Adam Ruskin



Adam Ruskin (Deceased)

Gangrel Primogen of Los Angeles

Unaligned

Blood Potency: 6 

Background (What is Known)
The line d'Auvergnon was once a proud thing. Born the heir to a small province in France, the man who would one day call himself Adam Ruskin was a prince in his own right. His home, however, was never destined to be a happy one. His father had fallen to plague when his son was little more than a child, leaving the boy bereft of guidance beyond that of his mother and whatever tutors and retainers she appointed. While an old line, their power and fortunes had been greatly curtailed centuries earlier, and without a lord ready to command their armies, they were under constant threat of attack. Whether from some spark of maternal protectiveness or a selfish desire to be safe and cared for herself, his mother chose to become quite the socialite. Leaving the teenage lordling to oversee the estate, she took to rallying the aid of whatever local nobility she was able, and if most of her success in luring them to her cause was not gained through diplomacy, few could truly blame the lonely widow.

Left alone in the sprawling castle that was his by birth, Ruskin grew into adulthood alone but for the companionship of his servitors. Chief among these overseers was Belle--who, in his youth, had been little more than a girl herself when she was appointed his nanny. His life was soon to change irrevocably, however, when a coterie of vampires arrived seeking asylum. Vulnerable to the patrician's charm of their leader, Ruskin was slowly won over, accepting the fatherly council of the Ventrue now known as Payne Hewett. In similar fashion, made vulnerable by a lifetime of virtual solitude, the young Count was open to the camaraderie offered by the one now called Evan Cord, who treated him as a brother and began to ensnare him with the lure of blood. Throughout this insinuation, the servant woman had remained suspicious, decrying these newcomers as dangerous... but the danger was one none of the mortal--or the Kindred--had expected.

Perhaps goaded on by her diminishing influence, perhaps some strange facsimile of loyalty, the Changeling attempted to seduce Count d'Auvergnon. She was foiled, though, as the protection he had been afforded by his regnant turned aside her fae magic. Enraged, Belle struck down her would-be lover and attempted to flee.

Preserved at the brink of death by preternatural fortitude, Ruskin d'Auvergnon would not survive the night. Rather than letting him die, Cord Embraced him. Now one of the Damned, the former lord could not remain in his ancestral home, as there were too many who might notice the change that followed. Alongside his vampiric friends, he fled the lands of his forebears.

To avoid scrutiny in the world beyond, Ruskin chose to take up his Christian name Adam, and shaved away the brilliant red hair that had earned him his former moniker. Traveling with the coterie as they crisscrossed the Old World, Adam saw much, until one of their growing number's lack of caution forced them to flee once more. Ferried across the ocean alongside his brethren, Ruskin found himself in America, but the brotherhood that had wandered Europe had grown fractious. One by one, the Kindred each broke away as they journeyed. Finding something familiar there that called him to the swampy wetlands, Adam settled in New Orleans for a time, building an empire and rising to become the Prince of that famous town in the years that followed.

Eventually, though, he was tempted from his domain, as news of the gold rush in California called to all who dreamt of lost wealth. Perhaps guided by the hand of a god that had forsaken them, the coterie was reunited in the sun-drenched land of San Francisco. Even Adam's own Sire joined them there for a time. They had gathered to pursue wealth, but it was treasure of an entirely different nature convinced them to remain. The seeress Cassandra, a lowly tavern wench, tempted each with her of visions of what might be, and ultimately, Adam--alongside Henry, Payne, Orlok, and Jake--settled to establish themselves, becoming the Primogen of the burgeoning town.

Treachery once again, though, was to twist the Gangrel's life. During a meeting with the Seneschal of Los Angeles, the Prince of the City by the Bay murdered the visiting dignitary, bringing down calamity. When flame and tremors abated, Adam and the others crawled from the rubble of their ruined demesne to find their master dead. The father of the late dhampyr, a far older power offered them position among his court as advisors. Accepting the ancient's offer, Adam and those of the original coterie that had remained moved to Los Angeles, where they remain to this night.

Description
The Gangrel Primogen is a hulking behemoth of a man, but he's not really ugly--far from it actually. He's just terrifying. Even most of the other Primogens give him a wide berth. He says nothing of his origins, but he speaks French with native fluency and possesses a knowledge of formal etiquette rivaled only by the two Ventrues among the Prince's Court, suggesting a life among the privileged before his Embrace. He lives in the ruinous remains of the Giffith Park Zoo (the precursor of the Los Angeles Zoo closed for almost fifty years now).