Mephi Faster-than-Death

Mephi Faster-than-Death is a Silent Strider Galliard. He is the Silent Strider signature character in the Werewolf: The Apocalypse.

Biography

Mephi Faster-than-Death first encountered the dead while growing up in Levittown, New Jersey. Once of his neighbors, an aging man with blue numbers tattooed on his arm and a haunted look in his eye, once told the boy how sometimes the dead are resentful of those who are able to escape death and how they won't ever rest until those who survive finally join them. Everyone else thought that the old man was crazy. They whispered about how the terrible things he'd seen - things they would never talk about in front of children - had broken his mind. But Mephi knew better. He could see the ghosts the old man spoke of. He could see the dark and emaciated forms that dwelled in the man's home. Creatures so consumed with loss and grief and hate that all they could do now was force the living to share in that pain. When the man died, the ghosts turned their attentions to the boy who could sense their presence. At the age of fourteen, Mephi Faster-than-Death ran away from home. He's been running from the dead ever since.

Since his First Change, Mephi has made a name for himself as one of the Garou Nation's greatest messengers, lore seekers and - surprisingly for one who loathes the dead - explorer of the Dark Umbra. He has been to caerns on every continent, visited countless Umbral Realms, and treated with pack alphas, sept leaders and kings from every tribe. His deed name has taken on multiple meanings. Originally called Faster-then-Death for his uncanny ability to dodge foes in battle, as well as for his talent for outrunning whatever trouble he meets along the road, other Garou consider it a testament to the young Strider's knack for reaching septs just in time to warn of attacks and other dangers. But among his own people, Mephi's name is also recognized as a mark of the burden he has carried since a child. Like all of his people, Mephi Faster-than-Death is haunted, but he is also cursed with a second sight far beyond the simple hauntings that plague his tribe. Everywhere he goes, even the dead who do not haunt him are visible to Mephi. Eventually, they notice and demand his help. And so Mephi runs, constantly trying to outrun the dead. To be faster than death.

Although Walks-With-Might and Buries-the-Dead may be more famous within the tribe, it is Mephi that Garou of other tribes most often think of when the Silent Strides are mentioned. Much to his distaste, he has found himself turning into the unofficial spokesman for his people, and the source of many Garou's opinions on the Striders. Of late, Mephi's time is divided between his activities in the material world and in the Dark Umbra. Since the coming of the Red Star, he has worked tirelessly to keep scattered Garou Septs across the world in contract with each other, with the hopes that they will be better prepared for the coming Apocalypse. He also continues his investigations of the Dark Umbra, seeking to uncover the truth behind the latest of the great storms that rock the Underworld, and how to force those ghosts who have found their way past the Dark Gauntlet into the material world back into the lands of the dead.

Image

In Homid form, Mephi is of average height but rail thin, and clearly of Semitic descent. He wears his straight, black hair cut just above the shoulders in a style most presume to be quasi-Egyptian but which in truth owes more to his continuing penchant for the grunge music of his youth. In Lupus form, he appears as an Ethiopian wolf with dark brown fur. His natural thinness carries over into his none-foot tall Crinos form. In both Homid and Crinos form, he can be recognized by the Egyptian style gold jewelry adorning his arms and wrists and by the serpent headed staff he carries. In all forms, Mephi wears the golden necklace engraved with the glyphs for his breed, auspice and tribe which helps identify him to caern guardians and warders.

Stats

Breed: Homid
Auspice: Galliard
Rank: 3
Physical: Strength 2 (4/6/5/3), Dexterity 3 (3/4/5/5), Stamina 4 (6/7/7/6)
Social: Charisma 3, Manipulation 2 (1/0/0/0), Appearance 2 (1/0/2/2)
Mental: Perception 4, Intelligence 2, Wits 4
Talents: Alertness 3, Athletics 4 (running), Brawl 2, Dodge 4, Primal urge 2, Subterfuge 3
Skills: Etiquette 2, Melee 2, Strength 3, Survival 3
Knowledges: Enigmas 3, Investigation 3, Linguistics 5, Occult 4 (Restless Dead), Rituals 2
Backgrounds: Contacts 4, Pure Breed 3
Rage: 5; Gnosis: 3; Willpower: 6
Gifts: (1) Persuasion, Mindspeak, Sense Wyrm, Silence, Speed of Thought; (2) Dreamspeak, Messenger's Fortitude, Tread Sebek's Back; (3) Adaptation
Rites: Rites of Cleansing, Rite of the Questing Stone, Rite of the Fetish, Descent Into The Dark Umbra, Prayer for the Prey
Fetishes: Mephi's cobra-headed staff is a singular fetish, created from a cobra-spirit bound into his dearest possession - a staff that was given to him by a dear, now dead friend. While he grasps the staff, the difficulty to step sideways is reduced by 1. The staff adds one extra die to damage pools when used against evil spirits, and if driven bodily into a materialized spirit (requiring four successes on an attack roll and at least two levels of damage after soak), the spirit cannot dematerialize or use the Charm: Reform until the staff is removed. (Level Four, Gnosis 7)
Merits: Ghost Sight

References

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