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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: John Gardiner Nature:Architect Generation: 9th Player: Damien (Sean) Demeanor:Optimist Haven: Campaign: Clan: Gangrel Concept: City builder :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Merits and Flaws Rituals Clan Friendship(Ventrue) ____________________________ _______________________ Political Ties?_________ ____________________________ _______________________ Time Sense______________ ____________________________ _______________________ ________________________ ____________________________ _______________________ ________________________ ____________________________ _______________________ ________________________ ____________________________ _______________________ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~