Madman in the Attic

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Madman in The Attic

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Main Base: The Land
Name: Guinevere Mandolin
Nicknames: Madame Black (Code Name), The Once and Future Queen (In joke among Cloaks, derisive, largely mocking her haughty attitude)

Role: Cloak
Character Pitch: Guinevere and her twin sister, Maya, were born to a tinkerer who had moved to Golden City and knocked up a tavern 'wench' all within the same year. He was chronically disorganized, fond of the sauce, and romanced many women other than their mother, although the two married to raise the girls.

From the get go, Guin despised her father, whilst Maya adored him. However, despite their differing affections, the two twins were joined at the hip from birth. Together, they found a way to endure the frequent starvation and the exposure to their father's less salubrious inclinations, with their mother quick to follow him down a bottle.

The two drifted as puberty arrived; From the start, Guin was fixated on achievement, social and financial elevation and stability. She ensured she became apprenticed to a fencing tutor, and soon as she was old enough, she applied to train for The Inquisition. With a work ethic that boarded on the obsessive compulsive (reinforced by her actual OCD) she ensured her dim background proved no barrier to her acceptance.

Few people take their job as seriously as Guinevere. She is ruthless, merciless, but also incorruptible, seeking only to do her duty: to serve the will of the vice-president. Though extremely capable, she is not well-liked among the Cloaks, especially the more easy-going members as she has zero tolerance for slacking or screw ups. Whilst she isn't exactly arrogant, she is unforgiving, unflinching in her convictions, and driven to a point where it's more than a little terrifying.

She has severed all ties with her family, the last straw coming when her twin fell in with the criminals Guin so despises.

Appearance: Like her twin, Guin is tall and imposing, pushing six foot three. She manages to come off as intimidating and bolsters this effect, favouring platform boots to give her additional elevation She dresses in all black even when off duty, and generally looks like she's furious with you, even when she's happy.
 
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Main Base: The Underground
Name: Maya Mandolin
Nicknames: The White Fox

Role: Criminal
Character Pitch: [For intro, see Guinevere]
When puberty hit, Maya felt no compulsion to join up with the authorities. Instead, she came to resent them for the corruption rife within the city, and instead fell further and further into involvement with rebels and petty criminals. Her teenage years were spent behind a mask, racing down cables and playing at adult crime. This reckless behavior not only alienated her sister from her, but drew her into a newfound resentment for her parents. When her father spent more time at a bar than anywhere else and had trouble remembering her name, she elected to part ways with them and pursue a life elsewhere.

Rabbiting down underground, Maya was never a leader, but a strong and loyal follower. Sharing her sister's knack for organisation and efficiency, albeit to a lesser extreme, she quickly became valued as more than a hand to snatch goods. She hired herself out as a 'point man' to those looking to run cons, gathering Intel, coordinating the cogs in the plans, and making sure everyone got out and got out safe.

Being someone prone to sentiment and attachment, this 'brain for hire' scheme was ill-suited to her desire for stability, so as soon as she had established herself well enough to be able to do so, she became involved with organised crime. [Specifics will require planning with existing criminals and their factions.]

Despite their occupational differences, Maya shares her twin's knack for efficiency, and is equally sharp and perceptive. She lacks her sister's unrelenting obsessions, however, and is far more relaxed and personable. She plays the people person well, having had to pick up the skill to function as a point man, though she struggles in real, genuine relationships. Though she's no master of being light-fingered or a combat expert, she makes up for it by sharing her twin's lack of limits, and once she dedicates herself to something, she'll see it through to the end, no matter the cost.

Other skills include the mechanical know-how she picked up from her father when he was sober. Conversely, however, she lacks much education in other areas, and though she can read well, she struggles to write and favors verbal dictation.

Appearance: Though her twin's opposite in many ways, the pair share a physicality; Maya is six foot three and muscular. Unlike her twin, she is extremely flat-chested and is androgynous in appearance and build. Whilst for 'work' she tends to dress on the smart side, in casual time she's a tank-tops and 3/4 trousers kind of girl, especially given the heat down underground.
 
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[Minor Character / NPC]

Main Base: The Sky
Name: Lawrence (of the Augustine Family)
Nicknames: Hera's Mad Dog,

Role: Automaton
Character Pitch: One of the newer models of automatons, folks often remark how graceful Lawrence is, how powerful and strong... There do seem to be some distinct issues in the empathy and emotions department, however. What one cannot deny is that Lawrence demonstrates absolute loyalty to his master. Better yet, he seems to enjoy his job! And what could be more important than good job satisfaction?

Valet to Council Member Hera Augustine, Lawrence is but a simple serving hand, waiting on her and those in her company with the diligent loyalty of a lap dog, albeit a silent one. He speaks rarely, often only when instructed, and even then it is in soft, short sentences.

Of course, what he is perhaps more well know among those who are aware of such things are the entirely unfounded rumors that he also serves as the 'knife in the shadows' for Hera. From slitting the throats of unwilling business competitors to disemboweling those who stand in his master's way politically, many brutal murders above land and below have been attributed to this particular automaton. Of course, all of them remain entirely unproven, and it is common for people to sensationalize any particularly violent death nowadays as being at the hands of 'Hera's Mad Dog'.

As for Councillor Hera, she seems quite content to do nothing about this reputation. Instead, she seems to enjoy the effect it has on others who might now think twice otherwise about crossing her.
Appearance: Lawrence's power as a model came at the cost of some attributes that would help him pass as human: most noticeably, his height. He is well over seven foot, and must duck to pass through the majority of doorways. Judging by his burly and lengthy frame, you wouldn't think him the type to be able to conceal himself in shadows easily.
 
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Main Base: The Sky
Name: Hera Augustine
Nicknames: For the amount of times folks refer to her solely as 'that bitch' it probably should be counted as a nickname.

Role: Council Member, Criminal
Character Pitch: What is a government without a little corruption?

Hera Augustine does her very best to ensure that the Council of Golden City is in no short supply of such a resource. Her exact origins are lost in the conflation of fact and fiction, myth and rumor, a phenomenon she has cultivated with vigor. Some say she was born a Rat of the Underground, clawing her way up through blood and bloodier gold to bring her own personal plague to the people of the Sky. Others say she hails from one of the oldest founding families, a bastard child who killed her competitors and inherited the family fortune only to use it for greed and ill-use. Others, more sensational and perhaps kind, claim she is a descendant of the Founder, here to rejuvenate Golden City with competition, spilling fresh blood to fertilize fresh innovation. She is simultaneously seen as a monster and an antihero, an enemy to be slaughtered and an immortal, intrinsic part of life: she is the embodiment of the omnipresence and endurance of corruption and sin, and she is more than willing to provide fuel to the fires of the rumor mill.

Acting through several fences and shell companies and mercenary groups, Hera uses her connections to the Sky to facilitate the smuggling of luxury goods down to the black markets to be sold for her own benefits. Rumor has it the Sky not only knows about it but allows it, as it funnels what could be money the underground back into the Sky and the elite. By controlling the criminal masses under the illusion of working for them, some say she's the worst 'bourgeoisie pig' of them all.

Or perhaps she's really using her wealth to help out those below. Who knows. All that is 'known' in that it is common knowledge in the shadier parts of town is that fucking with her people is a dangerous and bloody affair. She is characterized by her lack of morals, scrupulous ability to cover her own tracks, and a ruthless agenda when it comes to protecting her own - in particular, her own profit.

Hera is certainly not liked up in The Sky, but her reputation does afford her a fearful kind of respect. It is entirely her fortune that got her a place on the council - or was it that she's bribing the president? Whatever the matter is, if it's something that operates in the shadows, if Hera doesn't have a hand in it, you can be sure she'll hear about it one way or another.

Appearance: Hera is five foot nine, thin, but with taut, scarred limbs. She is missing one eye, replaced with a prosthetic wielded to her face supposedly. Some say she can see through walls through it, some say she can see into your soul. The less exciting reality is that it simply serves to fill the missing crevice that her eyeball previously occupied.

How she lost her eye is unknown.
 
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Main Base: The Underground
Name: Priscilla "Priss" Bolts
Nicknames: Priss (common), Bolts (uncommon, usually just to remark on her speed)

Role: Criminal, Resident Mother Hen of the Chattering Choughs
Character Pitch: Priss is Rat trash through and through. Born down near the ovens, she's spent her life caked in coal and scrabbling for her life. Her father a worker at the ovens and waste handling, she grew up sneaking about between the smoggy fumes and upper levels, which left her tall and yet oddly proportioned, extremely lanky with sallow, stick-like limbs. Despite this, she's always been fast as lightning, impossible to catch by the adults and so she got away with all kinds of mischief as a little kid.

When she was about nine or so, however, her father just vanished one day. She ain't got a clue where he upped and left to, chasing rumors of him in bars and whorehouses but none of it ever led to anything. Left to fend for herself, she was just another street brat thieving to keep her stomach lined with something other than mud, but remained staunchly cheerful throughout. Even before the Choughs, she demonstrated a knack for 'mothering' the other orphan kids and strays, keeping what semi-organisation existed between them to try and make sure the weak and young got fed.

Puberty hit young and though it failed to lend her body any womanly curves whatsoever, her height and obvious maturity attracted unwanted attention. Her indomitable spirit dampened somewhat during this time period, for reasons she does not like to discuss or disclose, but it is fair to say she's experienced the darker side of The Underground first hand.

And then came Brulow. It was hard for her, in those first years, not to see him as a kind of savior, though she's always been teasing and dry with him. He gave her a family, stability, order, and purpose. Feeding her own no longer became a constant nightmare; It was still a struggle, yes, but now they had a chance, now they had a leader. Though initially distrustful of this rich boy outsider turned Lost Boys ringleader, her resistance didn't last long and now she is by far one of the most fiercely loyal of the Choughs.

Now nineteen years old, Priss ain't just some kid anymore. It remains a struggle for her to transition into womanhood, though in many ways she's been an adult for years now. Among the gang of scrappy kids, she feels torn between perpetual childhood, and the stranger, nebulous urges and emotions and aspirations of adulthood.

Though not an uncommon struggle, she knows all too well that vulnerability ain't the kind of thing you can afford Underground.
Appearance: At five foot seven, Priss is as tall as most of the younger boys at least, and is definitely taller than Brulow (a fact she rubs in his face with great delight). Skinny as a whip, though hard and taut with muscle built from years of running and swooping to survive, she was easily mistaken for a boy up until the age or so of fifteen. In recent years, however, despite not filling out in the curves department, she carries herself with a maturity that no longer leaves her looking like a prepubescent lad. Priss is distinctly pretty, a fact she's abashedly vain about, and one she also resents for what it has earned her in the past.
 
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