Gervais Wen (Zh-ur-vay When)

As seen in

Tacoma by Night: Vamptober Tales #1

Baron Gervais Wen (a.k.a. The Crimson Moth)

"6 o'clock, clean the bar. 7 o'clock, take a shower. 8 o'clock, karaoke time, tonight's selection: Aqua! 9 o'clock, track down that trafficker we spotted a couple nights back. 10 o'clock, stake the trafficker! 10:30, snack break! 11 pm-1 o'clock, torture the trafficker, maybe cut short for F.D. 2 o'clock, clean torture room. 3 o'clock, second karaoke time.
Yeah sorry, it looks like my evening's booked. But keep me posted on the scores though!"

--Gervais Wen, reading off his itenerary

The spritely and speedy Baron of University Place, Gervais Wen is a talented combatant and a chill guy to be around with a long history that tends to be mostly irrelevant to his night-to-night life. Despite his casual and lackadaisical nature, you can trust him to get the job done, whether it's information gathering, torture, building repair, or just general social niceties!
While he made quite the bloody name for himself in the conflicts with the Sabbat, with some saying he took down a Sabbat Vozhd all by himself, Gervais prefers to stay more in the background, supporting his friends and taking care of things in silence where he won't be bothered, and won't bother others in turn. This makes the nice yet relatively tucked-away area of University Place perfect for him, and he plans to keep it nice and tidy.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Izz ad-Din trained Gervais until adulthood before properly turning him, so his eternal body is muscular and trained, with hardened callouses all over his hands.

Body Features

Gervais' shocking white hair is a trait he's had since birth, which is the most eye-catching thing about him. The other most noticeable feature about him is the multitude of scars all over his body. From his face to his neck all the way down his torso and (while he keeps these ones covered most of the time) nearly blotting out his arms and hands, Gervais is full of scars.

Facial Features

Gervais has his striking white hair to frame his eyes, a wide and sharp shape with bright brown irises, and has quite the set of immaculate eyelashes to boot.

Physical quirks

Gervais loves to lean. If he isn't doing anything at a particular moment, he will find the nearest surface and lean on it, even if it's uncommon to lean on. His aides have often shared memes of cats lounging over strange surfaces to each other that mirror positions they have found Gervais in.

Special abilities

As a member of Clan Banu Haqim, and specifically trained to be a member of their Warrior Caste, Gervais has access to their three essential Disciplines:

• Blood Sorcery - Vampiric magic, also called Thaumaturgy, that he uses sparingly to track down his prey and augment his attacks when necessary.
• Celerity - His most used and developed discipline, which he uses to attack, react, and maim at impossibly high speeds. In Tacoma, only the likes of Fiore truly come close to matching him, as far as anyone is publically aware.
• Obfuscate - The art of nondetection and silence. His second most utilized discipline. While it isn't trained as much as his Celerity, he is well-practiced in the few arts he knows, and he has refined them enough to even hide from electrical devices.
• While not one of the main three, he has also trained the discipline of Potence over the years, granting him greater strength where his speed will not suffice, and more than acidic blood is necessary.

Outside of Kindred abilities, Gervais is also pretty good at spotting when someone is lying to him, a skill that Izz ad-Din subtly taught him. But, he usually chalks it up to mere gut feelings and doesn't pursue it much, unless it's a very pervasive feeling.

Apparel & Accessories

Gervais likes to wear red, which matches his skin tone well and is a common and versatile color. He doesn't have any other particular accouterments that he feels a need to have, but he likes to keep his hands covered in gloves to hide his more gnarly scars, and he has a habit of finding strange and kitschy jewelry, especially necklaces.

Specialized Equipment

Gervais keeps plenty of unique weapons he's grabbed along his unlife in his various havens and safehouses, a quirk he picked up from his father, but he rarely keeps them directly on his person as he doesn't want to draw suspicion.
When he knows he'll need them, he has a pair of silver knives, more like machetes in their size, styled after the durable design of hunting knives that he uses for his particular methods of combat. He isn't opposed to using firearms, and he's grabbed plenty of unique modified weapons and ammo, but he usually lets his aides or allies use them, as he's much more skilled in melee.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Early Life

Gervais was born an interesting child to interesting people. His father was a Chinese Muslim and traveling salesman, with his mother Menna being a native of Cairo, the latest city that Huan Wen had set up in.
The two were already eccentrics, with Menna being an avid visionary and creative, and Huan mastering in the collection and trade of rare artifacts from all around Asia to North Africa. It should come as no surprise, then, that they didn't bat an eye when Gervais was born, with his mother's skin and father's eyes, but grew pure white hair instead of black like either of them.
Since he was an entirely healthy child, they paid it no mind, and the young Gervais grew up surrounded by love, laughter, and more unique artifacts than you could shake a crucifix at. But, no matter how willing his family was to embrace the variety and spice of life, the outside world has never been so kind. Gervais often was the victim of bullying and harassment, either due to his own features or due to the eccentricities of his parents.
Even at a young age, the darker side of Gervais' quirky nature became evident in his capacity for violence. While it was never out of malice, beginning as self-defense when particularly brutal bullies would target him, the young boy never possessed an ounce of restraint, and would often take to toppling and then viciously beating his tormentors until he was pried off of them. On several occasions, it was only due to the bully's friends or very fast-acting adults that kept Gervais from grabbing a nearby weapon to main them instead.
Every time this happened, Huan and Menna were perhaps too gentle, because they knew it was only out of self-defense, and to defend their honor as well, but still tried every time to impart the ideals of restraint and pacifism to him. But, as many bullied people will know, violence only makes bullies want to push your buttons, to get you right to the edge and see what it takes for you to react, and Gervais always found a reason to go too far.
As word spread around their community about this Devil Child, it caught the ear of a much more literally devilish man, one who could use someone that skilled at a young age.
Perhaps it was this man's machinations, or perhaps it was sheer community bigotry, but one fateful night Gervais returned home to see fire and smoke billowing into the air. When the fires died down, and the house was in smolders, only then was it revealed that Menna and Huan were lost in the fire as well, their charred bodies grasping each other one final time.
Huan's family had never known of the child, and Menna's family disowned her for her modern-at-the-time sensibilities, and for marrying a foreigner. Thus, the young Gervais ran from all he knew and eventually ran into the waiting arms of the devil who saw himself in the boy, Izz ad-Din Qadir.

Pre-Embrace Life

Long story, potential spoilers

Izz ad-Din Qadir was a proud member of the Banu Haqim's Warrior Caste, and a valiant enforcer of the laws within Cairo, and especially within Banu Yashkur, the domain or khitta within Cairo that was run and filled with members of his clan.
However, he was not the bearer of a title within the clan. He was not a Caliph, the great head of the Warrior Caste, he was not a Camarilla Sherrif, Primogen, not even a Hound. He was merely reliable, yet he was merely low-born, his mortal family and Kindred sire being nobody of note. The only thing he possessed was an innate talent for killing and a zeal for justice that the clan favored.
But, hearing of this child, he got a devilish idea, a way to ensure his status and a way for him to claim the title he so longed for, even if was only through a proxy. The fire was the perfect spark for the fuse of his plan, and it only took a small amount of maneuvering and scheming for the child to be lured into his domain, and under his protection.
He told the young Gervais that his parents weren't just the victim of a tragic accident, that it was an intentional murder due to their differences, and that they must locate the criminals. He stoked in the child that sense of justice and punishment that he curated within himself for decades and saw just the right flame be lit in the young boy's eyes.
For Gervais, he didn't know much about what was really justice, or what truly fair punishment would be. But, he loved his parents, and they loved him too, so knowing that someone decided to kill them meant that he couldn't let them get away with it.
And so, at the age of 10, a young human boy was brought into the world of the Kindred.
Gervais himself doesn't remember a lot of the finer details of that time. Izz ad-Din, while not a hot item amidst Kindred, was a successful man and had a decently large estate, with a lot of luxuries that Gervais would only dream of, although his excitement and joy were always tempered by his quest for justice and the lack of his parent's warmth. For the next 15 years, he would be tended to, taught, and protected by Izz ad-Din's ghouls and associates, while at night he would receive training from the man himself or fellow Kindred. Soon enough, even before he was turned, he became almost entirely nocturnal.
He caught on quickly to the truth of the Kindred world. How many times he saw his sire-to-be slaying his own kind, how many times he saw the innocent cower beneath his curved blade, how many times he was merely pointed in a direction and left to run, all for the sake of praise or position. And how quickly Izz ad-Din forgot about the grand mission of justice the young boy was originally here for, all in favor of raising him to be a "Caliph" or whatever.
But, he did give Gervais the right avenues to ask the right questions. Five years after their training began, he tracked down exactly who he was looking for. A Kindred serial arsonist, part mercenary, part mere criminal, who had heard of the eccentric couple and their shop of unique trinkets, and tried to muscle Huan into some illicit criminal arrangement. But, when that was denied, the fire was lit.
Five years later, Gervais had tracked them down, and while Izz ad-Din was away, he took the chance to strike. Looking back on it, he would've found the whole thing very juvenile. He made too many mistakes, got too close too quickly, had a million better times to take the right shots, and was generally just way too edgy and serious. But despite all of that, he cornered the Kindred and, against all odds, was able to utilize his training to get the upper hand, staking the monster he had spent almost the entire evening tracking down and winning their fight, with nothing more than a few scars to show for it.
But, that Kindred did not meet the final death that night. No, while Izz ad-Din found Gervais through his intense capacity for violence, he was not a desensitized killing machine. He wanted the Kindred to pay, even if the payment was death, but he wasn't the executioner. Instead, he had one of the ghouls help him take the Kindred to Izz ad-Din, and demand that he bring them in front of the court, as Gervais' existence as an unturned human would only get them both punished.
Izz ad-Din chose to honor this request and brought the Kindred in front of the representative of Banu Yashkur as well as a Hound of the city's Sherrif. Gervais, watching and listening in hiding, was able to hear them decree the Kindred innocent in the eyes of the Camarilla. He had not violated any tradition, as his actions while illegal did not break the masquerade, encroach on another Kindred's domain at the time, nor did it harm any fellow Kindred in the process. The Kindred had been calling too much attention to himself alone via his serial arsons, but they ruled the hunt and the staking was enough to teach the lesson.
Of course, Izz ad-Din had known exactly what was going to happen. After all, it was he who created the right times and the right avenues. In fact, no one else really knew if the Kindred at the center of this really was the perpetrator of the specific fire that killed the Wen's. But, he needed to teach Gervais one important lesson: the guilty must be punished, and if the law alone will not do it, then it was their duty as Clan Banu Haqim, of the Warrior Caste, to be the executioner.
A week afterward, that same Kindred met the final death, as their head was torn from their shoulders by the young Gervais, as Izz ad-Din proudly watched.

Embraced Life P.1 - Butterfly

Long story, minor spoilers

The 10 years that followed are fully a blur for Gervais, as it was mainly the same degree of training and education, only now with occasional excursions with Izz ad-Din to truly test his mettle against Kindred. Finally, when he had reached the age our bodies typically stop changing, Izz ad-Din felt it was the right time for the Embrace. With a final mortal dinner, Gervais Wen ceased being the human son of Huan and Menna and became the Childe of Izz ad-Din. At that point, he was officially introduced into society and was counted on for all the same abilities as Izz ad-Din.
This is also where Gervais settled into the first version of his true personality. An uncaringly positive person who lets information, trauma, and emotions slide off his mind as easily as they came. This mentality is why so many of his Kindred years are a true blur, especially out of the monotony of his new unlife. But, three incidents dotted along the way changed the trajectory of what his fate might have been.
The first was the coming of the Butterfly. Two years after his turning, Gervais and his Sire were out on an actual Blood Hunt, a rarity compared to the typical politically motivated killings Izz ad-Din pretended were just, and had finished cornering their target, an aristocratic leech who was preying far too greedily from the local university. While the death of the Kindred was over far too quickly, with Izz ad-Din planning to enjoy the spoils, Gervais opened another room, where he was assaulted by a torrent of flame.
Just barely avoiding both the fire and the frenzy that comes with it, he saw its source: a terrified young woman. While Gervais was simply trying to talk to her, with it being difficult due to her being in a panicked state herself, Izz ad-Din noticed that what she pulled off was an act of Blood Sorcery, and yet she appeared to be entirely human in every way.
As Izz ad-Din swiftly knocked the woman out, a sharp smile grew across his face, one that Gervais couldn't help but feel unsettled with. More chaos ensued when the woman woke up in an entirely new location, but the next few days would see her calm down, as Izz ad-Din tasked Gervais and his friendly nature with acclimating her. He learned that the woman's name was Labalaba and that the Kindred they killed had kidnapped her from her home in Nigeria years ago, but did something to her so she had lost many of her memories.
Izz ad-Din, meanwhile, confirmed what he saw: something about her allowed her to comprehend and utilize the secrets of Blood Sorcerery without Vitae, having apparently picked it up while locked in her kidnapper's study. Izz ad-Din made the claim that he'd use his connections to track down her family, to "right this injustice", but Gervais remembered his smile.
When his sire informed the young woman that her family had died from a tragic illness in the years since her kidnapping, he had the kindness to wait until she was asleep to confront him about it. He admitted to it being a lie, but told Gervais that it was because the truth was more horrid: she wasn't kidnapped randomly, but sold to the Kindred they had slain and was living new lives off of her bounty. Furthermore, he claimed that his intelligence gatherers heard many stories of particularly heinous abuse, especially from neighbors.
"Though monsters we may be, there is nothing more horrid than human depravity."
Gervais obviously considered the potential that he was being lied to as well, but between Labalaba's missing memories, the lack of any information he tried to find, and the level of respect he expected Izz ad-Din to give him, he pushed those doubts away.
At that point, Labalaba chose to stay with the two, as Gervais was kind and friendly with her, and Izz ad-Din offered to make her his pupil. Where Gervais was trained to be the perfect Caliph, Labalaba would be trained to be the perfect Amr, a sorcerer of unparalleled ability. Unlike Gervais, who Izz ad-Din wanted to wait until his body had matured to be turned, Labalaba only took five years after her choice to be deemed prepared.
In those five years, the two of them grew closer. Not in any sort of romantic sense, but in a familial, sibling-like manner. Both of them had been only children but felt a sense of playfulness, pride, security, and gentle antagonism with each other. Many times when they would get worked up into a row over each other's achievements, Izz ad-Din could not help but pinch his brow and feel that the term 'Childer' was getting too literal for his liking.
But their bond would begin to make the cracks show as well. For one, Gervais had never realized the brutality of his training with Izz ad-Din until he told the stories to Labalaba, and meanwhile, Labalaba would not have seen an issue with their sires growing fervor and obsession with the ranks of Caliph and Amr without Gervais knowing how he acted before. But, while it was concerning, everything about Kindred society was concerning to some degree, and the two had each other's backs.
No, the cracks only began to weaken the foundation with the next addition to their family.

Embraced Life P.2 - Righteousness

Long story, bigger spoilers

Unbeknownst to the other two, Izz ad-Din had frequently taken excursions out into the city outside of his charged tasks. The reason why became evident one day in 1926, four years after Labalaba had been turned and 11 years after Gervais. Izz ad-Din Qadir had been turned when he was already in adulthood, and he already had two children. Throughout his life as a Kindred, he had kept a close eye on each generation of his family, essentially setting up any sons to find the right kinds of women, and for any daughters to only find the best men. It was then that he decided the time was right and brought Salah ad-Din Qadir, his thrice-Great Grandson, to his primary haven.
The tight family management already disturbed the sire-siblings, but the teenager already showed signs of being well integrated into Kindred sensibilities, and seemed almost a mirror image of Izz ad-Din. Their sire explained that the boy was to finish his idealized trifecta. Gervais had already been making waves in his potential as a Caliph, even being considered for a Hound position. Labalaba's studies into thaumaturgy were excelling immensely, even if she wasn't able to execute as many magical paths yet, with her growth as an Amr evident.
Salah ad-Din, then, was to be the Vizier, the educated and wise mind to accommodate the decisions of the valiant warrior and the mystic mage. In the conversations that would eventually come, the child's education was already evident, as he was able to completely talk circles around Gervais, and even Labalaba found herself being beaten back on subjects she hadn't read up on.
The older two worried about this change, as Izz ad-Din's fervor soared higher and higher, and his expectations for all three of them grew to match. They frequently thought about running, using their own connections to set up somewhere else in Africa, or beyond, but neither of them really had a life or standing outside of Izz ad-Din. But there was another aspect, one that I'm sure Izz ad-Din had planned for.
Salah ad-Din had lost his older siblings a few years prior, with them being murdered in a random stabbing. So being in a house with two older "siblings", a dutiful older sister and a playful older brother, brought the child much joy, and for all his unintentional arrogance, he loved talking with them, learning with them, just being with them, so for Labalaba and Gervais, they didn't want to abandon him. It is unfortunate that Kindred don't literally lose their hearts.
Unlike Gervais, Izz ad-Din didn't feel the need to wait as long to embrace Salah ad-Din, since his path wasn't one full of combat and danger. But at Salah ad-Din's request, he waited until he looked more adult, and was able to grow out his hair, inherited from his mother, which he was proud of. In 1930, at the turn of the decade, Salah ad-Din was embraced like the other two before him, and Izz ad-Din's vision for the Du'at was completed.
But the other two were still unsure about this, even as they supported and wished the best for their new "little brother". They had no way to combat it though, and let business continue as normal.
In 1932, a curious chance encounter happened. A member of the Camarilla from the United States had come to visit Cairo, and Izz ad-Din brought all three of his Childer to Elysium that evening. While Labalaba did enjoy the social aspect of it all, and Salah ad-Din was a natural fit amongst the others, Gervais was horribly out of place at it all, and mainly just stood off to the side, keeping an eye on the other three as they went about the evening.
"You don't look like a soldier." Broke the din of the evening. A strange figure appeared next to Gervais. A lithe frame with long black hair, dressed in a strange floral suit, blazer draped over their shoulders, and features very similar to Gervais' father's, although this person was much paler.
"I'm sorry?"
"I don't intend to insult, but your reputation proceeds you."
"No worries, what can I do for you, Mister...?"
"Who I am is not of much importance. But, I am curious as to who you are in the grand scheme of things, 'Izz ad-Din's Caliph'. Is that truly an aspiration?"
The figure's eyes, shining over thin glasses, were locked onto Gervais', and within seconds he felt himself being bored into as if his very soul was being revealed.
"It's my sire's wish for me, and I got the talent for it."
"Is that what you think?" A genuine surprise came from the new figure.
"You say you don't mean to insult me, but you're doubting my abilities?" Gervais wasn't about to take this conversation seriously, but you had to be careful about what you let slide in Elysium.
Instead of an exact reply, the figure let out a quiet, cackling laugh. "Not at all, but I call into question if that's really all you're good for."
The figure got closer and cupped the side of his face in order to see deeper into his eyes.
"I can see how you carry yourself, and how you look at the world around you. You don't have the same gait or gaze as your master, and yet you would follow the same path he tried to take, just with him at your back?"
"I-I don't see anything wrong with it. Not more wrong than anything else we do. Is it wrong that he wishes great for his childer?"
"What he wishes for his childer? Is that what you think it is?"
"What else would it be?"
"A wish for himself, of course!" The figure got even closer with that, shifting his hand to grasp the back of Gervais' head, hair gently between his fingers. "Picture it: three powerful Kindred, heading the castes, all of which pay deference and respect to you! What could you do with that power? What could you control?"
A terse silence fell between the two. "You can't picture it, can you? Because you aren't that type. You aren't just a soldier. That is why I doubt it is your true path."
"With all due respect, there's no way you could possibly know all that. Not with certainty, and I'm not about to start doubting my sire for speculated goals."
Another quiet chuckle. "Very well then. I can't say you're wrong and telling you that 'I just have a feeling' is meaningless. So, here's my alternative! If your sire leaves his efforts at the three of you, then I'll have been totally wrong, and owe you a major boon. But, if more get added to your fold, really properly added, then it's more than just a lofty dream for you all. It's a padding of the ranks. And that is a militant tactic. Do we have a deal?"
It was a tense situation, but the figure removed their hand from his hair and held it in front of Gervais. Even for a simple man, he knew not to pass up a major boon, especially one so easily gotten. What could 10 years really change for them? "Alright, you've got yourself a deal, Mister...?"
"Choi-Yun."
"Wen! You wouldn't happen to be Chinese too would you?"
"Close, my friend!" They said with a smile. "Korean, although many do not have enough mind to differentiate these nights."
"So, how do I get ahold of you Mr. Choi-Yun?"
"When the time has passed, ask around for me in the States, Washington specifically." With the deal struck, the figure began to walk away. "I'll be in a lovely little city by the name of Tacoma."

Embraced Life P.3 - Finality

Long story, definitely spoilers

While the night concluded as normal, and Gervais saw his new friend, his future co-Baron, walk away with the entourage of the night's main attraction, he felt confident that their strange prediction would end there.
It didn't even take half the deadline for Gervais to be proven wrong. It all came crashing down in 1936. It was a cloudy night in Cairo, and each of the three siblings was spending an evening with their own tasks at the haven. Gervais was getting some knife training in, Labalaba was reading a new grimoire, and Salah ad-Din was pouring through a book on Noddist philosophy alongside her. Then, Izz ad-Din returned from an errand, grasping an unconscious man in his hands.
Salah ad-Din was the first to react, nearly jumping from his seat in shock, as Izz ad-Din was covered in wounds and burns that he had not yet healed. The sound of shouting and things being knocked over alerted Gervais, who bolted up to see his state as well. After assuring them all would be fine, he explained the bold declaration.
"This shall finally be the last one. From here on, the siring will fall to you all." He declared as he had his ghouls prepare a room, one where the new man could be bound.
"Last one for what, grandfather?" Salah ad-Din was the first to ask.
"A Caliph for the Warriors, an Amr for the Sorcerers, a Vizier for the Viziers, and a subject to still stand beside me, beside us all. After this, it will be your turn to seek out promising recruits, for the finest Banu Haqim to serve underneath us, for the glory of the clan!"
Speaking his words, Gervais remembered his conversation with "Mr. Choi-Yun". This wasn't just about wanting them to be in positions of status, this was about starting a new regime, one underneath his banner. It wasn't for the glory of Clan Banu Haqim, it was for the clan of Izz ad-Din Qadir. Perhaps that was why Salah ad-Din was chosen when he was, and why the youngest among them looked towards their sire with excitement, while Gervais and Labalaba could only worry.
The pair would eventually learn the story behind this new sibling of theirs. A former doctor, Cadan Trevek was a young man, barely older than Gervais when he was turned, with a youthful and kind, if not a bit plain, face. He had been thrown into the world of Kindred when one, one who was close to him apparently, was draining his patients, sometimes to death. Apparently, he had been so spurred on that he even became a Hunter of sorts, although not as empowered as those they called Imbued. However, he had a poor first run, as the Kindred he had caught wind of in his travels was Izz ad-Din, who was prepared for ones such as him.
But, this lone mortal was able to wound Izz ad-Din on his first try more than some Kindred ever have, and that impressed him. The siblings all watched their sire give a speech on the manner of Kindred justice, and how it was their clan, and their families, responsibility to uphold it where no one else would, but Salah ad-Din was the only one who really still believed him.
Still, Cadan didn't know what else to do, and thinking back on his past and what he didn't want to allow to happen, he accepted his new life. Thus, his training to be a soldier and executioner began.
Gervais was the one who got to have the most time observing and learning with Cadan and how Izz ad-Din trained him was similar, yet distinctly different. When Gervais learned to fight, it was about respect for the hunt and the art of combat, and the proper behavior for their clan and its ideals. But for Cadan, it was about ruthless efficiency and deference to one's betters, a change that Gervais found troubling.
If that wasn't bad enough, Gervais started to notice a trend among Kindred they hunted without direct orders. Faces he had seen at Elysiums, at meetings, those who worked for or were sired by other members of the community. Izz ad-Din always had a reason, always had some crime they committed, but it was all too convenient. Especially when the Grimoires that Labalaba found contained potent, destructive rituals, and Salah ad-Din's books shifted from astronomy and mathematics to war strategy and political theory.
The writing was on the wall, and Cadan was quick to see it, confiding in the older two the discomfort he has with the whole concept, a fact that they agreed on. In fact, it got so bad that even Salah ad-Din began to have secret doubts, as his new readings showed plenty of examples of coups and despots. The final nail in the coffin, however, came much later.
Salah ad-Din, not believing his grandfather was doing such things for a malicious reason, confronted him about his increasing zeal and wanton, opportunistic blood hunts. Instead of any sort of answer, all the dutiful Vizier-to-be got in return was a veiled threat. "I hear your nephew is getting quite smart for his age. Looks like there's another sage in the family."
It all was getting too much for the siblings, and even the outside community was starting to take notice, with many joking not to look at Izz ad-Din the wrong way, or that he'd slay the entirety of the Banu Yaskur before any of them would get into the Du'at.
It took a long while to get everything planned, especially to keep it under Izz ad-Din's watchful eyes, but four carefully sealed coffins were prepared on a ship whose crew wouldn't ask questions, and Gervais already knew of someone who saw more in him where they could go. Gervais did a lot of the active work to get these deals sealed, with Labalaba working socially, Cadan aiding where he could, and Salah ad-Din distracting Izz ad-Din at multiple junctures.
In 1942, the fateful night came. Gervais, Labalaba, and Cadan had gathered their essential items and were prepared to leave the haven while Izz ad-Din was out on a wild goose chase, one orchestrated by Labalaba to get him as far away from the haven she could and to keep him away as long as possible. However, as they were about to exit, the ghoul staff of the house stood between them, weapons drawn. With Salah ad-Din nowhere to be seen, it was clear that they had been made.
The rest of the evening, and several evenings afterward, were spent carving a valley of blood to their freedom, as every defense short of Izz ad-Din himself came to stop the hopeful Du'at from escaping Cairo. But fight they did, up until they were right at the edge of the docks at Alexandria where they found one final ghoul standing at the ready. Normally that would be nothing, but drained, exhausted, on the verge of frenzy, and with mere minutes before their bodies would start to lock up for daysleep, it seemed like the end was just barely out of reach.
Until a gunshot rang out from behind the three, hitting the ghoul directly in the head, with two more coming after to finish the job before the body fell. Salah ad-Din had appeared at the final moment to unlock the way for his siblings. But, he would not be joining them.
"Someone has to keep grandfather distracted." Aiming his gun at his siblings, Salah ad-Din forced them to get onto the boat without him and watched them up until they sank beneath the deck of the ship. Gervais at every step of the way wanted to drag him with them no matter how much he protested, but if one ghoul was enough to stop them, he wouldn't be able to do a thing.
That would be the last time Gervais, Labalaba, and Cadan would ever see Egypt, Cairo, or Salah ad-Din again.

The conflicts and Modern Nights

Short story, little spoiler

After leaving Cairo, the three of them landed in New York, and while the going was still rough for quite a while, it only took them a month to begin making their way out west once more.
However, despite the love and protection Labalaba and Gervais had for one another, and the gratitude that Cadan felt for his two older "siblings", once they made it to Tacoma, an incident involving Labalaba that permanently affected Cadan happened, one that Gervais lets himself forget time and time again, but it still resulted in the trio going their separate ways for quite a while.

In the intervening years after settling in Tacoma , Gervais stayed mostly in the background. He was a fun guy to have around and made a decent amount of friends, but he was mostly stayed away from as a Camarilla agent by association and as a well-known talented assassin. When the time of Fintan and his Anarchs came, Gervais ended up joining them in their fight, casting aside his past with the Camarilla to truly throw off the yoke of the life Izz ad-Din would have of him.
This anarch status would hang around him for decades, especially as he happily put his well-honed talents to work taking care of Camarilla aggressors who tried to make an example out of innocents. When the time of the stalemate in the early 2000s came around, Gervais was still an active and campaigning member of the Anarchs, not letting any loss or setback get him down.
It was around that time that he found his coterie as well, as the mysterious "Mr. Choi-Yun" that gave him his cryptic warning all those years ago finally showed his face. His first words to his old friend?
"I see I won our little bet~?"
Despite Fiore's own falling out with the Camarilla, they were still a force to be reckoned with and was gathering a coterie to serve as a real unified force for the Anarchs. Gervais was the final piece he needed to really begin spinning his web. If the Major Boon owed wasn't enough of a convincing force, Fiore had also stumbled upon Labalaba, who had been working hard as a free mage in the city, and was inspired by Fiore's vision of a free and open Tacoma for every Kindred.
From that day, when Labalaba and Gervais got to make amends, crying their tears of blood while hugging one another in the corner of a dingy Kindred bar, the rest has been history. The pair found Cadan again, who had taken on the name Theodore, Teddy for short, and began seriously working together to further Fiore's dream.
When the time of the Sabbat invasion came, Gervais was never worried, as is his usual style, because he knew that his siblings beside him meant that there was no way he could fail. And if he couldn't fail, then Fiore sure as hell wasn't going to fail.
Against every single odd, he was proven right, and in battle after battle, mission after mission, the united Anarch front of Tacoma was victorious against the Sabbat invasion, and even threw the Camarilla to the side for their own future, which Gervais was excitedly willing to help do with plenty of maiming and staking to be done.
But now, everything is calm, and Gervais has stepped into his brand new role as Baron of University Place, and for the first time in decades, he can kick back and relax, knowing his city is at peace, his family is beside him, and he's got nothing but time.

Gender Identity

There are many concepts Gervais feels rather disconnected from or so utterly disinterested in that he often forgets other people care. Strict adherence to gender is one of them. While Gervais was born male, looks rather masculine, and certainly thinks of himself as male enough, it's not something he's closely attached to enough to enforce only male pronouns or restrict himself to masculine expressions or actions.

Sexuality

Gervais is Asexual and Bi/Panromantic, as he's never been too interested in sexual acts, vampiric restrictions notwithstanding, but has found joy in the company of many and all genders and expressions of it. He can also be an obnoxious flirt if the mood is right.

Education

Gervais got a pretty decent education from his parents, who filled his head with eclectic knowledge from all around the world, but he always did poorly in strict academics. After being taken by Izz ad-Din, he was taught enough to be a respectable member of Kindred society, and from then onward only taught what he needed to know to be the perfect Warrior in his clan.
Following his departure from Cairo and into the modern nights, Gervais tries to pick up new avenues of knowledge here and there but often gets bored past novice information. His recent obsession has been knitting.

Employment

While Gervais has the strength and can-do attitude for a variety of tasks, his greatest skill has always been assassination. Even on his less bloody nights, he was often relied upon to be a talented stalker and hunter, following a target night after night. Before becoming a Baron, and before the war that justified his actions, he was often looked down upon as one of the most unrepentant and unhinged killers in the area, even though he never did more than he was tasked with.

Accomplishments & Achievements

In his earlier unlife, Gervais' many successful missions and assassinations were all very hush-hush, so not many people know the details, especially Gervais who can't be bothered to remember them.
Even on modern nights, his contributions (and helpful removals) to Tacoma are left in the shadows, and his achievements in the conflicts against the Sabbat were either quick and stealthy enough to go unnoticed or dramatized after the fact. 
But, there are still two things that Gervais himself is proud of. Making it to Tacoma, and working his way up to the position he holds now. Opening his brand-new bar is pretty great too!

Failures & Embarrassments

Gervais never looks back on his failures, except to learn from them.
Metaknowledge

The one that he always wishes he could make up, however, is his desire to free Salah ad-Din from Izz ad-Dins' control.

Mental Trauma

While Gervais' torment had no end in his childhood, and his adult life up to his turning was full of brutal training and death, not to mention all the horrors he has seen and caused as a Kindred, Gervais has never even shown a bit of mental damage.
Perhaps such sensitivities were beaten out of him by Izz ad-Din early on, or perhaps his early trend towards violence shows an innate desensitization in him. Notably, while many have hurled the term "Sociopath" at Gervais, he himself has never shown signs of having Antisocial Personality Disorder, outside of his violent tendencies. He feels sympathy, empathy, guilt, and a sense of morality immensely, some would say far too often, but he operates all of those factors in a uniquely "Gervais" way.

Intellectual Characteristics

Gervais isn't book smart by any means, and he feels no shame in that. He is however very observant, and while he may not have the refined skill-reading that Fiore Choi-Yun possesses, he is talented in picking up the fine details, especially when he's on the hunt.

Morality & Philosophy

Gervais has a strong and self-defined moral code.
What is it? No one has a blessed idea! But the few concrete rules that those closest to him have picked up on are:

• Staunch anti-authoritarianism
• No killing of the innocent, mortal or kindred
• No children involved in any Kindred nonsense
• Talk when you can, negotiate when you can't, injure if it calls for it, kill when you must

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

Gervais is a very simple person, especially among Kindred. He doesn't have any grand schemes, he isn't a duplicitous plotter, and he barely even kills anymore outside of feeding and cleaning. But, he does have a dream, and that is to make a Kindred society without baseless judgment, especially among the Anarchs where there is no ironclad ruler.
For now, though, he merely wants to open a fun new bar for his kind to visit and relax, and keep his new Barony safe and tidy.

Savvies & Ineptitudes

Gervais is skilled in Assassination, Tracking, and to some extent Torture. His more pleasant talents have to do with being a good, supportive leader, although he doesn't like extending that too far.
Everything else? Entirely up in the air. His wish to try new things coupled with a fleeting attention span leaves him with sporadic pockets of knowledge and talent in between varying valleys of ineptitude. Can he drive? With a good enough amount of skill. Can he fix a car? Not reliably but he'll give it a shot. Yet he could not tell you jack or shit about any specific model, part, or even common brand.

Likes & Dislikes

Likes

• Moths
• Kitschy things
• The color Red
• Knives
• Dragon's Blood Incense
• Disco Music
• Leather Smell
• Old Books
• Reflective Metal
• Justice

Dislikes

• Bright Pink
• Rust
• Authoritarians
• Worms (phobia)

Virtues & Personality perks

Gervais is willing to accept anyone with a gentle hand and a warm(ish) hug. Even if it's someone who has been an enemy, if they haven't done anything too deplorable, they'll get a chance at least. A firm chance, perhaps, but a chance nonetheless. But, Gervais is also the type that will put himself on the line before anyone else, especially those closest to him, because he knows that trust is a leash around both parties' necks, and you shouldn't hand that off to anyone else if you're calling that shot.

Vices & Personality flaws

While Gervais is not a needlessly cruel person, he does enjoy the thrill of the hunt and the rush he gets in his blood when the fighting comes to a head. This, paired with his more joking and lackadaisical nature, can lead to plenty of quipping and held punches in order to extend a fight, which just increases the number of variables and possibilities that occur.
It's also next to impossible to get him to take things seriously unless being told by a very specific selection of people.

Hygiene

Despite being undead and unchanging, Gervais takes care of his body in every way it can handle. He regularly showers, brushes his teeth, flosses, applies lotion to his scars, and does yoga on the weekends.

Social

Reign

As a part of the coterie that brought Tacoma together to face the Sabbat, he was one of the first considered to be a Baron, especially when so many fondly remembered his acts of "valor" in the conflicts. So, when all was reclaimed in March 2021, he was an easy nominee for one of the new Barons. It was then his choice to take University Place, as he found it "A chill and small enough spot to just lie back for a bit, y'know?"

Religious Views

Gervais was never raised under one religion, as his parents had an eclectic assortment of ideals and Aesops to share instead, and even though Izz ad-Din was Muslim himself, it was not something he was interested in forcing onto Gervais and the others.

Social Aptitude

Gervais is a lovely person to talk to. Not very socially strategic, but a genuinely fun and upbeat kind of person that wants to make sure people are having a good time.

Relationships

Gervais Wen

Co-Baron, Friend (Important)

Towards Fiore Choi-Yun

5

3

Frank

---

Fiore Choi-Yun

Co-Baron, Friend (Important)

Towards Gervais Wen

5

4

Honest

---

History

While not being very obvious with one another, Fiore and Gervais met when both of them were living very different lives, with Fiore using his observational skills to key Gervais into a potential spot of trouble. This gave him the chance to prepare for the inevitable, and in the modern nights Gervais has come to be a trusted friend, ally, and more for his fellow Baron.

Arnd Weiss

Co-Baron, Ally (Important)

Towards Gervais Wen

0

2

Dishonest

---

Gervais Wen

Co-Baron, Ally (Important)

Towards Arnd Weiss

1

1

Frank

---

(Icon made with Bright's Picrew Hell)

Alignment

Chaotic "Good"?

Current Status

Chillin' like a villain~

Current Location

University Place, Washington

Species

Kindred Vampire

Honorary & Occupational Titles

• Baron of University Place
• Crimson Moth
• Izz ad-Din's Caliph
• Boss

Currently Held Titles

• Baron

Age

131

Date of Birth

June 6th, 1890

Date of Death

February 11th, 1915

Life

1890 CE 1915 CE 25 years old

Circumstances of Death

Embraced

Place of Death

Cairo, Egypt

Spouses

Siblings

Pronouns

He/Him and They/Them

Sex

AMAB

Gender

Male enough? Not super worried about it

Presentation

Masculine, leans to the casual and breathy

Eyes

Amber, wide and sharp, white lashes

Hair

White, wavy, long with a high ponytail

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Ochre skin riddled with scars

Height

5' 9"

Weight

158 lbs

Belief/Deity

Agnostic

Aligned Organization

The Anarch Movement

Other Affiliations

• Clan Banu Haqim

Known Languages

Gervais learned Mandarin, Arabic, and English from his parents, and Izz ad-Din made sure he knew French and Italian as well, although those two have lost their refinement over time.

Ruled Locations

• University Place, Washington

Name

Gervais Wen

Chronicle

Tacoma by Night

Sire

Izz ad-din Qadir

Concept

Friendly Assassin

Ambition

Create a safe home for all

Desire

Smoke out the Circulatory System

Predator

Alleycat

Clan

Banu Haqim

Generation

9

Attributes

Physical

Strength

Dexterity

Stamina

Social

Charisma

Manipulation

Composure

Mental

Intelligence

Wits

Resolve

Health

Willpower

Skills

Athletics

Brawl

Craft

Drive

Firearms

Melee

Larceny

Stealth

Survival

Animal ken

Etiquette

Insight

Intimidation

Leadership

Performance

Persuasion

Streetwise

Subterfuge

Academics

Awareness

Finance

Investigation

Medicine

Occult

Politics

Science

Technology

Disciplines

Blood sorcery

Corrosive Vitae (1) A Taste for Blood (1)
Rituals: Clinging of the Insect (1) Warding Circle (vs Ghouls) (2)

Celerity

Cat's Grace (1) Rapid Reflexes (1) Fleetness (2) Blink (3) Lightning Strike (5)

Obfuscate

Silence of Death (1) Unseen Passage (2) Ghost in the Machine (3)

Potence

Lethal Body (1) Prowess (2)

Hunger

 

Humanity

 

---

Chronicle Tenets

Touchstones & Convictions

The Guilty must be punished ---> Sire-Sister

Show spoiler

Labalaba Fantasias

The strong have the right to judge ---> Izz ad-din Qadir
Live your life freely, and with joy ---> Parents

Clan Bane

Drinking from another Kindred provokes a Hunger Frenzy test at a difficulty of 2 + Bane Severity.

Advantages & Flaws

Status - baron

Haven

Retainer - ghoul

Contact x 3

Adversary - banu haqim enemy

Blood Potency

Blood Surge

Add 3 dice

Mend Amount

2 points

Power Bonus

Add 1 die

Rouse Reroll

Level 2 and below

Feeding Penalty

Animal & Bagged blood slake no hunger

Bane Severity

3

Experience

Total Experience:

Spent Experience:

---

Background

True age: 131

Apparent age: 25

Date of Birth: 6/6/1890

Date of Death: 2/11/1915

Appearance

A bronze-skinned and white-haired jokester with a lean yet muscular body and bright smile.

Distinguishing features

Stark white hair and dozens of scars.