Description
Gene Fairfax is a child of indeterminate age. He might be as young as 10 or as old as 14, but he's obviously not yet reached puberty. An observer assuming that he's at the younger end of the age range might think him a little tall for his age, but he's short for a boy at the upper end of the age range, barely 5'0". His clothing varies depending on the circumstances and the age he's trying to imply as does his manner. He's capable of going from whining brat to unobtrusive shadow to a quietly impressive child of the upper class, and his manner with other Kindred tends to be adult beyond his apparent years. His accent tends to vary according to circumstances, as well, and he's often rather plain spoken, even blunt.

Jean Fairfax is a petite woman in her late teens or early 20s. She has the build of a college age gymnast and moves with quiet grace. Her attire is always in good taste and always appears expensive. She never wears anything particularly revealing but also doesn't display unfashionable body modesty. She wears understated makeup and, occasionally, simple jewelry. She speaks with an upper class British accent. Her mannerisms often display light humor, and her behavior is almost always in good taste.

Jean usually appears at more social occasions while Gene comes out for more practical day to day uses. Both have light brown hair cropped short and brown eyes, but those not looking for the connection will not necessarily consider the two to look alike even though the differences are largely attire, body language and other physical mannerisms. Both expect to be addressed according to their apparent gender and will avoid the topic as to which is "real."

History
Jean Fairfax was born as the fifth child of Richard and Harriet Fairfax in 1878.  The Fairfaxes lived in India as Richard was a moderately wealthy merchant dealing in Asian goods.  Jean’s older siblings were (in birth order):  Jonathan, Emily, Elizabeth and George.  Three children were born after Jean, Terrence, Benjamin and Charlotte.

The Fairfax children were all sent to school in England as was the general practice of the time.  Not only was the Indian climate considered unhealthy for children but also the local culture was considered a bad influence on developing minds.  Thus, at age 7, Jean was exiled from everything she’d known and sent to a school in Manchester.  She settled in reasonably well in part because Elizabeth was still young enough to be at the same school for the first two years.  Jean was an indifferent pupil for the most part, but she had many friends and could generally persuade the other students to try just about anything.

Then, shortly before Jean turned 12, word came from India that her parents were dead and all of the family’s money was gone.  The reports stated that Richard had killed Harriet and Charlotte (the only child still young enough to be at home) and then himself after he received word of his financial ruin.  This disaster altered Jean’s life.  She went from being a favored student to being an unpaid (and sometimes unfed) servant.  The owner of the school treated her badly in general; she could expect severe punishments for minor offenses.

Then the dancing instructor raped her.  She knew that her version of events would not be believed.  The nightmare had gotten worse.  She did the only thing she could think of and ran.  She stole clothing from the dancing instructor and disguised herself as a boy.  This proved to be a wise choice since she’d otherwise have ended up as a prostitute almost immediately.  Instead, she became a thief by the name of Gene.

She spent the next six years living on the streets of Manchester.  If anyone questioned why the boy Gene never grew up, they did so quietly.  Gene had friends and was relatively quick with his knife.  It wasn’t worth bothering him as long as he continued to do successful business as a thief.

When Jean was almost 20, she was embraced by Eleanor de Montfort, a Gangrel of aristocratic origin.  Eleanor had apparently spotted Gene/Jean’s masquerade and admired it.  Eleanor kidnapped Gene/Jean and offered the possibility of a life of comfort.  Just one small hitch...

Jean was still weak from the Embrace when someone entered the house where they were.  Eleanor hid her childe and went to face the intruder.  Jean heard an altercation and heard her sire scream horribly.  When all was quiet and Jean found the strength to emerge, she discovered that her sire had been murdered.  She investigated as well as she could but couldn’t find anything that would tell her certainly who the killer was.   She had enough clues that she might be able to identify him (and she was sure that the killer was male) if she met him, but she was sure that the killer was no one that she already knew.

Since she considered Eleanor’s house dangerous, Jean went back to being Gene and tried to adjust to being a vampire.  Gene had the usual difficulties with the whole thing and complete ignorance didn’t help much.  Eventually, he was spotted by the Nosferatu who dragged him before the Prince as an unauthorized presence in the city.  Gene claimed to have been grabbed by a man and pulled into a carriage and made into a vampire.  He said that he didn’t know who the man was or why he’d done it.  The Prince accepted Gene into the city, asked a young Nosferatu to tell him all the rules and declared a Blood Hunt on the boy’s non-existent sire.  Such was Gene’s entrance into vampiric society.  He was treated as Caitiff, and, although he knew that Eleanor was a Gangrel, he didn’t argue for fear of attracting attention to his lies.  He continued his search for his sire’s murderer.

Eventually, Gene hooked up with another new Gangrel, Lord Eamon Crawford.  Eamon had been embraced by the Gangrel Justiciar (although he didn’t know that.  He just knew that his sire had embraced him, ordered him to investigate Kindred affairs in Manchester and disappeared).  Eamon was fairly wealthy and brought all of his resources to bear on the question.  Gene ended up being one of Eamon’s resources since the investigation offered a chance of finding Eleanor’s killer and since Eamon obviously had plenty of money to spare.  They were joined in their quest by a young Tremere, David Kestrel, who sensed that all was not quite right in his chantry but wasn’t at all sure what to do about it.

Their search for answers took them to London and Dublin and the wilds of Yorkshire.  They not only found Eleanor’s murderer but also discovered who had ruined Jean’s father all those years ago.  The culprit for the former crime proved to be a Toreador from Ireland who was involved in a long standing feud with a Toreador hermit who lived in Manchester.  Eleanor had simply recognized the wrong person at the wrong time.

The perpetrators of the latter "crime" were slightly more difficult to track.  The group located them partly through Crawford’s financial connections and partly through luck.  Apparently, a group of Setites had set themselves up in London and played the financial markets with the deliberate intention of ruining as many people as possible.  They had also set up an upper class club complete with secret rituals.  The trio of neonates managed to burn the place down and to discover the possibilities of diablerie.  Nobody’d gotten around to warning either of the Gangrel against it, and the Tremere didn’t mention it as a problem.

This is the point at which Jean acquired her abiding dislike of Setites.  When she encounters one, she sees him or her as evil and will watch carefully for the mistake that justifies her taking action.

As it turned out, since the two Gangrel were arguably following orders of their Justiciar and the Tremere managed to unmask Infernalists in his Chantry, the question of diablerie never actually came up.

Crawford went on to become an Archon working for his sire, and Gene/Jean followed along as long as it was fun.  That is to say, she didn’t entirely abandon her own interests, but she considered Crawford a friend and ally who she would help if she could.  She shied away from getting too close to the Justiciar because of the power he represented (she liked the man himself relatively well).

She did not retain the same closeness with David Kestrel.  His political ambitions within his clan led him away from the companions of his youth.  Jean would still help David out if he asked, though he never has asked, and she would expect him to return the favor.  Whether or not he would is open to question.

Jean did discover that her eldest brother, Jonathan, was dead.  She never cleared up all of the details of that except to confirm that the death was from natural causes.  Jonathan’s death came to her attention because of a notice in the newspaper.  The funeral was paid for by a wealthy man who was a member of Oscar Wilde’s set.  Jean assumed that there was some sort of close relationship there, but she never bothered to look into what sort.  She figured she really didn’t want to know.

She was also able to locate her brother, George, who had joined the army.  She wrote to him and persuaded him to get out (and had Crawford pull some strings to get him out).  Since she couldn’t bear the idea of losing him, she ended up making him a ghoul after a few years (before he hit 30).

Jean still tends to introduce herself as Gene when she goes to a new city.  She uses her ghouls to stand in as Gene’s guardians if any mortal agencies inquire.  She is now likely to switch to being Jean without warning the local Kindred.  She considers it gauche for any Kindred to take notice of the change and usually doesn’t think to inform anyone that Gene isn’t actually physically a twelve year old boy.  She occasionally dresses as an older boy, but increasing heights and regulations about minimum ages in the current century have made this less useful than it used to be.  She can pass easily for a boy who has not yet hit his growth spurt but attracts a great deal of attention if she tries to pass as a man or an older boy.  There are men her height, but they are few and far between.
 

Retainers
George Fairfax:  Jean’s older brother.  He was a soldier in the British army in Africa during the 1890s.   He’s the only one of her siblings that Jean ever managed to locate while still alive.  He still thinks of her as a child he needs to protect.  He’s not comfortable with her tendency to pretend to be a boy or man even though he understands why she does it.  George has continued to be interested in military matters over the years and has an understanding of modern weapons and tactics.  His manners and attitudes, however, are still rather stuck in his original era.  On one level, he’s accepted that things have changed and that vampiric society plays by different rules anyway, but on another he still expects the old rules to work when he’s not really thinking about it.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:  Jean met Conan Doyle shortly after she was embraced.  He saw her and her cohorts battling with some Setites in London and offered an alliance if Jean and company would give him additional information.  Since he already knew too much, they agreed, and Jean blood bound him as quickly as possible and without consulting him.  He adapted well to being a ghoul, but it’s hard to say how he felt about the whole thing.  His first wife was still alive and suffering from tuberculosis.  He had children to think about.  On the other hand, the supernatural had always fascinated him, and he had long since fallen out of love with his wife.

Conan Doyle has always been fascinated by both science/technology and the occult.  He follows new developments in both areas avidly.  Jean counts on him to be aware of the things that she doesn’t have the time or interest to learn about.  He has a reasonable head for finance and manages Jean’s monetary assets.  The only time he makes unsound investments is when his other enthusiasms enter into the matter.  This has made things a little bumpy over the years, but overall things have worked out well.

His tie to Jean is his ticket into the fascinating world of the supernatural, but he, like her brother, does not entirely approve of her or her behavior.  He has a better grasp of necessity and change than does George, however.
 

Journals
WARNING:  These journals probably won't make much sense unless you read the campaign logs at the Viva Lost Vegas! site.  They are not (and are not intended to be) summaries of events within the game.  They're my character's mental ramblings and reactions to those events.
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