Tobias Rieff

Biography
Vampire, Daeva, Lancea Sanctum

The Senior Harpy

"Oh, you know... it's just something I heard at Elysium."

A senior Harpy at Maxwell’s court, the Daeva named Tobias Rieff never intended to rise to a position of power. He only meant to know everyone else’s business. He has done a remarkable job. If any Kindred in Chicago knows the agonies, the excesses and the ambitions of his fellow Kindred, it’s Rieff. He’s not a passive Harpy, waiting for information to come to him. Instead, he sniffs out gossip and scandal like a dog after prey. When gossip does find its way unbidden to his ear, he checks it for factuality before giving it his seal of approval and making it “official” gossip. While Rieff often does this through social means, including ample uses of the Majesty Discipline, he’s not averse to occasionally taking a more active interest in his fellow Kindred.

Whatever else may be said about Rieff, the city’s vampires agree on one thing: Rieff is scrupulously honest. He does not create scandal where there is none or inflate the status of those who don’t deserve it. To do so, in his mind, would be to undermine everything his position is about. To this end, he takes great joy in investigating gossip before he passes it along. Consequently, any time a Kindred gets good gossip from Rieff, they have the added comfort of knowing that it’s true and, therefore, worth spreading. It’s one more aspect of Rieff’s job performance that makes him popular in the role of Harpy.

While Rieff knows far too much about far too many Kindred, his knowledge is notably incomplete. There is one topic he finds himself loath to cover: he hates (or fears) the Nosferatu, and he can’t seem to harness the same degree of enthusiasm about investigating them as he does others. Like them, their secrets tend to be ugly and unglamorous. His work, consequently, tends to be shoddy where the Haunts are concerned. Unbeknownst to him or Prince Maxwell, many Nosferatu are fully aware of this, and they find it satisfying to make subtle use of the Nightmare Discipline on and around Rieff, just to reinforce his phobia. They’ve seen what a pain in the ass Rieff can be to other Kindred, and they’re happy not to have to put up with him.

In addition to his position as Harpy, Rieff serves Prince Maxwell as something of a jester, fearlessly (but humorously) pointing out when the Prince is being rash or transparent. Rieff doesn’t do this in public, but his blunt tongue has nearly gotten him imprisoned on several occasions. Though it galls the Prince to admit it, he believes that Rieff’s blunt (if witty) candor is probably one of the Harpy’s greatest assets at Elysium.