Jerome "JC" Cant

3rd-Warder
Clan Brujah
Neonate Iconoclast
Brujah Whip, New Orleans

Description


~Energetic and determined poise commands Jerome “JC” Cant’s arrival. The imposing black man is leaving his 20s behind for a role of greater responsibility, evident in giving up low-hanging jeans for name brand, sharp-fitting slacks and polo shirts. Confident smiles and sardonic smirks keeps JC handsome even if his cheeks seem a bit sallow and malnourished. Yet his broad shoulders and obvious well-built physique compliment his toughness, off-set with a smooth baritone and timely winks. Here’s a man who knows where he’s been, what he wants, and just how to grab it. Best stay out of the way of this go-getter.~

OOC: Appearance 3

"No, see, it's all about being a team player. Pay your dues and step up to the plate."

History


No Civil Rights

Jackson, Mississippi was a tough town to grow up in the 50s…if you were black. The Cants belonged to the typical poor working class. Abbott fathered five children with Seona, in order: Noah, Jerome, Louise, Stanford, and Sheryl. And grampa and gramma weren’t far, living right down the block in the same neighborhood. They dwelled in a cheap, state-subsidized home – the first wave of projects. Jerome shared one bedroom with his two brothers. They stuck together as best friends, even though the neighborhood wasn’t really as dangerous as projects later became. There weren’t much in the way of gangs yet.

Of course, since his birth in 1950 and throughout his youth, Jerome faced discrimination and segregation. He was taught to go for his, to never let “the man” keep him down. So Jerome (JC as he liked to be called) did the best he could in school. He was no bookworm, and enjoyed sports more. He also learned what he could about cars and engines from his father, who lived as a mechanic. Jerome was also basically the oldest sibling – Noah was a screw-up, and constantly got himself in trouble. So JC looked after his younger siblings.

The Cants went to a Methodist church religiously, but JC never took it seriously. He didn’t spit on Jesus or something, he was just much more practical-minded. Respectful of his parents and mistrustful of outsiders, JC was set to push for the limits. After high school earned him a scholarship on football (he was a sharp cornerback), he was able to attend a de-segregated college and planned to study hard. His parents were soon retiring, Noah was in prison, Stan joined the Air Force, and the girls were married off. JC wanted to be more, so he hit up MSU. Not long after he arrived he was hooked into the Black Panthers.

Black Panther

For a few years, JC ran wild with the Panthers. He ended up flunking out of school but didn’t care. He was as militant as his brothers and angry about Vietnam as well as civil rights in general. Inevitably, his affiliation landed him in trouble with the law as their anger translated into havoc. It was nothing major, however, until he and his comrades clashed with some racist bikers in ‘75. JC killed one of them, strangling the poor bastard with a thick chain. He panicked and hid the corpse, lying low at the other Panthers’ advice.

While hanging out in the slummy apartment, waiting for the heat to pass, JC received an uninvited visitor. The dark-skinned man introduced himself as Delroy Boss, and warned JC that the FBI was onto him. Jerome’s only chance was to join Delroy and leave the area immediately. JC felt compelled to trust and obey, and hurried out of Mississippi entirely with Delroy. The man hauled JC off to New Orleans, and learned en route that Delroy heard of him from his Panther connections, and that JC was both ferocious and reasonably bright.

Eternal Discrimination

With that information, Boss also shared the secret of the existence of the Kindred with JC. He was of the Brujah clan, Delroy explained, and felt JC would make a formidable member. If he didn’t join, well…there was always a life of living on the run from the FBI. Jerome accepted the Embrace with little reluctance (not realizing that Delroy wouldn’t have fed him to the feds if he refused, he would have just killed the young man). In a hidden basement in the warehouse district of the Big Easy, JC had his blood and life stripped away and replaced with a new, unholy, and powerful existence. This was definitely for him, he decided as he blinked his eyes back to “life”.

Next, Delroy Boss introduced JC to the Prince of the city, an old and powerful (and uncontested) Toreador named Evette Victoire. She welcomed JC and congratulated his good fortune. It turned out Delroy was the local clan whip, making him essentially third in rank down from the Prince. Delroy’s boss, the Brujah clan Primogen, was Roscoe Kenyon, whom JC also met and offered quiet respect. Until 1980, JC was considered a whelp, still under his sire’s tutelage and guidance. During this Becoming, he exhibited enough sense and self-discipline to stick with Delroy and stay loyal. He recognized the hazard of the Blood Bond through instinctive mistrust of the lack of reciprocity when Delroy offered more of his own blood, and politely refused.

And JC picked up quickly on the other needs and dangers of the lives of Kindred. He even learned basic politics of the undead by watching his sire perform his duties as whip. JC came to understand which of the Seven Traditions actually mattered for his clan, and to the Iconoclast faction (to which he and his sire belonged). Respect for JC was slow to build for two reasons, however: he was still a whelp dangling from his sire’s apron strings; before him, his sire was one of the only black Kindred in town. Whatever discrimination and bigotry lingered on the minds of immortals in New Orleans, it prevented more than a few ever receiving the Embrace in those days.

Black & White

Not long after JC finally did earn his release in ’80, tragedy struck both the clan and Jerome. Conflict within the clan caused Delroy to “mouth off” at a Rant, and consequently be set up – petty retribution indeed. He was lured to Lake Pontchartrain, where a Lupine ambushed and murdered the whip. JC mourned his mentor and friend, but nobody could prove anything. He suspected racist reasons, since his sire was just an “uppity nigger”.

Furthermore, the idea of continuing internal clan conflict concerned JC. He helped the Primogen without asking for reward. He organized Rants and kicked the cowards and punks into shape. He squashed petty squabbles with common sense and an unflinching confrontational attitude, even (especially) at Rants. And JC worked hard on stamping out lingering bigotry and prejudice within his own clan in New Orleans. Some of the same old types of Southern biker thugs were in town. Ironically, JC was obliged to go romper-stomper on the MC punks, gathering some (ghouled) homeboys to even the odds. Throughout the constant little brawls that typified 80s “turf wars”, neither side really came out on top. JC at least got the biker Brujah to back off their bullshit, though he suspected they nursed it quietly. So he nursed his own vindication.

With the bikers backing down, JC took aim at the mortal racists in the area. Yes, even New Orleans was host to a fair amount of bigots, like any other town in the American South. However, JC did not go after the roots of their prejudice. He fed into it gladly, storming into their favorite bars and hangouts and starting trouble. And then of course, the Brujah would handily beat all their asses. (He was just lucky he didn’t stumble across a pack of Get of Fenris.)

Burning Wrath

This pissed the Brujah bikers off, and his old rivals began to rear up again. Led still by Barret Talbot, JC frequently kicked around their favorite ghouls. When Barret’s favorite skank tried to cat-fight the imposing former Black Panther, JC didn’t hesitate to bitchslap her hard enough to break her neck in ‘95. (She recovered.) Furious, Barret confronted JC at the next Rant and tried to provoke the cool-headed black man right there into doing something. JC responded with scorn, and that only made Barret angrier. It seemed as though internal clan conflict was about to heat up again, but Primogen Roscoe intervened.

He demanded a competition between JC and Barret to settle the feud. Furthermore, Roscoe would teach the winner the secret of the Iconoclast power, Burning Wrath. The challenge called for a drag race that would test their wits much more than driving skills, because the only way they could win was to multi-task using Celerity. The next test was raw strength: they had to bench press the car they just drove overhead. Finally, they had to prove their brass. They had to storm into the council of Primogen and use Presence while presenting their case of their feud before the elders without being tossed out on their impetuous ears. It was JC that proved sharper, stronger (in part because he drove a lighter, faster car while the biker picked a heavier American model), and ballsier. He was a better smooth talker than Barret, and grinned as his rival was dragged out by the Prince’s guards.

Ultimately, Jerome trounced Barret and earned the right to learn Burning Wrath. Besides this rivalry, he strongly backed and supported the clan through all its trials. In 1996, they clashed with the Gangrel in a territorial dispute over hunting grounds, and he risked their vicious claws while stuffing more than one “furry” in a hurt locker.

Yes, We Cant

So JC took on a new preeminence in the clan. He became a feared enforcer of Roscoe with Burning Wrath and his fearless personality. He performed the Primogen’s dirty work without question, dealing with criminals and other pawns forcefully. JC never missed a Rant, and was able to inspire most of the rest of the clan to heed what few requests Roscoe ever made. This included convincing the Anarchs to keep an eye out for Sabbat recruiters and stay banded together whenever turf arguments arose within the clan or with other clans, like the Gangrel and Nosferatu.

Finally in 2004, JC was awarded the position his sire once held and was left open for fifteen years. Barret and his old rivals began plotting again, but JC expected that and was ready for them. He caught them planning their shenanigans FBI-style, by Entrancing their favorite ghouls and planting wires on these spies. Then all JC had to do was expose them to Roscoe and the other elders. The bikers were finally banished from the city on pain of death.

And JC revealed his usefulness to the clan in more than his intimidation and shrewdness. He stayed technologically savvy, keeping the clan linked up with cell phones. He low-jacked everyone at Rants with his phone camera, keeping pictures of all known Brujah that came and went, just for the record. The clan was united with cell technology, when he instituted the use of special call tones that worked as code. Though JC was unreservedly African-American in culture and style, he made sure the Rants where held in a universal fashion the entire clan could enjoy. Rap and rock’n’roll and all other forms of music were appreciated.

Then in ’06, JC was given the rights to employ ghouls of his own to aid his work. Bobby Modesto, Marco Bee, and Terry Tucker were all local boys he could trust. With his own gang, JC started to aim for greater status and prestige. He could go for Primogen of another nearby city, or maybe more… Either way, JC had learned that the best way to beat the system was to work it from within. Who was “the man” now?

Retainers


"The boys" include three well-fed ghouls approved by the Brujah Primogen for his needs. They're all strong-arm enforcer thugs, born ready to rumble and tumble tough. They include Bobby Modesto, Terry Tucker, and Marco Bee (the token white guy).

Significant Other


He first saw Bambi Flowers in 2007 by view of her long legs, when she served him and his boys (them more than he) at a local Sonic’s. The carhop brought the boys some milk shakes and JC decided he had to have one – a Bambi, that is. The gorgeous blond was Entranced and properly seduced, ghouled to JC’s whim. For now, Bambi serves as his way of annoying whitey, of exacerbating the bigots who disapprove of mixed-race relations. Though Bambi comes off as vapid, her hunger for knowledge and more sends her to college, and JC realizes she may be more useful than as fluff on the arm.

But once Bambi realized what JC was, she started to freak. At first, she kept it under wraps, but when he pushed the envelope a little too far in 2009, she completely lost it. JC had to subdue her with the Kiss, and as she went slack he realized he had lost control of his toy. He was compelled to slay the young woman and feed her to the river. Then she crawled out of that river and returned to him, furious and betrayed. JC was shocked but decided to let it slide...and begged her to do the same. The confused Risen has kinda forgiven him...for now.

Bambi

Weakness
No Pain, No Gain


JC's aggressive and entitled attitude tends to irritate or frighten. He sometimes alienates friends and even clanmates, and may one day find himself fighting "the man" alone.

Likelihood of Corruption


Average.

JC's not a bad person, he's just not a very good one. Ironically, he's borderline racist on a couple different levels (blacks>whites, blacks>Latinos, Kindred>kine).

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