Greg Norton
Overview
Chicago's Kindred all talk a great deal about Maxwell's most infamous childe, Persephone Moore, but nobody discusses (or even remembers) Greg Norton, Maxwell's penultimate childe. Norton is easily forgotten as he was quietly Embraced shortly before Maxwell claimed praxis, on a night when other, more spectacular things were going on to distract from the few muttered comments about Maxwell's new childe. Not only is Norton free of the scandal that clings to Moore, but he is unremarkable looking and carefully maintains an ultra-low profile. Of the few Kindred who ever even knew of Norton's existence, all but Garret McLean and Tobias Rieff have forgotten him. Only those two know Norton, and know of his connection to the Prince. The Prince has this far successfully kept Norton's existence a secret from Norris, "just in case." If Norris ever does discover Norton's existence, Norris may resent the Prince's secrecy.
Norton is the Prince's media monitor, his archivist and his occasional spy. From Norton's haven in the basement of the Chicago Tribune, he monitors the local media, watching for strange or unexpected stories popping up in the news; if anything catches his eye, or if her notices patterns coming together, he informs the Prince and often finds himself assigned to investigate. The amount of weird phenomena that unfold in and around Chicago is vast, and it's up to Norton to determine what's salient and what's not, but he errs on the side of excess. Better, he has decided, to raise the occasional false alarm than to overlook something that might be important.
Norton's other desk job is to transcribe all of Prince Maxell's journals, notes and memoirs onto computer and place them in a safe as a safeguard in case Maxwell succumbs to torpor again. It is also within Norton's duties to see to it that Maxwell's body is properly hidden should he ever enter torpor involuntarily.
Norton's last duty, and the one he engages in least frequently, is to act as Maxwell's eyes and ears on the street. Nobody knows Greg Norton. More importantly, nobody recognizes him, and nobody connects him to Maxwell. The Prince himself occasionally goes out in disguise, but there are times when he can't attend to such things himself. Norton does not work for Maxwell in his role as Prince, but in Maxwell's role as elder. Norton's investigations generally don't pertain to city business but to Maxwell's personal interests.
Norton is one of the most isolated Kindred in Chicago; he doesn't have a coterie, he doesn't have a system of allies and he doesn't have his own contracts or influence in the mortal world. He could get all of these things just as easily as any other Kindred, but Maxwell has forbidden Norton to do so lest his secrecy be compromised. In exchange for this cloistered Requiem, the Prince provides Norton with ample Vitae and every benefit of wealth and luxury. The implicit promise in the situation is that Norton will someday jump several rungs up the Invictus ladder.
Maxwell's Shadow
Norton grew up on Chicago's North Shore, and unmotivated scion of a wealthy family whose large backyard overlooked Lake Michigan. In school, Norton was notoriously boring, and, consequently, he was chronically bored. He never particularly stood out in any group because he never made an effort to do so, and he rarely even joined any kind of group at all. Instead, Norton sat home and resented others who had established more interesting social circles or otherwise made more interesting decisions than he had.
The same pattern plagued him his whole life. Instead of making a change, he preferred to complain about his lousy predicament and then sit home alone.
By the time he was 30, Norton was still single and nursing a significant bitterness against the rest of the world, but he still refused to make any decisive effort to change his own life.
Finally, it was changed for him.
And no one could ever mistake Greg Norton for being flashy. When the Prince saw him, the Prince saw the ideal subtle operative. He immediately checked the young man out and arranged for Norton's Embrace.
The Embrace itself wasn't particularly shocking to Norton, but Maxwell's intensive training regimen afterward was a bit of a shock. It didn't take that long for Norton to catch on to what Maxwell wanted of him - and part of what he wanted was Norton's conspicuous absence from the public eye. Maxwell himself arranged Norton's haven, his office and his feeding. There is very little Norton needs to do but watch news, read newspapers and assemble concise accounts of what he reads. If something particularly noteworthy shows up in the news, Norton has the support he needs to investigate it. Norton's job isn't to "handle" the strange things he discovers, just to investigate them in case Maxwell needs to handle it. While Norris is Maxwell's window onto Chicago's Kindred, Norton is Maxwell's window onto the strange world of mortals.
Very much the bird in the gilded cage, Norton resides in a remarkably comfortable apartment located in the basement of the Chicago Tribune Tower. There he monitors the media in a posh environment that even many among the wealthy would envy. And it takes very little effort on Norton's part, just the way he likes it.
On those occasions when he was to actually go out of his quarters, Norton is ignored almost universally, but now he's trying to be subtle, he finds that response from mortals strangely empowering.
Greg Norton is among the more forgettable vampires in the city of Chicago. Maxwell deliberately chose him for those features. The young Ventrue has average features, light brown hair and hazel eyes. He wears neat, business casual clothing bought from casual venues like the Gap and Banana Republic.
Stats
Clan: Ventrue
Covenant: Invictus
Embrace: 1979
Apparent Age: 30
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 4, Wits 3, Resolve 3
Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 3
Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 2, Composure 3
Mental Skills: Academics (PR) 3, Computer 4, Investigation 3, Politics (PR) 1
Physical Skills: Drive 2, Stealth 2
Social Skills: Empathy 2, Expression 1, Persuasion 2, Socialize (Mingle) 1, Subterfuge 1
Merits: Contacts (News, Magazines, Law Offices), Haven: Security 4, Haven: Size 3, Inspiring, Mentor 3, Resources 1
Willpower: 6
Humanity: 7
Virtue: Temperance
Vice: Envy
Health: 8
Initiative: 6
Defense: 2
Speed: 9
Blood Potency: 1 (Vitae/turn: 10/1)
Disciplines: Dominate 1, Resilience 4, Vigor 1
References
- VTR/WTF/MTAw/CofD: World of Darkness: Chicago, p. 141-142