Firebringer

One of the first Forsaken to arrive in Sacramento after it was retaken, Matthew founded the Shadow Seekers along with Taylor Roads and Jacob Neulight. He became Alpha after Taylor's death, eventually earning the twin deed names Firebringer and Godslayer.

Appearance

Matthew is 24, 5'9" and of average build. He has blue eyes and brown hair that he usually lets grow just a little too long. He usually wears a t-shirt and blue jeans. He is normally quiet, speaking only when he has something meaningful to contribute, but when he thinks of the Pure and what they did, anger seethes just below the surface. His wolf forms are jet-black.

Early Life

Matthew underwent his First Change the summer after his Sophomore year of College. During the change and for the following several weeks, he was tormented by dreams that he couldn't understand. A local picked him up and taught him the basics of his new life, and over the next several months he learned everything he could about spirits and the Hisil, and began to make sense of his visions.

Until his world was once again shaken up. Prodded by an unusually vivid dream, he rushed to his parents' house, arriving just a moment too late to save them from one of the Pure. Taking up the family heirloom, a halberd that his packmates agreed to bind a spirit into, he vowed revenge on the ones that had taken his family from him.^[1]

Over the next several months they fought the local pack of Pure relentlessly, until the last of them was killed or driven off. For Matthew, though, it wasn't enough. His home reminded him too much of what he'd lost, and he still felt the burning need for vengeance. Then came the call for help. The city of Sacramento had been retaken at great cost, and Uratha were needed to hold it. Matthew's mind was made up. Leaving everything behind, he boarded a train to Sacramento, not once looking back.

Sacramento

A New Beginning

Soon after arriving in Sacramento, Matthew ran into Taylor Roads in Fremont Park. The two of them soon formed a pack, the Shadow Seekers, along with Jacob Neulight. They were soon joined by two others, Grip-of-Steel and Steven White-Lightning. They discovered that Beshilu had made a nest in the school where Taylor worked, but by the time they followed up, the Rat Hosts had already moved on. Not long after, Matthew lost himself to death rage, during which he killed and ate a human, an action which shook him to the core. During this time, the pack also discovered a Jaggling, Light Engulfing Forest, taking residence in Southside Park, which would be a thorn in their side for many months. They defeated it, but before they could force it to relocate, the very foundations of the pack would be shaken.

The Challenge

A month later, the Justicars challenged the Shadow Seekers for land. The first shot greivously wounded Taylor, sending him into Death Rage. The Shadow Seekers were soundly defeated, and Matthew regained consciousness to see Taylor standing over him, his eyes filled with nothing but hunger. One final shot rang out, felling Taylor. Matthew struggled desperately to patch him up, but there was too little time, and his wounds were too great. The Shadow Seekers' Alpha had fallen.^[2]

The Empty Hisil

Matthew took over as Alpha, and soon convinced a spirit, Golden Bear the Undying, to serve as the pack's totem. It was from Golden Bear that he learned why the Hisil was barren: the Pure had used the city as the testbed of a Rite that prevented the flow of essence from the Material Realm into Shadow, slaying a god in the process. Matthew would later learn that this god was the spirit of downtown Sacramento.^[3] During this time, the pack underwent several changes in membership, but remained firm.

Crossing Boundaries

Matthew had a dizzy spell and found himself in a room with no doors along with several other people, few of whom were as they seemed. Matthew learned that present within that room were Vampires, Werewolves, Mages, and Changelings, but was returned to his pack before the conversation could continue. He found that little time had passed in the outside world, and Grip-of-Steel remembered the experience as well.^[4]

Around this time, Mateo informed Matthew of an elder vampire named Eric The Ancient that had been preying off of its own kind and had effortlessly slain three members of the Sworn, Mateo's pack. Soon after, Matthew, having heard rumors of a rat infestation in the sewers, led his pack into them on the assumption that the Beshilu had generated the rumors. Instead the pack found a group of vampires searching for Bethem. Matthew lashed out at the ancient vampire using the flame from a torch, nearly causing the other vampires to frenzy. Before Matthew could strike again, the vampires collapsed one by one, some dissolving into ash, others merely falling into a death-like state. Of Bethem, there was no trace.^[5]

The Justicars

Matthew met Tony Willowsbark at the border of their territory, where Tony explained that the Justicars had been having trouble with their Pure neighbors. Matthew agreed to join the Justicars to help hold the line,^[6] leaving Andrew Welhan in charge of the Shadow Seekers. He remained with the Justicars for four months until a funeral awoke within him memories of Taylor's funeral.^[7] Realising what he'd lost, he returned to the Shadow Seekers.^[8]

Restorations

The Ascendant Crescant Brotherhood met with Wild Sacramento and learned that the downtown spirit had been broken into shards which would need to be brought together to fix the Hisil. One of the shards had been in Justicars territory but was stolen by Light Engulfing Forest. The Shadow Seekers defeated the forest spirit and his brood and reclaimed the shard,^[9] but Andrew Welhan made several mistakes, causing Matthew to question his ability to lead. Matthew soon challenged Andrew Welhan and reclaimed the Alpha position,^[10] then convinced Light Engulfing Forest to move elsewhere.

The packs brought the four shards of the spirit of downtown together in Fremont Park, but nothing seemed to be able to heal him. With other options exhausted they began the Funeral Rite to allow him to pass on. Before the Rite could be completed, a pack of Pure attacked the group. The Forsaken were able to drive them off, and as the spirit passed on, the Hisil began to return to normal.^[11]

Individual members came and went, but the pack itself proved resilient enough to withstand the tests of time.

Until the Pure struck, shattering the city's Forsaken packs and driving back the survivors.