Czere Ubireg

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Sobriquet: Czere Ubireg is a anagram of the name Bruce Zieger used to hide this doppelganger's identity. He claims that Czere (pronounced C-Zair) is a Turkish variant of Caesar and that his last name Ubireg is a rare Turkish surname of rural character.

Appearance: Czere stands 6ft-2inches (1.88m) tall and weighes 265 pounds (about 120 kilos). He appears to have been Embraced in his mid to early 60s, but seems to be in remarkably good physical condition for one of th scholarly warlocks. Probably a weekend-warrior, he has a hefty build, but like most vampires he is probably lighter in build than during his mortal lifetime. His face has a soft angularity that suggests latent youth or remnants of "baby fat". He wears a devilish Vandyke cropped short and close to the jaw, but it is sprinkled with random white whiskers. Czere's eyes are seal brown and he prefers the bald look. When hanging around the chantry or at informal social occasions he wears silken shirts and expensive designer denim jeans. In Elysium or at scholarly or official Tremere gatherings he wears tailored business suits in current fashions. He wears an assortment of mystical looking jewelry about his person. Despite the fact that he has no further need for glasses, he still wears them as a reminder of who he was, and to give others an impression of scholarly ineffectualness.

Behavior: Czere struggles nightly with his undead existence. To combat that struggle, he has several coping mechanisms, some are from his past and others came to him after his Embrace. He still enjoys the companionship of good friends and good food. Of course, for vampires food is blood and as such he has spent a couple decades learning how to manipulate the flavors and emotions found in blood. Once a month he hosts "dinners" for friends, acquaintances and those he would like to impress. As yet, no one of great importance has chosen to attend, but he continues to send out invitations, while keeping the number of guests exclusive.

As a former gamer he still finds roleplaying games fun, but as a member of the Kindred he realizes that were this to come to light, it could hurt his reputation such as it is, so he has graduated to more "serious" roleplaying games of a live action variety. Two or three times a year he anonymously invites serious gamers to play through adventures played out on the city streets. Sometimes these adventures are treasure hunts, other times mysteries or horror stories, but always with numerous plot twists and a few actual treasures to be found by the players. Of course it helps to have Dominate to convince normal citizens to "play along" by being his living NPCs. This activity is somewhat dangerous of course, but no one has gotten seriously hurt or died yet, so the game continues and seems to be more popular with the passage of time. The game not only sharpens Czere's imagination and strategic skills, it also keeps him involved in the affairs of mortals with similar interests. Obviously, he still plays chess and after decades of practice is one of the city's finer players which serves not only to intrigue him, but gives him something in common with his elders.

Having spent his mortal youth as an "ugly duckling" he has taken advantage of the Kindred condition to become something of a lady's man, but keeps his dalliances short term and tries not to hurt those women with whom he romances. While physically he is youthful, mentally the decades are starting to pile up and he finds the company of older women preferable for their maturity and intellectual capacity. While he prefers women, it has started to occur to him that he isn't really human in the most literal sense and homophobia is ridiculous since the blood and company of men can be just as satisfying, but he isn't quite comfortable with that notion yet.

But most of the time, he can be found in the chantry library or its laboratories, either learning to cast a new ritual or more likely trying to devise one of his own making. Research into both rituals and paths, as well as the arcana that makes Thaumaturgy functional is what consumes most of Czere's stolen time. While a naturally gifted occultist, he struggles to acquire and maintain the composure and confidence that all truly powerful warlock possess. If he can master his fears and self-doubts, he is certain there is almost nothing he could not accomplish. To that end, he spends several hours every night practicing mental exercises, honing his willpower and exploring mystical permutations in the hope of unlocking yet another of thaumaturgy's golden keys.

In all these situations, he presents himself as a relaxed and confident connoisseur of life who has all the time in the world to converse and socialize with those he meets. It helps that he has spent a couple decades learning, with difficulty, to just listen to other people rather than talk about himself. He makes understanding the personalities of those around him his primary objective when socializing; it is a trait that has served him well. But beneath this well sculpted mask, Czere struggles with social situations, not because he is clueless, but because he doesn't want to give the game away, as he wants his associates (mortal and immortal alike) to perceive him in a positive light. In both the mortal and immortal worlds, those who seek to influence events and garner distinction become targets for those who already have those treasures and Czere wants more than anything to keep his head and his jewels.

History: Czere doesn't discuss his mortal life except for a few choice fabrications like the false family albums, ad hoc heirlooms and well constructed personal anecdotes. The truth is that Czere woke up in the alley behind the masonic lodge in Denver in 2012 with no recollection of how he got there and no memory of the last fifteen years. Exiled from his previous life, with no one to turn to and with an innate sense that he was in over his head, he accepted the improbable assistance of a man exiting the building who seemed genuinely curious about his circumstances. Thereafter, the rabbit-hole has gotten so much deeper than Czere could have ever have imagined.

Since his arrival in Melbourne, over thirty years ago, he has made the city his home and come to know it well. Its streets and monuments, places of learning and art, even its night spots and dens of iniquity. In thirty years he has met most of the city's Kindred and observed their struggle from the comfortable distance of the Clan Tremere's neutrality. Were he more fully involved in the affairs of Melbourne's night society, he would realized there is no true neutrality and that despite the comfortable illusion of stability projected by Squizzy Taylor, the city is a unstable powder keg of cutthroat agendas. Czere however is far more preoccupied with his fellow warlocks, most especially his sire Professor Cypher.

Despite Czere's cautious and calculated investigation of the professor, he still knows next to nothing about the Regent of Melbourne. But after the recent visit of a London based warlock, he now realizes that few Tremere create many rituals or paths of their own and that the half-dozen or so he has created makes him exceptional. That the professor has reacted to these innovations with feigned disinterest and pressed for more impressive examples of research, now proves to Czere that the professor may be using him to some selfish end. While he contemplates what to do about this, he continues his night to night activities as if nothing is wrong.

Of his fellow apprentices, Czere has learned a great deal more. Even though Natasha Scheinberg affects the air of a jaded goth druggy, Czere knows that her visions are real after having laboriously confirmed those few of a local character. In truth, despite Natasha's obvious drug addiction, he feels closest to her. Its a platonic love, or perhaps familial, as Czere sees her as his older sister in the cold family of Clan Tremere. Seth on the other hand, is the arrogant and cruel older brother, forever seeking to undermine Czere's accomplishments in both the professor's and Natasha's eyes. That Czere is no where near as handsome or charismatic as Seth only adds fuel to their subliminal sibling rivalry. Neither Czere nor Seth have taken direct action against one another, its more a venomous game of oneupmanship. Sooner or later, Czere will demand the satisfaction of Certámen, but he bides his time knowing that for the moment Seth is still the more powerful. Until that night arrives he keeps a careful watch on the older apprentice, looking for any and all weaknesses.

Recent Events: Czere has taken a blue collar approach to Thaumaturgy, learning rituals with nonthreatening utility. The purpose is to facilitate his trustworthiness as a Masquerade cleanup artist. A man who can be called when a few memories need to be wiped or replaced, or when a feeding goes too far and a corpse has to disappear or be made to appear subject to a mundane death. Czere has made his place of business the city morgue, all the better to catch Masquerade violations that others miss and acquire a little extra blood for himself or a special friend. That there are no Giovanni in Melbourne has made this far easier that he might have imagined. Czere can be reached by cell-phone any hour of the night and charges reasonable rates regardless of clan or bloodline, though he does offer a significant discount to his fellow Tremere. Czere sees this avocation as an indirect path to greater influence in Melbourne, though it could take years to amass enough boons to make him indispensable, he has nothing but time on his hands.

Age vs Appearance: While Czere is the youngest of Professor Cipher's apprentices, he also appears the oldest. Both Natasha and Seth appear to be in their twenties, although this makes them adults, it doesn't give the impression of maturity and experience that Czere's physical age implies. In public amongst mortals, Czere has a decided advantage in age, sometimes taking the role of older brother, father or uncle for the older apprentices. Despite the fact that his older siblings could easily pursue lucrative modeling careers and obviously use their appearance to achieve goals, there are some circumstances and social gatherings that exclude those of youthful appearance. To date, Czere hasn't used this ace against the older apprentices, but its still an ace he could play.

Doppelganger Notes: Even though Czere has memories from his "mortal life", he has no recollection of what happened to him from late 1997 to mid 2012. He wrongly assumes that he suffers from amnesia and has read many books and consulted a number of experts on the subject. But he doesn't suffer from amnesia, rather he was "born" as function of a temporal backlash in 2012. Despite being formed by paradox he appears to be the correct age for a man born in the late 1960s, but there are discrepancies of a physical character: Czere has no tooth decay or fillings, his bones don't have the channels formed by aging, nor does he have the calcium deposits that a man his age should have. Nor does he have the scars he acquired during his mortal lifetime and those few samples left from before his Embrace analyze as those of a genetic clone. Despite these physical oddities, he possesses both memories and skills commensurate with his apparent age.

• -- Czere Ubireg's Statistics