Rathe Haversham
Appearance: Haversham's face has been ruined by a mockery of extreme old age, enough that he has begun to resemble a withered corpse. His apparent age is at least one hundred. The pitiable creature displays a shock of white hair, dark eyes, and a hooked nose. On the rare occasions when he must appear before other Kindred, Haversham uses his mastery of the Obfuscate Discipline to present himself as he once was, sporting a top hat, a black cape, a dark suit, and spats - fashions easily a century out of date. When descending into the underworld, he wears the same clothes, but makes them appear as though time had weathered them as much as it has weathered his soul. His favorite guise is as an elderly beggar, the persona he presents to his "children."
Background: A Victorian businessman with sufficient capital and deficient morals can easily turn a profit at the cost of human life. Mister Haversham was such a man, an owner of questionable properties in London's East End. With ready money at his command, he made a fortune acquiring properties in disrepair and transforming then into respectable (or at least profitable) business endeavors. The tenants he was forced to evict were unfortunate, if financially intangible, obstacles to his plans.
Even in his mortal life, Haversham had a reputation as a bloodsucker. Many destitute souls throughout London knew his reputation, especially those who had been displaced by his schemes. Their children even imitated his mocking laugh and theatrically exaggerated his gestures. A miserly man, he had carefully spent decades investing money in various stocks and bonds, building his future on the misfortunes of others. His comfortable retirement was assured, until almost overnight, businesses in which he had invested mysteriously withered away. Because the chances of all of them failing at once were improbable, Haversham became paranoid, suspecting that someone or something had engineered his downfall. His fears had a basis in fact.
The well-known blackguard had become a diversion for two venerable Kindred. One was Blind Peter, a Nosferatu who believed that any man could be redeemed if he suffered enough. After destroying Haversham's cruel mortal life, Peter wanted to mentor and rebuild the old man's brilliant financial mind to benefit the unfortunates in his domain. Peter's associate was a Transylvanian Ventrue noblewoman, a cynic who believed Haversham's would-be mentor was a hypocrite. After all, most Kindred employed exploitative tactics that easily exceeded those of the most ingenious slum lord. It was easy for the two elders to manipulate a few minor businesses through financial influence. After many nights of amusing arguments, the two Kindred came to a decision. How the mortal reacted would determine whether he was deserving of the Embrace... and whether it would be a reward or a punishment.
Haversham suffered the tortures of the Damned. Stripped of wealth and evicted from his own home, he could find no refuge. Too many people on the street recognized him, and took the opportunity to inflict further suffering upon him. Within a week, a pack of men cornered Haversham in a sewer tunnel, where they hurled stones at him. Fortunately, Blind Peter witnessed the entire incident. He realized that if he did not intervene, he would be indirectly responsible for a man's untimely death. After driving the angry mob away with an army of rats summoned from the sewers, he abducted Haversham and carried him into his underground kingdom beneath London's Aethenium. The poor mortal thought a demon was taking him to hell. In a way, he was right. The Embrace transformed Haversham into a creature as hideous outside as inside. Beneath the Earth, the childe's mentor began the arduous process of instructing him in the ways of the Kindred.
Blind Peter was a relic of an older age. During the Dark Ages, he had tried to convert the lame and diseased to the Christian faith. He still held some hope that his clan would be accepted for their vestigial humanity, not condemned for their hideous appearances. Yet the Victorian mindset could not accept such an idea. Clearly, if the Nosferatu appeared evil, they were evil. Even other Nosferatu rejected Peter, forcing him to retreat to centuries of isolation in the subterranean Aethenium he helped construct. When the Prince of London discovered that an exiled Nosferatu within his city had actually sired a childe without his permission, he was furious. Mithras called a blood hunt against Blind Peter for violating the Second Tradition. The humane mentor fled, leaving Haversham with some degree of infamy as the childe of an outcast.
Humbled and humiliated, Haversham followed his sire's example by retreating into obscurity. His supernal ability to occlude himself came all too naturally, as his desire to hide was fueled by shame. As soon as he could master the proper monstrous Disciplines, he assumed the guise of an elderly beggar. For sustenance, he drifted to where large concentrations of blood were easily found: the rookeries where masses of the destitute gathered. His sire had taught him the need for penitence. He had seen the impossible happen, and thus began to make a change within himself.
Haversham has come to see himself as a protector of the unfortunate, though it is a concept he struggles with constantly. He still acts as a landlord of sorts, but over squalid and abandoned properties that will never be redeemed. He watches over the inhabitants of the rookeries where he stalks unseen, if only for the sake of protecting his own herd. Indeed, the rampant rumors of "Prince Fagin" originated with Haversham's exploitation of his destitute domain, and also with his employment of its unfortunates to do his bidding. He has become an expert in the geography of London's seedier side: crack houses, gang hangouts, illicit casinos, impromptu whore houses, smuggler's dens and the myriad locations where the homeless gather. Some of the children who once mocked him have since become his ghouls, forming a pack of "street Arabs" that act as his eyes and ears within his self proclaimed domain.
When he displays humane attitudes, they are a sharp departure from Victorian conceptions of the Nosferatu. Like his sire before him, he is shunned not only by the city's prince, but by his own clan as well. His interference in mortal affairs may even be interpreted as a breach of the Masquerade, though none have so far challenged him on the issue. Of course, his assistance still has a price. When he helps an unfortunate victim, "Prince Fagin" feels he has earned the blood he later draws in compensation. His pack of children sometimes assist him in these hunts. They have become more than mere messengers for thieves, for they have found the practice of murder all too easy. Blind Peter's legacy has become tainted, for the incomplete redemption of one mortal has resulted in the corruption of many.
Paranoia still plays an active role in Haversham's unlife, as he still believes someone is out to destroy him. He never learned the identity of Blind Peter's associate in Transylvania. To keep himself safe, he maintains at least five havens at any given time. His favorite one stays the same, or at least degenerates consistently. It is the St.Giles Rookery, an infamous location in London's underworld. When endangered, he retreats to London's Aethenium, which he knows intimately.
Personality: Rathe is humble, for he still has the manner and breeding of a gentleman, even if he was a moral reprobate. Among respectable folk, he shuffles and ingratiates himself like the beggars he has studied for so long. When dealing with the people he has wronged, he is straightforward and affable. Haversham finds self-esteem only while playing fagin to his pack of ghoul children. He does not like to meet new Kindred, but prefers to act through intermediaries instead. If he were to encounter one who was humane, however, he might risk further social intercourse. Until then, cunning, vicious and clever children speak for him. When he sends a message, he chooses the messenger very carefully.
