Drago Velikovski

Concept: Pimp

AKA: Drago doesn’t have a pseudonym or nickname.

Desc: Once upon a time, Drago was a member of the Russian army and a taught, trim paragon of physicality. Not so much anymore.  He’s packed on the pounds from eating and from drinking. He’s become mostly sedentary and does a lot of his actual work at his desk.

His body is a storm of Bratva ink which tells a story of a lot of crime and punishment.  While he’s gotten older and decidedly fatter, He hasn’t really lost his reflexes.  His left eye droops a little bit from a knife cut.  He also has a few scars and bullet holes.  He is extremely hirsute to the point of almost covering his wristwatch.  He’s graying all over too.  He smiles a lot.  Which is not to say that he can’t be extremely terrifying when he desires. But he’d just as soon smile and his current gig is less violent than other things he’s done for the Bratva.

History: Drago has done a lot of things for the Bratva. A number of them were extremely violent. Drago is blessedly free of the ravages of conscience, so that sort of thing never bothered him.  He’s killed people, He’s tortured people, He's stolen things and burned buildings down.  He’s got stories. Most of them of are a mix of terrifying and darkly hilarious.

   He’s older now. He’s earned some rank. He’s not terribly competitive, like some of his brothers, So he may never be a powerful wheel within the Bratva, But he’s fine with that.  He’s carved out a little slice for himself and he’s fairly comfortable doing what he does.

    Drago runs a Bordello.  He’s done something fairly clever based on a place he knew about in Prague.  The women who work for him are employed as “Internet Models”. Any sexual activity that takes place within the house is recorded. (Any person entering the premises must sign a photographic release form.) Anyone who comes to the “Club” receives a DVD of their sexual exploits (Granted, It’s a little pricey.) But the only other money that changes hands in the places is to purchase booze in the main room.  They actually make a decent amount of money on the porn content they generate. However, it should be understood, That porn while occasionally lucrative, is not the main...thrust of the enterprise.  Since it’s just barely within the law, the Bratva is using the place as a means to launder money. And since it’s based on internet porn, the numbers are criminally easy to fudge.  The cops know what’s going on here, but they don’t really have a means to going in there and break it up.  Drago is careful to make sure that his women are drug-free and disease free.

The bills get paid on time, and he’s even sued the county over public officials making it difficult to renew his liquor license.

Attitude: “I like things the way they are. When things go, the way they are supposed to go. I am perfectly happy. When things go off the rails, I become unpleasant.  Isn’t that right boys?

Skills:  Physically, Drago is still very strong, and as I said, his reflexes are still top notch. But he gets winded a good deal more easily than he used to. Intellectually, He’s not the brightest crayon in the box, but he’s got more wits than anything else.  Socially, he’s middling strong with a healthy dose of composure forged in the fires of a life of violent crime.  He’ll have decent dots in firearms, weaponry, and brawl with Fighting style dots in Spetznaz knife fighting, and a soviet form of Martial Arts Combatics. And while they might need some dusting off, he’s got a few dots of Survival too.

  In recent years, he’s developed a certain amount of business acumen and that means that his little bordello is doing fairly well.

Gear: Knife-wise, He prefers a Karambit style knife. He prefers to disembowel an enemy if he can. He tends to wear Sap Gloves.  Gun-wise, he’s found that while a Kalashnikov is nice and familiar, he personally prefers an UZI. Say what you will about those Israelis, They know how to make a good sturdy gun.  Drago’s fingers are just a little too stubby for his phone. So while he carries it, he generally has his right-hand man Andrei do any necessary texting.

Drago normally carries a flask of decent vodka. Chewing gum, and a fat wad of cash as well as a money belt with more.

Home: Drago keeps the top floor of the bordello for his own private apartment/office. It is comfy, well appointed, and is usually fairly warm. Drago has a few reasons for loathing the cold. He’ll tell you all about them on any day when it’s sleety. He never sleeps alone.  Also, you should be aware that he’s got one of those beds with drawers underneath filled with armaments.

Circle: While Drago isn’t exactly the most powerful member of the Bratva around, he IS one of the most well liked. Mainly because most of the brothers come around every so often and he never charges them.  It is, however, an article of faith that if you mistreat one of his women, or worse, damage one. He will kill you on the spot and he doesn’t care who you work for.  He’s done it, more than once...  And most of the Bratva leaders understand that Drago only asks one simple fucking thing from his guests. Don’t damage the Merchandise.

Story Uses:

“Don’t worry. I may know a guy.”

Drago’s a useful guy to know if you make your money on the illegal side of the street.  He’s also a handy dude to be connected to if you're keenly interested in Hired Pussy.  He’s fairly well connected and knows a lot of people, and not just in the Russian underworld.

“So, you think you’re going to come in here and create problems? *He smiles*  I want to thank you for brightening up my week.”

So, maybe you’ve got a female relative who decided to make some money on her back. Or maybe she didn’t exactly know what she was getting into.  Or maybe you’re a rival pimp trying to steal some of Drago’s personnel. No matter what it is, messing with Drago’s money is one of the few things that stirs him to action.  Thing is, when he’s stirred to action, he usually doesn’t stop until a whole bunch of motherfuckers are dead. Whatever happens, though...You can be sure that it will put a smile on his face.

Connections:

* Naturally, there has been some trouble with Madame Wu. Drago is pretty sure he knows that she's some kind of THING. But he isn't sure what.  Whatever the case may be, He's found that when she causes trouble it's useful to murder a bunch of her tong-boys. She usually backs off if you start wasting her soldiers.

* He and Ilya Grishenko served together and neither are bothered by long companionable silences. They do have a friendly rivalry over who taught the other how to knife fight.

* If someone ever put him wise to Bryson Import/Export, he would decide that the idea was utterly brilliant and would make an approach to offer beefed up security in exchange for middling small slice. He'd be sincere too.  The only question is, would he back off if Esmerelda said no?

*Detective Bela Janofski also represents trouble, but at least he doesn't seem to have a hard-on for arresting Drago. He comes around every so often, occasionally just checking up. Occasionally asking questions about things happening on the street. They are cordial with one another, if not exactly friendly. Bela at least seems like a decent cop, and he hasn't accepted a bribe so far.

* Everybody in the crime world seems to know Dr. Ronnette Franklin and most like her, Drago is no exception.  She's even taken a bullet out of his thigh once. So yeah, she's seen the Monster up close.

Reverend Doctor Miranda Goines

Concept: Professional Agitator

AKA:  Close friends call her Randa.

Desc: Skinny and muscular. Cafe au lait skin. Super smart eyes with spidery thin glasses. Glossy black short curls. A little bit on the short side. Sneakers, or engineer boots, but usually never heels. Goes in for the kind of look that makes her look like an exotic student rather than a doctor herself.  Can pull off funky ethnic jewelry

History: Here’s what you need to know. Like many things, Political correctness is a continuum and not a binary state. On one end of the spectrum, you find Nazis. Klan members. Misogynists and the like...Over on the other end, you find people like Randa Goines.

   Look. I’m not going to say that it’s a bad thing to major in Women’s Studies. It’s not. But when you decide to acquire a doctorate in it, Well, your only career option is to teach Women’s Studies. Fortunately, Randa is fairly damn smart and was able to not only get her doctorate but to snag a berth here at the University teaching. She’s essentially the only member of the Women’s studies faculty, but she’s always on the prod to either create a chairmanship for her department or wrest control of the rest of the Liberal Arts Studies from the entrenched white male patriarchy.

   Yeah. Randa’s the sort of person who uses the phrase “Entrenched White Male Patriarchy” at least once a day.

Miranda, grew up in the burbs. Her parents both had good jobs and as a result, she grew up with advantages that not everyone had. She was always fairly empathetic but as she got into college, That empathy of hers got...Weaponized.

     Oh sure, It’s easy to fall into the trap of the Ivory tower. But Randa has less excuse than most. She’s out and active in the community following or supporting dozens of causes and looking for ways to publish her books on philosophy (which are interesting, if a little dry.) and to pimp her blog,(worth a look)  and her poetry. (Which is terribly florid and awful.)

Randa can quote Maya Angelou, Queen Latifah, and the Bible at the drop of a hat. She has the ACLU on speed-dial on her phone.

She has no sense of humor because she considers humor to be micro-aggression.  She self-identifies as a bi-sexual even though she’s never been with a woman.  Mainly because she thinks she OUGHT to be Bi-sexual.  It’s not as if she’s gotten any lately anyway. She’s either writing, teaching, or working at activism. and that’s a pretty full day. The faculty is already full of people who’ve tried to make an approach on Miranda and found themselves on the receiving end of a lecture on feminism and gender roles that isn’t exactly designed to kill any boner within 50 feet, but that’s the effect.   Her idea of flirting is opening with something like, “So...What do you think about the Somali refugee problem..Crazy, right?”

Privately, Randa also considers herself an Atheist, but she keeps that pretty quiet. Her family wouldn’t understand and as many times as she’s used the bible for justification for arguments, well...She wouldn’t take it well to be called a hypocrite. Please note that I have just made an understatement of some depth.

Look, while Randa may be as arch-liberal elite as they come, one thing can’t be denied. She fucking means it. She’s gone into her own pocket more than once to help out a promising student. She’s organized dozens of rallies, spoken at dozens of funerals, officiated a fair number of weddings of all sorts. Gotten her head cracked open more than once at protests that have gotten out of hand and has been tear-gassed often enough to keep a water bottle full of a mixture of Water and Maalox in her purse at all times.  This may be her saving grace that keeps her from being some kind of caricature...She considers all that a small price to pay for building a better world. 

Attitude:  “I swear if the next words out of your mouth are how it is all about ethics in games journalism I'm going to smack the taste out yo mouth.”

Skills: Not to put too fine a point on it, but Miranda has ALL the academics dots. and about a half-dozen specialties. She’s also got a fair wodge of points socked into Politics and a couple of specs in that too. Expression, Persuasion, Empathy, and Subterfuge are well filled out.  Mentally, She’s a powerhouse. Heavy resolve.  Socially, she has a good amount of juice, but she has some blind spots. No one ever invites her to a party where they hope to have a really good time.  Although she occasionally has moments where she’s talked both students and faculty into seeking help for alcoholism or depression...So maybe they ought to.  Physically, she stays in shape by running and doing Tae-Bo in her apartment when it too cold to run.  Combat wise, She’s been in a few real scraps in her life and she’s got the dots in Brawl to show for it, but she’s largely untrained in any fighting style...  One of these nights, raw ferocity isn’t going to get it for her.  She would be likely to have a number of the Carthian social group merits, especially, “Current Events Discussion group”

Gear: Usually has her laptop bag with iPhone and iPad safely ensconced within. Carries jerky, trail mix and bottled water everywhere. Keeps a Mace sprayer in her left pocket and brass knuckles in her right.  Her keychain also sports a kubotan and she keeps a taser and a baseball bat in her car. Randa believes in being ready.

Home: Randa has a nice 1 bedroom apartment that is biking distance from campus. She’s filled it with books, curios from her trips to Africa and the Middle East, and large comfy furniture that occasionally plays home to a student or two. Rand also has a false back at the back of her bedroom closet where her pistols and her rifle are concealed. Randa believes in being ready. Her “office” looks as if a tornado hit it, but she knows where everything lies...usually.

Circle: Miranda is a known name in activism circles. She’s has pull and juice with a number of people in various strata of political life.  She isn’t shy about trading favors and doesn’t mind having markers out there to cash in on various things.  It’s kept her from losing her job on more than one occasion. While Miranda is never likely to have Tenure at the university, the University Chairman has seen fit to turn a blind eye to her many arrests.

Story Uses:

“These people have grown so used to our obedience that they have forgotten to fear us. Let’s remind them!”

Miranda is driven by causes it is her life’s blood. It is her mother’s milk. Pity the poor PC who run afoul of her and her small army of acolytes. They can cause more bad press than most major corporations are able to deal with.

“Hey HEY! Ho HO! These Corporations got to go!”

On the other hand, If you were to put Randa in your pocket, or, better plan, make an Ally out of her, you could point her at any target you wished to cause some serious trouble for.  She would be the Quintessential Carthian Movement/Brujah ghoul.  And if you happened to have deep enough pockets, she’d make a dandy candidate for public office.

“Lord...If you’re listening at all...I am so tired.”

It is, of course, possible that Miranda’s keen sense of injustice is more than that.  It might be that she’s a lost cub of some sort. Wouldn’t that be something?

Connections:

*Has had more than one run-in with Alex Mahoney and weirdly enough he seems to get the upper hand every time. Randa seems to get weirdly tired or dizzy when trying to debate him. It's starting to concern her. She thinks she might be developing a complex, and the therapist isn't exactly all that helpful to begin with...

*She said some lovely words at Chris Murphy's funeral. Chris would like to repay her somehow, but they don't exactly cross paths all that much.

* Has met "Dr. Coulton Bennett"  on the charity circuit. Thinks his cause is a righteous one. They've been emailing back and forth on a possible university rally of some sort and he's been picking her brains a bit about how to organize those sorts of things.

* Used to go to school with Special Agent Owen Maccready The joke was always that since they were almost the only black people in the neighborhood that they'd have to get married or something.  Both of them didn't like that idea, although they liked each other, but dated white kids out of some sense of perversity. Now they call one another occasionally and catch up, especially if someone from the old neighborhood is in the news.

* She and Grace Cook were roommates at undergrad together.  Room 317 if I'm recalling correctly. Randa was sitting in a jail cell from a protest the night before, otherwise, she'd have been at the wedding...

* At least once a week, she and Clarinda Hale go running. Each thinks the other person is impossibly glamorous and can't believe they are friends.

*Has been interviewed by Patricia "Carnie" Pitt more than once. As a matter of fact, If she sees Randa at some news event, she'll opt for her over someone else, because she knows Randa is a pro. Keeps Randa's card just in case.

* Knows Dr. Dennis McMurtry but only just in passing. His daughter is taking one of her courses and she's happy to report she's doing well.

Bartholomew Reines

Concept: Bad Sensei

AKA: Bart Reines doesn’t really have anything in the way of a nickname.

Desc: Bart is a fit fifty years old. Kind of squat. Military style haircut. Back of his neck looks like a pack of franks. Tends to get a bit red in the face (like a sugar beet) when he’s upset.  He’s got some actual muscle and while his knees trouble him occasionally, it’s not something he can’t muscle through with a couple of Aleve. Has the voice of a Drill Instructor. Which is interesting, because according to his actual service record, he never rose above PFC. Has a Marine Corp tattoo.

History: Bart has can-do attitude. And you know, you can get pretty far with can-do attitude. The problem is, that it might be ALL that he has.  American Martial Arts schools have varying levels of pseudo-mystical bullshit. Some have very low levels of bullshit. Others are fucking swimming in it.  Bart’s school is pretty close to THAT end of the spectrum.

  It’s the little things that give him away. He hasn’t sparred with anyone over a green belt in over a decade.  Doesn’t compete. Normally has his senior students teach most of his classes.  He’s written a dozen books about incredibly arcane chi exercises and martial arts forms.  Most of which, Bart made up from whole cloth.  He pressures his student to buy his books. (All of which are self-published on LULU.)

     Bart isn’t a terrible person. At least he doesn’t think he is.  He offers free classes at the YWCA for women who have endured domestic violence.  He’s also very outspoken about his younger student using their “Superior Knowledge” to bully other students.  So he’s not an utter asshole.

    However, Bart is a much better business man than he is a martial arts teacher.  He’s out of practice, Gets winded easily, and has bought into a LOT of the pseudo-mysticism of the Martial Arts world. As a result, he is perhaps more of a danger to his students than a useful mentor.  

Attitude: Ok. You've just seen how that works kids. Do you get it? OUTSTANDING!

Skills: To his actual credit, He has a middling pile of dots in Brawl, and 1-2 dots in a couple of different martial arts. Any PC who might be looking for an IC mentor will likely find that they actually know as much or more than their erstwhile teacher does. Bart has a pretty good radar for this, and he’ll find some reason not to teach them.  Bart is pretty good at handling the business of running his school and still knows his way around the weapons he was trained with.  In fact, he’s probably better with a knife now than he is with his fists.  He’s in relatively good shape speed and strength-wise.  Although his stamina is for shit these days.

Gear: Bart tends to trust his own abilities, so he doesn’t tend to carry a weapon.  His normal carry gear is a smartphone, his wallet, and a very small pocket-knife.  He’s gotten very used to his phone and dictates a lot of random ideas into it.

Home: Bart owns his own home. He isn’t exactly commitment-phobic and yet he is skittish about cohabitating with his current girlfriend Kitty. His divorce in his early twenties from Barbara soured him on marriage pretty badly. Kitty is trying to be understanding.

Circle: Bart has a few marine buddies, knows his neighbors fairly well, and is generally well thought of by most of his students...At least until they get a real taste of the decent teaching.

Story Uses:

“Ok, break off into pairs and spar for the next 5 minutes.”

You can always take this guy and add some more competency to him and turn him into an actual mentor of some sort. Even without being all that great as a martial artist, He can still be useful in a tight situation and is NOT at all scared to get into those tight situations.

“Trust me. That’s the way Chi works...”

Well. It’s always possible that maybe Bart knows something and maybe he’s right on the edge of discovering some new art or some new Chi-Gung work.  You just never know.

Connections:

* Both Jack Marston and Joseph Cartolano took classes with Bart and determined very quickly that he was full of shit.

* Patricia "Carnie" Pitt took one of his Self defense courses at the Y, and then came back and did a story. Knows that other martial arts schools in town may not have a lot of respect for him, but Carnie has gotten some actual use out of some of the moves she learned. He's great on camera.

* Lawton Krase used to be a pretty faithful student.  That ought to tell you something right there.