Josef Ptazinski

Background

Very grumpy eastern European Nosferatu. He came to the fief after the war, when eastern Europe was overrun by the Russians (again, as he is fond of complaining - "the Tzars were bad enough, but those Communists - God protect us from their humourless little Commisars.")

Joseph keeps himself very much to himself. The other Kindred of the fief usually dismiss him as a typically rude and odourous Nosferatu. He is usually avoided, especially by those with a keen sense of smell. Josef is regarded with slight suspicion, more because of the reputation of the Nosferatu in the fief than because of any particular wrongdoing on his part. Strangely, Josef is universally underrated in the fief of York. He is barely regarded as an Elder, although he will sometimes turn up at social functions purely to irritate Marie. He also enjoys arguing the non-existance of God with McCrae. In fact, he is both older and more powerful than is generally thought.

In life, Josef was the son of the Baron of a great estate in northern Poland. The Baron was cruel and callous towards his tenants and serfs, treating them harshly and always willing to drive away the sick or unproductive. He enforced his rule with a large private militia and was always more than willing to use them to settle disputes with his less powerful neighbours.

Baron Ptazinski treated his wives in the same way as his workers and consequently, by the time he was 58, he was looking to take his sixth wife. He already had a fine brood of sons, including Josef, who showed every promise of living up to their father's evil reputation. However, dowries always came in handy, so the Baron began to look around for a suitable candidate. The pretty young daughter of a nearby minor noble caught his eye. When the man refused to hand his daughter over to such a well-known tyrant, Baron Ptazinski simply invaded his land and burned his castle to the ground, putting all the inhabitants to the sword with the exception of his new bride. Deeming the noble's lands to form a suitable dowry Josef added them to his own estate.

Unfortunately, the noble he had so thoughtlessly killed was under the protection of Mehmet, a powerful Nosferatu. Enraged by the death of his retainer, the Nosferatu visited Baron Ptazinski one night, Embraced him and rescued his young wife. He hoped that the pain and suffering of the change wouild teach the Baron a lesson and open his eyes to the cruelty of his treatment of others.

The Nosferatu was wrong. Baron Ptazinski emerged from his Embrace fighting fit and burning with resentment of his Sire for the loss of his beautiful new wife. He Embraced several of his sons, including Josef, strengthened his private army and dared his Sire to move against him. However, in this he had overreached himself. His Sire was old and cunning and it was not long before the Baron found himself completely out manouvered. The Baron's castle went up in flames, like so many of his victims' castles had done before. The Baron burned with it, still spitting defiance at his Sire from the ruined battlements.

Most of his sons, Kindred and Kine perished with him. However, Josef had learned from his Embrace what his father had not. He had learned that it is futile to defy old Kindred and had fled the castle before it's destruction. When Mehmet tracked him down, Josef threw himself on his mercy, pleading that he had no part in the Baron's crimes. Although Mehmat had his doubts about the fledgling's sincerity, he decided to let him live, for the moment, taking the sensible precaution of Blood bonding him first.

Mehmat kept a close eye on Josef for the next hundred years but eventually, deciding that he had really thrown off the taint of his father, he let him go his own way. However, the Nosferatu was not entirely correct. Although Josef had changed a great deal, he was still his father's son. He was firmly for the feudal past and resented and fought against the smallest moves towards democracy or land reforms.

Josef is well aware of the prejudice against his Clan in the fief of York and counters it by keeping out of trouble. He is even more cautious than most Nosferatu about the amount of information he is willing to sell. In fact, he knows a great deal about what is going on in the fief and even about York itself. Mostly this is by keeping his own eyes and ears open, but he is also in contact with Kali. He is probably the only person outside the Council who is aware of the existance of the Assamite in the fief. He has occasionally bought information from Ibrahim by getting him 'jobs' through his Nosferatu contacts in other cities.

Although he doesn't suspect the existance of the Guardians and their secret, he is very interested in the mysterious emptiness of York. While others are willing to accept it as a 'tradition' of the fief that only the Prince and Primogen ever visit York, the more recently arrived Nosferatu is certain there is more to it than that. He has been very circumspect in his investigations and has therefore found out little. However, he is really intrigued by the mystery and would dearly love to find out more about it.

Josef enjoys the peace and quiet of the fief and doesn't want to jepordise his position there. However, he is not particularly scrupulous about who he sells his information to. About the only Kindred he refuses to deal with are Sabbat and Brujah. He despises the Sabbat as ill-bred peasants but reserves his real hatred for the Brujah who created Communist Russia and occupied his beloved Poland. If he were to discover the Brujah Guardians, then he might be tempted to 'blow their cover' out of pure spite.

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