Jerec Shadowbane
From Www.uratha.com - Forsaken Wiki
| Cunning | ••• |
|---|---|
| Glory | • |
| Honor | • |
| Purity | • |
| Wisdom | ••• |
Contents |
Basic Information
Year Born: 1982
Year of First Change: 2001
Tribe: Iron Masters
Auspice: Ithaeur
Lodge: Lodge of Stones
Pack: Hell's Furnace
Position: Ritesmaster
Physical Description
Jerec is about 5'10" in human form, with brown hair and brown eyes. Given his self-described role of "Cowboy of the Shadow," he tends to dress the part to some extent - khaki pants that look like they were pulled off of Malcolm Reynolds' clothes rack and a brown trenchcoat, though the shirts he wears are distinctly modern. Jerec also carries a burn mark of a bird claw on his chest - the mark of the Hell's Furnace pack totem, a Firebird named Cinder-Claw.
Biography
Jerec's First Change came under the crescent moon one night during his first year of college, and he took to his new life with remarkable enthusiasm. The spirit world, which he as an Ithaeur was well-suited to dealing with, fascinated him, and he spent much of his early days as an Uratha exploring the Shadow.
However, he soon found out the dark side of this new existence as well - hostile spirits threatening humanity. Having joined the Iron Masters because of his love of city life, he felt a responsibility to keep the throngs of humanity safe from a threat they didn't even know existed. From that day forward, he has taken it upon himself to keep the city-dwellers of Mount Pleasant safe from the ravages of hostile spirits. However, he soon learned the Forsaken had far more to protect humanity from than just spirits - the Pure, for one thing. As a result, Jerec also fights these enemies, though he continues to specialize in dealing with spirits.
Soon after his decleration of protecting humanity, another Iron Master gave him a fetish weapon - a revolver that can, with the infusion of Essence, harm spirits with its shots. His skill with this weapon and his driven nature in regard to his chosen calling combined to earn him the deed-name "Shadowbane" just a year after his First Change.
Recently, Jerec has joined the Lodge of Stones to further assist him in dealing with the spirits of the cities, whether friendly or hostile.
Current/Recent Events
Crisis of Faith - Jerec's Future
In December 2006, Jerec was thrown into an emotional tailspin by several events happening one after another, all within the span of a day.
First, the Pure and several former Forsaken converted into puppets of the Pure attacked the city less than a week ago, and yet Hellhound ordered them to be captured or forced into retreat instead of killed in accordance with Uratha law. Jerec is finding himself unable to reconcile his vow of protecting the city with the law mandating that the Pure must not be killed - he knows that the Pure have no sense of honor and no compunctions about killing humans for no reason at all. Jerec hopes to find some way to end the threat of the Pure permanently without damning himself, but he remains very pessimistic about finding any such middle ground.
Soon after the full-scale Pure assault, which left Hellhound (the pack's Alpha) dead, Jerec received another sign, to him, that the Pure could not be trusted with any truce or retreat - after apparently being cowed into retreat from the fight in downtown Mount Pleasant, the Pure attempted a devestating ritual in the Shadow that Jerec suspects could very well have incinerated the entire Shadow in the area of Mount Pleasant. The ritual was stopped after causing a relatively moderate amount of damage, but to Jerec, this proves that the Pure, Uratha or not, are never to be trusted or spared - they retreat only to destroy again, and Jerec feels the only way to stop them for good is killing them. This has fed into his crisis of faith regarding the laws of the Uratha that mandate the Pure be spared and trying to reconcile it with his vow to protect Mount Pleasant from threats.
The Feud with Connor Hawke
Despite Connor Hawke's ascension to Alpha following Hellhound's death at the hands of the Pure, Jerec was unconcerned after Connor's first day "on the job" - Hawke screwed up his first night as Alpha in a variety of ways, including almost causing a territory war between Hell's Furnace and another of the city's major packs by stepping over the line into their territory without permission - an act that nearly caused Ogre, a fellow pack member, to be killed and which has soured relations with the other pack.
In Jerec's opinion, it was only a matter of time before more such incidents occur under his watch; hence, he figured events would take their natural course sooner or later.
He was somewhat more concerned upon learning he was going to be the pack Omega, however - though most of the rest of the pack seemed to pay little heed to pack hierarchy beyond the positions of Alpha and Beta, Jerec dreaded spending much longer under Connor Hawke's leadership in that position, feeling that Hawke would be the most likely to make an issue out of his status.
The feud between the two came to a sudden, unexpected end recently, however - while ascending a mountain in The Shadow as part of a challenge to keep the city of Mount Pleasant free from the Pure, Hawke was killed in battle by a Fire-Touched Pure. Just about everybody came to Hawke's rescue to try to destroy the Fire-Touched, including Jerec - though he did so more out of a sense of duty than true respect for Hawke.
While Jerec participated in the funeral rite for Hawke - throwing one of the bullets from his fetish revolver onto the corpse before the Ithaeur leading the rite set the corpse alight - he found it difficult to get too choked up over the death of someone he considered his enemy.
The Pact of Ages
Recently, Jerec found himself involved in a momentous event on February 24, 2007. About two months earlier, a mountain had appeared in the Shadow, and the spirit of Mount Pleasant itself told the gathered Uratha that it would be the battleground for a fight against The Pure that occurs once every ten years. Whichever side reached the top first would hold onto the city for another ten years.
Over the next month and a half, the Uratha of Mount Pleasant battled their way up the mountain, evading the Fire-Touched, killing the few Ivory Claws on the mountain, and receiving help from an unknown source in destroying the Predator Kings. Upon reaching the top, the Uratha found a golden scroll - the Pact of Ages, which had long kept the supernaturals of the world, Vampire, Werewolf and Mage alike, from war.
A group of six representatives from each race were required to sign it, and because of various reasons, Jerec found himself one of the six able to take the time to sign it. Jerec's signature is now one of the 18 signatures on the pact, which was officially consecrated.
Jerec continues to look towards vampires with suspiscion, however - both his mission (to protect the humans of Mount Pleasant) and his tribal oath ("Honor your territory in all things") may require him to act against the vampires on occasion, since they must prey on humans to survive. Jerec accepts this - for him, his oath (both tribal and personal) take precedence, and he'll gladly take the heat for any problems that may arise from his dedication to protecting humanity.
An Emerging Leader...
Recently (summer 2007), the Hell's Furnace pack has had to endure some time without either its Alpha Bonny Gibbons or its Beta John, leaving the pack leaderless during some tumultuous times. Jerec has recently shown a willingness to step up and lead, and hopes to eventually prove himself a capable leader.
Jerec's efforts in this endeavor have hit several snags however, not the least of which is an emerging conflict with the rebellious and foul-tempered Dorian, who doesn't seem to like anyone telling him what to do. Jerec doesn't care much for Dorian's attitude, especially since Dorian is a new pack member and Jerec has been in the pack for around a year AND is the pack's Ritesmaster. The duo's hard-headed personalities colliding have not helped matters; Dorian and Jerec have mixed it up verbally more than a few times, and Jerec feels it's only a matter of time before a challenge comes his way. In the meantime, Jerec has seriously considered leaving a future silver wound of Dorian's untreated as a show of dominance - nothing major, just something that will hurt for a while. As Jerec puts it, "Let's see how loudly he threatens me when he's got a 9 millimeter silver round lodged in his hip."
On Jerec's side, a recent planning session between himself and the three remaining pack members - Ogre, Dorian and Twitch - reminded Jerec of another weakness: his inability to see options other than force when presented with a problem and to see the bigger picture. Jerec's duties have often brought him into conflict, more than a typical Ithauer might see, and as a result he tends to think about the option involving force first when a problem comes up.
Recently, the Hell's Furnace pack planned out a way to deal with hostile spirits inhabiting the casino in the pack's territory as Jerec's request. What Jerec had planned as a four-man raid on the casino instead became a subtle, "Ocean's 11"-style plan aimed at uncovering the true scope of Mount Pleasant' spirit war during the brainstorming session, mostly due to Twitch's ideas - something that Jerec couldn't believe hadn't occurred to him. Moreover, Jerec couldn't believe he'd forgotten that there was a bigger spirit war going on - he was looking to solving the casino problem as a way to stem the tide of spirit refugees that are draining the pack's loci. Jerec has resolved to be more mindful of such things in the future as a result.
...That's Stuck on the Bottom
Despite his aspirations to leadership, Jerec has grown increasingly discouraged of late by the attitude of his packmates. Despite being the pack's Ritesmaster and constantly putting himself in harm's way to do his duty, Jerec has not received much in the way of recognition from his packmates, and having been a member of the pack for over a year with nothing to show for it (other than Renown) is starting to grate on Jerec's mind and confidence.
Jerec is starting to wonder what kind of deeds he needs to commit to gain the notice of his pack, which may drive him to reckless behavior in the near future just for the sake of proving his worth. Until then, he's getting increasingly angry that he has to go to such lengths after over a year in the pack, to the point where he's increasingly wondering whether he's truly in the pack at all in anything other than name. Where that might take him in the near future - besides to the aforementioned reckless acts - is unknown.
Personality
Jerec is pretty good-humored, but when it comes to protecting humanity he is very serious-minded. He's taken it upon himself to conduct regular patrols around the city of Mount Pleasant's Shadow, protecting humanity from spirits. Despite his devotion to the task, Jerec will usually try to talk things out with a potentially hostile spirit on one of these patrols if it seems reasonable enough - it conserves his energy and makes for a better environment for everyone, human and Uratha alike. He has no compunctions about pulling his fetish gun if necessary, however - as several unfortunate spirits have already found out.
Jerec views the Duguthim - the spirits that possess and merge with human hosts - as monsters, violaters of human beings, and will ruthlessly attempt to track down and destroy any spirit that shows signs of this goal. Feeling that there must somehow be a better way to destroy already-made Duguthim than killing the host and then destroying the spirit, Jerec keeps an ear to the ground for any rites or gifts that might be able to separate the spirit from the host without hurting or killing the human host.
Jerec feels most at home in the city - he once joked that his love for the city was, "A Billy Joel song waiting to be written." He's chosen to live in the most densely populated parts of Mount Pleasant that lie within the Hell's Furnace territory, to better protect the most people possible. He's also undertaken a task to make the city itself his ally in a fight, by learning City gifts. So far, he has only learned the most basic gifts of that group, but he has not given up - the thought of being totally at one with the city, of the city itself fighting with him, brings a smile to his face. His efforts in this regard have been greatly aided by his membership in the Lodge of Stones - somehow, being a member helps him find more friendly city spirits than hostile ones.
As far as his packmates, Jerec views the many members he works with differently. He viewed Hellhound, the pack's former Alpha, with respect as an excellent war leader - fitting for a pack of nearly all combat-oriented Uratha. Jerec was locked in a near-constant feud with the pack's now-deceased Alpha, Connor Hawke, however, who he viewed as incompetant due to several incidents that resulted in human beings seeing him Gauru form. He tried twice to unseat Hawke back when Hawke was the pack's Beta, failing both times.
In combat, Jerec often prefers to stay in his human form where he can wield his fetish revolver, a weapon that he is quite deadly with. His natural quickness also serves him well in his other forms, however, on the occasions where he chooses to shift to them.
Goals
Jerec's primary mission is to protect the humans of Mount Pleasant from hostile spirits that would prey on them. In his time performing this duty he has found himself overmatched several times and forced to flee, but he refuses to give up. He figures it's only a matter of time before he's more powerful - and when he gets there, he plans on looking them up again and settling the score.
Jerec will not ignore non-spirit threats to Mount Pleasant, however, and has proven just as devoted to protecting the city from the Pure and other such threats.
Renown
Cunning: 3
Glory: 1
Honor: 1
Purity: 1
Wisdom: 3
Deeds
- Delivered the killing blow on two Beshilu during a heated battle in the sewers of Mount Pleasant (1st Glory dot)
- Travelled to Canada to learn the Rite of Contrition and successfully performed the Rite literally under fire (the rest of the pack threw flaming torches at his feet while he chanted) to make amends with the pack totem after an attempt to capture a Beshilu-controlled rat with the Firebird went disastrously wrong (1st Honor dot)
- Redoubled his efforts at his studies (OOC: Learned 10 levels of Rites and 2 dots of Rituals) (2nd Wisdom dot)
- Took extensive measures to keep his pack from going in debt to rival pack Enigma while increasing his ritual knowledge (including traveling to Canada rather than learning from one of Enigma's Ithauers) (3rd dot of Cunning)
- Stayed in Hell's Furnace pack for more than 6 months (1st dot of Purity)
- Further increased his knowledge of Rites (3rd dot of Wisdom)
Fetishes
- Punishing Steel (Revolver) (3 dots) - A gun given to him by another Iron Master. Normally functions as a standard .45 caliber revolver, but with the infusion of some of Jerec's Essence (1 point per Harmony draw), the gun can harm spirits with its shots (1 success on Harmony draw = 1 shot). The gun can fire across the Gauntlet to hit spirits. Inhabited by a psychotic spirit that loves to kill; this gives the weapon its great power, but also means that Jerec has reason to be wary about that power.
- "Flashbang" (2 dots) - A small hand mirror that, when activated, produces a bright flash that can blind its target. Can only be used once before requiring recharging (with the light from a large fire).
- Voices From Beyond (2 dots) - A block of wood resembling a communicator from the old "Star Trek" series; when activated, allows the user to mystically communicate with any other such fetish, even from across the Gauntlet. Can defeat electronic jamming.
Quotes
Quotes said by Jerec
Quotes about Jerec
- "He's an ok guy. Decent fighter. And he has his own Umbral reality show, not bad. It just seems that someone is always s#itting in his Cheerio's!" -DeFrAg
Fitting Quotes
These are quotes not said about Jerec specifically, but that describe him pretty well.
- "These are my streets, the only life I've ever known"
-Bon Jovi, "Who Says You Can't Go Home?" - "I walk these streets, a loaded six string on my back
I play for keeps, 'cause I might not make it back"
-Bon Jovi, "Wanted Dead or Alive" - "And are you willing to die for that belief?"
"I am." [shoots at The Operative several times] "'Course, that ain't exactly Plan A."
-The Operative and Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (Mal's part of that quote can be applied to Jerec's mission to protect humanity from the spirits) - "You broke the rules
Now I'll pull out all your pubic hair
Motherfucker"
-Tenacious D, "Karate" - "When a half-breed breaks the rules, I deport their sorry ass straight back to hell."
-John Constantine, "Constantine"
Rumors
Feel free to add something here.
Inspirations
- Malcolm Reynolds, from the TV series "Firefly" and the movie "Serenity" (for mannerisms and speech style)
- John Constantine from the Keanu Reeves movie "Constantine," for Jerec's recent personality change to a more grizzled and militant "spirit cop."
Contact Information
CaptainReynolds6@gmail.com
Player's name: Chris Mastey (US2006057906)
Mount Pleasant, Michigan, MI-015-D
