APPEARANCE AND DEMEANOR

Taran looks no older than 15 years of age. He is not very brawny, but rather lean and sinewy. He wears only the loincloth of a slave, and so you can see that his fair skin is covered in the blue swirling tattoos that earned his people the name of Picts, the "Painted Warriors". His eyes are grey and stormy under a big tuft of curly red hair. Taran doesn't talk much, but his demeanor and expression speak of a strong will. He might look like a slave, but he surely doesn't carry himself like one…

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ORIGIN STORY

- Born around 490 AD (he doesn't know exactly)
- Died in 504 AD
- Came to Rome in 509 AD

Taran grew up with his family tuath in a hovel close to Hadrian's Wall. Too close, as it turned out, when the Romans came. Between the corpses of his loved ones, the boy crawled across the ground, dead set to revenge them, barely alive himself. Thus he caught the eye of bitter Longinus de Aquila, who liked the idea of a child with such a spirit to break. He turned the boy, not even giving him the time and mercy of healing his wounds.

Longinus was a harsh master, and Taran was a stubborn pupil who wouldn't budge even under threat of abuse or destruction. He loathed his sire, but it would be several years until he would get his chance to escape. When he was finally able to best the older Brujah enough to beat him into torpor, he escaped into the night. He couldn't go home. There was no one there. He couldn't return to his country. Longinus would seek him there. Thus he turned to Rome, as he knew that Longinus' Britannica cohort was not to be ordered back for a long time yet.

Taran has only spent a few months in Rome, secretly avoiding the Kindred of the Eternal City, as he couldn't know which ones might be his sire's friends. He has found refuge at the Coliseum, where today only wild animals are left as the Circus's attraction. He spent his days in the dark nooks and crannies of the abandoned Gladiator quarters and fed from the animals and their slave minders at night. This is where he found and took a liking to the pair of massive Molosser dogs, Conan and Cailean. He gave them blood, ensuring that they would survive every fight.

It was in the Circus where he encountered Lorena. He watched her from the shadows when she strode trough the dark halls, trying to imagine what it might be like during daytime, always trying to escape her plight. Taran knew that he would have to resume running eventually, existing yet another day to become stronger, to be able to once step before Longinus as an equal opponent. To take revenge for everything. But in order to undertake yet another long journey, he would need money.

When Lorena finally confided in him, he was at once sympathetic to her plight. Taran really hates it when strong people harass those who cannot defend themselves, and so he swore he would help her, protect her when she dared escape her sire. And he silently applauded her resolve when she decided she would try. So the girl, whose beauty and sadness had drawn him close at first, now became Taran's golden ticket out of Rome.

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SECRETS

- Well, I guess being on the run from your sire (who never set you free in the first place) counts as one. Helping a member of an enemy clan do the same might double the score.

- As for the secret that he isn't aware of: Taran thinks that all members of his family are dead. What if one - let's say a little sister - survived? What if she has been sold as a slave? And what if Longinus knows where she is? (Her name is Una.)

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IMPORTANT PEOPLE

- Lorena. She knows who he is and what he's done, just as he knows about her. Lorena and Taran share the strange relationship of inspiring each other - and on Taran's side, there might be even more. But he would rather be destroyed before ever admitting that...

- A Nosferatu named Quintus. The Coliseum was his domain, and he discovered Taran, who thought himself quite clever and secretive, within the space of a night. He has not brought him before the prince because he has an old grudge against Longinus. Thus he helped Taran hide - but it's not for free. Taran owes him.

- Longinus. Yeah, he might be hostile towards Taran.

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LANGUAGES

- Pictish (a Gaelic dialect)
- Latin (with a heavy accent)

Taran can neither read nor write.

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CAMPAIGN HOOKS

- Taran will have to confront himself on some point with Kindred rules and society if he wants a future in a city like Constantinople. And he has very little experience with integrating. For example, he doesn't really understand the notion of clan loyalty (go figure) and doesn't care one way or another that he's a Brujah. He also doesn't react very well to authority.

- Taran's relationship to Lorena bears mention. What will come of it once they are in Constantinople? Taran will need her help to integrate into Kindred society, but on a social level, he surely is an encumbrance because of his skills and clan. Will she help him? Will she turn on him?

- In this group, religion might be an issue. Taran believes in the ways of his people and his belief has never been challenged. He isn't one to reflect on such things. A church is a strange meaningless building to him.

- There might be sense for other characters or NPCs to think about whether they might have had some relationship to Taran's sire, Longinus. He once was an important figure in the Kindred society of Rome, before his cohort was sent away. (And maybe his trip to Britannica even was his fault politically?) It would make things... interesting if someone in Taran's vicinity was an ally of Longinus...

- Storytelling-wise, I feel that a final confrontation with Longinus himself will be inevitable. Frankly, I don't know who is going to win that... But if it was different, where would be the fun?