Rasputin (CTD)

Pity the poor fool, the truth of whose jests is too thinly veiled. As Lear's Fool suffered, so suffers Rasputin. A pooka of the rabbitish persuasion, he is gifted — or cursed — with a touch of fey prophecy, making his jests bite too hard for the sensitive ears at court.

Rasputin hovers in the Haight scene as he's done for years, ever since cutting loose from his parents' home in Bakersfield nigh unto a decade ago. He writes lyrics for local bands (though never ones Larana deals with), reads poetry in coffeehouses, and schedules guerilla art shows. Almost everybody in the Haight knows of Rasputin, but few people actually know him. The blame for this can be laid entirely at Rasputin's feet, as he refuses to allow anyone to grow close to him out of fear of hurting them. A man with no lovers and few friends, Rasputin goes through wild mood swings, one minute biting the head off of a confidante for asking a simple question, the next listening with genuine sympathy to the blandest story of unrequited teen love since time began.

Court: Seelie

Legacies: Sage/Riddler

House: Commoner

Seeming: Wilder

Kith: Pooka

Physical: Strength 3, Dexterity 5, Stamina 3

Social: Charisma 3, Manipulation 3, Appearance 3

Mental: Perception 4, Intelligence 5, Wits 4

Talents: Alertness 3, Athletics 2, Brawl 1, Dodge 2, Empathy 3, Expression (poetry) 5, Kenning 3, Streetwise 2

Skills: Etiquette 1, Juggling 3, Performance (street theatre) 4, Survival 2

Knowledges: Computer 1, Enigmas 3, Linguistics 1, Mythlore 2, Politics 1

Arts: Chicanery 2, Legerdemain 4, Soothsay 4

Realms: Actor 3, Fae 4, Nature 2, Prop 1, Scene 2

Backgrounds: Chimera ("The Hunter") 4, Contacts 4, Dreamers 3, Gremayre 2, Resources 1

Glamour: 8

Banality: 5

Willpower: 5

Image: As a pooka, Rasputin has a twitchy nose, whiskers, and long rounded ears. His melting brown eyes complete the picture of a pooka with rabbit somewhere in his ancestry, and indeed Rasputin often seems to be ready to spring rather than step. Even as a mortal, there's something unmistakeably rabbitish about Rasputin, although his muscular build is more suited to perhaps a badger. Rasputin dresses more towards the avant-garde than anything else, and frequently sports a beret.

'''Roleplaying Hints:''' You are a man of bitter jests. You're almost afraid to make jokes at this point, because they all hit too close to home. Swing between ebullience and brooding, but trust no one well enough to discuss your pain, your fears, or anything else that might come back to haunt you in some way. No one in all of Pacifica, mortal or Kithain, can match your way with a one-liner; it's just too had that they tend to flow when you're feeling a little bit nasty.

'''Notes on The Hunter:''' Rasputin's chimera is a vicious, snakelike being called simply The Hunter. Well over eight feet long, it appears like a brownish python with unwarranted intelligence in its eyes and a cruel smile on its mouth. It is derived from his experiences of abuse as a child, and it has a habit of intruding into the most unlikely places at unwanted times. Thus far it has never attacked Rasputin, preferring to torment him with its mere presence as a reminder of wrongs done in the past. Whether or not it has attacked others, though, none can say.

'''Statistics for The Hunter: '''Strength 3, Dexterity 4, Stamina 2, Charisma 4, Manipulation 3, Appearance 1, Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 3 Alertness 3, Brawl 3, Dodge 1, Expression (insinuation and insult) 4, Empathy 1, Subterfuge 1, Performance (mimicry) 3, Stealth 4, Enigmas 2