San Francisco by Night
Sanh Djerman
The humble figure that will become Sanh Zhrman, is an enigma that is to be unraveled as the story goes on. His True Name is kept a secret from all, as he was taught long ago by the Cult of Isis that such knowledge could be used to control him and/or destroy him. The weight of time, however, and the burden of his own sorrow, heartbreak and betrayal has worn his memories and his feelings into dust. Sifting through the remains of his life produces a hotchpotch collection of images, sketches and impressions. Only two things are certain to his mind. The first is the hatred he feels towards his enemies - certainly those vampires and others that work in the service of the evil man-god Set that he can remember encountering. The second is the almost overwhelming despair of rejection, betrayal and abandonment that he feels, and his fragmented memories only go to confirm the miserable details of many of his lives.
Sanh Zhrman was originally born during the 3rd Dynasty, in the great city of Memphis in the Nile Valley. His inconsequential childhood is hazy to him now, and was apparently marred only by the death of his father from Nile Fever. He grew up to become a fearsome warrior in his own right, and learnt the ways of combat and war. However, lacking a cause, and wishing to maintain his freedom, he became a mercenary for hire, fighting against Egypt's Seleucid neighbors or protecting caravans from desert bandits and raiders. After many years of selling his skills, he found himself the captain of a caravan containing many goods of occult significance, accompanied by several members of the Cult of Isis, this fact he would learn later. The caravan was attacked in transit by a band of fearsome monsters, and after a score of the demon had fallen to his khopesh, Sanh Zhrman was dealt a mortal wound defending the cowardly head priest, the latter has a surge of good conscience, thus putting the dying Sanh Zhrman through the Great Rite.
He awakened from dreams of the jackal-god Anubis, and the lost gates of Amenti, finding himself in the care of the Cult of Isis. A man named Imhotep welcomed him, and explains the nature of his first 'death', and his recovery to the new life within the ranks of the Shemsu-heru. He like Imhotep was now immortal, and he would be reborn again and again through time until the end of the world itself comes. He quickly accepted the wisdom of his new mentor, the two become friends, and through Imhotep, Sanh Zhrman learned of the children of Caine, the Garou and the countless changing breeds, especially the Silent Striders and the Mokole, the Magi, the shades which wander restless through Duat and the and the changelings. For the next few decades he consumed all of the knowledge that Imhotep and the Cult of Isis could provide, among these lessons he learns of the undead Children of Osiris, and his brethren who would avenge the sleeping Horus in destroying the accursed Set and his followers.
His memories of his first proper trip into the under-land of the Duat and the golden halls of Amenti are quite hazy, although he can be certain the impact of the journey has not been lost on his subconscious and his own inner spirit. A series of images and impressions gathered by his Ka are all that he can recall. What he can remember is the melancholy he experienced when awoke into his second cycle of life, and the sadness that struck him when he realized that he would never be able to dwell in these beautiful places for very long, as the Rite would pull him back to his body in the physical world. His second life turns out to be one of great wonders and great tragedies. He experiences his greatest love, Kemintiri. A tragedy of which has come to haunt in later years. He sees many of his friends butchered and destroyed, and yet he witnesses many deeds of valor too. Despite his own efforts to rectify to the events around him, it is all to no avail. His world becomes a nightmare, and his life eventually passes from him when he is struck with a mortal wound by his lover's hand.
Shaking the foggy memories from his mind, Sanh Zhrman arose into his third life caught in a stupor of bitterness and apathy. The days flock by in droves, his attentions taken with wine and sins of the flesh. His brethren of the Shemsu-heru petition him to better himself, and even to join them, but he spurns them instead. The minions of Set, namely his former lover Kemintiri, offering him her love once again. He succumbed to her wiles, and in the throes of his new, if hollow, love she takes his life, and leaves him to die in shame
When he awakens again, he finds that his home of Alexandria has changed beyond recognition. His brethren have departed, commanded by Horus the Great to begin their Great Diaspora. His other friends have become dust at the hands of the minions of Set, or have fled for distant lands in their disgust and their cowardice. He wanders for an indeterminate amount of time before encountering a magnificent creature, Enkidu. Who after their first meeting reveals he is one of the children of Caine, belonging to Clan Gangrel. Sanh Zhrman is at first repulsed by this news, but as the weeks go on he see a noble soul trapped with in the damned flesh of Enkidu. He also learns that Enkidu carries within him a great burden. By the use of his supernatural disciplines he hold the Typhonian Beast, the favored ghoul of Set himself, imprisoned within his flesh. Sanh Zhrman knowing that the beast can never be allowed to roam the Earth, he and Enkidu become allies. Both watch the others back during their respective 'downtimes'.
Unfortunately when next he wake, Enkidu has disappeared, thinking that Enkidu has met his final death. He begins to wander, first coming upon kinfolk of the Silent Strider of the Upper Nile. His stories earn himself a place by their fire, and his woe brings their sympathy. They tell him of a great Caern, which had been struck by a blight of a sinister nature, and urge him to pledge his skills in the defense of this sacred place. He journeys again, battling ravaging winds and seas of sand, and eventually comes across this Sept of the Jeweled Scarab. He parleys with the local Mokole, who his was kin of, and eventually becomes a trusted friend of those who dwell at the Caern. He finds love again, although he at first fears scorn and betrayal, and eventually he finds some peace and solace. This peace is shattered, however, when the earth is ripped asunder by the magicks of a cabal of magi and vampires. Segoz, urge-avatar of Apophis consumes the entire Caern, leaving death and destruction in its wake. Sanh Zhrman survives the ordeal, and witnesses the beast's destruction at the hands of courageous Mokole and Striders which came to their aid. His lover was slain at the hands of a vampire. In his rage, the he pursues the murderer eastwards back to Alexandria, although the task proves fruitless. His prey long gone, and his own anguish unbearable, Sanh Zhrman hides himself away and dies of a broken heart.
Years and even lives slip by as Sanh Zhrman distances himself from the world around him. It is only after a dozen sojourns to the desert, the barrens and the mountains, that he feels that he can face other living beings again without being taken with sorrow or with vengeance. Returning to his old home of Alexandria, which has changed again in his absence. He resurrects his old trade under the name, Saint-Germain, and thus quickly develops his skills of subterfuge. He recruits mercenaries to work for him, and goes on to trade esoteric goods with the Arabians, the Greeks and the Italians. Crossing paths with many of the denizens of the World of Darkness in which he dwelt. One in particular another Gangrel by the name of Sonya Dane, who like Enkidu was an innocent trapped behind the visage of a monster. And slowly he begins to accumulate wealth and influence, and his life begins to take shape and meaning once more. Although he works to undo the evils of the Setites, he stands separate from his Immortal brethren. Although he seeks to advance his own learning, he is reluctant to take on the causes of others. When he is finally forced to face the great and powerful Horus, he refuses to pledge his loyalty, and spurns the Avenger instead, returning to his homeland alone.
Matters slowly turn against him once more, however, and his past finally gets the better of him. Now embroiled in the intrigues and politicking of Islamic Egypt, he is caught between the demands of the Kindred rulers of the land. He accepts the charges of his peers, and begins on a grand plot to unravel a grand Setite undertaking of the vilest nature. Only too late does he realize that he has been manipulated, and Kemintiri confronted him once more. Hoping to use guile on her, he instead succumbs to his own lust and betrays his own allies to her minions. Only after some time doe he rises from a miasma of self-loathing and put an end to his own weakness. He orchestrates a strategy of some cunning, and succeeds in destroying all of his lover's work, alienating her from her own allies and servants in the process. She hounds him from her lair, and he takes secret refuge in North America, knowing that he has at last done a little to correct the wrongs that he has committed through his many unfortunate lives.
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