Jacob Thornton
Overview
Attributes
Abilities
Advantages
Merits & Flaws
Rituals & Paths
Experience & Derangements
XP: Stamina 3 (8); Wits 2 (4); Celerity 2 (5); Potence 2 (5); Presence 2 (5); Alertness 2 (2); Athletics 2 (2); Leadership 2 (2); Subterfuge 2 (2)
Expanded Backgrounds
Rights & Possessions
Blood Bonds/Vinculi
Description
History
Jacob Thornton was a Silent Generation kid, born in 1937 to working-class parents in West Baltimore. Shaped by the Great Depression, but too young to make a difference in World War 2, Jacob, like a lot of boys his age, got hooked on the idea of motorcycles by seeing Marlon Brando in The Wild One. His appetite for violence developed early, as he won a Silver Gloves Tournament at 16 and a Golden Gloves at 19. He joined the Baltimore branch of the Outlaws when they were founded and followed them from general hooliganism into full-on outlawry, running guns and drugs. That came to an end in 1970, when he ended up in Jessup State Prison for trafficking in cocaine.
Prison did stop Jacob’s slide into dissolution, forcing him to give up the drugs that had become a way of life. He threw himself into a strenuous exercise regimen and found himself with a small group of other inmates who took meetings with a “lifer” by the name of Ricardo Perez. No one ever saw Perez during the day - he was believed to be a permanent occupant in solitary, but at night, guards would get bribed and a handful of inmates with aspirations to something more meaningful than being a con would come and listen like they were in church. Perez preached self-improvement as seen through the lens of the Stoics, with a healthy dollop of the Catholicism Perez himself was raised on, but he also preached taking no shit in ways that the Bishop probably wouldn’t approve of. Jacob was a good student, but still pretty raw, when the prison burned.
The Jessup Prison Riot of 1972 was more than a riot - it was an effort by Camarilla operatives to get at Perez, who was an Anarch organizer and philosopher. Jacob got caught in the middle, getting shot, cut, and beaten almost to death while helping to protect Ricardo. Ricardo took pity on the man and embraced him, rather than letting him bleed out. At sunrise, his dead body was bagged up and gathered in a truck. Perez’s allies got him out that night and that was Jacob’s introduction to the world of the Kindred.
Jacob made a promise to himself not to return to Baltimore until his mother had passed, not wanting her to see his new state. Admittedly, he didn’t expect her to live to be 100, but used the time wisely, learning some of the ins and outs of Kindred society and improving his political and social skills, not to mention his talents for violence. He learned Brazilian Jiu Jitsu from a Gangrel in Philadelphia and guitar from a Toreador in Annapolis. He also learned that his embrace had come with a curse - Perez’s great-grandsire had been an Infernalist and there was a lingering stain in the bloodline that seemed to raise the hackles of the particularly devout. He learned to avoid churches, or at least only go to Mass with priests who were more clock-punchers than god-botherers. With his mother passing away late last year, Jacob has been preparing to return to the city in which he was born, touching base with elements of the criminal world and those adjacent to it. With a handful of contacts, a wad of cash, and a new rowhome, Jacob is ready to join the fight to preserve Anarch independence in Baltimore.