---

History

The CIA Agent

Roger Ferris is a former CIA case officer turned station chief who spent more than a decade in the Middle East. An op that went bad in Jordan resulted in him being captured by religious fundamentalists, nearly beheaded, and losing two fingers under brutal torture with a hammer. By the time Roger was rescued, he had lost faith in the American cause in the Middle East. He quit the CIA and intended to retire to more honest work. He came home instead to service on divorce proceedings and a bitter custody battle over his young daughter Miranda.

The divorce went badly. The custody battle went worse. Roger plunged into a spiral of drinking and self-destructive behaviors that burned most of his bridges and professional contacts. That spiral continued for more than two years and landed him in New Orleans on a friend’s couch in 2008, all but destitute. His friend was kind enough to get him back on his feet while ignoring the abuse that Roger heaped on him, and eventually put him in touch with the Malveaux family—one of his own frequent clients. The rest, as they say, is history.

The Security Chief

Today, Roger is in charge of the Malveaux family’s physical security and protection, and operates under the supervision of Matthew Malveaux. Direct threats to the family’s safety are rare, however, which leaves Roger “free” to oversee many of the more questionable activities that advance the family’s agenda. Roger supervises more than a dozen operatives and is deeply involved in the Malveaux political and corporate machines, though he remains officially separate from both. The results of Roger’s dedication and loyalty to his patrons have been a reversal of his personal fortunes. He gained sole custody of his daughter Miranda, who he relocated to New Orleans and enrolled in the McGehee School for Girls, the prestigious alma mater of his employer’s wife. Miranda’s been cutting classes and has been slow to make friends, but Roger understands she just needs time to adjust to her new life.

In the meanwhile, Roger’s employers are more than pleased with their head of security’s performance—and the tendency of their rivals to underestimate him. Many people dismiss Roger as little more than a well-paid thug, but his quiet and terse demeanor belie a deviously manipulative mind and tested IQ of 142. Roger has gotten away from field work since he left the Middle East, but he remains an accomplished field agent and still enjoys testing his skills on assignments. He’s also completely without scruples and was the principal architect of the Cherry family’s woes, among many other ill deeds. His operatives doubt he regained custody of his daughter through a second round of court battles.

The Unquiet Past

Roger is generally slow to talk about the details of his time in Baghdad and Jordan, but not for the reasons most people would suspect. He saw things in that cradle of civilizations—things out of mankind’s ancient past that were impossible to dismiss as angry phantoms. Things that may be beyond the capacity of mankind to ever understand. The former covert ops agent hasn’t breathed a word of his experiences to anyone. He knows that no one can reveal what he doesn’t tell them. He’s even more reticent to breathe word of a second, even more deeply held personal secret:

He wants to learn more about those things.

The Kindred Hound

In time, he did. It got him killed.

Roger was ghouled in 2016 by Caroline Malveaux-Devillers, one of the Kindred puppet-masters behind his employers. Roger fought alongside his domitor in the Battle of Mt. Carmel where then-Sheriff Donovan attempted to slay her. He suffered fatal injuries in her defense but received the Embrace from Conroy Westphal, a Lasombra coterie-mate of Caroline’s who’d appreciated his talents.

Since then, Ferris has joined the Guard de Ville and now works under Sheriff Slane Holland as one of his hounds. His duties remain remarkably similar to what they were in the CIA and for the Malveauxes: espionage and counter-epsionage against his “employer’s” rivals. While few Kindred adjust quickly to undeath, Roger finds the Camarilla’s politics all-too similar to the cutthroat world he hailed from as a mortal.

Influence

Domain

Roger holds domain in a corner of the CBD near the new (as of 2016) border with the Bourbon Sanctified. (Domain ••)

Ghouls

Roger has taken several ghouls from among the private security team he once headed for the Malveaux family.

Ben Chandler
Ghouled: 2016
Status: Ghouls •
The right hand of Roger Ferris, Ben knew his domitor long before either of them were brought into the Kindred world. An ex-Marine who’s a massive slab of a man at 6’8" and nearly 300 lbs, Ben is the blunt end of the stick used when his domitor’s efforts require direct action. Though far from a dunce, Ben is used mostly for his intimidating presence and physical skills. Truly enjoys his job and his boss, both for his professionalism and the opportunity it has given him. Diehard fan of the Alabama Crimson Tide and often wears a ball cap for the school. This earns him a great deal of “love” in New Orleans, though few people have the guts to say anything to the titan of a man.

Brett Goodman
Ghouled: 2016
Status: Ghouls •
Before his ghouling, Brett Goodman was ostentatiously a “profiler” and “investigator" for the Malveaux family. In actuality, he’s a conman, spy, and expert at breaking and entering who uses his talents to infiltrate groups and building on behalf of his patrons. He’s also a consummate womanizer who loves nothing more than to sleep with a pretty girl and brag about it to anyone who’ll listen.

Kayla Graves
Ghouled: 2016
Status: Ghouls •
A high school and college beauty pageant winner (as well as former Miss Louisiana), Kayla grew up wanting to be a cop after her father’s murder when she was nine years old. Upon joining the force, she was assigned to VICE as bait in prostitution stings. Years of such work and sexual harassment from co-workers left her feeling dirty and cheap. Ferris offered her new employment with a better paycheck and Kayla happily jumped ship to the private sector. She still serves as a honeypot who draws in men with access to information her boss finds of interest, but appreciates that he doesn’t treat her like a bimbo. Also works occasionally as a discreet bodyguard, as she’s often underestimated for her looks.

Pawns

Roger yet hasn’t devoted overly much effort to acquiring influence over mortal society. His work for the Guard de Ville keeps him busy enough.

Status

Roger is one of the hounds on the Guard de Ville. Given that all of the members but Holland and Wright are recent Embraces, he doesn’t even particularly stand out as a “new kid.” (Guard de Ville Status ••)

Roger has met with some success establishing himself among Clan Lasombra. He’s fit into the clan’s Darwinist and ruthlessly pragmatic culture quite well. (Lasombra Status •)

Roger followed his sire Westphal into the Invictus. Despite working as one of the prince’s most direct agents, he wasn’t a religious man in life and hasn’t become one in death: he’s simply too cynical. As with his sire, the Invictus hold him at arm’s length for his Lasombra blood, but Roger believes it’s better to be affiliated with a covenant than not. (Invictus Status 0)

Despite his work for the Guard de Ville, Roger and his clanmates remain distrusted by the larger Camarilla. That may take some time to change. (Camarilla Status 0)

Recent Events

GM’s Note: Spoilers for the adventure logs follow below.

Genealogy

• 3. Lasombra (e. prehistory, d. 15th century)
　• 4. Montano (e. millennia BCE)
　　• 5. Unknown sire
　　　• 6. Sharif al-Lam’a (e. 6th century, d. 15th century)
　　　　• 7. Fatimah al-Lam’a (e. 10th century)
　　　　　• 8. Munther al-Asward (e. 15th century)
　　　　　　• 9. Christobal Almenara (e. early 19th century)
　　　　　　　• 10+. (Christobal’s descendants)
　　　　　• 8. Suleiman ibn Abdelmalek (e. mid 18th century)
　　　　　　• 9+. (Suleiman’s other descendants) (e. varies)
　　　　　　• 9. Conroy Westphal (e. early 21st century)
　　　　　　　• 10. Roger Ferris (e. 2016)
　　　　• 7. Mirri al-Lam’a (e. 12th century, d. 2011)
　　　　　• 8+. (Mirri’s descendants)
　　　• 6. Shu’ayb al-Mohager (e. 8th century, d. 15th century)
　　　　• 7. Philip Maldonato (e. 14th century)

Lineage

Roger Ferris the childe of Conroy Westphal, an arrogant child genius who serves as Lasombra clan whip in New Orleans. Westphal is the childe of Suleiman ibn Abdelmalek, the wazir (seneschal) of Al-Hasa and true power behind its Ventrue sheikh’s throne. Suleiman is the younger of two childer to Fatimah al-Lam’a, the Lasombra primogen of Cairo and emira of the Khitta al-Lam’a. Fatimah is the eldest surviving childe to Sharif al-Lam’a, better known as King Sharif, the founder of Clan Lasombra’s bloodline in Cairo and one of Egypt’s most respected elders during the Middle Ages. Sharif was destroyed by his grandchilde Munther al-Asward during the Anarch Revolt after a vicious battle wherein he slew all of his attackers save his grandchilde. Fatimah has spoken notably little of her grandsire, whose identity remains unknown. Fatimah claims Sharif was grandchilde to Montano, one of the clan’s eldest methuselahs, the voice of his sire, and the de facto ruler of the Sea of Shadows, the alliance of Lasombra princedoms across the Mediterranean, during the Middle Ages. Montano has not been seen since the Anarch Revolt, but it is widely known that he escaped the fall of the Castel d’Ombro, Clan Lasombra’s ancestral fortress, through shadowy arts unknown to any of his lesser clanmates. Montano was childe to Lasombra.