19:25 : Pie Shop
39:35 : Borderlands
43:45 : Sons of Anarchy
45:45 : The Colony
48:15 : Transformers 2
48:50 : Michael Bay Demanding Awesomeness
52:55 : Revolution!
53:50 : Chrononauts
56:30 : Mind Flex

Shoutouts
Rob: The Great Debate
Mike: The Venture Brothers
Art: Twilight Imperium
Paul: Bully Beatdown

Music : All music used with permission of Ghoultown™
- Background: Gunslinger -
Sponsors : Meta-Games Unlimited
Bear Swarm is a member of Spooky Outhouse Productions.

The 5 Minutes series are five minute long, one-host pieces on topics recorded wherever and released whenever.

This one is Rob sitting on his sofa with his iPod Touch recording his thoughts on Pie Shop released by Mr. Toad. Enjoy!

06:05 : World of Darkness: Inferno
07:55 : Houses of the Blooded
08:25 : Rogue Trader
08:40 : Unhallowed Metropolis
10:55 : Realms of Cthulhu
11:45 : Weird War II
11:55 : Trail of Cthulhu
13:40 : Pie Shop
25:15 : The End
27:50 : Ravaged Earth
29:15 : Requiem for Rome
36:15 : Anima
46:55 : Where the Wild Things Are
47:30 : The Road
48:35 : Paranormal Activity
49:30 : Zombieland

Shoutouts
Rob: The Digital Freemason
Paul: Transvestites <- Mike refuses to Google this to find a link.
Art: Hermaphrodites <- Mike refuses to Google this to find a link.
Carl: BPRD

That’s right, its a Devil’s Trap Doormat. You want to get your hands on one of these bad boys? Cruise your browser over to Specialtydoormats.com and place your orders! Their only $39.99 and look wicked awesome. We all have one. They are epic.

06:35 : Legend of the Five Rings
10:25 : CyberPunk 2020
12:55 : Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying
15:00 : Dogs in the Vineyard
17:15 : Houses of the Blooded
20:50 : Shotgun Diaries
22:25 : Wilderness of Mirrors
24:10 : 3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars
33:10 : Fallout 3
37:15 : Nerdcore Rising
40:45 : Twilight Imperium
44:00 : Ideology of Madness

Shoutouts
Rob: Down Under Gamers
Mike: MC Front-A-Lot
Paul: Against a Dark Background

07:15 : Legend of the Five Rings
11:10 : Cast a Deadly Spell
33:50 : Regulators
49:45 : Kicked in the Dicebags
53:00 : Titan Maximum
54:15 : Dexter
55:05 : Sons of Anarchy
57:00 : SCUBA
1:05:00 : Zombieland
1:05:25 : Mass Effect 2

Shoutouts
Rob: Darker Days Podcast
Mike: Charlie Wilson
Paul: Metalocalypse

32:45 : Rob’s new blog
33:35 : Whitechapel Project
36:05 : GAME
38:15 : Scarlett Johansson
39:20 : Jessica Alba
39:35 : Allison Mack
41:25 : Kicked in the Dicebags
44:00 : Traitor
44:55 : The Mutant Chronicles
45:45 : Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K)
46:25 : Lucky Number Slevin
48:40 : Sons of Anarchy
49:25 : 30 Rock
52:05 : Borderlands
52:35 : Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
57:55 : World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

Shoutouts
Rob: The Butcher Block
Mike: Titan Maximum
Paul: Twilight Imperium

36:15 : Supernatural
42:20 : Dogma
42:50 : Misha Collins
45:20 : Dresden Files
46:35 : Sons of Anarchy
48:20 : The Unit
50:45 : 30 Rock
53:30 : Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

Shoutouts
Rob: Brilliant Gameologists
Mike: Twilight Imperium

38:30 : Shadow Complex
41:50 : Overlord II
43:15 : 100 Bullets
43:40 : Qin: The Warring States
44:30 : Revolution!
48:00 : Knights of the Old Republic
48:55 : Houses of the Blooded play by post
54:25 : Murder By Death
56:05 : Puzzle Quest
56:35 : Final Fantasy Tactics
58:30 : Direct2Drive
59:05 : BioShock
01:00:15 : Supernatural
01:06:55 : Sons of Anarchy
01:07:15 : Henry Rollins
01:09:05 : Nathan Fillion
01:09:15 : Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

Shoutouts
Rob: Backseat Producers
Mike: Mass Effect: Galaxy
Elder: Borderlands
Paul: Qin: The Warring States

07:00 : Stephen Colbert
28:10 : Oregon Trail
34:05 : Sons of Anarchy
34:15 : Henry Rollins
35:45 : True Blood
36:45 : Hung
38:00 : Twilight
38:10 : Let the Right One In
39:40 : Supernatural
40:20 : The Dresden Files
41:25 : The Colony
45:05 : Freaks and Geeks
46:20 : Pineapple Express
49:10 : Qin: The Warring States
50:30 : Jade Empire
53:20 : Houses of the Blooded Play-By-Post (email Rob for more information)
53:55 : Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
54:35 : Mass Effect

Shoutouts
Rob: Atomic Array
Mike: SIFRP Game Master Screen
Matt: D&D Skill Powers

04:25 : Ultimate Toolkit
07:50 : Mage: The Awakening
19:50 : Rob cuts the episode to make Mike sound like a dick
20:35 : Overlord II
22:40 : Splosion Man
24:20 : Shadow Complex
25:10 : Batman: Arkham Asylum
35:05 : There Will Be Brawl
35:45 : Dexter
38:40 : The Colony
44:50 : Total Drama Island
45:40 : Sons of Anarchy
45:45 : Supernatural
47:45 : Battlestar Galactica

Shoutouts
Rob: The Adam Corolla Podcast
Mike:  There Will Be Brawl

14:25 : Houses of the Blooded
26:30 : Dark Sun
28:45 : Battlestar Galactica
29:40 : The Dresden Files
30:30 : Supernatural-inspired doormats
40:35 : Overlord II
41:40 : Mass Effect
42:30 : Netflix
43:00 : The Spy Factory
43:45 : Blazing Saddles
44:10 : Penn & Teller: Bullshit!
44:30 : The Visioneers
44:50 : Fallen
45:10 : There Will Be Blood
45:25 : The Midnight Chronicles
48:05 : The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
51:25 : Batman: Arkham Asylum

Shoutouts
Rob: Accidental Survivors
Mike: Victoriana
Matt: Geek Chic HQ
Artemis: Pimp: The Backhanding

00:00 : The Official Blog of Eddy Webb
00:00 : Memento Mori Theatricks

Shoutouts
No Shoutouts this week.

00:00 : The Tao of Zen Nihilism (John Wick’s LiveJournal)

Shoutouts
No Shoutouts this week.

Enjoy!

Hosts
Artemis Knight - Bear Swarm!m
Ryan - Save Against Frostbite
Fraser - Accidental Survivors
Jonathan - Kicked in the Dicebags

You can find the show here.

2:53 : Dresden Files Contest Winner
03:22 : Setting Creation Contest Winner
11:06 : Final Fantasy VII
11:11 : XenoGears
11:23 : Eternal Sonata
12:30 : Southland Tales
13:33 : Dexter
16:50 : Burn Notice
21:05 : Supernatural
21:40 : Battlestar Galactica
22:51 : The Unit
25:24 : Heros
30:38 : The Fly
32:03 : Firefly
32:19 : Farscape
32:33 : Buffy
33:16 : Star Trek
33:17 : Earth Final Conflict
34:11 : Jimi Hendrix
36:16 : Cowboy Bebop
36:45 : Family Guy
37:25 : Bleach
39:00 : Drive
39:50 : Deathrace
42:33 : Brimstone
42:55 : Ghost Rider (comics)
43:50 : Show Topic Begins
45:05 : The Strawman Conflicts Wiki

Shoutouts
Rob: Gen Con
Mike: Leverage
Elder: Diablo 3

15:00 : Houses of the Blooded
29:05 : 7th Sea
34:20 : Kicked in the Dicebags
35:20 : Save Against Frostbite
40:35 : GenCon
42:35 : The Book of Eli
44:30 : The Road
45:35 : Korgoth of Barbaria
46:35 : Dexter
51:00 : Harper’s Island
53:00 : Knights of Honor
55:40 : Final Fantasy 7
56:15 : Vantage Point
58:40 : Coraline
01:00:05 : Dresden Files

Shoutouts
Rob: Gotham by Gaslight
Mike: The Book of Eli
Jacob: Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying

32:50 : Weapons of Legacy
48:55 : Rob’s new ink
49:00 : GenCon
49:35 : Southland Tales
54:00 : Schindler’s List
54:10 : 21 Grams
54:15 : Requiem for a Dream, The Strangers, A Beautiful Mind
55:30 : Netflix
56:35 : Cicadas
57:40 : Save Against Frostbite
58:10 : Kicked in the Dicebags

Shoutouts
Rob: Next Generation Tattoo
Mike: Xenogears
Artemis: Owls

04:45 : Spooky Outhouse Message Boards
05:05 : Vincent Baker
17:55 : Houses of the Blooded
52:00 : Captain Black’s Sea Dogges
52:30 : Dragon’s Landing
53:40 : GenCon
56:00 : Rob’s Twitter feed, Mike’s Twitter feed
59:25 : Knights of the Old Republic
1:00:45 : Fable
1:08:05 : Champions Online
1:08:15 : Fallen Earth
1:08:50 : Final Fantasy XI
1:10:40 : Section 8
1:10:55 : MechWarrior 5
1:11:25 : District 9
1:12:20 : GI Joe
1:13:20 : GI Joe: Resolute
1:13:50 : Smallville

Shoutouts
Rob: Murder By Death
Mike: Black Summer
Artemis: Spooky Outhouse Showcase
Elder: Precoil

06:15 : Vanessa Lengies (hot Egyptian chick)
17:25 : Morocco
50:35 : Advent of an Empire
51:55 : Save Against Frostbite
52:00 : Spooky Outhouse Showcase, Kicked in the Dicebags
54:50 : Brilliant Gameologists
56:25 : Fear the Boot
56:45 : Dragon’s Landing
57:35 : Aron Head
59:00 : Burn Notice
1:03:45 : St. George’s Barbecue
1:08:30 : Call of Juarez
01:10:05 : Gun, Red Dead Revolver / Red Dead Redemption

Shoutouts
Rob: Old Jews Telling Jokes
Mike: St. George’s Barbecue
Artemis: The Colony
Jacob: Street Magic

04:15 : Darker Days Podcast Episode 5
05:15 : NEW CONTEST! Submissions go to contest@bearswarm.com
10:06 : The PodgeCast
10:58 : Kicked in the Dicebags
23:11 : 50 Fathoms
25:33 : GTA
26:05 : D&D
26:21 : Geist
27:30 : SAS
29:16 : Iron Kingdoms
35:06 : Dread
37:09 : The Cave of Tits
38:05 : Section 8
38:20 : South Peak
38:37 : Obsidian Entertainment
38:55 : Timegate
39:31 : Starship Troopers (Novel)
41:13 : Battlefield Series
43:07 : Fero has turned into R.I.P.
45:06 : The Sims 3
45:42 : Red Faction Guerrilla
50:03 : Gamers With Jobs
51:03 : StreetFighter IV
52:39 : Gunslinger
53:30 : Priest
56:09 : Eternal Sonata
56:59 : Lunar
57:22 : Grandia
58:20 : Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends
60:54 : Flapjack & Chowder

Shoutouts
Rob: Slugfest Games
Mike: Infinity
Artemis: Free Will
Elder: Unskippable

01:42 : Twitter
02:16 : Flapjack & Chowder
03:43 : Brilliant Gameologists
05:09 : D&D
06:11 : Podgecast
14:53 : Risk
15:13 : World of Warcraft
17:46 : Magic the Gathering
25:15 : Prince of the City
25:22 : A Game of Thrones
28:45 : Scion
28:56 : Hero
28:59 : Champions
29:10 : Dogs in the Vineyard
36:50 : Fallout 3: Point Lookout
37:06 : Ghostbusters
49:09 : Geist
54:56 : War of the Roses
56:00 : Silmarillion
58:46 : Furies of Calderon
59:37 : The Wheel of Time
1:00:38 : Dragonball Z abridged
1:03:13 : MST3K

Shoutouts
Rob: Mistress of the Dark
Mike: Demigod
Artemis: Jenn from the Trapcast

04:07 Gamestop
04:32 D&D
04:37 Magic: the Gathering
04:58 Kicked in the Dicebags
05:00 Houses of the Blooded
05:02 World of Darkness
05:35 Song of Ice & Fire
09:33 Shadowrun
16:15 D20 Modern
20:59 Knights of the Old Republic
25:34 Clone Wars CG series
27:46 d6 Star Wars
30:19 Ghostbusters
34:57 The Sims 3
37:23 Gamers with Jobs
40:10 Overlord 2
41:28 Pikmin
41:43 Get Smart
42:34 Balls of Fury
42:42 Superbad
43:22 Predator
45:39 Fallout 3
46:00 World of Warcraft (in case you don’t know what it is)
46:28 Demigod
46:39 Defense of the Ancients

Shoutouts
Rob: gbfans.com
Mike: Ebberon Players Guide
Artemis: Waffle House
Elder: woot.com

What is Backstory Friday? Every Friday there will be a new article showcasing the backstory of characters past and present. Characters range from various settings, systems, players, and writing styles. The whole point is to share our creative works, and potentially the creative works of our listeners. Perhaps one of these characters will inspire other Players or Gamemasters, but primarily they are for entertainment. Enjoy.
Who all can submit backstories? Anyone! Listeners, Fans, Hosts,  YOU! Just shoot any off to Backstory@BearSwarm.com
Who is this character? Give a brief rundown of your character, what system/setting he’s from and some details that might be relevant to understanding the story.

Backstory Title

The explosion was glorious.

Malcolm watched from a hilltop several miles away, listening via radio to the panicked voices of blast organizers as they scrambled to find out what had happened. He turned the radio off, dropped it to the ground, and walked away.

Getting back to the States from Somalia would have ordinarily been difficult, especially for a man who was now missing and presumed dead, but his new employer had already made all of the arrangements. Malcolm calmly strolled down the hill and climbed into a military-style Jeep, motioning to the driver that he was ready to go. As the vehicle lurched into motion, Malcolm slid a pair of stylish and expensive sunglasses over his eyes and smiled. Cal laughed from the back of the Jeep and started in with some brotherly ribbing over what he called Malcolm’s “flair for the dramatic.”

Malcolm had sort of fallen into his job designing foreign bases and camps for the United States government, but in retrospect he’d consider it to be the first step taken on the path to his own ascension. It would be there that he’d really honed his skills as a tactical planner and organizer. It would be there that he’d have access to information and plans that many high-ranking Pentagon officials would have had trouble getting their hands on. It would be there that he’d meet Cal, who would become his closest friend and eventually his Brother. It would be there that he’d sell information to Dominick Le’Salle, who would Embrace he and his Brother.

When he’d first met Dominick, it had been under the auspices of selling the man highly-sensitive information regarding several US military bases that his company had been contracted to plan and build. Cal had set the meeting up and was there to act as intermediary, in case of any disputes. There weren’t any; in fact, Malcolm and Dominick seemed to get along well. Malcolm thought the man was cultured and refined and polite, with a European flair and accent that he couldn’t quite place. And he was obviously rich, or at least represented someone who was, since he’d not balked at paying Malcolm a six-figure sum for the information he had.

Cal congratulated Malcolm on his new found source of high wealth, and the two went out for the most expensive steaks and beer that they could find. Cal had already sold a fair amount of information to Dominick on his own, so this was nothing new to him. He’d been the one to suggest to Malcolm, after his wife had reamed him particularly hard after their divorce, that there was a way for him to really make some money. The two had met at a conference for military contractors in the early 90’s and became fast friends. After his divorce and his first sale, Malcolm relocated to America’s west coast, both to get away from his shattered personal life in the United Kingdom and to be closer to his best friend.

If the two hadn’t been thick as thieves (literally) before, they certainly were now. Both had a healthy appetite for fine women, expensive food, and good drinks. For years they lead a wealthy lifestyle powered by their sale of confidential information to Dominick and whoever he represented, until Dominick offered the both of them permanent positions in the organization he represented. “A better life,” he’d told them, wearing a suit that cost more than the average person made in a year. “Power and influence and money. All I… all we ask is your loyalty.”

After discussing it, Malcolm and Cal had both agreed so long as Dominick kept the two of them close together. That had been six months ago. It had taken longer to coordinate their faked deaths than Malcolm had originally believed, but now it was done and they were going to really start living.

After meeting with them back in the States, Dominick had finally begun to tell them the truth: who he was, what he was, and what he was offering them. The two men were understandably skeptical, until Dominick spilled his blood into a cup and commanded each of them to drink.

They did, and it was as if they’d never really been alive before.

Over the course of four years, Dominick molded his two new ghouls into what he needed. Both were already intelligent and educated men with expensive tastes, but he put them through the best tactical and weapon training that money could (legally) buy. Both attended regular marksmanship training courses with an American company called Front Sight, and Dominick had them learn to defend themselves with knives and swords as well.

Cal had a better head for overarching strategy and planning, while Malcolm was better at tactics and execution. Finally, on the eve of the new millennium, Dominick gave both of them the Embrace, declaring them his Childer.

After acclimating to this new change in their existence, the two Kindred joined their Sire in Los Angeles, where he had been planning to set up for more than a decade. Preparations had already been made through various channels within the Invictus (not to mention their own extended family, who were eager to gain a foothold on the west coast), and their integration was relatively painless.

Since that time, Dominick has concentrated on solidifying his own power, both within the Invictus as well as the city as a whole. The two Brothers have been left more or less to their own devices, and have been exploring the city and its nightlife extensively. Neither misses an opportunity to be seen at Court, and both seem to be regarded by most of the Kindred of LA as young and ambitious neonates, likable enough despite the arrogance that is fairly common among their clan. Neither has taken the Vows of the Invictus, though both have expressed interest to their Sire.

Both have also been instructed by their Sire to seek admittance to the Scourge, though they were told to make certain that they did not run in the same Coterie within the fledgling organization. Though they readily shared information back and forth, Cal and Malcolm passed the trials independently of one another.

Keep watching www.bearswarm.com for Bear Swarm! Updates.

All music used with permission of Ghoultown™

(Note: With this release, all older bumpers have been removed and archived from public use)

2:11 : Kicked in the Dicebags
2:25 : Mike Mearls
3:26 : Old World of Darkness
3:40 : New World of Darkness
3:41 : New Coke
5:29 : Forgotten Realms
12:32 : Wilderness of Mirrors
19:06 : My Name is Bruce
19:56 : Let the Right One In
20:56 : Dracula (1931)
21:38 : Romeo & Juliet
21:56 : Red Faction Guerrilla
22:54 : Tribes 2
23:49 : GTA
23:51 : Mercenaries
23:56 : Unreal Tournament
25:26 : DieCon
25:44 : PodgeCast
26:39 : Kansas
26:35 : Supernatural
26:59 : VisionCon
27:37 : IPR
27:52 : L5R
27:58 : Warmachine & Hordes
29:38 : Klobasnek (not actually Kolache close though)
29:51 : Popeyes
30:55 : Ipod Touch
30:59 : Iphone
31:12 : Zune
31:50 : A Hymn Before Battle
32:04 : Gust Front
32:08 : A Game of Thrones LCG
33:13 : Gloom

Shoutouts
Rob: Peggle
Mike: That Guy with the Glasses
Artemis: Tower of the Hand

Music : All music used with permission of Ghoultown™
- Background: Gunslinger -
Sponsors : Meta-Games Unlimited
Bear Swarm is a member of Spooky Outhouse Productions.

The 5 Minutes series are five minute long, one-host pieces on topics recorded wherever and released whenever.

This first one is Rob sitting on his sofa with his old MP3 player recording his thoughts on the quick start rules for Geist: The Sin-Eaters released by White Wolf for Free RPG Day. Enjoy!

What is Backstory Friday? Every Friday there will be a new article showcasing the backstory of characters past and present. Characters range from various settings, systems, players, and writing styles. The whole point is to share our creative works, and potentially the creative works of our listeners. Perhaps one of these characters will inspire other Players or Gamemasters, but primarily they are for entertainment. Enjoy.
Who all can submit backstories? Anyone! Listeners, Fans, Hosts,  YOU! Just shoot any off to Backstory@BearSwarm.com

Backstory Title
Aaron Cash was only fourteen years old when his father died. His father wasn’t a terribly well liked guy so the funeral was small and quiet, mostly close family and not many friends. When Aaron and his mother made their way up to the front to pay their last respect to the deceased Aaron displayed his affection for his father in the only way he was ever taught. He spit on him. A gasp when up from those in attendance… everyone except his mother and Uncle Max.

After that things returned to normal, except with his mother picking up a second job to help support her and Aaron. She worked endlessly just to keep food on the table and rent paid. If it wasn’t the monthly visits from Uncle Max their lives would have surely fallen apart. Then while Aaron and his friends were out celebrating their high school graduation another tragedy struck Aaron, his mother passed away.

A home invasion, as the police told it. A single mother home alone while her son was out celebrating graduation with his friends. What a tragedy. At least that was what everyone told him at her funeral. For the second time in four years Aaron found himself walking up to a casket, spitting on the inhabitant, and listening to the shocked gasps. Gasps from everyone except Uncle Max.

Aaron then feel into gang life. It had always been there, just on the periphery. His friends were in gangs and they were always hounding him to join up. With no family, except for Uncle Max, he had no where else to turn. Aaron fell head-first into a hard-drinking and violent lifestyle. He lived that way for years, fighting and drinking and gang-banging with the best of them on the streets of LA. Oh, and there were still those monthly visits from Uncle Max.

Then he was shot, left to die.

Luckily Aaron was shot on the day of Uncle Max’s next visit, and Uncle Max embraced him in that dark alleyway as the last ounce of his life faded from him. Max had been grooming Aaron for the embrace for a while now, he had gotten permission a month back and was just waiting for the right time. In that alley, it was then or never and Max refused too let the Circle of the Crone rob him of his childe.

Over time Max taught Aaron the ways of the Kindred. He learned about the Clans, about the social hierarchy and about what he could do. He learned how to hunt and how to survive. He learned the truth about his parents and his childhood. He learned about what REALLY happened to his father and mother. He learned about what the Circle had done to him.

His father had made a pact with Uncle Max, once a month Max could come and feed upon his wife in exchange for financial stability. Financial stability that went mostly to feeding’ Aaron’s father’s alcoholism. The other part of the agreement was that if Uncle Max wanted to he could embrace Aaron. Aaron’s father agreed to these terms and that is what introduced Uncle Max into his life.

After his father’s death Aaron had read a suicide note his father had written before he’d jumped off the twenty-story rooftop of the apartment building where they lived. The note, at the time, didn’t make sense. It sounded nothing like his father. Now, with the full picture at his feet, he understood.

“The things I’ve done to my wife and my son are unforgivable. I know that. Nothing is waiting for me on the other side except for Hell, but maybe I can grant my family some mercy by ending their own torment early. The torment that was at my hands. It might sound hollow, but I’m sorry. I deserve much worse than this.”

His father’s death wasn’t suicide, it was murder. Uncle Max had came to visit once and caught Aaron’s father drunk and beating his wife. Max flew into a rage and drug Aaron’s father to the roof and threw him off. But a deal was a deal and he kept returning month after month to feed from Aaron’s mother and help look after Aaron.

His mother’s death was a home invasion, but not the kind he was lead to believe. Max had some serious enemies in the Circle of the Crone and they decided to take apart his food supply. Aaron’s mother was only one in a dozen casualties that night, as an indirect strike against Max. Except, like most things in Kindred society, things weren’t what they seemed.

Aaron’s own death was just another Circle strike against Max. After the loss of his herd, Max attacked a few members of the Circle. So in retaliation they had dropped some information into the right hands to get Aaron alone and put him in the sights of a rival gang. The Circle knew that Max requested to embrace Aaron and was granted permission. They intended to rob Max of his childe, but they failed.

By the time he was presented at Court, Aaron had been told he needed a new name. He knew he had to separate himself from what he’d been when he was human, and was progressing well on the way to fully accepting this new reality, his existence as a monster and a predator, when he saw his mother again.

The sight of her had thrown him immediately into Frenzy. Max had been the one to bring him down, all the while screaming at the Circle for bringing her here when they knew well and good that this was going to be Aaron’s introduction to society. It was just another strike against Max, trying to get his childe killed.

When he woke up weeks later, Max had tried to explain things to him. His mother had been a Circle secret. No one knew, not even Max, until that night. They had drug her out into the Fringes, outside of the Prince’s domain, and Embraced her. Then they brought her back in to cause Aaron to Frenzy in court, earning him Final Death. They had intended to kill her but things didn’t turn out how they planned.

When the Circle’s treachery was discovered the Prince ordered the Cult behind it outlawed. Prince Marsh said this rivalry had gone too far and that they were no longer welcome in Los Angeles. The members were exiled and their leader put to Final Death. Aaron’s mother was taken in by another Circle Cult and has become a Stormcrow, a Morrigan of the Circle. Oh, and she’s called Belladonna now.

Soon after, his Sire gave him the name Dispater. For whatever legal documents he needed from the mortal world he could keep his first name, but to Kindred he was just Dispater; Dis for short.

Since then, Max has been looking for something to keep his childe occupied; he recognizes that as much as he hates it, Dis needs some sort of structure to be productive. Max is more than capable of keeping Dis under control, but he’s of no particular use to him right now, as wild as he is.

Dis has spent several years on a fairly tight leash, rarely allowed in court away from his sire and meeting only a handful of other Kindred. Max’s patience is starting to run thin, however, and he’s decided that it’s time for Dis to start standing on his own and making himself useful.

02:50 : Ideology of Madness
33:20 : Logan’s Run
36:15 : Kicked in the Dicebags
37:40 : Save Against Frostbite
38:30 : Loveline
40:05 : Superbad
43:20 : Natal
47:10 : EndWar
48:30 : Assassin’s Creed 2
49:45 : Star Wars: The Old Republic
51:20 : Alan Wake
52:55 : Agent
53:50 : Modern Warfare 2
56:10 : Bully: Scholarship Edition
59:55 : Honor of the Clan

Shoutouts
Rob: Zombie Nirvana
Mike: Chardonnay Apartments
Artemis: Def Jam Vendetta

What is Backstory Friday? Every Friday there will be a new article showcasing the backstory of characters past and present. Characters range from various settings, systems, players, and writing styles. The whole point is to share our creative works, and potentially the creative works of our listeners. Perhaps one of these characters will inspire other Players or Gamemasters, but primarily they are for entertainment. Enjoy.
Who all can submit backstories? Anyone! Listeners, Fans, Hosts,  YOU! Just shoot any off to Backstory@BearSwarm.com

Backstory Title
In 1998, Alexander Wright was an up-and-coming cellist, a rising star renowned for his musical prowess, his affluent upbringing and pedigree, and his movie-star good looks. His funeral was quite an event in the world of classical music, full of pomp and flair and eulogies about what could have been.

“If only he’d stayed with us longer, who knows what great things Alexander could have done? Who knows how high his star would have risen? We all know that he will bring even more beauty to the choruses of Heaven, as their golden harps are joined by Alexander’s cello.”

His funeral had been closed-casket, and the who’s-who of Los Angeles high society had all been in attendance. It was a black tie affair, full of beautifully-sad dirges and poetic, stirring eulogies. He’d tried to listen to as much of it as he could from inside the coffin, but it was hard to hear. Everything echoed strangely, and he was so damned tired. The whispers had urged him to stay awake for as long as he could, that this could be the last time he’d hear people speak of the beauty he’d brought to the world. The whispers had lent him some small strength of will that day, enough that he remembered most of the event later, even if he hadn’t been sure at the time that he was even awake.

After Xio had dug him out of his grave (literally), he took to calling himself Addison Reid. It had a New England ring to it, he thought, classy and elegant and sophisticated. He’d never play the cello again on stage, in front of hundreds of listeners. He’d never be a part of that world again, but at the very least he’d sound like he could be. He never wore it, but he still had the tuxedo he’d been buried in. It was the only thing he’d kept from his mortal days; his cello had been donated to his high school for display, and was out of his reach.

None was more surprised of his sudden death than Elizabeta, the captivating woman that Addison had hoped to someday make his wife. What Addison didn’t know at the time was that Elizabeta was a vampire (a Daeva, specifically), and that she was grooming him for the Embrace. Xio Jacks beat her to the proverbial punch, with the help of a word into the right ear from William Temporus.

The first time they’d run into one another at court, Addison had been thrilled to see her. She was a breath of fresh air, almost literally; a reminder of what it had been to be human, of what he had wanted so badly in life now in his grasp again. She hadn’t recognized him at first, and when she finally did she was revolted. Addison had felt the beast clawing at his mind then, screaming at him to rip her pretty little head off and shove it down the hole of her throat. He was still an artist, dammit! He could still create beautiful music, he could still tell charming jokes and be the center of the party, if only they would let him!

He was still beautiful, if she could only see past his skin. But she couldn’t, and it infuriated him. He promised himself that someday he would make her want him again. He’d make her want him so bad she’d beg for his love.

And when she begged, he would laugh at her.

Xio had watched him talk to Elizabeta. After she’d walked away and Addison had returned to his Sire’s side, he’d seemed almost amused. Addison was too angry to ask him what was so fucking funny at the time; he was afraid that Xio would respond, and that the answer would have driven him fully over the edge into frenzy. Addison had no interest in a physical fight with his Sire, mostly because he knew he’d lose.

(Once, Addison had asked why Xio had chosen him. His Sire had told him to mind his own business, with a look that brooked no argument.)

In time, Addison’s naked rage cooled into a distant, almost petulant contrary attitude. He looked for insults in conversation, seeking an excuse to take out his frustration on anyone who seemed like an easy target. Mister Temporus helped with that.

William Temporus was Xio’s Sire, so in a way that made them family. William had explained that part, even while he straightened his black bow-tie and made sure his hair was still straight. When William had asked why Addison was so angry all the time, he’d answered him flat and honest. William had just shrugged. “Then change it. You think you have no choice but to dress in rags and live in the sewers?”

“I embraced Xio. You carry the blood of my line. In time, and with work, it might awaken.”

That was all he’d really needed to hear; a promise of hope, the possibility that someday he might again don a suit and tie and not be looked at like a walking contradiction. The rage was still there under the surface, but it was tempered a bit now. The whispers seemed somewhat glad that he was in less turmoil, and spoke to him more frequently now.

It was so hard to understand what they were saying, but sometimes… sometimes, Addison felt like he could almost make out the words.

Maybe that would come in time, too.

02:25 : Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends
04:55 : Save Against Frostbite
33:00 : Scion
33:25 : Midnight
36:55 : Ecto Cooler
37:10 : Skittles Vodka
38:25 : Big Boss Man
39:10 : Netflix
39:20 : MI-5
39:55 : Rome
40:05 : JCVD
43:50 : Enter the Dragon
44:10 : How Bruce Lee Changed the World
44:40 : His Name was Jason
47:55 : Piers Anthony
48:10 : Eragon
48:45 : Bully: Scholarship Edition

Shoutouts
Rob: Rob Zombie’s Halloween II
Mike: Bruce Lee
Artemis: Catch 22
Jacob: City of Bones

What is Backstory Friday? Every Friday there will be a new article showcasing the backstory of characters past and present. Characters range from various settings, systems, players, and writing styles. The whole point is to share our creative works, and potentially the creative works of our listeners. Perhaps one of these characters will inspire other Players or Gamemasters, but primarily they are for entertainment. Enjoy.
Who all can submit backstories? Anyone! Listeners, Fans, Hosts,  YOU! Just shoot any off to Backstory@BearSwarm.com

Backstory Title
Gage Kopper was born to a mid-class police family in Kansas City suburb to an abusive police officer father, a mother who had lost touch with reality by the time Gage was twelve and a mean older brother who was as abusive as his father. Gage learned quick how to take care of himself as no one else seemed to care to do so and it was with little surprise that at the age of near seventeen after having the crap beaten out of him one too many time that Gage ran away from home and never looked back.

Life on the streets was hard, even harder than his abusive home had been but Gage was determined to never return there and was willing to steal for his daily bread. Gage found other such minded youths who held up in a abandoned office building, they were not a gang or anything just kids trying to survive and live as they wished. Gage made it four months on the streets before he was forcefully removed from them after a ‘raid’ gone badly and he was left high and dry by his fellow thieves to be nabbed up by the police. When Gage’s father learned of this he came down visit Gage personally was allowed to talk to his son privately. During this talk Gage was beaten to the point of needed medical treatment but as always Gage’s police connections made sure that the incident was quickly forgotten and Gage was quietly sent off to youth lockup for nine months.

Those months in lockup helped to harden Gage and gave in a hatred for being locked up and a deep desire to never see him in such a place again. Gage knew that Kansas City would never be safe from his father reach and once out he would have to leave. On his day of release Gage step out of the prison to find his father waiting for him, expecting to take his son home but Gage had other plains and fought back as soon as his father walked up too him then while his father was still surprised by the punch across the face Gage bolted running like a wild animal for it’s life.

Gage had not only stood up to the man that had terrorized him his whole life but had taken to the wind leaving Kansas City heading south. Gage hitchhiked his way to down Arkansas and on into Texas, staling, barrowing, begging and taking all in the name of survival. During this time Gage spent as much as his time leaving under the stars in the rural areas as he did in urban areas learning how to survive on what little he could scrounge up. Gage learned to keep away from most that could detain or harm him as he silently wound his way further and further southward on his journey.

It would be in Phoenix that Gage’s life would take a turn that would help him to learn the skills that he so realizes on to survive even today. Gage on day was stealing some junk food from a truck when the owner walked up on Gage taking him by surprise after a short fight the owner a man named Eddie Roland handcuffed Gage to his passenger side door. Gage doesn’t even know to this day what caused Eddie to take him in but the bounty hunter took pity or a liking on him and took him on as an apprentice as such and Gage’s life changed from runaway to finder of runners.

Eddie would be Gage’s teacher and friend from the next eight years as Gage learned the ways of a hunter of men a job that he quickly took a likely too. During their time together Gage became a skilled hunter and capture of criminals of all types. Eddie and Gage walked that fine line between the hunters and criminals they hunted breaking laws as they saw fit to get the job done but a code Eddie did have and he passed in on down to Gage. The biggest rule was that you always keep innocents out of the job and the next was you before the job a dead hunter is nothing but useless grave filler.

Eddie had been known to take unofficial jobs from time to time and a few months after turning twenty six Gage and Eddie was offered a job to hunt down a man by the name of James Buford a old school biker who had crossed a business man in Chicago. It seemed that James ram with a gypsy type group that traveled the roads with no pattern and the only leads where several months old. Gage and Eddie hit the road looking for this James Buford hoping to find something that would lead them to their target.

It would not be until they had been on the road for three weeks seemingly always a month or more behind James and his crew that they would truly find their target’s trail when the stumbled onto a murder seen in a dive of a road side diner. The three victims found inside where all killed by hunting arrows and then gutted and skinned like animals the only reason that Eddie and Gage believed that is was James’ crew was that they left behind strange symbols, ones they had seen at one of the crew’s camp sites. It would not be for another five days before the two caught up with James and his crew but on that night it was Gage and Eddie who were being hunted.

Even today Gage can’t fully remember just what happened that night on the side of I75 but on that deserted stretch of highway Gage and Eddie came across James and his crew and in moment they became the hunted. Eddie didn’t make it long falling to men who acted more like wolves than humans and the only way that Gage survived was the fact that his fear had forced him to rely on pure animal instances and those action are what James saw and admired as he took Gage down like the prey he was but for his the valiant case he had given him and his kin James gifted Gage with the right to be a true hunter.

The next night when Gage awoke he was a Vampire the newest member of a coven of Circle of Crone Nomads and he was child to James Buford the leader of the Hunt a Gangrel who lead all hunts for the coven. Gage’s life would be that of pup learning at the wolf’s feet seeing the world with a hunter eye and truly seeing the nature of all things, man and beast. James was a demanding teacher but a fare one who expected much of Gage but allowed him to find his own way within bounds.

Life among the coven of eleven vampires, seven of which were sires, was a tight net community that moved from place to place that the whim took them. The coven was a new family to Gage one that he feared at first as the idea of a family of any kind scared him. Gage keep to the fringes of his coven not make any connection except with his sire but that was until three years later when a new child would come to the coven. Niki Kim came into the coven when she was embraced by a Deva vampire by the name of Alveran, Niki was the flower to Gage’s thorns and as the two you nest members of the coven they found comfort in one another.

Gage was compelled by Niki’s innocent looking face and an old code he had once held too was rekindled by her eyes. Being only nineteen at her embraced Niki was a breath of new spirit and many tried to advantage of her, but Gage ended up in more pack fights protecting her than for any other reason a fact that Niki would eventually come to recognize and even use to her advantage sparingly.

As all member of the coven you became a neonate at the age of thirteen and it was only a few months later a few days after the coven had arrived on the outskirts of L.A. that Gage would take a step into another chapter in his life practically without thought. It was during a feeding when on of the new children of the coven had stepped over his bounds and pushed Niki out of the way when Gage attacked him outside of the pack dispute circle. In the ensuing fight Gage attacked the upstart and sent him into torpor for his crimes Gage was banished. It was so some great surprise to Gage when the coven also banished Niki after declaring her a neonate for her part in the incident and the two were presented to the L.A. court as left behind by their coven to fend from themselves.

Enjoy!

Hosts
David – The Podge Cast
Scott – Story Shtrick
Rob – Bear Swarm
Rib – The Downuder Gamer Show

You can find the show here.

1:48 Legend of the Five Rings
2:23 D&D
4:13 Battletech
24:40 Starwars Saga Edition
29:55 Fallout 3 Broken Steel
36:59 Star Trek

Shoutouts
Rob: Frankenstein
Mike: MS Saga
Artemis: Fits

Backstory Title

In a darkened room a man sits behind a desk, his hand caresses an old leather bound journal. He heaves a sigh and then picks up the book and pages through it.

11/22/1995
My name is Vladmir Koshenko, I am Russian immigrant living in Los Angeles, and something is wrong in this world.

My life was as normal as it could be, considering that I was born in Archangel and in training for the Olympics. My family was well regarded, my father a physicist for the motherland, and my mother a chemist. For schooling I had private tutors, and a personal instructor for fencing. My family consisted of myself, my father Nikola, my mother Miya, and my siblings Sergei and a younger sister Zaria.

My family defected to America in 1984 when I was fourteen, all except my brother whom had gotten into a fight with my father the week before. I’m not sure what the fight was about, but I remember the shouting and the broken dishes clearly. My brother walked out that evening. The next week at a fencing meet in Okinawa instead of heading back to the Russian embassy my parents, my sister, and myself were escorted to a plane by men in black suits. The plane took us to America. Since then I haven’t seen the motherland, nor my brother. We’d become political refugees.
The culture shock was immediate, I found myself subject to a lot of prejudice, constantly picked on in school, my accent marking me as an outsider. With few friends I stuck my nose into my books and tried, unsuccessfully to stay out of fights. There were many scuffles because I was different, many trips to seen the principal. How could I explain that I had to beat the boy down with a pipe, if only to keep the other four off of me, all they could see was that one boy was in the hospital, and that I had put him there. I was forced to switch school after that, but I learned. The first day I picked one fight, and they learned not to mess with me.

Then the world changed, the USSR collapsed Russia and the commies were no longer a threat. More immigrants flooded into the city, my heritage, became less of an issue. I graduated High School and went to college; it proved to be a good time in my life. I worked hard putting myself through the bio-chemistry program as courier, I had friends, was on the fencing team and things were going well. My family had integrated; my father teaches physics at UCLA, my mother works at an aquarium, and my sister was becoming a typical rebellious American teenager. We had our problems, my sister especially, oh the troubles she got herself into, staying out till all hours of the mornings, getting arrested for trespassing in the abandoned theater. Every time though I’d bail her out, she was after all, my little sister.

After college I got a job as a researcher at a bio-tech firm, there I met Selene; she worked the front desk for the corporation; a slender beauty, redheaded and fierce, as passionate as a tiger, and gentle as a summer breeze. We dated for nine months before announcing our engagement. Life was good. Then my little sister went missing. She had fallen in with a bad crowd and the police only gave it a cursory investigation. But she was my blood, that wasn’t good enough for me, I needed answers. So I went to find them myself.

I started piecing her life together, getting a picture of where she went and what she was up to. It seemed she’d gotten into urban exploration; I started visiting some of the places she wrote about in her notebook.

I visted the first place tonight, there’s a dumpster in a culvert in a bad area of town. When I went to check it out, I could swear that I heard sounds coming from it, like an injured animal crying out. Unable to resist I went over to the dumpster to lift up the lid, when I peered in I must have inhaled some strange hallucinogen because what I saw… what I saw was a writhing mass of dead babies all crying and crawling over each other. Startled I jumped back and the lid slammed close, the sound stopped. I took a couple of deep breaths and gathered my nerve to peer back inside, no babies, no sounds, just plenty of garbage, plenty of needles.
Tonight I went to the graveyard, her notebook said she could hear the pleas of Jonah Bachman. I went to the graveyard, and searched about late at night, no one else was there, but for a moment, for just a brief second I could swear, I heard someone’s muffled screams, let me out they cried, let me out, I’m scarred…

The man flips a few more pages.

04/01/1996
Things have gone awry, I’ve not slept well for the past month. What did Zaria get into? I’ve used up all my sick time at work, but I don’t care I have to find some answers. Tonight I’m heading to the alleyway she wrote about.
I saw it, I saw what she saw. It was sundown I stood on a fire escape looking down. Out of the sewers the rats crawled, they began attacking each other, the squeeks and cries of their pain as they began to eat each other sent shivers down my spine. As their numbers dwindled I noticed they had begun to grow. The feast was gory, it was horrifying, yet I could not tear my eyes away. Then there was only one left, as large as a dog. I looked at me, I mean it LOOKED at me, and I swear it said something before it scampered through the alleyway and out of sight.

I see why she became obsessed, I might be a bit obsessed too. But now I know, there’s more to see out there than what the surface hides. In the shadows if one peers closely one can see the shapes of the things that lurk in the dark.

The man flips the page.

04/10/1996
I ended up in jail today, the cops caught me breaking into an abandoned hospital. Selene wouldn’t bail me out, she left her ring at the apartment sitting upon my desk. My life is falling apart, but I have to know, I have to know what the secrets are. I’m going to check out the hospital again tonight.

The man flips a few pages more.

10/13/1997
I’ve got to get things back together if I don’t I’m going to get fired. My parents are on my case, telling me to let it go, to get on with my life. I can’t yet, just like I can not tell them what I’ve seen. They don’t need to know the horrors this world holds. Tonight is the last night I’ve got one more place to check I’ve seen things that should not exist, cannot exist. Men who take wing and fly off of buildings, dogs with snake tails, tonight I’m going to check out an abandoned subway station, it was the last place my sister visited according to her journal.

The next few pages are soaked in dried blood.

12/12/1997
I never made it to the subway station, I never found out where Zaria disappeared to. Instead I found a monster, his name is Kostya Fedotov, and he’s made me a monster too.

The man continues skimming through the journal.

01/02/1998
I miss the sun, I long to feel it’s warmth, but I’m scared, I don’t want to burn. Kostya has taught me some of what I am, of what we… kindred, ha kindred, fucking monsters is what we are. He showed me how to feed. I… I… killed the first one, her blood… it. I’m a monster, but I can’t end it. Kostya is here for tonight’s lesson.

There is hope, Kostya told me, there is hope. He spoke today of a group of kindred who can walk in the sun, who never have to feed, who never struggle with the beast within. He called them the Ordo Dracul, he said they’re scientists I guess that’s why he choose me. So tonight he shared more about our… condition, and I began teaching him what I knew of science.

The man skims a few more pages before reading again

02/10/1998
I loathe him, and yet I must thank him. He’s turned me into a monster, a wreched thing denied the sunlight. Yet he’s given me an eternity to plumb the depths of this worlds secrets. As a mortal I thought science had the answers, then my eyes opened to the enormity of the truth, all around us there are secret things, dark and terrible hiding in the shadows. With his dark gift I have the time to learn those secrets.

Another man enters the room and speaks to the first, “So Sergei, did you find what you were looking for in that book?”

Sergei sets down the book and smiles.

In a small basement apartment Vladmir Koshenko sits down and reads a few of his last entrys.

11/13/2007
My sire has cut me loose, I’m off the chain so to speak. He damned me for an eternity so he could have a mere ten years of my life in which to plumb the depths of my mind for information. Svolahk. For that he took me away from my life, my search for Zaria. I’ll never again see my little sister, nor my parents. Oh I look in on my parents from time to time, but never can I see them, never shall I talk with them, laugh with them, enjoy a meal with them.

I’ve gotten a place of my own, it’s not terribly secure but it’s what I have at the moment. I’ll have to make a new life for myself, a new identity, but such things require time and money. I have plenty of the former and I’m working on the latter. For now this shall suffice.

I’m lonely, and I miss the sun.

Vladmir flips ahead a few pages

02/28/2008
I’ve perhaps found someone suitable to my purposes, her name is Danielle Jones. She’s intelligent enough, works swing shift as a Forensics Investigator. On her off time she’s a bit of a party girl, which maybe a problem, or it could be usefull as my introduction to her. Further study of the subject shall be required.

00:00 : Jim FUCKING Butcher!
04:40 : New contest information.  Email entries to contest@bearswarm.com
06:30 : Turn Coat
14:05 : Mean Streets
40:30 : The Dresden Files RPG
48:05 : The White Wolf Blogcast
49:40 : Podgecast
51:10 : The Avenger
52:15 : Andrew is a badass
52:50 : The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
54:50 : Supernatural

Shoutouts
Rob:  Podgecast Episode wherein Mike’s mom is discussed.  Seriously.
Mike:  The Avenger Ultimate Gaming Table
Artemis:  Shelfari
Jacob:  FERO

Backstory Title
Ronald Anderson was born to Jeffery and Martha Anderson on June 8th 1965. The Andersons were a middle class family who lived in the suburbs of West Gate. Ronald was an only child growing up and an avid reader. For much of his youth he was socially inept preferring to bury himself in books rather than engage in the games and social events of the other children. He was an honor student through school and remained an outcast socially, although he was always the first one people came to if they needed help with any of there school work. During high school his parents pushed him to join the school’s drama club and he came out of his shell. He never gave up his reading but did start to attend more social events and when people came to him for information. He graduated Valedictorian of his class.

After graduation he went on to attend Harvard University double majoring in History and Religion and receiving a minor in Library Science. The university was a fresh start for him socially and he didn’t have the stereotype riding over him that he had in high school. He attended parties and other events (although he imagined that these were a bit more tame than what was happening at the state schools). At one of the parties in 1984 he met, and later fell in love with, Elizabeth D’Amato. She was the daughter of a Senator Al D’Amato of New York. Over two years their relationship grew more serious but was kept quiet because Elizabeth knew her father would not want to her to marry any one who was not a player in the political circles. During his senior year at the university he was startled by a knock at the door late one night. There were two police officers standing in the hall of the dormitory. He was asked to come with them, it was concerning Elizabeth. He agreed went with them. He was taken to the police station (not the hospital as he had feared) and taken to an interrogation room. Elizabeth had been scheduled to go back to New York three days ago and attend an event her family was putting on. He was told she had not shown up and there was no sign of her. They had been looking into it for the last two days and he was now a suspect in her disappearance. No charges ever came due to the disappearance but she was never found. The event had a traumatic effect on Ronald. He reverted back to his book worm state consuming himself in his studies. He graduated Sigma Cum Laude.

Despite graduating with the honors from one of the best universities in the country he returned to his hometown and began to work in the local libraries. With in three years he took over as head of the main branch and another two years later he was head of the library. His promotions were not due to the fact that he was good at managing the people but the books. It was not uncommon for him to the spend weeks at the library only leaving to go home and change cloths and shower. No matter what any one did to try cheer him up he just fell deeper into his studies. One night when he was leaving late he looked across the street to and saw a woman and just for an instant he thought it was Elizabeth. When he looked back to the spot she stood she was gone. As time passed he kept catching glimpses of her face when he was at the library too late. He began to think that he was going crazy. Ronald buried himself deeper into his books as it was the only time he did not feel the pain of his loss. The deeper he fell into despair the darker the subjects of his study got.

One night just over 21 years after the fateful visit from the police he was studying late in the library just getting ready to close up and force the any remaining patrons out when he looked up from his book and saw her just as he remembered. She sat down and began talking. It was a full two minutes before the shock wore off of Ronald and he began to hear her words. He had missed the first part of what had happened that night but it some how got her tied to the the area around the university. She then told me that five years ago she did something to get out and came to the city looking for him. It didn’t make much sense as to why she hadn’t found me right away. Mother still lived where she did when he was young. His number was listed in the phone book but he didn’t push the issue he was just glad she was here. After talking for a while they headed back to her place where after enjoying each other’s company she drained him of his blood. He was then embraced.

After the embrace the next few months were spent with Elizabeth showing Ronald the basics of being a vampire. Learning to feed, explaining the basic rules of vampires society and a brief overview of the hierarchy of the Kindred in the city. It was explained to him that Elizabeth had to ensure his services as an information broker to Merriam Wallace as part of the deal that got permission to get Ronald embraced and that it had taken her five years to acquire the permission to do so. It was six months before Ronald was introduced to another Kindred. That is when he met Wallace and was started to learn what was expected of him.

40:02 Skittles Infused Vodka
42:00 Bacon Infused Vodka
43:15 Burn Notice
47:16 OXM Podcast
49:00 Alpha Protocol
56:13 Lost Cities
56:15 Court of the Medici
56:28 Gloom
59:18 Supernatural
59:30 Dresden Files Turncoat
Shoutouts
Rob: againsttheshadow.net
Mike: Fallout 3 Broken Steel
Artemis: Penguins of Madagascar
Jacob: Samurai Sams

Backstory Title
My earliest memories are from the when I was young growing up on New Olympus, a small human colony on the outskirts of the civilized world. My parents Talari and Zelma worked as liaisons for the Citadel with the humans. Making sure that they had what they needed and that they weren’t getting themselves into more trouble (or causing trouble for the rest of the universe).

I enjoyed spending time with the humans and as one of the few permanent non-human families on the planet was actually well received. My parents were always preaching to me to be tolerant and kind to those who are different then us. It was strange watching my friends grow old around me while I remained but a child in my parents eyes. They always wanted to hold me back from and keep me at home but as my childhood friends started to near retirement I pushed harder to be allowed out into the world.

Not long after my 60th birthday I began to apply for colleges. I was surprised when less than a year later I was accepted to an institution on the Citadel. It wasn’t the most prominent of the Citadel universities but it was more than I had ever hoped for. Not long after arriving I quickly discovered my parents reason for preaching tolerance. I, a pure blood Asari, was considered an outcast among my own people. I also learned that living among the short lived humans had caused me to mature faster then many other Asari. I was at least 20 years younger than the youngest of my fellow Asari students but seemed to take things more seriously then most of them. At first I had trouble dealing with it but before too long I began to make friends with many of the humans (not that their were many) and other races that attended the school I was at and lived in the area of the Citadel near the college. I even met one Quarian named Razz. While the rest of the students shunned them I was anxious to learn what I could of the reclusive outcast race. I found it slightly ironic that our situations were reversed, I was an outcast with my own people while few outside of their own race accepted them. Less than a year had passed before I had gone from feeling like an unwanted outsider to feeling popular and well liked (although mostly by those who were not held in high regard amongst the Citadel). My first year flew by and I began to take tests to determine which advanced courses I was most suited for.

Midway through my second year I was contacted by a representative of Biotechnica Corporation about beginning a career with them. Apparently my Biotics test I had taken the year before had scored off the chart and they were anxious to grab me up before any of their competitors could get a chance. I later found out it was a calculated risk trying to recruit someone this young before they had finished school but they felt it was worth the chance. This was a very exciting opportunity and I didn’t want to pass it up. Against the wishes of my parents I said good by to my friends and left the college to join the corporation. While working at the corporation I was assigned to work with a team developing a Battle VI to assist in the use of Biotic powers on the field. I was given the biotic implants during my second year working on it. At first the experience was awkward but as I began working on with them more it began to feel more natural.

After several years at working for Biotechnica I was surprised to be given a field assignment. I had spent all of my time up to this point working in laboratories and offices. It felt good to finally be able to head into the field. The assignment was simple. Travel to the planet of <<name>> and retrieve a piece of research equipment and return it to the company headquarters. I was given the means to hire a crew and one company security officer was sent with me. The pickup went well, and as far as I knew there were no problems. That was until we arrived at our destination. There was a large security team present and several top scientists. The quickly boarded the ship and began to examine the package. I was lead away from the ship and immediately questioned. They told me that the package had been tampered with and the tracking devices that had been attached were no longer present. They drilled me for hours trying to find out what I had done with the equipment. All I could tell them was the truth: the package was exactly as had recovered it. None of the crew or myself had entered the cargo bay after pickup. I didn’t know how it happened. After they were done interrogating me I was released from my employment with the company. My firing was very public and well covered by the industry news as was the events surrounding it. I wouldn’t be able to work in the industry again, my chances of getting back into school were slim so I began the the process of packing up my things to head back home. I dreaded trying to explain this to my parents.

As a last ditch effort to avoid having to explain this to my parents I joined the crew of mercenaries that had been part of my last job. Jared, the security officer who had accompanied me on the mission, also joined with them. My ticket in was a job I had heard about needing to be done shortly before leaving. I took what little information I had and offered it to them as a act of good faith to join up with them. They accepted us on as partners and we began our journey together.

6:51 Obsidian Portal
7:07 Christopher Lambert
7:21 Vin Diesel
7:28 Robert Downey Jr
22:26 Houses of the Blooded
23:45 Dogs in the vineyard
32:26 Fits
34:00 Warhammer Fatasy Roleplay
36:06 Dark Forces series
37:02 Dresden Files
37:30 Oblivion
38:30 Tom Clancy’s End War
38:43 Tom Clancy’s Hawxs
41:40 Spooky Outhouse
43:58 Supernatural
46:00 Our Store
47:17 Armory Reloaded
48:34 Spycraft

Shoutouts
Rob: ideology of madness
Mike: Midnight 2ed
Artemis: The Storyteller
Jacob: Reaper

Backstory Title
William O’Conner was born a military brat to the now General Thomas O’Conner and Mary. For the most part, William had a nice childhood despite the fact that his mother had left him with his father at the age of four. William’s father quickly remarried after Mary’s leaving to a woman named Patricia, who would always be cold towards William but not cruel. It was during this time that William’s mother Mary would herself remarry to a preacher and later that year gives birth to his half-brother Anson. William and his brother didn’t know each other that much as they grew up. They only saw each other on the odd summers that William would spend with his mother and her new family. For some reason that William still does not totally understand, his mother for the most part had little to do with him during those visits and William spent time with her new husband and his half-brother. This was William’s life until he was eighteen and could join the military like his father had done.

Joining the Military was not really a dream or a career choice for William, it had more to do with the fact that the military life was the only life he knew and it felt so natural for him to continue it. This first year of military life was fair to William. As a member of the Supply Division and with the friends he made, William quickly found himself dealing in the selling of ‘lost’ military equipment and weaponry. This criminal lifestyle was not something that really crossed William’s mind as wrong. It was as natural to him as joining the military. During his childhood on the military base everyone had always used those items that were not being used or taken what was not needed, and to him this was no different. The criminality of these actions was not so grey to others though. When he was approached by FBI agents about possible criminal charges, he took the offer of amnesty if he would help with a sting they were setting up against one of his clients.

Selling out his client was the beginning of the end for William as even though he was given amnesty for his crimes he was dishonorably discharged from the military, and worse when his father found out he was disowned from the family for political reasons. William’s life fell apart then and his world became a haze of drunken nights and days and he walked the streets of Washington D.C. with no idea of where to go. It was some months later that he by chance heard from his mother that his half-brother had been missing for the past eight months and the cops had no leads on where he was or even if he was alive or dead.

William’s brothers disappearance became his new mission in life as his mother begged him to find his brother and bring him back home. Despite the fact that his life had a new focus, giving up the drink proved harder than William could manage and his search was clouded by the drunken haze that was his life now. It may have proved for the best that William stayed drunk while searching for this brother as the more he investigated the mysterious facts about not only his brother’s disappearance but others as well the darker places he was forced to go. Even though the drink most likely saved William’s sanity, it also made finding any evidence about his brother’s disappearance almost impossible and led to his faltering form this search.

William still does not know just what all happened. The last thing he remembered was he was investigating a nightclub that was reported to have something to do with several unsolved disappearances. The next thing William remembered is waking up in a abandoned church and he learned it was a week later. It was three women that woke him up, three that looked nothing alike but acted as close as friends as one could be. The oldest looked to be in her fifties, but very healthy then next was almost the poster child for a soccer mom, and the youngest who looked to be in her early twenties and dark but beautiful to his eyes. The next few days that William stayed with the women he learned that they knew much about the world he had been investigating and they told him that the simple nightclub he was unknowingly walked into a Vampire held stronghold. He also learned the young lady’s name was Lyrical Briggs and over the next few months of his self imposed dry out they came to know one another more.

It was Lyrical that would help William find and develop his talents as a Runemancer and the discovery of a new world that was both exciting and dark at the same time as Lyrical was herself. The time they spent together was what William needed to help his damaged heart and allowed him to once more find a footing in the world as a whole and gave his life new focus. It may have Williams military mindset that lead him to the decision to become a Vampire hunter after talking to the ladies that had pulled him out of his drunken rampage, or it just may have been his anger at seeing the evils that they caused. His first killing was more by accident than design and he scared the little girl he saved more that the Vampire he scared off with the over use of automatic pistols that spit not only bullets, but sticks of flame. Over the next four months his technique improved and so did his Runemancer powers which helped him bring down any unfortunate Vampire that found itself wandering the night streets alone.

The thing is that William never knew just how much of a thorn he had become and when he inadvertently killed a powerful Vampire’s love pet retaliation was inevitable. Said retaliation came in the form of the kidnapping of his now girlfriend Lyrical. She was held in the stronghold of Vampire Mistress Candace Hanover and they used not only her as a trap for William, but used the deaths of her friends as a means to enrage him in to making a mistake. Despite the fact that his rage was close to overtaking him of all rational thought, he had the clarity of mind to realize that he could not take down the Vampire stronghold and he approached the White Council for aid in a raid to get back Lyrical.

Although the White Council agreed to help with his promise of a debt to be paid in later services, they would not allow him to join in on the raid as they stated he was too emotional to fight with a clear head. To add insult to injury, he was given a babysitter to make sure he didn’t do anything foolish, who turned out to be his now over two years missing younger half-brother, who apparently had been staying with a Warden of the White Council. When he was introduced to those that would be taking part in the raid, he saw a familiar face, the man he had helped the FBI send to jail. As he was forced to stay back guarded by his younger brother, a man who may hold hatred against him was sent to aid in the recovery of his girlfriend Lyrical. That night was the worst and longest night of his life. In the end, Lyrical was retrieved and they were reunited and he would owe a debt of gratitude to those who would soon become his fast brothers-in-arms as Junior Wardens.

5:24 Ben Bailey
4:45 Orpheus
15:30 G.A.M.E.
16:13 Fear the Boot, Podgecast, Brilliant Gameologists, Iron Agenda
20:45 Trapcast
21:06 Save Against Frostbite
29:03 Dogs in the Vineyard
29:11 Houses of the Blooded
31:51 Iron Kingdoms
32:25 Inspecters
33:31 Dragons Landing Inn
40:26 Gamers with Jobs
43:19 apple should sponsor us
43:52 Fallen Earth
45:40 Chronicles of Riddick
52:55 X-Com
55:18 Solomon Kane

Shoutouts
Rob: www.eplans.com
Mike: Silent Storm
Artemis: Jurassic Park (novel)

Backstory Title
Living in the Pelican Harbor Park above his family’s shop Eric has been a part of the neighborhood his whole life and knows no other life than the one he has. Born to Donald and Hesper Nelson his mother ran the family shop while his father worked on the docks and boxed for spare money. For seven years of his childhood it was just Eric and his parents at seven his first sister Jane was born and the following year Eric’s mother became pregnant with his younger sister. Unfortunately there were complications with the pregnancy and during the birth of his sister Tami Eric’s mother passed way.

Life for the Nelson’s went on with Eric’s father Donald stepping up too raise two young girls and his son by himself. Working night at the dock and running the shop by day took up most of this father’s time and Eric had to help in the raising of his sisters. Although life was difficult the Nelson’s did as they had always done and soldiered through. Eric’s sister grew up raised by a strong and loving father and devoted big brother who was always protective but very encouraging for them to be themselves. It was not until Eric turned twenty that he would loss his father as well to a massive heart attack leaving his sisters as they only family he had left.

Turning down a football scholarship Eric stayed at home and went to work at the docks so he could provide for his sisters, Jane and Tami, who were now 13 and 12. Eric had not a second of hesitation in this decision and has never given in it a second thought and makes sure that any time his sisters have brought up the fact of what he gave up to stay that they know just how he feels about it. Eric now worked at the same dock his father had spent his whole life and he slowly worked his way up from a night unloader to a heavy machine operator and foremen.

Eric spent his time either at work, home when his sisters were growing up but as they became women in the own time Eric has found other things to occupy his time like hanging out at McNeil’s Tavern near his job site. It was here that Eric met Frank a local contractor and the two hit it off and we both had played for the same high school football team. Since then Eric and Frank can usually be found on their off time hanging out together at McNeil’s with a few other friends.

It was here at McNeil’s that the ideas of doing something about the sudden raise in crime in the neighborhood. Eric’s group of friends have becoming fed up with the state of things around the neighborhood and have decide to do something about it before it is too late.

1:33 : Survey
5:10 : WotC PDFs news , A second article
6:07 : Crafty Games
6:10 : Piazo
6:13 : White Wolf
10:45 : S.A.S. (Storyteller Adventure System)
13:30 : Houses of the Blooded
14:00 : GSL
15:40 : I.P.R.
25:00 : Obsidian Portal
30:20 : Assassins Creed 2
34:30 : Arkham Asylum
35:00 : Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
36:14 : Wheel of Time
39:00 : Jim Butcher
41:50 : Mick Foley
42:00 : Mike Mearls
42:50 : Keith Baker
43:18 : Monte Cook
43:40 : Horse Sex
47:30 : Pipboy – ipod conversion
48:00 : Bearswarm! Shirts!

Shoutouts
Rob: Solomon Kane
Mike: A Game of Thrones
Artemis: Turn Coat

Johnny Dawes
Kendall Dawes raised his son to be responsible, friendly, and loyal. Johnny managed to duck the first one somehow, but they say that two out of three ain’t bad. From a young age, Johnny had always had something of a rebellious streak in him; Kendall wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and join the police force, maybe even someday moving into a command position. Johnny’s uncle Randle, however, saw the way that the young boy inspected the gadgets and various pieces of technology that populated Vault 47, and he always suspected that Kendall would probably be disappointed.

Randle taught Johnny what he knew of machinery – and since he was somewhat of a religious man himself, what he knew of God. The two went hand in hand in the old fireman’s eyes. “People see the spark of the divine in art, in music and poetry, but so many are blind to the inspiration of God in a circuit board.” Johnny saw it, though.

But circuits and machinery weren’t the only thing that caught the precocious boy’s attention, and it could even be argued that they were overtaken in his adolescence by a far more biological interest: girls. Johnny was a heartbreaker from the start, sneaking kisses from one girl in the reactor stairwell before running off to flirt with another in the diner. His flashy smile and devil-may-care attitude made him Vault 47’s dreamy “bad boy” that all the girls chased, claiming that they’d tame him while never admitting that was the last thing they wanted. The one catch that always eluded him was Tera, arguably the prettiest girl in the vault. Oh sure he charmed her well enough, but her twin brother Jean-Luc always seemed to show up at just the wrong moment and spoil things.

While Johnny got the attention of the girls with charming grins and sly winks, he made friends with the other boys in a handful of ways. A friend of his father’s, “Aunt” Rebecca, took to showing him card tricks at a young age. After he learned to do them himself, he asked her to teach him to play games with the cards instead of just doing tricks with them. Johnny used his natural charm in combination with his learned card-sharking to make friends and bucks both. He made sure never to take a kid for everything they were worth, though – and anyone that had an especially bad run of luck, he’d make sure to let them tag along with him the next time he went out hunting for girls and try to set things right.

Like everyone else, Johnny took the G.O.A.T. at 16. The test was easy enough to decipher, so it was no difficult task to answer the questions in such a way as to get the outcome he wanted. His natural rebellious state, combined with old-fashioned American teenage contrariness, pushed him far away from the police force that his father had so wanted for him. Instead he aimed lower – much lower. The Amateur Radio Technician union would suit him just fine, he decided. With only a minor amount of answer-padding, the G.O.A.T. agreed.

As uncle Randle had predicted from the start, Kendall was disappointed. While he wasn’t about to tell his son what to do with his life, he had hoped that Johnny would grow out of that damned rebellious streak before now, but he’d underestimated the boy’s independent spirit. It wouldn’t be the last time that mistake was made. Two short years later, Johnny joined the ART union.

It was only a handful of years after he graduated that Vault 47 finally opened, and the inhabitants began to push out into the wasteland that lay beyond. With such a major event there was a great deal of confusion. New jobs were created as the Vault’s population set up a small trading post in the wastes. This reduced the crowding in the Vault, and made it far less problematic to get a certain girl away from her shadow of a twin brother.

Tera was as much the repressed little hellcat in bed that he’d always thought she’d be. He knew beforehand that she wasn’t a virgin; Dennis Parks had bragged about getting in her pants after the two had dated for more than a year, but Johnny held firm to the belief that no girl was worth that much effort. Tera didn’t quite change his mind, but she did manage to make him question that stance – at least until the next day when she insinuated to him that they were dating now.

The same societal changes that had helped Johnny nail the one prize that had always evaded him now made it easier for him to avoid her as well. He hoped that eventually she would get the hint and just stop chasing him, but the girl seemed determined to pin him down, literally and figuratively. Johnny objected to the latter, and indulged her in the former on more than one occasion.

Johnny knew that another expedition to Vault 45 was being planned, but he largely ignored it. He was perfectly happy within the Vault; pretty girls, clean food, plenty of water, security, and lots of gadgets and machinery to mess with. Then he heard a rumor that Tera was pregnant. The same rumor said that he was the father.

He volunteered for the Vault 45 expedition the same day.

2:20 : Survey
41:08 : Rome
44:04 : Solomon Kane
44:36 : A Knight’s Tale
44:42 : St George & the Dragon
47:50 : Fable 2: Knothole Island
48:56 : Kongregate
49:00 : Mastermind World Conqueror
49:36 : More Mastermind content found here under cartoons
50:30 : Fallout 3

Shoutouts
Rob: Zero Punctuation Reviews
Mike: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Artemis: Brotherhood of Battles

Joshua Carter
One of Anne Carter’s favorite stories to tell about her youngest son, Joshua, was of the time when at age four, he begged his father to take him on his annual month-long hunting sabbatical in Kansas. Perhaps due to hearing the story so many times throughout his life, the incident is also the earliest memory that Josh can recall.

Despite Joshua’s insistence that he was nothing like his older siblings – a falsehood that he clung to until his teens – his father smiled at the request and put his son through the same paces as he had for his other four sons and, he wouldn’t hesitate to admit, one of his two daughters as well. Ruth had always been a tomboy, and her parents thought that she always would be.

It was to no-one’s great surprise when Joshua, as spirited and eager as a four year old was capable of being, couldn’t hold his father’s unloaded rifle steady, much less be relied upon to fire it accurately. “Maybe next year,” was the answer that he got. “But only if you behave yourself, and make sure you’re strong enough to hold the rifle by then.”

Perhaps it was serendipitous that Joshua was unable to pass his father’s test that year, since the trip was cut dramatically short in any case. Matt – Joshua’s eldest, most indestructible brother – was killed in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm.

That is why every time Anne tells the story she always trails off. It’s almost as if she loses herself in the pleasant memories of the early childhood of her youngest child, and forgets about the fate of her eldest until the end.

Every year, Joseph’s annual hunting trip came around, and every year the children either packed their things to go along with him (if they had passed their father’s scrutiny), or made their pleas to be allowed to go along this year (if they hadn’t yet). Every year Joshua was turned down. Luke was the first to be taken on his first trip that Joshua can remember, then Ruth, then John.

Well into his teens, John had always been annoyed that Ruth had gotten to go hunting before him. “Hunting is for boys,” he always insisted. Because he knew it would annoy him, Joshua always reminded John that Ruth could beat him up. More often than not, this got Joshua beat up, but he judged it as worth the pain. At the very least, the two youngest boys could play together while all of the other men (and their boyish sister) were out in the Kansas woods.

When John was finally taken along with the rest, Joshua grew to dread the yearly trip. The only people left at home were his mother (who he loved, of course) and his sister Mary (who he also loved, even if she was boring). To keep himself occupied while most of his family was away, Joshua took up “pee wee league” football with the other kids in Arnold Heights. It turned out to be exactly what he needed.

Joshua was a natural runner, fast and light on his feet and able to turn almost on a dime even while at full speed. His first year playing, he was starting halfback for his team. The next year he made the All-Star team. The year after that, he stopped playing in the youth leagues and started playing for his school.

For his fourteenth birthday, his father bought him a guide to military hand signals. It was his father’s way of telling him that he was finally eligible for the hunting trip. Over the next four months, Joshua learned how to handle, clean, care for, and shoot a rifle under his father’s steady hand. Only once did he, in a moment of childish exuberance, accidentally swing the barrel of the rifle toward his father.

After the shouts to point the weapon elsewhere were obeyed, there followed a long and lengthy speech. “Only point your rifle at something that you have every intention of shooting, Josh,” his father told him. “Never forget that. It’s a very dangerous thing that you have in your hands right now, and you need to treat it with respect.”

Joshua nodded in response, almost ashamed. His father had told him all of this before, and he’d always tried to follow these instructions. He never made that mistake again.

That year, Joshua had no problem passing his father’s rigorous hunting test. He was fourteen years old. On the second week of the month-long trip, he killed his first deer and, again under his father’s tutelage, he dressed and skinned it as well.

Through his high school years, Joshua went on all of his father’s annual hunting trips. During school months, however, he divided his time between JROTC and making a name for himself as one of the best young half-backs in the region. By his junior year in high school he made All-State, and Senior year he was an All-American. The University of Nebraska offered him a full football scholarship which, after the insistence from his parents, he accepted.

His freshmen year in college was full of turmoil. For the regular season he was second string, but when the starting half-back caught a brutal tackle in the first round of conference play-offs, Joshua was suddenly shoved into the national college football spotlight. In his first appearance, which was only a little under one half of a game, he racked up over 50 yards and two touchdowns.

Three games later, he was awarded MVP of the conference championship game which the Huskers won (28-24). In the national play-offs, however, things took a bad turn.

Joshua learned that his closest brother (both in terms of age and emotional attachment) John had been killed in the Middle East. John had been a fighter jock for the Air Force. The news was delivered the night before the second round game, and it obliterated Joshua’s ability to focus on the game. He only ran for 67 yards and scored one touchdown. The Huskers won despite his sub-par performance, and after finding out why he had done so poorly (Joshua had hidden the reason for his distraction up to that point) he was benched.

This grated on him. Despite the overwhelming circumstances, Joshua insisted that he could perform again. His coach wouldn’t hear of it, however, and although the Huskers made it through one more round, they were eliminated in the Final Four against Kansas.

After being benched, Joshua didn’t stick around to see how his teammates did. He didn’t even watch the game on television. He was too busy mourning his brother.

At the funeral, both his mother and father asked Joshua if he still intended to go into the Army after graduation. When he said that he did, his mother cried a bit harder and his father’s stony expression only grew harder.

The next several years in college were a blur of dedication, sweat, blood, and tears. Despite the voiced understanding of both his coach and his teammates, he could tell that they were disappointed that he’d let his own personal tragedy impact the team. He vowed that it would never happen again, and forged an ability to focus and ignore distraction – physical or mental – that was unrivaled in the entire conference if not the national league. He earned team MVP in his sophomore year and was named All-Conference halfback.

By his junior year, he was a candidate for conference MVP. In his senior year, he was a candidate for the Heisman and was being scouted by almost every professional team in the country. The Huskers also managed to win the Rose Bowl that year, in no small part to the dogged determination and absolute refusal on Joshua’s part to be anything short of amazing in the eyes of his teammates and spectators.

The day after he graduated, he signed his life away to the United States Army, despite his mother begging him not to (she’d already lost two sons to the Armed Forces) and his father’s threats to cut him off, financially.

Joshua hoped that they would understand. He had to start standing on his own now, and he had to pay his dues to his nation. “The Carters have paid their debt to this country,” his father said. “I paid it. Your brothers paid it. We’re all settled up.”

Joshua disagreed. Their sacrifice, while honorable, did not absolve him of his own debt. He promised to send them letters every month, even if they never wrote him back.

01:45 : Meta-Games now has an online store! Check it out!
03:20 : Midnight
03:35 : CyberPunk 2020
06:40 : Scion
25:05 : Fallout 3
29:55 : OnLive
30:35 : Crysis
31:20 : WebTV
34:40 : Ninja Blade
35:15 : God of War
36:10 : Mass Effect
36:45 : Age of Booty
37:30 : Crystal Defenders
37:50 : The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai
39:05 : Campaign Cartographer
39:25 : Vin Diesel’s Wheelman
40:00 : Pitch Black
42:15 : Aeon Flux
42:45 : Reign: The Conqueror
44:25 : Chronicles of Methos

Shoutouts
Rob: Requiem For Rome
Mike: Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Artemis: Classic Godzilla Movies
Jacob: Puppy

Backstory Title
Martin Blake is a Irish born Nationalist, during the height of Provisional IRA, who latter fled the Ireland do to being hunted down for a car bombing. It was during this flight from the law that Blake would make his introduction into the world of the supernatural when he killed a ghoul of a wealthy Turkish vampire. Instead of killing the ghoul assassin the Kindred Kavo Shyna hired the lone gunman as a personal bodyguard and later turned Martin into a Ghoul himself. This arrangement lasted until 1974 when Kavo needed Martin for a certain task one that his Bloodline was bread for. So Blake was Embraced into the Azerattl Bloodline to once more become a servant killer but this time he was in the service of Kavo and not the people. After some basic training in the arts of this ancient Bloodline Blake was sent to America to hunt down and his target and complete his mission, but with the knowledge of the fact that with failure or success he could never return to Kavo’s side as Vampire hold on to vengeance as long as their Unlife.

His mission was to find and kill the Kindred Heather Ghattis who had betrayed Kavo in some way that was never reviled to Blake. Heather died when her haven was consumed by a fire do to a Truck and Trailer full of gasoline crashed into it and the exploded do to unknown reasons. With his mission complete Martin Blake was once more a free man and what dose a free man with a gun do, kill people for money. With no one or cause to fight for money and the need for something to do became Blake guiding light in the Unlife.

It would be during this time that Blake would find his way to the Carthian movement. At first it just seemed that Blake was just more willing to take contracts from them they seem like Kindred he would work with. This relationship would eventual develop into a connection that Blake felt he had found his new people’s movement and a cause worth supporting once more. In truth Blake had worked for a wealthy and fairly high ranking Carthian from some time before he realized it. The contracts were always from Kindred and always the came with reports of excessive or horrific use of mortals. The contracts always paid well and there were never to many demands on how the job was done other than a request to limit unnecessary mortal deaths. After the third contact by this man Blake and the Employer interred into communications by letter and a interesting game of chess. These letters would be Blake’s introduction to the Carthian Movement and the ideals of the AOA and would inevitably lead him to him joining the Carthian Movement.

Mercella came into Blake’s life during his time of as a totally freelance killer. Do to Blake’s nature and the fact that even as a mortal he was never what you would call a people person he needed a mediator for his would be employers and him to communicate with having to come face to face. Blake originally spotted Mercella when he was gathering Intel on a target she was the target’s secretary. It was more luck than anything that on the night Blake made his move so had the target on Mercella who had refused and the quarrel was quickly becoming violent. Blake intervened, none violently, and came out looking like the hero and offered Mercella a job, well after such a rescue it was a sure thing and give the fact that the next night her old boss was found floating in the river. Mercella would work for Blake without knowing his nature until he was confident in her ability to complete the task of a contract killer’s mediator. This include not only social skills but data retrieval, fire acquirement and shipping, negotiation dealings, person locating, and the ability to adapt to his changing needs. Once satisfied Mercella was brought into the ‘know’ about Kindred, the fact that she is still alive speaks for the way she handled her introduction into the supernatural. It would not be until she came to him, knowing full well the draw back sand advantages of being a ghoul was, before he would seek out permission to have one and take her as his ghoul.

Blake has lived in New York for the past twenty three years in his small corner office in a three story building in the Brooklyn that service as his haven. The Office has a nice front waiting room with furnishings and a large secretary’s desk and lots of filing cabinets with state of the art computers and communication devices placed all around it, this of course is Mercella’s domain and she is very fussy about anyone touching her stuff. Next to the desk is the door that leads to Blake’s office which has no windows and with comes with a small desk and basic computer and little more other than the locked storage and what looks to be a large gun safe but is in fact the door to another room, Blake’s personal bedroom.