Nexus Character Directory

[Snares]

Thierry Z. Artelo

Alias: Known (begrudgingly) as Mr. Artelo to most.

Gender: Male

Race/Species: Human

Age: 46

Alignment: Bumbling pretensions towards lawful evil.

Class/Profession: Assassin & general criminal on paper. In reality, more like an aristocrat.

Power Rating: 2-3 (only on account of his ability and limited usefulness with a knife)

Description: A relatively unremarkable-looking man of average height, with short grey hair, grey eyes, and surprisingly smooth, pale skin for his age. Almost always smiling. Wears a sharp, tailored black pinstripe suit and shiny shoes – is rarely seen wearing anything other than a suit. Speaks in purple, because he thinks it makes him look 'regal' and 'mysterious'.

Personality: Put simply, Thierry is not the smartest man in the world. For a man who was, back on his original world, the boss of an organised crime syndicate, his naivety and general incompetence at almost everything is astonishing. Thierry's own private little universe consists of him at the centre, and everything else revolving around him, doing what he says – and if it doesn't, it damn well should; his 10-year survival at the head of the Artelo family of criminals has left him with an enormous ego. He's convinced himself he's a criminal mastermind and evil genius, when he isn't a real criminal, he's a long way from being a genius, and his ‘evil’ credentials rest solely on a dubious claim that he once killed a man 20 years ago.

Equipment: A snappy, if slightly shabby, pinstripe suit, a small handgun in his jacket pocket with limited ammo, and a small knife in his shoe. In his pocket, some small change and a wallet with far too many maxed-out credit cards.

Abilities: Thierry inherited only one of the several abilities passed down through the Artelo bloodline (supposedly through demon blood) – an ability to change into a moving cloud of smoke at will for up to half an hour at a time, which has proved a useful escape tool more than once (it can only be used once every day, and once every night). Unfortunately, the transformation does not affect his clothes, which has led to a few awkward moments when he returns to his original form. Thierry is reasonably skilled with a knife, and possesses a gun, although he is a terrible shot.

Backstory: Born into a wealthy criminal dynasty rife with patricide, fratricide, homicide and just about every other “-cide” you can think of, a character such as Thierry rising to the head of the family and staying there for any length of time seems almost unthinkable. So, when Thierry became head of the ‘family’ after several uncles and his three elder brothers were all killed within the space of several months, few expected Thierry to last more than a few weeks at most. In fact, he would remain head of the family for 10 years. How? One simple trait – Thierry has a remarkable knack for not getting killed. At one point, attempts on Thierry's life were running at a rate of three or four a week, yet somehow – through assassins' mistakes, Thierry shapeshifting into smoke, or more often than not just dumb luck – he managed to live through all of them. Thierry running through the house naked screaming about an assassin in his water closet became a fortnightly occurrence. When he wasn't busy narrowly avoiding death, Thierry was either wasting his family's fortune on illegal liquor, tailored suits and gambling, or failing to come up with any coherent criminal schemes whatsoever. After 10 years of the Artelo organised crime family organising no crime at all, even the previously-loyal bodyguards had had enough. The family had fallen into disrepute and had lost most of their money. The entire household conspired in one gigantic plot to finally kill Thierry and his son, Efrim. However, moments before they were about to be killed, they were both transported to the Nexus. This has only served to reinforce Thierry's view that his continued survival is proof that God has some kind of ‘special plan’ for him.

Miscellaneous: n/a