Victor Temple
Victor Temple is the current Baron of the San Fernando Valley.
Biography
Victor wasn't born wealthy or famous, but managed to climb the social ladder with a promising career in the NBA. Even when an unfortunate injury derailed his sports stardom, Victor simply switched gears to his other passion: music. He founded the Temple of Boom record label in Los Angeles and quickly rose to prominence once again, this time as a club owner and music mogul. This meteoric success was likely what attracted his future Ventrue sire in the first place.
At some point before the Embrace, Victor was married and had three children: twin boys Isaiah & Marcus, and an unnamed daughter. After becoming a vampire, Victor deliberately let his children see him as an absentee parent in order to both protect them and maintain the Masquerade. He still visited them often, but always removed their memory of the encounter via his powers of Dominate after the fact.
Despite his loyalty to the Anarch Movement, Victor was on surprisingly good terms with his clanmate Fiorenza Savona. The two Neonates corresponded often, with Fiorenza even lending Victor support in the form of the ghoul Ib and the occasional political favor.
Victor originally worked under Baron Isaac Abrams, having established domains in Hollywood in both the Griffith College campus and the hot-ticket Club Maharaja - the latter of which he personally owned and operated. Likely because of this, Victor's coteire was tasked with looking after the Fledgling Annabelle Li after she was initially discovered poaching on Abrams' turf. However, after a series of attacks perpetrated by the Brujah crime boss Bobby Blaine, Victor would managed to twist Baron Abrams' arm into giving him a barony of his own over the San Fernando Valley. Shortly after becoming "undisputed" Baron himself, Victor would personally execute Blaine in front of a crowd of Kindred at a local debut of the Succubus Club.
Ironically, even after Blaine was ashes, Baron Temple's vast new domain remained very much in dispute. After rescuing a refugee coterie known as the Wyrd Sisters from the clutches of the Camarilla, he was dragged over the coals by his fellow Barons for very nearly breaching the Masquerade on multiple occasions. Indeed, when it came to maintaining the First Tradition Victor was considered a maverick even by Anarch standards: frequently utilizing live-streams and social media to "get out ahead" of potentially damaging news stories or internet gossip. As punishment, part of Victor's territory was given over to the newly-minted Baron Fiona, much to his disgruntlement.
Regardless, Victor would continue to fight tooth-and-nail on behalf of the Unbound, being at the forefront of much of the Movement's offensives against the encroaching Court of Prince Vannevar Thomas. He became so much of a thorn in the Ivory Tower's side that Prince Thomas even authorized the daylight firebombing of his haven at Club Maharaja, from which the Baron and his coterie only barely escaped.
Still, starting from scratch was nothing new to Victor. He'd go on to build a newer, even grander venue in the heart of the Valley: Club Maharani - which would become his seat of power for the foreseeable future. He'd also enter into extremely tentative negotiations with the Tremere Elder Maximillian Strauss, securing a short-lived truce between the two sects of LA. He spent this nearly year-long reprieve wisely shoring up his own defenses, offering sanctuary to the Thin-Bloods of Los Angeles within his domain and establishing stronger relations with his fellow Barons, in particular Armando "Nines" Rodriguez.
Of course, by 2021 the Camarilla would prove to be the least of Baron Temple's worries. He was among those "priority targets" singled out by the Second Inquisition, weathering a hail of gunfire and barely escaping into the sewers during their initial assault. Never one to back down from a challenge, he'd personally lead the Anarch counter-offensive against their base of operations at the San Fernando Mission. Once the dust had settled, Baron Temple was the first to send out an official proclamation on behalf of the Movement: the Free States of California were here to stay, SI and Ivory Tower be damned.
Trivia
- Victor Temple is the player character of actor and writer B. Dave Walters, a member of the main cast and coterie of the live-play chronicle Vampire: The Masquerade: L.A. By Night. B. Dave also portrays Karsh in the special Memoriam episode S3E6: Beauty and Decay.
- Victor Temple is one of several L.A. By Night characters who possesses their own official Loresheet, released as part of special promotional deal with Dog Might Games.
- Victor's unique relationship with Fiorenza Savona is mechanically explained via his use of the Fiorenza Savona Loresheet, specifically the 1-Dot Merit On Fiorenza's List, which in turn explains how Ib came into his service (as she is the "assigned" Gifted Mortal retainer).
- Victor's Ventrue Bane is that he can only feed off of people who idolize him due to his fame or fortune.