Llewellyn ap Pwyll
Llewellyn ap Pwyll is a Acanthus Silver Ladder from Chicago, Illinois.
Overview
Quote: "We've forgotten the importance of history in America, of our ties to the past and to our ancestors. It's especially important for those of us who see the world differently, who work our will into the tapestry of reality. We cannot forget who we are, yes, but, more importantly, we cannot forget who came before us."
Lonny Davis was born into a Welsh coal mining family years after the mines had played out and thrown the already poor family into grinding poverty. His father got odd jobs that out food on the table and usually paid for their rent, but not always their electricity. The boy grew up knowing what he was missing and bitterly resenting it. As soon as he could, he ran away from home for the big city of Cardiff. From there, he made his way to London, trading on his boyish good looks to get him a bed for the night and food for the next day. Even though he had little more than he did back home in Wales, at least he was in the mainstream of the world, where he could look at or even touch what he couldn't have.
Lonny's life as he knew it ended one night when he went home with n attractive man who seemed taken with the scrappy Welsh teenage. When the stranger locked the door behind them and too out a long knife, Lonny knew he was in trouble. He tried to scream and fight his attacker, but he found himself immobilized, unable to more(sic) or make a sound. Just as he felt the blade pierce his throat, he heard a noise like displace air. The world darkened around him, and he fell into blackness.
He awoke to the sound of laughter and music. The stranger with the knife was nowhere to be seen, but another man stood over him, offering him food and wine such as Lonny had never seen or tasted before. He was outside, lying on a hilltop and the music was coming from below, where a circle of beautiful, willowy people danced and piped, laughing and flirting with each other all the time. Lonny's rescuer, for he surmised that he had been rescued, was as handsome as the others and then some. His auburn hair hung halfway down his back and about his brow he wore a golden circlet. His clothing was all velvets and satins, and he had rings on all his fingers. He smiled, and Lonny was lost in ecstasy.
Later, the creature - for Lonny realized that this was not a "man" exactly, but one of the Fair Folk - who gave his name as Pwyll, told Lonny he had a choice. Lonny could either stay with Pwyll for a year and a day in the realm of faerie, or Lonny could return to the world and know true power such that he need never sell himself for the price of a meal or a bed to sleep in. In fact, he alone would determine the extent of his power.
Lonny weighed his choices, even as Pwyll watched him hopefully. Finally, Lonny decided that the power to affect the world was more important than the ecstatic pleasure he would know with Pwyll and his companions. Pwyll accepted Lonny's decision philosophically; the Fair Folk do not know lasting attachments, and already Pwyll's infatuation with the young man whose blood smelled ever so faintly of darkness and coal was beginning to fade.
Pwyll took Lonny by the hand and led him past the dancers and walked with him down a thistle-lined path to the Watchtower of the Lunargent Thorn. As Lonny caught sight of the tower, he felt something inside him snap, and power surged through him as he Awakened.
Pwyll gave Lonny a farewell kiss and a new name to carry with him into the world beyond the Gauntlet. When Lonny re-entered the physical world, he felt the need to emigrate and start a new life. Following hunches, he ended up in Chicago, where he found a teacher waiting for him, an icily beautiful woman named Eleagia, who somehow knew of his coming. She took him into her cabal and initiated him into the order of the Silver Ladder, confirming his shadow name as "Llewellyn ap Pwyll."
Weeks later, Lonny found time to wonder what had happened to the man who had tried to butcher him with a knife. The answer came to him in a soft breeze that carried the sound of laughter and gay piping and a familiar voice that said, "even the faeries sometimes hunt in far places to bring home something for the feast."
Description
Lonny has dark auburn hair that ends in soft curls to just above his eats and the base of his neck. His fair skin burns easily in the sun, and when it does, his face becomes a field of freckles. He has blue eyes and a friendly smile and flirts constantly with both men and women. He dresses in casually expensive clothing. He has almost lost his Welse accent, though it crops up occasionally when he is excited or angry.
His Nimbus is pale green and gold, but smells faintly of coal dust.
Stats
Dedicated Magical Tool: Wire-wrapped crystal wand
Real Name: Lonny Math Davis
Path: Acanthus
Order: Silver Ladder
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 4, Resolve 3
Physical Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2
Social Attributes: Presence 3, Manipulation 2, Composure 2
Mental Skills: Academics 2, Crafts (Woodcarving) 2, Investigation 2, Occult (Faerie Lore) 4
Physical Skills: Athletics (Dancing) 3, Brawl (Donnybrooks) 3, Drive 1, Firearms 2, Larceny (Pickpocketing) 2, Stealth 3, Survival (Cities) 3, Weaponry (Knives) 3
Social Skills: Empathy (Audiences) 4, *Expression (Storytelling) 3, *Persuasion (Smoothtalking) 3, Socialize (Parties) 2, Streetwise 3
Merits: Contacts (Storytellers), Hallow 3, High Speech, Library (Shared) (Faerie Lore, Finance, History: Chicago, Law, Magic Lore), Resources 2, Sanctum: Size (Shared)
Willpower: 5
Wisdom: 7
Virtue: Charity
Vice: Sloth
Initiative: 5
Defense: 3
Speed: 11
Health: 7
Gnosis: 3
Arcana: Fate 3, Life 2, Time 3
Rotes: Fate - Quantum Flux, Fortune's Protection, Superlative Luck; Life - Pulse of the Living World, Self-Healing; Time - Momentary Flux, Augury, Shifting Sands
Manna/per turn: 12/3
Armor: 3 ("Fortune's Protection," Fate **)
References
- CofD: World of Darkness: Chicago, p. 334-335