Ralston Van Doren

Concept: That guy. You know.

AKA: Ralston prefers his given name but also goes by the nickname “Rolly”.

Desc: Lean and muscular like a swimmer. Insolent tousled black hair.  Pianist hands. The sort of smile that hints at unguessed debaucheries. (Think a young James Spader, and you’re not too far off the mark.) Intelligent eyes. Low musical voice. Decent singer. 

History: The Van Doren family is one of THOSE families. The eldest son is usually groomed for politics, the middle son set up in business and the youngest...

Well, the Van Doren family has found that it’s usually fine to encourage the youngest son to be a rakish photogenic layabout. Often, such a persona can be useful for deflecting headlines away from the elder boys.

     While Ralston has been encouraged all his life to be almost pure Id, he’s learned over the course of his young life how to be patient and delay gratification.  He’s seen what it’s like when you can’t control yourself or wait.   And Ralston is really good at learning things from the bench.

   He likes the role he plays.  He plays it with gusto, but he’s a developed a bit of an addiction. No, not booze, or coke. (Although he likes both.)  It’s adrenaline he digs.

    Like calls to like, and so when Ashwood Abbey came calling, Ralston, with the full blessing of his family, joined.   Now he, and other rich layabouts, make occasional forays into the nightlife hunting other night-folk.  They are well armed. They are well-provisioned.  They have access to useful training. And usually, they are ripped to the teats on fine Peruvian flake.

Funnily enough, Ralston has become the brains behind their little operation.  He has tactical and strategic chops. He grew up in a family that is balls deep in occultism and occult circles, so what he doesn’t know already, he can find out.  Ralston is, despite his sexual perversity, and substance abuse problems, a voracious reader, and while he got bounced from a number prestigious schools, He also got a very good, if varied, education.   Truth be told, he may be the smartest of the siblings. He certainly thinks so.  Once he started hunting the supernatural just for the rush...Now...He wants to know more.  Personally, I couldn’t tell you which is scarier.

Attitude:  “Do you see this?  This is lucite. It’s a strand of plastic material. I’ve wrapped it in tape so that only the end will show. The other end is outside, in the sunlight. and Lucite is spectacular at light conduction.  Now you can either answer my questions and get off with nothing more serious than my name inscribed in the burning flesh of your forehead...Which, by the way, your elders already KNOW my name...OR, I can cut to the chase and give you a sunlight enema.  Which would you prefer?”

Skills:  Physically, Ralston is in tip-top physical shape. He could be in the Olympics if it weren’t for the hooch and nose candy. He’s socially adept and he’s smart (Something of a closet bookworm)  He’s got 3+ dots of academics (And been in enough trouble to have a specialty in Law)  If you have Second Sight, Ralston would have the Low Magic template for Apostle of the Dark One. (Most of his family does too.)

Gear: In terms of his regular pocket gear, All he needs on any given night is condoms, his smartphone, His wallet, and a pistol with CC permit.  If he’s on the hunt, though, He’s got thermo-graphic imaging, Kevlar weave armoring, and some lovely custom-made firearms and ammo. One thing is for sure. He’s never without his kindle.

Home: Ralston rarely hangs his hat at the family manse anymore. He’s got a lovely penthouse downtown.  It’s got maid service and mystic wards. He needs both. Ralston’s family owns the place, and he’s got his own key to the private freight elevator.  He’s also got about 4 or 5 bolt holes of his own and cash stowed in a dozen banks across the globe.

Circle: Rolly parties like Leonardo DiCaprio THINKS he parties. As a result, he’s pretty popular among a certain segment of the idle rich population. Also, he’s developing something of a rep among hunter groups.  They think he’s crazy. But they also think he’s might just be a crazy genius.  What they don’t know, is that the Vermillion House has a certain number of supernatural allies and anyone on THAT list is never going to see trouble from his group of hunters.

Story Uses:

“Well, who’s little freak-child are you?” 

If you run into Ralston while he’s on the hunt, you’ll find him organized, prepared, vigorous, and half-crazy from adrenaline.  He’ll be friendly...Jaunty even. But only because he’s going to kill you.  Or try.

“Party favors are over there. Most of them are cute and clean.”

On the other hand, you might have some kind of connect with Ralston in his other life...And you know it’s entirely possible that he might be willing to put you on his hunter crew if you’ve had a bad experience with something supernatural.  By the time you figure out what a bad man he actually is, you’re likely to be in too deep.

Connections:

* Vuldorusss actually likes Ralston.  When the Family comes around to visit, The others are only there for business. Transactions.  But when Ralston comes he always has questions...and they are INTERESTING questions.

* Payton Breckinridge knows him from being kids together. They used to be friends, but the direction he's gone in over the years, and the bad effect he's been on Payton's siblings is not something Payton can ignore. Payton's probably one of those few that could maybe turn Ralston around...But there are so many in his life that would just as soon see him go in the direction he's going.

* Meredith Shaw is another that he grew up with. For her part, Ralston is one of the few people on the planet that Shaw has any affection for. They also bumped uglies once or twice, but that was before she had really figured out her kink. He probably wouldn't mind being tied up and flogged.(he'd be a bossy bottom)  But if she lost respect for him afterward...Yeah. He wouldn't take that well.  While Meredith doesn't see the point of the Hunting, she doesn't discourage him and occasionally drops the dime on a likely target she encounters.

* Lorna Crane Yeah. Ralston not going to marry her. I mean, it's great that she's as nasty in the sack as she is. Crazy will do that for you.  But Ralston has already figured her out and as soon as he's on the hook, he knows he'd be a dead man.  He's interested in the challenge, but he's also figured out that she far too white trash for him.  Still, that thing that she does with her tongue is pretty amazing.

* Schuyler Lavey has yet to convince Ralston that he's worth the air he's breathing. Ralston is fairly convinced that Schuyler ought to be eaten at one of the quarterly meetings of The Vermillion House

And this is a shame because if the two ever really talked, they might discover some things in common.

* Lillian Penobscot is "Aunt Lilly" to Ralston. She may even be distantly related by blood. Which is the only thing that has prevented the two of them from jumping one another's bones.  Although it IS possible that there was an incident during one of the orgies held at a V-House gathering.  It's all a bit hazy really. Lillian is up on occult things, so when Ralston has a question, He'll make a point of going round and asking his Aunt just so he can ratchet up the sexual tension a bit.

* It pretty much goes without saying, that if anything untoward happens and Ralston and/or his crew get arrest for anything that doesn't involve the murder of an infant in front of 50 witnesses. Holmes, Gillis, Baker, Savage, North, and Dean will have him out of jail in under an hour and will be ruthlessly destroying the arresting officer's career in less than a day...max.