Asa (née Ezekiel) was born in Harlem, NYC to Rev. Josiah Freeman, a local Pastor, and Diana Beverly Armstrong-Freeman a librarian. Asa’s life was peaceful yet studious between two scholarly and locally known middle-class Black influencers. His father wanted him to follow into being a reverend like him and wouldn’t allow Asa to be anywhere near anyone that would steer him into a life of crime. His mother, Diana, was more lenient with Asa and wanted him to keep his imagination and creativity. She would allow him to read whatever he wanted in the library she worked at. One of his first defining memories was reading X-Men comics and wanting to be one of the “badass” mutants.
Asa and his father hadn’t spoken in years and the antipathy between them was great. Asa had become a palliative care nurse and his compassion made him a great comfort to many in their time of passing. Asa’s comfortable life, caring for the dying, hanging out with his best friend, making it as a single man in the world, was suddenly put into turmoil when he was given some devastating health news. Asa nearly turned to despair, but was taken aback by an odd conversation with an elderly lady at a bus stop. That woman — calling herself Diane — later had broken into Asa’s home and had begun to stalk him. Asa was afraid, but his life was forever changed as the truth of the World of Darkness opened his eyes. In Asa’s case: one more eye than most.
After his embrace, saving his shortened life, Asa was told of the Salubri and their ancient mission and how they are being hunted into extinction. He hid out with Diane for a few weeks in an abandoned and condemned YMCA building. There, he learned of his abilities and of his great responsibilities. Their peace was shattered, suddenly, by the arrival of a Tremere agent intent upon destroying them. Asa hasn’t finished his training, nor has he completed the diablerie of his sire necessary to have the voices of his ancestors inside of him to guide him.
Asa was saved from the cluthes of the Tremere by a speeding car. The Malkavian Zachary “DJ Prophet” Sellz had a vision of Asa’s peril. Asa and Zachary would go on to form a bond of friendship.
Asa has followed Zachary and his friend Benjamin though many scrapes and has not come out altogether unscathed. They have lost a couple of associates and gained others, now in a coterie with Rose of The Sisterhood and Gwenevieve of the Giovanni. Others have joined their cause as the Gateways of Gehenna look to either forestall the end of the world if possible or at least make the best outcome at worst. The group Asa is with now has full run of a vitae-amplifying temple, created before recorded human history, capable of Lord knows what.
Asa has come to know that he wields the powers of the Gateway of Light. He is not yet sure what that means, but he is developing it. He has been given a dire task by the Antediluvian Saulot himself: Asa is to build an Arc at the End of the World.
Statistics:
Died: November 1, 1994, aged 30.
Generation: Tenth Generation Salubri
Gateway: Light
Sire: Diane, an itinerate healer
Haven: Asa has lived nomadically since the haven he shared with his sire was attacked by the Tremere. Recently, he has been staying at the Giovanni Expedition’s anomaly site at a farm near Manassas, Va.
Alliances:
In a coterie with “DJ” Zachary Sellz of Clan Malkavian, Gwenevieve Rossellini of Clan Giovanni and Rose of The Sisterhood and Benjamin Meyer of Clan Malkavian
Extended cadre of Giovanni Expedition includes kindred of Clan Malkavian, The Sisterhood and a number of Giovanni ghouls (as well as other creatures like bone warriors, and wraiths)
Sascha Vykos, Archbishop of Washington, Priscus of the Sabbat, has taken an interest in the movements of Zachary and his retinue, including Asa. Sascha has pledged quiet material support to Zachary and found Asa … most interesting
Ghouls: none
Special Abilities: Asa has years of experience in the medical field and was a good student in nursing school as a mortal. Now, he is just beginning to understand his healing powers and other preternatural gifts. His Gateway of Light abilities are still shaky, but he can manipulate ley lines. His third eye allows him to perceive beyond even the vampiric visible spectrum. He has only begun to master the Salubri signature discipline, Obeah.
Weaknesses: Asa is of the hunted and reviled bloodline of Salubri. For as long as he walks the earth, the Tremere will hunt him. The third eye on his forehead can be hidden with care. Nonetheless, he will be hunted for his blood.
