Vaslev Ruthven

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
- The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians, 6:12 - 13

Race	Werewolf
Splat	Shadow Lord
Title	Alpha Male

Physical Description
Dark eyes watch the world without emotion from beneath wispy locks of black hair. Vaslev carries himself with cold nobility in all forms and avoids the sneers that seem to twist the faces of his tribemates. As a wolf he is coal black and hungry looking, with muscles taunt over a lean body.

Personality
Vaslev is a benign Tyrant in all forms of the word. He is a visionary with total belief in his cause and in the superiority of the Garou nation. In times of peace, Vaslev is a man steeped in the traditions and heritage of his Tribe and his people, keen on pageantry and ritual, in War he is ferocious and brutal giving no quarter to his enemies. If he needs to sacrifice assets, followers or ground in his war against the Wyrm he does so without hesitation. Any doubts or considerations are buried deep in his psyche and he never shows these weaknesses to his subjects. Similarly he expects the packs to fulfil their duties and their commands without question or hesitation.

Story
Vaslev Ruthven was the son of Nobility who lost their lands to the communists. He grew up under the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and by the time he underwent the first change he had lived through the worst that regiegm could throw at him. When Ceausescu ordered the export of much of the country's agricultural and industrial production, resulting in drastic shortages of food, fuel, energy, medicines, and other basic necessities drove Romania from a state of relative economic well-being to near starvation Vaslev was in command of his own pack. The trade in Black market goods and the smuggling of refugees out of the country brought him the love of the peasants and the respect of his sept. He watched a young cub named Absalom rise from the streets to become one of the most devastating criminal leaders in the Tribe. He guided this violent firebrand and eventually adopted him as both a son and as the beta in his pack. Together the two weakened the state from the bottom up and became rich and powerful in the process.

Ceausescu's grandiose and impractical plan to bulldoze thousands of Romania's villages and move their residents into new apartment buildings galvanized the Shadow lords into action and together with his allies in the Glass walker tribe, Vaslev started to play in the political arena. The kinfolk of both tribes began to spread rumours of dissent through the army while the Garou instigated antigovernment demonstrations. Ceausescu's regime collapsed after he ordered his security forces to fire on demonstrators in the city of Timisoara and when the demonstrations spread to Bucharest, the Romanian army defected to the demonstrators.

In the Post Ceausescu regime Vaslev parlayed his influence in the Romanian underworld for increased power within the Shadow Lords and became an Elder of renown. As a man descended from nobility he should have held some respect from the Silver Fang, but instead he hated them. He blamed them for their weakness and whenever he spoke with them he taunted them for allowing monsters like Ceausescu to go unchecked throughout communist lands. When a plan was formulated by American lords to oust corrupted Silver Fang from their seat of power in Gotham, Vaslev and his crooks seemed the obvious choice.

Vaslev came to Gotham and gained the friendship of the three largest Tribes besides the Silver Fangs. He showed the Bone gnawers respect, he brought toys for the Glass Walkers and he sent Absalom out with the Fianna to go drinking and brawling. The manipulation of the Fangs dirty little secrets and some judicious blackmailing of the local spirits gave the Shadow Lords enough evidence to prove the Silver Fangs had begun consorting with Leeches and worse creatures of the Wyrm. The fact that the insider information came from, among other places, the Vampires themselves, was forgotten in the rush. When his little chess game had the Silver Fangs backed into a tight enough corner, Vaslev set his 'son' on the Sept elders. The younger wolves acidic tongue and arrogant nature caused a fight and the Fangs called on their corrupted allies to beat the Romanian mobster. The rest of the Garou turned on their leaders and the fight was over within minutes. By sunrise the Shadow Lords were the undisputed rulers of the Hearns Gate Caern.