Romana Brooks

Romana Brooks is a member of The New Family Covenant and served initially as Jack's mentor in the Euthanatos tradition. In her private life she is a trained psychologist and operates a small private clinic in Central City.

## Background

Romana Brooks was born in the means streets of Detroit, the only daughter to her father Philip, a mechanic, and her mother Sarah, an after hours office cleaner. Romana was trouble as soon as she could walk, displaying a fiery temper and a particularly tight self-centeredness that made her hard to like and impossible to control.

By age thirteen Romana had a long rap sheet, mostly of petty vandalism, shoplifting, and assault. She ran with a local street gang, which is where she met Gabriel Perron, whom she quickly fell in love with. Perron returned her love by getting her strung out on heroin and prescription opiates and taking her virginity at the tender age of 14.

When Romana got pregnant a year later, her parents had enough and threw her out on the streets. She quickly moved in with Perron, maintaining contact with her family only through her younger brother Dante. In her third trimester the doctors discovered that Romana's baby was twisted into a precarious position that, at best, would ensure Romana would never have children again. Romana didn't care and wanted the baby anyway, but Perron refused to have anything to do with the child and forced Romana to have an abortion.

The event devastated Romana. She spiraled downward into a dangerous vortex of pills, needles, and alcohol and began bemoaning her fate. It was about this time, just as she turned 18, that she began to experience vivid hallucinations which caused her to believe she could see through time and was being followed by the Grim Reaper. On one fateful night in October Romana, crushed to her soul and desperate for release, purposefully injected herself with a massive amount of heroine and overdosed.

## Romana's Awakening

Romana recounted the event to her lover, Jack Knight, like this:

*"At first, I didn't feel anything. It was as if I was floating in a black void. Yeah, I know how cliche that sounds. But that's what it was like. Then suddenly I was falling, and my eyes were open. The sky, if you could call it that, was a mass of swirling, furiously angry red and black clouds. It was hot. So hot, like everything was burning but nothing was on fire.
I could see other people falling as well. Some of them were crying, others were laughing. I remember one guy went past me saluting. We were all falling toward--Christ, I don't even know how to describe it.*

 *Below us was a colossal whirlwind or tornado of dark grey clouds. The clouds were swirling in a counter-clockwise position. The tornado was deafening, like a steady sound of thunder that never changed pitch and never stopped. People were getting caught in it and I could see their ghosts, souls, whatever you want to call them vaporizing as they were swept up. One lady reached her hand out to me and a took it. Her arm came off in my hand. I knew what I was looking at, then. No Heaven, no Hell. No glorious Messiah there to snatch me away to Paradise but also no Devil there to thrust a pitchfork into me.
This was Oblivion. It was the end. Like everyone else there, my soul would get caught in that whorl and I would be gone forever. This was my death.
And then Creep was there. That outrageously tall specter made of inky coiling blackness, with a skeletal face and streaming white hair. He told me I could keep falling or I could come back and be what I was meant to be. He offered his hand and I took it. When I woke up, Tanya was waiting in the hospital room for me.*

## The Awakened Romana

Tanya Stephenson bani Euthanatos was there waiting when Romana woke up in the hospital room. She slipped the sixteen year old out of her room and brought her home, where Romana would spend the next decade learning everything she could about The Ascension War, her Tradition, and her place in both.

With her mentor's help she purified herself of her addiction to opiates and dug into her Tradition. She visited the Necropolis and Eternal Autumn, two Horizon realms controlled by the Euthanatos and spoke to older and more experienced Thanatoics. She poured through the libraries and record halls, and eventually was recognized as one of the most knowledgeable Euthanatos lore masters on the West Coast of the United States.

She trained herself physically, learning gymnastics and Krav Maga, and put herself through medical school with a strong leaning toward psychology, inspired by her brother Dante whom had, himself, broken free of the squalor of the neighborhood to become a doctor. On the night that her mentor turned her lose as her own Mage, Romana was named as part of the Chakravanti faction of the Euthanatos.

## Appearance and Personality

Romana stands approximately five feet three inches tall and weighs 126 pounds. Of Nubian descent, she has more angular than round features, her eyes are light grey. She is fond of wearing men's slacks with bright and colorful strappy tops or blouses. She wears her hair in long cornrows usually tipped with white beads but during holiday seasons she will wear tiny jack-o-lantern beads, cornucopia beads, or Christmas ornaments.

Romana is more of a logical thinker than an emotional reactor. She takes her jobs and roles very seriously, and puts the welfare and well-being ahead of her own needs. She is deeply in love with Jack Knight, though she hasn't yet openly admitted it. Romana is honest, sociable, and generally fun to be with. She's odd in that she finds off-colored jokes and bodily functions funny.

## Sheet

**Romana Brooks, Euthanatos**

**Agency Identity: Jackie Knight**

**Agency Profile: Investigator, Psychologist**

Nature: Caregiver Demeanor: Traditionalist Essence: Pattern

Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2, Charisma 3, Manipulation 3, Appearance 4 (enchanting), Perception 2, Intelligence 3, Wits 2

Abilities: Gymnastics 2, Krav Maga 2, Dodge 1, Creative Writing 3, Streetwise 2, Automatic Pistols 2, Knife Fighting 2, Move Silently 2, Academics 3, Investigation 2, Law 2, Psychology 3, Euthanatos Tradition Lore 5

Spheres: Entropy 3, Life 2, Mind 2, Time 2

Backgrounds: Arcane 2, Resources 3, Contact 1 Michelle Warner

Arete 3 Willpower 7

Foci: When using the sphere of Mind Romana relies on a specific set of professional grade silver writing pens. For Entropy she carries with her at all times a silver dollar, polished on one side and tarnished and gouged on the other, inspired by the memory of her younger brother and his favorite Batman villain. For the sphere of Time her focus is a gold locket she keeps with her at all times, a present given to her by her late great-grandmother on her 11th birthday. For Life effects she relies on candles of various hues, and her grandfather's antique pocket-watch--a family hierloom--serves as the Focus for her Time effects.

Experience: 20   Experience Spent: 18

## Rotes

Romana has a number of rotes, most of which can be found on Romana's Rotes.

Two of Romana's Favorite Rotes are detailed below.

* **Confession Entropy 2+Mind 2+Time 1**: When tapping this rote, Romana instills in her target the impulse to blurt out the most awful or heinous crime the target has ever committed. (The Mind effect, Willpower 8 roll to resist). The Time effect then lays out four possible ramifications for the confession that she can see, and the Entropy effect allows her to pick the outcome she wants to come to pass. Romana often uses this rote to determine which of her patients are ready to be returned to the Wheel of Karma.

Example: *While having a session with her patient Jeffrey Dunner, Romana taps Confession. Dunner immediately blurts out that he once molested a 10 year old girl. As Romana writes the confession into the file she sees four possible outcomes: Dunner is taken to trial and convicted, Dunner is overcome by guilt and puts a pistol in his mouth, Dunner gets away with the molestation because the victim is too terrified to report the crime, and in the fourth Dunner is so exhilerated by his confession that he predates on a second child. Romana selects the second possible future, and pretends to be shocked and horrified a week later when Dunner's nephew sadly reports to her that his uncle has explicably committed suicide.*

* **Comfort of the Veil**: Mind 2: This rote allows Romana to instill her target with a sense of peace, assurance, and comfort when the target is facing death,

Example: *As she often does, Romana visits one of the numerous Assisted Living facilities throughout October City. There she finds Maria Alba, an 87 year old victim of colon cancer. Ms. Alba is battling the inevitable with all of her will because she is terrified of death.
Romana lights a candle and sits with the old woman, holding her hand and cheerfully enjoying half a dozen of Ms. Alba's stories of the exploits and accomplishments of her children and grand-children. Discovering that Ms. Alba is a devout Catholic Romana begins to speak to her gentle and compassionately about the wonders Ms. Alba will find in Heaven, of how joyous it will be to bask in the light of God, and the peace of being with God eternally and taps the rote.
Ms. Alba, now overcome with a sense of assurance and serenity and looking forward to laying eyes on her Savior finds herself not only no longer afraid of death but longing for it. She closes her eyes and smiles and then peacefully and serenely passes away.*

Experience Earned: 18 Experience Spent: 18