1) When and where were you born?

I was born in the town of Veii, in the autumn nine years prior to it's fall to Rome's
Camillus. (387BC)

2) Describe your mortal life. (Or more accurately my life prior to the embrace)

We were the seeds of culture which germinated into the great romans, we just did
not want to be less than Rasenna. However like most things the romans touched we
were absorbed until we and they were hard to distinguish. For several hundred years
we were the dominant civilization on the peninsula. Still nearly a hundred years prior to
my birth, our seers knew the truth of things to come. We decided to seed our culture
and ideals into the basis of the growing Roman one, until they absorbed us entirely. As
one of the seafaring cultures we seeded other areas around the inner sea. My family
was at once wealthy, and lacked for coin. Within our city we were afforded
accolades benefiting of our fathers station - as he prepared the sacred spaces to
receive those who are passing on, or to receiving the offerings by those who have not
yet passed. A sacred profession for generations, i was to follow... and would have if not
for the fall of our city when I was barely nine years old. There were visitors and signs
which lead our family to close and bury the tombs to preserve those that passed before,
and to safe guard specific elements of our culture. It was time was all that they would
say and then in the dark of the same night they arrived they would leave. I had to this
point absorbed all of the knowledge of rites and rituals given to us by the child prodgey
Tages in the form of Libri Tagetici (Haruspicni, Acherontici, Vegoici), as well as the
broader Libri Ostentaria, Fulgurales, and Rituales - collectively known as the Etrusca
Disciplina. While I was not as gifted in interpreting the results of the Rites of Haruspicni
- I knew all of it by heart and could perform the rituals without error.

I was not in the city when it fell as my family had left for the city of Antioch some weeks
prior to the arrival of Romes legion. Greatly reduced in stature I learned that our ways
were to be kept secret from those outside of our cities - to give us time to fade into
obscurity I feel was the directives of those who helped fashion and found our
people. Again something I would not know or understand until many decades later -
when i came to understand those who lived among us.

In Byzantium i became a learned young man and one who was allowed to discourse
with men many years my senior for I had grasped a deeper meaning in many of their
writings and asked a great deal of questions to seek out the common threads which lie
between them. Death, and more specifically our preoccupation with its impending
arrival, our transitions from being to not being, or our obsession with what is
after. Philosophy seeks an understanding of that which Religion proposes. Who are
we, Why are we, and where are we going. In my early years i would listen to wise men,
learned men, ask the same questions with different words and struggle to answer them
imperfectly. And I realized that in many ways the Rasenna were a people who focused
on the living and the dead equally - we didn't question what would the afterlife look like,
we just adhered to our rites and rituals as the way of things and lived our lives in the
graceful understanding that we didn't need to burden ourselves with that part of the
question. And perhaps that's a gross simplification of a social structure that was in my
now weighted opinion created to explore that very concept. Our people were short lived
as such things go - and yet we were vastly more successful in our brief time than most
with double the amount of time. While I was occasionally scoffed at, i focused more of
my questions to the question of how much does a peoples fear or reverence of the life
beyond hinder it's growth and prosperity before they come to that state. I theorized that
if we but focused on awareness of it's inevitability in a way that allows us to simply
adhere to an logos instead of a pathos when our thoughts turned to death and the
afterlife we would be people much less constrained by fear and appeals to pathos to
that end. In my twenty third winter I found someone who not only listened but gave me
a chance to explore that line of thought unburdened by the mundane requirements of
life. A proposal of an experiment and it's conclusion with myself as the ultimate
subject. The details are to be found somewhere in my 'attic' but in brief I was to be
given a tincture which would increase my health, and decrease to stasis my aging -
which after substantial proof of it's capabilities I agreed to use Monthly - and forever
upon pain of all those years collapsing at the same time upon my body. (Ghoul -
350BC)

My first Domitor was known at the time as Byzar, and I only stayed with him relatively
few years before he gifted me to a good friend of his (perhaps one of his line) Kyros of
Antioch. Of Byzar i have only second hand information and writings as I have never
seen nor spoken to him since. His blood had long since passed from my body before I
was embraced - but at times I can still remember it as I can the time which we spent
together. In those times I fear most what might become of me should M convince me to
let go and walk his path.

Kyros was an old nearly blind man whom passed into the embrace late in life and often
needed my help in connecting with the current moods, and trends of a people he found
increasingly difficult to relate with. Much of our interaction were passed from night to
night of musings and I would help maintain his day time abode. I learned that he was
young in the ways of cannites and had expectations that when his direct connections to
the current mortal politics faded would resume a life of contemplation and learning away
from this distraction. In the mean time I was to be his servant and confidant in
exchange for blood to keep my to my life and studies. His wealth opened many doors
for me and his position afforded me contact with many of the canninaites who lived in
the near regions. It was on one of his trips to be with his sire that I was first given to the
fear of not having the blood. I found that I was able to trade favors and services to
Kyros's kind in exchange for sustenance - during his absences only, and only once or
twice from the same cainite. I was also required to drink from him to renew our bond
and to keep me from being bonded to another.

I spent my time not directly in service, in service to my own studies (much of which
overlapped his) to focus on the study of death - the passing over - and those who were
preoccupied with it. His clan most especially. Constant direct study of death changed a
person. In some it could be seen physically in others - only in a minor change upon
their demeanor. For centuries Tobiah studied and performed service to the mighty
kindred in exchange for blood.

3) When and where did you experience the Embrace?

Embraced by the Malkavian known as the Etruscan or his roman name Gaius Urbanus (Clif
Corcoran - IC Childer), 263, I had a long association as my Cappadocian domitor or patron(s)
had many dealings with him. I had been working for him as scribe, and collector. He would
send me all over Europe to retrieve an artifact or book for his collection, or in trade to another to
pay off or work off a debt. I was still free to pursue my own research or goals as long as I
completed my tasks satisfactorily, and I was kept in the blood which by now was as necessary as
air for me to continue my existence. A fact which became ever more crushing - I had long since
prepared to cross over when ever that time came as it must. I however became increasingly
focused on being unable to complete my own collection. If my Domitor's work required me to
be gone more than a few days from him or a patron I would be sent with enough supplies to last
me as long as I was careful and worked diligently. Sometimes on long assignments the
arrangement would include blood from a local source to ensure my supply and if I had been
especially successful in a task he would allow me enough to pursue my own longer endeavors.

It wasn't until I found myself without supplies when a vessel i had been traveling on
sunk. Washed up a week or so away from my destination and barely that much time before my
next infusion. I dove again and again to the bottom of the river and was still unable to collect my
things when I realized that I was not frantic to obtain my blood but rather the text I had obtained
for him, and the copy I had begun for myself. I sat upon the bank and found myself lost
figuratively and literally. I needed not to draw my next breath for life but to fulfill my domitor's
task and to recover the lost texts. I cared not for my own life but rather the loss of what I needed
to do with it. I returned to him having only succeeded in transcribing the text I had from
memory a failure. I related my tale to him as was our way, and while he was unhappy with the
loss of the tome - he smiled and offered me the rest of my future. Instead of his blood as had
been his plan, he offered me in exchange for boon repayment the blood of one of my patron's
Gaius. Perhaps this was for the failure, perhaps it was for another reason. In the years since we
have never deemed to speak of it directly, save the one night I returned - many years later -
bearing a copy of that book painstakingly transcribed from the almost completely ruined pages of
the copy i found in the archives of the small city nearest to the wreck; and the original author
who to my luck had awoken from a long torpor herself.

I was given only a few moments to collect myself before I was given the into the keeping of my
soon to be Sire. We had spoken of my possible embrace from time to time while I had been
working for him. In many ways I feel he was glad it was he that would give me the gift than my
domitor, and as he looked into my fading eyes ready to pass along the vitae that will return me
from that dread plain he spoke softly to me - reminding me to be as aware as could during the
crossing over and back, and to remember as much as I could about it.

4) How did you handle your Embrace?

Tobiah's mind broke during the return to life portion of the embrace. Perhaps it was the many years he had
studying the thoughts and culture of death. He was not prepared for the visions which occur during the moments of
death and second birth... or perhaps he was just not prepared to have his eyes opened with the potent blood of
Malkav. He raved for death as he brought it to those who were provided to slake his hunger. It was feared he was
going to be one of the ravaged or now called the gnawed - however his keenly honed mind knew of torpor, and felt it
a safer refuge to reason his way through the strength of his beast and the constant flow of thoughts unbidden. He
slept for 500 years before awakening to a lucid state.

5) Do you retain any connections with the life you lived before your Embrace?

Once he obtained a state of balance he began to interact with the mortal and kindred worlds from within the abbey he
had slept for so long. Learning of the outside world, and its changes, and it had changed. Eventually he resumed his
ties that had been maintained with those of his lineage. Diluted and blended with that of many of the worlds blood, he
was able to begin to direct his line back to their roots. They rediscovered there heritage and blood, and he regained
his connection to the mortal world.

6) Do you know your Sire? Are you still in contact with your Sire? Do you have any Childer?

Over the years He and I developed a relationship of sorts... mostly one of theory and
conjecture followed by decades of silence - only to receive word that one or another of
our theories had proved true or false, and the next one would be discussed. He was
forever focused on physical health and science such that it was at the time, and I was
not surprised at his choice of other childer. I did however keep closer relations with his
sire, as I could. We had spent many nights prior to my embrace while I was in his
service discussing things far above the station my kind had. I was something of a
puzzle or a prized pet at times among my domitors - but in each case I was able to give
and take enough to survive and continue my studies. Not every patron or donor was
kind or interested in my theories and would seek to enslave me with my need for their
blood. Those relationships usually ended with favors called in or owed, as I was never
the sort to turn to violence upon Kindred kind, and perhaps that was what allowed me
the mobility I had.

Childer... hmmm yes, I have had a childer... Her name is and always has been Olivia. She is and always has been of
my blood before and after her embrace. She has not always managed the transition from mortal to kindred and so
from time to time i've been forced to try again. I would reclaim my blood and her soul, acting as shepard until I found
both physical and spiritual successor. My Olivia and my newest Oliver (both the same character, and played by a
single player Kim) are in his mind separate and he treats them as such.. maybe it's just a subtle game played
between them, then again maybe it's only a game for one of them. (TBD)

7) Do you have any other supernatural or surviving mortal relations?

There are a number of lines of my blood scattered among the mortal kind - some having been diluted and some
having been reintroduced. I only have my childer Olivia and a few members of my staff have been gifted with my
blood while they are still mostly mortal.

8) Why are you in Guilford County?

I find that New Orleans while my home for some time has become a bit stagnant and he's resided there for enough
time to warrant moving to protect the Masquerade. It seems that under my guise of Dominic that I have at least flown
low enough under the radar as to not become a public figure (no photo's please). I have visited often in the last 40
years for a few years at a time as this is the current home of his Sire. This time he has begun putting down real roots
(Just before the turmoil) I have also brought my childer with me this time.

9) How long have you been here?

I have come and gone from the area and am currently spending time as it's resident... say 2 years-
ish

10) Where do you reside?

I have purchased an old church which reminds me of a local haunt in New Orleans - I have had thoughts of turning it
into a coffee shop, or a place for local musicians. Though I will need to make available several areas for slumber.

11) How do you make ends meet?

I have many holdings and income sources, but mostly as an Antiquarian. Is it still a
study of history and artifacts if you have lived during that time?

12) Do you have some form of identification? How good is it? What do you do if you don’t have it?

I do have some identification (Alternate Identity) for Dominic Ravenscroft.

13) Do you have any responsibilities not related to being a Kindred? How do you spend the rest of your
nights?

Dominic has been known to be an obscure author, a patron to open the occasional
gallery or bird sanctuary, even give lectures at some of the collages. Night classes
mostly though from time to time in the last few years he has had someone setup up
something called an audio only conference online, through which he has done some
early morning lectures or late afternoon ones. They are more of a front and a chance to
meet inspired minds, than responsibilities as they are only on the schedule he chooses,
and by maintaining an erratic one he cultivates the eccentric profile befitting someone
like Dominic.

14) Are you part of a coterie?

I have made many ties to kindred over the years. (I hope to use the character ties
board to develop some)

15) Do you owe any outstanding boons?

I have made many ties to kindred over the years. (I hope to use the character ties
board to develop some)

16) Do you revel in your beast or fight it? Have you ever violated morals you hold dear? How and why?

I call him Abel and at other times Adam though he responds best these nights to just the
letter M. I have long struggled with finding balance... or control... or even release from
him. From night one and through the first 500 years of torpid slumber, we debated...
argued... raged at one another. Each of us seeking to rise in control of our body. Then
there were the thoughts and visions which constantly flooded my senses, or the senses
of whomever i was at that moment. Others of my kind call this connect the web, or even
simpler the blessing/curse of Malkav. I can't say what it was that I understood in those
moments between life, death, and second birth - but I can say that I felt both vindicated
in my beliefs that Death was but a transition to continued being - and yet frightened of
what it might mean. I can't say what I saw or understood in those moments because I'm
not sure I was even myself - it felt like M had come with me in his completely
dominiated subconscious state, prior to being released by the rebirth of embrace. I felt
his rage at willing letting go of life, unlike i had ever felt passion. From time to time i still
see the city in ruins, a symbol or metaphor, perhaps... but maybe it was the first city...
maybe it was the last city for i have seen that too, in glimpses.

From the time I rose from that first slumber he has fought against my control and on
several occasions, I have experimented with shared control, or even have had him take
complete control through frenzied fight or flight. In all of these cases I have sought to
understand. From the very Abby i awoke in i found many of my things had been left to
me, tomes and gathered knowledge copied by hand for many years while I was able to
still walk under the suns glare. After one such experiment I felt strange like there was
perhaps another soul in residence inside. I came to understand that He had taken
control and fed from one of the friars of the Abby, one who had been charged with
seeing to my well being - a young Dominic. I wasn't aware that one could consume the
soul of a living mortal, though I had for some time been aware that Kindred could do
something similar to other Kindred. Nor was I aware that these souls lingered - or were
bound into the body which consumed them. I knew much of Dominic as he and I spent
many nights discussing the world of the living, and I had thought about offering him my
blood several times as he had a fire and passion for knowledge, and was willing to
share all that he knew of himself and the world he lived in outside with me. He became
a link to the present that made it possible for me to leave my chambers and interact with
the living without seeming completely out of place. A lifeline to the present I said to him
many times. Until I... He drank every last drop of his life and exulted in drinking in his
death as well. He wasn't lost to me, for now he was with me when ever I had need of
him, always available to guide my blending in, or in my interactions with the Kine. Then
he wasn't - I'm not sure when he faded it was many years, but one night i found myself
unable to relate to something and I felt a moments fear that a part of me was lost and
that I was now vulnerable again. That night was not an experiment - He vented his rage
on every living creature human or otherwise. If it were not for the fire which got started
in the scuffle there would have been much evidence to account for. I found myself
awake in my chambers below the abby and He was telling me that I had failed to protect
us and that he was forced to take measures. At that moment i understood why he was
part of me, and I was frightened. He was in charge of ensuring I didn't walk into death
again - for knowledge or otherwise. Survival, to live and feed were instincts
made conscious instead of the subservient unconsciousness that He evolved from. I
had heard from some during my studies of a Kindred state of being in which He would
be integrated so as to not be able to take control, or maybe excised entirely.

I spent many nights in study or deep contemplation. I consumed knowledge from every
source i could find, a scrap of this, or a whisper of that. I employed a number of mental
techniques to sharpen and strengthen the mind, against loss of knowledge or to loose
control to Him. I would travel and trade knowledge for knowledge, sometimes teaching
history of our kind, or even something of our inherent power, but it was mostly to share
some of the knowledge that I had accumulated. Time and time again i felt like I had
been working down the right path toward this state - to be led astray by some mystery
or another which had the right direction but never led to it's culmination. I knew it
started with maintaining my connections to humanity, both in the physical and in
spiritual sense. As I drew nearer to the answer I became more convinced that it would
lead to an excising of Him.

17) What do you consider your strengths and weaknesses?

His keenest strengths and weakness lie in: his ability be objective, and rational, the conviction
that he is in control of his beast when he decides to make a visit, his ability to master his beast in
conversation, argument, and sport, his convictions that Golconda is real (not that he will speak of
it), and that he once had obtained a high rung on the path to suspire only to find himself lacking
(his whole relationship with his childer), he keeps as up to date as he can and his childer and
occasional ghouls assist him, his faith and belief in the Masquerade, its necessity and it's strength
and the Sects focus to sustain it, and his constant drive to understand himself, the world, the
nature of vampire existence, and the constantly reinforced need to abide by these Latin phrases:

nosce te ipsum "know thyself"

mutantur omnia nos et mutamur in illis "All things change, and we change with them"
fallaces sunt rerum species "The appearances of things are deceptive".

To do so he constantly collects things and people who knowingly or otherwise allow him to
apply those ideals.

18) Are there any short-term and long-term goals you might see for your character?

Short Term Goals: Get himself firmly established in the city and it's game. Get his childer into a a position useful to
both himself and his lineage. Establish a place or practice where Kindred can discuss their existence, and grown in
their own understanding of their place in it. An Elysium, or maybe just a regular salon. Identify the next area expand
his collection of memento's, milestones and metaphorical mirrors to focus his theories and thought experiments.

Long Term Goals: Find a way to become permanently in balance with Adam (his beast) so that the needs are
satiated but he is in full control of himself. Help others come to the same understanding/balance/control of their
beast. And to ensure that his Olivia is indeed the right Olivia and not as she has been in the past a failure in need of
reclaiming. Unlike many in his line he does not possess the ability to call upon the sight at will, but that was one of
the many reasons he selected Olivia in the first place If she turns out to be unsuitable, i'll have to find another of my
line to bestow her soul onto.

19) What kind of role-playing moments would you consider high points for your character?
Direct roleplay with his line (local or otherwise)
lofty philosophical conversations that explore our existence, and help other characters with their
internal struggles
Continuing to avoid physically dangerous situations that would/could lead directly to the end of
his unlife.
20) Do you have any ideas for story hooks we could use to tie into your character, or tie your character to
others?

His childer Olivia is going to be played by Kim. My hope is that by using the character ties board to fill in a coterie
and some some background ties to others as kindred or while he was a ghoul. I've written a lot of background story
elements to lean into for motivation. I'll include those in his downtimes if they could help push interaction.