Sgt. Duncan Mactavish

Duncan is an unkempt and dirty white man with a mop of shaggy, matted brown hair that has spent too long inside helmets and balaclavas, and a beard containing almost as much wildlife as the average woodland. His cold, gray eyes are permanently bloodshot, and this is more pronounced when he is well fed. He is well built, tall, and has a scowling face at rest. His voice is rarely raised and almost never shows a flicker of emotion.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Mortal Days: What the Army Can Do for You

MacTavish’s favorite childhood activity was guarding his father’s chicken runs from foxes. He was content to sit quietly, holding his old man’s shotgun in his lap, his eyes swiveling and searching for any sign of foxes or badgers. Eventually, he started stalking the woods in the early evening, seeking out their hides and holes to lie in wait for them to emerge. The idea of having something to protect pleased him.
One night, he was lurking outside a fox den when he heard a commotion from back at the farm. Rushing back, he found that while he was off on his hunt, something had gotten into the run and snatched a couple of the hens. His father was furious with him for wandering off the grounds and beat him with his belt as punishment. This was a regular feature of his upbringing; while most would call it abusive, Duncan would say it was “the kick up the arse I needed.”
The first of his bombs erupted in the woods in the early morning. Just around the time, he suspected, those filthy animals would be settling down to sleep off the meal they’d made of his wards. He hit every hole and den he knew about and woke up the sleeping wood with the blasts of his devices and the acrid smoke of the burning petroleum that spilled through the subterranean tunnels.
Duncan was encouraged to join the military. Not only was the strict discipline and isolation a sort of homecoming for him, but there was finally a place for him that allowed him to defend not just a small bunch of stupid chickens, but a nation. A people asleep at night, ignorant of the armed man in the chair watching over them. Duncan excelled in military service, first being offered training as a paratrooper and then being picked to join the Special Air Service.
Sergeant MacTavish was placed on assignment to attack the compound of a group of dissident terrorists in El Salvador. This scheme brought Duncan into the clutches of a vampire with pull in the military, positioning the burly Scotsman as one of her potential childer candidates.
With their operation compromised from the start, Duncan’s team was slaughtered, save for him. When his mysterious benefactor finally came, she staged a daring rescue of her erstwhile progeny and earned his immediate loyalty, emancipating him from his captors. Starving, tired, and having endured numerous beatings over a fortnight of captivity, Duncan was easy prey.

Kindred Nights: Shepherding the Flock

Duncan awoke in a jungle clearing at night, his kit restored to him and a small handful of powerful torches providing light. The mysterious woman who rescued him made him an offer, handing him a dossier with photographs and files of three men, each dressed in the garb of a different military. Duncan recognized Navy SEALs, Spetsnaz, and Mossad.
“Your mission is to proceed on foot to Gary, Indiana, USA as quickly as you are able.”
A monumental task on its own, it was further complicated by the stipulation that he would only be permitted to enter the city if he first eliminated the other three men in his file.
The journey was fraught with peril, each danger compounded by the threat of the three faces hunting him each night and the implacable sun pinning him down by day.
Duncan alone reached Gary and entered, bearing the dog tags of the other three men and samples of their ash as stipulated. The story of how he bested them is one he rarely tells, and when he does it changes with each telling. Many are unsure if he killed them at all. Duncan is never drawn on the matter. All that is certain is that none of the others ever came to Gary. He alone took on the role of his sire’s enforcer.
With the secession of the Gangrel from the Camarilla to the Anarchs, Duncan has been tasked with remaining on the outskirts of Chicago, protecting his clanmates who wish to defect to the domains of Fort Wayne or Indianapolis, eliminate any threats to the cause, and to monitor the comings and goings of the Camarilla’s crown jewel. To the Camarilla Kindred of the city, the name MacTavish is spoken like that of a bogeyman or old wives’ tale. To the Anarchs, he is treated with some quiet reverence as a stalwart sentinel that defends them. Each Anarch knows that to cross the will of Juggler, the Baron of Gary, will put them in the sights of Sergeant Duncan MacTavish.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

Plots

• Eyes, Ears, and Fists: Duncan was raised in settings where strict instructions were the order of the day. His current assignment has him watching the comings and goings of Chicago, entering only occasionally to interfere with or terminate specifically selected targets.
• High-Profile Targets: One of the chief concerns of the Camarilla is silence regarding the upcoming summit. If Duncan was to become aware of the Lasombra’s intent, he may do something to sabotage it, even without orders. Leading members of the negotiating parties of either side could become targets for “assassination,” where he very publicly shoots them to render them dead in the public eye, hindering their movements.
• Clear the Area: Duncan has also planted crude devices in populated areas and is unafraid of phoning in bomb threats to close key roads or civic buildings.

Whispers

• Walking the Line: Anarchs talk of him as a hero of the Movement, who sacrifices his nights to protect the cause and defend their freedoms. Others see him as little more than a necessary evil, a watchman against the machinations and the corruption of the Ivory Tower.
• Bogeyman: Some Animals pour out an extra drink for him when celebrating their hard-won freedom, as the man they see as fighting to preserve it. In this way, he becomes a bogeyman for the Camarilla, legend among Anarchs, and folk hero within his clan.
• One-Man Army: Duncan is several killers, assassins, terrorists, and bombers that have struck the city over the past year or so. While his moves are clearly not the work of one man, FIRSTLIGHT suspects a guiding Kindred hand behind these events.

Social

Contacts & Relations

Domain and Haven:

• Bolt-Holes and Safehouses (Haven 1) Chicago Anarchs (Allies 3, Contacts 3) Constantly on the move, Duncan tends to stick to the outskirts of the city. When he comes in, he generally sticks to abandoned warehouses and old, crumbling buildings. Places with access to earth with which he can meld. He can occasionally be found in Gary, when he comes in to be briefed by his Anarch employers.

Thralls and Tools:

• Duncan takes a very dim view of the idea of thralls in general. He abhors the practice of creating ghouls most of all. The idea of being addicted to another person is anathema to him. He prefers to work alone.
• Christine Summers (Retainers 1) Duncan begrudgingly took in the child of a family he executed and now schools her in firearms and survival. He isn’t sure why he hasn’t just abandoned this girl, Christine, but he keeps her close despite her hatred for him.

Kindred Relationships:

• Nathaniel Bordruff (Awe) Bordruff, as far as Duncan is concerned, is his opposite and a worthy adversary. He has a quiet respect for him.
• Bobby Weatherbottom (Friendship) The Kindred most likely to interact with Duncan is Bobby, who points Duncan in the direction of his targets from within the Camarilla. Duncan refers to him as “the wee man” and regularly, in jest, threatens to kill him.
• Maldavis (Treacherous) Duncan has absolutely no trust for Maldavis. She is a traitor to her own blood, which is the worst kind of rat.

Chicago By Night    Kindred, Kine & Others    The Anarchs      Sgt. Duncan Mactavish

Species

Gangrel

Related Reports

• CbN001: New Beginnings

Character Prototype

Ordinarily, Duncan remains in hiding and wears camouflage paint to hide his appearance. He has, at times, been mistaken for an agent of the Second Inquisition due to his military garb and equipment.
Of particular note is that, despite his many murderous and violent acts, he shows no animal features of any kind, normally well-established among his clanmates. The wise among the Kindred realize, to their horror, that this implies that Duncan has never been out of control, even while murdering people.
Sire: Atlacoya
Embraced: 2005 (Born 1968)
Ambition: Revisit any action against the Anarchs with fire and fury
Convictions: Protect the Flock
Touchstones: Christine Summers — Schoolkid he is teaching shooting and survival
Humanity: 4
Generation: 11th
Blood Potency: 2
Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 4, Stamina 5; Charisma 2, Manipulation 2, Composure 4; Intelligence 3, Wits 4, Resolve 5
Secondary Attributes: Health 11 | Willpower 9
Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Craft (IEDs) 3, Drive (Helicopters) 3, Firearms (Rifles) 5, Melee 4, Larceny 2, Stealth 4, Survival 5; Animal Ken (Farm Animals) 2, Insight 1, Intimidation 3, Leadership 1, Streetwise 3, Subterfuge 1; Awareness 1, Investigation 3, Medicine (Field Medic) 2, Politics 1, Science 2, Technology (Military Hardware) 3
Disciplines

• Fortitude 3: add health, reduce from sup, turn agg
• Protean 5:  Eye of the Beast, Feral Weapons, Shapechange, Metamorphosis, no Heart
• Auspex 2: senses, unerring pursuit
• Dominate 1: Command