Vampire Characters

Doctor Walter Breen, Ph. D.

Just remember that you’re standing on a planet that’s evolving, And revolving at 900 miles per hour.
That’s orbiting at 19 miles per second, or so it’s reckoned, A sun that is the source of all our power.
The sun and you and me, and all the stars that we can see, Are moving at a million miles a day.
In an outer spiral arm, at 40,000 miles an hour, Of the Galaxy we call the Milky Way.
— Eric Idle The Galaxy Song (from Monty Python and the Meaning of Life)

Name: Dr. Walter Breen, Ph. D.

Clan: Malkavian

Nature: Visionary

Demeanor: Fanatic

Generation: 13

Concept: Chaos Mathematician

Quote:“Let me see now: that would be 900 times 3600 divided by 19 times the third root of one million plus 40,000, factoring in Planck’s Constant and the current temperature in Celsius. I must make a note of this.”

Concept: An intelligent Malkavian with an overriding mania for numbers and chaos theory.

Description: Dr. Walter Breen stands about 5′ 5″ tall and weighs 160 lbs. He has greying sandy brown hair, and a short beard and mustache. His eyes are hazel; he wears gold wire-rimmed glasses but doesn’t really need them.

Walter dresses in stereotypical professor garb: brown tweed jacket with leather patches on the elbows, with matching slacks, sport shirt, tie. A conspicuous bulge in his right jacket pocket will eventually be revealed to be a large briar pipe, which he will place in his mouth or hold in his hands, but never smoke. Other pocket bulges will be discovered to be a writing pad, several pens and pencils, a measuring tape, a pocket flashlight, and a magnifying glass.

Prelude: As a child Walter had an imaginary friend who told him many secrets of the world, secrets that no one else would believe, yet he knew his friend would never lie to him or mislead him. As he grew, his friend came to visit him less and less, yet the lessons he learned have helped him immeasurably.

Walter easily earned a doctoral scholarship due to his fundamental understanding of mathematics. His research into the new field of chaos mathematics and fractals finally allowed him to use his earliest lessons; his papers were ground-breaking yet they were only the least of his learning. Anything greater was rejected by his blind colleagues. Still, he persisted, being proven right again and again as he pushed back the boundaries of mathematics, all to the growing envy and hatred of his fellows.

They finally rebelled, having Walter placed into a mental institution; they said he had suffered a “breakdown”, babbling about connections, but he was instead becoming more and more lucid; so much more of his early lessons now were falling into place, and they lacked the vision to see it. Everything is connected, he discovered, and all that was necessary was to find out how and why. He suffered the indignity of the institutionalization calmly, knowing that he could pursue his research anywhere.

The institution chosen was by chance the home of a prominent Malkavian Elder. He listened to Walter, when no one else would; Walter’s evenings were spent in his fascinating company. One night, though, he seemed more than curious about Walter’s studies; he seemed fascinated by their effects on Walter as well. In one sudden, brutal move he Embraced Walter, yet that only seemed to further Walter’s vision instead of smother it.

Backgrounds: The Elder arranged for Walter’s release and employment at a private college. He accepted it because he had exhausted the research possibilities of the institution and needed more data. The college provides for his needs, acting as his Resources; certain students and professors who have come to believe in his theories have become his Allies; and his continued publication (after the unfortunate period inside the asylum) has increased his Fame.

Merits / Flaws: As a Malkavian he is firmly connected to the Clan’s “communal telephone line”. Walter’s lifelong passion for numbers gives him an incredible head for calculations. His lifelong affinity for the Fae and his susceptibility to magick are apparently related in some way: no Faerie gift is without price. Finally, his deep sleeping habits are from a long-standing routine that even being made Kin could not change.

Clan Weakness: A mania and passion for and about numbers and Mathematics, the Queen of Sciences.

Possessions: Tweed jacket with leather patches on the elbows; white shirt; corduroy pants; tie with loud, dizzying fractal pattern and a Count von Count tie-tack; wooden pipe (empty); small leather notebook and a collection of pens and pencils in various colors; measuring tape in English and metric rulings; magnifying glass; pocket flashlight.

Roleplaying Tips: Play the slightly-deaf, slightly-daft college professor. Fiddle with the pipe but never smoke it. (“A pipe gives a wise man time to think and a fool something to stick in his mouth.”) Use a lot of pretentious words and phrases, yet affect a disinterest in other’s words. Giggle and chuckle when others lack vision and then offer them your own. Scribble notes (in code) in your notebook at the most inappropriate times. Count the most unlikeliest things.

Note: Doctor Breen was (only slightly) based on a friend of mine.