Nathaniel Hawthorne

Name Nathaniel Hawthorne Age 270 (ish) Affiliation Jamal Washington Job Detective Status Living @PCs Patron (Wash)

Actor: James D'Arcy

Concept

Revolutionary War Era Immortal, now turned Police Detective

Details

Background

Born in 1755 to wealthy landowners in Virginia, Nathaniel attended Harvard University in 1771 and quickly fell in with the Sons of Liberty, participating in what would later be called the 'Bean Towne Tea Party' during 1773. A year later, against his father's explicit instructions, he joined the Massachusetts militia and would later be voted in as Lieutenant after a popular election among the men.

He fought in many of the battles of the American Revolution, but "died" in 1776 at the Battle of Long Island. Awakening in a pile of corpses, he faced off against his first Immortal in the form of a dangerously drunk Hessian soldier. Nathaniel would spend the rest of the war baffled over his strange condition and terribly afraid that he had been cursed somehow. He gained a reputation for heroism and a complete lack of fear, but somehow managed to keep his secret. It was during this time that he briefly met Solomon, son of Goeffrey, another, much older (and far more capable) Immortal, who offered to teach him, though this would not actually happen until after the war as Solomon was then serving the British. This mentorship would lead to a several centuries-long friendship.

Following the war and Solomon's training, Nathaniel returned to Bean Towne where he reunited with an old friend from the Sons of Liberty who had not joined the militia, Walter Rankins, and Rankins offered him a job as a law clerk in his thriving business. More importantly, this was when Nathaniel met Walter's new wife, Rebecca, and fell immediately in love with her. Nothing could come of this, though, and he buried himself in the work. Barely two years later, though, Rankins' health began to deteriorate rapidly and, on his death bed, he begged Nathaniel to look after Rebecca (who reciprocated Hawthorne's affections). The two married barely a month later when Rebecca realized she was carrying Walter's child.

Rankins' younger brother accused Nathaniel and Rebecca of murdering his brother, and forced a duel between them; both men should have died from the bullets, but Nathaniel (naturally) recovered, and mere days later, he would encounter Walter, now a full Vampire and enraged over the death of his brother. They fought but it was a draw and they had to abandon the fight upon the approach of others. Taking Rebecca, Nathaniel fled Bean Towne, but the enmity between he and Rankins would last for centuries...

As a mortal, Rebecca would eventually pass in 1799, but her son had a great many children who all bore the Hawthorne name if none of Nathaniel's actual blood. Over the centuries, he would keep an eye on his wife's descendants, sometimes coming to their aid when the supernatural began to encroach. Following her death, he would travel the growing United States as well as other parts of the world, occasionally meet up with his friend and mentor, Solomon, and encounter strange creatures. By the end of the twentieth century, he had participated in both world wars (although he mostly just rode a desk, translating German, for the second one), had trained a pair of new Immortals, and tried desperately to kill the vampire wearing Walter Rankins' face a half dozen times.

Recent Activities

Around six years ago, he was drawn to Motor City and eventually young Jamal Washington. This was not the first newly birthed Immortal that he had tutored, but the previous two ended up poorly and when Jamal insisted on learning how to find vampires, Nathaniel feared his third student would end badly as well. Still, he gave the boy a saber that he taken from a French Immortal during the 1850s and taught him as well and as harshly as he could.

Reports of a serial killer in Bean Towne who dressed up his victims in Revolutionary War garb soon drew Nathaniel's attention, particularly when he discovered that the dead were descended from his brother's line. Returning to Bean Towne for the first time in forty years, Nathaniel arranged for the police commissioner (whom he had rescued from a feral beast of fur and tooth and claw the last time he was here) to instate him as an outside expert on the investigation, and he very quickly determined that Walter Rankins was ultimately behind it. Possibly even more curious was the female detective he was partnered with: not only is she an exact physical duplicate of his later wife, she even bears her pre-marriage name, Rebecca Hoffman.

Traits

He's an Immortal. He has inside of him the blood of kings. He has no rival. No man can be his equal.

Plus, he's at least 600 points in GURPS terms. Maybe as much as 750. As a result, he's probably spectacularly good as an investigator.

Notes

Hawthorne was originally created for a 3e GURPS game that Gigermann was going to run with our face-to-face group that was heavily influenced by "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" (the comic, not the crappy movie). Unfortunately, that game fell through due to the group changing and various other reasons, so I initially planned on reusing him for this game. Unfortunately, we quickly determined that 400 points would be pretty hard to fit this character in - the above background barely covers the stuff he lives through, though, like Conor MacLeod in the first Highlander movie, by the time we get to "modern day," he was just existing but not really "living."

Once I determined to play a new student of his, this frees Hawthorne up to be a patron (per RAW, at least 150% of starting points, so 600 points or more). I'd also discovered the one-season "Forever" show staring Ioan Gruffud and it amused to envision Hawthorne stuck in a television cop procedure that had a slice of urban fantasy in it. To the other cops, he's a weirdo with a strange accent - the American accent of the Thirteen Colonies was quite different from today - but thanks to his Quickening abilities, he's an excellent investigator. Throw in a recurring arc villain in the form of his one-time friend now turned vampire, and a female detective partner who looks identical to the woman that both the vampire and then the Immortal married, and shenanigans ensue!