Saintcrow
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Saintcrow | |
| Player: @izuma | |
| Origin: | Natural |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Blaster |
| Threat Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | David |
| Known Aliases: | None |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 27 |
| Height: | 6'1 |
| Weight: | 182 lbs |
| Eye Color: | Amber |
| Hair Color: | Black |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | Unknown |
| Occupation: | Arachnos Spy |
| Place of Birth: | Port Oaks |
| Base of Operations: | Vindictive |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | None |
| Known Powers | |
| Fortunata-trained psionics. | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Highly trained in pistol use. | |
| Equipment | |
| Various pistols, body armors. | |
| Dual Pistol / Mental Manipulation | |
Contents |
Unwanted
Before men were widely accepted into the Widows and Seers, there was Saintcrow.
Childhood a blur, David was abandoned by parents too poor to imagine how they would be able to feed another mouth. Rather then being dropped off at the nearest orphanage, he was taken in by one of the nurses of the Port Oaks branch of the Black Heart Hospital. It wasn't an arrangement out of affection, but rather as soon as he was old enough to follow orders he was put to work helping around the building. He went home each day with whoever happened to have enough money to spare a meal for the kid, creating an environment where it was easiest to do what he was told and not ask too many questions.
He looked up to the Arachnos soldiers patrolling Port Oaks. He didn't see them as the thugs they were, but as strong men who never had the uncertainty in their lives that surrounded David. When he was old enough, he signed up without a second thought. The hospital staff didn't even notice he was gone; everyone assuming that someone else must have been taking care of him.
Unconventional Ideas
Three facets of David's personality came together to make him a fearsome Wolf Spider. The lack of affection growing up had left him without a sense of empathy, while the obedience he had grown accustomed to in the hospital meant he didn't hesitate with even the most gruesome of tasks. Having always kept to himself, he wasn't afraid of working alone either (which happened often when missions needed to be handled discreetly and brutally.) Defying usual practices, he was put up for a possible promotion to the Bane Spiders at just sixteen years old. All that was needed was to have him tested for the psychic talents needed to bring him into the Bane's hive mind.
Mistress Sinclair, a fortunata, examined David. She found a surprising amount of untapped psionic power; to the point where her report admitted concern that it may be difficult for the mental conditioning of a Bane Spider to keep him under control. Now Arachnos had a problem: it was too risky to train him as a Bane if was only going to be a matter of time until he broke free, and now that David knew he had power he might lose faith and turn on Arachnos if they tried to send him back to a mere Wolf Spider rank.
New Blood
For six days David was confined to a holding cell while people higher up debated on the idea of simply killing him before he became a threat. In the end, it was a suggestion from the Mistress who had tested him that spared his life. In him, she had seen something familiar; something that reminded her of herself. Something that could be unexpected and deadly.
He was now classified as Operative Saintcrow; a codename that appeared on no computers and no papers. Every piece of data pertaining to him was purged in preparation for his training as a sleeper agent. For the next four years, his mind was trained to resist the strongest psychic intrusions that could be thrown at him and fight back as good as any of the Fortunatas training him. As a sleeper, the most important thing was to make sure no one could peek into his mind and find out who he was really working for. At the same time, he couldn't carry around standard Arachnos equipment and so he was given extensive training in the use of plain old pistols.
It was a change of scenery that he had no complaints about. Being surrounded by some of the most beautiful women in the world and having little other male competition would be a dream come true for any young man. Everyone seemed curious to find out what made him special enough (or strange enough) to be trained as one of them. While it would have been great to say he took advantage of this, in truth there was very little time between lessons and practice to be social.
However, what free time he did have with the women was just the push the teenager needed to break the chains that had held back any real emotions in him. The day he was comfortable enough to admit just such a basic feeling as his lust, by flirting with some of the women, was the day Mistress Sinclair knew her plan would work. Saintcrow would be able to interact naturally with others once he was sent to Paragon and avoid suspicion while still knowing how to turn his feelings off when a mission needed to be completed.
Risk and Reward
When the time came to finally send Saintcrow undercover there was one more meeting to decide his fate. Would the bonds he had developed among the widows be strong enough to keep him loyal? How big of a blow would it be if he did go rogue and leaked all of the information about the widow training techniques to the heroes?
Mistress Sinclair did not waver, however. She had personally been involved with the man's training from start to finish, setting herself up as a mother figure so that Saintcrow had no hesitation with opening his mind to her. Never had the Mistress found any doubts or seeds of betrayal, though she did have to appeal to Ghost Widow to make the final decision in Saintcrow's favor. When all was settled, Saintcrow cut off all contact with those in his life and deployed to a Malta facility in Kings Row.
In black combat dress and impressive but fake steam-tech armor along his arms and torso, he attacked the base minutes before the Paragon Police Department started their own raid. Caught in the middle, he surrendered to the PPD and was taken into custody. His interrogation spun the story of a soldier from another world who had been trying to steal the Portal Corp technology from Malta in order to return home. Since he had been caught, he claimed that his standing orders now prevented him from making further attempts due to the risk of someone discovering the location of his world.
Unable to probe his mind they had nothing else to go on. There were no records of this man anywhere in the world and, since he had helped the police during the Malta raid, he was given a provisional hero license and watched very closely for the following year. After the probationary period passed without incident he was granted full citizenship and finally able to do as he pleased.
Recent Events
For seven years Saintcrow played the role of Dark Hero by day and Arachnos Assassin by night. Casual friendships and brief flings with women helped create alibis, though none of the kills ever threw suspicion on him. Despite the interaction it was a very lonely time; always hiding who he truly was and never letting anyone get too close, less they dig too deeply and discover that Saintcrow wasn't what he seemed to be. He couldn't tell you just how many people he killed for Lord Recluse. There was no contest and it certainly wasn't something he did for fun. It was a job he was best suited to do and, if there ever had been any doubts, all he had to do was remind himself of the Widows - the sisters who had helped turned him into the man he now was - who were back home counting on him.
It came as quite a shock when he was suddenly given orders to return to the Rogue Isles. He had never failed a mission and, as far as he knew, his cover was in no danger. As always, he obeyed, and was attached to the Arachnos Espionage Division. It was a brief stay, ending with him assigned back to Paragon under his previous cover.
A month or two after his departure the AED had gone through some drastic changes. Abruptly, Saintcrow's custom uniform was seen back in the Isles, though there is no official reason why he might have returned. His status is listed as unknown, though rumors are he may have been seen in the company of the Vindictive organization. Given the profitable relationship between Vindictive and themselves, Arachnos is turning a blind eye for the moment.
