Jamie Rankin
Jamie Rankin, "Wandering Voice" is a Bone Shadow Elodoth member of the Lodge of Harbingers.
Background
Jamie Rankin always felt the pull to test his edges and boundaries. He couldn't help it. In school he broke the rules just because he could, to see what it felt like. Sometimes, it felt good - especially when the rule didn't make any sense, like having to keep his hair cut short just because he was a boy. Other times, he broke a rule and found out just what the rule was there for: running between classes was find for Jamie, but he made life harder for everyone around him, and pushing past the star quarterback earned him a beating after school.
He went to a local college in Pennsylvania, but he couldn't concentrate worth a damn. None of the classes he went to seemed to have a practical use in the real world. Wandering through an arbitrary world of classes and GPAs and pointless, stupid rules, he spend every single day feeling hollow. One day, out of the blue, an old friend called him from El Paso. Something felt right about that phone call, something he'd not felt during the nine months he'd spend in college.
He emptied his bank accounts, burned all his IDs, and dropped out of all his classes. He hopped a Greyhound to El Paso, hoping that a change of scenery would fill the void within. Jamie naively assumed that he could crash on his friend's couch, and hadn't made any plans for what he'd do when he got there. When he stepped off the bus, something felt right. That feeling didn't last. Six months later, three people beat Jamie half to death after his "friend" got him a job as a drug mile without warning him. Once he'd recovered, Jamie stole a car and drove off towards Arizona. He took his sweet time, and wandered the Mexico border for nearly three years.
In the back streets of San Diego one night in 1979, Jamie suddenly felt it: something in the world matched the hole in his soul. He couldn't help but investigate. Something was working in the dark, something the size of a man with four legs and thin hairy arms like a spider. The creature vomited a translucent web. Jamie could tell that the web hurt the world. He ran at the spider-thing. Jamie tore the Azlu and his web to shreds. Waking up covered in blood and scraps of odd spirit-stuff, he felt sated for the first time.
A pack of of young werewolves took him in, and claimed the weak locus he'd saved as part of their territory. Jamie saw the Bone Shadows and their understanding of the Hisil as the right place for him - he'd first felt whole in a locus, and every hour in the Shadow felt like it was recharging his batteries. The rest of his pack weren't exactly wise in the ways of the Shadow; they'd pissed off a lot of local spirits. Jamie had learned a lot about dealing with different people from his travels, and he put that to use as he began to talk the spirits around. It wasn't easy, but he started to bring them around.
After years of talking to spirits and making deals, Jamie felt Luna pulling him deeper into the shadow. He became a Hissu-kag, an Envoy to the Shadow. He got a reputation amongst neighboring packs that came to him when they needed someone who could get spirit on-side. He heard of werewolves who needed his help from as far away as Los Angeles and Tijuana, and he couldn't turn them down. His pack travelled with him into the Shadow, and saw as he earned favors from all manner of spirits.
Learning of the powerful and mad Fire-Touched known as the Mountain Man through a prophecy, Jamie learned that he was leading an army of spirits towards California. He gathered the biggest alliance of Forsaken and spirits seen in the last hundred years. He cashed in every favor he could think of, and over forty werewolves joined him, alongside powerful spirits. Jamie took his army to Mexicali, where they met the Mountain Man's army. The Pure's horde of bound spirits broke against the Forsaken army - Jamie's army. After four nights of terrible violence, the Pure fell. Exhausted but still alive, the Forsaken army celebrated their victory. For a few nights, packs of werewolves fought alongside each other without petty violence getting in the way. That day, the Lodge of Harbingers added him to their number.
Wandering Voice still holds territory in San Diego, but he travels the southwest looking for prophecies and delivering them to whoever needs to hear them. Trusted by spirits and Forsaken alike, any werewolf hearing a prophecy from Wandering Voice knows that whatever he says is going to change their lives.
Description
Jamie's a tall, slender man in his early 50s. His hair's turned gray early, a reminder of his father back in Pennsylvania, but he sports a deep tan and his face has deep lines from spending most of his years in the sun. He dresses for durability, wearing blue jeans and old boots that never wear out. The same philosophy carries over to his car, a 1974 Cadillac Eldorado that he's somehow kept running through thick and thin. When he speaks - which he rarely does, theses days - he never needs to raise his voice to be heard. Everyone who knows of him shuts up, desperate to hear what he's got to say.
Storytelling Hints
Wandering Voice stopped trying to bridge the physical and spiritual even before facing the Mountain Man. He is that bridge now, a living conduit between flesh and spirit. He's spent a lot of time in both worlds, but he feels best when he's taking something through, be it a human who's crossed the Gauntlet somehow or forbidden knowledge from a spirit. About the only thing that pisses him off is seeing how much other werewolves rely on him; between his secrets and his force of personality, a lot of packs will go along with whatever he says. Jamie can't stand that; other people should be able to rely on themselves first and foremost.
Stats
Auspice: Elodoth
Aspect: Envoy
Tribe: Bone Shadow
Lodge: Lodge of Harbingers
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 4, Resolve 3
Physical Attributes: Strength 3 (4/6/5/4), Dexterity 3 (3/4/5/5), Stamina 5 (6/7/7/6)
Social Attributes: Presence 7, Manipulation 3 (2/3/0/3), Composure 6
Mental Skills: Crafts (Auto Mechanic) 3, Investigation 3, Medicine (First Aid) 2, Occult (Spirit Lore) 3, Politics (Spirit Courts) 4
Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 2, Drive 3, Larceny 2, Stealth 4, Survival (Desert) 4
Social Skills: Animal Ken 2, Empathy 4, Expression (Storytelling) 2, Intimidation 1, Persuasion 5, Socialize (Uratha) 3, Streetwise (San Diego) 2
Merits: Allies (Local Spirits) 4, Contacts (Local Spirits, Local Werewolves) 2, Direction Sense, Inspiring, Iron Stamina 3, Language (First Tongue, Spanish) 2, Totem 4
Willpower: 9
Harmony: 8
Virtue: Fortitude. When Jamie sets his mind to something, he won't let anything stop him.
Vice: Pride. Sometimes, he really should let things stop him.
Initiative: 9 (9/10/11/11)
Defense: 3 (3/4/4/4)
Speed: 12 (13/15/19/17)
Health: 10 (12/14/13/10)
Primal Urge: 7
Renown: Honor 5, Glory 2, Purity 3, Wisdom 4
Gifts: Instant Measure, Feet of Mist, Scent Beneath the Surface, Sense Malice, Ward versus Predators, Beyond Reproach, Blending, Scent of Taint, Snarl of Command, Ward versus Humans, Echo Dream, Forge Contact, Running Shadow, Shining Example, Soul Read, Honor Incarnate, Omen Gazing
Rituals: 3; Rites: Banish Human, Banish Spirit, Bind Human, Blessing of the Spirit Hunt, Boundary Rite, Cleansed Blood, Echoes of Truth, Scared Hunt, Wake the Spirit
Essence Max/Per Turn: 20/5
References
- WTF: Signs of the Moon, p. 110-111
