Hank Cave is a Brujah Anarch. He was destroyed during the War of Chicago.
Biography[]
Sure, Hank Cave's name didn't rank up there with Kerouac, Ginsberg, or Burroughs, but he was just as good a writer. All his friends told him so. And what friends they were...
They would come to his coffee house all through the Eisenhower years, talk and listen to poetry, and eat (usually for free if they said they had read any of Hank Cave's work). Then, in 1961, his inheritance ran out. A few months later, the coffee house closed down. He could no longer afford to self-publish, and no commercial publisher was willing to pick up any of his books. Soon, he was working in a bookstore just to pay the rent.
Hank's writing slowly became blacker and more political. This trend deepened after Kennedy was shot, and then—surprise of surprises—Hank Cave wrote a novel mainstream publishers would look at: The Trial of Saints. A story about death in a destructive society, it became a minor hit; he never knew whether this was because his writing style changed or because public tastes had changed, though he likes to believe the latter.
One of the book's biggest fans was Karl, who began to take notice of Hank Cave's life and other work. One night in 1964, after feeding on a drunken banker, Karl decided it was time to make the writer immortal.
He proposed the idea to Hank shortly after the writer had discovered the joys of marijuana, and found him more than agreeable. At first, Hank Cave really enjoyed his new form and got a wonderful kick out of drinking blood. He would feed and then spend the rest of the night writing poetry in some exotic location, like the top of the Scars tower or while looking through a telescope at the Adler Planetarium. However, soon he grew tired of hunting people and animals in order to drink their blood.
He longed to be able to look at the sun again. Needless to say, his writing became even darker and even more successful.
Then came Lodin's attempt in 1968 to wipe out the Anarchs. Even though Hank Cave had done nothing political since his Embrace, he was a target because he had been made without the Prince's approval. Only his recent friendship with the Black Panthers saved him from this fate, and he spent more than a year hiding out at their headquarters. Despite the destruction of the Panthers by the police, he has continued to live in the basement of this old building. Though it has been condemned repeatedly, he has always managed to have it saved.
He has opened a new coffee house here (without the permission or knowledge of the civic authorities), which he calls the "Blue Moon," and it has become a center for the underground intellectual scene. Many of the Anarchs meet here as well, especially those with a more intellectual bent. Critias himself has been known to frequent the establishment.
Lodin's massacre of Hank's few friends among the Kindred galvanized him into action. Ever since that time, he has worked slowly and methodically to destroy Lodin's power in the city, all the while trying to appear as a lethargic and uninterested observer. He was one of Maldavis' main supporters, and while he is not an obvious leader of the Anarchs, they listen when he speaks.
Sheet[]
Image: Hank is tall and skinny, with black hair and a trimmed goatee. He often dresses in a black turtleneck and tight black pants, sometimes completing his look with a beret.
Roleplaying Hints: You're always hip, snapping your fingers a lot and making wide sweeping gestures to emphasize your points. You are often seen with a cigarette, which you wave around excitedly as you discuss whatever crosses your mind—after all, you consider yourself a genius, so anything you say must be important.
Haven: The old Black Panther Headquarters, which Hank has converted into a coffee house. His retainer runs it on her own, and it is located at 2350 W. Madison.
Secrets: C
Influence: Hank holds influence in the underground intellectual world of Chicago. He has numerous contacts among the "underground" beat movement and is known by many young writers and poets who come to him for advice. This group forms his herd, and its size fluctuates.
Reference[]
- VTM: Chicago by Night, p. 65-66
- VTM: Chicago by Night Second Edition, p. 60, 77
- WTA/VTM: Under a Blood Red Moon