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Werewolf: The Forsaken Interest Thread
- Thread starter Tokiwong
- Start date
Graf
Explorer
Lack of books
I like the Rockies setting! I haven't read the book but I did skim the back of the write up in werewolf, and I've seen it used as as background flavor for a few games that WW employees run and I think it's both dynamic and interesting.
Regarding having or not having books. I think that it shouldn't be a huge deal from a rules standpoint (basically, making a werewolf is like):
make normal person (usual nWoD rules),
pick auspice,
skills specializations for auspice
tribe
renown
pick 3 gifts
spend merit points
you're done
But, the world is a bit detailed. There's lots of stuff that players should be at least familiar with (IMHO natch). Though if Tokiwong (or somebody else) is cool with "roleplaying" teaching that info (lots of typing) it's overcomable.
I like the Rockies setting! I haven't read the book but I did skim the back of the write up in werewolf, and I've seen it used as as background flavor for a few games that WW employees run and I think it's both dynamic and interesting.
Regarding having or not having books. I think that it shouldn't be a huge deal from a rules standpoint (basically, making a werewolf is like):
make normal person (usual nWoD rules),
pick auspice,
skills specializations for auspice
tribe
renown
pick 3 gifts
spend merit points
you're done
But, the world is a bit detailed. There's lots of stuff that players should be at least familiar with (IMHO natch). Though if Tokiwong (or somebody else) is cool with "roleplaying" teaching that info (lots of typing) it's overcomable.
Graf
Explorer
Character concept
I'm going to be going away for few days on a trip. I will make a serious effort to get online but we're traveling with a purpose (wedding planning) and we may get either tight on time or
To make sure I don't interrupt the flow I 'preemptively' made a character.
He's non-traditional Irraka, or maybe he should just be a cresent moon... not sure
Obviously this can all change (he's a bit weak in terms of combat skills, etc.). I'm happy to change various stats/backgrounds/etc to work better with the game needs.
Theodore "Camera" Van
Concept: Underground illustrator
Appearance
[sblock] At first glance the black man in front of you simply looks large, then, seeing how bent his gaunt frame is you realize he must be tremendously sized. The way hisover sized and ill-matched clothing hangs from his frame, and his scraggly beard, and long dreadlocks add to his outlandish appearance. The writing tablet seems almost comically small in his immense charcoal-smeared hands.[/sblock]
At first glance the black man in front of you simply looks large, then, seeing how bent his gaunt frame is you realize he must be tremendously sized. The over-sized and ill-matched clothing hanging from his gaunt frame, scraggly beard, and long dreadlocks add to his outlandish appearance. The writing tablet he clutches seems almost comically small in his immense charcoal-smeared hands.
Background
[sblock]
Theodore Van the third grew up in a difficult neighborhood. The government built the projects his family lived in; poverty and violence was commonplace. His huge size was something of adeterrent ; he was always larger than his brothers and by the time he was 10 he would have been the height of a normal man if he ever stood up straight. But when he was that age his almost constant confinement in their mothers apartment had already given his form it's hunched appearance. The confinement was a simple fact of life, after one of his brothers wasparalyzed by a stray shot, he and his siblings almost never left save for furtive trips to school. The four walls of his shared bedroom were, for a boy of his imagination, an entire universe. Sitting alone in the room his mind carved out landscapes around him, vistas he could see whenever he closed his eyes.
People often said that nothing seemed to bother Theodore very much, he seemed was easily distracted and unconcerned with events around him; as a child prone to long periods of quiet repose, once he discovered comic books he he would frantically scribble drawings. Even as a child he was obviously gifted. He could draw anything he had seen, even just once. His mother called him "camera". But he was utterly interested in mundane subjects for sketching; he was forever driven to draw the vast and improbable landscapes and creatures that seemed to flash through his eyes. The drawings wereiriee and off-putting and few paid them mind.
He enjoyed school as well; if not so much the others there. He learned quickly to avoid others, traveling with his brothers whenever possible and avoiding conflict with others. His brothers liked this life less and complained frequently, but it seemedimminently natural to Theodore. In fact, for someone of his size he was positively gifted at avoiding detection. He slipped into class just before the bell rang and was always then second or third out the door. It was difficult not to notice the immense hunched figure as he trundled about but even his own classmates tended to presume that he was from some other year.
And so he lived and years passed. His brothers grew up, one became a drug dealer but most managed to leave. And it was only Theodore and his mother in the apartment. Theodore went tocommunity college instead of high school. It was better there, classes were more interesting. He made a little bit of money traveling to the better parts of the city to sketch tourists on the weekends. He had less trouble in his neighborhood as well; his brother's reputation for for violence was well established, and everyone knew that Camera didn't have enough money to make it worth while.
A few years back though people noticed a small change: Camera still moved like always, usually hunched over and near a wall, but he was moving more quickly. Like he had some place to go; he stopped going to school, except for thelibrary where he was hunched over computers forever reading forums and newsgroups devoted to the weird, to the impossible; he stopped drawing tourists. He had no money and ate infrequently. His visions got stronger, louder, more intricate and more consistent. His trips, alwaysfurtive routes through and between buildings became intricate, baroque, incomprehensible. He was sighted on rooftops, in condemned buildings, staring into open manholes, lying under abandoned cars. Camera had become convinced that he wasn't imagining things. He was seeing them. All he needed was to find a doorway.
One day he came home and told his mother that he though that it was all true, that "they" were hiding the truth. The world wasn't really the world, that it was some kind of "taffy" covering another world. "I'm looking for a door through the taffy," he explained in a matter of fact voice.
His mother sighed, picked up the phone and called his older brother to tell him, in a matter of fact voice, that Camera had finally lost it.
[/sblock]
How does he wind up in Colorado?
Option 1
[sblock]The projects are condemned by the government. Camera moves out to Colorado to live with relatives (or his brother's family)[/sblock]
Option 2
[sblock]The brother's wife has family in Colorado; including a sister who is a nurse practioner. They manage to get Camera to moved to Colorado where he is staying at a (lightly guarded) care facility for the mentally insane.[/sblock]
Option 3
[sblock]The family was in Denver all along. His mother lives in a nearby housing project, one of his brothers is a drug dealer there, the others have found work outside.(probably need to spend merits a bit differently if this is the case[/sblock]
Game Stats
[sblock]
Attributes
Mental: Intelligence ** Wits *** Resolve ***
Physical: Strength * Dexterity *** Stamina ***
Socail: Presence * Manipulation ** Composure ***
Skills
Mental: Academics *** (Research), Computers *, Investigation ***, Occult *** (conspiracies and cults) (1 unspent)
Physical: Larceny *, Stealth ***
Social: Expression (Drawing) ****, Streetwise **, Subterfuge*
Merits: Edictic Memory (**), Giant (****), Contacts (* - Internet Conspiracy Hunters)
Derived Traits: Defense 3, Health 9, Initiative 6, Willpower 6
[/sblock]
I'm going to be going away for few days on a trip. I will make a serious effort to get online but we're traveling with a purpose (wedding planning) and we may get either tight on time or
To make sure I don't interrupt the flow I 'preemptively' made a character.
He's non-traditional Irraka, or maybe he should just be a cresent moon... not sure
Obviously this can all change (he's a bit weak in terms of combat skills, etc.). I'm happy to change various stats/backgrounds/etc to work better with the game needs.
Theodore "Camera" Van
Concept: Underground illustrator
Appearance
[sblock] At first glance the black man in front of you simply looks large, then, seeing how bent his gaunt frame is you realize he must be tremendously sized. The way hisover sized and ill-matched clothing hangs from his frame, and his scraggly beard, and long dreadlocks add to his outlandish appearance. The writing tablet seems almost comically small in his immense charcoal-smeared hands.[/sblock]
At first glance the black man in front of you simply looks large, then, seeing how bent his gaunt frame is you realize he must be tremendously sized. The over-sized and ill-matched clothing hanging from his gaunt frame, scraggly beard, and long dreadlocks add to his outlandish appearance. The writing tablet he clutches seems almost comically small in his immense charcoal-smeared hands.
Background
[sblock]
Theodore Van the third grew up in a difficult neighborhood. The government built the projects his family lived in; poverty and violence was commonplace. His huge size was something of adeterrent ; he was always larger than his brothers and by the time he was 10 he would have been the height of a normal man if he ever stood up straight. But when he was that age his almost constant confinement in their mothers apartment had already given his form it's hunched appearance. The confinement was a simple fact of life, after one of his brothers wasparalyzed by a stray shot, he and his siblings almost never left save for furtive trips to school. The four walls of his shared bedroom were, for a boy of his imagination, an entire universe. Sitting alone in the room his mind carved out landscapes around him, vistas he could see whenever he closed his eyes.
People often said that nothing seemed to bother Theodore very much, he seemed was easily distracted and unconcerned with events around him; as a child prone to long periods of quiet repose, once he discovered comic books he he would frantically scribble drawings. Even as a child he was obviously gifted. He could draw anything he had seen, even just once. His mother called him "camera". But he was utterly interested in mundane subjects for sketching; he was forever driven to draw the vast and improbable landscapes and creatures that seemed to flash through his eyes. The drawings wereiriee and off-putting and few paid them mind.
He enjoyed school as well; if not so much the others there. He learned quickly to avoid others, traveling with his brothers whenever possible and avoiding conflict with others. His brothers liked this life less and complained frequently, but it seemedimminently natural to Theodore. In fact, for someone of his size he was positively gifted at avoiding detection. He slipped into class just before the bell rang and was always then second or third out the door. It was difficult not to notice the immense hunched figure as he trundled about but even his own classmates tended to presume that he was from some other year.
And so he lived and years passed. His brothers grew up, one became a drug dealer but most managed to leave. And it was only Theodore and his mother in the apartment. Theodore went tocommunity college instead of high school. It was better there, classes were more interesting. He made a little bit of money traveling to the better parts of the city to sketch tourists on the weekends. He had less trouble in his neighborhood as well; his brother's reputation for for violence was well established, and everyone knew that Camera didn't have enough money to make it worth while.
A few years back though people noticed a small change: Camera still moved like always, usually hunched over and near a wall, but he was moving more quickly. Like he had some place to go; he stopped going to school, except for thelibrary where he was hunched over computers forever reading forums and newsgroups devoted to the weird, to the impossible; he stopped drawing tourists. He had no money and ate infrequently. His visions got stronger, louder, more intricate and more consistent. His trips, alwaysfurtive routes through and between buildings became intricate, baroque, incomprehensible. He was sighted on rooftops, in condemned buildings, staring into open manholes, lying under abandoned cars. Camera had become convinced that he wasn't imagining things. He was seeing them. All he needed was to find a doorway.
One day he came home and told his mother that he though that it was all true, that "they" were hiding the truth. The world wasn't really the world, that it was some kind of "taffy" covering another world. "I'm looking for a door through the taffy," he explained in a matter of fact voice.
His mother sighed, picked up the phone and called his older brother to tell him, in a matter of fact voice, that Camera had finally lost it.
[/sblock]
How does he wind up in Colorado?
Option 1
[sblock]The projects are condemned by the government. Camera moves out to Colorado to live with relatives (or his brother's family)[/sblock]
Option 2
[sblock]The brother's wife has family in Colorado; including a sister who is a nurse practioner. They manage to get Camera to moved to Colorado where he is staying at a (lightly guarded) care facility for the mentally insane.[/sblock]
Option 3
[sblock]The family was in Denver all along. His mother lives in a nearby housing project, one of his brothers is a drug dealer there, the others have found work outside.(probably need to spend merits a bit differently if this is the case[/sblock]
Game Stats
[sblock]
Attributes
Mental: Intelligence ** Wits *** Resolve ***
Physical: Strength * Dexterity *** Stamina ***
Socail: Presence * Manipulation ** Composure ***
Skills
Mental: Academics *** (Research), Computers *, Investigation ***, Occult *** (conspiracies and cults) (1 unspent)
Physical: Larceny *, Stealth ***
Social: Expression (Drawing) ****, Streetwise **, Subterfuge*
Merits: Edictic Memory (**), Giant (****), Contacts (* - Internet Conspiracy Hunters)
Derived Traits: Defense 3, Health 9, Initiative 6, Willpower 6
[/sblock]
Last edited:
Shalimar
First Post
My concept is a highschool student who starts of focused on school stuff, sort of like Claire from Heros. Popular, attractive, and completely in denial about anything that would change it. Faith is currently in a wiccan phase, the lastest thing to ignore her parents's marital troubles. Her father is a regional bank executive and her mother runs a tech consulting firm, neither of which leave them with much time to actually be around Faith, instead they just pitch a hefty allowance at her and expect good grades and no problems. So long as she delivers good grades, Faith is allowed to do what she wants without much question.
Faith works best as a Cahalith but she can probably fit in other auspices. I'd also probably go for a Stormlord if we get to choose a tribe since they are the most social, but that will probably change during play. I'll have Faith be living in whatever town it is that you want to set the game in, she is fairly portable, and her parents would most likely have along commute regardless of where the game was set since that fits into her not getting to spend much time with them.
Appearance:
Faith is a pretty girl, actually she is rather stunning and could be a model if she wanted to be. The teen is average height for a girl her age standing 5 foot 4, with a thin but still healthy looking build. Faith normally has reddish/gold hair, but its currently dyed pink and long enough to almost brush her shoulders. Faith mostly wears highe-end fashionable clothes.
Stats
[sblock]
Attributes
Mental:
Intelligence **, Wits ***, Resolve **
Physical:
Strength *, Dexterity ***, Stamina **
Social:
Presence ***, Manipulation ***, Composure **
Skills
Mental:
Academics *, Computers *, Medicine *, Occult *
Physical:
Athletics *** (Acrobatics), Brawl **, Stealth *, Survival *
Social:
Empathy **, Expression **, Persuasion **, Socialize ***, Subterfuge **
Merits: Striking Looks **, Resources *, Barfly, Natural Immunity
Derived Traits: Defense 3, Health 7, Initiative 5, Willpower 4
[/sblock]
Faith works best as a Cahalith but she can probably fit in other auspices. I'd also probably go for a Stormlord if we get to choose a tribe since they are the most social, but that will probably change during play. I'll have Faith be living in whatever town it is that you want to set the game in, she is fairly portable, and her parents would most likely have along commute regardless of where the game was set since that fits into her not getting to spend much time with them.
Appearance:
Faith is a pretty girl, actually she is rather stunning and could be a model if she wanted to be. The teen is average height for a girl her age standing 5 foot 4, with a thin but still healthy looking build. Faith normally has reddish/gold hair, but its currently dyed pink and long enough to almost brush her shoulders. Faith mostly wears highe-end fashionable clothes.
Stats
[sblock]
Attributes
Mental:
Intelligence **, Wits ***, Resolve **
Physical:
Strength *, Dexterity ***, Stamina **
Social:
Presence ***, Manipulation ***, Composure **
Skills
Mental:
Academics *, Computers *, Medicine *, Occult *
Physical:
Athletics *** (Acrobatics), Brawl **, Stealth *, Survival *
Social:
Empathy **, Expression **, Persuasion **, Socialize ***, Subterfuge **
Merits: Striking Looks **, Resources *, Barfly, Natural Immunity
Derived Traits: Defense 3, Health 7, Initiative 5, Willpower 4
[/sblock]
Attachments
Last edited:
Festy_Dog
First Post
Piotr Chernekov
[sblock=Description]
Piotr is not a big man, but is fairly muscular. He looks older than he actually is, but is reasonably attractive nonetheless. His eyes are dull hazel but his hair is quite unique, being an even blend of black and brown. Not to say that his hair is dark brown, but that there is an even mix of black hair and brown hair on his head. It's the feature he's most proud of. To make things more interesting his fringe turned grey due to stressful events from his past. It usually earns him a fair bit of attention from customers. He usually keeps his hair shoulder length and tied back. He is most often clean shaven, but it's surprising how quick he can grow a small beard when he takes a weekend off to go hiking.
Piotr's also characterised by his thick Russian accent, and is renowned among those who know him as being very blunt (almost to the point of being rude) but also exceptionally generous. He isn't the smartest man in town, and he knows it. It's something he doesn't mind joking or being the butt of jokes about. He always carries an orienteering compass with him. It is a good luck charm of sorts, a gift from his long-time friend Anatol when they both successfully got into Spetsnaz.[/sblock]
[sblock=History]
Piotr's childhood lacked much in the way of material wealth, but it wasn't something he placed much value in anyway. He grew up on a farm in some of the colder farming regions of Russia. His parents were never terribly successful, but the community they were a part of was quite tight-nit, and everyone supported each other where they could. Piotr learned a number of good values during those times. While young he felt a calling to spend time in the outdoors on a regular basis. He was quick to anger as a child, and remained so throughout his life, but nature always had a calming effect on him.
Piotr joined the army at the age of eighteen, back in 1990, with dreams of eventually getting into Spetsnaz. Things hadn't been easy since the collapse of the USSR and the military seemed like stable enough employment to see him through the rough economic patch. He performed well, showing promise as a sharpshooter and scout, and was made a designated marksman of his unit. In regards to sharpshooting he cut his teeth on the Dragunov SVD, and continued to depend on it for the majority of his military career. While not a sniper rifle in the truest sense of the term he accumulated much experience with it.
During the invasion of Chechnya his unit did not see much fighting, taking more of a rear-guard role in most instances. They did see action on occasion but it was not terribly often. It was around this time, August 1995, that he had the experience which has haunted him until the present day. There had been a shift forward of the troops they were rearguard for, and they were required to find a place closer to the front to occupy.
There was a village roughly where they were wanted to be, so they decided to occupy an empty mansion outside of the village as it would provide more comfort than they were used to. The locals didn't give much information as to why the mansion was deserted, but generally made it clear it wasn't a good place to stay and that the troops weren't welcome. This wasn't a big difference from the receptions they'd received thus far from any densely populated area.
During the first night they spent there though everyone had strange dreams, and by morning someone was missing, presumed to have deserted during the night. Morale was generally low during the Chechnyan war, so a deserter wouldn't have been a surprise. Piotr and few other skilled trackers though couldn't find any sign of the passage of the missing soldier in the wilderness area surrounding the house. The officers questioned locals who gave mixed feedback, likely wanting to confuse the occupying troops.
The following night another two soldiers went missing, and the dreams got worse, most described having nightmares. The scouts and officers did their rounds again but came back empty handed. The officers were confused from their questioning of the locals, and had started arguing about the mansion. It was decided that round the clock sentries would be posted, and they'd change to a different location the next day.
That night Piotr and his friend Anatol were on sentry duty with a number of others, both were respected scouts. The night was uneventful, but the next morning they discovered three people had gone missing during the night. Seeing as there was no activity outside of the house during the night a thorough search of the house was held. Blood was found dripping from the ceiling of one of the bedrooms in the guest wing, so five soldiers volunteered to go investigate. Piotre and Anatol were amongst the five.
Even though it was daylight hours the attic was pitch black. Power to the house had been cut some time ago, and there were no windows in the attic. At that time Piotr's sidearm was a Makarov, so with that in one hand and a flashlight in the other he ascended into the attic through the hallway entrance with the four others close behind. Once he was up there the scent of fresh blood was almost overpowering, and some of the shadows created by his torch were quite odd. One man barely had his head through the attic stairwell when he vomited from the smell. Once everyone was in the attic they proceeded towards the section of the ceiling where the blood was leaking through. The attic was cluttered with stuff roughly dating back to the start of the century.
When they found where the blood was coming from Piotr's torch fell upon a pile of dismembered corpses. An axe had been lodged in a torso lying on top of the pile. His stomach twisted itself into a knot, and he would have vomited had he had breakfast earlier. Anatol had turned pale, and was muttering beside him. The man who had vomited before, and someone else, vomited behind him. There was a thump, and three torches fixated their beams on a head rolling out from behind an old cupboard. A shadow somewhere near it moved and Anatol snapped. He emptied the entire magazine from his AN-94 into the furniture littering the area around the head. The image which burned itself into Piotre's mind was when he thought he saw something lit up by the light of Anatol's muzzle flash, just for a split second. He can't recall the details very well, but he remembers recoiling, completely horrified, and fired a couple of shots himself.
At the sound of automatic gunfire half of the entire unit came pouring into the attic. The situation was resolved, of sorts, and they recovered the bodies to send them back to Russia for burial. That same day, the officers and a sizable escort seized all the petrol they could from the village and used it to burn down the mansion. After the invasion of Chechnya, Anatol and Piotr successfully qualified for and transferred into Spetsnaz in an attempt to get the incident behind them.
Out of the five men who went into the attic, only two remain alive now. One was killed in action in early 1996 when the unit was cycled out of rear-guard and put into combat operations near the capital of Chechnya, another was killed in the incursion into Dagestan in 1999, and Piotr's friend and fellow scout Anatol was killed in a Spetsnaz training accident in 1998. The mansion incident in itself was terrifying enough, but Piotr started getting flashbacks and nightmares which continued even after the end of the war. He could hardly get a full night's sleep. It took about a year of this for Piotr's hair to start going grey. Regardless of this he remained an excellant, if somewhat troubled, soldier.
The last major military operation Piotr was involved in before leaving the armed forces was the occupation of Pristina airport in June, 1999. Once Russian involvement with the Kosovo situation had ceased though he left the military and moved to the US, settling in the Rockies. His intent was to leave the horrors he had seen back in Russia, and allow himself a fresh start. Hopefully a change of scenery would lessen or completely rid him of what haunted him still. He took a little bit of time to determine what to do with himself. He was eventually trying to determine whether he should join a private military company or maybe just open a guns and outdoor supplies store. With the money he had been putting away during his military career he decided to try his hand at running a business. Much to his surprise he was actually successful. There was a fairly high demand for firearms and camping supplies, and those customers who got to know Piotr beyond his gruff attitude always received generous discounts on things they needed.
Piotr started hiking again, something he hadn't really done since he was a teenager. It felt good to be out enjoying nature for its own sake again, although there was a strange yearning in him to stalk prey like he used to do back in the military. The change of setting worked like he hoped it would though and the nightmares stopped troubling him, but all wasn't as well as he'd hope. He would hike further and further, taking interest in the places people hadn't been for quite some time, but after some time of wandering the paths less travelled something really started gnawing at him. He was getting a feeling, a bad one. While he was in the military he had developed a sense for when someone had the drop on him, a danger sense of sorts, and sometimes while deep in the wilderness this sense would go off like an alarm. He thought he was having panic attacks until he actually realised something (or things) was stalking him.
He bought himself some firepower. As he made a business of selling guns it wasn't terribly hard. Piotr got a hunting permit (although he never actually hunted, he liked animals too much) and a gun license and made a point of working the rust off the skills he picked up back in the military. He's not quite as good as he used to be just yet, but his equipment is quality and he practises hard at the local firing range. He even took up handloading so that he didn't have to spend much on ammunition.[/sblock]
[sblock=Stats]Name: Piotr Chernekov
Age: 34
Virtue/Vice: Charity/Wrath
Attributes
Mental: Intelligence o , Wits ooo , Resolve ooo
Physical: Strength ooo , Dexterity ooo , Stamina oo
Social: Presense oo , Manipulation o , Composure ooo
Skills
Mental: Crafts (firearms) oo , Occult o , Science o
Physical: Athletics o , Brawl ooo , Firearms (sniping) ooo , Stealth oo , Survival oo
Social: Animal Ken (wolves) oo , Streetwise oo
Merits
Danger Sense oo , Language (English) o , Fast Reflexes o , Resources (gun & camping supplies store) ooo
Advantages
Defense: 3
Health: 0000000
Initiative: 7
Morality: 7
Speed: 11
Willpower: 000000
Equipment
Saco TRG42, w/ scope
Para-Ordnance PRX745B, w/ suppressor (ooo) & LAM
thin kevlar vest
brass knuckles
flashlight
gunsmithing kit
survival gear (ooo)[/sblock]
[sblock=Description]
Piotr is not a big man, but is fairly muscular. He looks older than he actually is, but is reasonably attractive nonetheless. His eyes are dull hazel but his hair is quite unique, being an even blend of black and brown. Not to say that his hair is dark brown, but that there is an even mix of black hair and brown hair on his head. It's the feature he's most proud of. To make things more interesting his fringe turned grey due to stressful events from his past. It usually earns him a fair bit of attention from customers. He usually keeps his hair shoulder length and tied back. He is most often clean shaven, but it's surprising how quick he can grow a small beard when he takes a weekend off to go hiking.
Piotr's also characterised by his thick Russian accent, and is renowned among those who know him as being very blunt (almost to the point of being rude) but also exceptionally generous. He isn't the smartest man in town, and he knows it. It's something he doesn't mind joking or being the butt of jokes about. He always carries an orienteering compass with him. It is a good luck charm of sorts, a gift from his long-time friend Anatol when they both successfully got into Spetsnaz.[/sblock]
[sblock=History]
Piotr's childhood lacked much in the way of material wealth, but it wasn't something he placed much value in anyway. He grew up on a farm in some of the colder farming regions of Russia. His parents were never terribly successful, but the community they were a part of was quite tight-nit, and everyone supported each other where they could. Piotr learned a number of good values during those times. While young he felt a calling to spend time in the outdoors on a regular basis. He was quick to anger as a child, and remained so throughout his life, but nature always had a calming effect on him.
Piotr joined the army at the age of eighteen, back in 1990, with dreams of eventually getting into Spetsnaz. Things hadn't been easy since the collapse of the USSR and the military seemed like stable enough employment to see him through the rough economic patch. He performed well, showing promise as a sharpshooter and scout, and was made a designated marksman of his unit. In regards to sharpshooting he cut his teeth on the Dragunov SVD, and continued to depend on it for the majority of his military career. While not a sniper rifle in the truest sense of the term he accumulated much experience with it.
During the invasion of Chechnya his unit did not see much fighting, taking more of a rear-guard role in most instances. They did see action on occasion but it was not terribly often. It was around this time, August 1995, that he had the experience which has haunted him until the present day. There had been a shift forward of the troops they were rearguard for, and they were required to find a place closer to the front to occupy.
There was a village roughly where they were wanted to be, so they decided to occupy an empty mansion outside of the village as it would provide more comfort than they were used to. The locals didn't give much information as to why the mansion was deserted, but generally made it clear it wasn't a good place to stay and that the troops weren't welcome. This wasn't a big difference from the receptions they'd received thus far from any densely populated area.
During the first night they spent there though everyone had strange dreams, and by morning someone was missing, presumed to have deserted during the night. Morale was generally low during the Chechnyan war, so a deserter wouldn't have been a surprise. Piotr and few other skilled trackers though couldn't find any sign of the passage of the missing soldier in the wilderness area surrounding the house. The officers questioned locals who gave mixed feedback, likely wanting to confuse the occupying troops.
The following night another two soldiers went missing, and the dreams got worse, most described having nightmares. The scouts and officers did their rounds again but came back empty handed. The officers were confused from their questioning of the locals, and had started arguing about the mansion. It was decided that round the clock sentries would be posted, and they'd change to a different location the next day.
That night Piotr and his friend Anatol were on sentry duty with a number of others, both were respected scouts. The night was uneventful, but the next morning they discovered three people had gone missing during the night. Seeing as there was no activity outside of the house during the night a thorough search of the house was held. Blood was found dripping from the ceiling of one of the bedrooms in the guest wing, so five soldiers volunteered to go investigate. Piotre and Anatol were amongst the five.
Even though it was daylight hours the attic was pitch black. Power to the house had been cut some time ago, and there were no windows in the attic. At that time Piotr's sidearm was a Makarov, so with that in one hand and a flashlight in the other he ascended into the attic through the hallway entrance with the four others close behind. Once he was up there the scent of fresh blood was almost overpowering, and some of the shadows created by his torch were quite odd. One man barely had his head through the attic stairwell when he vomited from the smell. Once everyone was in the attic they proceeded towards the section of the ceiling where the blood was leaking through. The attic was cluttered with stuff roughly dating back to the start of the century.
When they found where the blood was coming from Piotr's torch fell upon a pile of dismembered corpses. An axe had been lodged in a torso lying on top of the pile. His stomach twisted itself into a knot, and he would have vomited had he had breakfast earlier. Anatol had turned pale, and was muttering beside him. The man who had vomited before, and someone else, vomited behind him. There was a thump, and three torches fixated their beams on a head rolling out from behind an old cupboard. A shadow somewhere near it moved and Anatol snapped. He emptied the entire magazine from his AN-94 into the furniture littering the area around the head. The image which burned itself into Piotre's mind was when he thought he saw something lit up by the light of Anatol's muzzle flash, just for a split second. He can't recall the details very well, but he remembers recoiling, completely horrified, and fired a couple of shots himself.
At the sound of automatic gunfire half of the entire unit came pouring into the attic. The situation was resolved, of sorts, and they recovered the bodies to send them back to Russia for burial. That same day, the officers and a sizable escort seized all the petrol they could from the village and used it to burn down the mansion. After the invasion of Chechnya, Anatol and Piotr successfully qualified for and transferred into Spetsnaz in an attempt to get the incident behind them.
Out of the five men who went into the attic, only two remain alive now. One was killed in action in early 1996 when the unit was cycled out of rear-guard and put into combat operations near the capital of Chechnya, another was killed in the incursion into Dagestan in 1999, and Piotr's friend and fellow scout Anatol was killed in a Spetsnaz training accident in 1998. The mansion incident in itself was terrifying enough, but Piotr started getting flashbacks and nightmares which continued even after the end of the war. He could hardly get a full night's sleep. It took about a year of this for Piotr's hair to start going grey. Regardless of this he remained an excellant, if somewhat troubled, soldier.
The last major military operation Piotr was involved in before leaving the armed forces was the occupation of Pristina airport in June, 1999. Once Russian involvement with the Kosovo situation had ceased though he left the military and moved to the US, settling in the Rockies. His intent was to leave the horrors he had seen back in Russia, and allow himself a fresh start. Hopefully a change of scenery would lessen or completely rid him of what haunted him still. He took a little bit of time to determine what to do with himself. He was eventually trying to determine whether he should join a private military company or maybe just open a guns and outdoor supplies store. With the money he had been putting away during his military career he decided to try his hand at running a business. Much to his surprise he was actually successful. There was a fairly high demand for firearms and camping supplies, and those customers who got to know Piotr beyond his gruff attitude always received generous discounts on things they needed.
Piotr started hiking again, something he hadn't really done since he was a teenager. It felt good to be out enjoying nature for its own sake again, although there was a strange yearning in him to stalk prey like he used to do back in the military. The change of setting worked like he hoped it would though and the nightmares stopped troubling him, but all wasn't as well as he'd hope. He would hike further and further, taking interest in the places people hadn't been for quite some time, but after some time of wandering the paths less travelled something really started gnawing at him. He was getting a feeling, a bad one. While he was in the military he had developed a sense for when someone had the drop on him, a danger sense of sorts, and sometimes while deep in the wilderness this sense would go off like an alarm. He thought he was having panic attacks until he actually realised something (or things) was stalking him.
He bought himself some firepower. As he made a business of selling guns it wasn't terribly hard. Piotr got a hunting permit (although he never actually hunted, he liked animals too much) and a gun license and made a point of working the rust off the skills he picked up back in the military. He's not quite as good as he used to be just yet, but his equipment is quality and he practises hard at the local firing range. He even took up handloading so that he didn't have to spend much on ammunition.[/sblock]
[sblock=Stats]Name: Piotr Chernekov
Age: 34
Virtue/Vice: Charity/Wrath
Attributes
Mental: Intelligence o , Wits ooo , Resolve ooo
Physical: Strength ooo , Dexterity ooo , Stamina oo
Social: Presense oo , Manipulation o , Composure ooo
Skills
Mental: Crafts (firearms) oo , Occult o , Science o
Physical: Athletics o , Brawl ooo , Firearms (sniping) ooo , Stealth oo , Survival oo
Social: Animal Ken (wolves) oo , Streetwise oo
Merits
Danger Sense oo , Language (English) o , Fast Reflexes o , Resources (gun & camping supplies store) ooo
Advantages
Defense: 3
Health: 0000000
Initiative: 7
Morality: 7
Speed: 11
Willpower: 000000
Equipment
Saco TRG42, w/ scope
Para-Ordnance PRX745B, w/ suppressor (ooo) & LAM
thin kevlar vest
brass knuckles
flashlight
gunsmithing kit
survival gear (ooo)[/sblock]
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