Max Hagen is a Gangrel of the Sabbat imprisoned in Blacksite 24. Memories of his monstrous deeds torment Blooper. A recovering former member of the Sabbat, he recognizes that one slip could send him spiraling back into the belly of the Beast. For this reason, Max maintains a hard definition of right and wrong and is willing to risk his own neck to uphold it. Crossing the lines of this ragged code of conduct is not something Blooper tolerates in those around him, which often causes tension between him and his fellow Kindred.
Biography[]
Mortal Days[]
Growing up just outside of nowhere, Illinois, Max’s slow-flowing days bled into one another. In the lazy haze of hunting, fishing, and camping, he dreamed of anywhere that wasn’t the sleepy town of Carmi. When allowed at school, Max excelled at sports and learned about the wide world, but times were lean, and his family required him to toil on the farm most days. Max stared with lust at the open roads, hungry to devour the miles and find a more lucrative vocation. Prohibition was two decades gone, but moonshiners still managed a tidy sum throughout the ’50s and ’60s. By the time he stood 17 summers high, Max knew every backroad, byway, and bolt hole with intimacy. With his foot on the gas pedal, no law dog could catch him. Such careers, however, are always one day away from a bad end. Shortly after his eighteenth birthday, Max stood in front of a grim judge who gave him a choice: serve his country or serve time in Southern Illinois Penitentiary. With little thought, Max enlisted in the U.S. Army. Max took quickly to the military and served his first tour in Pleiku, Vietnam, in 1962. His country boy naiveté and a penchant for the M-79 grenade launcher earned Max the nickname “Blooper.” His first tour concluded, Max re-upped for another, staying in Pleiku. This second tour took an abrupt end on February 7th, 1965. He never saw a third tour, never went home to see his father before he died, never took another breath in the warmth of the sun.
Kindred Nights[]
Max was Embraced in the hot jungle night, as the shells rained down. There were fangs and screams in the dark. When Max’s heart stopped, the staccato explosions became the heartbeat of his new existence. The Sabbat pack had slipped into the camp, seeking cover. The Cainites had no plans to turn Blooper, but the pack Ductus saw something in the soldier worth preserving. Max awoke with a mouthful of swampy soil and tore his way from his earthen womb. When the red fever dream of his first frenzy faded, Max found the fang-gnawed corpse of his squad’s NCO in his arms. The man had saved Max’s life on more than one occasion. The memory of that night haunted the rest of his unlife and began his first slide towards the Beast. The vinculum bound Blooper’s will to the Sabbat cause. Where his pack went, he followed — through Vietnam, to New York, and eventually the Midwest. After a Chicago raid, Blooper and his pack fled south to Danville, Illinois. The pack had used the small city as a staging ground for years, unaware they were being watched. The daytime attack came without warning, and the groggy vampires could not properly respond or regroup. Some fell to ash and Final Death. Others, Blooper included, found themselves processed and imprisoned in Blacksite 24. The years limped by as eternities in hideous fluorescent light. Max endured experiment after agonizing experiment. Time and torture eroded the bonds of blood, and Blooper resented the pact and sect that used him. Hunkered down in a hell of introspection, Max saw how debased he had become. He saw, painfully so, why a Masquerade was necessary. In 2017, Blooper escaped the FIRSTLIGHT facility. He fled into the country and the night but remains in the Illinois area. There is much work to do. The Sabbat has all but vanished into their Gehenna Crusades. He’ll have to settle that score later. In the meantime, Max uses his violent talents to help the innocent and atone for years of monstrous atrocities. He also stalks FIRSTLIGHT, biding his time.
Appearence[]
Blooper is a large man who appears to be in his late 30s to early 40s. For a man of the streets, he keeps his red beard and long, brown hair well-groomed, though he likes to keep the sides of his head shaved. A perpetual scowl adorns his face, and even with the Blush of Life, there is something preternaturally savage about him. Blooper dresses the part of a biker — faded jeans, leather chaps, a leather vest with the colors of his crew, and a network of patches containing symbols recognizable only to Kindred in the know. When the weather demands it, he dons a leather jacket, wearing his vest over it in the biker culture fashion.
Sheet[]
References[]
- VTM: The Chicago Folios, p. 117-119
