Monday, September 2, 2019

As the World of Darkness Turns: Solomon Taft



One of my best friends, David, has been running a Vampire: the Masquerade 5th Edition game for almost a year. I didn't join in on the game immediately, but was a part of it by it's second month. I created a Tremere named Solomon Taft. The game is set in Cincinnati, OH, about 15 minutes from where we all live.

I didn't have a full grasp on who I wanted Solomon to be and due to some of my mental health issues, was always a very passive player. Early on, David made me a courier for the Tremere Primogen and asked if I peaked into what I was carrying and I said , "No". So I knew Solomon was loyal.

We eventually had a case in Europe for our Prince where we needed to disprove that a french Vampire had a claim to a position our Prince was to hold. During the affair, we met the Prince of Paris, a rude Malkavian, who tried to pin some ghoul disappearances on our Coterie. We did find our Prince's rival and easily disproved his claim. The only fallout for him was social exile though.

After this case I was promoted to Primogen of the Tremere and my former boss went to Europe.

Over the last two months of real time I've begun feeling better than I have in maybe as long as two years.

Around this time, the Prince of Cincinnati, after much deliberation, allowed a group of Garou to reclaim ancestral territory outside the city.

Solomon didn't like this. He's got a very high Occult skill and had faced a single Garou that killed the city's Sheriff and sent an ally, Riff Raff, into topor for a couple of weeks. When arguing against the plan he cited that very few giving counsel had faced any Garou and didn't know what they were dealing with. 

He began strengthening the defenses at the Tremere stronghold in the city and courting alliances with the local Nosferatu to create refuges for his clan in the city's underground.

Solomon also pursued a relationship with a member of Cincinnati's Church. He wanted allies if the Garou became a problem. 

Next we discovered that our Prince had a collection of ancient vampires in torpor in Europe and some of them were destroyed by the Church. Our coterie met with the Prince and brainstormed some retributions. 

We soon discovered that our Prince was enacting ALL of them. One of them was to air drop a Methusela into the Church's HQ while the entire group's leadership was meeting. We didn't find out how many died and we didn't kill the Chruch's leader, but we struck a major blow.

Even though I'd been a passive player I was always listening. I decided it was time to act because I didn't want Cincinnati or the Tremere destroyed because I had a hand in what was happening.

Solomon then decided to rig the Tremere HQ to blow up if the Church came after him. He'd go out in a blaze of glory.

While work on the house was being done, he had his Clanmates meet at one of the boltholes in the sewers and went over some of the things that the city was facing.

Solomon then used his Church contact to send the Church's wrath to Paris, to eliminate that Prince and the Poser they had dealt with claiming they were behind the attack to the Church's leadership.

Solmon then went to his Coterie and asked if anyone wanted to be Prince if ours was lost. It turns out Riff Raff wanted the job if it became open and Solomon honestly explained he wasn't sure if he wanted it.

He also listened to a theory of Riff Raff's that their Prince had a double. It seemed intriguing.

Solomon then went and met with the Garou leaders to see if they had connections in Europe to cause further disarray. It was a possibility, but not certain.

He then set up a meeting with the Prince, where they all learned of the attacks on Paris. He revealed it was his move, that he wanted to throw off the Church and that he was tired of cowering in the shadows. He mentioned that the Garou could be helpful in removing Vampire enemies of the Prince's.

Finally, Solomon explained that he had some control over where the Church got information and that is was the Prince's move now.

It was rewarding to figure out who Solomon was after so many months and I hope things work out for him.


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