Carter Vanderweyden
Sobriquet: New York's Former Malkavian Keeper of Elysium.
Appearance: A few who have dealt with Carter describe him as having an "untarnished" countenance, as if he is not bothered in the slightest by anything that comes his way. By less poetical accounts, Carter is a calm Kindred, with an intelligent face whose eyes take in everything. His past in the legal profession has carried over into undeath with its habits; even when dressed casually,Carter obviously spends some amount of time considering his wardrobe. He has wavy, dirty blonde hair worn tousled on top and short in the back.
Behavior: Unlike other Kindred in the city, Carter views the princedom as a duty to be fulfilled rather than a glory for the taking. He takes this tack when he is searching for support. Even when not petitioning other Kindred for their help, he is a very conservative Kindred, with a strong belief in the Traditions and a proponent of a stalwart Camarilla. While the princedom of New York has seemingly eluded Carter, he now seeks the princedom of Ottawa City. Indeed, he feels that by being of the Kindred, he has a responsibility to the other Kindred of his chosen domain. In this, he is as much a philosopher and social critic as he is a politico.
History: One of the original Dutch merchant families to settle int he New York region, the Vanderweydens are all but extinct in the New World of the modern nights, with only a few scions of the family still living (or unliving, as is the case with Carter) in isolated pockets around the United States. It is partially this legacy that makes Carter Vanderweyden so determined to make himself the prince of a great metropolis; he considers it a return home or a claim to his birthright.
The line that would be Carter's family left New York around the middle of the nineteenth century, settling in the Piedmont region of the United States, the foothills also known as the South. They remained well-to-do as the northern branch of the family prospered, with several members of the family finding work as merchants, lawyers, even local politicians. Carter's own father was first a district prosecutor and later a circuit judge, and Carter inherited the family practice from him. Under Carter's guidance, the firm foundered for a bit at first, but then flourished with a series of high-profile cases.
The last of these high-profile cases changed Carter's life forever. His sire, unbeknownst to Carter and the community, was a Kindred who had made and enemy of the Ventrue prince of Carter's home city. Julius Abrogard had long been dead, but here he had found himself summoned to the courts, accused of a crime he could not possibly have committed, as he had been out of the country at the time. This was the prince's intent -- to have Abrogard found guilty and in contempt of court for failing to heed the summons.
Carter managed to have the case delayed for a time, until his client, who had retained him sight unseen, could return to the country. At that point, they faced another problem, what with Abrogard being Kindred and unable to attend a daytime trial. Since Carter's client had been accused, he was protected from taking the stand, should he wish, so the two came up with a ruse that, while wholly illegal, nonetheless protected an innocent man (or Kindred, as it turned out). Julius' rival was powerless to prevent the "stand-in" Abrogard from attending the trial, lest he jeopardize his own secrecy as a Kindred.
This was Carter's introduction to the world of the Damned. Prior to the trial, he had asked no hard questions of his client. He simply did what he had to do when presented with Julius' limitations. Abrogard was so impressed with Carter's discretion and commitment to his client that he embraced him on the spot. Of course, this presented a whole new realm of difficulties for Carter, and the young lawyer announced to his family that he was leaving the practice to his brother and starting a new one.
Since that time, Carter has learned the ins and outs of Kindred society from his sire. When the opportunity came to forge his own destiny in New York, Carter did his sire farewell and made the journey north. During the Battle of New York, he acted as an ambassador to those Sabbat who preferred to quietly leave the city rather than face Final Death, and he also consulted with the Kindred in charge of administration after the dust settled. He garnered a reputation for fairness in the letter of the Traditions, and Calebros occasionally kept his counsel on more delicate matters between Kindred that could use the former lawyer's insight.
After the Battle of New York, Carter was thrilled to hear that Calebros had chosen to step down, not so much because he had disliked the Nosferatu prince, but because it allowed him to make his own bid for the princedom. While he was a strong candidate for prince, those who chose to support him, came to develop concerns about his ability to fulfill the role of prince. Primarily his strong suit was frankness, not compassion and in a worse case scenario, they felt Carter could have become a tyrant of the Tradition-bound variety. Secondly, as a Malkavian, Carter is prone to blackouts, during which he acts normally (to the recollection of everyone else, at least), but for which, he has no memory of what he may have said or done. For some, the concept of an absent-minded prince held cause for amusement, but for those of a more serious mind, it represented a weakness that could be exploited by allies and enemies alike to the detriment of the city that Carter would rule. The single largest question that presented itself to his supporters was this: What did Carter do when he had his blackouts away from other Kindred and what did he say or reveal and to whom?
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