The Might of Mithras

Heralds of the Sun

Among his many strengths, Mithras is an accomplished Blood Sorcery practitioner. Rumour has it that he may have once studied magic under the guidance of Haqim himself. The Blooding is a special Blood Sorcery ritual created by Mithras over a millennium ago to create Kindred warriors that are unquestionably loyal to him. The ritual has been used at least once each century to make more of these dutiful assassins, called Heralds of the Sun, by members of the Mysteries.

The ritual involves repeatedly immersing a Kindred in a bath of vampire vitae drawn from Cult members. The process is akin to the Sabbat’s ritual known as Vaulderie, in which the blood of a group of vampires is mixed and imbibed to create a bond among them. This way, the subject develops an emotional bond to the Cult members and feels a strong desire not to act against them. The Kindred chosen for this process are usually high-ranking Cult members, who would consider their selection to be a blessing and an honour. Similarly, any other Kindred invited to contribute vitae to the ritual bath would usually be high-ranking and trustworthy Cult members.

The characters are all Heralds created by this process, albeit in a bit of a hurry, during the London Blitz. After the ritual was completed, each of these vampires was placed in a state of voluntary torpor to await when Mithras would need them. Their sarcophagi were interred deep in the earth at the Walbrook site so they would not be accidentally discovered. During the Second World War, the site was bombed, and the access to the crypt was destroyed and buried. Excavations for a new building on the site in the 1950s narrowly avoided these slumbering Kindred, but they were discovered by subsequent redevelopment work at the beginning of the 21st century.

One consequence of the Blooding ritual is that the subjects lose their sense of identity, as their minds become consumed by the memories of those that contributed vitae to the ritual. As this story unfolds, and these kindred encounter other former members of the Mithraic Mysteries, they will suffer from collective flashbacks into London’s past that represents this ritual's effects.

Currently all the other 4 Heralds are in play.

Tommy Smith

Nosferatu / Herald of the Sun Canon / Open FC

Tommy appears to be a young black man in his early 20s. Your body is covered in veins and your face is monstrous, and you can feel the phantoms of burns all over you, especially your right side. You know you were a soldier, and sure you saw active service. The horrors of war sit whispering on the fringe of your memory.

General History

Tommy didn’t get much of a life before World War I took most of it from him. He was pressured into joining the army when he was barely 16, but his options were limited as the son of West Indian immigrants from Trinidad. They said that entering the military would give him a trade; it would be over by Christmas, they said, and he wanted to serve his country, even if people hadn’t always been kind.

Still, he worked hard to make the best of a lousy job and served with valour on the front lines. Many officers took credit for his actions, but the men he served knew who had been there for them. While he survived most of the war without serious injury, his luck couldn’t last forever.

In 1918 his trench was hit by one of the last artillery rounds to be fired, and he was nearly blown to pieces. His wrecked body was taken to a field hospital where no one expected him to live. They put him in a side ward and tried to make him comfortable while he waited to die.

However, as Tommy lay there, a creature that looked worse than he did offer to make him immortal. He had a cause, one that needed great warriors. Frightened about dying before he was even 21, Tommy agreed and became a Nosferatu. His Sire introduced Tommy to the Mithraic Mysteries, where he gradually gained a status for his dedication to duty but never showed the faith required to see him rise beyond soldier. He was chosen for the Blooding for his combat skills, and Tommy agreed to the ritual, as he saw it as a way to finally, pay the debt to his Sire.

MITHRAS:

Mithras is like a general to you. You know you have fought for him but can’t remember if the cause was right.

ELDER DRIVE (RICHARD):

Tommy and Richard are two sides of one coin. Tommy has hidden in plain sight, never causing problems and doing what he was told. He has followed orders most of his life and has never been noticed or recognized for much. Richard has spent a lot of even his vampiric existence taking part in society. He has been an advisor and leader, but he has wielded power from the shadows. So, while both are used to being ignored, Tommy is content to stay in the background where Richard wants to rule. However, they both share an understanding of what it means to be an outcast and forgotten.

ALLY:

Tommy has a regimental tattoo on his left arm. It would easily be recognized by any British serviceman who will assume Tommy is a grandson honouring their World War I veteran grandfather. If Tommy plays it right, these servicemen will do their best to help him and can provide a safe place to stay.

ENEMY:

A Malkavian called Calico has been hunting for Tommy for a while since Tommy was responsible for executing her sire in 1931 when he broke the Masquerade and murdered another Kindred during a frenzy. Mithras rendered the judgment, and no one but Calico thought the punishment was unwarranted. Too frightened to seek revenge on Mithras, Calico turned her rage towards the hand that had swung the sword.