drmoo1@lindblat.cc.monash.edu.au
Sean O'Connell
23-MAY-1994 06:30:34.64
Born 1809, Sydney, as child of one of the troopers (leuitenant) and a
convict woman.
Grew up as an officer's son, well schooled until age 15, then apprenticed
to a carpenter.
At 25, joined with group from Sydney who were heading south to join John
Batman in the colonisation of the Port Phillip district.
For the first 6 years he worked hard in the areas close to the
original settlement, helping the colonists clear and settle the land they
had selected for their new city.
After this time he moved east, and cleared the land around the
suburb known now as Hawthorn, building his house, 'Invergowrie' in 1844.
The creek that runs through the inner city suburb still bears his name.
Once his own homestead was established, Gardiner once again entered
the realms of Melbourne society. He was a major driver in the efforts
to have the Port Phillip district declared seperate from New South Wales,
and on November 15th, 1850, Seperation of Port Phillip District, now known
as Victoria was announced.
It was between these times that John met the woman he knew as
Rachel. She was a tall redhead, and very pale. Rachel seemed to prefer
to mix with the younger social crowd than John would have prefered, himself
having a preference for quiet dignity rather than noisy flamboynance.
By 1850, John was Rachel's Ghoul. Rachel was a Gangrel, and she
had landed with the First Fleet, after having Blood Bound one of the captains
to her, and then convinving him to ship her to the New South land. Rachel
would have Embraced John, not wanting him to die, but the small number of
Kine in Melbourne made it impossible for any more vampires to be created.
However, much of this was to change, as in 1851, gold fever hit Melbourne
and the population exploded. Much money, and therefore power, was brought
to Melbourne. Still, Rachel did not Embrace John, as he wanted to help
and direct Melbournes future.
John Gardiner was elected to the Victorian Parliment, and had
a hand in many of the decisions that influenced Melbourne's future course.
Over time he learnt to disguise his unchanging appearance, as his age
was halted by the regular doses of Rachel's Blood.
Finally, in 1876, John faked his death, and Rachel Embraced him.
The transition to Kindred was not very traumatic for John. After all, he
could keep his love, Rachel, and he could continue to work for the future
of his beloved city, albeit in the background rather than the forefront.
John continued to work through his Ghouls in mortal Parliment,
and directly with the Ventrue of Melbourne from whom he leant the ability
to Dominate those who were mortal, or lesser than he. It was in their battle
against the Sydney Ventrue for control of their own city, and in fact for
control of which city was to be the nations capital that John was allied
with the Ventrue.
For it was now that the first stirrings of national pride began
to surface in the mortal society of Australia. The citizens were beginning
to murmur for Federation, and the Kindred were quite willing to stoke this
flame, as they realised that to gain their own power they would have to
become a free nation, not a colony of Britain, with its fortunes tied to
that of Britain's.
Once Federation had been achieved, in 1901, John Gardiner and the
Ventrue of Melbourne had their work ahead of them. The politics of the mortal
world were but a pale shadow of the movements amongst the Kindred, the
subtle shifts of alignment that were to influence which city was to be the
capital of the new Commonwealth nation.
To begin with it seemed as if they were winning. From 1901 to 1908
Melbourne was the capital of Australia, and much power was held by its leaders.
However, in 1908, the Sydney Ventrue began to exact their revenge. A decision
was made to create a new capital, within the boundaries of New South Wales,
in the Canberra area. While a mortal decision, it showed the complacentcy
of the Melbounre Vampires had caught up with them, and they had lost a lot
of their power.
Melbourne was still the capital, but it had lost a lot of its pride,
as the new Capital was being built. The Kindred of Melbourne were by and
large discouraged at their lack of sucess, but John was not extremely affected
His city was not the centre, but this did not mean it was dead, and he spent
some of the next 19 years trying to convince the Ventrue that they were
clutching at straws. However, they continued to try and maneuver to regain
some of their political power.
Once the capital was moved from Melbourne to Canberra, in 1927, the
true depth of the Sydney Ventrue aliances was shown. In a single night,
Toreador and Brujah clan members moved on the Town Hall, where many of the
Ventrue, and their supporters where meeting. The Town Hall was badly burnt,
catching many of the Kindred inside in the flames. John himself was badly
burnt, and sank into the ground to save himself, and placed himself into
a voluntary Torpor.
Many thought him dead, including Rachel, who mourned for her lost
love for some years, leaving the other Gangrel to move through the city.
However John was not dead, but instead lay in the arms of Mother Earth to
heal, not just physically, but the mental shock of being defeated.
When John arose, he realised that Melbourne was no longer his city,
it had grown beyond the boundaries he had always imagined of it, and was
beginning to stretch to the settlements that were once country towns, and
engulfing them.
He decided to leave the city, and return when time had erased entirely
what remained of the his memories, so that he may start again in helping the
city. He left for the United States, not only to rid himself of memories
but to make sure that any lasting enemies would be unlikely to follow.
Personality:
John was someone born at exactly the right time. The sudden burst
of city-building fitted well with some integral part of his being. He has a
great love of assisting a city to survive and grow, regarding it something
like an organism in itself.
He does not care so much for the people of the city, except for
where they are necessary to its well-being. This does not mean he regards
people as not worthy of his notice - John is moderately sociable - he is
also however, quite able to visualise the population of a city as somewhat
akin to ants... necessary, but many are replaceable.
At times though, the city becomes too much, too many people
begin to make him irritable, and he returns to areas of country-side,
preferably some that remind him of his original home, (um, sort of
rolling hills, forest clad) although the lack of eucalypts makes
this difficult...
Not a loud man, John speaks with a quiet but forceful voice, trying
to get people's attention through what he is saying rather than how he says
it, and this is where much of his lack of sucess in gaining supporters lies.
Appearance:
John Gardiner was Embraced at an apparent age of about 41. He has
brown hair, which had already faded at the temples to a grey before his
bioclock was halted. His hair is short, and usually brushed,
He had blue eyes, and tanned, weatherbeaten skin. He still talks
with a distinct Australian accent, although some of the pronounciation has
been altered to that of Americans.
John dresses simply when he can manage it, usually in jeans and
shirt, with a good jacket. He usually wears a hat. John has a couple
of pieces of jewellery: a silver ring that Rachel gave him, engraved
with her name on the inside, and a pair of gold cufflinks, that he is
very fond of, and normally wears.
Most of his skills and abilites are from his mortal life as a
pioneer/colonist, so they are a little wilderness/survivalist based (one
of the reasons he was Embraced by Rachel)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
VAMPIRE
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Name: John Gardiner Nature:Architect Generation: 9th
Player: Damien (Sean) Demeanor:Optimist Haven:
Campaign: Clan: Gangrel Concept: City builder :)
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Attributes
PHYSICAL SOCIAL MENTAL
Strength.....***oo Charisma.........***oo Perception.....****o
Dexterity....***oo Manipulation.....**ooo Intelligence...***oo
Stamina......**ooo Appearance.......**ooo Wits...........***oo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Abilities
TALENTS SKILLS KNOWLEDGES
Acting.......ooooo Animal Ken.......***oo Bureaucracy....ooooo
Alertness....**ooo Drive............**ooo Computer.......ooooo
Athletics....ooooo Etiquette........ooooo Finance........**ooo
Brawl........***oo Firearms.........***oo Investigation..***oo
Dodge........**ooo Melee............ooooo Law............**ooo
Empathy......**ooo Music............ooooo Linguistics....ooooo
Intimidation.**ooo Repair...........ooooo Medicine.......ooooo
Leadership...***oo Security.........ooooo Occult.........ooooo
Streetwise...ooooo Stealth..........ooooo Politics.......****o
Subterfuge...**ooo Survival.........****o Science........*oooo
Intrigue.....***oo Animal Training..***oo Area Knowledge.***oo
.............ooooo Blacksmith.......*oooo Astronomy......*oooo
.............ooooo Brewing..........**ooo Kindred Lore...****o
.............ooooo Carpentry........**ooo City Secrets...****o
.............ooooo Debate...........*oooo Lupine Lore....**ooo
.............ooooo Disguise.........***oo Naturalist.....***oo
.............ooooo First Aid........***oo ...............ooooo
.............ooooo Orienteering.....***** ...............ooooo
.............ooooo Riding...........**ooo ...............ooooo
.............ooooo Masquerade.......***oo ...............ooooo
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Advantages
DISCIPLINES BACKGROUNDS VIRTUES
Auspex.......ooooo Allies..........ooooo Conscience....**ooo
Animalism....***oo Contacts........**ooo Self-Control..***oo
Celerity.....ooooo Fame............ooooo Courage.......*****
Dominate.....***oo Generation......ooooo
Fortitude....**ooo Herd............ooooo HEALTH
Obfuscate....ooooo Influences......***oo Bruised O
Potence......ooooo Mentor..........ooooo Hurt -1 O
Presence.....ooooo Resources.......***oo Injured -1 O
Protean......***** Retainers.......ooooo Wounded -2 O
Thaumaturgy..ooooo Status..........ooooo Mauled -2 O
.............ooooo ................ooooo Crippled -5 O
.............ooooo ................ooooo Incapacitated O
.............ooooo ................ooooo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLOOD POOL WILLPOWER.( ) Humanity/Path
OOOOOOOOOO *****OOOOO Path Of _Humanity_
OOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOO ******OOOO
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Merits and Flaws Rituals
Clan Friendship(Ventrue) ____________________________ _______________________
Political Ties?_________ ____________________________ _______________________
Time Sense______________ ____________________________ _______________________
________________________ ____________________________ _______________________
________________________ ____________________________ _______________________
________________________ ____________________________ _______________________
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