Rowan

Physical Description

Body Features

• Rowan is 6’2” and a lanky, beastly version of a vampire. Their ears and fingers come to points, their stomach sunken, ribs pronounced, eyes depressed, and skin rubbery.
• They are covered in tattoos and piercings from their mortal life. Rowan tends to wear genderqueer alternative-culture clothes like shiny black leggings and flower-print button-down shirts.
• Rowan has no mortal cover identity at this time, which could severely harm them if the burners ever abandon them.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Mortal Days: Unordered Flesh

Rowan was never very comfortable with the body they were in. As a teen they tried every manner of masking it: tattoos, piercings, different styles of clothing designed to hide more than expose. It never really worked. The shape of it, the gender, the way people reacted to their black skin or called them a guy. None of these ever felt right but Rowan didn’t really know what to do about it. It was a struggle and a source of depression and dysphoria for many years and Rowan just tolerated it as the way they were.
Rowan was a festival kid and got real into the local burner culture in Chicago, fitting in with the other outsiders there and getting into hallucinogens. They started to love themselves no matter what their body was, and grow comfortable with the idea of whatever body shape or gender they had. It was at the burns Rowan finally accepted their queer nonbinary trans identity, and was accepted by the others there, too.
It was at one such summer burn that Rowan met Kamilah. Her face seemed to look kind of… frog-like? There was no other way to describe it, her eyes were round and swiveling, her tongue slightly too large for her wide, toothed mouth. Rowan didn’t judge when she revealed it in the darkness of the acid-tripping tent. They were intrigued more than anything, and Kamilah confided she was something more than human. The two of them talked long into the night, bonding over feeling like outsiders in their own bodies. Kamilah said she never felt like herself until after she became a vampire. She offered to turn Rowan into a vampire, and in Rowan’s innocence and tripped-out mind they agreed.
When Rowan awoke later that night, Kamilah was gone, disappearing into the festival circuit. Their body had transformed, growing longer and lankier, and they could feel their bristled ears and sunken eyes. Their fingers felt like elongated claws. Had they become an animal? It took a while for Rowan to understand. They began to integrate minimally with Kindred culture, learning who the Nosferatu in Chicago were and joining the Camarilla for the sake of safety, but never really fitting in.

Kindred Nights: Accepting the Monster

Although Kamilah thought vampires could be confirming for Rowan, they felt even more like an outsider amidst these monsters. While Rowan is a member of the Camarilla, they mostly stay out of vampire politics, finding no room for them or their opinions, and never fully being introduced to the sect’s politics.
Rowan’s closest family was the burners, and that is still true. In order to still maintain their place in burner culture Rowan transitioned to be a performer, using their bat-like looks as a double disguise to keep their vampire identity hidden from the mortal burners. The performances are a combination of a horror show and body manipulation dance, where Rowan moves around in creepy contortions and utilizes their appearance to shock and awe the audience. There aren’t too many vampires in the Chicago burner culture; usually the other ones who show up at events are there as tourists or wanderers looking for a meal, leading to Rowan coming to know the occasional passing Gangrel or Ravnos. Rowan keeps the burners as a small herd for safety and feeding off of, with full consent, though they’re not completely aware why Rowan drinks their blood. It’s possible that with any amount of manipulation a different vampire could control Rowan’s herd, or Rowan themselves. They’re a neonate Nosferatu, and rather vulnerable.
Sometimes, Rowan misses their old body. It wasn’t perfect, but they had made a kind of peace with the way things were. Now they are more permanently changed. Rowan is gaining more control over it by the night, and learning the new things their body can do, but in the last five years since their Embrace they occasionally fall to despair. Rowan has decided that being an outsider means they have to accept change, and that the chaos of life is abundant with it. It’s not an easy thing to accept, however. Rowan incorporates these ideas in their performance at the burns, and speaks to it openly with human and Kindred friends alike.
Rowan is sometimes a huge mystery to the older Kindred of the city, who don’t understand new generations of humans let alone the newer generations of Kindred. The fact that Rowan has outwardly accepted themselves as a Nosferatu monster is disliked by many traditionalists… they’d prefer Rowan had more self-loathing than they do. Additionally, newer concepts of queerness and transness, even among vampires, is confusing. Rowan is a window into youth culture, and some Kindred intend to use that knowledge to their advantage.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

Plots and Schemes:

• Reluctant Politician: Rowan intends to mostly stay out of Kindred politics, but is inevitably brought back in by the Nosferatu clan. They do not want to be a part of any violence, but if forced it would be a difficult decision of what to do in order to survive.
• Deep Attachment: Rowan considers the burners their family, and if anything should happen to them it could potentially do great damage to Rowan. They might react violently or change their persona entirely, searching for revenge or retreating in sorrow. They’re definitely Rowan’s weakness and strength.
• Marked for Destruction: Rowan wants to maintain their identity as a performer at the burns, but with that comes risk. They try to stay far away from the fire performers, but accidents do happen. Nathaniel is aware of Rowan’s activities at these little festivals and has put his mind to putting this deviant down “for the good of the Camarilla,” with a little Charles Dawson-given arson.
• Seeking Modernity: Rowan wants to solidify their friendship with Wauneka, hoping to perhaps shore up the queer Nosferatu support in the city. Rowan is hopeful they can begin to create change in the Kindred and their outdated ways if they work together. Rowan is completely unaware of how most elder vampires fail to recognize gender, sexuality, or mortal identity after several centuries of existence.

Whispers:

• Mercenary Agent: Rowan is one of Prince Jackson’s spies and can’t be trusted by any group aside from the Camarilla. Rowan is removed from politics, but that removal makes them suspicious to the Kindred who are embedded in the hierarchy.
• Carnival Freak: Rowan has often been seen at the local burns and has become somewhat of an urban legend. Children tell tales of “the batman” (a name Rowan hates) and teenagers place bets on who can best rattle the bat’s cage.
• Urban Legend: Rowan is actually a cryptid and not a vampire at all. Rowan does bear a striking resemblance to some of Chicago’s persevering urban legends about bat and rat people.

Social

Contacts & Relations

Kindred Relationships:

• Wauneka (Mawla 1, Respect) Rowan sees Wauneka as an elder they can actually look up to. They try to spend as much time getting on Wauneka’s good side as possible, and the two seem to get on okay. Wauneka’s warming up to this youngster, though they have vastly different perspectives on queer community and language.
• Nathaniel Bordruff (Bogeyman) Bordruff terrifies Rowan, and they mostly try to stay out of his way. It’s hard to avoid the sire of your sire forever though. They are tied by blood, and Nathaniel has convinced Rowan that they are obligated to do whatever the older Nosferatu might want.

Wealth & Financial state

Domain and Haven:

• Artistic Communes (Haven 1, Herd 2, Influence 1) Rowan spends most of their time in the vicinity of various burner communes in the city. These communes are usually large houses rented by 10 or so people who are performers and artists at the local burns. Occasionally Rowan sleeps at these places, and since they are already filled with drifters and outsiders Rowan blends in reasonably well.
• Glen Ellyn (Haven 1, Herd 1) They often finds themselves in communes in the village of Glen Ellyn. Rowan finds a little thrill in breaking into houses in the suburbs and feeding from kine as they sleep.

Thralls and Tools:

• Basil (Allies 1) Basil is a local burner who organizes one of the larger groups of artists and entertainers at their communal house. She acts as a friend and supporter to Rowan, especially when they’re feeling down about the way they look or their gender identity. It’s her house in Glen Ellyn where Rowan spends the most amount of their time.
• Commune Dwellers (Allies 2) Rowan has no knowledge of ghouls or revenants, or anything to do with the potential power of vitae. For now, the mortals in their retinue are friends and colleagues, though they do wonder at the illness Rowan must possess to make them look that way.

Chicago By Night    Kindred, Kine & Others    The Camarilla      Rowan

Quotes & Catchphrases

Epitaph: Change is Inevitable
“Where there’s life, there’s always a little inner chaos.”

Character Prototype

Sire: Kamilah
Embraced: 2010 (Born 1993)
Ambition: I will claim the burners as my herd and mine alone
Convictions: Never blindly follow orders
Touchstones: Basil — a local burner who has welcomed Rowan into her tribe
Humanity: 7
Generation: 10th
Blood Potency: 1
Attributes:
Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 4; Charisma 3, Manipulation 1, Composure 2; Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 4
Secondary Attributes: Health 7, Willpower 6
Skills: Athletics (Climbing) 4, Brawl 1, Drive 2, Larceny 1, Stealth (Camouflage) 3, Survival 3; Animal Ken (Bats) 4, Insight 2, Intimidation 2, Performance (Contortion) 4, Persuasion 3, Streetwise 2, Subterfuge 1; Awareness 3, Medicine 1, Science 1
Disciplines: Animalism 3, Potence 1