SchreckNet Data File
- Real/Birth Name: Mason Mcguire
- Known Identity/Mortal Alias: Replace
- Place of Origin: Ashford, California, USA
- Height: 5'9"
- Occupation: Pimp/Odessan Mafia
- Apparent Age: Mid-20s
- Embraced: 1972
- Kindred Status: Neonate
- Sire: Boris 'The Butcher' Balagula
- Notable Descendants: None known.
- Clan: Brujah
- Clan Status: None
- Sect: Camarilla/Anarch Movement
- Sect Status: Hound (Camarilal)/Known (Anarch)
- Player/Type: NPC
Appearance
Mason is generally considered a handsome man, often with a "bad boy" charm and appearance. He is about average height but is quite muscular from his military days, though this is often not readily apparent as he favours wearing loose shirts and clothing - often military-style/surplus trousers, or jeans. His clothing is generally picked to be comfortable and practical, rather than appearance. His hair is medium-length and generally kept unkept and loose, but occasionally straightened out a little or tied up, if the need arises.
Whilst at work in the brothel, which may involved dealing with clients important to his sire, Mason is often seen wearing lounge suits, or a blazer along with jeans. In occasions that warrant it, he has been known to be seen in a more formal suit or tuxedo, or in the military dress uniform from his military days.
Background
Mason's father served in the army during WWII and the Korean War and raised him on tales of patriotism and glory for the good old US of A in his many deployments. So shortly after gaining his High School diploma, he Mason enlisted in the US Army Airborne division, making his father was so proud. Mason and his father used to work together on the family Cadillac, and they were good times, until he was deployed to Vietnam as part of the 101st Airborne Division "Company F", 58th Infantry. Most people's deployments were bad enough, but Mason's Airborne Division was reorganised as part of the 75th Infantry Regiment into L Company (Ranger company) and he served in Vietname until the L Company was disbanded in 1971. The things Mason saw, and was forced to do, both in the line of duty, and a period of time as a captive of the Viet Cong, left him a broken and bitter man who returned wondering what the point of it all was; and without any shred of patriotism left. Mason's army Psychiatrist stamped him as suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Survivor's Guilt and he got an 'other-than-honorable' discharge. Mason is extremely resentful about it all - young men sent to the meat grinder for a war over political ideology and opportunism for greedy fat cats who made a blood fortune, whilst remaining safe in their cosy offices. A war that they had no business being in - and when they got back, were abandoned with little more than a few shiny medals at best.
After Vietnam Mason struggled to reintegrate into civilian life. His other-than-honorable discharge denied him eligibility from the Department of Veterans Affairs for his PTSD, and ousted him from his former military community, denying him support and cameraderie. This contributed to his bitterness and self-loathing, which began a downword spiral into alcohol abuse and abrasiveness. He found it hard to hold onto any job for long, getting into a lot of fights that he shouldn't have. He was regularly in and out of jail but escaped the worst of it because of the sympathy of the local police who gave him leniency because he was a Vietnam vet. Then came the night that he didn't like how a pimp was treating his whore and told him to cut it out. The pimp decided to set his two thugs to teach Mason a lesson but Mason, despite being drunk, taught the three of them a very different lesson . Of course, Mason didn't know that they were Odessan mafia, nor that they worked for 'Boris the Butcher', a vicious Brujah who was impressed by his ability - for a human - and then beat him viciously to punish him, before embracing him and forcing the Blood Bond on him to remove Mason's ability to defy him. Boris told Mason that if he didn't like how his whores were being treated, then it was up to Mason to take care of them, and put him in charge of one of his brothels and the girls in it. As long as the whores worked, Boris didn't care if Mason was nice or mean to them. Of course, if they failed to produce, Mason was expected to discipline them properly - and if he defied Boris, both Mason and the whore would be punished. Mason soon learned that punishing the whores was the lesser evil than Boris' wrath and punishments.
Mason's attitude, drinking, troublemaking and fighting after returning from Vietname was shameful enough for his father. But when his father heard that Mason was now involved with sex slavery and the mafia, it was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back - ashamed and distraught at the perceived dishonour, it caused a fatal heart attack. Boris had no sympathy at all, refusing to even allow Mason to go to the funeral, seeing it as a waste of time, which resulted in the rest of Mason's family severing all ties from him, attributing the blame solely on his seeminly-unrepentant shoulders. Mason never forgave Boris for this, and marked it as something else for which he vowed to one day repay his sire.
For a long time, It didn't get any better. Mason fought against his forced position and was defiant as much as he could, to his sire's resentment, but his defiance was ultimately futile. Boris kept Mason forcibly bound and, the times he was able to muster defiance, would physically punish him. Or worse, would take it out on the girls Mason protected. Although Boris intended on breaking Mason, that just made him more determined to break his sire's control and be his own master. Mason told others and sought help from the Camarilla, of course, but the Camarilla's attitude was that he was your sire's responsibility, and it was Boris' right to bond him if he chose to. This naturally turned Mason against the Camarilla.
But Mason's defiant attitude got him noticed by some of Ashford's Anarchs, and word got to the Anarch elder Lilah Fox, who had no love for Boris and had clashed with him in the past. Lilah introduced him to some Gangrels she knew, including "Eve" who for a time became somewhat of a mentor to him. He would help the Gangrels when they needed it - places to hide (especially during the daytime), fat targets to hunt (the clients that were most abusive to Mason's girls ended up falling prey to Gangrel fangs), black market goods, and other such ways that Mason's mafia connections and position coudl benefit the Gangrels, who typically had little to no connection to kine society. In return, they helped him in little ways, teaching him how to become tougher and a survivor, learning their disciplines of Fortitude and Protean. When his ability with them was developed enough, Eve taught him a way to use his disciplines to avoid the effect of the blood bond when he was force-fed blood by using his disciplines to prevent the blood his sire forced him to drink from entering his system - vomitting it back out later on unbeknownst to your sire and preventing re-enforcement of the bond. During this period, which took years of secrecy and willpower to defy his sire, Mason played the long game. He easing up on defying Boris, generally doing his sire's bidding and only arguing when he really couldn't take an excess anymore. He allowed himself to do and ignore things he would not have - pretending that he knew that resistance was futile anyhow, though in reality seeing them as a necessity for his long-term plan for freedom. As a result, the periods between forced blood-feeding grew longer, and less forced, making it easier for him to use his newfound ability to avoid the reinforced bonding. After years of futile defiance and struggle to learn how to defy rebonding, the months it took for the bond to slip in potency felt surprisingly short, and made the struggle that bit easier as the bond weakened - although Mason kept pretending the bond was as tight as ever. Then it happened... he avoided vitae absorption long enough that it weakened to the point that Mason was no longer under Boris' control!
Mason was disappointed that his sire survived the Sabbat Crusade - that would have ended the situation and bought him his freedom. The new change in leadership and structure, including the greater power of the Anarch Movement has emboldened Mason, who knows the time is near to act. Mason's ability to determine his own actions is finally his own, and he has decades of servitude to pay back, and a reckoning IS coming... but he is in a precarious position and he knows it. Although the new structure would allow him to break off from his sire with comparatively few personal repercussions, Boris is still powerful and would take Mason's break out on the girls he cares for - as well as use his resources against Mason indirectly. He might not be allowed to kill Mason, but he can still break him in other ways. So Mason knows he cannot take on his sire directly - he doubts he could defeat him personally, or break his bratva power. So he has become a Hound for the new Sheriff - convincing his sire that it puts him in a better situation to cover things Boris wants covered - whilst he actually sets the seeds to be able to use the Sheriff and his Hounds against Boris - if he can just get the right evidence or push Boris into making that one fatal mistake. Until then, Mason pretends to be loyal to Boris whilst waiting for the right moment to betray his sire and bring long-awaited justice down on him.
Mortal Society
Mason has served his sire against his will, forced by brutality and the blood bond. As such he has earnt a position of some responsibility as the head of Boris' main brothels and pimp overseeing those eligible to work as street hookers (generally the older and better behaved ones, or those who didn't get dragged in via sex-trafficking) because his sire trusts in the forced loyalty, yet not a position that can overly endanger him if Mason somehow goes rogue. Mason runs the bratva's largest brothel in Ashford. He has 16 girls under his 'protection', all of who are sex slaves (three are former child prostitutes, including his ghoul Karina) who are coerced to work with fear of physical retribution to both themselves and their family back home via Boris' connections (and Boris has proven true to his word on this on occasion). Additionally, there are another dozen or so girls that can be trusted to work the streets, who are given more leeway as long as they meet weekly quotas.
Amongst mortal society, Mason is well-known by those in associated areas (underworld, police) as their pimp, which has him on the radar of Ashford's Vice Squad, although Mason and Boris' connections generally keep them at bay or wan him about any crackdowns - and they can move operations to a new brothel with very little notice. Only those who have been at the brothel a period of time know that Mason does what he can to protect the girls, and that he treats the girls as well as he is able, considering he himself is as trapped as they are.
Personality
Mason was once a friendly and proud patriot willing to die for his country and fellow Americans. Vietnam stripped him of most of that, and decades of slavery to his sire has stripped him of most of what remained. Whist the embrace and slavery has, ironically, relieved his PTSD and alcoholism, his outlook is now extremely bleak. His entire personality revolves around three base elements - survival, protecting those under his charge, and salvaging what remains of his humanity (so he does not become his sire). He is typically perceived as bold and aggressive, quick to violence or intimidation - but this is because of what he is forced to be because of his position at the brothel/in the mafia, and his slavery - he cannot afford to show any weakness, or any hint of disobedience to his sire or he (and those few he cares about) will suffer. So he keeps up the façade of fearless obedience to his sire, whilst deep down he only cares about himself, Karina, and his prostitutes (in that order). Expecting him to get visibly involved in any affair that does not directly impact him or his sire is folly - even if he may want to.
But for a select few who really know him, mostly Karina and a few anarchs who have helped him break the bond, Mason is a loyal man who still, deep down, wants to do the right thing. He believes he is too far gone to ever be "a good man" but accepts he is a fighter, and wants to be able to choose to fight for the right causes. As the Camarilla accepted without complaint his sire's dominance over him, he is naturally resentful about the Camarilla and is a natural Anarch by definition. He has managed to become a Hound in order to build up his own connections and support amongst the new Camarilla structure (he may dislike the Camarilla, but they're still "the government" and he has to work within that) all the whilst convincing his sire that he is doing so for his sire's benefit, until the time comes when he can do something about it - unfortunately patricide is illegal so, even if he were powerful enough to kill his sire directly, the consequence would be a death sentence for himself and his ghoul... and he's too much of a survivor at heart to be that suicidal. If the day comes that he regains his freedom and no longer in fear of his sire, Mason himself does not know who he'd be or what he will become.
Other Notes
Karina Paige
An attractive woman seemingly in her mid-20s with a voluptuous figure, dressed to accentuate her natural curves. Her beautiful smile hides the hardness in her eyes of someone who has led a rough life. Karina was brought in by the Odessan Mafia as a sex-trafficked child prostitute when she was just 14 and, at age 24, became Mason's Ghoul and head whore - which was actually the most positive, life-improving part of her life since her capture. Most of her life has been working in the brothel under Mason or those who came before him. Mason was kind to her, and she realised they were both slaves forced to whore themselves in different ways, and they bonded enough that Mason turned her into a ghoul as a way of protecting her (in addition to the practicality of her help). Since then, she has served her domitor, and his master, as both his head prostitute as well as more ghoul-like functions. She is the only person to know the whole truth about Mason's imprisonment, pain and hatred, and that he does what he can to make an evil situation less horrible, and loves him for it (and believes he loves her back) and is loyal to her domitor even beyond that of the blood bond.
Karina has been Mason's ghoul for nearly two decades and some people mistakenly think that she is Mason's progeny. Some who know Mason claim alternately both that he has requested permission to embrace her, and been denied by his sire; and that he wants to embrace her but is fearful of asking his sire permission in case his sire's response is to kill her for being a distraction to him. Some claim he even genuinely loves her. Certainly, if he is every free of his sire's shadow, it would come as little surprise to anyone if he were to embrace her.
Combat Style
Mason learnt to fire pistols from his father when he was a child, was a military brat, and fought several years of Hell in Vietnam - and now works a risky job, in a rough area, for a dangerous employer. He almost always has his M1911A1 (his original service pistol from Vietnam) and M7 Bayonet (not his original, but one he bought from an army surplus after the war) dagger on him, and is very experienced in their use. He keeps a Colt M16A2 at the brothel or the trunk of his car, depending on what he perceives as the most need. If expecting trouble, he will prefer to rely on the M16 but for typical daily defence usually has just his M1911 and M7 on him.
Overall, Mason prefers to avoid using weapons when possible (as he knows he can handle any normal human without their use) and generally only uses them when facing supernatural threats, or when there are notably stacked odds whereby the masquerade may be at risk if he relies on his disciplines or supernatural resilience. He was trained in use of knives for stealth kills decades before he learnt to use Protean claws, so he is naturally more comfortable using his bayonet in combat than claws, so they typically only get brought out against threats that where the supernatural nature of his claws bypass supernatural resilience, such as lupines or kindred with Fortitude. He always carries a clip of Incendiary rounds on him for his M1911, as both he and Boris have enemies, but only has silver bullets for the M16, kept as lupine protection at the Brothel, ever since they got targeted by Lupines once before.
As can be assumed, Mason is disciplined in combat (unless overcome by his Brujah passions and driven to frenzy) and generally will try to move into a good defensive and tactically advantageous position, and fire for effect. He typically engages in melee combat (preferring melee to unarmed combat) when forced to, or if doing stealth attacks. When with others, protecting his teammates is usually a higher priority than vanquishing his foes - an instinct from his military days that he has never quite shaken, despite everything he's been through.
Social Style
It is rare to encounter Mason outside of the brothel unless undertaking jobs as a Hound, or for his sire. So, typically, his appearance will result in his being intimidating and aggressive. At heart, however, he just wants to resolve the issues preferably with as little bloodshed as possible, but needs to keep up the appearance of strength because of his sire. As a Brujah, he understands and respects toughness and passion, and respects those who stand up to him - even if he has to drive their face through a car window to get them to comply. If approached by Mason, respect and compliance to his demands are the best way to avoid violence - but this can make those unwilling to stand up to him end up making concessions or losses they may not want. Unfortunately for all involved, there are times that he simply cannot back off from his sire's demands - and violence is unavoidable without the use of mind-control powers or conceding to his [sire's] demands.
Outside of this scenario, however, Mason is a fairly easy-going person. Generally dour or hot-headed in demeanour, he can be quite sociable and likable when he makes the effort. In these private situations where he can be himself without fear of his sire finding out, he is usually perceived as amenable but distant to those who know him. He is level-headed and willing to negotiate, although his survivalist attitude makes it hard to find common ground with him unless offering ways to help his girls, or help him against his sire.
Signature Equipment
- Colt M1911A1 (original service pistol from when he served in Vietnam)
- M7 Bayonet
- Colt M16A2 (when expecting heavy action)
- Leather Jacket
- 1956 Cadillac Eldorado
Signature Quotes
- "Don't try to get involved. They'll kill you, just for helping me."
- "Sometimes, I have to do things I hate - things that are wrong and I despise - to save others going through worse. In my case, the lesser evil is the only good I am capable of."