Thomas Vigelpeouf
From Changeling Venue
| Seeming | Fairest Unknown |
|---|---|
| Court | Spring Court |
| Freehold | The Freehold of the Unforgiving Sun |
| Player | Daniel Lustig |
Contents |
This is a temporary placeholder page. Not all information is complete, and the character is not yet sanctioned for play. In my timeline and Synopsis, I have definately left the name of the NPC character "Music Girl" ambiguous, as she may eventually be become a PC Character. If anyone is interested in playing this character, please feel free to contact me.
Overview
Real Name: Thomas Vigelpeouf
Alias(es): Gut Bucket Tom, Tom Walker
Location: South Florida
Age: 33
Concept: Displaced heir struggling to regain his position, or perhaps to find a new place entirely. A struggling musician seeking that which he has Lost.
Relevant Mechanics:
Former Keepers:
- (Unknown) "Mistress"
- The Butcherbird
History
Basic Timeline:
- 1981: Thomas Vigelpeouf is born, the son of Theodore Vigelpeouf II, and grandson of Theodore Vigelpeouf Senior, founder of Vigelpeouf Confections.
- 1999: Thomas is involved in an automobile fatality on his eighteenth birthday. He is uninjured but the driver of the other car (a man named Dion Moran) dies. Although the investigating officer's initial report stated that Thomas was obviously drunk, and that a bottle of wine was found in his car, the officer's final report stated that these intitial accusations were "typos" and that Thomas actually passed a roadside sobriety test. The final coroner report states that Dion Moran was "high on cocaine" at the time of the incident, and medical papers are found showing that Moran was "mentally disturbed". Both the investigating officer and the coroner retire soon after the incident: both claim to have recieved large unexpected "inheritences."
- 2000: Well publicized visits to Darfur to "aid the plight of the suffering" (quick photo-ops followed by a hasty exit from the country to some vacation spot.)
- 2002: Is accused of sexual assault by a female college student named Verena Hurst while he is on a skiing trip in the Alps. Verena is later found by psychiatrists to be "delusional" and to be a "love-obsessional stalker." One newspaper reports that these psychiatrists all have ties to the Vigelpeouf family, but this reporter is fired from his newspaper under allegations of plagerism and his story is discredited. The reporter commits suicide soon after. Although the Hurst family lives in relative poverty, they "come into an unexpected inheritance" and are able to afford to send Verena to a high class (and high security) psychiatric facility. All charges are dropped, and the papers report on the "unfair accusations" against such an "upstanding young man."
- 2004: Abduction
- During his first year in service to his Keeper, she employs him as musician by day, and an "attendant" by night (lover, servant, boudoir slave.)
- He looks down on those mortals who chafe at their imprisonment. He enjoys himself and the seemingly "devoted" attentions of his Mistress, considering himself fortunate and superior to his Keeper's other Servitors. To him, his "servitude" is a game to be enjoyed, and he fully expects to return to his pampered life among his family in due time.
- Faerie +1:
- His Faerie Keeper grows bored of his "services" and expels him from the boudoir. He is left to be a musician full time, and his Mistress ignores him completely. His attempts to regain her favor are met with cruel beatings.
- First escape attempt. All of his paths lead back to the home of his Mistress. After a week of fruitless attempts, he returns defeated to his Mistress. He is not punished directly, but the chillingly dissapointed look his Mistress gives him crushes his spirits utterly.
- The same day as Thomas' return to his Mistress, The Butcherbird arrives at her demesne and offers to take Thomas off of her hands. She agrees, and Thomas enters the service of The Butcherbird. His days are spent in manual labor in the Butcherbird's Larders.
- Faerie +2:
- He spends the next four years working as a Sou Chef in the horrific environment of The Larders, forced to kill and serve his fellow Changelings for his new Keeper's voracious appetite. He does not sleep for four years, and loses most of his connection with reality.
- The evenings - the rare time he has to himself - he spends in growing madness. In his grasping to hold on to who he is, he almost unconciously builds a bass out of discarded kitchen impliments and plays songs from Earth to himself, though he is not sure why, or where he knows these songs from.
- Faerie +6:
- "Music Girl" (another changeling musician) is purchased by The Butcherbird and assigned to the kitchens. Thomas and "Music Girl" become close friends (possibly lovers?) though she is far more disturbed by the horrors of The Larders than he is.
- Thomas and "Music Girl" work and live together in the kitchen for 4 years. Thomas begins to regain some semblance of memory through talking to her, though he has a hard time understanding why she is so eager to escape from their Keeper. In the late hours of the night, they play music for each other. She writes several songs, and he plays them for her on his homemade "Gut Bucket" bass.
- Thomas also befriends many other Changelings during this period. Many of them escape, or are eventually eaten, though some forge a close bond with Thomas and "Music Girl."
- Thomas, "Music Girl" and another Changeling named Jimmy write a song together, and promise that they will form a band together should they ever escape from Faerie.
- Faerie +10:
- Thomas' friend in The Larders, Jimmy, earns the ire of their Keeper, who demands he be impaled as a future meal. Although "Music Girl" pleads with Thomas for them to all flee together, he refuses (either out of fear or time-worn callousness) and obeys his Keeper, impaling Jimmy upon the thorns of The Larder. Jimmy is consumed by The Butcherbird.
- In the aftermath of Jimmy's death, a huge rift grows between Thomas and "Music Girl". After they barely speak to each other for over a week, she simply gets up one day and leaves through The Hedge. She half-heartedly tries to convince Thomas to accompany her, but leaves him behind in disgust when it is clear that he is both too frightened of their Keeper, and too desensitized to the horrors of The Larders, to flee.
- Faerie +10.5:
- Thomas is traded back to his original Mistress. She chops off his hands and feet and leaves him to grovel outside of her chamber door for a week, then restores his limbs and reassigns him as a full-time musician again.
- Playing music full time brings home "Music Girl's" abscence to Thomas. In depression at being apart from "Music Girl" and his other friends, and in fear of what future abuses his Mistress's next vagary of mood will bring, Thomas flees his Mistress.
- This time, Thomas is able to make his way partway through the hedge. He is unable to get all of the way through.
- He is helped through the hedge by Andros.
- 2006: The Return
- After several month's "decompression" and getting used to "reality" after 10 years of life in Faerie, Thomas attempts to return to his family. To his horror, he finds that only two years have passed in the "real world." Meanwhile, he has aged 10 years and is somewhat physically altered from his previous appearance. Also, his "restored" hands no longer have his original fingerprints.
- Thomas discovers that a Fetch has been living his life (much more successfully than he had been.)
- Andros warns him against trying to return to his own life, but Thomas ignores the warnings and travels to his home and confronts his Fetch. His family does not believe this "obviously delusional man," and in a rage he attacks his Fetch, but is easily subdued by his family's security officers. He is carried away by police, who believe he is a delusional homeless man whose superficial resemblence to the "real" Thomas has caused some sort of psychotic break. He is sent to an asylum; his "care" is paid for by his Fetch.
- Thomas is sent to the same asylum where Verena - the girl he sexually assaulted (back in 2002) is being held. She recognizes him almost immediately, and tries to attack him. She is moved to a higher security section of the asylum. Despite the heightened security, Thomas is told that she somehow aquired a knife and slit her own wrists. Thomas' Fetch sends him a Halmark card expressing his condolences for the "loss of a loved one", postmarked two days before Verena actually killed herself.
- His Fetch sends him weekly stock reports showing the company's continued success, along with photographs of him enjoying himself in beautiful vacation spots around the world.
- He is rescued from the asylum by Andros on New Year's Eve.
- 2007: Current Events
- Thomas moves into ThornHedge Apartments.
- He begins playing guitar at local clubs and open mike nights, playing the final song that he wrote with "Music Girl" and Jimmy, in the hopes that, should he ever find musical success, she will hear his song and they will be reunited.
- He begins taking Business Administration courses at PBCC
- Thomas currently works at (unknown fast food franchise.)
The Vigelpeouf Family Legacy
For at least a century, Vigelpeouf Confections has remained one of the premier manufacturers of fine chocolates, as well as one of the nation's most successful corporations. Founded by Theodore Vigelpeouf I, his successful ownership of the company has afforded his descendents a life of untold luxury - a life Thomas enjoyed for 22 years before he was taken by the Fae and replaced by a Fetch.
The family's noble history started hundreds of years ago in the mid 1700s when Ledderer Wigglepuffs came to the United States from somewhere in eastern Europe. The young Ledderer opened a moderately successful leatherworking shoppe in the British colonies, which found a booming business during the years of the Revolution. His great success led to eventual ownership of a series of General Stores throughout the fledgling United States. His children, and their children, enjoyed ever increasing success over the years as they continued to expand, and diversify, the family's holdings, changing the family name eventually to the current form of Vigelpoeuf (a change in spelling, not in pronunciation.) Success continued, to a previously unheard of degree, with the ingenious Theodore I soon after World War II. When Theodore returned from the war in Europe (having visited his family's place of origin in a small village in Bulgaria) he brought with him a wife, and her recipe for chocolate. Vigelpeouf Confections was born.
The company is now being run by a man the world knows as Thomas Vigelpoeuf, son of Theodore II, son of Theodore I. They do not realize that a fetch has been responsible for the many cunning business deals, mergers and massive bouts of philanthropy that have brought the company unheard of notoriety and ever greater success. His father, grandfather and the public at large now adore the son of privilage who has suddenly taken upon him the reigns of corporate business so successfully, after his previous life of laziness and leisure. The "real" Thomas chafes at this praise and success that has been denied to him, but with or without him, the legacy of great Vigelpeouf family lives on...
Synopsis
Thomas Vigelpeouf was a child of privilage who never wanted for anything, and who had never heard the word "No." While his father, and his grandfather, were hard working and cunning businessmen, Thomas was a playboy. He was smart enough to have the family publicist cultivate his image with the press of a young philanthropist eager to take over the family business, but his only true interests lay in enjoying the benefits of the family fortune and his fame. While his parents urged him to learn responsibility, they never actually did anything to cultivate it in him, and so he never saw the need.
The family money, and those who managed it, ensured that nothing he did ever got him into too much trouble, or tarnished the family name - perfect examples of this being his alleged sexual assualt, and the automobile accident on his eighteenth birthday. Someone from a less influential (and less well connected and wealthy) family might have found themselves charged with a DUI, and vehicular manslaughter and rape. As it was, Dion Moran was blamed for the automobile accident, Verena was "found" to be delusional and all investigations conveniently pointed away from him bearing any fault in either of these cases. In the elite world where Thomas comes from, actions do not always have consequences.
Being taken to the land of Faerie was the first time he was ever forced to work - and even at first it was all a game to him, with days spent playing riotous music and nights spent in the arms of a creature whose very presence made his mind want to explode in ecstacy. It was not long, however, before he found himself faced with the unpleasant reality that his name, and his money, meant nothing here. The punishments of his Mistress, and then the horrors of The Butcherbird's Larders quickly dispelled any illusions in his mind that Faerie was a happy place.
One might have thought that ten years as a slave, forced to perform the most brutal of deeds, would teach even a spoiled rich man's son the meaning of humility, kindness and the value of hard work. One might think that four years spending every waking moment making music and sharing everything with someone just as oppressed as he was might have taught him something of compassion and responsibility.
Yet upon returning, he only had two thoughts. Return to his family (and his life of privilage) and find "Music Girl." In both cases, his only desire was to reclaim something he felt was "his."
Yet something happened soon after in those days at the asylum - something that ten years in Faerie had failed to do. Holding the card his Fetch had sent him (claiming, without ever overtly saying it, responsibility for Verena Hurst's death) he felt something stir inside him. Could this be the first stirrings of remorse? He certainly had felt none for what he had done to Verena before, even when she had been locked in an asylum for at least five years.
Had something changed in him, because of his experiences? Was it the years of servitude? Was it a result of the rejection by a family who no longer knew him? Was it the look in Verena's eyes when she recognized him - part loathing, and part fear?
Can one moment of remorse erase 22 years off selfishness, a rape and now two deaths?
Could it excuse the way he abandoned Jimmy, and "Music Girl" in their one moment of true need?
What has he become?
He is looking back at all that has come before. He will never forget that he is a Vigelpeouf, nor what it means to be the child of privilage, and the heir to a legacy far greater perhaps than any of those in his local Freehold. Yet he will never forget sleeping for years in the blood stained ashes of a ravenous Keeper's hearth. He makes minimum wage serving barely edible food to the public. He has lost the right to his name, and the inheritance that accompanies it.
He will never forget either of these things: his life of privilage or his years of servitude.
He has gotten away with murder (literally), and been forced to fulfill the desires of the most depraved beings he can imagine. He has known both unheard of luxury and undreamed of pain. He will not forget who he was, or any of these things that have gone before and have shaped him. What he must decide now, is just what that shape will be.
Soundtrack
This is a very tentative list of tunes that are somewhat evocative of the mood of the character. Everything is, of course, subject to change...
Part I: The Captivity
"Badcat Waters" - Blightobody
- Opening theme. Meet Thomas Vigelpeouf, Changeling.
"Nocturne" - Rush
- Thomas is led to another world, a world of beauty and madness, of unbearable pleasure and exquisite pain.
"Tiny Like a Plum" - Blightobody
- Thomas attempts to flee from his Mistress, but his journey is an exercise in utter futility, as if the Hedge itself is responding to his Mistress' will.
"Butcherbirdsong" - Blightobody
- Thomas learns the meaning of true horror when he is traded to the terrible and fearsome Butcherbird!
"Kids with Guns" - Gorillaz
- Thomas is thrust into the hedonistic and cutthroat world of The Larders.
"Every Planet We Reach Is Dead" - Gorillaz
- Even the closest bonds cannot survive in the face of the horrors of Faerie.
Part II: Escape/The Hedge/Rescue
"Rain" - Steve Conte
- Thomas' sense of loss awakens his memories, and desire, for his home.
"O Green World" - Gorillaz
- Thomas attempts once more to break through The Hedge
"The Puffing Pioneers" - Blightobody
- Thomas meets many creatures along the way. Some harmless, and some... not so harmless.
"Secret Touch" - Rush
- Thomas is rescued, just when all seems lost, by a new friend...
Part III: The Return
"Sweet Miracle" - Rush
- Thomas steps back into "Real World."
Part IV: The Lost
"Last Living Souls" - Gorillaz
- Thomas meets the assorted escaped Changelings of the Unforgiving Sun.
"Freeze (Part IV of 'Fear')" - Rush
- Thomas learns what a life free from the Fae truly means - a life of fight or flight.
Part V: Learning to Live
"Lullaby" - The Cure
- Nightmares come, for no one escapes The True Fae unscathed.
"One Little Victory" - Rush
- Every wound must heal in time.
"Party Snout" - Blightobody
- How can one play at normalcy, with all that one has seen?
"Living Inside the Shell" - Steve Conte
- The answers are found inside...
Part VI: A Quest For One Who Went Before...
"El Mañana" - Gorillaz
- Out there, somewhere, is someone he abandoned. Out there is someone he must win back.
"Domino" - Genesis
- In the darkness of the night, loss is most keenly felt.
"Call Me Call Me" - Steve Conte
- Deep in his heart, the meaning behind his music burns. Will they ever meet again?
Inspirations:
I tend to enjoy a wide and varied selection of songs for a character's soundtrack, but in the case of Thomas Vigelpeouf, there were four artists who have several songs that are appropriate.
Steve Conte sings tons of excellent songs, and something about his style really appeals to me, and seems to really get me into the right mood for this character.
Rush is perhaps my favorite band, but it's amazing how much of the album "Vapor Trails" is appropriate for this character, and even the Lost venue in general.
Blightobody, well, what can anyone say about Blightobody? Few have heard of, and fewer still have heard, this mid 1990s band from South Carolina. Their inherant weirdness, and their offkilter lyrics, however, make them an almost essential addition to this soundtrack.
As for Gorillaz, there is something about the particular lonliness, oddball freakiness and strange post-apocalyptic sensibility of their album "Demon Days" that really seems to mesh well with the World of Darkness as a whole. A couple of songs seem to especially speak to the particular challenges and experiences of The Lost.
Character Inspirations
Associations
- Jonathan Brooks - Odd, but a fantastic musician. We'll have to jam together sometime soon.
- Andros - I won't forget what he has done for me. I repay my debts.
Motley
under development
Allies
under development
Enemies
under development
