The Author

TheAuthor
First Episode TBD Concept Insane Author Theme Song {{{Theme}}} Played By {{{actor}}}
Profile Full Name Uriah Franklin Legal Status Reclusive, assumed irritable Known Aliases Marcus Stone, Ray Walker, Nancy Carter Age 52 Birthplace Wyoming Favored Weapon Knowledge

Background

Uriah Franklin, from the age of 8-17, was beaten by his father severely and thrown into a closet for days at a time. Uriah came out of it eventually with a severe limp, mild claustrophobia, a dead father, and a never-ending desire to tell stories as he did to keep himself sane during the long dark periods.

Writing under the pen name Ben Sage, he was the best selling author of over 150 books, most of them in three major series:

• The White Queen novels – books centered around Nancy Carter, a late 20something female thief for hire who only stole things that provided a challenge. She was called the White Queen because she often said she would do 6 impossible things before breakfast. In later novels, she often only stole things that were highly protected but had no actual monetary value. Very much a reluctant hero as the novels often revolved around her stealing something that would then turn out to be a problem for some innocent soul somewhere else.
• Marcus Stone novels – Occult detective series involving Marcus Stone, a world traveler and expert on the occult who helped people who got into situations beyond their understanding and control. A former stage magician, Marcus could only walk with a cane, so he almost always solved problems through investigation, intellect and charm rather than violence. In the later novels, he gained some working companions who would dish out the punches or the gunplay when necessary.
• Always Walking series – Similar to the Jack Reacher novels, these involved an ex-Marine named Ray Walker. Ray, during the Vietnam War, was trapped in a collapsed bunker for 30 days with a minimal amount of food and not nearly enough water. He managed to survive, partly on sheer will, but came out of it with some claustrophobia. He was honorably discharged and found himself without a purpose, wandering the U.S. He ends up helping people along the way, with a lot of gunplay involved.

Everything that Franklin wrote ended up a best seller for the most part, earning him a vast fortune, but nothing he wrote rose above genre fiction and was always treated tepidly by the critics. And the lack of acceptance pushed Uriah deeper and deeper into a mental hole, where as time passed, he believed the rest of the world was unnecessary. He retreated back to a preserve in Montana becoming more and more isolated. And as time went on, he began to believe that the world was not only unnecessary but unreal, a creation of his own mind that he could wink out of existence. He continued writing the books, simply because he couldn’t stop – the worlds of his creation had more call than the real world….but he stopped sending them out. This went on for about 5 years.

It was at this point that Uriah was found by an iterant Malkavian who saw that Uriah was a prime possibility for creating a Kindred who really did see in a different way. And he possibly created someone crazier than he might have thought possible.

The Embrace split Uriah into multiple personalities. Each personality was one of the heroes of his novels. But added on top of that deliciousness, Uriah “shaped” his body using Obfuscate 3 into their physical forms as well. So when Ray Walker emerged, Uriah also physically looked like Walker and walked without a limp. When Nancy Carter emerged, he would become a short blond girl with a talent for thievery. All non-Uriah personalities believed they were the characters…and also believed they were human. Anything to the contrary was just rewritten in their heads. Marcus, who appeared most often, took control and with the help of the other personalities, who he considered partners, moved himself and all their wealth to an antebellum mansion in Natchez, Mississippi, far enough out of the way not to be bothered doing their job, which in their mind, was helping people out as they had done in the novels they still believed they were in. They founded a detective agency and in the narrative of their mind, sent themselves out to help others. But in reality, Uriah and the personalities always stayed in Natchez. They ended up helping some people in Natchez who needed their services, but never anything to the scale that their narrative would have them engaging in.

Uriah was no longer the dominant personality, emerging only rarely. The only callback to Uriah was that each of the personalities narrated their story out loud, as if they really were characters in an ongoing novel. Uriah, when he does emerge, believes that the world around him is one of his novels that he is currently writing and often comments on how he will need to change it. He is the only personality that does not feel the compulsion to narrate their story. Nancy is completely unaware she does it. Ray is aware, but thinks it is because of a brain injury suffered during the war. Marcus is aware and is the only one who is capable of manipulating it by both occasionally suppressing it or by becoming an unreliable narrator.

Character Sheet

Character Name: Uriah Franklin/Nancy Carter/Marcus Stone/Ray Walker
Chronicle: Natchez By Night
Concept: Insane Recluse Author (and his personalities)

Attributes:

Physical		Social		Mental
Str:	2	Cha:	3	Per:	3
Dex:	2	Man:	5	Int:	3
Sta:	2	App:	2	Wit:	3

Shared

Talents: (Expression 3)
(Expression Specialty: Writing)

Skills: (Performance 5)
(Performance Specialty: Acting)

Disciplines: (Obfuscate 3)

Backgrounds: (Resources 5, Generation 1)

Flaws: (Hated by Clan Toreador)

Nancy Carter

Demeanor: Loner
Nature: Thrill-Seeker

Talents: (Athletics 3, Dodge 3, Streetwise 1, Alertness 3)

Skills: (Drive 1, Security 3, Stealth 4)

Knowledges: (Academics 2, Finance 1, Investigation 2)

Willpower: 4
Humanity: 6

Virtues: (Conscience 3, Self Control 3, Courage 4)

Merits:

• Daredevil - All difficulties 1 less when trying something particularly dangerous, ignore one one in those situations
• Catlike Balance - All balance related difficulties reduced by two.

Flaws:

• Compulsion: Narration - Must narrate internal thoughts out loud
• Shy/Anti-Social - Try to avoid all social situations
• Overconfident - Unshakeable opinion of her own abilities

Marcus Stone

Demeanor: Director
Nature: Caregiver

Talents: (Alertness 3, Empathy 3, Subterfuge 3, Leadership 1)

Skills: (Stealth 2)

Knowledges: (Investigation 3, Linguistics 3, Occult 3)

Willpower: 8
Humanity: 7

Virtues: (Conscience 4, Self Control 3, Courage 3)

Merits:

• Jack of All Trades - One illusory dot in all skills and knowledges.
• Eat Food - Can eat food, even savor the taste, but will have to throw it up later.

Flaws:

• Compulsion: Narration - Must narrate internal thoughts out loud, but can be an unreliable narrator and/or summarize.
• Lame - Two die penalty to all dice rolls related to movement.

Ray Walker

Demeanor: Competitor
Nature: Survivor

Talents: (Brawl 3, Dodge 2, Athletics 2, Intimidation 2)

Skills: (Firearms 4, Drive 2, Melee 3, Stealth 2)

Knowledges: (Computer 3, Investigation 1, Medicine 1)

Willpower: 5
Humanity: 5

Virtues: (Conscience 2, Self Control 3, Courage 5)

Merits:

• Eat Food - Can eat food, even savor the taste, but will have to throw it up later.

Flaws:

• Compulsion: Narration - Must narrate internal thoughts out loud, and is aware that he does it.
• Claustrophobia - Must make a courage roll when near enclosed spaces.

Uriah Franklin

Demeanor: Curmudgeon
Nature: Loner

Talents: (Alertness 2)

Skills: (Craft 1, Drive 1, Firearms 3, Stealth 1, Survival 3)

Knowledges: (Academics 2, Computer 2, Finance 3, Investigation 2, Occult 2, Science 2)

Willpower: 6
Humanity: 8

Virtues: (Conscience 4, Self Control 4, Courage 2)

Merits:

• Higher Purpose - "Writing" his ongoing novel gives him a compelling focus.

Flaws:

• Shy/Anti-Social - Try to avoid all social situations
• Claustrophobia - Must make a courage roll when near enclosed spaces.
• Lame - Two die penalty to all dice rolls related to movement.

Links

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