Nicholas� Story

I was born in the Americas in 1749. I was the only child of two loving British colonists. I would dare say that my childhood was a normal one, but that all depends on what your definition of normal is. My first brush with the supernatural might not seem supernatural at all to you, but it definitely was not normal. I was 8 years old. My only friend was a 10 year old named Victor who was the child of our neighbors who lived ten miles away. We spent much of our days wandering that stretch of wilderness which separated our two homes. We invented all manner of games, but Victor would always win because he was older one. Oh how I remember wishing I was older just so that I could beat him.

One day we decided to go down to the river. It was a hot summer day, although I cannot remember what month it was. My parents always warned me to never ever go into the river since I did not know how to swim, but on this day, Victor tried to convince me to take off my clothes and go into the refreshing river with him. I told him no, saying that I would get into trouble with my parents if I did. Victor laughed and said that I was a coward, and that I would forever be "Mommy�s and Daddy�s little boy". I could not understand why Victor was being so mean to me, but I certainly did not want him to think of me as a coward. Next thing you know, we were both stripped down to our underpants and frolicking in the river splashing water at each other. At one point we started dunking each other. I admit it was not a very bright thing to do especially with Victor being older and obviously stronger than me.

I do not remember how long he held me underwater, but it was a long time. I felt the water enter my lungs and suddenly everything went blank. I was surrounded by a ghostly white shroud. One moment I was thrashing violently and the next moment I was peaceful. This feeling of tranquillity only lasted a few seconds but it felt like a lifetime. I do not remember how I came to be above the surface again. All I remeber was sputtering and choking on water again. Victor must have pulled me back to the surface. He slapped me hard in the back to help get the water out of me. I started to cry and I remember wanting to go home.

Victor told me to stop crying and that I was fine, but I just kept on wailing. Finally, Victor told me to go, but not to say what had happened and that if I did, he was going to beat me up. When I left, Victor was still yelling at me to keep my mouth shut.

I was so glad when I got home, but I forgot one thing. I was still wet. My parents naturally, inquired as to why I looked like I had just taken a bath. Victor�s warning was still ingrained in my mind so I did the only thing I could do. I lied. I told Mother and Father that I was down by the river and I had spotted a body in the middle of it. I panicked and began to run home but that I tripped and fell in.

I admit that it wasn�t a good lie, but my father believed me. After asking me where I saw this body, he immediately hopped on his horse and rushed off to inform the local magistrate. Well after he had gone, I thought it was all over until my mother started asking me some more questions, like how come all my clothes except my underpants were still dry? My mother broke me down and I began to cry again. I had no choice, I had to tell the truth. Mother was furious with me and she gave me a good spanking, not because I went swimming, but because I lied and that father was going to get in trouble now with the magistrate. She ordered me to sit in the corner and said "Just wait until your father gets home!"

I sat in the corner for hours. All the while I was dreading my father�s return. He did, but he also came back with the magistrate! I wanted to die right then and there. When they came in my mother immediately explained to father what I had really done and began apologizing profusely to the magistrate. I still remember my father�s words to this day;

"Dearest. What in heaven�s name are you talking about? We found the body!"

The look on my mother�s face was one of utter shock. The magistrate walked over to me and congratulated me on helping him solve a crime that had perplexed him for years. There really was a body in the river, right where I said there was! It was terribly decomposed which explained why I panicked and ran. The body was that of a young woman that had mysteriously disappeared 5 years ago. My mother looked at me all confused and asked me why I said that I had lied. When I did not answer, my father told my mother to leave me alone, and that I was still in shock at having seen a dead body. After all, I was just a child.

I became an instant celebrity. "Nick the Sleuth" they would call me. My parents were very proud of me. Mother apologized for having spanked me and she cooked me my favorite meal that evening. It was all a fluke. A huge coincidence, but what were the chances that my lie would actually turn out to be the truth.

The only person who was not impressed with all of this was Victor. It seemed that he grew jealous of my new found celebrity status. He refused to play with me anymore, saying that I thought I was better than he was. He called me a snob never spoke to me again.

Some of you might be thinking "good riddance" but losing my only friend was hard on me. My parents, still thinking the world of me, saved some money and bought me books. I learned to read and later, with my parents blessing, went to London to pursue my education. It was 1767 and I was 17 years old. I was sponsored by an uncle whom I had never met but who turned out to be just as sweet and kind as my father. I went to college and became a lawyer. Soon after I graduated I returned home. My parents were so proud of me, but these were troubling times. It was the eve of the American Revolution.

The local magistrate, who was now getting old in his years, saw me as the perfect replacement and named me his successor. The townsfolk were more than pleased to see me take on the job and took it on I did. I had an amazing knack for it. It seemed that I had a sixth sense of knowing when people were lying and what truths were being embellished. My reputation for being an uncanny crime/problem solver spread and I received a letter from a Virginian plantation owner named Thomas Jefferson, inviting me to a meeting of prominent men disgusted with the tyranny of King George.

I left to meet Mr. Jefferson who spoke of change and equal rights. His speeches were provocative, and I felt that his ideas were utopian but perhaps a little too radical. Several others at the meeting felt the same way. One of them was a Frenchman named Franc-Louis Boudreaux, who also happened to be a lawyer. We took a liking to each other and we maintained a correspondence over the years.

When the war broke out our communities were thrust in chaos. I managed to convince my community that independence was our only hope if we wished to thrive. Communication, was the key to our advantage during the war. I, along with Mr. Boudreaux and others set up vast communication networks which later proved vital to the war�s final outcome. I had a knack of devising routes and methods of communications which would be undetected by the enemy. I seemed to be one of the only ones capable of pinpointing the enemy lines� weakest link and successfully got our messages through, despite other�s beliefs that my dispatches would be caught.

I remember those nights sitting in small log cabins for hours planning and reworking our communication lines, with Boudreaux. It was during a cold night at one of our secret meetings that Mr. Boudreaux revealed himself to me as a Mage of the Euthanatos House. He said that he had been impressed with my skills at pinpointing the weakest link in any system. He asked if anything ever unusual had ever happened to me when I was young and that�s when I told him the story of me and Victor down by the river. He then asked if I had ever considered that I was something more than a mere mortal.

I didn�t understand what he was talking about. He got up and left me there for a moment and came back with a tray carrying over a dozen wine glasses filled with liqueur.

"All but one glass is tainted with a deadly poison." He said. "To drink the poison would cause death almost instantaneously. There is but one glass which is safe to drink from. Pick the right one, and you will live. Pick the wrong one, and you will die."

I laughed, thinking that this was some joke, but I can tell by the look on his face that he was being deadly serious. I can always tell, when people are serious.

I looked at the tray of glasses. I could have said no. I could have flipped the tray over. I could have stood up and walked away, but I didn�t. I sat there and studied the tray. Mr. Bourdeaux was eyeing me intently. By what logic made me choose the glass I did is beyond anyone�s comprehension, but choose I did. I chose, and I drank; not a sip, I chugged the entire contents of the glass and I waited�

The expression on my friends face had not changed. He didn�t ask why I chose that particular glass. He knew, that I knew, I picked the right one before I drank it. "Congratulations," he said after I set the glass back down. "You are now one of us."

Boudreaux taught me of the enigmatic Mage houses. I was to be part of the Euthanatos Tradition and he was to be my mentor. He taught me of the great cycle of life which he called "The Great Wheel". Boudreaux taught me how all things happen for reason. He taught me of spheres, of reality and paradox.

After the war, Boudreaux introduced me to a secret society in which there were others there like me. He called it "The Chamber of Thorns". Boudreaux himself was at the head of this council. Our meetings were ceremonial and religious in nature, but there was a heavy veil of secrecy to these meetings. Apart from Boudreaux, I would never know the identity of any of the members. Our identities were kept secret for our own protection but I later learned that the Chamber of Thorns was made up of people who were not unlike myself. The members were all doctors, lawyers and bankers. We would meet once a month (always on the first) to discuss the matters and the problems facing the new country.

Our group started small but our number grew over the years. Boudreaux would always be the one who would introduce the new member just as he introduced me.

The members of the Chamber of Thorns (including myself) were all patriots, but believed that the US Constitution as adopted would result in the eventual failure of "the great experiment of Democracy" due to its implicit "rights" talk. Though we believed it necessary to include such "rights" in order to convince enough states to pass the unprecedented document, we were sure that society would abuse the privileges the Constitution granted. To amend this, we took it upon ourselves to "fix" problems as they arose. Our "fixing" could be viewed as nothing more than vigilantism.

I admit that I was never comfortable with this, but I was in so deep now, that I honestly thought that this was a responsibility that God himself had placed upon me.

Those whom we judged as abusers of the law would have an "accident" occur to them. These would be carried out by the one who bought the abuser to our attention. The killing methods always varied, but it basically boiled down to being at the wrong place, at the wrong time. One would contract a deadly disease, another would be horse kicked and one was even walking by a building when a widow opened up knocking over a flower pot that dropped 2 stories and killed the individual that had been sentenced by us. The killing method was never the same but it was always under the guise as "accidental".

One individual who was bought to our attention was a banker by the name of Maximillian Pierpont. He was actually bought to our attention by Boudreaux himself. It seemed that Boudreaux had approached Maximillian and invited him to join our illustrious group but he refused. Boudreaux did not understand why his powers of persuasion did not work on him. This Maximillian was a risk and Boudreaux said that we must find him guilty. A man in such a position of power as Maximillian has a responsibility to the people of the U.S.

The rule of the Chamber is simple. If everyone on the council finds the person guilty, the sentence would be carried out but if only of us believes the man to be innocent, then the person lives. In my judgement, Maximillian was not guilty of any crime. "Where is it written," I said, "that refusing to join our order is a crime?"

Boudreaux argued that Maximillian was dangerous. His vast wealth and influence rivals that of the President himself. No one should command such power without having it derived from the will of the people or be at least be accountable to the people.

"And who are we accountable to?" I said. "Who watches over us? By what authority do we do what we do?"

This, I am afraid started an uproar. I was told that such statements are treasonous. I felt that I was merely exercising my right to freedom of expression. Boudreaux said that perhaps I had overextended my stay and that if I could not think for the good of the people than I should leave.

Well I left, right then and there. I was disappointed and angry but I was also a bit relieved from the fact that I no longer had to pass judgments on persons I never knew.

Then one day I received a letter from the council. It seemed that I had been judged a threat to the council and that I should leave the country. Failure to do so would result in my extermination or worse, the accidental deaths of my friends and families.

I left the country all right, but not without setting up a meeting with Maximillian. I tried to warn him that his life was in danger. He just smiled and said that he was perfectly capable of defending himself from any "unfortunate mishaps".

That is when things got a little fuzzy, I remember arguing with Maximillian, trying to convince him of the power of The Chamber of Thorns and that his life was in danger and then the next thing you know, I am booking a passage to France. I do not remember if I convinced him or not, but now that I think of it, I don�t remember anything about the meeting at all.

So here I am. Cut off from my home, my country, my friends and my family. I keep asking myself where did I go wrong? Maybe this was supposed to happen? If so, I only pray that my parents will remain safe and that Maximillian has heeded my warnings.

1789 Update: ACTIVE, EMBRACED! After several adventures (many of them just strange dream sequences), Nicholas found himself in the thick of things. He was deceived by the Anarch leader Lydia and found himself ghouled to her and unwittingly devoted to their cause. Still, violence was never Nicholas' forte, but his advice and observations did help the Anarchs reach its strongest point ever. After the fractured Camarilla harnessed their remaining forces, Nicholas was embraced by Lydia who had revealed herself to be none other than Maria, "the demon child" of the Tremere. When Xanthia discovered a newly embraced clansman, she quickly took him under her wing. Despite the fact that Nick's embrace came without permission,Xanthia knew somehow that the Tremere clan would not object because of his Mage background. Xanthia has since then taken on the responsibility as his "adopted" Sire.

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