// WHERE IT BEGAN // HEADCANONS // APPEARANCE // SEASON ONE //
“In Gefangenschaft wurde ein Aufstieg erneut entdeckt...”
Have you seen RIORDAN WILLINGHAM around Faerune? They’re a VAMPIRE who REJECTS the Unseelie Queen’s reign. People have heard they’re INVENTIVE, KINDHEARTED & HOSPITABLE but can also be HEDONISTIC, IMPULSIVE & RUDE. We’ll see where they fall when the revolution arrives, but until then they can be found working as a TATTOO ARTIST & BAR/SPEAKEASY OPERATOR.
RORY AT A GLANCE
Name: Riordan Jacob Willingham Aliases: Rory, RJ, Ror, Bud, Bolts, October continues to call him anything but his name, but “Joe Fucks” is less frequent, having returned to Rory’s standby nickname with the band: Speedbump. Age: 229, but he died at 30. [Born November 15th] Affiliations: Drummer for Porphyria, former head of the Bertrachters Des Verfalls coven/cult, Former neurosurgeon at Faerune Hospital, current member of the Rex Vespidae. Occupation: Owner and Bartender at The 13th Tombstone Tavern and The Hive Speakeasy, Tattoo Artist, Amateur Inventor and Craftsman, Comedian. Gender/Pronouns: Cis Male, He/Him Sexuality: Bisexual Demiromantic Species: Vampire (Turned Witch) Common Scents: Furniture and wood polish, gun oil, sawdust and various woods, faint peppery/spicy undertones and expensive, masculine cologne with cedar and mahogany hints. Quirks: Heavily tattooed, gauged ears, some of his tattoos for military service, others seeming to indicate a former position of power or magical background, “Ab Inferis Usque ad Sacellum” in a ring at the base of his throat. A slightly lopsided set of fangs, his left notably longer than the right. Wears several pairs of dog tags on one ball chain, and has a number of small silver burns on his arms in the shape of a signet ring for the Betrachter des Verfalls. Often wearing his fang caps for the Rex Vespidae, gold covers for his fangs similarly lopsided as the teeth beneath them, and always wearing the wasp insignia somewhere on his person. Markektable/Trade Skills: An artisan at his core, Rory trades his work with wood, bone, and stone for goods and services from others. Preferring to continue using notes for the bar and tattoo work, it’s his artistic endeavors and handyman services he offers in barter and trade.
AND WHAT HAS BECOME OF YOU?
In his upset about the change, about a seemingly permanent captivity in a gilded, crystalline cage- a strange sense of relief washes over Rory Willingham. Cut off from the mortal world, there’s a recognition that Penelope may never find him- that he’s been freed to exist without constantly looking over his shoulder for the ghosts of his past. The Beholders, his wife, everything that lingered to make him Johannes Fuchs sits behind a wall he cannot pass through- that they cannot pass through. There’s a safety under Opal’s reign for people like Rory and his dear sister- but the change in power leaves him sick in the pit of his stomach nevertheless. The council, despite their inactivity, represented the whims of many of the species of Faerune- Opal made clear her intention to represent only the whims of one: Opal.
It’s something that echoes a position he held nearly 2 centuries ago, corruption and hedonism in lavish parties and quick, efficient crushing of dissent- Rory watches the Unseelie pretend and parade that their rule is better, Opal kind and benevolent so long as she is obeyed. Rory sees only the Beholders of old living within those who should have learned better in their millennia alive. Obedience in fear is control, plain and simple, and when October puts forward the suggestion they move to protect their own, Rory agrees with little hesitation. The Rex Vespidae begin in late August of 2022, and by the next year, number within the mid-forties, Rory taking a rather hands off approach, offering suggestions rarely to the de facto leadership of October and Calem- he has no want for power, a reminder of what he once was creeping in at the corners.
Having been clean of drugs and drinking in moderation for around a year and a half, Rory’s motions to gain perhaps further custody of his daughter has become more of a concerted push- no longer transient due to his inability to tour, and largely clean of his vices, he easily meets the requirements the former family court set into place... But it’s not to them he answers now. Ortenia was not stagnant either, in the appearance of the Unseelie, and while Rory took steps to establish a place with the Vespidae, his former lover took her steps to assume her birthright. He could have been the perfect father on paper, with no dings on his record to speak of, or associations of concern, and he would still likely meet with what was handed down: Custody remains unchanging, really he may have too much, a vampire raising a fae even despite half her bloodline being his own isn’t proper. It’s his contribution that damned her to being stuck within stone walls- It’s Ortenia’s that damns his chances to be the father he longs to be.
Despite this, it seems his desperate last grasp to see her may have won him one point of favor, Ortenia more willing to allow their daughter to spend time with her father- freeing her to spend her time partaking in the lavish parties without worrying about the way Parkley may choose to behave (Like a typical toddler dragged to a stuffy rich person party, typically) among her peers. While still only agreed upon for every other weekend, Rory leaps at any opportunity to have his daughter with him, and allow her to escape the facade of perfection forced upon her- and a name she has little love for.
With his position in the Rex Vespidae, Rory has gotten closer with many of the vampires, hybrids, and feeders/protected persons of the city beneath their banner, and with the prospect of the curfew, he has recently finished work on a hidden meeting place and speakeasy located in his lakeside lodge, known to those who know about it as “The Hive” it’s a bit of an open secret- last call at the Tombstone doesn’t mean going home, it often simply means traveling out of the city limits and to the hidden, book-lined walls of the the speakeasy, set in the grand library of a man who doesn’t seem quite like the reading type, it moves to serve as another place for the clan to gather, and for those of Faerune not beholden to the throne to gather and seek some comfort in old friend.
Having grown closer to his sister in the meantime, Rory is thankful that she’s come into her own, though he worries for her, trapped in one place when nearly 2 centuries of her life had been spent hunting down those that made them the people they’d tried so hard to run from- he wonders if stagnation is the cure, or a further stressor on her hunger for the death of those who sit in power. He wonders, in fact, if mere assassination is where the line falls, or if regicide sleeps in the young woman now calling herself Fee Connelly.