Luke McNeil



Species: Human (non-supernatural)

Age: 30

Demeanor: Cavalier

Status
Luke is a coroner and fledgeling mage with relatively close ties with the individuals at the Cue. Up until his recent Awakening, he was a sort of pet Sleeper, but his proximity to the Cue and its fellows lead to a rude series of realizations as a result of brushes with the local Technocratic Union operatives. Contrary to his appearance and apparent religious convictions, he is actually quite a large pervert.

He operates the clinic better known as Emmett's Eatery, a diner converted into an illegal hospital. He currently lives there, as well, and has used his work there to fill the void left by his ejection from organized society, and, in particular, his profession as a coroner. There, he tends to the injuries of Russian mafia members at the Cue, the Anarch ghouls, and even the Anarch vampires themselves, mostly through his own blood.

His recent awakening has mostly been unguided, with no single overriding voice cutting through the wide array of philosophies and methods employed by the various mages of the Cue. As such, he is an Orphan. The strongest influence he's had in this regard has come from Alexi, who has acted as a sort of mentor, though only intermittently. He has also been influenced by the philosphies of the ex-Technocrat Ives, with whom he also has a rather cold and awkward romantic relationship. Unfortunately, the two mages are highly opposed in their philosphies, leaving him unsure of the nature of his awakening.

He also has a strong and very unusual relationship with the vampire Steth Albarado, of the Anarchs. The relationship may prove to be very unhealthy for him, and Steth already feeds on his blood regularly.

In his spare time, Luke enjoys browsing his favourite magazine, Jugs and Ammo, and more recently, playing the Nation of Royaltyfreecontent computer game.

His Avatar is The Snake.

History
Born into a policeman's family in London, Luke was consistently regaled with stories of numerous crime scenes from an early age. His parents separated when he was very young, and Luke ended up living with his father, an officer in Scotland Yard. Problems between his now-estranged parents, however, lead his father to take Luke and move to the United States before Luke was yet a teenager. This early reassignment lead Luke's cultural upbringing to be predominantly American, though he was a bit behind the times. While he grew up in New Orleans during the 1980s, he found himself spending hours listening to Elvis Presley records, even going as far as to spend his paper route money on a costume of the King.

His first intimate encounter occurred in the back seat of his father's Beetle, with his senior prom date. A fine young lady by the name of Amanda Arlington, she, rather unfortunately - and really quite rudely - passed away just at the conclusion of the act. What he mistook as ultimate carnal inspiration was in fact her allergic reaction to a peanut butter sandwich left under the front seat. Not being a hardened criminal, he saw fit to report the incident to his father. Fortunately for him, his father -was- a hardened criminal, having long since been an upstanding model for corruption in the police force (the cause of his previous marital problems, actually, as his father-in-law was a respected officer who diligently upheld the law). The matter was dealt with in short order, though Luke never really heard much about the investigation, if there was any.

In actuality, the man dumped the body, might not have been the first time he'd done it, either. Crooked though he was, he wasn't going to let his only son go down on account of a misplaced lunch. Who knew what it'd look like in front of a judge, anyway? The heat was on the two of them for a while, though, and the young man was estranged from most of his classmates as the result of his date's mysterious disappearance.

The whole experience in that beat up Bug was enthralling, and the young man set about turning around his otherwise lackluster academic performance into something more dedicated, in an attempt to better understand what had occurred. He immediately began looking into the field of pathology, or in other words, a career as a coroner. Much of his spare time was still dedicated to the King, though he now also spent many hours watching legal dramas on the television.

Working as a Pathologist, it wasn't long before the experiences of his youth blossomed into full recreation in the morgue, after hours. He maintained a normal social life, and when at work was sure to play the King whenever he could. He would tell friends and co-workers that the music helped him forget that he is standing in a room full of dead, and many are quick to sympathize. He did most of his studying at the Louisiana State University, in particular, their Health Sciences Center.

He began to develop strong religious affiliations in his early twenties. His father was generally a rather crude man, but Luke recalled the more homely sensibilities of his mother, and the times she had dragged the two of them to mass every week. He joined a Christian church, a Evangelical-Protestant organization called The Third Church of the Heavenly Father. He frequented mass and bible study there, from that point onward until his eventual exodus from the city. The spiritual leader there, Father Presley (a name he still found amusing), was a highly egocentric and passionate man. One of those hussler preachers, he'd offer eternal paradise one moment, then threaten to curse you and all your seed to an eternal damnation of pitchforks and charcoal in the next. He didn't think God worked in mysterious ways at all.

As a consequence, neither did Luke, given enough time under Presley's fiery teachings. He'd soon start butting heads with former associates, often blunt and uncompromising in his characterization of God, and easily set to a temper when talked down to by intellectual types, or, heaven forbid, a preacher of a different faith. He was quick to jump on his father's back over the man's excesses and vices. Their confrontations came to blows at one point, and Luke spent a number of years in and out of his father's house. Their relationship would be stormy for quite a number of years.

His father passed away a few years before his final certifications were completed, the old man's body finally breaking down from a life of excesses. His previous wife, Luke's mother, did not attend the funeral, and Luke himself has not seen the woman since his time in the United Kingdom. He had planned to conduct the autopsy himself, but evidently it was frowned upon to perform that kind of procedure on family members.

He was married when he was twenty-seven, to a woman called Maybelle Valentine. They had met several times, both at mass and at an Elvis enthusiast group that met every other thursday. A match made in heaven, they moved into an apartment, a quaint place just north of downtown. As a few months passed, though, Father Presley's counsellings still carried much weight for Luke, while Maybelle quickly grew sick of of living with a proto-preacher. The relationship quickly began to wear out, with Luke becoming increasingly defensive of his faith, and Maybelle quitting mass and passing disparaging comments about Father Presley's outlandish and often insensitive teachings. They filed for divorce when Maybelle announced she'd not have any child of hers baptized by “that jack-booted Nazi.” The whole affair lasted only around eight months.

He moved to Oakland shortly after the divorce. He wasn't quite sure, at the time, what drove him to select the distant city as his new place of residence, but he'd find out soon enough.