Cock Robin

Cock Robin was a former Archon to the Camarilla, but has been the Nosferatu Justicar since the assassination of his predecessor, Petrodon, in 1998, to this day.

Biography
“Robin” was a skilled but otherwise unremarkable silversmith’s apprentice who struggled to survive poverty in the dying days of Colonial American monarchy. He was brought into darkness at the whim of an elder power in  the  third  year  of  the  French-English  crusade  for  the continent; his sire abandoned him to the less-than-tender mercies of the New World toward the close of the British occupation. The  hapless  neonate  was  left  only  with  the admonition that the price of immortality was an account sire and childe would settle in due time.

The American Colonies represented a difficult time and place for wayward fledglings, the strife-torn New England coast in particular; many with whom Robin first established contact did not survive the dawning of the 19th century. The neonate’s dogged survivalist instinct, however, coupled with his tendency to go to ground at the first sign of trouble, saw him through an endless series of tight spots, trials and tribulations. He ultimately found himself in early industrial Rhode Island;  there,  secreted  away  from  the  mainland  hostilities with a handful of other stragglers beneath Governor Fenner’s newly constructed piers, he witnessed the midnight arrival of a black-sailed galleon, unmarked and unchallenged, and the carrier  of  a  foul  blackguard  whose  machinations  quickly pervaded the nascent nation’s every pore.

The ship’s captain called himself Warwick, Prince pro tempore of Providence, and the reign of terror that followed in his wake made the region’s previous infighting seem tame in comparison. His colleagues effortlessly broke all initial resistance, aided as they were by Brujah brutes from the north and an  uneasy  Tremere-Ventrue  alliance  from  the  south. Warwick’s right hand, a ruthless murderer named Roman Pendragon,  conscripted  hundreds  of  redcoat  soldiers  and loyalists as ghouled shock troops. The insurrectionists declared blood-ransoms on prominent American Kindred for anarchs, insurgents and diablerists alike. Key Ventrue power players  starved,  deprived  of  sustenance  by  surgical  strikes targeting their chosen vessels. Entire councils of primogen disappeared overnight. And Robin and his clansmen became unwitting agents of Warwick’s web — an intercontinental information network suspected to be spearheaded by European Methuselahs.

It was more than 100 years later, in the darkest hour of Warwick’s  tyranny,  that  Robin’s  sire  resurfaced,  sending word to his childer through underground resistance leader Prudence Stone (see Clanbook: Nosferatu). Robin and a handful of his compatriots had been introduced as seeming innocents into the web, yet primed to strike when the time was right — and that time had come. Guided by carefully orchestrated  leaks  and  snares,  an  unprecedented  1990 Camarilla-Sabbat  offensive  carried  the  fight  back  to  the elder’s  unseen  armies  and  crushed  the  bulk  of  Warwick’s forces at Bloods Brook, New Hampshire, where it had all begun decades earlier. (Warwick, however, escaped the rapidly closing nets; his whereabouts remain a mystery to this night.)  And  Cock  Robin,  sole  survivor  among  the  web counterinsurgents, emerged as an unsung hero recognized by few — but forgotten by none among the topmost tiers of the Camarilla.

Some rumors have it that Robin’s sire was none other than Petrodon, Count of Seville, who served as justicar until his untimely destruction. (That would certainly explain a great  deal  —  Robin’s  unusual  selection  as  successor,  his fervent devotion to the Camarilla cause, even the passing physical  resemblance,  if  such  can  be  said  to  exist  with Nosferatu, between the two.) Others suppress these allegations  almost  as  quickly  as  they  surface;  their  potential repercussions (evidence of nepotism within the Inner Circle, or, worse still, vendetta-driven, justicar-sponsored inquests and  inquisitions)  would  be  devastating  to  the  Camarilla infrastructure.

Background
Image: Robin wears the body of a gangly teen, limbs and features stretched and twisted into disproportionate mockeries by the Curse of Caine. His elongated scarecrow’s frame, a collection of jackstraws put together at odd angles, moves awkwardly, without deftness or grace. These afflictions pale, however, before the deformity that earned him his sobriquet; the  Nosferatu’s  elongated  head,  puckered  lower  lip,  and distended chin give him a grotesque avian appearance. (This beaklike malformation makes drinking from the jugular impossible for him; on those rare occasions when Robin succumbs to his Beast, or when vermin do not slake his inhuman thirst, he “feeds” through his victims’ eyes, a grisly practice which gives both mortal and Kindred authorities cause for consternation.) Although a master of the Obfuscate Discipline, he rarely assumes any face but his own.

Roleplaying Hints: You are still a child in many ways, in spite of the centuries you have had to learn and grow. An incorrigible tinker, you love machines of all sorts, as your gadget-strewn subterranean haven readily attests; more than one Sabbat haven has met with a fiery end thanks to your carefully placed, matchlock-triggered black powder charges. Sadly,  your  fierce  intellect  and  cunning  are  easy  to misinterpret; an insurmountable speech impediment caused by your misshapen head makes conversation difficult, and the company of others makes you nervous. You still cannot abide your own reflection — but nothing sends you flying into a rage faster than the pity-filled glances of others.

Charcter sheet
Clan: Nosferatu Sire: Alonso Cristo Petrodon de Seville Nature: Architect Demeanor: Conformist Generation: 7th Embrace: 1757 Apparent Age: Indeterminate Physical: Strength 6, Dexterity 2, Stamina 5 Social: Charisma 3, Manipulation 2, Appearance 0 Mental: Perception 3, Intelligence 4, Wits 6 Talents: Alertness 4, Athletics 2, Brawl 3, Dodge 2, Empathy 1, Intimidation 1, Leadership 1, Scrounging 3, Streetwise 3, Subterfuge 2 Skills: Animal Ken 2, Crafts (jeweler/ silversmith) 3, Demolitions  2,  Etiquette  1,  Firearms  2,  Melee  3,  Performance (woodwinds) 3, Stealth 4, Survival 3, Traps 3 Knowledges: Academics 2, Camarilla Lore 5, Clan Knowledge (Nosferatu) 4, Computer 2, Investigation 5, Linguistics 1, Medicine 1, Occult 2, Sabbat Lore 3, Science (metallurgy) 4, Sewer Lore 5 Disciplines: Animalism 6, Auspex 2, Fortitude 3, Obfuscate 5, Potence 2 Backgrounds: Herd (vermin) 6, Mentor (Inner Circle) 6, Resources 4, Retainers (spy network) 5, Status 5 Virtues: Conscience 2, Self-Control 3, Courage 5 Morality: Humanity 5 Willpower: 7



Source:
Children of the Night, p. 45-46