~Could death be so smooth? With exotic grace, the athletic man strides through the shadows. Plain black Payless shoes tromp over asphalt. Black cotton khakis drop over the tight laces. A matching short sleeve shirt hugs his lean torso. A suede brown jacket rests upon his shoulders. From the neck below, only the Basque's dexterous hands hang free. Tobbar boasts an unblemished, round face that allows only even and unfriendly expressions. No hair hides his smooth scalp. The bald twenty-seven year old man's most intense features, however, are his eyes. The man's gaze illustrates a vague blue hue. But Tobbar's eyes gleam coldly. Pure malice, vindictive and relentless, shines in the animated man's orbs. Tobbar brings death with pure intensity of breath and blood. Tobbar lives.~
OOC: Appearance 3; Blood Purity 3
“Nothing in the world says we need them."
History
Youth
The passionate rhythm of the flamenco always stirred in Tobbar’s heart. In the heart of the Basque, Tobbar lived with his kumpania, made up of Zingaresca gitanos. Tobbar was a son of the Antes, but the Vegas and Lambaris also populated the large troupe that made its living through dance. The many forms of flamenco complimented their life-style, granting the traveling band of Gypsies an eclectic range of talent. Not only that, but these Romani made Zapaderin their sacred specialty. This forbidden dance was a family secret, because of how it made the Romani’s pure blood sing and hypnotized the gaje (non-Gypsies). Everyone in the kumpania learned how to dance all of the family’s forms, boy and girl.
So Tobbar began his training from youth, learning dances such as the guaracha, fandango, and of course the various Basque dances and flamencos. He and his two younger sisters, Zurina and Pueyo, learned, lived, and played together. He was proud to be their brother and looked after them. When their parents vanished and thought dead, Tobbar helped take care of his sisters. But the children’s care came mainly under their grandmother. At her feet, Tobbar listened to many of the old stories. Most of these stories he dismissed as folklore and old wives’ tales. But their grandmother insisted that the supernatural truly existed. Not all were wicked, she warned, but many coveted the blood of the Rom. From his grandmother, Tobbar began to realize just how unique Gypsies really were. He learned of the Blood’s vitality and how, why, it ran so purely in his family’s veins. He and his sisters were well-endowed with Romani purity, the grandmother explained, because of the excellent arrangement of their parents’ marriage.
Thus, the Romani, Tobbar came to believe, were superior to gaje in many ways - not all ways, but in the ways that were most important. Family, for example, seemed like the most important thing in all the world for Tobbar and his fellow gitanos. In contrast, many of the folk they encountered as they traveled across western Europe seemed to have less if not little love for their own brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers. Grandparents were scorned as doddering and children chided as nothing but annoyances. Before the age of eighteen, Tobbar saw most of Spain, Portugal, and western France. And always the people were the same on the inside. Culturally, they all differed. But in their hearts, Tobbar saw good natures and bad, and especially observed how they coveted. He grew distrustful of those outside his family, protecting his attractive sisters every time they wanted to go into town to shop or have fun.
But his main duty as a full-grown man was to dance with the kumpania. Tobbar demonstrated basic mastery of all the dance forms the troupe performed. And he begun to understand and portray the hypnotic beauty of the Zapaderin. He was full-fledged Zingaresca. After a couple years, Tobbar got in the swing of this lifestyle and was quite content. Then in Andalucia, the troupe ran into a traditional rival. Another troupe, made up of stationary Spaniards, long held a stiff competition with gitano dancers. And it seems they particularly had it in for Tobbar’s kumpania. In Grenada, fierce dance competitions went underway. The public came to view masters of traditional flamenco sizzle the dance floors and streets with wild applause. Tobbar was overwhelmed with the heat of the action, of the fiery performances, and the cheering crowds. He loved this!
Villainry
Unfortunately, the gitanos’ rivals weren’t all just dancers. Some of them were wuzho, their blood corrupted by the blood of vampiros, and their will enslaved to their hidden undead masters. Vampires of Clan Toreador took charge of this Andalucian troupe. Their traditional rivalry with the Zingaresca was poisoned. While the competitions raged in the streets by day and night, by secret the Toreador moved against the Gypsies. Tobbar, like the rest of his kumpania, was completely drunk. So he didn’t even notice when his sisters disappeared from the tavern. Lured away by the vampires’ foul powers, Zurina and Pueyo were both taken into the dark Embrace, and changed into vampires, too. Their loyalties were subverted from their family and enslaved to the Toreador’s will. The next night, Tobbar was shocked to see his sisters perform for the Andalucians. And he was horrified when his older cousin recognized them for what they became.
Outraged, the Gypsies’ revenge came swiftly. So angry were they that they lost the competition that night. They were focused enough, however, that some of their troupe followed the Toreador’s dancers home. The next day, the kumpania took its revenge. It snuck into the vampires’ havens. With knife and torch and stake, ghouled dancers and their undead patrons were slaughtered en masse. Tobbar was at the head of this ambush, furiously stabbing at everything in his path, half-blinded by tears. His sisters, still fresh as vampires, could not stop their purification. They were cut down. It fell to Tobbar to free their tainted blood. Sobbing, the young man struck his sisters’ heads from their bodies despite their pleas. Only death would save their souls, and only their souls mattered.
With this bloody deed, the Zingaresca fled back to the Basque. They holed up at their old campsite in the north. Tobbar was able to enjoy his first home for the last time. He spent a month alone in the grassy knolls, commiserating the loss of his beautiful sisters. But blood begets blood. Other vampires of the Lasombra Clan (suggesting that the Toreador they killed were Sabbat), furious that mere “kine” (human mortals) would dare attack and slay vampires, had their own plans for revenge. They tracked the gitanos down through Spain, back to their homeland. And they fell upon the Gypsies at night. All lights and lanterns were suddenly dimmed, Tobbar remembered, as their infernal shadows descended upon the camp. They charged into their families’ tents, slaughtering old and young. Some tried to defend themselves but could rarely even see their darksome foes. Tobbar, like many others, desperately fled to escape this deadly ambush. Tobbar’s grandmother was one of the first to die, even as Tobbar cursed himself for ever doubting her stories.
Slayers
The kumpania was broken and every survivor scattered to the winds. Tobbar ran to France, keeping close to the north. He entered Normandy after a short while. He stumbled across “D-Day Beach”. He witnessed the many graves and sat upon a boulder to watch the sea roll up and down the beach. Tobbar rested there for many hours when an old man strolled around the bend. Walking with the support of a cane, the old man came up to Tobbar and peered at him with knowing eyes. He addressed Tobbar in Romani and while the dialect was a bit different, Tobbar could understand the gist of what the man was saying. He responded in his own dialect, explaining where he was from and what family he was. He gave his name and the old man told Tobbar his: Lothar. The old man talked about the D-Day graves, World War II, Nazis, and Hitler’s “Final Resolutions”. Lothar went on to say he had an omen about meeting Tobbar. Tobbar shrugged and explained what happened to his kumpania. The old man patted his arm and told him that God’s plan for Tobbar was now to join a new family. His experiences occurred for a reason: he was to become a holy crusader for God. He was to join the Tsurara.
Surprised, Tobbar wracked his memory for his grandmother’s tales about the other great Romani families. The Tsurara were a newer family, he learned, one that came together after World War II in response to the hatred Gypsies suffered. Vampires were behind the “Final Resolution”, the old seer suggested, and encouraged Tobbar to come meet the rest of the kumpania. Tobbar agreed and followed Lothar back to his camp. There Tobbar was greeted with the camaraderie of the other, younger Tsurara. It was as if they expected him to come along that day, and everyone introduced himself as if he was already a new brother of the family. He met the le commandant morte of the kumpania, Tassilo, who welcomed him to the Tsurara. But to become a full-fledged crusader, Tassilo warned, Tobbar would have to undergo a lot of extra training. He would have to hone his Blood’s affinities to razor-keen levels. Tobbar had no problem with developing natural talents of his gifted heritage. But before any of that could happen, Tobbar had to prove to the Tsurara that he was capable of doing what had to be done. That night he was brought to a special tent wherein was tied a young man, a Gypsy of the Ravnos family, and a ghoul of a Ravnos vampire. He was given a pistol and instructed to shoot the ghoul in his head to purify the man of his taint. Tobbar looked at the gun, he looked at Tassilo, then back to the condemned prisoner who begged and pleaded. After only a few moments’ consideration, Tobbar aimed the weapon and fired. The ghoul was shot right in the chest and died in moments. Tassilo and the other Tsurara cheered Tobbar’s dedication and reveled that night.
And starting the next day and for the next year, Tobbar trained and developed his fighting skills and Blood Affinities. He shaved his head and hardened his personality. Tobbar drilled himself into a killer -– a killer of vampires namely. He turned his aptitude for dance into a deadly weapon, combining the aspects of Zapaderin and the Dance of Knives. And over time, he was indoctrinated into the secret ways of the Tsurara -– the Blood Sense. With this gift, he learned, he came to sense around him who was gaje and who wasn’t. And, Tassilo explained, eventually he could even tell when a man wasn’t a man but a supernatural hiding as a man.
So many months later, Tobbar’s training was complete. It was time to undergo his final test. With the old seer’s guidance, the Tsurara were prepared to drive into Spain, hunt down those Lasombra that murdered Tobbar’s family, and take revenge for the true-blooded Romani. Altogether, they left Normandy and drove into the Castilla province of Spain. Once more with knife and torch and stake, and also with rifle, the Romani fell upon the undead in each of their havens in the afternoon. Tobbar’s knives cut through guardian ghouls and vampires as they awakened from their daily slumber. Those Lasombra that woke up soon enough to summon their shrouds of darkness found that their tenebrous powers could not avail them. The Tsurara’s Blood Senses drove their knives home. Tobbar felt vindicated at last…but only partially. He was now Tsurara. He believed in the need to purge all such wuzho, to purify the world of such devils and to keep the Romani bloodline free and safe from their influence.
The kumpania returned to Normandy after these vicious attacks that killed almost a dozen vampires over the course of a few months. Tobbar was hailed as true Tsurara, blooded and ready for the crusade. Lothar drew him aside and offered the youth draba to help protect him along this crusade. In exchange, Tobbar was to send Lothar the fangs of all the vampires he killed. Tobbar heartily agreed. So that evening, Lothar inscribed and ensorcelled a Cat’s Paw tattoo on Tobbar’s back. Meanwhile, Tassilo invited Tobbar to stick around. But Tobbar wanted to go on his own. He hoped in fact to one day meet up with the remnants of his Zingaresca family. And until that time that he found them, he would slay all vampires he could. Tassilo called him a fool, but the old seer Lothar instructed the kumpania to let Tobbar go. The youth bid his surrogate family farewell and traveled back west to Spain.
Through Spain and Portugal Tobbar traveled alone. Unfortunately, the undead were on the hunt for any Gypsies that might pass as “militant”. So he was being hunted much more than he was hunting them. Tobbar killed a few vampires on his trek to the Atlantic. Most of the time, he lured suckers in through a hypnotic display of Zapaderin. This dance would suddenly become a “dance of death”, as he released his Dance of Knives upon the unwary target. But for the most part, the Lasombra vampires were on his tail. He had to constantly move and only lingered in any one town or city for a few nights at most. When his dance did not kill vampires, it lined his pockets.
A New World
Finally, in Lisbon Tobbar purchased a ticket on a passenger ship across the ocean to America. However, the night before the boat debarked, the Lasombra caught up to the lone Tsurara. They assaulted Tobbar in his hotel room, but he was sharp enough to meet their ambush at the door. The vampires so pigeon-holed, Tobbar was able to fight them back, one or two at a time at most. Indeed, he fought like a cornered rat. But he managed to keep his cool and despite his ferocity, his technique was precise. And that’s what saved his ass for the first few rounds of battle against the undead. The Lasombra relied too much on brute strength, and he evaded their attacks and shadowy tendrils and darkness. But Tobbar could only barely hold on. The Cat’s Paw turned him into a deadly lion in that battle, but he was still outnumbered and outclassed. Even so, the Lasombra dared not risk being slain by this “mere kine” in melee. They withdrew and brought up shooters instead. As the pistoliers charged through the door, Tobbar raced out. Bullets whizzed by as he dove out of his hotel window and plummeted three stories straight into the bay. Tobbar escaped in the night waters, swimming quietly away to avoid his pursuit.
The next day, he was able to board the ship safely. He relaxed on the boat as it slowly crossed the Atlantic Ocean. It landed in Baltimore after a couple months’ journey. In the New World, Tobbar felt like he could start fresh. He had no desire except to pursue his Tsurara crusade. But at least he wasn’t being pursued! So he lingered in Baltimore for several months. He occasionally performed at the Inner Harbor and for universities. In this city, he adjusted to American life. He learned English and enjoyed his stay. But he also stalked a few vampires in the city, dispatching them with his luring dance when he knew he could not be traced back by other vampires. In fact, to get the scoop on American undead, he captured one of the suckers he lured in with Zapaderin. He shackled the wuzho and tortured her until she told him everything she knew about the Kindred about America. Then, of course, he killed her.
But that was the last straw in that city. He had to move on, and so he did, traveling westwards. He voyaged by foot and sometimes hitchhiked. He was aiming for the west coast, and his trip went rapidly. Whenever he could, whenever he came across a vampire, he would use his “dance and dice” method. The fangs of all his victims he kept to one day soon ship back to Normandy and Lothar. But Tobbar had a long way to go, and Kansas City was one of but many stops along the way. What, he wondered, would he find here?
Talismans
Cat's Paw
Level: 4 Origin: This draba was inked into Tobbar's back only a couple of years after his probationary period with the Tsurara was completed. It was given as a favor that he will have to repay by collecting the fangs of vampire victims; more likely, it was given to him as a farewell present... Description: This draba comes in the form of a tattoo stenciled on his back, on the left shoulder blade. The ink used contained strange and mystical ingredients to which Tobbar is not privy, for he is not a drabarne. The black ink appears to be just as its title suggests: the paw of a feline, large enough to be equaled to a lion or tiger. Effects: 1) +2 Dexterity, double Speed (as per extra actions) for one scene Costs: Artifact: 0; Effect #1: 1 Willpower "Charges" Left: 3 Activation: This draba obeys the sound of certain precise steps of taconeo, combined with the brandishing of two knives and a specific Gitano fighting stance.
Significant Other
The former Zingaresche and the Urmen gravitated together through their shared love of dancing. Indeed, both young Gypsies are of gitano stock, and know all the same passionate dance forms. That's how their relationship began in 2004. It rocketed off to more amorous relations in short time. Now Tobbar and Ana swear love for each other up and down. While neither has any intent of ceasing their chosen jobs, they spend every free moment together. Tobbar even lives with Ana now, adoring the gorgeous young woman every chance he can get. If nothing else, Tobbar intends to keep Ana Chavula free of gaje impurities. Perhaps one day they will have even more together.
However, Ana could not reconcile Tobbar’s vicious hatred, and eventually she slipped away from the Tsurara before she found her heart as blackened. One night in ‘08, Tobbar returned home to an empty apartment. She was gone.
Ana
Weakness Obsessed Much?
They killed his family, point. They Embraced his sisters, point again. They helped hasten the extinction of the dwindling Zingaresche, triple play. Time to get a clue, Tobbar. There is no revenge for that atrocity. Surrendering himself to the hatred gives them one more victim. On the other hand, their population count could use a good cutting...
Likelihood of Corruption
High.
Tobbar doesn't work with other Romani, even other Tsurara. He finds that they are more interested in Nazi-like "Final Resolutions" than extermination of the real wuzho. Unfortunately, being a loner in his trade is a dangerous thing indeed. Getting "merely" killed is the least of his worries.
