Darth Wiki / Vampire The Masquerade The Next Of Kin

A Vampire: The Masquerade chronicle set in L.A in the year 2020, 16 years after the events of the game bloodlines. It follows the story of four kindred embraced and then abandoned in a ditch. They then have to figure out who and what they are while dealing with the boiling point politics of L.A.

The Characters:

The Coterie In General

A loose group formed when they were left in the same ditch after being embraced. While they have little in common they can agree they need to survive.

• Anti-Hero Team:
• Fire-Forged Friends:
• I Hate You, Vampire Dad: A common trend within the group. Stephen has been the most vocal about getting revenge while Eric has agreed to that idea. Bianca has voiced some unsureness about the idea and Mick has not voiced an opinion.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Due to some poor choices made early on the party tends to have Mick be the Butt-Monkey of the group. Despite that Stepthen is the meanest.
• Naïve Newcomer: The group have very little knowledge of Kindred and have been recently embraced.
• One Degree of Separation: Mick is dating the Toreador primogen, Bianca is the daughter of the head of the West Coast branch of the Giovanni family and therefor is related to all the Giovannis, and Eric was working for Victor Temple. The only person this does not seem to apply to is Stephen who as it turns out is close friends with one of the head researchers of the Second Inqustion.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits:
• You All Share My Story: Despite their very different lives they've all ended up tied to some of the most powerful people in the night side of L.A and in the sights of Smiling Jack.
• With Friends Like These...: After Mick left with Anthony Stepthen and Eric considered the idea of murdering him in order to protect the rest of the group from the potential of Mick leaking information. Bianca was horrified by this idea and Eric later realized that he was being paranoid. Mick is yet to know about this conversation.
• We ARE Struggling Together: All of them come from different walks of life, with different morals and values and different ideas on what to do with their new unlife.

Bianca Giovanni

A gangel mafia heiress, she is one of the PCs and is played by Raven. An airhead at first glance she has hidden cleverness.

• Action Girl: The only woman of her Coterie she also happens to be the member most geared for fist fighting.
• Action Fashionista: The main brawler for the group and also a model.
• Animal Motifs: Wolves, as a tie in with the Little Red stuff. When using Protean she most frequently takes the traits of a wolf.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Being 21 at the embrace makes her the youngest of the Coterie.
• Badass Adorable: Dresses herself in a very "cute" way and acts in an overly friendly way she is also a kindred of the Gangel clan.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: She comes from one of these.
• Christianity is Catholic: She was raised Catholic and still practices in some regards.
• The Ditz: Pretends to be this for the stake of her safety.
• Evil Parents Want Good Kids: Her father never wanted her to become a kindred or even know about that side of the family and has done all he can to lead her towards a successful mortal life in politics.
• Innocence Lost: Her third cousin Igor was left in L.A to ensure this. Which through his occult teachings and horrific abuse of her he accomplished.
• Papa Wolf: Her father Angelo is this to the point of nearly starting an intra-family war due to his second cousin abusing her.
• Fairy Tale Motifs: Little Red Riding Hood.
• The Fashionista: She works as a Instagram model with a notable quirky style.
• Fille Fatale: Was considered this by her brother and third cousin to tragic results. She is also the youngest of the main Coterie and the most flirty.
• Pink Means Feminine: The only woman in her Coterie who happens to have her hair dyed coral and frequently wear pink. Despite this, her theme color is red.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: In order to avoid standing out as a valuable heir she's pretended to be a typical 20s Instagram model and be completely unaware of her family's shady dealings.
• Life of the Party: She attends many parties and is a great entertainer.
• Little Dead Riding Hood: Was embraced while dressed in a red hooded jacket (due to the cold). Doesn't help that she has a red riding hood motif.
• Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: She has little in the way relationship wisdom nor is she all that good at picking up on red flags leading to unhealthy and questionable relationships.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Being homeschooled with many of her relatives only active at night or not wanting to bother with her left her with very few human connections in childhood with her third cousin being her only real friend.
• Mafia Princess: Not only she is the daughter of the head of the local mafia, she is the daughter of the head of the local kindred mafia.
• Nice Girl: Despite everything else she is genuinely kind and does not enjoy harm to others much at all.
• Red Riding Hood Replica: From a red hood, to similarities with the plotline she has a couple traits from the classic tale.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: As a Gangel she has access to the Protean disipline.
• White Sheep: Being the youngest of her family she's yet to have officially been told about the kindred stuff plus she's not joined in the crime aspect either.

Michael "Mick" Ross

A Toreador rockstar, he is one of the PCs and is played by Troy.

• Abusive Parents: Had these growing up.
• Berserk Button: Don't hit a kid in front of him.
• Cigarette of Anxiety: Smokes when he's worried, which is a lot.
• Charm Person: He has the Presence 1 ability "Awe" which can make him this.
• Cool People Rebel Against Authority: Invokes this image on purpose despite lacking a stolid cause.
• Conflicting Loyalty: The coterie, the only people he can trust, are siding with the Anarchs. Meanwhile his boyfriend is one of the Camarilla Primogen.
• The Corrupter: Offers smokes, drugs, and drinks to everybody around him and drags people to the wild parties he goes to.
  • Toxic Friend Influence: Also is this to anybody close to him.
• Dirty Business: Going behind the backs of the rest of the coterie in order to get in proper contact with Anthony.
• Drowning My Sorrows: How he deals with his emotional problems.
• May–December Romance: His boyfriend was alive during the 1910s while he's only in his 30s.
• The Hedonist: As a Toreador and somebody who fell hard into the sex drugs and rock and roll lifestyle of the L.A music scene.
• Protest Song: Has made a few of these. Though what he's standing up for is unclear.
• Unwitting Pawn: As a player character he fits in to this. Notable for being first out of the coterie to inadvertently fall right into Jack's plan by telling Anthony something is wrong.
• Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll: The idea behind his character.
• The Rock Star: What he's trying to be.
• Rotten Rock & Roll: A rockstar, not quite a villain but sure as hell ain't a good guy

Eric Grieve

A Lasombra soldier turned hitman out for revenge, he is one of the PCs and played by John. Once deeply in love with a woman who went mysteriously missing, he turned to desperate measures to find the ones who took her.

• Affluent Ascetic: Despite being rich thanks to his job he lives in a middle class home, drives a normal car, and doesn't get out a lot. To be fair a lot of his income goes to weapon maintenance and suits.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: When on the job or dealing with people he knows from it he dresses sharply. Off hours or when a hit calls for it he'll dress down however.
• Cold Ham: Very aloof and rarely emotional but engages with extreme violence, snap choices, and of course being part of an RPG means he has a lot of chances to ham it up.
• Cold Sniper: Talented with a sniper rifle and aloof most of the time. Though unlike other examples underneath that shell he does have emotions.
• Conspicuous Gloves: Frequently found wearing gloves when dressed up. Both to avoid fingerprints and to simply add to the look.
• The Cowl: Even before becoming a kindred he preferred to work at night. Taken up a level by his new found shadow manipulation.
• Death Seeker: Besides from avenging Maris his main goal is to find worthy cause to die for.
• Determinator: Only final death could stop him from finding the people who took Maris.
• Experienced Protagonist: Before his embrace he spent time as a part of the Special Ops as a sniper and then as a hitman.
• Excessive Mourning: The loss of Maris completely took over his life and has put himself and everyone still left in his life in extreme danger. He isn't even sure if she's dead.
• From Camouflage to Criminal: Was a Special Ops sniper who was then dishonorably discharged and became a hitman.
• The Gunslinger: His trademark weapon is a sniper rifle but he can weld any firearm and prefers to. He can fight melee if he has to though.
• Happily Married: What he and Maris had dreamed would happen, but while still engaged Maris was kidnapped preventing this outcome.
• Hitman with a Heart: He will not go after civilians who aren't criminals, anybody who has not accepted danger as part of their lives has no part in it.
• Never Hurt an Innocent: The logical result of one of his convictions being that harm to an innocent demands justice.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: The people he kills are almost exclusively criminals who've done great harm themselves.
• The Lost Lenore: The woman he was going to marry went missing six years ago and he is still in mourning and still looking for her, though not with a lot of hope of finding her alive.
• Stealth Expert: Thanks to his new discipline Oblivion he can manipulate shadow in order to add in his already good stealth skills.
• Tranquil Fury: Not one to show his emotions often his anger runs very cold.
• Would Not Shoot a Civilian: As per one of his convictions.
• Revenge Before Reason: In trying find what he feels is justice for Maris he permanently ruined his life and got himself tied to the politics of the Kindred ending with him getting embraced.

Stephen Brice

A ventrue actor, he is one of the PCs and played by Alex. Always trying to live up to some idealized version of himself he can never seem to stop acting.

• Abusive Parents: His mother is highly controlling of him and is the one who decided what path his life went down, to the day he died and beyond that now.
• Ambiguously Absent Parent: Steph’s father didn’t really do much that has affected him.
• Badassina Nice Suit: He almost always wearing a suit when out, and as a vampire he’s rather close to being badass.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: His mother is a control freak who wants to live through him, his father is useless and his twin has basically dropped contact with the family.
• Becomingthe Mask: Throughout Steph’s life he’s made and put on mask after mask, almost always to please those around him and so far every time he's fallen into the role so deep that if he stopped acting, he'd no longer know who he is.
• Beneaththe Mask: But there is still some things under the mask, despite how spotlight hungry he acts and how he hasn’t studied much outside of acting, he really enjoys reading, learning about history and has about as much passion for these things as the things he’s been forced to be passionate about.
• Breakthe Haughty: Normally very full of himself, but is now dealing with forces outside his realm of knowledge.
• Chinese Vampire: Steph is mixed Chinese and his culture is very important to him, though this trope is subverted by the fact that he is a kindred not any form of Kuei-Jin.
• Compelling Voice: Using the Dominate discipline Steph has been able to order people into acting in ways they otherwise wouldn’t have for his own gain.
• Disappeared Dad: There is a real question of if Stepths father is alive. Reportedly he's been away on bussniess... the entire time Stephen has been alive.
• Formerly Friendly Family: He used to get along with Lin but during their teen years the pair started fighting all the time.
• Kissofthe Vampire: During one of the many hunger freakouts that the group had Steph was bite by Mick, Steph oddly found the bite enjoyable, however not the getting assaulted part.
• Jerkwitha Heartof Gold: Steph acts like a egoist jerk a lot of the time, but he can and does truly care about people and want the best for them.
• Mirror Character: From the first character that the player made for Next Of Kin whom was only played once: Clark Rider, like Clark Steph has controlling parents that pushed him into doing things that keep him from being close with a sibling, also like Clark he is the closest the group has to a normal person, and is likely to have a storyline about becoming a darker and worse person.
• The One That Got Away: He did really love Honey but still feels hurt by the secrets she kept.
• * I Coulda Beena Contender!: Still not as famous as his mother and now as a kindred he’ll likely never get the fame she and him had hoped for him.
• Inthe Blood: Steph is a lot like his mother, mainly because she raised him to be just like her.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Steph very much cares about his fashion.
• The Vamp: He is used to using his looks and charm to get what he wants.
• Vampire Hickey: Mick didn’t clean up Steph’s neck after biting him, leaving Steph to have a bite mark on his neck for a while at least.

Smiling Jack

An Anarch . He has seen much of the cites recent history and isn't too happy with it, setting out to change it. He is also Jenna's sire.

• Badass Biker: Invokes this image and even has a huge chopper to prove it.

• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He does tend to be heartless but around Jenna things soften up a fair bit.
• Sink or Swim Mentor: He abandoned Jenna at first leaving her first nights a very confusing time for her, used the fledgling as a pawn in his plan against LaCroix, and now has left four freshly embraced kindred on their own in hopes they aid his plan.

Edward Kent

The Prince of L.A since 2006. He started a war and won Downtown out of it along with did major damage to the Anarchs of the city.

• Cloud Cuckoolander: He has a few... odd tendencies including never being seen with out a masquerade mask on along with vague nicknames he gives to people of importance. All of this being seen as attempts to avoid the games the elders play and to throw off spies.

• Becoming the Mask: He really wasn't much of a cruel guy, let alone somebody who'd order mass murder. But due to all that he went through by the end of the first month after his embraced then followed by his derangement made him pretend to be one. And slowly he is getting twisted into fully embracing it.
• Failure Gambit: He really just wants to get out of everyone's crosshairs and the best way to do that is to come off as a non threat and ineffectual.
• Mad Oracle: His first derangement which while he has under better control than he did as a fledgling it still affects him greatly.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: Meeting Caine face to face did nothing to help his already shot mental health and in fact it was the cause of his second derangement.
• Sanity Slippage: Despite making more sense now than he did when first embraced he has developed a complexity addiction causing him to act in ways that go directly against his goals.
• Springtime for Hitler: He doesn't really want the Camarilla in LA to get very far, and he just wants to be seen as the ineffectual prince who got chased out of town. Both because he likes the Anarchs of LA and because he figures it'd be a good way to get rid of the street cred he has that makes him a target, both as the fledgling who survived against all odds and the prince.
• Vampire Monarch: The prince of L.A

Nerissa Aleshire

The Primogen of the Tremere as well as the regent of L.A.

• The Dragon: Is this to Edward as the most loyal of the Primogen. Up to and including acting as a spy on Anthony.

Nika Viktorov

The Primogen of the Ventrue clan.

Anthony Cheshire

The Primogen of the Toreador. He also is one of the more long standing Primogen in LA along with Gary.

• The Beautiful Elite: He has been called a pretty boy in the past and it was fitting and he happens to be both a Primogen and very rich.
• Beauty Is Bad: He both is a vampire and helping in a plot that include betrayal, forced blood bonding, and overthrowing the prince.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He is actually one of the nicer Primogen but is behind a plot to overthrow the prince.
• Cultured Badass: He is very interested in the arts and interacts with them as much as he can but also is an over 100 year old vampire who would not struggle in a fight with mortals or fledglings.
• The Dandy: He is a Toreador after all.
• Vampires Are Rich: Through art sales and investing in the right artists he has a fair amount of disposable income.

This chronicle contains these tropes

• Black-and-Gray Morality: The Camarilla is full of schemers and betrayal, The Anarchs can be just as scheming and pose a threat to humans, The Sabbat are complete monsters, and any smaller group tend to have their own problems.
• Career-Ending Injury: Yan Brice suffered one of these spuring her to push her son Stephen into the spotlight.
• The Chessmaster: Almost everyone believes they are this but rare are those who are actually this.
• Conveniently an Orphan: The PCs were abandoned by their sires leaving them free to do as they wish.
• Corruption by a Minor: All of Christopher Houghton's childer could count as this.
• Corruption of a Minor: Christopher Houghton's sire committed this by turning a 13 year old boy into a blood sucking monster. Same does for Bee's, Dawn's, and Ariane's.
• Dark World: It's The World of Darkness, what else would you expect?

• End of the World as We Know It: There are still some signs pointing to Gehenna but that is unlikely to go anywhere as the storyteller would rather not end the world
• Involuntary Group Split: The coterie after meeting with Damsel got split up due to an impluse discion by Mick to call his boyfriend. Anthony showed up and group had no better option but to let Mick get taken.
• Honorary Uncle: Dr. Albert Chase has been this to Stephen and Lin due to his close friendship with their mother.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Yan Brice, along with Eric and Mick's estranged parents have all unknowingly outlived their children.
• Knowledge Broker: Dawn's main job has been this for years, it's just currently she has to work underground to avoid the Camarilla.
• Little Miss Badass: Ariane, Dawn, & Bee are all in the age range of 12-15 and are all very capable in one way or another.
• The Masquerade: Per The World of Darkness tradition.
• Magical Library: The Chantry.
• Never Split the Party: Discussed and then adverted as the group sent Mick off with Anthony.
• Undead Child: L.A is surprisingly full of these with, the vampire behind L.A is Christopher Houghton who is around 13, Beatrix “Bee” Herbertson just came to the city and is around 13, Dawn who's 14, and there's Ariane who is around 14.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Lee Honeycutt, Stephen's ex-girlfriend, is a sex worker and also a kind woman uninvoled with many of the darker parts of the world.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Every faction in L.A. The Camarilla as per usual is full of backstabbings waiting to happen, personal vendettas, and political intrigue. The Anarchs all have their own personal ideals and ideas about how thing should be run and only work together out of necessity.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: All the kindred who were embraced as children still have the beast inside of them.
• Tyke Bomb: The most powerful kindred in L.A is a 13 year old boy.
• Successful Sibling Syndrome: Subverted by Lin who is more than happy to not be famous and feels bad for his famous brother due to what their mother did to him.
• Watching Troy Burn: The Anarchs as a whole watched as their bars and havens were burned down.
• We ARE Struggling Together: While all the Anarchs can agree that the Camarilla need to go down they are split up and fight amongst themselves.