Information)

[championbittersweet]

Jonathan E. Reid, MD

NAME

35

AGE

Male

GENDER

Vampire (Ekon)

SPECIES

6'4"

HEIGHT

Tall, muscular, lean

BUILD

Black

HAIR

Pale blue

EYES

Personality)

Jonathan Reid is, primarily, a doctor and a scientist. It's something that he identifies with strongly and even when faced with much of what he'd taken for fact being thrown into question, he persists in trying to focus on the scientific and logical answers to the situations he finds himself in. After his initial panic over what he had become and what he'd done, Jonathan turns his focus onto trying to find a cure for his vampirism and answers as to why he was turned and by whom. He remains focused on this goal throughout the game, and his experiences with Mary and with Lady Ashbury only reinforce his drive to try and cure what he and others are afflicted with.

As he comes from a pacifist play through, Jonathan is also very focused on helping other people as much as he can; he works hard to create medicines for the sick not only in the hospital but also across London itself, and helps people out with various tasks that they might be struggling to manage themselves. All the while he resists his urge to simply take what he needs to satisfy his hunger. Jonathan knows that human blood would sate him better and offer a range of other benefits, allowing him to become stronger and heal faster, but he resists the temptation and survives on rats and vermin instead.

That said, while Jonathan does resist feeding on people and claims he would never wish harm to anyone, it's worth noting that he does use his powers on others when it suits him. This is primarily in the form of his mesmerism; Jonathan uses it often to force others to allow him inside to speak with them or to get answers from them if they are not being truthful. Or even to make them take medication if they're resistant. This means he's something of a hypocrite as he takes offence when other vampires manipulate and use people, yet will do the same himself if he feels it would be beneficial in the long run.

It's worth noting as well that this hypocrisy comes out in other, non-vampiric aspects of Jonathan's character as well. When learning of a doctor at the Pembroke that is experimenting with new treatments, he immediately feels it is best that the medication the man is concocting be altered slightly to become more of a placebo. This is in spite of the fact that Jonathan himself trialed new treatments during the war, something he defends to others who criticise his willingness to experiment as ultimately helping many people.

Part of this is certainly also tied to Jonathan's pride and privilege from his upbringing. As someone born to a well-off family and a gifted surgeon, Jonathan has a habit of assuming he always knows what outcome is best in a situation, and this can result in him pushing for what his goal is despite the wishes of others. This is especially apparent in how he deals with Sean Hampton. Jonathan mostly knows of Skals from his own experience with them as mindless, hungry beasts that attack everything that could be considered food. Sean is not like this, but Jonathan assumes that he will not be able to control himself in the long term and uses very personal details about Sean's past to force him to submit and drink Jonathan's blood and stabilise him. While this does turn out to be for the best and Sean admits he feels more stable afterwards, the way Jonathan went about it was that of someone who had an unshakable belief that they were in the right and intended to do what was necessary to ensure the outcome they wanted.

Appearance)

Jonathan is a tall and striking man with dark hair worn longer on top and cropped short on the sides. His eyes are a shade of pale blue that can seem almost transparent in some light and this is not helped by his now corpse-pale skin. He has a few scars from his time in combat, most noticeably one that crosses his nose and then skips over to just under his left eye that appears to be caused by a blade. He has a full beard that is kept neatly trimmed.

Jonathan is from 1918 and wears a three piece suit paired with a heavy coat. His clothing is clearly well-made and his bearing is confident and gentlemanly, suggesting he comes from a wealthy background. His speech is also refined and anyone with a good ear would be able to place his accent as being from London during that time period.

Abilities)

Vampire Senses

Jonathan has extremely heightened senses after his rebirth and can focus his attention to block out everything around him and focus on the signs and sounds of people around him. He can use this to focus his hearing and eavesdrop on conversations some distance away or use it to focus on particular details like important symbols in a room.
But the biggest use of this ability is that Jonathan can sense the heartbeats of any living creatures around him, allowing him to get an idea of their general direction. Coupled with his training as a doctor, Jonathan has also found he can use this sense to get an idea of the general health and any ailments his patients might be suffering, allowing him to more effectively treat those around him.

Mesmerism

Jonathan can attempt to mesmerise people and force them to submit to his will, allowing him to convince them to invite him inside, reveal secrets, or follow him away from prying eyes... However this skill is dependent on the mental strength of the person he is trying to mesmerise. The more strong willed the person, the less likely it is to work on them.

Shadow jump

Jonathan can teleport short distances, disappearing in a black smoke or shadow-like effect and reappearing close by. He has to be able to see where he is leaping to, however, and there is a limit on the range he can cover in one movement. For example, he could jump to a balcony on a floor a level above him, but if he were trying to ascend several floors he would need to make several jumps, each to a location he can see clearly.

Shadow Veil

Jonathan can blend into the shadows for a time, making him very difficult to sense and allowing him to stealthily approach targets. However it's very draining on him to do this so he can only maintain it for brief periods and he can still be sensed by those with especially heightened senses or preternatural tracking of their own.

Vulnerability - Sunlight

Somewhat true to legends, Jonathan is vulnerable to sunlight and burns when it touches him, however the legends are wrong about it being able to kill him. It hurts a lot and he's severely weakened, and can even be incapacitated by it, but the sun alone cannot kill an Ekon.

Vulnerability - Holy Symbols

Holy symbols in and of themselves don't harm Jonathan - walking into a room that has a crucifix won't bother him in the slightest. It's when they're wielded by someone who has a strong faith in what the symbol represents and its power to stop him that they present a problem. They do not outright hurt Jonathan, but they can temporarily stun and blind him, making it difficult for him to attack or flee from them.

Vulnerability - Fire

Similar to sunlight, fire causes severe injuries and harm to vampires and recovering from fire induced injuries takes a lot longer than other injuries. However unlike sunlight, fire can kill Jonathan if he is consumed by it, and vampire hunters in London will often burn injured and incapacitated vampires in order to ensure they are dead.

Vulnerability - Invite Only

Like traditional vampires, Jonathan cannot enter a private residence without being invited in. Often he navigates around this by pressuring people using his mesmerism to encourage them to allow him entry, but a strong willed person can deny him and he won't be able to enter the location. This only applies to private residences though so he doesn't have an issue with public spaces.

History)

Following the end of WWI, Jonathan returned to London to try and help with the Spanish Flu epidemic and was on his way to visit his sickly mother when he heard a strange voice reciting an unusual poem and was attacked, bitten in the neck a moment later. He blacked out after the attack and awoke some time later, disoriented and stripped of all but his shirt and trousers, in a mass grave. After clawing his way out of the pit, Jonathan was still disoriented and overwhelmed by a powerful thirst. He found he could focus on little beyond the thump of a heartbeat in his ears and was drawn to a shadowy figure from which the sound came. The fact that the figure embraced him and spoke to him barely registered with Jonathan; his hunger overwhelmed him and, reacting on instinct, he sunk his fangs into the woman's neck and drained her.

Only once his hunger was sated did Jonathan return to himself and realise he held the dying body of his sister, Mary, in his arms. As much as he tried to save her, it was in vain as Mary passed away and her dying thoughts lingered in Jonathan's mind, a result of his act of embracing her. However he wasn't given time to mourn or move her body as the attack had been witnessed by vampire hunters who chased Jonathan through the area before he was finally able to find a place to hide. There, overcome with grief, Jonathan attempted to take his own life, an attempt that proved unsuccessful due to his new vampiric nature. As he realised whatever he was now wasn't human, Jonathan decided he would try to find the one who turned him and get the answers he desperately wanted.

While investigating, Jonathan found signs of another vampire in the area and pursued it, eventually finding the creature and managing to save a man the vampire had taken captive. However in the course of the fight, it became clear to Jonathan that this was not the creature that had attacked him and there was a great deal more going on in London than he'd thought. He befriended Dr Edgar Swansea, a man who seemed to have quite an understanding of what Jonathan was now and who he'd been before, and so offered Jonathan a place to stay at Pembroke Hospital where he could both help people and have the resources to research his new condition.

Game Choices

• Did not embrace anyone
• Made Dorothy Crane resign from Pembroke Hospital
• Made Sean Hampton drink blood
• Convinced Aloysius Dawson to forget his fear of dying
• Spared Geoffrey McCullum
• Let Edgar Swansea die