Meet my World of Darkness character, Reverend William "Billy" Marrok, a Fianna Galliard of Homid birth. Born in 1973 in a small town in Virginia to an Irish American father and an American mother, Billy grew up in a predominantly Southern Baptist household, though his paternal grandparents, Teagan and Maeve, remained staunchly Roman Catholic. After his father, Patrick, died while fighting in Vietnam in 1974 WIlliam's grandparents took a greater role in raising him, drumming into him the legends and myths of Ireland. Upon graduating from High School Billy, at the behest of his mother and with the guidance of a friend of his father's, Reverend Peter Thorndyke, began studying at the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. While there he gained a reputation for getting involved with various environmental and social causes, including getting reprimanded three times for beating someone up for bigoted remarks against the then-nascent LGBTQ+ movements.
It was while he was stressing out over his final exams that the First Change came over him. Thankfully he managed to avoid causing any harm to his fellow students, though he did wind up trashing his dormitory and darting into a nearby woods. Reverend Thorndyke was close at hand and managed to subdue the very confused, frightened Garou. He then explained his heritage and began inducting Billy into the Garou Nation. He graduated (barely) and was ordained as a Minister of the Southern Baptist Convention in the mid-90's.
Now ordained Billy began to travel around the American South, from West Virginia to Georgia, from Texas to Maryland. He mostly worked as a guest pastor, filling in for various established ministers in the more rural churches. He preached against the destruction of the South's green spaces, worked alongside various drug rehabilitation programs and stood alongside various progressive movements. Most churches he worked at remember him somewhat fondly, though his more liberal views have alienated more conservative churchgoers. He also repeatedly wound up on the 'Wrong' side of Pentex and it's various subsidiaries, preaching against them and referring to them as "Despoilers of God's Green Earth".
This came to a head in 2004 when he went up against the popular televangelist Pat Fallson, a fellow SBC minister who was deep in the pockets of Pentex and Wyrm-corrupted to boot. Pat wanted to bulldoze a forest that contained a Caern belonging to the Bonegnawers to erect a megachurch that he could use as a base of operations to spread further moral and spiritual corruption. Billy went to bat for the Bonegnawers, and in what he considers one of his better sermons blasted Fallson for his bigotry, corrupt nature and urged the town council to preserve the forest as "A natural temple to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit".
Unfortunately, Fallson's plans also included some desperately needed businesses revolving around resource extraction, and to a town council that was staring bankruptcy in the face and was on the verge of coming apart the carrot of short-term finacial gains proved to be more important than preserving "Some forest full of Hillbillies". They voted against preserving the woods, and Fallson dug up all of Billy's past associations with "those people (LGBTQ+, leftists and progresssives)", which landed him in VERY hot water with the much more conservative higher-ups of the Convention. Coupled with his halcyon seminary days and constant struggle with alcoholism and Billy only BARELY avoided being defrocked. The Wyrm had won, and worse his ability to combat it through the church was now crippled. If it hadn't been for a strange job offer Billy likely would've turned Harano.
But that job offer from an individual named Jack offered him a lifeline. Come to the Sagittarius Casino in Miami, Florida. There he would find work, money, and most importantly of all a chance to get back at Pat Fallson. Faced with either going Harano or working for a casino Billy chose the casino and hopped in his Winnebago, making tracks south to Miami. When he arrived at Jack's casino and signed on (Despite the fact that it was Ultra-Luxe lite setting off alarm bells) he met the rest of his team: An Ajaba (Werehyena) Metis named Akane, a Weresnow leopard from South Korea named Yunwoo and, to Billy's annoyance, a Vampire surgeon named Antonio. Now they're waiting for their first job, enjoying the amenities of the Casino and getting to know one another.
Garou and World of Darkness are property of Paradox Entertainment (Unfortunately)
Art by Emily Camissa. Link: https://linktr.ee/emilycammisa