The Scourge of Phoenix
What a neonate has been told about Eddy Valiant — October 1994. Spoiler-light, in-character orientation.
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In brief: The Scourge answers a brutal question — who hunts Kindred who were never meant to be? In Phoenix that blade is Eddy Valiant (Malkavian). Unauthorized blood. Unpresented faces. The reaper between you and the city if you lack Acknowledgment.
Eddy Valiant
Court talk paints him as a hard-boiled private investigator who somehow also holds the Prince’s warrant on the unauthorized — heavyset mid-forties look, short dark hair, neat beard, weary intense eyes, tan trench coat and loosened tie. Neonates who notice him at Hawthorne remember the appraisal: not salon polish, casework.
- Title: Scourge of Phoenix
- Clan: Malkavian
- Cover: Private investigator (mortal-facing rumor)
- Remit: Unacknowledged / unpresented Kindred
What You Were Taught
- Not every city keeps a Scourge. Phoenix does. That means the Prince wants a specialist for illegal Embraces and Kindred who never stood Presentation.
- If you lack Acknowledgment, the Scourge is the reaper set between you and the city’s protections.
- Even Acknowledged Kindred can lose standing for sheltering the wrong childe — if evidence reaches the Prince.
- He is not the Sheriff. Roland hunts for the Prince’s wide law; Eddy hunts the unauthorized blood first.
Who is already on his list, and which “friends” he suspects of harboring, are not neonate knowledge. Do not become an interesting case file.
How His Court Works (Public Face)
What you can safely assume before you take the floor:
- Core targets: vampires sired without princely leave, or never formally Presented.
- Aiders and abetters can lose Status when the Scourge shows evidence — the Prince can restore it if unconvinced.
- Rivalry with the Sheriff is a chronic domain hazard; jurisdiction fights are how officers bleed each other.
- This is a harsh Final Nights tool, not a dignified salon post. Many Kindred pretend the office is temporary. The hunted know better.
The Office
The Scourge is the blood tax on the unauthorized: the unglamorous answer to who hunts Kindred who were never meant to be. Created without the Prince’s leave, not Presented, or harbored by complicit “friends,” such vampires are a Masquerade breach waiting to happen. The office locates, harasses, detains, or destroys them — and may strip Status from those who hid, fed, or armed them, subject to the Prince’s review of the evidence. The Scourge is not a separate law but a specialist blade of princely justice, working beside and sometimes at odds with the Sheriff. Eddy Valiant holds that office in Phoenix. If you are not on the books, assume he is already looking.
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