John Fitzwilliam

Lord John Fitzwilliam was Homid Ahroun Silver Fang from House Austere Howl who lived during the Dark Ages.^[1]

Background

John Fitzwilliam is a Silver Fang, born to the third son of a minor Norman lord in Wexford. Sent to England at a young age to be educated, he came to his First Change late. The Silver Fangs of the English baronial courts that Fitzwilliam frequented marked him early as one of their own. They sent spirits to trace his ancestry and learned that he was a scion of House Austere Howl. After his First Change - he became lost during a hunting expedition and transformed himself unthinkingly while he slept - the Silver Fangs of the Protector's Caern on the Salisbury Plain adopted him. Having proved himself a capable warrior defending the caern's bawn from vampiric incursions, Fitzwilliam was groomed for leadership.

Sent to the Fenrir of Munster, as he returned to his father's lands both as a student and a treaty hostage, Fitzwilliam learned the value of strength and lost much of his Silver Fang finery and superior attitude. Though the Munster Fenrir have a valid claim to nobility, they are wild in combat and raucous in celebration. After his release, Fitzwilliam lived for a time in his father's house, and worked hard to make many contacts among the Irish and Norman nobility and merchant classes.

Fitzwilliam claimed the title of his House on his majority and formed a small pack of Irish Fenrir and Silver Fangs. The pack was temporary - meant as a proving ground for future leaders - but it was effective. Its members amassed a great deal of renown and slew many a Wyrm-thing in southern Ireland.

John Fitzwilliam du Austere Howl has recently returned to England, now in his late twenties with a mighty reputation. He has joined a small Silver Fang pack based on the Isle of Wight and has added to his fearsome reputation through leadership and combat ability. His relative youth and sterling heritage mark him as a potential heir to the kingship of the Silver Fangs in the British Isles.

Fitzwilliam is also a lusty soul and, if rumor is to be believed, has sired a string of bastards - both kin and possible Garou - in Ireland and England. There are even whispers that he is the father of at least one metis. Despite this, the heir of House Austere Howl has learned his political lessons well, and has successfully made overtures on behalf of the English Silver Fangs to Fianna caerns in Cornwall and Anglesey. His mastery of the various languages needed for negotiations - Latin, French and common English - makes him invaluable, while his obvious personal charm and powerful courage earn him plenty of respect and grant him generous hearings.

Fitzwilliam faces many threats to his future career, however. The rumors of dalliances with Garou are quite true. Eventually someone will discover enough evidence to shame him. Worse still, he had quarreled with his adoptive grandfather at the Protector's Caern, and Simon du Austere Howl no longer trusts him to lead the House of Austere Howl.

Fitzwilliam may yet prove himself and mature into the king the Garou of the Isles need. For now, he remains an Ahroun of great potential and a martial reputation, but little discipline.

Stats

Breed: Homid
Auspice: Ahroun
Tribe: Silver Fang
Position: None, officially
Physical: Strength 4 (6/8/7/5), Dexterity 3 (3/4/5/5), Stamina 3 (5/6/6/5)
Social: Charisma 2, Manipulation 2 (1/0/0/0), Appearance 4 (2/0/0/0)
Mental: Perception 2, Intelligence 2, Wits 3
Talents: Alertness 2, Athletics 3, Brawl 4, Dodge 3, Expression 2, Leadership 3, Primal-Urge 3
Skills: Etiquette 4, Melee 3, Ride 1, Stealth 1, Survival 3
Knowledges: Academics 2, Enigmas 1, Hearth Wisdom 1, Linguistics 3, Occult 3, Politics 3, Rituals 1
Gifts: Eye of the Falcon, Falling Touch, Inspiration, Maste of Fire, Spirit of the Fray, Staredown, Wrath of Gaia
Rank: 3 (Adren)
Rage: 6; Gnosis: 2; Willpower: 4
Rites: Cleansing, Moot Rite
Fetish: Klaive

References