Blaze (NPC)

Blaze was born just outside of Philadelphia near then end of the American Revolution. His parents were farmers and he was the second oldest of seven children. He was not adverse to back-breaking work but as he grew older, Blaze longed for something more than rural life. He showed an aptitude for drawing at an early age, and spent most of his free time doodling and sketching on whatever and with whatever he could manage.

When he was around twenty, following the marriage of his older brother, Blaze left home, fearing that he would be next. He headed to Philadelphia looking for work. He did all manner of odd job to make ends meet for at least a year if not two until he ran into a local newspaper man - literally - scattering not just the man's things, but Blaze's sketchbook. The man saw Blaze's talent and offered him a trial making woodcuts for print.

Blaze was finally making money from his passion. But even though he saw his drawings throughout the city on hundred of printed pages, he was not entirely satisfied. One day he overheard a gang of sailors bragging about their exploits. The loudest of the bunch declared that he had conquered the most beautiful woman of all and promptly pulled down his shirt to show off a portrait inked into his skin.  

Blaze was riveted. Not by the story, but the tattoo. He asked the sailor where he had gotten the tattoo, but that only got his a round of laughter and the demand that he bugger off. Blaze was not deterred. He eventually tracked down a Norm Collins who gave sailors tattoos near the dock. He begged Norm to show him how it was done. The artist turned him down at first though Blaze was persistent, not giving up until Norm agreed to apprentice him.

Norm died when Blaze was in his late twenties. But by this time no one was asking the aged artist for tattoos, everyone was coming to Blaze. Norm had taught his everything about inking skin, but Blaze was a true artisan. It was his artistry that attracted the attentions of a Toreador named Philip Marks.

Philip became a lavish patron. He did not request ink for himself, but brought a never ending line of customers to the artist, paying for most commissions. He also bought Blaze the best inks and tools to perfect his trade. Blaze was suspicious of the man's attentions except he turned a blind eye as his passion took hold. 

Philip turned Blaze when he was thirty-two. At first the artist was pissed off and angry. His wrath settled down quickly however, tempered by more powerful needs and desires. Sire and Childe remained in Philadelphia for nearly ten years when Philip simply disappeared one night. Distraught, concerned, and more than a little annoyed, Blaze learned that Philip had been seen leaving the city and headed towards Chicago. The fledgling took off after him. Either the information Blaze got was wrong, or Philip had got wind of the chase and changes course, either was Blaze never did catch his Sire. 

He knew enough to ask permission to stay in Chicago - at least long enough to search for his Sire - and he ended up remaining there for more than seventy years. For all intents an purposes, Blaze 'grew' up as a vampire in Chicago. Perhaps that is why he has always been a little rough around the edges when compared to his more refined clanmates. 

Around this time, Blaze received word through another Toreador that Philip had been seen in New York City. As much as he wanted to pretend he had put his abandonment behind him, Blaze just couldn't let it go. He moved to New York and it was during his presentation to the Prince that he saw Philip for the first time in three-quarters of a century.

His reunion with Philip was not a joyous occasion. Passions ran high and words were exchanged. The only explanation that Philip could offer him was that he had been bored, and he had left in pursuit of new beautify, new talent. There was no remorse for what he had done and Blaze was left bitter. However, when the Prince of New York found out about Blaze's abandonment - to this day Blaze does not know who snitched - Philip was made to owe Blaze a boon in recompense.

Blaze set-up shop in New York. Thanks to his boon, he obtained a tiny bit of domain where he established a tattoo parlour, and most importantly a contact within the local Chantry. He was able to make an arrangement with his Tremere to offer a new service tot he night society: brilliant works of art inked into undead flesh that would not evaporate as the kindred slept.

New York by night was very much the same as Chicago, though also very different. He mostly stayed out of courtly-intrigues, preferring to spend his time on his craft. However given the nature of his work, he came into contact with the anarchs more than most kindred. During one such encounter, while inking a trio of Brujah hot-heads, he overhead them talking about taking out someone at court.

Not sure if what he had heard was real, Blaze approached a fellow Toreador, Lucrezia Amante di Lorenzo, who counselled that they take this matter to the Sheriff. The information they provided helped rout an assassination plot and for their help, Blaze and Lucrezia were both rewarded by the Prince: they were both given permission to Sire a Childe. Lucrezia was ecstatic, Blaze was... not exactly thrilled? Honestly he had never considered Siring a Childe.

Two nights after he was rewarded, a young man walked into Blaze's parlour looking for a tattoo to commemorate an important life event. Noah Silverwater was a young dancer. He wanted to celebrate his last performance with Cirque de Soleil. Blaze was entrance with the mortal's passion, his dedication, and the beauty of his near perfect body. A chance encounter let to planned ones. Dinners. Shows. Wine. Sex. A fire was ignited within the Toreador, one very much akin to working of a new work. And in a moment of sudden unbridled passion, he embraced Noah.

What Blaze did not know at the time, was that there was another kindred who had their sights set on Noah. Lucrezia had been a patron of Noah's for years. As a member of the founders board, she had arranged a scholarship to the dance school he had attended, she got him his job with Cirque de Soleil, and she hand been making plans for a lucrative choreographer's gig in New York... and was going to embrace him as her Childe.

When she found out that Blaze had embraced Noah, she was furious. She went to the Prince with accusations of theft. She complained to the Primogen about how unworthy Blaze was, what a pathetic Toreador he made, and how he would ruin her protégé. Lucrezia's complaints and accusations were turned aside. Blaze had done nothing wrong, particularly in light of the fact that he was unaware of Lucrezia's designs. And besides, he wouldn't have been the first Toreador to embrace a Childe in a fit of passion.

For their part, Blaze and Noah tried to move on. They both distracted themselves with their crafts, and Blaze taught his Childe everything he could think to teach him about being a vampire. He obviously still had some abandonment issues care-of Philip. Lucrezia however would not let things go. If somethin bad happened to Sire or Childe, you didn't have to look far to find the spurned Lucrezia.

In 2013, Blaze's Chantry friend informed him that he was relocating to the newly conquered city of Baltimore. He offered Blaze an introduction with the new Prince if he chose to move as well, seeking to gain favour by attracted more kindred to the city to bolster support for the new Prince. Growing tired to Lucrezia's antics, Blaze decided that a change of venue would be nice, moving he and his Childe to Baltimore.

Baltimore was... sparse in those early days. At least that is how Blaze describes it. Compared to New York, or even Chicago a hundred years before, the newly conquered city seemed desolate in terms of kindred society. Blaze was introduced to the Prince, he came bearing letters of introduction from his former Primogen and the personal vouchsafe of his Tremere 'partner'. But the Prince had already heard of him; he had received a letter himself from a certain concerned party in New York alleging that Blaze was a 'tradition-breaker'. Fortunately the letter did not carry as much weight as it could have, given Blaze's other backers, but it did prove to the Toreador that even moving to a new domain was not going to stop Lucrezia from getting her pound of flesh.

Blaze started a new tattoo parlour - The Dragon With The Girl Tattoo. He made a haven for himself a Noah in one of the apartments above the shop. Maybe one year later in petitioned the Prince for feeding rights in and about his shop, and was granted his request in return for providing court services as required. Shortly thereafter, Blaze was asked to play part of what he would learn was an annual tradition, the Sigil of Authority ceremony. The Toreador was required to carve symbols into court office holders, representing their offices, after which the Prince would perform a ritual affirming their authority.

He would be called to perform a number of other services, such as tattooing kindred to be branded in punishment, enough times that he earned the nickname, 'the Brand'.

In more recent event, Blaze was named Primogen of Clan Toreador when his predecessor fell into torpor. He also presented his Childe to the Prince, who released him, though Blaze still keeps Noah close.