Big Dan Tarleton

Concept: Fight club “Promoter”

Desc: a big meaty man with sandy blond hair where he still has it. Nose broken twice. Calloused fists, and not from working on engines or anything like that. a 70’s style pornstache and eyes that indicate that he might be a bit smarter than you think he is. Perfectly at home in a red velour track suit or a stylish black suit on fight nights. His accent places him solidly, growing up on the east end of London. Has taken to wearing finger armor made of silver.

History: Dan got bullied.  He was a bookish little boy and probably would have grown up entirely differently if he’d not grown up on a council block with a roving band of punks making his young life miserable.  His mum tried her best , but Danny’s father had fucked off as soon as the wind changed. Went out for a pack of fags, and never came back.

   Now, this would normally be the sort of story that every single geek could relate to. But fate played a cruel trick...On everyone that had ever picked on him.  Dan caught a serious growth spurt and soon, he was the one handing out the beatings.  Now maybe if he’d just stopped at paying back the people who’d made him miserable, then that would have been okay. But he didn’t.

Dan formed his own little mob of creeps and degenerates.  Went into business for himself.

   And in truth, He did pretty well for himself.  He read. He thought. He ruled the block with a carefully calculated mixture of psychology and brutal violence.  He made money from protection rackets and occasional violence-for-hire.

He’s not an UTTER arsehole. He takes care of his mum. He stays on the windy side of the Law, barely.  He even takes pretty good care of his people. But if he thinks you’re in his way or giving him lip, he locks on target, and he hasn’t really lost a fight since he was 12.

    There was only one problem. Every big bad man runs into someone who they are fundamentally not ready for. Dan ran headlong into that guy...Although, when he turned into a thrice-be-fucked werewolf...well that was something else entirely. Dan got off light, only a half dozen broken ribs and some scars on his torso. When he got out of hospital, he kissed his mum, handed her a fat wad of cash, and got on a plane.

   He fetched up here, in this town. Something about the place appealed to him. Grimy and downtrodden... like home, I suppose. Watching his store of cash dwindling, he walked into a movie theater and was inspired to go into a new line of business.

    Now he runs a very smart and well funded little bare-knuckle boxing concern. He stays ahead of the American police and is practically rolling in money from rich people who enjoy watching poor people beat the fuck out of one another.

Attitude: “Let me tell ya summat my friend. Adversity is the whetstone that sharpens us all. Think it through mate. Man would never evolve if our world was cushy and comfortable, an everyone bloody well got along.  So. I tell you this so you understand that when I and the boys beat the ever-loving shit out of you, We’re doing it to help you.  Suffering doesn’t bring you wisdom or any bollocks like that. Unless you get wise enough to learn how to stop suffering.  That German fella said it right when he said, “Whatevah doesn’t kill ya, makes ya stronger.”  Course, you gotta not get killed. Right?

Skills: He is a positive savant when it comes to extracting crap via beating. Dan is the sort of person who is likely to appropriate moves from Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu, Savate, and Sambo and shmeld them together into some kind of mongrel composite art. He also knows his way around a shotgun. 

Gear: His smartphone is complicated. It's all in English but is so full of rhyming slang as to be nearly incomprehensible to anyone not from Dan's old neighborhood. Dan carries a butterfly knife. not for killing people with, but as something to do with his hands. He prefers to carry cash but also has a black Amex card. Keeps a shotgun with silver shot in the boot of his car.

Home: Keeps a high-dollar apartment that has virtually none of his personality in it. He rarely goes there except to sleep,shower, and fuck. He spends most of his time at The Caboose  and considers it his office.  The Caboose happens to be just a parking lot away from Dan's actual fight operations

Circle: On the social side,  He’s got a few backers with money in the operation and about a dozen Retainers who think that he’s genius brilliant  and want to be just like him.  All these guys fancy themselves as Alpha Wolf bare-knuckled philosopher kings.  Not one of those guys has the juice for any of that...and alone, they aren’t anything special, but there’s strength in numbers. Know what I mean?

Story Uses:

“Student becomes the master eh? Well...As you can see. I am still on me feet.”

If your character is a combatant of some sort, you could do worse to have Dan be the one who is teaching you the finer points of fisticuffs. He’s pretty sadistic, but never without a specific purpose, and he’ll help you through the healing process too. It does him no good to break you and then not build you back up stronger.  Of course, This process might get interrupted if your character becomes supernatural in any way.

“Fucking WOLVES. Get me shotgun.”

It would be fair to say that not only does Dan know about the supernatural, but he’s had his face rubbed in it. He keeps a weather eye on his fighters and on his own backers to make sure no one is pulling their strings. Heaven help the poor bastard that gets dominated or pressured into tanking a fight. Dan will come after them full bore.  As for the supernatural in question, He’ll avoid them...unless they have power that he thinks he can take from them...Then...it will be ON like barbecue sauce.

“Those are the words from on high. Anybody feels different can take it up with me.”

Of course, a guy like Dan might draw supernatural attention all by himself.  And if they play it right can end up with the big man, and his whole operation in their pocket.  The only downside is that he’s got his antenna up and scanning for that. If that happens, then Dan becomes the second string crunchy villain before the big boss fight...and of course, you’ll have to whip all his little creeps too.

Connections:
Tyronne "Tiberius" Glover isn't a friend exactly, but they have a nodding acquaintance and mutual respect. Glover is thinking that it might not be a bad idea to see if Dan will take on some of his boys and teach them something.

Detective Bela Janofski "Yeh. I'm pretty sure if he came round, I could take the little shit."

Dr. Ronnette Franklin "She's a good girl, she is. Best at what she does really. Doesn't think much of me, though."

Bryson Import/Export  Every once in a while, when things are good and the boys have been particularly adept at their jobs, Bryson gets a call for one of their B2B services which include "Team Building Exercises"