Stephen P Maslowe
Sobriquet: Primogen. Mazz.
Appearance: One part hooligan, one part glamour man and one part dandy -- that is Mazz. He dresses as something of a foppish anachronism, but he has made quite a reputation by being “the guy.” Mazz stands just under six feet tall, with a sallow complexion and hair that becomes unruly if he does not attend to it. He stands out, but in a way that says he is eccentric rather than out of touch. He still carries his old six-shot revolver that he carried during the nights of the Wild West.
Behavior: This frilly society lark is nothing so much as a tool to help Mazz get what he wants -- money, in his current frame of mind. He would certainly go out of his way to help any of his fellow Kindred, but not for any particular love for them, so much as he would not want to lose the opportunity to gain influence over them. Mazz does not let much stand between what he wants and obtaining it -- a fact that has begun to cause him some amount of concern in his more thoughtfully reflective moments.
History: Stephen Patrick Maslowe was Embraced over a century ago, and some of the habits of the time have died hard. As an English immigrant to the United States, He fulfilled his own Manifest Destiny and moved West, where he was embraced after a brief affair with a woman who turned out to be a Kindred. Shortly thereafter, he sank into torpor after a clash with his sire over who would be the sole Kindred in town.
When he rose from his long sleep, Mass did not miss a beat. In fact, aside from the obvious technological advances, he did not think the world had changed all that much -- the police are all mavericks or morons; anyone with enough sense can stay ahead of the law and get rich doing it. The society of the Kindred has not changed much since his Embrace, either. This time, though, he is not going to be the one sent to torpor.
With that frame of mind, Mazz caught a train to New York, where he had heard things were not too different from the early American frontier, in terms of Kindred matters. The city was a virgin territory, waiting to be exploited by somebody who knew how to do it. Mazz started small, running a numbers racket in the East Village, but he expanded into minor extortion and protection. He co-opted a gang of Irish toughs, which helped him not only extend his sphere of influence but also bought him into the underworld scene -- he was not a cowboy anymore, he was part of organized crime.
That is when things got weird. As part of the love affair New York has with its quirky criminals, Mazz found himself in the tabloids and society pages here and there. Owing to the fact that he was not exceptionally violent and did not traffic in drugs, the local media had created a mystique around the genteel “gentleman boss.” After a while, the paparazzi even took to following him around when bigger celebrities could not be found. By default, Mazz became one of New York’s highest profile Kindred.
Mazz does not squander his roots on his reputation, however. He still runs numbers, still maintains protection rackets and counts himself as a “partner” in several East Village eteries and bars -- that is whey the locals love him. They know he is a criminal, but not one has ever been found over-dosed or cut up in his wake. He is a quaint, old-style gangster with whom the locals empathize for making his own way in a city that tried to tell him he could not do so. That is not to say that Mazz is soft; he is quick to deal a drubbing if he suspects someone is holding out on him or does not give him the proper respect. But he is no murderous drug fiend, like too many of the modern criminals who have no idea wha the romance of the lifestyle means.
The press has always represented Mazz as an eccentric, which bought him a little leeway regarding his “rough-sex fetish” that sometimes left his partners bruised, bloodied and a little woozy. It also bought him fame and accolades among the Kindred, who admired that one of their own, through charisma rather than skullduggery, had acquired a social prominence int he city. As such, many look to him for advice on behavior and decorum, and his opinion carries great weight among the younger Kindred especially.
For his part, Mazz treats his status as primogen with an amused appreciation. He likes the power it gives him, but he realizes that such things can be fleeting -- should some other, “elder” come along, he would not be surprised if he lost his position of prominence. Still, that would not bother him too much. As much as he enjoys being a member of the primogen, leaving the responsibilities of that title behind would mean he could refocus his energies on his rackets, which are currently being handled by his right-hand man, Brian Rents.
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