Reece Quinn
Arcadians
Clan Brujah
Neonate Individualist
Description
~Dignity and poise defines Reece Quinn. Well-read and sorely tested are traits that combined to improve what was once a hollow shell like so many others. Strength and intestinal fortitude keep Reece upright, and his quiet demeanor breaks the pitiful pattern of brash, loudmouth punks. The man appears to be in his late 20s. A pale hand sweeps dark, conservatively-cut hair back from sullen, brown eyes. Reece favors long, black garments. Slacks, pennyloafers, and a turtleneck encase the man’s well-built but not overwhelming frame. He will often tote a black longcoat over a shoulder if it isn’t on his back. He strides forward, fearless and intent. When he speaks, his voice conveys a solemn, honest air. When thoughtful, his eyes brighten with undying flames.~
OOC: Appearance 3; Clan Prestige (Brujah/Individualists) 3; Ability Aptitude: Leadership
"Quit that. Amscray. I'm busy."
History
Life
A product of the baby boomers, Reece Quinn was born in 1956 and grew up alive in Gaithersburg, Maryland -- a suburb of Washington, D.C. His father was a political lobbyist for the Democratic Party and his mother was a dutiful housewife. She raised Reece well, interesting him in literature from an early age. And he was not without friends either. His winsome smile and strong voice won the allegiance of many neighborhood kids. He helped the kids’ athletic activities stay cooperative and everyone had fun when Reece was around. But he didn’t play softball, football, or kickball all that often. He spent more time reading.
In high school, Reece was something of a “prep”. He dressed conservatively, studied hard, and even contributed to the chess club. His confident mien helped to keep him from becoming the butt of “nerd” jokes. It even earned him a beautiful cheerleader as a girlfriend throughout most of high school. Jessica Theron was her name. Unfortunately, when they graduated from high school, interests tugged them separate ways. Reece went to university and Jessica went to a community college in preparation for the police academy.
There at Georgetown University, Reece attained a Bachelor’s in political science, with a minor in philosophy. His time there was spent reclusively in study, and his college years remained quite uneventful until graduation. Once finished at Georgetown, Reece sought a career in Washington. Unfortunately, even his father’s record could not afford him a job in the national arena. He had to settle for a tourist’s occupation, working as little more than a librarian at the National Archive (which he had already visited inside and out a hundred times!).
Frustrated with the work, Reece began to devote his free time to the study of more bizarre or unusual subjects. Perhaps to keep in shape or out of romantic interest, he began to self-teach classical fencing from a variety of books. But more oddly still, Reece began to delve into the occult. His reading began with de Givry, Lovecraft, Gardner, and Crowley. He would often attend a convention of fellow occult scholars in the DC area, comparing notes, exchanging ideas, and postulating theoretical questions. His studies took an unexpected turn of interest, however, when in 1982 he stumbled across a version of the Book of Nod in a musty, old bookshop run by a doddling old man.
Embrace & Siring
Profoundly intrigued, Reece compared the work to some Kabbalistic lore he had stumbled over (mostly regarding Lilith). He wrote a brief thesis and presented it at the next convention. The thesis was met with mild interest by the scholars, who found its similarity to the Kabbala to be a sign of its fiction. Unfortunately, a new attendee -- one Harrison Barrett -- was Kindred. He followed Reece home that night.
Harrison broke into Reece’s shoebox of an apartment later that evening. Reece was embroiled at his desk, studying, and was absolutely shocked at the intruder. He dimly recognized Harrison, but before he could do anything, the man decked him. Harrison bared his fangs and proceeded to tell Reece what he was. Matching the descriptive evidence to his study of the Book of Nod, Reece could only accept what he was seeing. And then Harrison broke the news: Reece knew too much. He had to die, or he had to join the ranks of the undead. Reece refused both options, grabbing his fencing foil and stabbing the vampire in the chest. Both angry and amused, Harrison lashed a taloned hand across Reece’s chest.
So, lying there in his own blood and viscera, Reece was staring at the ceiling as he realized death was upon him. Harrison offered his choice one more time -- be changed or be dead. Reece accepted the Embrace. Still annoyed by Reece’s attempt to fight his way out, Harrison dealt roughly with the man. He bit hard, and did nothing to heal the injury he inflicted. Once the Change was complete, Harrison let Reece feed off of him. Reece was leery about it at first, but the Hunger soon overcame the sentiment. After the brief sating, Harrison proceeded to explain the ways of the Kindred and the Brujah, and the laws of the Camarilla. Harrison described the nature and physiology of the vampire, including all their allergies. He even mentioned the danger of powerplays between Elders and Neonates: the Great Jyhad. Harrison did not fail to impress on young Reece the futility of him trying to overwhelm his sire. Partially Blood Bonded (as Progeny always are, at least firstly) to his sire, he did not argue.
Then Reece’s first few nights included Harrison’s guidance. Reece adapted fairly quickly. Though he abhorred the idea of feeding on blood, and having to forever, he kept his habits to the Slums of D.C. That way, he even felt justified when another wasted human byproduct fell to the wayside. Of course, Reece never killed his prey. He was an intelligent, cool-headed vampire (well, as much as one of his Blood could be); he knew the risks of murdering even a homeless or criminal persons could pose to the Masquerade. When Reece’s sire felt he was ready, he was dragged along to an Idealist Debate. Although of a definite philosophical mind-bent, Reece found the event trivially boring and unnecessarily confusing: their debate forum was purposely complicated with long-term memory tests and endlessly vague point-by-point references.
Our Nation's Capitol
With a disappointed snort, Harrison dismissed Reece from further attendance. He suggested he attend an Iconoclast’s Rant if he thought the Debate was so boring. Shrugging, Reece did as recommended. The first Rant Reece attended was also the last. He stayed in the background the whole time, staring in utter disgust at the offensive, loud, barbaric, and utterly ridiculous “discussions”. Reece returned to Harrison the next night to voice his distaste. Chuckling, Harrison explained the three “camps” of Brujah ideaology: the Idealists, Iconoclasts, and the middle-road Individualists. Naturally, Reece was drawn to this grouping after Harrison noted that Individualists were independent in every way, and held no real meetings.
Indeed, Reece wanted to be left alone. The “Release of the Progeny” became official with his meeting the Ventrue Prince of the city (with whom he felt he had more in common with than his sire, excepting that he was not interested in wealth, only academics). Harrison never bothered Reece again, and it wasn’t until months later that Reece found out why. Harrison decided to investigate the source of Reece’s copy of the Book of Nod (which Harrison confiscated from his childe, the bastard). He visited the old occult bookstore…and was never seen again. The store owner vanished as well, and the building changed hands to a New Age Christian bookstore (oh, yay). The Brujah all assumed Harrison had met his Final Death; Reece didn’t seem to care. He wouldn’t care, not with the memento Harrison had left: a claw wound that never seemed to quite heal properly.
With his old life officially over, Reece now pondered what to do with eternity. He had to make ends meet to keep his apartment, for one thing. He was forced to endure crappy night-shift warehouse jobs. Meanwhile, he continued to amass and enlarge his personal library. Most of his books were exoteric works, but he had a number of esoteric volumes. These were mostly occult gibberish that did nothing to help explain the “truth” behind the Kindred. And while he lived this night-life, he returned to school, intent on achieving a Masters if not Doctorate in political science. Night school made it slower-paced, but he was patient.
And finally, after ten years, Reece managed to gain the attention of a low-brow publishing house, Tribunal Publishing. He wrote a book entitled Moonlight Forums. It was a collection of theses that remarked upon ties between political theories and occult myths. Naturally, due to its “questionable” nature, it was normally thrust onto shelves labeled “new age & occult”. Besides this book, he managed to get a variety of theses published as articles in magazines that Tribunal also put out.
In the world of the Camarilla, however, Reece was even more obscure. He stayed to himself, remaining aloof from Clan and city politics alike. In fact, he rarely left his haven except when the Prince or Primogen summoned his presence. The few times he revealed himself at these events, Iconoclasts decided to pick on the Individualist bookworm. They made him the brunt of pranks and even assaults. Reece realized he would have to stay strong and get tougher if he wanted to survive for long. He also knew that should the assaults get too violent, the Anarchs might discover the Elder’s blood in his veins and covet it for diabolic purposes.
As a result, Reece did get stronger. He armed himself at all times and began to train harder physically. He finally shook off the rebels by flattening the biggest, baddest punk of the bunch. They left him alone after that! And he realized that his Clanmates were true buffoons. They didn’t respect wisdom, only brute force. They didn’t understand what true power was. Knowledge was raw power, Reece knew. And knowledge applied through caution, not folly, was true power -- formed and cut like a flawless, unbreakable diamond. Reece was growing sick of life in Washington. The power struggles among Kindred and Kine alike were making him nauseous.
The Big Apple
So it could have been considered fortunate that Reece received a telephone call out of the blue. The caller was Jessica Theron, his old high school girlfriend of all people. She needed his help desperately, and begged him to come to New York City. Reece complied, having nothing really better to do. And while he mostly kept to himself, he wasn’t a true loner. He just despised most people (and most of his Clanmates). He was fairly interested in reacquainting Jessica, although he wasn’t sure what to say about his new “life”.
Nonetheless, Reece completely pulled up stakes and moved to New York. The raging Jyhad perturbed him, and a fellow Individualist tipped him the best way to get to Manhattan (where Jessica’s address was and the Camarilla were based): by airplane. So Reece arranged a night flight to the city and presented himself briefly to the Prince (who didn’t mind the arrival of an apparently loyal Brujah -- Lord knows the sect could have used more). Then he went to Jessica’s address, an apartment just a couple blocks south of the Harlem district.
Strangely, she wasn’t home. In fact, it appeared she had left the city, too. It was odd, Reece thought, but even odder and more terrifying was the sudden manifestation of Jessica’s former boyfriend, Cyrus. Manifestation was the right word, because he was dead, and his spirit haunted her home and more. Cyrus related the truth: Jessica had been Embraced against her will and sent from the city. Cyrus had been murdered in the process. The outraged ghost demanded vengeance and pleaded for Reece’s aid. Disturbed that such a beautiful woman like Jessica could have her life torn away, Reece agreed. So the two investigated Harlem, bringing them into conflict with a clan of Kindred Reece learned worshipped the old, dark Egyptian god, Set. It was they, Cyrus and Reece learned, who had forcibly Embraced Jessica and sent her south on some cruel mission.
Engulfed in Jyhad with the Italian vampires to the south of the island, the Setites had no time for the wraith/Brujah tag-team wild cards. They avoided the two as much as possible -- mostly due to Cyrus’ terrible rage, that could shred the very flesh from bone of his living (or even unliving) foes. Reece complicated the problem more, and no Brujah could be taken lightly in battle. Ultimately, the Setites were more intent on winning the bigger pot, and Jessica’s sire -- the main target of Cyrus’ ire -- was cut off as dead weight. A final battle between Cyrus and Reece and the Setite and his ghoul bodyguards decided the entire affair with the fall of the Setite. Reece felt it was only partially concluded, for the Setites must have been up to more. Plus, there was no word or trace of Jessica or her fate. But Cyrus seemed satisfied. The spirit dissipated, perhaps forever laid to rest.
So Reece retired from the conflict. And to avoid the Camarilla/Sabbat war, he moved to the Anarch-controlled Coney Island. Although he disliked the Iconoclasts that made up the majority of the Anarch “sect”, he was in better company among Clanmates than he was in the kill zones of the other city boroughs. His time in this small area south of Brooklyn was more active than the time he spent in D.C. He actually mingled with people, although he stayed on the sidelines of most conflicts. He also found intriguing company among the Nosferatu (whether they were Anarchs was debatable and in Reece’s mind, irrelevant). Indeed, he ended up spending more time with the “Sewer Rats” than his fellow Brujah. He watched and learned much about other Kindred, as well as the mortals that crossed his path. He had become a sort of philosophical observer, taking notes of people’s behaviors. His observations and reviews became important elements of his writing and studying and thinking. It was also during this time that Reece finally met a fellow Individualist: Terry Nell. The two exchanged ideas and theories and disseminated information. Reece also learned the secret of Iron Heart from Terry; in exchange, he taught Terry how to take a punch (through Fortitude - a Discipline Reece admits he enjoys teaching!). And this was how Reece spent several more years.
The City of Fountains
However, the Jyhad reared its ugly head for Reece again in late 2002. Shadowy war came to Coney Island as the Sabbat sought (vainly) to recruit or destroy as many Anarchs as possible. With his Nosferatu comrades’ help, Reece slipped out of the Big Apple altogether. He voyaged west, settling in Kansas City. Remaining on the Missouri side of the river-based border, Reece began to once more set up shop. After properly introducing himself to the Prince, Reece established a new haven: another closet of an apartment. He also restocked his lost library.
Now that Reece was settled into a more peaceful environment, he could begin his studies anew. Not only did he write and read as he did mostly in D.C., but he decided to add a “people-watching” element to his nightly activities. Sometimes he would go to a club or bar, other times he would just walk down the street and examine passersby. Always, Reece remained inscrutable, obscure, unknown -- just the way he wanted it.
Significant Other
Two academic Brujah -- a breed growing rarer and rarer. Reece met Billy Addams in 2004 when the young Neonate was sent by her sire to Kansas City for political purposes. Reece remains aloof from Kindred politics. Billy yearns to share his “Anarch” lifestyle. And so the Individualist has begun encouraging Billy to stay with him. Their shared love of books and mutual attraction makes this future a likely possibility. Both know, however, that this may action might bear a cost from her influential sire back in Paris. How will they pay it?
Billy
Weakness
Aloof Heart
It isn't that Reece is dispassionate or unemotional. It's more of how distant he keeps from others, including his clanmates (most of whom he views as childish buffoons). Consequently, he's a hard man to understand. On the other hand, he's a hard man to give a damn about. He relinquishes many opportunities to garner friends and allies in a very unforgiving world.
Likelihood of Corruption
Average.
Reece holds onto his Humanity, fighting the Beast's berserker urges. He's done fairly well so far. But not only does the Beast Within threaten his mind and soul, but there are a vast host of external threats he doesn't even know about in this big, ugly world.
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