Selsdon Darrow

Name:Selsdon Darrow Type:Daredevil Allegiance:None Origin:Creator

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Physical	Social	Mental	Character	Inspiration:(3) Pool(3)
Strength:2	Charisma:4	Perception:2	Virtue:Charmer	Intuitive:3
Dexterity:3	Manipulation:4	Intelligence:2	Vice:Hedonist	Reflective:
Stamina:2	Appearance:3	Wits:4	Willpower:8	Destructive:

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Physical: Brawl (1) Athletics (2) Firearms (1) Melee (3) Endurance(1) Resistance (2)

Social: Disguise(3) Subterfuge (2) Etiquette (1) Perform (3) Rapport (1)

Mental: Awareness (2) Investigation (1) Academics (2)

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Backgrounds:Contacts (3) Reputation (2) Resources (2)

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Knacks:Dramatic Entrance, Indomitable Will, Master of Dissimulation, Perfect Poise,

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Initiative(10 ) Soak (2/0 ) Movement:Walk (Dex+2m) Run(Dex+12m) Sprint(DexX3+20m)

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Bruised (-0) Hurt (-1) Injured (-1) Wounded (-2) Maimed(-3) Crippled (-4) Incapacitated,

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Weapon	Damage	Accuracy modifier	Rate/Clip/ Conceal	Notes:
Sabre	Str+4L		Trenchcoat

Equipment:Carries a doctor bag with a few oddments that are necessary to the modern actor.

Appearance/Clothing Tendencies: a medium sized lean man with an amount of quick. A hawklike nose and slightly receding hair. starting to silver just a touch. Piercing blue eyes. tapered manicured hands.Selsdon is vain about clothes. He tends to go in for a professorial look (tweeds, patches on the elbows, cable knit sweaters.) When he can afford it he gets a suit custom made but he is a master of buying off the rack.

House, Circle, Influence: Kinda thin. Selsdon travels quite a bit and rarely stay in one place too long. This is because he has a touch of wanderlust and also because he tends to make enemies wherever he goes. He makes a bit of money with his acting and has a small annuity from a maiden aunt who favored him on her death. However he does have a tendency to live beyond his means, One of his contacts is his family's solicitor in London and one of the others is his Agent in whatever city he's in.

What has gone Before: Born in a trunk backstage at the Royal Shakespeare company, His first role was as the baby Perdita in a production of "The Winter's Tale" Legend has it that they almost forgot to cut the cord first. He has been an actor all of his life and he is destined for greatness. Just ask him he'll tell you.

Selsdon is a real piece of work. He drinks likes a fish, chases anything in a skirt, lives beyond his means, and as many women have reported, is so shallow you could walk across him without getting your ankles wet. He's quite the seducer but simply doesn't have the juice for a long term relationship.He has an ego the size of Rumania and has great difficulty paying attention to anything that isn't about him. he's been all over the world and has contacts in many places but not all of them like him that much. Most people consider him an insufferable boor.

This is not to suggest that he is without his saving graces. He is at least a well-meaning individual who doesn't really mean to hurt or insult people. He dislikes hard feelings. He is a phenomenal performer on the stage and off. He can make the phone book sound like the Old Testament. He's also a talented and practiced stage combatant which has proven itself useful on more than one occasion away from the stage. If Selsdon has one real virtue it is that his self-image sort of rests on his idea that he's kind of a tarnished knight....Always one to go the extra mile for the damsel in distress. right wrongs with that old flash, dash, and panache. Besides whatever hardships are endured will make for a great story for cadging free drinks.

Story Uses:

That Goddamn Nut!: Selsdon has no trouble at all involving himself in things that are WAY over his head. he trusts to his charm and skills and jumps headfirst into whatever comes his way. Unfortunately, he has a way of cocking things up for nearly everyone around him. Dealing himself into some business can be the players worst nightmare.

Troubled Fool: In a more Noir vein, Selsdon has real problems that he refuses to deal with. He also tends to get himself into trouble. (especially if his life is going along too smoothly.) His drinking, gambling, womanizing and other foolery make him colorful but they also mean he occasionally needs help. anyone who has proven himself to be a true friend will find Selsdon very loyal but also needing an occasional bailout.

Mother Charlene

Name:Mother Charlene Type:Mesmerist Allegiance:The White College Origin:Low Class

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Physical	Social	Mental	Character	Inspiration:(5) Pool(5)
Strength:2	Charisma:4	Perception:4	Virtue:Charmer	Intuitive:2
Dexterity:2	Manipulation:3	Intelligence:2	Vice:Caregiver	Reflective:3
Stamina:2	Appearance:3	Wits:3	Willpower:8	Destructive:

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Physical: Brawl (1) Athletics (2) Legerdemain (2) Melee (2, knife fighting) Stealth (1) Endurance(2) Resistance (3)

Social: Style (4) Animal Husbandry (2) Savvy (2) Subterfuge (3) Command (3) Etiquette (3) Rapport (3)

Mental: Awareness (3, people) Linguistics (1) Medicine (4, native) Arts (4, hairdressing) Drive (1) Occult*(6*)

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Backgrounds: Allies (5) Backing (2) Cipher (2) Contacts (3) Followers (3) Influence (1) Menagerie (3) Reputation (2) Resources (3) Devices(3) Sanctum(3) Ownership* (3) Nemesis (3)

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Knacks: Brain Skimming, Telluric Resonance, Evil Eye, Touch Of Life, Omen Sight, Voice from Beyond,

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Initiative(7) Soak ( 2/0 ) Movement:Walk (Dex+2m) Run(Dex+12m) Sprint(DexX3+20m)

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Bruised (-0) Hurt (-1) Injured (-1) Wounded (-2) Maimed(-3) Crippled (-4) Incapacitated,

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Weapon	Damage	Accuracy modifier	Rate/Clip/ Conceal	Notes:
ceremonial athame	Str+2 lethal	n/a	jacket

Additional Notes: Mother Charlene possesses an ability mastery in Occult (which enables her to use it as a super science.) her native language is Creole French but she speaks and read English as well.

Equipment: Mother Charlene carries a large cloth handbag which is stuffed full of all sorts of oddments. At times she has a few gadgets on her person which are magical fetishes that provide personal protection for her or anyone she gives them too. These fetishes only seem to work for a limited period of time before needing to be re-energized or remade entirely.

Appearance/Clothing Tendencies: Mother Charlene is a foxy black mama of the first water. Oh sure, she may be a bit overweight but she is always looking as sharp as she can and always makes the best of what she has. She goes for bright colors and has the coloration and style to make even an Orange Mumu look good. Mother Charlene's nails are a thing of wonder. if they get much longer she'll be unable to use her fingers at all. Mother Charlene's hair is long and braided and tied off in the back with a violet ribbon.

House, Circle, Influence: In the poorer quarters of whatever community you decide to put Mother Charlene, She has a tendency to accumulate Influence. Her Allies are people who have directly benefitted from her work and know her true power. Most of these people would kill or die for her. She is a member of the White College with all that implies. She knows many people in her neighborhood through her work as a hairdresser and her word carries a bit of weight on the street. (Her contacts and Influence respectively. She is an Acknowledged voudou priestess and those who follow that religion go to her for help (her followers) She has a reputation as one who can get things done and who is on the lookout for the strange and unusual. She makes a decent living from the dozen irons she has in the fire. She completely owns the building where her hairdressing shop is and the apartment above is her sanctum. the rest of the building is other apartments. Her Menagerie includes some spiders and scorpions. a vicious black cat named Abraham. and a 16-foot ball python named Reggie. (after her first husband.) There are usually a couple of Chickens in cages too in her house. Some are for sacrifice and others are simply payment by people too poor to pay any other way. Her nemesii are a rotating group of low-level nuisance boccors (Voudoun Black magicians) and a couple of women who think they can supplant her as the local priestess.

What has gone Before: Charlene was born in New Orleans from Jamaican emigres. She was born into a family who had practiced Voudou all their lives and she was found to be very gifted at a young age. As she grew up it was fairly obvious that she was being groomed for being the next priestess when her mama passed on.

It came too early. Her mama was a beautiful woman and one night she was raped and murdered on a side street. No one was ever caught and the white police seemed not to care. Her father crawled into a bottle and never came out really. Charlene cared for him until he died at age 16. She put money on the table by the simple expedient of hairdressing. She found she was good at it and as her powers grew, so did her clientele...coming more for advice than her hairdressing. (although that wasn't bad either.)

Her Uncle Montaigne initiated her into the White College after beating her abusive first husband to death with his walking stick. After this, she began to find that certain powers that she used to have to cast laborious spells for were becoming second nature to her.

Charlene has worked very hard to get where she is in her life, and she's not afraid of most things.Only time will tell where this new age of magic will take her.

Story Uses: 

The Contact: Mother Charlene is the sort of person that makes an excellent contact (especially for female characters) She also is the type of person who's influence is so broad that she is likely to be known by nearly anyone with an overlapping field of influence (say in the occult world or on the street.) Bernie Santorelli knows her and knows her to be a capable kitchen table doctor who doesn't ask too many questions (although he's not sure about all that crazy voodoo jazz.) The fact that she swears that she's a good Catholic girl just confuses him.

She Who Serves with both Hands:Mother Charlene belongs to the White college and as such is charged with the protection of a certain amount of area (the traditional area of influence is usually a sphere of 13 miles in diameter) because of who she is, she might know about things before the players and alert them if they are also College members, or she might bump into them in the middle of their investigations. Not being overly powerful in the arena of combat she is always willing to ally with those willing to do that sort of dirty work.

Vengeful Justice: As a Voudou priestess she is also charged occasionally with keeping the peace of her community. Players might stumble onto a hapless person who is suffering horrific nightmares and terrible sickness that doctors can't cure. They might be horrified to discover that loving gentle Mother Charlene is causing all this...Charlene claims that she is acting in the interest of the man's wife who he savagely beats. ( Remember, attitudes towards that kind of thing were different then.) Charlene has already questioned the wife and is satisfied with her veracity (her knacks and her "Loa" can determine lies very easily. The "Loa" are actually the form her Voice from Beyond takes.) What do the players do?

Scratch my back and I'll scratch yours: Charlene takes repayment in kind and she always has a dozen balls in the air. Players who are in her debt can expect to be put to work in various ways. The thing is...Charlene will not always be benefitting from these favors. Sometimes she needs the players to do something on behalf of someone else she is helping. and this web of favors can get a little byzantine at times.

Wild Bill Kramer

Name: William "Wild Bill" Kramer Type:Daredevil Allegiance:None Origin: Low class

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Physical	Social	Mental	Character	Inspiration:(4) Pool(4)
Strength:3	Charisma:3	Perception:3	Virtue:Expert	Intuitive:1
Dexterity:4	Manipulation:2	Intelligence:4	Vice:Joe Normal	Reflective:2
Stamina:3	Appearance:2	Wits:3	Willpower:7	Destructive:1

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Physical: Might (2) Firearms (1) Melee (3) Endurance(2) Resistance (2)

Social:Style (1) Savvy (1) Subterfuge (1) Etiquette (2) Rapport (2)

Mental: Awareness (3) Academics (2) Engineering (5*) Science (3) Drive (4)

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Backgrounds: Contacts (2) Followers (2) Reputation (2) Resources (4) Devices(See Below) Ownership* (3)

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Knacks:Gadgeteer,Wheelman, Sense Memory (Cars)

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Initiative(8) Soak (3/1) Movement:Walk (Dex+2m) Run(Dex+12m) Sprint(DexX3+20m)

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Bruised (-0) Hurt (-1) Injured (-1) Wounded (-2) Maimed(-3) Crippled (-4) Incapacitated,

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Weapon	Damage	Accuracy modifier	Rate/Clip/ Conceal	Notes:

Additonal notes: Bill possesses an ability mastery in engineering and he can practice Superscience in this field.

Equipment: While Bill, doesn't carry a weapon on a regular basis he does carry a few pocket tools and he can occasionally be deadly with them. If he's in his Garage, he is surrounded by tools that can be turned into weapons.

Appearance/Clothing Tendencies: Bill dresses fairly well when he's not in the garage. While he is a confirmed bachelor, he doesn't mind allowing the women he sees to help him pick out clothes. He does, however, tend to wear coveralls for most of his waking hours. Bill is a sharp and clear-eyed fellow with dark hair and blue eyes. He smiles and scowls easily. His work has put a bit of muscle on him but his haphazard diet keeps a small pooch on his gut.

House, Circle, Influence: Kramer's contacts and reputation comes from his outstanding work in the field of automotive enhancements. The contacts are mostly old clients. His Followers are a group of 3 grease monkeys and a young lady who does the paperwork. Kramer's work has made him very comfortable and he would be richer if his business didn't have such ridiculous overhead. Bill Ownership is his garage, which he owns free and clear. Bill's personal vehicle is a heavily tricked-out automobile best left to the imagination. It has at least one standard modification on any vehicle he uses for himself. The Car is always outfitted with a set of hydraulic roller sleds, which give the vehicle the equivalent of the knack A Single Bound.

What has gone Before: When Bill was 6 years old. he was helping his father work on a car. The elder Kramer discovered that young William had taken apart the carburetor. The elder Kramer was unsure of his own ability to put the carburetor back together and so naturally was a bit concerned. Young William assured his father that he could put it back together...which he did. and it ran like a top. It was at this point, that William's father stopped doubting his ability to fix anything.

Bill was the sort of kid who was into science. He was also the sort of kid who took apart nearly everything he ever owned. Sometimes he would put them back together better than before. Most of the time though they would just lay around the house in pieces. He's better about that now.

This tendency naturally led to a job as a mechanic. Bill worked hard and studied equally hard. His memory of cars is encyclopedic AND kinesthetic. He discovered that he liked doing modifications to vehicles like nitrous bottles for racing vehicles and the pay was good for people who could do that sort of work. Bill soon became a partner in the garage he worked in and then bought out his partner outright when he retired.

Now, a lot of Bill's work is involved with custom modifications to vehicles for a somewhat upscale clientele. Bill doesn't ask a lot of questions about what his clients are going to use them for because he's already learned the hard way that too much nosiness loses business.(a significant amount of his work comes from rum runners. some of which he takes in trade.) He will, however, turn down work that is patently illegal. The sorts of modifications he does include: bulletproofing, nitrous bottles, engine rebuilds, false trunk bottoms, and various other work of this sort.

Story Uses: 

Souper Upper: Naturally, Bill Kramer is the sort of person that the characters will want to know. Able to soup up any vehicle to maximum performance, able to slap on superscience to any car, smart, capable, and respects a client's anonymity. Bill makes a dandy Ally or major Contact.

Mechanic to the Enemy: Bill is a decent, good-natured trusting individual. as such, he doesn't ask a lot of questions of people requesting modifications and might be appalled if he knew some of the uses to which his technology has been put. Maybe the players are able to track an enemy with a souped up car back to Bill. While Bill is horrified to discover that his knowledge is being used by some criminal maniac, he honestly will not be a huge fount of knowledge about the client. As I said, he simply doesn't ask a lot of questions. He might be able to offer some help though if approached well and might befriend PC's who set him straight about somebody like that.

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Nicky "The Match" Pantusso

Name: Nicky "The Match" Pantusso Type: Mesmerist Allegiance: Boss Grifasi Origin: Criminal

Physical	Social	Mental	Character	Inspiration:(7) Pool(7)
Strength:1	Charisma:1	Perception:3	Virtue:Hotshot	Intuitive:2
Dexterity:3	Manipulation:1	Intelligence:4	Vice:Survivor	Reflective:
Stamina:2	Appearance:1	Wits:4	Willpower:6	Destructive:5

Physical: Brawl (1) Athletics (3, run surprisingly fast) Firearms (2) ( )

Social: Disguise(1) Savvy (3) Subterfuge (2) Etiquette (1,mob etiquette )

Mental: Awareness (3) Engineering (4) Intrusion (3) Science (3, fire physics ) Drive (2)

Backgrounds: Backing (2) Cipher (2) Reputation (2) Resources (3) Devices(5) Sanctum(2)

Knacks: Flame Conjuration, Thermal Manipulation, Omen Sight

Initiative(9) Soak (2/0) Movement:Walk (Dex+2m) Run(Dex+12m) Sprint(DexX3+20m)

Bruised (-0) Hurt (-1) Injured (-1) Wounded (-2) Maimed(-3) Crippled (-4) Incapacitated,

Weapon	Damage	Accuracy modifier	Rate/Clip/ Conceal	Notes:
Puny Revolver	3 lethal	0	2/5/pocket

Equipment: Nicky has a lab which contains nearly every sort of combustible chemical on earth. He is also a fairly competent engineer and is capable of manufacturing his own detonators and explosive devices. at any given time he might have explosives and or fire-based weapons on his person.

Appearance/Clothing Tendencies: Nicky is a skeevy little fella with a perpetual hunch. He is slightly balding, wears coke bottle thick glasses and he is missing a finger on his left hand and part of an ear lobe. He has dark piggy eyes and is surprisingly wiry.

House, Circle, Influence: Nicky enjoys the protection of the Grifasi mob and a reputation as a fella who can do any kind of arson job. other details on the guy are somewhat sketchy as he is something of a recluse.

What has gone Before: At times, a person finds their destiny...and it's not always a good one. Nicky was an altar boy growing up and even ran a little track in school. He wasn't a muscular guy but he was smart as a whip and during the war, there wasn't a whole lot of physical requirements. Nicky ended up training for EOD in the army... He didn't get to use a lot of his acumen in the war. 

...And this was a problem. Nicky was fascinated with fires. Explosions were good too. You might even say that he got off on a good fire. It excited him. He didn't know why. He just knew that this was the way his life was going to go. He briefly considered becoming a fireman but he just couldn't stand it. So he started setting fires. At first for fun. But later he realized that he could make money at it. This, of course, brought him to the attention of Boss Grifasi. Who decided to "Wet his beak." from Pantusso's burgeoning little business. In return for a percentage, and the occasional job at the Boss's behest, he would enjoy the protection of the Grifasi family and be allowed to continue living.

Story Uses: 

Restless Firebug: Nicky is a total nutjob. While he doesn't like to kill (and prefers to torch empty buildings) he has in the past and will again. He is a reign of terror in whatever city he is operating in. At Grifasi's request, he can make a person's life miserable by burning down their home. Maybe with them in it! Nicky is certainly not hard to disable but he is hard to catch. He runs really fast for such a little guy, Has Omen Sight so he's difficult to sneak up on, has a high inspiration so he might slip the noose any number of ways, and if push comes to shove he'll start tossing around fireballs from his mitts with a maxed destructive facet. Even in a car chase, he's difficult to keep up with. Tossed grenades and a nitrous bottle attached to his engine will do that. Not to mention, he can make YOUR engine overheat.

State's Evidence: If Nicky has a weakness, (other than his sheer punyness) It is his tendency to rat people out to save his own skin. The players might be put in the unenviable position of having to protect Nicky from other mobsters in order to put them away.

Uninspired Threat: Hey, Nicky is plenty dangerous even without his ability to lob fire at people with his mind. If you'd rather have the players realize the threat that an uninspired person can be, just get rid of Nicky's Knacks and Inspiration. He's still capable of wreaking massive havoc if he's not stopped.

Twitchy Ally?: After a jolt in stir. Nicky might try to go straight. He might even succeed too. (maybe getting a job as a stress tester for an insurance company or as a Demo expert on a wrecking crew. If the players handled him decently, he might occasionally be willing to be a consultant. He would certainly be valuable against another arsonist and of course, he knows quite a bit about explosives, detonators, accelerants and other interesting toys. Characters who have somewhat shady pasts could also know him from the neighborhood or from their former professions. Characters who have a somewhat shady present might be babysitting Nicky on orders from the Boss.

Avatar of the Burning God: If Nicky is not stopped, He will eventually begin to change slightly. Some trauma or other could cause the skeevy little worm to have a complete psychotic break. Nicky might undergo a complete personality change and become some horrifyingly cold-blooded maniac with an itch to set fires so large that the gods will notice him again. Those who have tangled with him in the past may be utterly shocked to find that instead of the rat-like little man they knew, he's become some kind of atavistic force of nature with powers to match. They'll be shocked when he doesn't run. but only turns to enwreath them in hot, buttered, Holocaust.

Nikolai

Name: Nikolai Type: Daredevil Allegiance: Poniatowski    Foundation Origin: Outlaw

Physical	Social	Mental	Character	Inspiration:(6) Pool(6)
Strength:3	Charisma:3	Perception:3	Virtue:Hot Shot	Intuitive:2
Dexterity:3	Manipulation:4	Intelligence:4	Vice:Hot Shot	Reflective:2
Stamina:3	Appearance:2	Wits:4	Willpower:8	Destructive:2

Physical: Might (2) Athletics (4) Firearms (4) Legerdemain (3) Martial Arts (4) Melee (4) Stealth (4 ) Endurance(3) Resistance (3)

Social: Disguise(6*) Savvy (2) Subterfuge (3) Etiquette (2) Perform (4)

Mental: Awareness (4) Investigation (2) Academics (2) Intrusion (3) Linguistics (3) Survival (3) Drive (3)

Backgrounds:Ally(2) Backing (2) Cipher (6*) Reputation (2) Resources (4) Devices(6) Sanctum(4)

Knacks: Death Defiance, Indomitable Will, Instant Expert, Lightning Reflexes, One Man Army, Universally Deadly, Relentless,

Initiative(9) Soak (5/2) Movement:Walk (Dex+2m) Run(Dex+12m) Sprint(DexX3+20m)

Bruised (-0) Hurt (-1) Injured (-1) Wounded (-2) Maimed(-3) Crippled (-4) Incapacitated,

Weapon	Damage	Accuracy modifier	Rate/Clip/ Conceal	Notes:

Additonal notes: Nikolai possesses an ability mastery in Disguise. (Which even allows superscientific advancements in disguise creations.) He also posseses the background enhancements Enigma and Stockpile.

Equipment: Carries a bewildering amount of weapons of all types. the only thing they tend to have in common is concealability. Also, carries a small disguise kit at all times. Has created a machine in his sanctum which creates a liquid latex/cellulose compound for use in creating full face and body appliances. (just like the IM force masks.)

Appearance/Clothing Tendencies: Nikolai appears to be a man of middling sized frame with light brown hair and brown eyes. His musculature appears unremarkable but it is very strong and flexible from isometric exercises. Nikolai's only revealing characteristic is that when he is impatient he fiddles with things in his hands. It is not known if any person has ever seen Nikolai's true form and lived to tell the tale.

House, Circle, Influence: Nikolai works alone, the rumors about him are many. That he is served by a small (false) army of cut-outs and go-betweens seems to be the way he takes on outside jobs. It is also rumored that he has never failed in a contract. He has a large home in Moscow which houses his truly frightening armory and his collection of props, costumes, and make-up. His 1 major ally outside of his Poniatowski handler is Hercule Beachamp (for obvious reasons.)

What has gone Before: Nikolai is the Poniatowski Foundations most secret weapon. A product of the soviet secret police, He has become since his inspiration one of the most formidable assassins of the modern age. He is a master of nearly every type of weapon, his combat and survival skills are formidable and there are few others in the world who are capable of the mastery of disguise that he has achieved. In fact, Nikolai routinely sends messages to targets telling them the exact time he is going to kill them. The Foundation uses him to rid themselves of serious threats to their operations but they also use him to create massive distractions while they carry out a dozen separate operations. Occasionally, he takes on interesting outside contracts and has been known to have an amused friendly rivalry with fellow assassins. The fellow assassins rarely are amused or friendly in return. Yoshida Himitsu and many others hate and fear him and would do much to be rid of him.

Story Uses: 

The Sword of Damocles: The Foundation has decided to kill a certain person and the players find out about it and have to somehow stop him from doing it. The most likely method of doing this particular storyline is if the players are members of Branch 9 and they are told that they are to protect the President from this horrific threat.

The Master has entered the Field: Any sort of employer who is hiring large numbers of talented assassins for a particular target will find Nikolai seeking him out to enter the contest. The PC's will only know that a dozen assassins are killing themselves trying to kill them and finding that someone is quietly offing them as they go. Can the players escape Nikolai's clutches?

The Nikolai Gambit: Once Nikolai has developed a certain amount of professional respect for the players he will, of course, seek them out in order to play against them. This is doubly so if they are constantly screwing up the Foundations antics. Nikolai will contact the players by phone and inform them that he has secreted 10 canisters of mustard gas, each with a time delay detonator in multiple locations around the city. The Players are free to stop them from detonating the canisters if they can find them in time. Each canister has a clue, in rhyme no less, to the next one. While the characters are tearing around trying to stop this holocaust from happening (with Nikolai watching them and pot-shooting at them occasionally) the Foundation will be hitting dozens of libraries and museums to steal objects of interest to them. If the Players put 2 and 2 together they might figure out that Nikolai and the Foundation are working together. This, of course, will give them a place to start looking for him to exact revenge.