Madcap

Early Life

Manfred Bryer was born in the midwest in 1910 to a struggling, working class family. However, the family gained an unexpected boon come the Prohibition when Manfred’s father, Klaus, seized the opportunity to become a bootlegger. Come 1925, Manfred began to help in the trade as well, running booze to speakeasies and brothels in the tri-state area. It was also around this time when Manfred first discovered his love for violence, serving as an enforcer for his father in order to keep the other younger runners in line.

That age ended in 1932 when Klaus was caught and imprisoned. However, Klaus didn’t give up his son, allowing Manfred to keep up the route until prohibition officially ended in 1933. Nonetheless, by then Manfred had made an impression on criminal elements in the region due to his reputation as a legbreaker and runner. As such, Manfred quickly found himself to be an associate of the Creminelli crime family, a smaller outfit of extortionists, who made use of him as an enforcer.

Nonetheless, although the Creminelli’s connections kept him out of prison, Manfred’s life would change again in 1941 when he was drafted into the US Army in the months leading up to the Attack on Pearl Harbor. Trained as an infantryman, Manfred was sent overseas in 1942, first to Africa to serve in the Allied actions in French North Africa and Tunisia. He was then deployed to Sicily and, finally, in 1944, was dispatched to serve in the campaigns of Normandy, greater France, and throughout continental Europe.

Post-War

It was during this time that Manfred met Carlos Saaverda, a man whose life had not been entirely unlike his own. The two became close and frequently swapped stories about their lives before being drafted and shipped to the frontlines. They grew to be close friends by the time Carlos was eventually discharged for his drunkenness and violent behavior. Before being sent home, he encouraged Manfred to come meet him Arizona once the war was over.

Following the end of the war, Manfred returned home to find the Creminelli’s displaced by larger families and found his mother had married another man who was none too fond of her son’s criminal tendencies. Thus, Manfred kissed his mother goodbye and hit the road. Eventually he made his way down to Arizona and, sure enough, ran into Carlos yet again.

Manfred joined the Booze Fighters MC soon thereafter, earning the nickname Madcap due to his his impulsive and often violent behavior. He became close with other figures alongside Carlos. Thus, when Carlos was eventually Embraced, Manfred was one of his first six childer, having been in his inner circle for a few years by then.

This makes Madcap one of the first members of the Bruja bloodline.

Post Embrace

Madcap followed Carlos and his “brothers” when Carlos decided to split from the Booze Fighters to found the Filhos de Bruja. Alongside them, Madcap committed many criminal acts, such as trafficking, murder-for-hire, and vandalism. Always one step ahead of authorities, the Bruja were able to mostly avoid the Law aside from the occasional gun fight. Nonetheless, their reputation for hardiness and capabilities in a fight meant that most other gangs typically cleared out when the Bruja rolled in… or gave them a wide berth.

More importantly, Kindred took notice and it didn’t take long for them to learn the Bruja weren’t to be fucked with.

However, it all caught up to him eventually. During one particularly rowdy night in Pheonix in 1970, the Bruja nearly broke the traditions. A massive gunfight and chase ensued. Most of the Bruja got away, but Madcap had killed two officers in the chaos and was being heavily pursued. He had also been abandoned by the rest of the gang, who had rode for the hills rather than help get the Pheonix police off his tail.

Once he was able to shake the cops, Madcap knew he had to lay low for a while, so he made an appeal to an ally (and often-times lover), a Ventrue named Adelina, who owed him a life boon for saving her hide from some Hunters and her crazed sire back in the 50’s.

The pair concluded the best way to keep the cops at bay was to sleep the years away and emerge when the hunt for him was all but forgotten. So, after leaving a letter to Carlos, Madcap took a little time to find peace and let Adelina stake him. The Ventrue then placed the Bruja in a hollow within the walls of her basement and left him there for the next 25 years.

Post-Torpor

When the stake was removed in 1995, Madcap found himself in a new world and discovered his caretaker to be Adelina’s own childe. In the years following his descent to torpor, Adelina had relocated to Tucson leaving her childe as Madcap’s caretaker until 25 years had passed since his disappearance. The matter concluded, Adelina wished Madcap the best and instructed her childe to assist him in adjusting to the new world.

Madcap stuck around Pheonix for a decade, falling in with the Ordo Dracul and eventually learning about the Coils. Seeing an opportunity to become something more, Madcap became a student. Eventually, Carlos and the others caught wind of Madcap’s awakening and met with him in 1998. Madcap was still embittered the crew left him to his fate, but, after a long talk, it was decided that all was forgiven when Bruja himself got him a new bike and agreed to let Madcap “do his thing.”

Come 2005, Madcap left Pheonix on a two year “pilgrimage” across the southwest shortly after achieving his first Chrysalis, roaming from Houston to San Diego and all points inbetween. He’d stay in a Domain for only a month or two, keeping his affiliations with the Ordo Dracul on the down low when they were viewed less-than-favorably. Eventually, his travels brought him to Sante Fe in 2008, where he continued his studies in leashing the Beast.

Madcap found he liked the city, given its smaller collection of Kindred. Although the higher echelons of the city’s Court were heavily influenced by the larger Court out of Albuquerque, Madcap found that Kindred who didn’t really care about the power struggles of the city, were allowed to operate with a great deal of autonomy. Thus, Madcap stayed in Santa Fe until 2019.

At this point, the Filhos de Bruja’s infamy was spreading like wildfire. Though the bloodline didn’t wear colors to signal their affiliation to the kine, it was their effect on the Kindred that was most notable. Most of Santa Fe’s Kindred knew about Madcap’s relation to the Kindred bikers that were raising hell and it began to make things difficult, particularly among more rigidly constructed covenants who placed part of the blame of the Bruja’s antics in the region on Madcap’s shoulders due to his relation. Thus, too proud to renounce his ‘family’ and too stubborn to submit to an authority he couldn’t agree with, Madcap hit the road.

Eventually, Madcap learned about the Domain of Sacramento from some Kindred in Encino. Hearing it was run by a Prince known for action, he decided it was a place worth looking into. After all, Madcap doesn’t really suffer from listening to weak leaders and Sacramento was a bit off the beaten path of the members of the Filhos de Bruja.

The good standing he heard the Ordo Dracul possessed there was also a plus.