Fabian Cortez was a ghoul, and one of Mordred's most dedicated servants.
If you see him coming towards you, run the other way.
Mortal Life[]
In 1752, the Count of Toulouse sent a force of 3,000 musketeers to crush a clan of Montagnards in the Pyrenees who the Count believed responsible for a series of bandit raids upon his lands. The clan was believed wiped out, but one man survived. Over the next five years, that man assassinated the Count, killed his family and the next five heirs to the Lordship, salted his fields and caused so much chaos that the French King had to divide the lands among several new fiefdoms to quell the unrest. Fabian Cortez was that man.
Or so he chose to believe, but even he wasn't quite sure. He also remembered listening to Nero fiddle while Rome burned, escaping the siege of Tyre, and attending the crowning of Charlemagne. He did indeed have these memories, but they were not all his. As a ghoul of Mordred, and through his own activities, he had drunk the blood of so many mortals and immortals, committed so many foul acts of Diablerie, that his soul became tainted by the spirits and memories of a thousand thousand other lives. He himself has lived so long and assumed so many identities in the service of his Master that he has no longer any clear idea of who he "really" was...but he doesn't care. Those memories are just another tool, another weapon in his arsenal, another resource he can draw upon in the service of Mordred.
Life in the Sabbat[]
He was the right hand of Mordred, but had no official authority in the Sabbat. He had his face rebuilt many times to conceal his idenity. He had no qualms about killing, and displayed a brutality, a cunning, and a ferocity that gave even Mordred pause.
Mordred's View on Fabian[]
"There lies in some men, a darkness so ultimate and all consuming that from the day they are born, they are simply evil. But evil is a virtue in some and thus it is in Mr. Cortez. I've kept Mr. Cortez alive for 5 centuries and have not yet once regretted my choice. There are times when a machine is the only tool for a job. Only a machine would lack the morals and ethics approach a crying little girl, who has done nothing to the machine, nor has any of her blood, and shoot the darling child in the head on one's orders. What a treasure to find that machine in the form of a man. I need not order Cortez. Merely guide him. And like a tornado I watch him shred those against him. I take those words back though. He is a razor on silk. Disciplined, precise, a surgeon of the crimson blade. A artist of the blood of others. I have seen Baali cower before him.
But know this....... there are some creatures that should never become immortal by the blood of Caine. Not due to him becoming a threat to me. He is already that. No, the lines of his humanity are at stake here... Even the most holy and pure are lessened. And Mr Cortez walks the fine line of the genius, and the insane. He is terrible in his genius. I dare not wish to consider the darkness of his insanity."
The Daughters' War[]
Fabian was known for having encouraged fighting between the daughter corporations prior to the 3rd Civil War, pitting the Diagram Group against O'Reilly, Inc., and causing several riots in the process. But his initial plans were foiled when he was targeted by a Crusader team led by Patrick Forsythe.
The Ascenscion War[]
Fabian played a key role in the negotiations between the Sabbat and the Federation that led to a brief alliance against their common enemy, the Holy Terran Empire. Working with Herbert Gergenstein, he concluded a treaty which would see the Sabbat finally supplant the Camarilla as the "Offical" face of all Vampires in human space, granting them official status in the Federation and a license to move freely among Mortals. Of course, this license came with a price, but neither side seriously expected the Sabbat to live up to that end of the bargain, merely to put a good public face on things, and continue to keep their killing and maining quiet for the sake of good relations with the government. At least until the Empire fell.
But despite Fabian taking personal command of the Sabbat half of the covert strike team sent to assassinate Vin Dane and end the war, the mission was a failure. Vin Dane was killed, but immediately replaced by the Caal known as Scyr. Few knew this secret, and as far as the public was concerned, Vin Dane survived. But Fabian did not, the ghoul being one of the first Star Souls absorbed by Scyr to power his continued control over the rebellious Orb. In fact, it was the residual memories and spirit of the great Mage known as Merlin, one of Mordred's victims whose blood was passed on to Cortez, that gave Scyr the insight and power he needed to continue controlling and manipulating the infinite magickal energies of The Orb.
Behind the Scenes[]
Fabian Cortez is also the name of an X-Men character in one of its future universes. Our Fabian Cortez was the player character for Season 4.2 of Nathan Bax. He showed up again as an NPC in Season Nine, interacting with William Bishop, and taking part in the climactic battle of the Round Table.