Doctor Panther

Dr. Joshua Panther

Master of the Forbidden Arts, Guardian of the Threshold

Clan: Tremere

Generation: 7th

Nature: Celebrant

Demeanor: Celebrant

Concept: Stage Magician & Pulp Hero

Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2

Social Attributes: Charisma 3, Manipulation 3, Appearance 3

Mental Attributes: Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits (Quick Thinker) 4

Talents: Alertness 2, Awareness 2, Empathy 3, Expression (Tall Tales) 4, Subterfuge 3

Skills: Performance (Stage Magic) 4, Survival 2, Etiquette (Aboriginal Cultures) 4, Larceny 3, Firearms 2, Meditation 4

Knowledge: Academics 3, Investigation 3, Occult (Secret Societies) 4, Politics 1

Disciplines: Auspex 3, Dominate 2, Celerity 2, Fortitude 3, Presence 1, Bardo 1, Thaumaturgy 3

Thaumaturgy Paths: Bath of Blood 3, Movement of Mind 1

Backgrounds: Retainer 1, Domain 2, Resource 3, Herd 3

Virtues: Conscience 4, Courage 3, Self-Control 4

Merits: Charmed Existence, Well-Travelled, Honeyed Tongue

Flaws: Ward, Diabolic Sire

Humanity: 8

Fate:

Willpower: 6

XP: N/A

History

The Powerful and Wise Dr. Joshua Panther, Master of the Mystic Traditions, Keeper of the Ancient Secrets of Solomon, Friend of the Loa, titles continue on for 2 pages

The Man. The Myth. The Legend.

Separating fact from fiction with Dr. Joshua Panther has long been an exercise worthy of Sisyphus. What is known (and by known I mean according to the different stories of varying degrees of trustworthiness) is that a man using the name Dr. Joshua Panther first appeared in the antebellum South. He would travel from town to town, plantation to plantation providing thrills and wonders for those who had a few coins to spare. In truth, these shows were used to cover his actual reason for visiting: speaking with slaves who continued to keep an oral record of their history, religion, gods and magic.

For years Dr. Panther delved into the Ancient Magics of Africa. The coming of the Civil War would interrupt his studies and he packed up his show and disappeared. From 1860 to 1864 there is no record of his activities, but the day President Lincoln was assassinated the Sheriff of Washington D.C. forcibly removed a Kindred from trying to enter the theater President Lincoln was attending. Eye witnesses claim this kindred was Dr. Panther, and he is still sought by some for questioning.

Dr. Panther returns to the road in Reconstruction South, slowly migrating West where he has several interactions with the Native American tribes. Despite the challenges faced between his race and undead nature, no fewer than 3 different tribes accept his friendship and made him one of their own.

In 1890 Dr. Panther brings his show to Chicago and performs at the Columbian World Fair. His show becomes one of the secret treasures of the World’s Fair, something people seek out but don’t always find. Those fortunately enough to discover his tent would later speak in wonder of the experiences they had.

It was while he was at the World’s Fair that Dr. Panther is credited with saving the world, preventing the monster Herman Webster Mudgett from completing a ritual designed to open a gate to hell and usher in the Apocalypse, bringing to fruition a number of different prophesies. It was Panther’s heroic efforts that brought him to the attention of the Devil, who recognized him as a danger to his plans for the realm of God’s beloved.

Dr. Panther moves to Europe, where he would travel the continent using his magic show as cover while he worked for British Intelligence, secretly collecting information about the various European powers (both friend and foe) and forwarding it in an attempt to help keep peace. Sadly, war ultimately came, and Dr. Panther found himself on the front lines, only instead of fighting for England he fought for the entire human race as he brought to bear his considerable occult knowledge to seal a tear in worlds which had allowed plague demons to enter.

Many claim that Dr. Panther saved the world a second time, a claim he adamantly denies. He refuses to speak much of what happened, but in the Elysium’s across Europe Toredors swoon with the story of how Dr. Panther met his soul mate, only to have her die in his arms.

Though offered the Victoria Cross by the King himself, it was with great humility he declined, saying he was not deserving of such an honor.

After the war, Dr. Panther returns to Chicago where he is a frequent entertainer in Al Capone’s speakeasies, but the violence of the Valentine’s Day massacre turns him off to the “modern” life and he returns to his roots, joining the Yankee Brothers Carnival and Circus as it crisscrosses the country.

Not long after he joins the stock market crashes and the Dust Bowl descends upon the American Bread Basket. Town after town, Dr. Panther is confronted by a hopelessness that he didn’t think was possible in the human spirit. Although he works hard to bring some happiness, it seems that every town is left worse off than when they arrived.

Panther quickly begins to suspect dark forces at work, that there is something wrong with the circus. When the animal tamer is murdered, he immediately investigates and uncovers not only the face of the killer, but the truth about the Yankee Brothers, that the pair had sold their souls to Lucifer himself, who was personally managing the Circus to buy the souls of desperate people in every town they visited.

Dr. Panther exposes the killer, and then wages his own soul against Lucifer. Should he win, the devil will leave the circus and return to hell. Dr. Panther is to travel to the crossroads with a musical instrument of his choice to battle the devil. He travels the country for over a year, finally arriving in New Orleans armed with a guitar on his back and the dust of America covering his clothes.

In a showdown that would become the inspiration for the song The Devil Comes Down to Georgia and the movie Crossroads (Ralph Macchio, not Brittany Spears), Dr. Panther outplays the devil and frees the souls of all those he had captured by deceit and trickery.

Though victorious, messages soon reach the Warlock from Britain. England needs him once more as the scourge of fascism and Nazism. Resuming the disguise of a traveling magician, he travels to Europe as the Germans begin expanding across the continent. Here, he enters combat against the Thule Society and works tirelessly along the side of allies in an attempt to deny Hitler the occult treasures of the world.

This was would rage for almost a decade across the continent, and finally end in South America where Panther and his allies track down Adolf Hitler who, after successfully faking his death, tries to establish Odessa in an attempt to rebuild the Reich.

With the war over, Dr. Panther seeks out the quiet life of a humble musician, traveling to New Orleans where he buys and renovates a plantation and opens a modest Bed and Breakfast for Mardi Gras visitors. He shuns Kindred politics as best he can, and returns to his studies in the occult, befriending the Loa and becoming a pillar of the community.

In time, Dr. Panther is again called to duty, this time to battle against the Soviet Union. Somehow, the Soviets had managed to imprison a fallen angel and was using its corrupting power (offering sacrifices, misery, and love) to bulwark a failed philosophy and keep the Politburo in power. He will spend the next three decades traveling the world, working to counter the influence of the Russians and the fallen angel Zat al-Dawahi (Mistress of Misfortunes), but as long as she existed Russia was protected from any form of attack.

In 1988 in Moscow Panther and his allies manages to sneak into Russia and kidnap the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. In secret, they perform a ritual on the man, poisoning both his heart and his soul in a desperate attempt to strike at Zat al-Dawahi. The man’s love becomes deadly, and within a year the Mistress of Misery is driven from Moscow. Weeks later, the Berlin Wall falls and the Cold War ends.

Though Dr. Panther tries to return to New Orleans, the remnants of the Thule Society offer him no rest. Once again the Warlock plays a game of cat-and-muse across the globe as the Occultists try to bring to fruition the Apocalypse as predicted by the Mayans. Their battle culminates at the ruins of Coba in Mexico where Dr. Panther manages to thwart the German occultists and prevent the destruction of civilization.

However, the Warlock’s victory was incomplete. Though the Apocalypse was thwarted, a hole still exists between worlds, and unless it is guarded the damned souls of hell will escape into the world to wreak havoc on the human race.

After a year of research, Dr. Panther discovers that a combination of ley lines, nexuses, tunnel formations, and historical trends make Phoenix the ideal place to establish a bulwark against hell. He opens the Pandemonium Theater and performs nightly for the damned, offering these poor souls a bit of respite and peace in their eternal suffering, calming their hearts so that they might endure their torment and perhaps, just perhaps, earn forgiveness.

And if such forgiveness cannot be earned, then he will have no choice but to confront the forces of both Heaven and Hell and defend those who cannot defend themselves.

He can do nothing less.