My New Sabbat Character

The last LARP game I wasn't able to go because I had twisted my ankle at work, driving to and from LARP wasn't going to be easy with two crutches.  I realized I missed my peeps too much so I decided to try Sabbat, knowing that I would probably get pulled into going every game and now gaming 3 weekends out of the month.  Is that such a bad thing? No. 

So up to the night before I wasn't sure what to make for a character.  Luckily a friend of mine told me a general idea of Sabbat.  It's not related to my Vampire: The Requiem character or world at all.  That's new World of Darkness, with different rules and a different setting.  New World of Darkness doesn't have the presence of Sabbat, just the Camarilla with smaller sects of off groups that go against the, like the Brood and Seven.  Old World of Darkness had the Camirilla, a group of Vampires who were extremely hierarchical by age and were about being hidden from mortal society by almost hiding in it, and the Sabbat, who were about freedom and earning your status and being proud of the fact that you are Vampire and not hiding it.  You still couldn't reveal to mortals you were a vampire and make it obvious, but killing a mortal when drinking or eating them is not a bad idea.  Ripping people's faces off with your brute vampire force is cool if you know the fucker is going to die and not tell anyone.   Have some fun, just don't be stupid.

Now with this in mind I decided that for once I wanted to play a character who could actually kill somebody.  I love Ellen, she's a brilliant quiet power player who kind of fell into being Seneschal of Chicago (and gladly), but she is not a fighter and she rarely uses any of her powers.  With that in mind I made a character that wouldn't mind getting her hands dirty.  Also, my friend asked me "what kind of monster do you want to be?" And my reply was "motherly".  With that, and mostly on the car ride over to game, I figured out the story of Rose, my Sabbat vampire.

Rose had always lived in the woods, near a river and a bog, always lived off the land.  Her parents were originally from city life and decided to rough it in the woods.  Rose was an only child, and her family was extremely isolated in there cabin.  They were self reliant and knew only a few neighbors.  They were pretty happy with only the three of them. 

Rose had seen her father hit her mother sometimes, but only after her mother had been hysterical.  Rose never thought much of it, so when she finally married Peter from three houses down, she tried her best to be a team with him.  At nineteen she was happily married with child, and still able to talk to her family.  Peter didn't start hitting her until after the boys were born, beautiful identical twins with blond hair and brown eyes.  Rose named them Andrew and Anthony.  She loved them.  Peter was jealous of the attention, something Rose never really thought about until she was already embraced.

Any time Peter felt that the boys were coming before him, or that Rose wasn't listening or moving fast enough, she would get some sort of hit.  Possibly to the face, but usually on her torso.  When the boys were just one her mother asked about a bruise on her arm.  Rose didn't tell, but that was when Peter insisted she didn't see her parents anymore.  Letters would have to suffice.

Rose was alone with the boys a lot, gathering food and water while they were nearby.  She didn't have the internet or even a telephone, nor did she have any news outlet.  She hadn't been to the town center since she married Peter, with him pleading that he could not live with her that far away.  Rose didn't know any better, and her only comparison was now shut away from her.

When Anthony and Andrew were four, they were little explorers.  They would touch anything that Rose didn't already say don't touch four times.  So it wasn't any surprised that Anthony found an old thing of Peter's to play with.  Rose never remembers exactly what it was, but it was something Peter had treasured since he was a child.  Rose can only imagine the rage that Peter had after coming back from butchering a chicken to see Anthony had broken one of his favorite things, in pieces on the floor.

Rose heard the screams and rushed inside to see Peter had swiftly chopped Anthony to pieces in the kitchen, his butcher knife spraying the blood along the walls.  She feared to make a sound, just rushed over to Andrew, covered his eyes and looked away.  When Peter was done, he took the pieces of their son out and burned them.  Rose tried to wash the walls, but she was thinking.  Would Andrew ever survive this life?  When would be the next time Peter would snap?  Rose had no problem with dying by Peter's hand, but she only wanted the boys to go in her arms if they had too.

The next morning Rose took Andrew out to the bog.  She told them that they were going to take a nap under the water, something no one had tried before.  They laid in and Rose kept him under.  His nature caused him to struggle, but Rose held him tight and close under her until he stopped, whispering "Trust me". She stood there for hours, grieving, crying.  When her eyes were dry enough and her nose stopped running, she went back to the house and cooked dinner.  She stayed away from Peter, who made a stand for his butcher's knife.

That night noises came from outside.  Peter always slept like a rock, but Rose shot up and got a lantern to look out.  She walked around, first to the chicken coop, then south of it into the forest.  She saw shadows moving, trying to follow them.  Who knew they were here?  Not even the mail man came by more than once a week, who would stop by here?  And then suddenly she was knocked back into a tree.  The lantern went out.  She felt the blood leaving her, a pain in her neck, a hand holding her on her waist.  She passed out.

She awoke abandoned in the middle of the night, a pain coming over her entire body.  She knew something was different, something was wrong.  She felt hungry, but nothing she knew would satisfy her.  She went back to the house, and she saw Peter, sleeping.  Instinct that had never been there before kicked in.  She jumped on his back and chomped on his shoulder.  She held on as he tried to get up.  She was stronger than before, the blood was helping.  He struggled, she sipped.  It wasn't a lot, but she didn't want much from him.  She jumped back and ran out the house.  Peter yelled out to her, threatening to get the knife.  She knew he couldn't kill her though.

Right before sunrise she made a shelter, but as the sky lightened it was now obvious what she had become.  She dug swiftly into the earth and made a canopy of leaves and dead branches.  It worked.  The next night she decided to head west.  Her mother always hinted the west was where people seek freedom.   Rose didn't know if she needed freedom, but she knew she had it. 

Rose would walk or run for miles, trying to stay near wooded areas and follow highways.  She would run when she knew no one could see.  When she  was starved nearby animals would be ripped apart and sucked dry.  Hunting them kept her focused.  She got to route 66, and stayed outside a rest station, where she heard somebody arguing.  He was saying something about being a Cainite, being more than human, needing to protect that.  And that's when Rose came up to him, explained her story, explained her urges, and hoped he understood.  He did

He was the leader of a pack, a ductess they called him.  They were The Defensive Line, fighting against anything that threatened the Sabbat.  What was the Sabbat?  Vampires who were proud.  So we are vampires?  Yes, didn't your sire tell you?  What is a sire?  The vampire who made you this way.

The pack taught her everything she needed to know.  What to avoid, how to hide, and even what her lineage was--Lasombra.  Everyone seemed confused that she was left to fend for herself and that she survived as well as she did, but they were happy to help.  And she was happy to help them when they said they would help with the siege of Chicago.

Rose had never been in an urban area before but she fought well.  Her newfound comrades, however, were cornered in the fight and all perished.  Afraid of what was to become of her, once again Rose fled, finding the nearest wooded area and sleeping there.  She got out to feed once in a while, hunting animals, keeping to herself.  Was there more sabbat?

After a year she went out to hunt only to careless miss a human that had been looking around the area late at night.  She didn't need him to know she was there, so she feed on him.  It was much more satisfying sucking his life out of him than it was a bird or a coyote.  But the woods didn't have enough people. She decided to find the Sabbat again, maybe find some other pack.  Did they still need fighters?  What if all of the Sabbat perished?  What if she could've stopped that.

One old contact was still around, a Revenant named Zoey.  And with her help Rose came back to find that the Sabbat was still around, but fighting petty fights amongst each other over hats and still quibbles.  But maybe she can still help.  There are some that need some guidance, some that need some teaching.  Maybe she can help.  It still seems to be better than being alone in the woods forever.