Nathaniel Bordruff is a Nosferatu who hates everything. All of his schemes and desires revolve around bringing an end to the Kindred as a whole.
Biography[]
| “ | The time is coming, brothers and sisters. Have you the armor of your righteousness ready to hand? | ” |
Mortal Days[]
Born into the family of a Pentecostal preacher and raised to become the same, Nathaniel brought the word of Christ wherever he traveled. His family came to settle in a little town north of New Orleans when Nathaniel was 15 years old. Every day, his father inveighed against the swelling depravity of that cesspit of a city, both around the kitchen table and beneath the Revival tent.
Unusually, to Nathaniel’s observation, he stopped short of encouraging the righteous to go among their fellow men and rescue their souls from Perdition, a thing that struck him as odd. He was told that he would be given to understand in time, but that time had not yet come.
It arrived on a sweltering summer evening, in the bed of a horse-drawn wagon stinking of blood, piss, and mortal terror. Nathaniel woke from a restless, nightmare-haunted sleep by voices raised in agitation and crept downstairs to investigate. Outside, he found his father, the church elders, and a man he did not know, all gathered around the wagon and the young man inside it, bloody and begging for the salvation of his soul.
To Nathaniel’s shock, they struck off his head with an axe and drove one of the stakes used to hold the revival-tent guy-ropes through his chest. Nathaniel was summoned into the circle of his elders and initiated into the secret of his father’s travels: He was not only a preacher of the Lord’s word but also a soldier in a war against Satan’s minions.
Nathaniel took to the art of vampire hunting like a fish to water, mastering the skills necessary to stalk the creatures and end their unholy lives with stake and fire. Where his master was deliberate and cautious, Nathaniel was fierce with the righteousness of his cause and the glory of the Lord. A new way was in order, particularly if the ultimate goal was to cleanse New Orleans of a bloodsucking infestation.
Master and apprentice quarreled frequently and parted ways. With Nathaniel’s leash unclipped, he took the war to the leeches battening on the greatest city in the South. For a handful of years, he was the terror that stalked them even as they hunted the night, bringing proof of his kills back to his elders for their approval and the adulation of those who knew of his holy task.
Even he is not certain when the fire of doing the Lord’s work was replaced by the desire for praise in his breast, but he blames it for his fall from grace: the terrible and foolish hour he pursued the unholy beasts deep into the bayous and there was taken and transformed into that which he most loathed.
Kindred Nights[]
Even undeath has not quenched Nathaniel’s desire to end the cursed existence of all vampires. His initial failures at that pursuit have fueled his efforts since. Serving Lodin allowed him to vent his hatred on the tattered remnants of the Anarch insurgency. Serving Khalid allowed him to advance his own schemes against the Prince and the structures of undead power.
All of these have served his own wounded pride and ego, the belief that he deserved the glory of the Lord for his service to mankind and the recognition and exaltation of men. Never before has the chance to seize all that he desires rested closer to his hands.
With the advent of the Second Inquisition, more than just a handful of godly men and women know of vampires now: The Masquerade is cracked, and it requires only a few well-placed blows to break it entirely. It requires only the hands willing to deliver those blows because the necessary tools to do so are already there.
Nathaniel has made a point of learning all there is to learn about mankind’s new champions, the government-trained and employed vampire hunters called, ironically enough, FIRSTLIGHT. He subtly thwarts attempts to subvert the suspected local agents to any cause but his own.
He will see the Kindred brought to the fire, he will see all they have built burn to ashes, and even if he dies in the attempt, he will hear his name spoken as the one who achieved what generations of hunters before him could not accomplish.
Description[]
Nathaniel Bordruff is an elder of the Chicago Nosferatu warren and a former minion of the late Prince Lodin. Lodin’s fall presented Bordruff with the opportunity to claim the rulership of the city—a goal he pursued relentlessly but ultimately failed to achieve. This failure stemmed in part from the refusal of his own clan’s elder to support his ambitions. Furious and embittered, Bordruff has since strayed further from the norms of Kindred society, harboring dangerous aspirations.
A vampire who loathes all other Kindred and most humans, Bordruff now seeks to expose the Kindred world to the Second Inquisition, believing it to be an act of cleansing that will be celebrated rather than condemned. His consuming egotism blinds him to the likely consequences of his betrayal. In pursuit of his goals, he seeks allies, a choice that may ultimately lead to his downfall.
Recruit: Something about you—your disdain for Kindred society, your anger, or your lament of the vampiric condition—has drawn Bordruff’s attention. Whether or not you are Nosferatu, he has extended his hand in friendship as a Mawla (••). However, accepting this friendship requires a one-step Blood Bond to him.- Collaborator: You have accepted Bordruff’s patronage. At first, it seems like a mutually beneficial relationship, but his demands grow increasingly complex. In return, you’ve gained Resources (•), Status (•), and a reputation for ambition, albeit tainted by your association with him.
- Accomplice: Bordruff now entrusts you with greater tasks, offering you significant rewards. As your understanding of his larger goals deepens, you gain access to Haven: Secured Room (•), Contacts: CoC Consistory (••), and a growing awareness of the inequities in Kindred society.
- Conspirator: Bordruff has fully exposed his vision to you, asking you to join him as a partner in his conspiracy to dismantle Kindred society. He grants you access to his human minions, including the pastor of the Church of Christ and its consistory, all ghouls with a shared hatred for vampires. These minions serve as Allies (••••), viewing you as a potential savior of humanity.
- Betrayer: You now face a critical choice: Betray the Kindred as a whole, aiding Bordruff in his destructive plans. Betray Bordruff to the Prince and gain potential Status and Mawla within the Camarilla. Either path offers significant rewards but comes with severe consequences. Choose wisely.
Appearence[]
An enormously tall man in life, in undeath Nathaniel is a gaunt, cadaverous, preying mantis of a vampire. He has unnaturally long limbs that look vaguely sharp at certain angles and a spindly stalk of a neck with a perfectly egg-shaped bald head atop it. He has lately taken to stealing plain black suits, white dress shirts, and black silk ties from big-and-tall men’s apparel shops in a doomed effort to look somewhat more presentable to potential human allies.
Character Sheet[]
Fifith Edition[]
Gallery[]
References[]
- VTM: Chicago by Night, p. 101-102
- VTM: Chicago by Night Second Edition, p. 105-106
- VTM: Chicago by Night Fifth Edition, p. 164-167