Name: Michael R. (full: Michael Rauco; demeanour of being addressed: 'The Master')
Spoiler for Appearance:
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Aged 32, Michael has a rather average build in terms of height and weight, alongside a well toned, kept fit body. His skin tone is on the light side, and as distinctive body marks one can see a scar tattoo covering his whole back, depicting a raven in flight, courtesy of his mistress. In terms of facial traits, there is a general sharpness to them, and, alongside the clean tone of the skin, it gives off a vibe of nobility. The eye colour is a deep brown, almost pure black, the hair taking on the same colouring. He wears his hair long, just below the shoulders in length, and face shaven clean.
In terms of attire, he has multiple 'usual' outfits, although it is not too surprising to see him dressed in a different way, depending on the situation. As such, for 'casual' clothing he sports a pair of pants made of light cloth and a shirt of the same material, both black, as well as a black, silver-lined half-mask if he is not within private quarters.
His 'business' attire, worn at meeting with important clients and subordinates, or other such official businesses, consists of a soft cloth shirt and though, heavy-duty cloth pants, both black, military-styled leather boots, reinforced with steel at the toes and heels, and a long, black leather duster coat decorated with veritable silver lining and the specific mask-and-stiletto insignia of his 'empire'. On his hands, he wears leather gloves, same monochrome tone as the rest of his attire, the ends of the left one ending in roughly 30-cm long blades (the passing from the glove to the claws is made in a highly aesthetic manner, looking like the glove veritably changes into the blades, not as if blades are just affixed to it), split in the middle like a cat's claw and filled with poison. At his belt hangs a highly decorated rapier, with a guard designed to look like a spider's web. In this outfit, he wears a mask identical to that of the casual outfit, only reversed in colours.
In the end, he can also be occasionally seen in the 'work' outfit, a fine mixture between a surgeon's garb, a chemist's and that of a dark ages plague doctor. As such, it consist of a dark lab coat (filled with basic surgical tools), thin, surgical rubber gloves, as well as tight, but unoppressive clothing underneath. The mask on his face is made in the shape of a traditional plague doctor mask, painted black, but the interior of the beak is modified to act as a proper gas mask.
Spoiler for Personality:
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Thanks to his background as a psychologist, Michael is very adept at concealing a vast majority of his real personality traits, fully embracing the status of a psychopath in charge. Thus, to the layman, and anyone that generally does 'not need to know the truth', he will simply appear a sadistic, sin-obsessed madman. And, in all honesty, it's hard to not see someone as that when he's running a business as profaned as his 'Sin Empire': torture, drug dealing, assassination, brainwashing, and most about anything that comes to mind when someone speaks the word 'crime'.
Upon actual contact with him, from merely a madman, he changes into being terrifyingly lucid, proving a perfect assessment capability and logical thought. Such, the madman earlier is suddenly possessing a lot more power, as he's proven to bear the full intellect to actually keep the business running, and to fully abuse its power as needed. In general, this is the way clients see The Master.
A layer below that, shown only to respectable, long-time clients and people closer to him personally, is a man that lives for pleasure, and that wishes the same for all of mankind: freedom in expressing the carnal. As such, the only reason he resorts to actually selling things in his empire is due to the fact you need money to be able to flourish, but as any good drug addict, in a vast majority of cases there's no better deal in town that what the Empire offers. This is a personality that resonates strongly with most not-so-innocent people that do indulge themselves in carnal pleasures.
Even below that, a side only shown to few trusted subordinates, he actually cares for the good of mankind. Using sin to get the money, the money to conduct research that no other organization ever could, due to the human rights. This is the personality seen by specially-recruited scientists, given full leave from any form of ethic and morality in their experiments, with the objective of sacrificing the few for the many: finding cures for cancer by human experimentation, borderline bioengineering, and many other disciplines that the normal world would consider 'forbidden'.
At the same time, he is able to finely craft another layer at will, tailored to charming a single person into his web. As such, he can appear to have virtually any trait needed, and to explain his sins in respect to those traits, be them justice, fairness, saint-ness or anything else.
But lastly, deep down, his real self, only known by him and his mistress, he is protective and possessive. A natural tendency towards exaggerated protection of what he cares of, taken to machiavellic extremes: an impenetrable fortress, ran by near-limitless money, protected by unfalteringly loyal indoctrinated soldiers, able to eliminate any threat before it can attack. That is the way he himself sees his empire, a finely crafted and tuned tool of personal safety. The drastic measure is due to an innate paranoia, as well as several events of feeling utterly powerless, after which discovering his true potential in charming people.
In more typological terms, he can be classed ENTP by the Myers-Briggs type indicator.
Particular personal interests: scifi, avant-garde technology (especially biocybernetics and AI), sociology.
Fears: loss of control (although perfectly able to recover from it and react lucidly), an abnormally strong phobia of coffee (although kept internal, showing no outward signs), any form of harm to his mistress (to the point her safety takes precedence over everything; if the only way to save her from harm consists of methodically crumbling his own empire and then suiciding, he will do it).
It should be noted that he is in fact quite tolerant with people, actually lacking all forms of prejudice, as well as easily ignoring personal traits (he is unbothered by stupid people, fanatic ones, or evil ones, for example), but has a really strong disgust towards hypocrisy. He is willing to overlook anyflaw of someone, as long as that someone is either conscious of his flaw, or unconscious but not condemning it.
Spoiler for Abilities:
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-Upper average physical abilities (fit, but not really trained for performance)
-Surgeon level anatomical knowledge (learnt mostly from his mistress), and decent fine-motion skill, although not exceptional
-Absolute mastery in all subdomains of psychology, ranging from full analysis of a person, to speed-reading, to speed-manipulation, to fine-tuned indoctrination and brainwash techniques.
-Innate cunning and intellect, but not inhuman or genius level
-Although not an ability per se, the Empire of Sin: a global-level crime organization, with ties almost everywhere and impossible to conventionally bring down (as well as unprofitable to; the Empire provides many governments and police type organizations with various benefits, monetary or otherwise). Notable sub-organizations include the Inquisition (the Empire's informational network, responsible with espionage, blackmail, under-the-hand negotiation and, of course, forced extortion), the Famine's Scales (charged with the maintenance of the black market of the Empire, from keeping it hidden to the deals themselves), the One Legion (the Empire's private military force, mainly consisting of brainwashed ex-mercenaries as the primary force and indoctrinated child-soldiers as the reserve, on their way to maturing into proper killing machines), Cornucopia (the branch responsible of production, be it drugs, weapons, tools, slaves or any other physical good required), and the Ivory Tower (the research groups, performing all forms of experiments that couldn't be done in legal means). As the man in charge of this titanic Empire, the Master can direct a tremendous force against any open enemy, if given the time to rally it.
Spoiler for Weaknesses:
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-Lack of any form of overhuman capabilities, meaning he is going to indeed die from a bullet to the head or the likewise
-Although immensely powerful, the Empire is still an organization, and it needs time to react. As such, a single surgical strike by a small group will nullify most of the giant's strength (can a human really stop a wasp from stinging him in the eye, if the wasp was stealthy about it?).
-Perhaps the Master's most significant and exploitable weakness, he is a disbeliever in empty killing. He is, by every mean, the type of person that feels an extreme urge to try and sway a would-be assassin to his cause before shooting him. As such, in many cases, he will end up exposing himself to needless risk (although still controlled).
-His greatest weakness is, without doubt, his Mistress and attachment to her; his life would lose all meaning without her, and he would inevitably end up suiciding should she die. It is to be noted though that he will fight more fervently if she is in danger than if he himself is the endangered one.
Spoiler for Story:
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Born in a lower middle-class family, it is an interesting note that Michael grew up in an environment lacking abuse or other impediments to the natural evolution of a child. As such, although labelled a bit of a bookworm at an early age to due reading sci-fi, he never suffered any major problem in his early life. He has had a number of friends, part of whom now occupy various positions in the Empire (according to their competences; the Master does not believe in nepotism), the other part living their own quiet lives under a quiet, invisible protective veil of the Empire's Inquisition.
Upon much closer inspection, one can see early signs of his tendency to possession, but they are subtle and very easy to mistake as simply childhood characteristics. One of the first such marks was Michael's competitive spirit in terms of the academic. Topping the class without learning has been a boasting point for all years, and, even if rarely he studied in order to top a specific person or another, he did so hidden, not wanting to give up on his title of 'unlearning, but still top'. This carried on alongside all schoolyears, along with the interesting behaviour of having no reaction to insults at his address, but quickly getting angry if the insulted were people he cared about.
Down the path of his life, between various temporary girlfriends, intervened the long-distance relationship with the person now known as the Mistress. Although he managed to find a person like him, able to confess everything in front of, another person boasting weirdness and craziness, the distance was unbearable. Adding to that his inability to cross the physical gap out of financial and academic reasons, this was a most marking event in his life, a first time experiencing utter powerlessness. Although after two years the physical bounds were finally overcome, the memory of that inability remains to this day a vivid memory in the Master's mind.
From here, he went through another period of ease, having a brilliant career in psychology, his now-wife an equally brilliant career in surgery. On the other hand, for no apparent reason, the couple suddenly went through a period of complete crisis, she falling in a strong depression (already having been diagnosed by Michael as having a form of cyclothymia, although never before as strong a depressive episode), and him through a period of vividly lucid nightmares. It is due to the presence of coffee in these nightmares as a form of 'plot device' that he now has a paranoia of it.
After going painfully close through near a breakup, the two managed to finally get a hold back on their own. At this point, though, the Master already had begun harbouring the idea of how to obtain an absolute form of control on the world around, due to a paranoia stemmed up by his nightmares. The last drop in this sequence was the death of his father, the figure that had inspired him in most of his life (including his choice of career). At that point, the question came: 'Intellect. Power. Strength. Supremacy, adoration, whatever. If you're lucky, it'll last a hundred years. If not, less. What use is anything, everything, if you die out?'. And the answer: 'Then we shall not die out. Immortality has to be achieved. And it can. I shall see to it.'
That was the point where he slowly begun growing his empire, first as a mafia, then slowly as a full-fledged crime syndicate and ending with the colossal Empire of Sin. His innate ability as a leader, as well as the psychologic knowledge, allowed him to reach this insane status. From here, he attuned the Empire into a tool that exploits capitalism and government greed to obtain near-limitless power and, more importantly, the ability to search for knowledge without having to go through any form of moral principle. Given a natural tendency of the Master towards Machiavellism, he cares not of the means, but the result: immortal protection at any cost.
By then, the Empire has continued to grow and extend its tendrils all over the globe, and the Master of the Empire of Sin begun enjoying his work more and more. Not a person of highly virtuous moral codes from the beginning, he just came from a simple position of indifference towards the victims to one of actual enjoyment of their suffering. His Mistress, former surgeon and now taking great pleasure in undergoing interrogatories herself, exhibits even more such pleasure, oftentimes trying to persuade Michael into 'accidentally' generating more collateral damage. The Master, though, is first and foremost a person of rationality, and while he will take pleasure in slowly killing an enemy, if he has any other, more profitable route, he will choose that, as well as prefer to avoid collateral damage as much as possible.
Spoiler for Extra:
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Spoiler for Vesan Asthen, 'The Demon':
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'The Demon', Vesan Asthen, is the Master's masterpiece of brainwash, a machine made to massacre any opposition. The main utility of the Demon is as personal bodyguard, almost never leaving the Master's side, an incorruptible, barely-human opponent ready to eviscerate any would-be assassin.
Spoiler for Physique:
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In theory, over two metres tall, and very muscular, at considerably above 100 kilograms without an ounce of fat. In practice, somewhere at 170 centimetres due to a very heavy slouch, and with as much torn up and even rotten muscles as good ones. I posture, long past all but the scarcest traces left of humanity, more akin to a diseased, but unrelenting beast pushing day after day after day, long overdue to the Reaper, by sheer force of will alone.
The facial traits are unrecognizable any more, barely even resembling a human face, with the mouth unnaturally split to open wider, teeth sharpened out, nose broken and rebuilt with protruding steel frames as bone, eyes darkened from clotted blood in the sclera, framing even darker irises and pupils. The skin tone used to be quite light, and had gotten yet paler, but due to the amount of overlapped scars on it, the original tone is practically invisible. He wears long hair, but in time it had gotten so ruined and fragile it virtually rips at a slight pull, making it virtually impossible to use as gripping point.
Spoiler for Psyche:
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In terms of psychological attributes, it is extremely hard to actually assess Vesan, due to the fact he lacks most ‘normal’ traits of a human, and his personality shifts very steeply and quickly. From a psychiatric point of view, he is schizophrenic, and although not yet having fallen in Dissociative Identity Disorder (or, some could consider, he is past that point of semi-sanity), exhibits the traits of severe quick-cycle Bipolarity I and Borderline Personality at the same time. Alone, the first one means he alters between states of strong depression and utter mania more than four times a year, while the other means a high degree of impulsivity and mental instability. Together, on the other hand, they lead to a whole set of personality traits that change unexpectedly, sometimes as quickly as a few minutes, let alone hours or days. In effect, during a five-minute discussion, he could go from a very calm, calculated person that believes in equality, lacking all racist or discriminatory tendencies to a neo-Nazi Ku Klux Klan hateful, aggressive and irrational terrorist. It can be observed though that more than 75% of the traits he exhibits at any point also suffer from a Splitting symptom, meaning that he sees the world as black and white: the traits take extreme points. On the earlier example, it can be noted he goes from extreme lack of prejudice to extreme presence of it. The same is valid towards most of the ideals and values of his taken personalities (with occasional exceptions).
He also suffers from a constant Derealisation-Depersonalization mixed-symptom Disorder, meaning that he does not really feel like he himself exists (described by some as feeling as in a movie, or dream; anyhow, the self feels unreal) nor reality around him. Undoubtedly caused by the extreme drug abuse he was victim to (and still is; he is highly addicted to more than one drug, and with no real chance of ever recovering from the addiction), most of the time it actually does not manifest due to the presence of a Somatization Disorder: he exhibits psychalgia (psychogenic pain: pain caused solely by the mind, without any external active factor) in the form of extreme headaches and pain across the spine. This, paired with the constant physical pain caused by his restraints, have the effect of essentially overpowering the derealisation and depersonalisation, bringing him to reality. The Somatization Disorder is most likely a by-product of the prolonged physical and psychological torture.
All of the aforementioned disorders are, on the other hand, strictly and completely subordinated to an extreme, forcibly induced Asthenic (Dependent) Personality Disorder of the Selfless subtype: complete dependence on another person, to the point of considering oneself simply an extension of the other and unable to exist individually. As such, Vesan cannot even fathom existence without the Master, let alone consider rebellion or disobedience. For him, whatever the Master speaks is divine law. If the Master orders ‘kneel’, he kneels. If the Master orders ‘kill’, he kills. If the Master orders ‘die’, he dies.
Spoiler for Attire:
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In terms of attire, Vesan is clad in a net of spiked chains, deeply embedded into his skin all over and relentlessly spiking pain throughout all of his body at even the lightest movement or touch. Above this, there are multiple layers of very tightly wrapped bandages, used to keep some of his muscles still in place as not to die. A large black piece of cloth, about waist-low, covers his upper body, although the material is mostly in shreds. On his legs he wears a pair of hardened black leather pants, made to last, yet still full of marks of extensive, extremely rough use. Topping everything, he wears an overly large cloak, made out of multiple folded sheets of cloth, half of them torn apart, giving it a very feral and broken look, but still holding well in respect of the good tailoring and material.
Spoiler for Weaponry and Extra:
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In terms of weapons, he usually is in possession of a pair of high-quality military combat knives and a pair of S&W Model 500 revolvers (calibre: .500 S&W Magnum; barrel length: 26,7 cm; empty weight: 2,2kg; effective/maximum firing range: 50m/100m; capacity: 5 rounds, cylinder; approx. muzzle velocity & kinetic energy: 632m/s and 3,888 J). On the other hand, most of the actual time he leaves ‘on duty’ he will inevitably have some additional, more suited to the job weaponry.
He also always has a single dose of a specific drug cocktail, and even though his addiction is severe, he will almost never use it (due to direct orders from the Master to not do it). The cocktail in question is a personal creation of the Master, having effects as both a reuptake inhibitor and releasing stimulant for monoamines (for serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine, at the same time), nootropic effects (mainly increase alertness and working memory, but also impulse control and task-switching capability), blood boosting (increase oxygen supply to the muscles), as well as, uniquely, force the crisis switch of the brain, removing the 33% normal muscle use limit, increase the neural activity dramatically (including actual slow-motion sight and hyperlucidity), and completely remove any form of feelings of pain. As such, while under the effects of this drug cocktail, any user suffers an insane increase in all physical and cognitive functions (more than tenfold) for a period of around one hour, but backfires with even more force as the dose runs out (instant loss of consciousness, muscle overextension to the point of self-injury, drowsiness and general inability to think for week-long periods, high risk of brain failure, severe heart attack, potential risk of total organ failure and many other adverse effects. In essence, the life expectancy after a single use of the drug is only 75% in the first hour, 50% in the first week and drops steeply to less than 20% in the first month. A single use of the drug almost guarantees death in less than a whole year.)
Spoiler for Abilities:
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Natural:
-Top athlete level strength, speed and endurance;
-military firearms and melee weapons training (all subcategories, from pistols to long rifles to rpg-s), along with top level accuracy;
-feline reflexes;
-fast thinking, even though highly instable;
-natural recovery ability, further enhanced by the prolonged use of a few specific drugs (Vesan heals wounds roughly twice as fast compared to the layman, and recovers stamina just as quickly)
-Note on fighting style: despite all mental problems, he still is a heavily trained elite soldier (in actuality, past that due to insane amounts of experience). Which means that he still will use weapons properly, as a prime example being the fact he does not carry two revolvers for dual-wielding, but merely for the ability to pull off a New York Reload if need be (drop a gun and take the other instead of reloading).
Unnatural:
-sharpened teeth (filed then encased every few weeks, with the leading result of reforming the tooth itself, so sharpened up without compromising it structural stability) and ‘extended’ mouth (cut corners, all the way to near the last tooth; cauterized and healed in such a way it acts like a mostly normal mouth, with the exception of a wide range of facial expressions now impossible due to cut muscles; usually, a pair of thin needles at the corners of the original mouth assure he can still talk, albeit it sounds a bit odd; once the needles are off so he can bite, he can no longer talk understandably);
-inability to fully utilize his own body due to the extreme pains he suffers (various stimuli); in cases of need, he can remove his chain net to ease half of that pain, and, if there is no alternative, he can take his drug cocktail, which renders him physically immune to all pain;
-exterior pain though (i.e.: caused by an enemy) will quickly just get absorbed in the vortex off all the rest of the pain, meaning he won’t react to it spasmodically;
-his elbows, knees, exterior forearms and front shin, bridge of the nose and every second rib have been reinforced with metal plating, with actual small protruding exterior spikes sticking out of the skin; this assures both a heightened degree of protection, but also an additional weapon to wield;
Spoiler for Weaknesses:
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-While an extremely imposing enemy to fight, and borederline with his own humanity, he still bears all of the specific weaknesses, such as bullets to the head being lethal
-He is a bodyguard to the Master, and fighting him is not even required; due to his Asthenic Personality Disorder, if the Master dies, Vesan will just remain catatonic until dying of malnutrition
-Although able to wield any conventional weapon that falls in his hand, he does not carry advanced weaponry on his person; as such, his arsenal will be limited in most scenarios
-his single drug dose does indeed turn him into even more of a killing machine, but it is a death sentence; Thus, it will not be used unless fully necessary
Spoiler for Backstory:
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Vesan has been born in a middle-class family in the US, and raised in a non-abusive, normal way. His early life exhibited no particularities from the usual life of kids his age, apart from an inclination towards physical violence (which just classifies him as an aggressive-dominant personality, not being accentuated enough to warrant any form of psychopathy diagnostic). In the end, this inclination, paired with quick wit, stress resistance and physical capability have decided his career as a soldier.
While his performance in the field was considerably past exemplary — Special Forces level, even — his discipline wasn’t as exemplary. Thus, his file got a mixed blend of commendations for insane feats of military prowess and scorns for lack of self-inhibition. His military career took a sharp downfall when the local conflict in the area where he was fielded ended, his discipline problem being the main attention now (as, having been switched from ‘attack and kill the enemy’ to ‘stay and defend the position against an enemy too terrified to attack anymore, if he even still exists’, his violent mind-set didn’t take it too well). Thus, he managed to even get himself kicked out of the armed forces, and sent back home.
Eventually, he decided that the best way to follow rules was to create your own. Thus, his new ‘job’ was that of lone private military contractor, a top-notch soldier for hire. No job was too ‘dirty’ for him: assassination, open fire-fights, innocent slaughter… nothing. Each and every job could be ‘done’ if the cash was enough, legally or not. During free time, that cash quickly got spent on a very vicious, toxic lifestyle, ranging from gambling to alcohol to sex. A life full of excess, with the violence of the jobs and the toxicity of the leisure time.
Vesan ended up victim of a personal undertaking by The Master, but not as part of a money-making-contract on behalf of The Master. Instead, Vesan got hired by The Master to do a job, ending in being ambushed, overpowered and captured, to be brought for a few good years of continuous torture personally orchestrated by The Master. The torture itself included breaking down Vesan’s mind in almost its entirety, with the sole exception of one mental affliction that was wilfully embedded into him: Asthenic Personality Disorder. Utter and complete dedication to The Master. Following this, Vesan was subjected to more-than-just-intense training, honing his already top level physical prowess into a monster of a man, able of feats almost out of reach for humans, completely specialized for killing, able to wield any weapon. Not just a veritable killing machine. No. A veritable massacre machine.
After his training and torture has been over, The Master did not waste any time in fielding his new weapon. Just as before, Vesan came to doing all sorts of jobs, none out of his reach: assassination, open fire-fights, innocent killing… The difference was that now, instead of for cash, he did them only for The Master orders. A weapon to be used, and nothing more than a broken human husk carrying that weapon.
Spoiler for The Mistress:
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The Mistress is the chosen soulmate of the Master, having used to be called his 'wife' before he built the Empire. She, and her happiness, is the only driving force in the master's life, but it is insanely strong (proof being the Empire itself). A psychopath in and of herself, ex-surgeon now turned rogue, she enjoys her husband/Master's less humane work at least as much as he does, if not even more.
Spoiler for Appearance:
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Aged, like the Master, 32, she is considerably taller and thinner than most women, fitting both the 175cm tall standard and the 90-60-90 ratio. Her skin tone is very pale, nearing white in some lights, and covered in various scars, erratic but not lack aesthetic sense. Her facial traits are quite feminine, soft, but not too much, and do not leave the impression of lacking intellect. The Mistress’ eyes are a peculiar shade of blue, with somewhat golden centre, making them able to take the looks of blue, green, yellow and silver-grey, all depending on the way light falls on them. The hair colour is similarly peculiar, a mildly-dark blonde, the colour of aged gold, sometimes looking slightly red, and she wears it long, loose most of the time.
In terms of attire, she varies her outfit quite a lot, for the enjoyment of her Master, but a common denominator among the clothing articles are tighter suits, large, exaggerated overcoats, gothic attire, and in general pieces emphasising the natural length of her legs.
Spoiler for Personality:
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One of the first things to note about the Mistress’ personality is how much she turned into her Master, her mind being, to a quite large extent, the same base. One main difference is that she prizes the ‘now’ more than the ‘later’, preferring momentary pleasure to fine planning. This leads to her specific trying to make the Master do as much collateral damage as he can (fact which he, of course, refuses to), simply for momentary enjoyment.
Another note about her is her suffering from cyclothymia, a borderline-illness that include fast shifts of mood, between hyperactivity, light maniacal episodes, and apathic, light depressive episodes. None of them is strong though, which is why her diagnosis stops at cyclothymia and not bipolarity.
To all of this, it should be added that the one and only person she cares of is the Master. All the rest are extra, and unimportant. This is why trying to use her to attack the Master is going to be inanely hard, as she will put up as much fight as she can. And when a fully-trained, extremely precise surgeon tries to fight back, it’s easy to end up dying without even realising.
Spoiler for Abilities:
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-Top surgeon, with extremely fine motor skills
-Decent at understanding people, thanks to the Master
-Innate cunning and intellect, only slightly below the Master’s
Spoiler for Weaknesses:
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-Lack of forethought
-Lower average physical capabilities, partly due to light blood anaemia
-Although not hers, she herself represents virtually the Master’s greatest weakness; without her, he would lose all will to live
Spoiler for Backstory:
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The early life of the Mistress is one of being outcast, from the earliest moment of her conscious socializing. Somewhere in the middle school this being the outcast had turned into full-out bullying, and she had been lacking any form of friend for years. It is a wonder in and of itself that she didn’t suicide during this dark period. It is more than likely that this is the reason why she suffers from her cylcothymia.
Eventually, she came to meet Michael, the later Master, and slowly begin a journey of self-empowerment. Using him as an anchor point, she managed to get through the rest of the school and learning period of her life, to begin a career as a surgeon and quickly climbing the ranks.
(For more detail, see story of the Master)
Spoiler for Various Persons of Interest in the Empire of Sin:
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Spoiler for Grand Inquisitor H:
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The leader of the Imperial Inquisition, a very old friend of the Master. His position is fully based on merit though, H being the sharpest blade in terms of gathering information, and second only to the Master in influencing courses of action. Thus, thanks to his skill, the Inquisition is an organisation to fear, for they will learn who you are and they will make sure you cannot harm the Empire.
Due to his old friendship, he is of extreme faith to the Master, and cannot be ‘bought’ by anything (once, due to the fact it’s unlikely anyone could outbid the Master, and two, since he wouldn’t betray a friend even if the Master was outbid), nor can he really be blackmailed (the Inquisitor does not really have a personal life or love interest, indulging in the specific debauchery of the Empire for his fun time).
It is also noteworthy that he is one of the most skilled programmers in the world, not part of the Ivory Tower AI Research Team only due to his better use as Grand Inquisitor. This means any form of computer warfare is assured personally, or directed with very precise instructions, ascertaining the presence of the Empire in virtual space as well as reality. He is also the man watching after the servers of the Famine’s Scales store websites, as well as the security of the communication channels between all branches and members of the Empire. As well as making sure no one is betraying through them.
Quick Physical: Medium height, average build, much more fit than he looks; black, very curly hair, short-to-medium; brown eyes; Shaven clean; usual attire: black longcoats, gothic clothing;
Spoiler for Doctor 2S:
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2S is another of the Master’s old friends, and highly active member of the Ivory Tower. While not the top researcher in his domain, AI and IT in general, he is the most skilled by far. His only problem is a very powerful disposition to duality, sometimes being brilliant, even topping Inquisitor H, but other times being insanely stupid. Due to that, he can never reach a top position, always being considered more of a ‘Russian roulette researcher’, since his advice could either work extremely well or fail miserably.
It should also be considered that he is very childish, and it is unlikely for a ‘serious talk’ with him to ever get anywhere. If you can even have it, that is, and the fact the Master himself still has problems doing that, it’s a rather lost cause to try.
Quick Physical: Rather short, chubby, not physically fit; short, unkempt black hair and brown eyes; childish face; Shaven clean; usual attire: labcoats;
Spoiler for Merchant Prince J:
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The leader of Famine’s Scales, J leads all of the financial actions of the Empire. Although never having known the Master before joining the Empire, his skills allowed him to climb through the ranks very fast, gaining his current position in a matter of months.
Even though not personally attached to the Master, it is unlikely you can bribe the man in charge of all the Empire’s money, given the sheer amount of it. At the same time, blackmail is unlikely, since the Master is the only one of the Empire’s leaders that is ‘dumb enough to have a soulmate’. For the rest, relentless carnal pleasure is more than enough.
J, apart from his merchant skills, is also the type of person to rob you off with a smile, able to perfectly lie with a straight face and that isn’t an honest trader. Unfortunately, when you know you have to deal with him, you cannot leave your guard down any bit, as he will extort every last cent he can get. Apart from that, as an individual, he isn’t really too concerned with anything. He feels no remorse for what he does, nor does he wish for a change of situation. For him, he has the dream job.
Quick Physical: Average height and build, somewhat fit; Short, well-kept black hair; black eyes; Shaven clean; Usual attire: grey and black suits;
Spoiler for Grand Overseer A:
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A is the leader of Cornucopia, the production centre of the Empire. Although from a first glance she may seem like the least dangerous leader in the Empire, that is certainly not true, A ruling her branch with an extremely close grip and iron fist. It would be impossible otherwise, when you are in charge of making sure slaves are brainwashed properly, drugs prepared, weapons manufactured and many others.
In the same manner as J, the Master hadn’t known her before she joined the Empire, but again, climbing up ranks got her where she is. In terms of how she is personally, while there are no differences from the rest of the Empire’s leadership, a unique point is the way she conceals her illicit activity most of the time. To the unaware, she will pass as somewhat sweet and caring, hiding the excessive and aggressive monster underneath.
Quick Physical: Short, chubby and curvy; Not especially fit; Long, somewhat curly brown hair; black eyes, particularly large; usual attire: rather revealing skirts and shirts, ‘otaku-like’ clothing;
Spoiler for C:
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C is perhaps the Master’s best friend, even though he serves no purpose in the empire whatsoever. On the contrary, while he does know his friend does not have a really honest way of making a living, he does not know for a certainty about his standing in the Empire. Sure, at his intellect, he does suspect Michael is either the Master or Grand Inquisitor, but has no real information on the subject.
It is also to be noted that he is smart enough to know that if anyone can trace him to Michael, he could be attacked, as such he keeps the secret safe. At the same time, unknowingly to him, a retinue of elite inquisitors assures the safety of his person at all times, covertly.
In terms of who he is, he’s a happily married man, having a career as vocalist of a death metal band, not too famous, but not irrelevant in the metal scene either. Given both their careers, him and the Master don’t meet too often, the latter mostly coming to the first either for ‘old time’s sake’, or for conciliation.
Quick Physical: Rather tall, average build, somewhat fit; Long, curly black hair; Soul patch; Black eyes; Usual attire: band T-shirts, leather jackets;
Spoiler for Demo:
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‘So, do we have a deal?’
The voice was rather imposing, from a hardened businessman. Not precisely a law-abiding one, either, but really. How many hardened, successful businessmen care for the law? I tilted my head to the side, still not answering. He controlled himself well, showing nearly no sign of his impatience, and, moreover, the stress. I could see it in his green eyes and his dry lips. He knew that I knew his statement here was plain intimidation tactics. Not physical, mind, but psychological intimidation. Trying to force my hand to accept a deal before really realizing what it means. Typical.
‘Maybe.’ Oh, this was fun! He had nearly twitched at my answer. ‘Depends on whether or not you reconsider your deal.’ A swallow. Heh. He knew he was in for a fair deal, something he wanted to avoid. But I wanted to avoid that too. ‘Keep in mind who you’re talking to, after all.’ Oh, the Master of the SinEmpire. The one man who overtook law everywhere. The heart of the tendrils the Empire had spread all across the globe. Really, the close