Edward Neally is an 8th generation Ventrue of Chicago, a childe of Prince Lodin. Neally believes the Sabbat will return to North America sooner than anyone anticipates, and when they do, it will be in the form of bloated blood gods, fat on the vitae of methuselahs. He sees the Sabbat holdout cities such as Miami, Montreal, and Kansas City as futile breakwaters containing Cainites too philosophically up their own asses to stop a returning crusade of blood-drunk knights. He leaks information wherever he can about the coming tide so the Camarilla might erect a suitable defense, even making information up to galvanize the Kindred.
Biography[]
| “ | I would do it over if I could, but sin is sin. There are too many bloodstains to wash out. | ” |
| — Edward Neally the Burned-out Defector | ||
Mortal Days[]
Neally’s was a pained childhood, abandoned at St. Patrick’s when his parents realized they couldn’t afford to raise him, schooled by nuns and priests who taught him a lot about guilt but not much about joy. His luck changed when a public servant investigating St. Patrick’s found the canny lad a willing source of information on the school’s scandals.
The eventual Senator John Logan took Neally into his home and eventually Logan’s affection grew. He never publicly acknowledged his adoption of the boy, records tonight only showing Edward Neally’s service in the house scullery, but Neally spent all his time advising the politician, becoming his chief of staff in later years.
Neally befriended a fellow young man in the employ of politicians by the name of Jefferson, at this time. The two exchanged partners and even carried out a clandestine affair with each other for a time, Neally only breaking off their union when the guilt grew too much to bear.
Neally found you can’t just shut away a childhood of abuse. As he eventually went on to tell many a traumatized vessel, “closure does not exist.” For every success came the wash of guilt. For every profit came the wages of sin. Neally was not religious, but associated every pleasure with self-loathing. In fits of pique he tore apart his wardrobe for his self-perceived “poor taste.” He had sex and felt he wasn’t good enough. He masturbated and felt physically revolted that he’d put himself through such onanism.
Despite all this, Neally was a highly successful administrator and counsel in mortal politics. The greatest rush came when he accompanied his father figure to Washington. He put aside his feelings of unworthiness, at least until another staffer called him a “jumped-up bog-trotter.” That night, Neally took his first opium hit. He enjoyed it. It diminished his self-hatred. He took it again the week after. It didn’t take long for the drug to cloud his judgement and for Logan to quietly secrete Neally in an institution.
Kindred Nights[]
Lodin had long followed Neally’s career and decided he was well-equipped to serve as seneschal. Neally didn’t fully understand the offer. He accompanied the prince on a tour of Chicago and its underbelly, meeting vampires and finding out about Camarilla politics. Lodin Embraced him before he could say “yes.”
Neally disappeared from Senator Logan’s life, but continued to send the elderly mortal regular packets of money. When Logan died, Neally lost an anchor, and the tear in his soul was intense. Neally Embraced Jefferson to fill the hole, but in so doing made a long-term enemy as the two dueled over influence and the love of a ghoul named Emily.
It was in the early 1990s when Neally’s spirit took its biggest hit. Under the influence of a manipulative Jefferson, Neally frenzied, murdering a swathe of kine, including his treasured ghoul Emily. Lodin was furious that his seneschal had caused several blatant Masquerade breaches and would have destroyed Neally himself had the Sabbat not ferried him away.
The Sabbat poured words into his head about ancient elders controlling him and wanting to devour him. They told him Lodin was just using him. They assured him he was worthless and sin in human form. Such rites were similar for many Sabbat inductees, but usually came accompanied with the reassurance that despite all that, the vampire had a home and love from the Sabbat. Jefferson, who led the Sabbat pack, forbade such love-bombing. Instead, he turned Neally and his pack loose on Chicago as saboteurs, using Neally’s knowledge of the city to destabilize it, assassinating prominent Kindred such as the Caitiff hero Dickie Fulcher at the Sabbat’s behest.
When many members of the Sabbat migrated on their Gehenna Crusade, the bond with Jefferson’s pack snapped. He was free. He was in Chicago, a known Sabbat agent provocateur, but now he wanted in with the Camarilla. The first thing he did was tell the primogen council about all the Sabbat nests in their domains in exchange for sanctuary.
Once again, Neally has to start from the bottom. The disgraced Ventrue has aspirations of rising to high status once again.
Until the werewolves attacked in the mid-1990s, the Succubus Club was under the stewardship of a Ventrue named Brennon Thornhill. He died in the assault, but Neally — as former Seneschal — had custody of Thornhill’s property deeds. To Edward’s surprise, the deeds were in Thornhill’s name and, on his death, spread between his mortal descendants. Neally has already made a ghoul of Thornhill’s oldest nephew, considering now how best to act.
It was he who encouraged Joseph Peterson to make the step up to praxis, only to see his unpopular brother in vitae crash and burn. He courts his clanmates Naomi Stewart and Bobby Weatherbottom to gain their backing for Ventrue Primogeniture, but he knows these Kindred carry little weight.
Appearance[]
Edward is a tall, slender, with a narrow face and feline-like eyes, Neally’s a moderately attractive male who appears to be in his mid-30s. He allows the thinness of his hair to show or shaves the top of his head each night, just leaving a sandy-colored horseshoe around the sides.
Neally wears off-the-rack suits, his fortunes low since the ‘80s and ‘90s, but he keeps his shoes at a high shine, abiding by the maxim that “a man cannot be trusted if he doesn’t shine his own shoes.” After years of living among the Sabbat, he has forgotten many basic human traits, such as pretending to breathe, blinking, or even stimulating the vitae to work around his system.
Edward Neally reverses his name to Neally Edwards to avoid casual scrutiny, but his strongest mask comes in the form of Theodore Logan, a low-level city functionary registered as an office worker on long-term sick leave. The role provides a meager income and little intrusion into his life, while providing him a pass to enter civic buildings when needed.
Sheet[]
† Chicago by Night applicable stats
‡ Chicago by Night Second Edition applicable stats
⸸ Blood Bond applicable stats
CbN 1st & 2nd Ed and B-B[]
Note B-B: While Neally is under the direct mental control of Jefferson, he gains Attributes and Disciplines he does not usually have. These added powers derive from Jefferson's blood, which courses through Neally’s veins. When controlled by Jefferson, he has the following additional Disciplines: Celerity 2, Potence 3, Presence 3, and Obfuscate 4. While controlled, his Humanity also drops to 2. When under Jefferson's control, Neally's Beast clearly manifests itself. His eyes are wild, his hair disheveled, his fingernails long, and his fangs gleaming.
Image 1st Edition: Neally is a tall, somewhat slender man. Before his Embrace, Neally was prematurely balding, and he often wears a high-quality and well-fitted hairpiece that hides this fact. He typically dresses in a double-breasted suit and wingtips; his appearance is as impeccable as a TV host's. His handshake is strong, and he always seems to know how to put the right spin on things.
Image 2nd Edition: Neally is a tall, somewhat slender man, slightly balding.
Roleplaying Hints 1st Edition: Play with your imaginary (or real) tie while you speak, and cock your head very slightly while you listen to others speak. You are a powerful Cainite, a member of the illustrious Ventrue Clan. More importantly, you work for the greatest power in the city. Though you do not flaunt your power, you will not tolerate disrespect either.
Roleplaying Hints B-B (Under Jefferson’s Control): Snarl a lot and growl out your words. Your chest heaves up and down as adrenaline courses through your body.
Roleplaying Hints 2nd Edition: You are extremely paranoid about being discovered and will go to any lengths to avoid this.
Haven 1st Edition: He maintains an office in the basement of one of the government office buildings of the city.
Haven 2nd Edition: He resides in the charred husk of a building on the South Side.
Secrets: B+
Influence 1st Edition: Neally is Lodin's chief administrator and thus has a firm grasp on the day-to-day affairs of the Kindred. Many are ordered to report regularly to him, and when disputes occur over control of the mortal realm, Kindred turn to him to iron things out.
When he gives an order regarding mortal affairs—always in the name of Lodin, of course—people jump.
Neally also maintains considerable influence over the city government bureaucracy. The affairs of the city, in both the realms of Kindred and kine, are in his grasp, and he organizes the most important elements of each.
The election of the new mayor was a direct result of his machinations. Indeed, all his retainers were once liberal political hacks or city bureaucrats; they are now all Ghouls, devoted to him and his "cause."
Influence 2nd Edition: None.
Backgrounds Sheet[]
Oscar Thornhill
(Resources 2, Retainers 2)
Neally’s personal thrall is Oscar, a man of 26 who doesn’t understand the sudden interest his uncle’s old friend Edward is showing him. Neally has fed Thornhill several doses of vitae and regularly gets inside his head with the use of his Dominate Discipline. Neally is confident he can wrangle the entirety of the Succubus Club’s ownership into Thornhill’s name legally.
St. Patrick’s School
(Influence 2)
Neally’s mortal traumas compel him to exert control over the still-running St. Patrick’s on West Belmont Avenue, where he tentatively pulls the school system’s strings with blackmail and threats to the staff. He is undecided on whether to groom a herd, make a haven there, or just take revenge on the school he loathes so much.
Trivia[]
- Edward doesn’t believe Lodin died during the werewolf attack and is deeply fearful of what his sire will do when he finds him, given the way they parted all those years ago. He wishes to enlist other Kindred to find the truth behind Lodin’s fate, and if the former Prince is still around, extinguish him.
- Neally claims allegiance with Stewart and Weatherbottom as outsider Ventrue, though his crimes are a little too extreme for their tastes. They mostly keep him around as a source of old city information rather than through affection, and he knows it.
- Some believes Neally staked Capone and stashed him away as a sign he’s taking the Masquerade seriously. He was always jealous of Al’s favor with the boss.
- Neally obsesses over a mortal family that’s not his own. He’s taken them as his herd and retainers. He seems to be forcing himself back toward humanity in a crude way.
- Neally was an opiate junkie in life and is no different now. He regularly uses the Circulatory System’s services to find kine deep in the melancholic humors.
- Whispers about Jefferson is still pulling Neally’s strings and is waiting to set this double agent off like a bomb.
Gallery[]
References[]
- VTM: Chicago by Night, p. 132-134
- VTM: Ashes to Ashes, p. 25-26
- VTM: Chicago by Night Second Edition, p. 135-136
- VTM: Blood Bond, p. 31
- VTM: Chicago by Night 5th Edition, p. 225-227
