Herschel Castle

Herschel "Shelly" Castle

Pronouns	he/his/him
Clan	Koldun
Sect	Independent Alliance
Social Class	Neonate
Morality	Humanity
Coterie	Zoot Suit
Position(s)	Keeper of the Realm

Further Information

Description

He presents himself as a cleanly shaven man, from his bald head, missing eyebrows and clean shaven face. He usually wears a pair of wire-rimmed glasses with colored lenses a matching smoking jacket and black satin pants. A hot dry breeze follows in his wake.

Timeline

1925 - During Prohibition, Herschel "Shelly" Castle starts building his own smuggling network in San Diego and the surrounding area.

He also starts to learn about the occult and mediums. He reaches out to make connections with those who consider themselves experts.

1926 - Shelly has control of his own little smuggling empire. He made connections with the Jacumba Hotel to supply them with goods for special events. He added the surname “Castle” to his nom de plume, inspired by the weird looking castle being built in Jacumba.

Shelly was beginning to realize most of the “experts” in the occult were hucksters and con men, like himself.

1927 - Shelly's image is as occultist grows. He starts gathering others around him with similar interests. Over the next few years, these people become known as the Unseen Circle.

1928 - San Diego Police Department investigates Herschel “Shelly” Castle for smuggling. The investigation is bungled as the Evening Tribune reports on the “Irrigation Committee” for the upcoming Policeman’s Ball with possible connections to Shelly Castle.

1929 - Shelly took a hint from those who lost their shirts though and started investing in real estate throughout east county San Diego, but particularly around Jacumba and the surrounding towns.

1931 - The Unseen Circle becomes more structured structure. A series of circles, one within the other, unfolding out, with Shelly at the center. He continues to base his operations out of Jacumba. Shelly attracts the attention of his future sire, La Dama.

1937 - San Diego Evening Tribune reports on the growth of a cult of personality of around Herschel “Shelly” Castle. The old adage “bad advertising is good advertising” works to his advantage. Curiosity seekers gravitate into a his circles. Some drift away, but others are caught in his growing network.

1941 - Construction begins on nearby Camp Lockett. It would house the 11th Cavalry Regiment. Shelly sees the construction and invests in Jacumba businesses, seeing the potential for profit.

After a decade, La Dama ghouls Shelly.

1945 - Shelly is ambushed while traveling and almost killed. He is found by La Dama’s Sabbat pack, Blood & Marrow. He is embraced.

1946 - Shelly joins the Sabbat pack, The Song of Sunlight, after becoming True Sabbat.

1949 - The boom in Jacumba passes, and it begins to wane.

1957 - Shelly helps smuggle Sabbat into the San Diego area, building up for a new Sabbat incursion. Because of the build up, there are a number of deaths during the Third Sabbat Civil War. The packs Blood & Marrow and The Song of Sunlight are depleted in numbers. Shelly joins his sire’s pack, Blood & Marrow.

1983 - The Jacumba Hotel is burned down in an arson fire. It is rumored Holcomb’s Anarchs were behind the attack.

2001 (SW HISTORICAL EVENT) - Shelly remains on the back lines of The Southern Crusade against Tombstone and Bisbee, helping move the Sabbat in and out of the territory and obscuring their movements through exaggerated stories about wild fires.

2004 (SW HISTORICAL EVENT) - Blood & Marrow had returned back to the Diocese of Jacumba and was not present for this counter offensive. Though Shelly lends his influence when he is able. Alas, it is not enough.

2007 (SW HISTORICAL EVENT) - Blood & Marrow came to the aid of the beachhead in Tombstone. La Dama was cut down into torpor, and she was isolated from the earth of her Creation. Xaco and Herschel Castle retreat with her body and eventually escape back to Jacumba.

2008 (SW HISTORICAL EVENT) - Herschel Castle helps facilitate the Sabbat attacks in Southern California, though he himself, was becoming weary of all the fighting. Xaco encourages him to not let the conquerors win, and they push forward into the battle known as The Fool’s Errand and lose more Cainites. They retreat back to Jacumba.

The last time cargo was transported along the desert line when MTS leased the line to private company Carrizo Gorge Railway only to have the route embargoed pending tunnel and bridge rehabilitation. Near the U.S./Mexico border, the Sabbat Domain of Jacumba remains, represented by local Tzimisce, and a few other holdouts in San Diego County.

2011 - The Beckoning begins. Elders start leaving in all sects. Xaco disappears from the Jacumba territory.

2013 - The Sabbat has pretty much disappeared, retreating into Mexico. Shelly remains behind to oversee his sire and take care of the Sabbat holdings as Abbott (Castilian as he calls it).

2016 - After the Lasombra sign the Alliance, the Kolduns follow suit. Shelly joins the Zoot Suit coterie.

2017 - Prince Deaglán Síl Aedha Eaniagh makes Shelly Keeper of the Realm for the Independent Alliance in San Diego.

Rumors

Quotes

• "Someone whose knowledge and skill rivals my own." - Khail
• "Man gave me a home when I had nowhere else to turn to." Ozzie Brand
• "Everyone talks about the Sabbat like it was some kinda cult, but JC made it sound like it was a kind of family. After meeting Shelly, I dig it." - Mutt
  

Edit Quotes: Add your own!

OOC Information

Player	John Oliver
Pronouns	he/his/him
MES #	US2002021299
Domain	CA-057-D
Storyteller	John Osborne

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