Bozydar "Darek" Zielinski

   
Nature: Martyr- | -Demeanor: Caregiver
Breed: Homid- | -Concept: An idealistic young gentleman - an image of a modern knight, as it were
Auspice: Philodox- | -Pack Name: ____
Tribe: Children of Gaia- | -Pack Totem: ____

Attributes

Physical SocialMental 
Strength2Charisma3Perception2
Dexterity3Manipulation1Intelligence4
Stamina4Appearance2Wits3

Specialties:
Stamina: Unbreakable
Intelligence: Trivia


Abilities

TalentsSkillsKnowledges
Alertness2Animal Ken0Academics (History)2
Athletics3Crafts0Computers0
Brawl2Drive0Enigmas2
Empathy4Etiquette1Investigation1
Expression1Firearms0Law0
Leadership0Larceny0Medicine2
Intimidation0Melee3Occult1
Primal-Urge2Performance0Rituals1
Streetwise0Stealth0Science0
Subterfuge0Survival1Research0
Other TalentsOther SkillsOther Knowledges
     0

Specialties:
Empathy: Gaining Trust
Academics: History


Advantages

 
Traits
Rage (P/T)44
Gnosis (P/T)33
Willpower (P/T)77
Backgrounds
Allies2
Contacts2
Certification1
Merits
Language (Polish)1
Language (Latin)1
Code of Honor2
Calm Heart3
Flaws
Docile2
Phobia (Heights)2
Enemy (Vampire)3

Renown:

Glory (P/T)00
Honor (P/T)30
Wisdom (P/T)00

Rank: Cliath


Health Levels
Bruised-0 
Hurt-1 
Injured-1 
Wounded-2 
Mauled-2 
Crippled-5 
Incapacitated- 

Gifts

(1)
Persuassion (Level 1 Homid Gift)
Truth of Gaia (Level 1 Philodox Gift)
Mother's Touch (Level 1 Children of Gaia Gift)
(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

Rites

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)


Form Statistics:

HomidGlabroCrinosHispoLupus
No ChangeStrength (+2)Strength (+4)Strength (+3)Strength (+1)
Stamina (+2)Dexterity (+1)Dexterity (+2)Dexterity (+2)
Appearance (-1)Stamina (+3)Stamina (+3)Stamina (+2)
Manipulation (-2)Manipulation (-3)Manipulation (-3)Manipulation (-3)
Appearance 0+1 Die - Bite DMG-2 Perception Diff.
FULL DELERIUM
Difficulty: 6Difficulty: 7 Difficulty: 6 Difficulty: 7Difficulty: 6

Descriptions:

(Homid): (describe here)

(Glabro): (describe here)

(Crinos): (describe here)

(Hispo): (describe here)

(Lupus): (describe here)



Character Description:
A tall (190cm), young man in his early twenties - well built and muscular, though not overly so. He seems an outdoorsy, active type, but not necessarily a body builder or the like. He wears his black hair long, but usually neatly tucked into a ponytail in the back of his head. His blue eyes are deep, observant and warm, despite the color. His face is similarly soft and gentle, and his smiles seem friendly and genuine. He usually wears himself half-formal - in windsor-style collared shirts, leather shoes and coats the like of which one may wear with a suit. All those clothes are often second-hand, though - but even then they are clean and well maintained. He almost always carries a backpack with him.
As a lupus, he's a creamy, light-furred wolf, though truth be told - there's no trace of noble bearing or pure lineage in his looks. Quite the opposite, in fact. Some could say he looks a little dog-like, somewhat resembling a very big golden labrador, though his ears are obviously pointy like a wolf's. He seems rather friendly.
In Crinos form, even though he obviously still causes Delirium in humans, to a Kinfolk or a supernatural eye, he seems somewhat less frightening than many of his brethren. Imposing, sure - a wall of muscle and bones, claws capable of cleaving a man in twain. And yet, his eyes curiously don't change much between the various forms - they stay blue, observant and generally friendly, with a warmth within them that seems to contradict their cold hue.

Character Bio: (Short-hand version of Character History. Think: what would she tell about herself in a dinner party?)
"Me? Well... let me first say - I'm relatively new to the States. Only been here a couple of months, in fact." The young man speaks in a soft, gentle voice - but not meek by any stretch. There's a tint of foreign accent in his speech. European, certainly. Eastern Europe? It's difficult to pinpoint it more precisely. It's difficult to pinpoint it more precisely. "Forgive me any faux pas I might commit not knowing the local customs. But I forget my manners - my name's Bo�ydar Zieli�ski." He smiled cheekily as he observed the reaction of english native speakers to strange sounds of his native language. "But I go by Darek most of the time. I'm sure you can already tell why. There's... not much to tell about me, I'm afraid. I'm a historian by degree, an EMT slash nurse by trade and a philosopher by heart. I've studied history extensively, and I'm still very much interested, but in the end... There's much satisfaction and happiness to be found in helping people - and deciphering ways to play ancient boardgames by reading the cuineform is not as helpful as I'd like. Why have I come here? Well... It wasn't as much my decision as I'd like - my parents... they wanted to chase the famous American Dream. A Green Card came by - my father's a pretty renowned engineer - and here I am. I'm... not really sure what I'll find here - but I intend to get the most of it nonetheless."

HISTORY
==============
His upbringing as a part of the Garou Nation was no less uncommon and weird than his human one. He was raised in a traditional, devoutly relligious Polish household He was told traditional catholic values and quickly proved himself to be a bright, respectful and warm youth. He did vounteer work working with the disabled, and did EMT training, earning a license. That sparked his interest in medicine, though he was also very interested in history and became a part of a history reeanctment group focusing on XVth century european knighthood.
His First Change happened back in Poland, after a particularly powerful blow durring a sword sparring. Fortunately, he didn't kill anyone, but severely injured a couple of his friends, which left him feeling quite guilty and later led him to try to concentrate on controlling his rage. Shortly after he was contacted by the Szczep Srebrzystego Potoku (Silverstream Sept) in Cieszyn. It was helmed by an old Children of Gaia garou, Magdalena P�oniecka. She and her fellow tribemates in the caern preached an unorthodox, borderline pacifist (at least in regards to humans and other garou, they still opposed the Wyrm) interpretation of the Litany. She was of the mind that all garou should unite to face the evils of the Wyrm and that humans were not subordinates of the garou or a chattle to be looked down upon, but valuable allies in that fight and the ones garou were sworn to Gaia to protect, along wtih all the other her creations. Thus, Darek was brought up in a way that differs from a lot of the garou, in the sorrounding of a relative peace, understanding and cooperation, which may leave him quite unprepared for facing the wider world of garou politics.
He has known his share of hardships, though - more than many young garou, perhaps. A young werewolf appeared at the caern one day, jumping out of the Umbra, seemingly led there by a spirit. He told them about how he was caputed and held against his will in some facillity, being experimented upon along with many others. He had no idea about his heritage - until the chief of his captors, a domineering, cold woman by the name of Veronica Toeplitz, brought a silver pendant into his cell and pressed it against his flesh. It was then he Turned, and nearly tore her to shreds, much to her unending surprise. Thus, Darek, along with several other young Garou and this particular one, banded together to solve the case of those kidnappings as their Rite of Passage.
It was established that the compound was run by the bloodsuckers, who tried, by utilizing various chemicals and drugs, to make it possible for humans to willingly and knowingly enter Umbra - no doubt so they can then act as the vampires' pawns there. Unfortunately, when the time has come for the assault, most humans were already slaughtered, and the former garou prisoner once more fell into the hands of the enemy after a furious charge at his captor. The vampires, Veronica among them, fled. To Prague, as it was later discovered. The young pack has followed them there - but what awaited them was only further calamity. The young garou, once more rescued from his vampire captors, found himself broken and hollow. Reading, in his own way, the words of the Litany, he examined himself - and was found wanting. His life ended in the waters of Veltava. Then, the pack Alpha, a Glass Walker by the name of Ester, deeded as "Nintendo", was abducted by the Black Spiral Dancers, a couple of whom were found working with the vampires. A rescue mission was quickly hatched, but it proved costly - another garou, a lupus Arhoun by the name of Looks-into-the-Void, lost his life in the fight. As for the Alpha - she was forced to dance the Black Spiral - a fate worse than death for many. Not wanting to fully succumb into the corruption of the Wyrm and became the tool of destruction figthing against those she has sworn to protect, she asked for the mercy of death. Her remaining packmates granted it, with heavy hearts. The last of the pack, besides Darek himself, a gentle Child of Gaia much like himself, found it all too much to handle, and returned to her home town, wanting as little to do with her werewolf ancestry as possible.
Darek himself was thus left alone, plagued by guilt and nightmares about the friends he lost - and about the enemy he never managed to subdue.
Some time later, his father, a renowned construction engineer, won the Green Card lottery and decided to move with his family to the US, to seek better fortunes there and chase the famous American Dream. Along the course of his education, Darek slowly drifted away from his faith, embracing a more philosophical and liberal worthview - no doubt due to the revelation of the supernatural, which strongly challenged his Christian beliefs. Darek's mother has recently died after a long illness, and that made him ask questions he never asked before. It sparked conflict with his father, who snapped and said that he'll not continue to support a god-hating, libtard bastard under his roof any longer what with the long hair and being a 23 years old girlfriendless guy he's probably a faggot too. He was forced to forestall his further academic efforts just short of earning a Master's in history, and ended up in a shelter for homeless people. He managed to get a scholarship to finish a nursing course program and currently holds a job at one of the local hospitals, trying to glue his life back together. All the while he still does charity work, though, and tries to keep up the postitive, friendly attitude he's became known for in many circles.

NOTES
Unbreakable spec in Stamina - I envison it representing an inner strength of conviction, as much physical as mental. I see it manifesting in situations that are linked in some way to his Code of Honor, when upholding the tenents of that code hangs upon his toughness. So for example - I'd like for it to give a spec bonus when resisting torture that would make him betray his allies, but not when resisting a random poison, it could give him a spec bonus if pursuing a particularly noteworthy badguy he knows commited some really evil deeds, but it would not apply if for example running for cover, or relying a message, etc. I hope you get what I mean. I'd like my stamina spec to reflect something like "summoning inner reserves when my Values are on the line". Wheather it does in a particular case is up to the ST, of course, I'm just stating my intent.
Trivia spec in Intelligence - "Trivia" is such a riddiculously broad spec that it makes me roll my eyes (and yet I picked it out of the suggested ones in the rulebook), but obviously what I meant by it is that he's pretty well read in general, has an academic degree (a Bachelor's in history) and is a person curious about the world so he "picked up" a lot of small bits of knowledge about different things. Once again - wheather it applies in a particular case is, obviously, up to the ST.
Gaining trust spec in Empathy - by which I understand pretty straightforward and genuine attempts to sympathize with someone/befriend them and act in a generally nice way in order to find common grounds. Obviously, how it works on certain characters will vary - most vampires probably won't react that well to a mortal trying to sympathize with them, as they are not really emotional creatures themselves. But what I want to stress out is that it's NOT a manipulation tactic, or even some sort of "cold" understanding how people work. Empathy is often described as the later in the rulebook, being used to discern lies, detecting hidden motives... I myself view empathy more as an emotional experiance than a mental one, it's about feeling, not about knowing, and that's the way I'd like to go with my character.

Allies:
Catherine Harrington - a social worker in one of Starke's poorer districts, helping the less fortunate. He came to know her while doing volunteer work, and later when he was himself forced to stay at a homeless shelter.
Matthew Locke - a local doctor and a friend of Darek's, he helped him polish his medical skills.

Contacts:
Magdalena "The Morning Star" P�oniecka - A Children of Gaia Elder in the Silverstream Sept in Cieszyn, Poland - one that first took him in after his First Change and then oversaw Darek and his pack's Rite of Passage.
Various contacts in the academic circles of historians, a remnant of both his education (Polish contacts) and his overall interest in the matter (a few US based contacts he acquired over his stay)

Merits:
Languages (2) - apart from his native Polish he knows English (of course), and Latin which he learned due to his interest in history
Code of Honor (2) - he is an idealistic, principled person, staunchly beliving - naively as some say - in antiquated concepts such a chivalry and honor. He is an image of a modern knight, as even his deed name reflects, and indeed - his code of honor is very similar to what one might expect of a romanticized idea of a set of chivalric values. Tell the truth, defend the innocents, punish the guilty, help the weak, act with sincerety, dignity and honor.
Calm Heart (3) - he is a compassionate, empathic person by heart and nature. When he first learned of the fires of Rage within his soul, after his First Change, he swore to himself to master them instead of letting them master him, so that no innocent is ever harmed by the vicious spark burning inside him.

Flaws:
Docile (2) - as mentioned above, he is definitely not a violent person by nature - quite the opposite. And thus the fires of Rage burn within him with less intensity than among other of Gaia's Chosen. He has faced derision due to that fact - being called a domesticated pup, a dog-like mongrel and even worse. He has endured all that with a stoicism worthy of note, for he himself consideres his mellow temperament much more a blessing than a curse.
Phobia of heights (2) - I'm not sure I need to explain that, phobias are often subconscious and seemingly not steeming from any traumatic events (though they obviously CAN). Sometimes... we are just afraid of some things.
Enemy (3 ) - Veronica Toeplitz, a vampire heading the human experimentation facility back in Poland, first came into contact with Darek during the former's Rite of Passage. She has managed to flee retribution, for which Darek blames himself from time to time, for she has truly earned his ire. Her current location is unknown, but it is certainly possible, that she either followed him across the Atlantic or had some other dark dealings there. I leave her Clan and detailed abilities up to the ST, as well as the decision if her human experiments ever had any merit or chance of success, or if she was just a powerful, cruel madman.

Equipment:
Usually carried:
A backpack with: a well stocked medical kit, some basic survival gear (no climbing ropes or a pocket helicopter, rather simple things like firestarting supplies, water purifying tablets etc) and usually at least one book on either history, medicine or the occult
An older type, non-smartphone mobile phone
A combat knife
Usually stored away:
A well-maintained longsword
A battle-worthy combat shield, emblazoned with the Polish Coat of Arms and the words "Fiat iustitia et pereat mundus"
Some more advanced medical supplies
A couple of books on various subjects, but mostly history, medicine and philosophy


HISTORY: