Rowan is a Nosferatu neonate residing in the Chicago area.
Biography[]
Mortal Days: Unordered Flesh[]
Rowan was never very comfortable with the body they were in. As a teen they tried every manner of masking it: tattoos, piercings, different styles of clothing designed to hide more than expose. It never really worked. The shape of it, the gender, the way people reacted to their black skin or called them a guy. None of these ever felt right but Rowan didn’t really know what to do about it. It was a struggle and a source of depression and dysphoria for many years and Rowan just tolerated it as the way they were.
Rowan was a festival kid and got real into the local burner culture in Chicago, fitting in with the other outsiders there and getting into hallucinogens. They started to love themselves no matter what their body was, and grow comfortable with the idea of whatever body shape or gender they had. It was at the burns Rowan finally accepted their queer nonbinary trans identity, and was accepted by the others there, too.
It was at one such summer burn that Rowan met Kamilah. Her face seemed to look kind of… frog-like? There was no other way to describe it, her eyes were round and swiveling, her tongue slightly too large for her wide, toothed mouth. Rowan didn’t judge when she revealed it in the darkness of the acid-tripping tent. They were intrigued more than anything, and Kamilah confided she was something more than human. The two of them talked long into the night, bonding over feeling like outsiders in their own bodies. Kamilah said she never felt like herself until after she became a vampire. She offered to turn Rowan into a vampire, and in Rowan’s innocence and tripped-out mind they agreed.
When Rowan awoke later that night, Kamilah was gone, disappearing into the festival circuit. Their body had transformed, growing longer and lankier, and they could feel their bristled ears and sunken eyes. Their fingers felt like elongated claws. Had they become an animal? It took a while for Rowan to understand. They began to integrate minimally with Kindred culture, learning who the Nosferatu in Chicago were and joining the Camarilla for the sake of safety, but never really fitting in.
Kindred Nights: Accepting the Monster[]
Although Kamilah thought vampires could be confirming for Rowan, they felt even more like an outsider amidst these monsters. While Rowan is a member of the Camarilla, they mostly stay out of vampire politics, finding no room for them or their opinions, and never fully being introduced to the sect’s politics.
Rowan’s closest family was the burners, and that is still true. In order to still maintain their place in burner culture Rowan transitioned to be a performer, using their bat-like looks as a double disguise to keep their vampire identity hidden from the mortal burners. The performances are a combination of a horror show and body manipulation dance, where Rowan moves around in creepy contortions and utilizes their appearance to shock and awe the audience. There aren’t too many vampires in the Chicago burner culture; usually the other ones who show up at events are there as tourists or wanderers looking for a meal, leading to Rowan coming to know the occasional passing Gangrel or Ravnos. Rowan keeps the burners as a small herd for safety and feeding off of, with full consent, though they’re not completely aware why Rowan drinks their blood. It’s possible that with any amount of manipulation a different vampire could control Rowan’s herd, or Rowan themselves. They’re a neonate Nosferatu, and rather vulnerable.
Sometimes, Rowan misses their old body. It wasn’t perfect, but they had made a kind of peace with the way things were. Now they are more permanently changed. Rowan is gaining more control over it by the night, and learning the new things their body can do, but in the last five years since their Embrace they occasionally fall to despair. Rowan has decided that being an outsider means they have to accept change, and that the chaos of life is abundant with it. It’s not an easy thing to accept, however. Rowan incorporates these ideas in their performance at the burns, and speaks to it openly with human and Kindred friends alike.
Rowan is sometimes a huge mystery to the older Kindred of the city, who don’t understand new generations of humans let alone the newer generations of Kindred. The fact that Rowan has outwardly accepted themselves as a Nosferatu monster is disliked by many traditionalists… they’d prefer Rowan had more self-loathing than they do. Additionally, newer concepts of queerness and transness, even among vampires, is confusing. Rowan is a window into youth culture, and some Kindred intend to use that knowledge to their advantage.
Character Sheet[]
"Rowan"
Sire: Kamilah
Embraced: 2010 (Born 1993)
Generation: 10th
Blood Potency: 1
Ambition: I will claim the burners as my herd and mine alone
Convictions: Never blindly follow orders
Touchstones: : Basil -- a local burner who has welcomed Rowan into her tribe
Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 4; Charisma 3, Manipulation 1, Composure 2; Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 4
Skills: Athletics (Climbing) 4, Brawl 1, Drive 2, Larceny 1, Stealth (Camouflage) 3, Survival 3; Animal Ken (Bats) 4, Insight 2, Intimidation 2, Performance (Contortion) 4, Persuasion 3, Streetwise 2, Subterfuge 1; Awareness 3, Medicine 1, Science 1
Disciplines: Animalism 3, Potence 1
Health: 7
Humanity: 7
Willpower: 6
References[]
- VTM: Chicago by Night 5th Edition, p. 169-171
