White Wolf Wiki
Advertisement

Rabbi Michalis Basaras, is an 8th generation Lasombra, childe of Giangaleazzo. Currently residing in the Chicago area.

Biography[]

Mortal Days[]

Michalis was born in Limassol, Cyprus. As the son of a Jewish family at the end of World War I, he grew up knowing his fair due of hardships. British rule was strict and neither the Turkish nor Greek Cypriot communities truly embraced them. His father was a fisherman who was at sea for most of the day, leaving young Michalis in the care of his mother, who taught him to read and recite the Torah while his father worked. When the Israeli state was established in 1948, he urged his mother and father to board their fishing boat and sail at once for the promised Eden, but they would not heed his wishes.

Michalis resigned himself to traveling to the nascent country alone and enrolled in the new seminary in Jerusalem. He hoped this would be a fresh chapter in his life, finally striking out alone to pursue the deeper mysteries of the world and to engage with his true people. What he found was the ongoing violence and chaos of the Middle East. In his studies, he tried to make sense of it. He longed for a oneness and a unity that it seemed his state of humanity did not afford him.

His return to Limassol, to take charge of the local synagogue, should have been the homecoming for which he longed. Instead, he found his mother had committed suicide. The woman who raised him was gone, victim of the dual losses of her son and the husband who, apparently, had been taking many mistresses on his vessel for years in exchange for ferry passage to the mainland ports during the wars. He pondered the meaninglessness of her death and the absences that caused it. Truly, there was no place for a man in this world save that he imagined for himself. A creation of small minds seeking desperately to imprint a human destiny on a divine plan far larger than themselves.

He continued to carry out his duties as best he could, but he only felt alive during his introspection. Everything else was an act to keep a chaotic and hate-filled world at bay. That is when he was approached by a gaunt man who seemed to share his view.

Kindred Nights[]

Michalis accepted the vitae of Giangaleazzo and traveled at once to Milan, seeking purpose at his sire’s side.

His introduction to Kindred society was mixed. The cruelty of the Sabbat packs and their mindless zeal was abhorrent to the new childe, and yet he found peace in the tutelage of his sire, who seemed as disgusted with the rabble as Michalis. Giangaleazzo’s questions regularly turned to Michalis’ time in Israel, of his dreams while he was there, voices he may have heard in his meditations. Michalis answered as best he could and, at his sire’s compelling, regularly wrote letters to former associates of his who were still present there to seek answers. The Archbishop of Milan seemingly sought the same answers the fledgling Michalis did.

Michalis became his vizier, offering insight to the philosophical quandaries that plagued his sire’s mind. He also took letters from his agents abroad and it became clear the Middle East held special interest for his sire. It was one such letter that changed everything. An agent who had traveled to Iraq with the American invasion force wrote of an urging felt throughout their bloodline. Giangaleazzo, upon reading this letter, simply stated, “The time has come.”

Michalis was instructed to leave Milan and return to his home to await instruction, and so he did. He was not present for the night of fire when Giangaleazzo, the Traitor Prince, so spectacularly turned his allegiance to the Camarilla. Michalis, in truth, was pleased. For all the religious, pseudo-Christian prattle of the Sabbat about the evil of the elders, it seemed to Michalis they possessed the patience and contemplative nature necessary to seek real truth in this world. He wrote letters to his sire, praising his decision and pledging renewed fealty to him, but received no response.

Another father had abandoned him, and here he was back at his childhood home. The return of the fishing ships each night was a reminder of the emptiness of his soul as he watched the men embracing their families at the harborside. If there was something calling his blood to the east, he was numb to it; he was alone.

In despair, Michalis resolved to walk into the sea and there find solitude at last. And that is where he encountered it: the great black creature calling itself “The Traveler.” It spoke in soothing tones, straight into his troubled mind, of an entity called Shalim. Shalim was its progenitor, and the being from whom all Lasombra descended, that promised to end all suffering and bring the world to its true state of oneness in the Abyss. It whispered to him of his sire and that his change of heart would soon catch hold throughout the line of Shalim.

Michalis was hardly expert in Camarilla politics, but he was aware he could not return to Milan without the Prince’s invitation. America was the most logical destination, and Chicago would be the place that any real whispers could be heard of the coming movements of his clan. He gained an assignment at a small, progressive synagogue in Dearborn, and there he waits.

Appearance[]

As a relative newcomer to the city, Michalis is content to maintain his own identity. He believes one of the benefits of looking old is avoiding the appearance of eternal youth. As is befitting his station, Rabbi Basaras tends to dress in black with a yarmulke. He has a weather-beaten face with deep lines around his often-furrowed brow and a thick, graying beard. His skin is olive colored and his eyes are a dark brown that often appears black. He almost never seems to blink. Michalis regularly carries a small, brown satchel in which he keeps books, paper, and pens. He writes carefully and calligraphically with great attention to what he is doing. He wears a necklace with two pendants, a Star of David and a crude metal outline of a man with a circular hollow cut from the center of his chest.

Character Sheet[]

Rabbi Michalis Basaras
Sire: Giangaleazzo
Embraced: 1978 (Born 1917)
Ambition: Establish a cult of enlightenment
Convictions: Never abandon a trusted companion
Touchstones: Farah Yussuf — Palestinian Convert
Humanity: 4
Generation: 8th
Blood Potency: 3
Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2; Charisma 4, Manipulation 4, Composure 3; Intelligence 3, Wits 4, Resolve 3
Health: 5
Willpower: 6
Skills: Drive 2, Stealth 1; Animal Ken (Fish) 2, Etiquette (Court) 3, Insight 3, Intimidation 2, Leadership (Oratory) 4, Performance (Cantor) 4, Persuasion 3, Subterfuge 2; Academics (Jewish Seminary) 3, Finance 2, Occult 3, Politics 2, Technology 1
Disciplines: Dominate 2, Oblivion 3, Potence 1

Gallery[]

References[]

Advertisement