~Faust: that’s what may spring to mind when one first meets Ian Mircea. This devilishly handsome fellow seems to possess a highborn pallor and slender build. His smooth, youthful complexion suggests a man waxing his 20s. His charming smile never quite reaches his brown eyes. Yet with his thrilling accent and gentlemanly behavior, Ian seems quite eager to please. And he’s a real catch, sporting attire one would expect a male model just walking off a set would wear. Ian indeed looks like he was cut out of a magazine. There’s something about him that’s just not quite real.~
OOC: Appearance 4 (roguish); Enchanting Voice
"We are only who we think we are."
History
Pikeys
The Mircea family belonged to a kumpania of Romani (Gypsies) that traveled Great Britain since the turn of the 20th century. Ian’s father, Alfonso, worked as an itinerant roofer, while Florica took care of Ian and his two sisters, Talaitha and Violca. This extended Roma family always lived a very relaxed lifestyle, taking all in stride (not unlike the “pikeys” from the movie “Snatch”). “It takes a village to raise a child” was an undercurrent theme in this kumpania, and compassion coupled with friendly competitiveness were defining characteristics.
Ian was born in 1913 and he always remembered the old-fashioned tents packed up into horse-drawn wagons. They communally owned a couple cars, rarely using them because of the scarcity of fuel. So by horse, they traveled all over England and Scotland, and often visited Ireland, too. It felt natural to Ian to be so transient, because wherever he went, his family was there, too.
And family was all that mattered to this kumpania, as typical of most Romani enclaves. Ian was taught to put the Romani first, not a country of gaje. Thus, laws only mattered insofar as the gaje’s ability to enforce them. Not surprisingly then did Ian not attend any sort of public educational institution. He learned simple and basic things, and then learned much vocational work. Nonetheless, Ian was quite a ham. He adored Shakespeare and became a self-taught actor, using scripts and mirrors to watch himself perform, correcting and improving himself daily.
Much Ado
This pseudo-humanistic pursuit fed his semi-atheistic beliefs. He was brought up to believe the creation story based on the Ravnos. Because his family was indeed descended from those ancient, true vampires. One could be an atheist and believe in the supernatural, if one had proof of it. And Ian certainly did: he witnessed traditional Romani magic at work. This was not the card tricks gaje saw when bilked out of their money by a clever Gypsy oracle. This was real magic, which only those of the Blood could learn.
Though Gypsy magic was real, Ian personally demonstrated no knack for the arts. Instead, he pursued his dream to become a stage actor. When he grew old enough to take care of himself, he began trying out for theater troupes. He enjoyed only limited success, but he accepted his rejections maturely. He improved and smoothed out his rough, untrained talent. In time, he was participating in major productions in London. Though the Battle of Britain was well underway, Ian exhibited no fear because he was living the life he loved. Actually, Ian’s only weakness was cocaine. “Everybody did it”, was the excuse, and he never inhaled enough to impact his life badly enough to matter.
Paradoxy
Everything changed in 1943. Ian met Andrei Nicusor in London, and was pleased to meet a fellow Romani among so many gaje Brits. Andrei was just trying to get out of the war zone, but discovered Ian’s fearless, upbeat nature first. When Ian learned that Andrei was also of the Ravnos family, mutual respect was rallied. And when Andrei revealed that he was one of the vampire relatives, Ian was quite curious. Indeed, Ian accepted this fact quite rationally. To him, the supernatural was not scary. Away from what advice his family might give, he readily accepted Andrei’s offer to join the ranks of immortality. Ian melted into the Embrace and returned from the brink, more earnest to taste life than ever before.
Then Andrei managed to score tickets on a boat leaving (fleeing) England for the USA. Together the two Ravnos sailed to New York and traveled beyond. Ian learned the basics of vampirism, and especially to avoid the Camarilla and Sabbat authorities. The Ravnos should remain independent, Andrei advised. So like Anarchs, the two danced through city after city. Ian impressed his sire with his charm and effect on the kine, which the Embrace seemed to only emphasize.
And playing off Ian’s Romani sense of superiority, Andrei had little issue “bleeding out” the whelp’s humanity and replacing it with the “truths” of Paradox – those wild beliefs some Ravnos maintain regarding the existential nature of the world, and their role as its merciless saviors. A final test before released on his own involved a fixture of Paradoxical beliefs. In Buffalo in 1950, Ian went to a false Gypsy fortune-teller who actually had a truly magical crystal ball (albeit a minor one with almost cosmetic powers). Ian fooled the old grifter and stole her crystal ball, and then promptly shattered it, releasing its magical force back into the universe.
Liberation
Now that World War II ended and Andrei released him, Ian decided to return home. He wanted to re-connect with his family especially. He found that his parents passed away years before, and his sisters were happily married, and he was happy for them. Otherwise, Ian picked back up with his mortal life, except now he had the hunger of a vampire. And he rediscovered his hunger for the White Lady, too, after traipsing about London with his old crowd and feeding on intoxicated blood. Ian also picked back up his stage acting career as well. That became a hazard eventually, when local Camarilla Cainites pressured him to obey their Traditions and laws.
So by 1965, with Andrei’s advice, Ian left London and England behind and traveled back to America. He skipped the East Coast and settled on the West Coast for a while, wandering the Anarch Freestates of California. He did a little professional acting, but mainly just relished the free-spirited era. He made a friend outside his clan in San Diego, a Malkavian named Ubiquity Train, who was quite delusional but fun all the same. With Ubiquity’s help and information, they traveled to San Francisco and played pranks on Tremere blood mages to lure them away from prized possessions. Ian would steal their magical trinkets and break them to release the power. Unfortunately, that spawned citywide outrage (as the Tremere blew the lone Ravnos’ threat out of proportion), and a Blood Hunt was called on the Gypsy in ‘74. He wisely fled and knew he could never return to the City by the Bay.
Wild Dogs
Then Ian ended up migrating as far north as Canada. He largely avoided the Kindred up here due to the heavy Sabbat presence. Ian discovered a wandering kumpania of American Ravnos Romani, and ended up mirroring their journey across Canada and the northern US. Often with this family, he developed various bujo scams to bilk whatever gaje they came across. For many years this relationship worked out beautifully.
Until the Sabbat came into the picture, that was. No matter how cautious Ian was to avoid settling in any given city, the family ran afoul of the brutish sect. A nomadic pack of Sabbat began stalking his relatives not far from Winnipeg around 1990. Ian spoiled the chase with illusory tricks and clever cons. He masqueraded as a Ravnos antitribu, picking up easily on the sect’s subtle behaviors, guessing their coded hand signals. Ian’s human relatives escaped, so the pack hunted him instead. Luckily, his sire sent word, and helped Ian escape on a privately charted airplane. The little Cessna scooted south, back into the States away from the Sabbat killers.
The plane landed in Chicago, and there Ian laid low a while. He blended in with the local Anarch scene while the looser Camarilla dealt with other problems. Ian hung around the Malkavians mostly, and often pretended to be one. Biff Rock was his pal in that town, although the very madness of the clan reinforced Ian’s belief in the gaje’s glaring inferiority. Though Ian had an okay life in Chicago, he could not leave the status quo alone. He helped stir up trouble between local Kindred and Lupines. He spread rumors among the Gangrel about the Lupines, thus alienating the Camarilla’s prime negotiators with the werewolves!
When the “war” broke out between vampire and werewolf in the Windy City, Ian kept hidden but watched. During the fights, he would sneak among the bodies and collect what few sacred-seeming objects the Lupines would drop. Assuming they were all shamans’ fetishes, he shattered them all in turn. (He succeeded in breaking only one actual fetish and it was minor.) Outraged with Ian’s suspect behavior, a surviving Gangrel named Walther Peterson chased the Ravnos right out of town.
Doth Me Well
Actually, Walther chased Ian out of the country. The Gypsy went home to check up on his original family, suddenly afraid some thuggish vampires preyed on them as what nearly happened in Canada. Luckily, that was not the case. His sisters, now great-grandmothers, were happy to see him (though they now knew unreservedly what he had become). While lingering with his family, he stayed low-key, and avoided the theater life except rarely in order to avoid recognition. Yet Ian still yearned to be a star, and his family and clan both knew he wanted to make it bigtime.
It was Andrei’s recommendation after a surprise visit that suggested Ian should seek that fame in prudent measure in a different country. Why not Broadway? After a few years of tooling about and contemplating the idea, he decided to go for it! In 2005, Ian revisited the Big Apple. Unfortunately, the ongoing sect warfare proved hazardous to a dashing Ravnos. He stuck to Manhattan with tacit approval from the local Prince that assumed he would aid the Camarilla in times of emergency (“or else”). Reluctantly, he obeyed the Traditions (more or less). Besides, the occasional jab at the Sabbat could only help his Path of Paradox.
However, Ian spent most of his time acting, not fighting. He ran few scams anymore, but when he did, he always targeted uptown elitists that came to see the plays in which he starred. His portfolio gradually enlarged, and one night soon Ian Mircea would be truly big time.
Significant Other
Zyah Nirah is Ian’s grand-niece by Romani lineage. To mitigate some social and financial problems,her kumpania is enduring back in England, Ian has agreed to watch after the teenager until she’s called back. So she was sent to him in spring of 2009. Together they’re “working people”, running bujos and collecting the cash (and joy). More than that, but he’s already begun to Blood Bond the girl as his own, and their indiscretions led to rather incestuous encounters. But neither feels shame or disgust, and their romantic liaison will continue for as long as they can both stand. Maybe always.
Zyah
Weakness Tragedy & Comedy
For Ian, everything is an act, as if life (and unlife) was all just a big play or movie production. Even he gets confused sometimes about what's real and what's a fantasy he's propagating.
Likelihood of Corruption
High.
Ian has twisted and bizarre world-views (due to his adherence to the Path of Paradox), which frequently put him at odds with decent (or just dangerous) folk.
