Marcel
Friend of the Court
Mental characteristics
Personal history
MORTAL DAYS: PROFIT BY ANY MEANS
There are a lot of secret things in this world, some of them beyond the ken of mortals and some not. The Ministry’s vampires are well-versed in the corruption of the soul, but Marcel had already seen plenty of that before he ever heard of the truths harbored by the undead. The son of a Ghanaian sailor living in Marseilles and an Algerian mother working in the city as a domestic servant, Marcel was exiled from the daylight world from the moment of his birth. He followed in his father’s footsteps and started working at the docks from a young age. He never made a decision to become a smuggler, a fence, and a drug trafficker. It just happened as he followed the best opportunities available. When he turned 18, Marcel became involved in smuggling weapons to the Algerian National Liberation Front. Although the war ended with Algerian independence in 1962, by the end Marcel had been identified by the French secret services. His war-profiteering-funded lavish lifestyle almost led to his death, and Marcel took the lesson for the rest of his life and unlife. In the winter of 1962, Marcel lay naked on the wet, concrete floor of a secret prison in the south of France. As the interrogators beat him, he fully expected to die. Instead, he was tortured within an inch of his life and left in the care of a mysterious Haitian man who gave him relief from his pain in the form of blood. As Marcel sucked on the wound on the man’s wrist, he was vaguely aware he’d discovered yet another layer of the secret world.KINDRED NIGHTS: SEEMINGLY SIMPLISTIC AIMS
The Haitian Ministry didn’t Embrace Marcel immediately. They used his experience with smuggling and the sea to work in the clan’s heroin trade, transporting drugs mostly to the U.S. market. It was during this time Marcel understood his previous operations had been mere dabbling, small-time hustles compared to the global vision of the Ministry. Faced with the challenge of transforming himself from a beaten-down wreck into a useful asset in the Ministry’s clandestine war against the other clans, Marcel succeeded and flourished. The Embrace in 1974 was almost an afterthought, a natural step up in a promising career. As a vampire, he quickly decided to move away from the competitive Ministry scene in Haiti and try his luck in the States. After all, he was already familiar with the territory via his drug-running operations. Settling in Chicago in the wake of the reported death of Prince Lodin, he muscled in on the cocaine trade to provide the financial backing for his goal of increased power in the Camarilla.Social
Contacts & Relations
- Deon Adams (Allies 1) Marcel prefers to control people subtly, without the overt use of blood and Disciplines. Sometimes a little kindness, or perhaps blackmail, goes a long way. An example of the former is Deon, a local high school kid who lives across the street from Marcel’s haven. For Deon, Marcel is a kindly man hiding from a criminal past. He often acts as a lookout, calling Marcel if he sees suspicious characters hanging around the restaurant.
- Imani Singleton (Contacts 3) Blackmail is Marcel’s stock in trade, but Imani is one of his favorite subjects because of the amusing innocence of her sins. She works in a senior position at the Chicago Department of Buildings and cheated on her husband with a colleague once on a work trip. As a veteran of drug-fueled blood ceremonies Marcel finds this quaint, but nevertheless uses it as leverage to provide him with information and access.
Relationships
Wealth & Financial state
Riverdale Apartment (Haven 1) Marcel’s havens have
always been surprisingly humble, from the apartment
he had in the now-demolished Robert Taylor Homes
in Bronzeville to the current one in the basement of a
nondescript Chinese restaurant in Riverdale. Marcel
never brings guests to his home. Instead, when he
wants to organize Ministry ceremonies or entertain
important contacts, he uses venues available because
of his business in the cocaine trade. He’s not much
for the physical domain, instead using the drug trade
to provide the blood he needs.
Spouses
Siblings
Children
Related Reports
Character Prototype
Sire: Goolooboo
Embraced: 1974 (Born 1943) Ambition Acquire a major boon from the Prince and another from the Primogen Council
Convictions Never debase the undeserving
Touchstones Deon Adams — a neighborhood kid to whom Marcel has taken a sentimental liking Humanity 6 Generation 11th Blood Potency 2 Attributes
Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 4;
Charisma 3, Manipulation 5, Composure 3;
Intelligence 3, Wits 4, Resolve 3 Secondary Attributes Health 7, Willpower 6 Skills
Athletics 1, Drive 1, Firearms 2, Larceny 3, Stealth 3, Survival 2; Etiquette 1, Insight (Secret Needs) 4, Intimidation (Mysterious) 4, Leadership 2, Performance 1, Persuasion 4, Streetwise (Dealers) 4, Subterfuge 3; Awareness 1, Finance 1, Investigation 1, Medicine 1, Occult 1, Politics 2 Disciplines
Embraced: 1974 (Born 1943) Ambition Acquire a major boon from the Prince and another from the Primogen Council
Convictions Never debase the undeserving
Touchstones Deon Adams — a neighborhood kid to whom Marcel has taken a sentimental liking Humanity 6 Generation 11th Blood Potency 2 Attributes
Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 4;
Charisma 3, Manipulation 5, Composure 3;
Intelligence 3, Wits 4, Resolve 3 Secondary Attributes Health 7, Willpower 6 Skills
Athletics 1, Drive 1, Firearms 2, Larceny 3, Stealth 3, Survival 2; Etiquette 1, Insight (Secret Needs) 4, Intimidation (Mysterious) 4, Leadership 2, Performance 1, Persuasion 4, Streetwise (Dealers) 4, Subterfuge 3; Awareness 1, Finance 1, Investigation 1, Medicine 1, Occult 1, Politics 2 Disciplines
- Obfuscate 1: Silent
- Presence 1: Eye of the Serpent (7 vs WitComp) paralize victim.
- Presence 2: Awe
- Presence 3: Entrancement
- Protean 1: Eye of Beast
- Protean 2: Feral Weapons (Teeth)
- Protean 3: Shapechange (Snake)
