"Who are you?" you ask. Well I'll tell you. My name is Carl Frankins, and I've been a vampire for exactly 1324 days. Yep, that's right, I kept count. I'm with the Toreador and head a band called "Project Athena". Come see us, we're damn good.
So what the hell is a Toreador doing writing about a Brujah's life? Well, if you've been in Chicago recently (today is March 2nd, 1996 by the way) then you know about Alex Loyd. That is, unless you've a) been in hiding, studying, in torpor, staked for a while or b) you're not a vampire. Oh, and by the way, for those who fall in the latter category, possession of this document is punishable by a sharp and quick death. Just thought that I'd warn you.
Alex Loyd is the guy responsible for the overthrow of clan Ventrue *and* the recent political upheavals in Chicago. Well, at least that's what shmucks like me think. Or used to think. Read on....
Alexander Loyd was born in 1134AD in a small wood near what is now Norwich, England. His parents were woodcutters (can you believe it?) that died due to a particularly harsh winter in 1148. Alex, 14 then, kept up with the business as best as he could. Pretty solitary, he used to go to the town of Hillam to sell his wood (sell his wood?!? Ha!). it was there, in 1159 that he was born to darkness.
In a nameless inn, Alex drank. Apparently, he drank a lot. So that when a local minor noble entered and started throwing his money around, Alex decided to throw his weight around. Offended, the noble ordered his entourage to diclipline our hero. Alex fought back and apparently won the day! Then the noble attempted to use some vampiric power or another on Alex (like you hadn't guessed he was a vampire!), which went awry and Alex began to grapple with the nobleman.
This became too much for Alex's friends, and they pulled him off and ushered him out. Fearing reprisals, they insisted he return home that very night. Alex grudgingly returned home.
This is the part I can't believe. There must have been some vamp-fest going on, because not only was the nobleman a vampire, but there were also two others in the inn.
I guess they were impressed, because a Gangrel by the name of Emily Price decided to track Alex the next night and embrace him. At the same time, some unknown Brujah saw Alex's performance, and decided to embrace him immediately.
Alex completely missed his own embrace! Can you believe it?! He remembers a dim form, a silhouette against the door. Then, when he awoke very late the next day, scared, confused, he was approached by the gangrel. Realizing what had happened she took Alex in and counselled him in what being a vampire was all about. Alex speaks of her in a tone of respect that is seldom heard from his lips. He spent a year with her, where he was taught the use of his blood, how to survive, and how to hate the ventrue. Emily apparently has a little problem with the Clan of Kings. Probably due to a strong belief in personal freedom, which Alex has in spades. I've never seen anyone so keen to get into a fight for the oppressed masses. Someone should get him a cape.
Nevertheless, when they parted company, she left behind a vamp much different than the one she initially encountered. That she did him a great service is not to be denied. He started travelling. Moving around from city to city, learning trades, cultures, never staying long in one place. He collected as much information as he could about us. It was slow going, taking up about 600 years. What made matters really difficult was that he travelled and frequented only with kine. Emily had apparently imparted a healthy dose of mistrust towards our kind. He set out to learn all of our secrets and to avoid us. Tough job! But in 1646, in Rome, he met an old man, a human, called Adio Kahn, who had an incredibly deep knowledge of us. He taught Alex all he knew, and apparently asked for a favor in return. What this favor is, Alex wouldn't tell me. He just said that everyone needs their secrets.
Alex studied with Adio for about a decade, ending with Adio's death. He then began travelling again and found a deep love for music. In 1707, he was at Bach's wedding. In 1735 he travelled to Paris, 300 miles, on foot, to see a castrato named Carlo Broschi perform. He saw Mozart named Concertmaster Of Salzburg in 1769. In 1809 he saw Beethoven perform his 6th symphony.
It was at this time that he started taking an interest in matters political. About a decade before, he had heard of a Brujah name Tyler, who fought for freedom in England in 1637. She had mobilized a group of anarchs to overthrow a ventrue noble who was oppressing them. Alex took this to heart. He claims that he has a responsibility to free the oppressed masses. Which obviously means that he wants the ventrue down in the dirt.
His pride in being Brujah and his desire to learn, all the while being extremely violent, fits all of the Brujah stereotypes nicely. But despite this, he comes off as a pretty cool guy. Very straitforward, which is rare among our kind.
His ambitions to do his duty brought him to William Wilberforce in 1808. Alex saw slavery as an afront to human freedom. He knew that Wilberforce was trying to get anti- slavery laws instituted and helped his cause. He counselled Wilberforce and his Clapham Sect, intimidated local slave traders to keep them quiet, and finally managed to get slavery outlawed in his homeland.
It was shortly after this that he traveled to the US. In 1822 he worked as a conductor for the Underground Railroad, conducting escaped slaves from Charleston, South Carolina to Cumberland, New York. His work done, he started touring the country. In 1867, for a reason unknown, he fell into torpor until 1901. He claims that a long period of inactivity causes the blood to slow to a halt. So get up off your lazy vampire asses and just do it! Otherwise it's slumber time.
When he awoke, he continued his tour around the country. World War I found him fighting in the trenches for his native soil. He never actually "joined up", he just got a uniform and started fighting.
In WWII, his experience with the Underground Railroad helped him set up a similar facility in Belgium to help jews escape from Germany to France. After the war, he returned to New York, and took up residence. In 1971, he took a trip to Jamaica, met Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, and not only did he get along with them, he supposedly helped them write "Get Up, Stand Up". I'm not calling him a liar. You can if you want.
Throughout all of this, he kept meeting with Emily. Every 50 years, they meet at the same location and spend a few days together. It was her egging that, after 800 years, got him into kindred politics and saw him really explore the power of the blood. Pretty apathetic, if you ask me.
Regardless, he got into Chicago about a year ago, and claims that it sucks! I kinda like it myself. He refused to talk about recent happenings, saying only they can blame whatever they want on him. He says he enjoys it. But his coterie is known to a certain degree. There's: Nathan Hayes, an assamite; Andrew Stuart, a ventrue (who has apparently survived Alex's hatred, probably through the use of heavy dominate), Cassandra a truly beautiful brujah who would give attitude to anything, as well as being Alex's child and, finally, Farinelli.
Farinelli is the most perplexing of the bunch. And that's saying alot when the bunch are an assamite (in a coterie!), a ventrue (with Alex Loyd?!?) and a babe with a gun. He is the recent addition to Gehenna (I wish I had thought of that name first!). The rest of the band are human. They were a pretty good punk band. Then Farinelli came in and now they're a *really* good punk band. I thought that he must be Toreador, but he doesn't come to any of the meetings. He changed Gehenna. Original, emotional, each member seems rejuvenated. They just went on tour, I saw them here in Chicago... wow! These guys blew me away! What an original sound! I tried to get Farinelli to come over to Project Athena, but he won't. Man, we'd be big! Alex is the drummer, and frankly, I've never payed that much attention to drummers, but Marc, our drummer, told me he's the best. But then again, I've seen Alex fight.
What do the two have to do with each other? Brother, when you move that fast and hit that hard, you gotta be able to keep a beat. Lemme just say this, if Alex is trying to get past you, step out of the way! Ooops, too late, you're dead.
So here are some rumours about Alex Loyd that he refuses to confirm or deny: he killed Loden (the previous ventrue prince of Chicago), he killed Ballard (the next Ventrue in line for the throne), he killed Sheriff (the Ventrue enforcer, a Brujah turncoat), he killed Neely (another child of Loden), he killed a Sabbat pack, alone, unarmed, in direct confrontation... I saw the last one. It's true. Don't fuck with this guy unless you're a methuselah, and even then, only if he's in some heavy duty chains.
Well, that's about it. Not poetry but not bad. If you read this Alex, I hope that you liked it. If not, please at least give me a head start.