SchreckNet Data File
- Real/Birth Name: Sebastian Nekoda
- Known Identity/Mortal Alias: Nekoda
- Place of Origin: London, England, United Kingdom
- Height: 5'10"
- Occupation: Former painter
- Apparent Age: Mid-20s (estimate)
- Embraced: 1927
- Kindred Status: Ancilla
- Sire: Vincent
- Clan: Nosferatu
- Clan Status: Ancilla
- Sect: Camarilla
- Sect Status: Whip
- Player/Type: PC (Dermont)
Appearance
Sebastian was once a handsome man who abused of his good looks and had the Embrace inflicted on him as punishment. His former glory now gone, he is a sight that repels any kine who perceive him. He is almost hairless, except for over-sized eyebrows and the occasional random clusp of hair. His facial features have become shrunken and gaunt, with his eyes reddened and his ears long and pompous and his nose bulbous. Whilst most kindred have enlarged canines, Sebastian has instead overly-enlarged incisors that, even when retracted, still reveal his monstrous nature. His body is warped and misshapen adding to his monstrous image, although it does not affect his physical ability in any way - in fact, it adds to his more predatorial form and sense of balance. He has patagia under his arms, which allows him limited gliding ability, a reason why he usually wears capes and cloaks but otherwise goes wearing vests or topless. Sebastian tends to dress for comfort unless going to Elysium, relying on Obfuscate to pull off any image he wants amongst kine.
Background
Sebastian was born in 1903 as an innovative, artistic Potter's Son (Mr. Thomas Nekoda) . As Society was into the Arts (Impressionism) at that time the Higher classes showed off their superior tastes by buying over-priced bespoke pottery. His father made those large ornate ceramic jars that were used mostly for decoration. He had a casting gallery and shop with living quarters above, in the exclusive area of Knightsbridge, Londinium. He expected Sebastian to follow in the Family Business but he had reared a very stubborn son!
Sebastian moved from that area to the posh address of the Chelsea district to create some space between him and his parents and to get some privacy. He was adamant he wanted to move. His Father though was not ‘rich’ but ‘well off’ so the residence Sebastian came to live in was a dump but… at least it had a good address! Life in Londinium was not very hygienic at that time and he found himself sharing his residence with a family of rats. For companionship reasons, instead of killing them or evicting them he spent his spare time teaching them tricks to amuse himself. He found he had the patience for this. He probably got it from his doting kind-hearted Mother (Vicky). She had spoiled him during his youth while providing a good family environment for his Father and himself. Her oil painting hobby had influenced him greatly. As his family was on the artistic slant and reasonably well off financially, they supported him in becoming a portrait painter. After soul-searching and family heart-tugging arguments they capitulated. They were building a name for themselves so why branch out into new risky areas where their thoughts. But Sebastian was rebelling. Secretly his Father hoped he’d come back into the fold once he came to his senses in a few years. He under-estimated Sebastian’s stubbornness.
Sebastian also had a younger sister Elizabeth. He adored being with her and took his older Brother duties seriously. Even then, calamity came to roost and one of the many serial killers in Londinium at the time came across a young teenage girl going by the name Lizzie. She was found the next day in pieces. This shocked and affected a change in Sebastian. Sebastian’s Brotherly love had been wrenched from him by the darkest part humanity had to offer. A cynical creature came into being.
He became quite renowned for his art as he was good and creating a buzz in the right circles. He was greedy and would pander to the rich's egos to make money out of them. He had money and a tendency to be easy on the eyes, I believe the word they used to refer to him was 'lothario'. He made money painting the wealthy ladies in risqué poses, which made his models easy blushing targets. His wicked side then came out to play and he’d seduce these ‘ladies’ slowly to partake in amorous congress. He’d paint private, sensitive poses and being the cad he was, used these items to extort money from these rebellious married young ladies. Sebastian was a strapping young man with a penchant for going through female partners like a hot knife through butter. He lived a hedonistic lifestyle, living of his illicit gains, puffing way too much opium, drinking heavily and behaving like a sexual predator on heat. He spent a lot of his life seducing middle class teenage ‘women’ using their genetic pre-disposition to rebel against parents and family to get his money from their trust-funds. He was pretty much wasting/miss-using his life. Some might say his comeuppance was well deserved.
One of the women obsessed with his attentions was Beatrice. She came from a middle-class environment and Sebastian enjoyed her company, for a while, as usual, but eventually got bored with her. He evicted her. This hurt Beatrice hard and she got very depressed with his decision. She believed she could convert this scheming young man to see the error of his ways and try to be a nice and chaste society member. Sebastian had manipulated Beatrice into believing this fabrication of his making and now made her feel she had failed. He let it be known she had been ‘plucked’ effectively ruining her life. 7 years later, still un-married, this lead to her desperate suicide.
Vincent on the other hand, having followed his great, great, grand-daughter for two decades saw how all this had originated. The stalker was a kindred of the Camarilla Nosferatu Clan and he had seen an ugly soul inside Sebastian, of course, a bit of vengeance also tainted his opinion. He stalked/haunted him to a state of nervous panic. Little did everyone know it was well deserved?
When he could he swooped down on Sebastian and doomed him to eternally exist in the shadows. Vincent was very explicit when telling Sebastian of his ‘crimes’ against humanity after his painful embrace. Sebastian misses his art more now in his undead status than when he was alive and he now feels responsible for his actions while he was alive. He cannot elicit the feelings he imbued into his art so he can’t make new creations and needs to appreciate pieces made by the living. He feels he owes society a debt and he should use his un-life to redeem himself. An eternal battle against his Dark Soul has commenced. Becoming an un-dead has changed him more than just physically but also mentally, he lost himself in hedonism and now, to honour his sister, his mind has become a steel trap – his purpose now is to make criminals pay for hurting innocents. He still gets flashbacks of seeing his sister’s corpse.
He used to wander after his embrace around the world settling down for a few decades in the sewers beneath that city's art galleries or museums, asking permission to do so from the domain’s owner, so he can admire the great works. He believes, though tends not to mention it, that Art can be appreciated by anyone and no-one should assume to constrain him. This opinion has led to him sneaking around museums he’s barred from entering. He takes some of his old art pieces with him when he travels and when he wants funds he auctions off a painting which over time increases in value – the Artist who created them must be dead right lol. While he is travelling he catches up with the current gossip and keeps his, quite large, ears open for any secrets he might 'stumble' upon. In his undeath he has become quite an information barterer of decent renown. He also feels it is his ‘duty to deal justice to anyone causing harm to innocents for their own gain’ – He feels this somehow equates to his arrogant previous life.
In his last travels, he journeyed to Paris, right after the end of WWII. He travelled slowly, moving at night and sleeping through the day. The catacombs below the great city proved a great transport network. He considered his past ‘life’ was behind him and to atone for his sins he should make use of his new ‘dark’ talents so he travelled around until he found ‘Shadow’ who was willing to train him in the Art of Combat. He was taken to the New World (Ashford) by her a couple of decades later to act as a ‘Whip’ for her. He had a hazardous un-death past now as he was a monster with an art appreciation background and was then, to his knowledge, the first undead art appreciation tourist. Although now, he no longer travels, preferring to entrench himself, so he is no longer a tourist!
Mortal Society
Sebastian has little interaction with the kine world other than hunting. When he does, it is on a by-case basis how he handles it - and tends to usually rely on his ghoul Francois III for these needs.
The little interaction he has with the kine are his contacts, such as a data analyst with Interpol, as well as a Bratva Captain who he deals with in his capacity as the Enforcer of the Bratva boss Shadow. Although no kine know his true identity, only knowing him by the name Nekoda, he is known as Shadow's right-hand man and his presence is a sign of her disapproval, and blood is typically shed in the aftermath of disciplinary action on her behalf.
Personality
Sebastian gives the impression that he is emotionally isolated from having lost everyone that ever mattered to him, and this is not aided by his role as both Marina's Bratva enforcer as well as Whip (which, in this case, tends to involve physical coercion and intimidation rather than intrigue finesse). Despite this, at heart, he cares about others (at least the Nosferatu) and sees his role as necessary to build a strong foundation for the Clan to prosper. He has retained his love of art and still paints when he gets the time, using it as a way to express his true self and unleash some angst.
Sebastian has been visibly incensed when in the presence of some kindred who have shown noted self-absorbed characteristics or greed, especially when they choose their own benefit over the needs of others (more so when the need of others may be greater). He is known to refuse to hunt those he considers innocent, and has been known to frenzy if witnessing other kindred do so in his presence - he was cursed as punishment and in many ways sees himself as a living embodiment of vengeance on those who, like him, deserve punishment, and his hunting habits often reflect this, as does his refusal to feed off (or, when possible, cause harm to) the innocent.
Other Notes
Ghoul: Francois III
During his time in Paris, Sebastian came across Francois, a French teenager, whilst hunting amongst the Paris ruins. Sebastian was impressed at how fast the mortal traversed unstable ground and lept over walls, across rooftops and ran along walls whilst running from the monster that wanted to feed on him (Sebastian himself)- using a training discipline known as parkour). It took a while for Sebastian to catch him (whilst good, he was no match for Sebastian's Potence-enhanced leaps, Celerity and catlike balance) and was ultimately caught, but rather than just feed off him and dump him, Sebastian decided to add him to his employ and got his new ghoul to teach him how to Parkour.
Of course inevitably Francois died (though Sebastian is evasive as to if he died in Sebastian's service, or if Sebastian tired of him and removed him from existence). Since then he has been updated to a younger model twice - each time Sebastian takes a ghoul he picks one with similar attributes (or can be trained that way) and cannot be bothered learning their name (as they're expendable servants to him) and names them Francois - but adds a roman numeral to identify which incarnation of Francois this is.
The current Francois is the third incarnation of this servant. His real name is Julio Conferido and is a Pinoi (Filipino-American). He serves Sebastian very loyally and knows little other than what he is told by his master, and that he is Francois III - the knowledge that he is the third is, apparently, a good motivator to ensure there isn't a Francois IV.
Combat Style
Sebastian is a brute. He relies on his Obfuscate for stealth and surprise, then attacks employing his limited Celerity for quick strikes of his Protean claws, backed with the power of his reasonable level of the Potence Discipline. When wanting to preserve the Masquerade (or not kill), Sebastian uses a pair of Escrima sticks with which he is highly proficient - and can be combined via a clasp to form a short staff similar to a Jo staff. He is also a Parkour practitioner, ambidextrous and with an incredible sense of balance, and uses these in combat to good effect to dodge attacks, strike unexpectedly and from ambush - especially when aided by his high level Obfuscate ability.
Social Style
Sebastian is not unreasonable, although he gives the impression of being a brute who feeds on other's fears and being in control, with a penchant for violence. He still appreciates discussing art and, if not approaching someone as Shadow's enforcer, can be surprisingly understanding - especially if their propositions benefit him personally, or Shadow (his loyalty is to her over the Clan, in the occasions where Shadow and Nosferatu Clan interests may conflict). He is somewhat vengeful and jades, ao appeals to his sense of compassion are usually somewhat wasted, unless coming from someone he considers to be innocent.
If approached by Nekoda the Enforcer, then those dealing with him had better pray they have something to offer him more valuable to Shadow than whatever punishment or lesson Nekoda is there to deliver on her behalf - as very little will sway him from the grim task he is there to perform.
Signature Equipment
- Escrima sticks - can be combined to form a short staff
- Leather Trenchcoat - has a ballistic mesh lining and is modified to support the use of his patagia
- Kawasaki Ninja 650
Signature Quotes
- "Sometimes, if things are closed, you just, open them up."
Gallery
Sebastian Nekoda