Harold Goodston

Harold was born in Benton City, Missouri in 1828. At the age of 15, he realized he was a werewolf and joined others of his kind on some monstrous mission in Chicago. In 1860, while scouting an enemy’s lair, Harold’s pack encountered several vampires and battle ensued. His pack scattered after two fell in combat. Harold and three others were taken prisoner. When Harold awoke, he found himself bound by silver chains alongside three other survivors from his pack. Their captor soon revealed his plans to Embrace the four werewolves. Harold watched as each of his packmates died. When the vampire came for him, he awaited a release that never arrived. Harold Goodston became one of the Kindred. Oliver Ligon, Harold’s new master, observed and manipulated kine politics on behalf of Prince Maxwell. Goodston learned his lessons from Oliver well, but he never forgot his true heritage — despite the fact that his continued existence betrayed it utterly. Harold served his master faithfully for the next 11 years. He found that, in a twisted fashion, he enjoyed his new power. Money and vices flowed to him, and he could outfight Kindred who got in his way. He briefly attempted to return to his people but broke off that effort after two werewolves nearly destroyed him. When Chicago burned on Devil’s Night, the Ventrue Lodin seized the princedom from Maxwell. Lodin’s agents destroyed Oliver, and none of Harold’s efforts at revenge succeeded. Over the next two decades, Harold withdrew from Kindred society. He moved to the sewers, took the name “Pariah” and embarked on a private search for Golconda. Thereafter, he returned to the surface only when seeking lore to secure his salvation. Pariah re-entered society in the mid-1990s in an effort to resolve the mutually catastrophic conflict between Chicago’s werewolves and vampires. His information was crucial for several key Lupine victories, though they refused to accept him after the war wound down. They still saw him as a threat and offered him only the mercy of a quick death. A special pack formed to hunt him down immediately after the war. Unfortunately for the pack, it was unprepared for the power of Pariah’s rage melded with the ferocity of the vampiric Beast. No one was more surprised than Pariah, who regained his will only to find the bodies of three Lupines laying drained at his feet. He fled, seeking another haven deeper in the sewers, howling his mingled rage and sorrow to the uncaring night. Ublo-Satha, Gargoyle servant to the Tremere, listened… and reported to the child-regent Nicolai. The elder Tremere, their curiosity aroused, assigned the Gargoyle to continue studying Pariah for weaknesses Nicolai might use as levers of control. Pariah’s self-imposed exile brought him no peace. His inner torment worsened under nightmares Nicolai induced with thaumaturgical rituals. As Nicolai intended, Pariah became convinced that the dreams flowed from his isolation. Nicolai let Pariah make the first move. The elder’s childlike appearance and protection-seeking manner completely deceived the outcast. Still, Pariah did not immediately commit himself to the elder, despite the urgings of his induced dreams. For their second meeting, Nicolai arranged for local bravos to attack him while Pariah was nearby. The abomination — for so the night creatures called him — answered the “child’s” cry for help and, at Nicolai’s request, remained to talk after chasing the assailants away. The two conversed into the early hours of the morning. Nicolai fooled Pariah into performing a few tasks for the Tremere over several months. In one instance, he used UbloCHAPTER TWO 71 Satha to make it appear that minions of Nicolai’s rivals attempted to kill him. Pariah willingly destroyed those minions with a savagery that frightened Nicolai. Pariah assists Nicolai when he can, though he never fully understands the depths of the Tremere’s deceit. He is happy to have a “friend” with whom he can confide. Despite long intervals between each encounter, these meetings are a great comfort to Pariah. On occasion, Pariah attempts to spy on Lupines so he may vicariously experience his old society. He longs to rejoin them, but he is haunted by the memory of the werewolves he drained. After such sojourns, Pariah desperately contemplates walking into the sun, but he has not yet been able to muster the will to follow through. His instinctive will to survive is at odds with his desire for destruction, and he has not yet reconciled the two. Through the use of his magic, Nicolai has given Pariah two draughts of his blood. The third drink will come soon.…

Open by id →