Sgt. William Donnelly

Concept: Old School Desk Sergeant

AKA: The fellas around the station refer to Sgt. Donnelly as “The Old Man” But there are only a few who say it without any sort of respect. Usually, that falls away over time.

Desc: Middling tall. Rock solid except for his waist which has a pooch that resists all efforts to remove it. Receding hairline of course, but still black as a raven’s feather.  He’s got that patch of broken capillaries across the bridge of his nose. His tolerance for alcohol is near superhuman now. He’s got knuckles that bespeak a few fights in his day.  He still has Tats from his days as a Marine.

History: Bill Donnelly has been doing this for a long time. He’s old school. The sort of cop that other cops end up looking up to and respecting, even if they didn’t like him much when they first started out.

    There’s a reason for that. Bill Donnelly is a big believer in that whole concept of the “Thin Blue Line” He supports his men. Talks to them when they need talking to. Buys them drinks. Buys them coffee when they’ve had too many drinks. Listens patiently.

Often, Bill is the first person that a member of the public encounters or can even talk to if they have a complaint. At least 95% of the time, those complaint reports end up “getting lost”

But the other 5%.   Ah. That’s when it gets complicated.

   You see there are some things you can do that will cross the line. There ARE sins that one can commit that disgrace one’s brothers and sisters and the Badge.  Bill doesn’t exactly consider himself the best Catholic, Too much drinking and fighting he thinks...  But there have been occasions when Bill has taken it upon himself to throw a beating to an officer that he felt desperately needed it or deserved it.  Sometimes this means an attitude adjustment. On at least a couple of occasions, it’s meant an officer leaving the force. Sometimes on a hospital gurney...

Attitude: “Look kid. You earned that badge. And that’s yours by right. and I’m sure you’ve done what you can to make this town a better place. But I looked into what the little girl said... You get to keep your badge. But your KNEES are another story ya mother-scratcher.”

Skills:  Physically, Bill is closing in on 60 but he’s got more energy than any 4 of the 20-year-olds in the department. He teaches courses in Boxing and Wrestling at the local “Y” and is a good teacher in this regard. He’s got an economy of movement that you tend to see in combatants in their later years and he’s surprisingly fast.  He’s never been the best shot, a problem that plagued his confidence on the streets. But he can work a shotgun just fine. He’s likely to have Brawling Dodge, Disarm, and dots in Boxing and Wrestling fighting styles.

Socially, He’s fine. He has friends in the department, and friends outside the department too. He’s a seasoned bureaucratic bad-ass and is utterly terrifying as an Interrogator. He’s even got a dot or two of Animal Ken from when he was on the Equine patrol.

Mentally: He’s about average. High school education. Some dots of Streetwise and Investigate, of course.  He’ll have a few dots of Politics, simply because while he has no ambition to rise higher than he has within the department, He also wants to be left alone to do his darn job.

Gear: Bill is NEVER without a firearm and a snap baton. Often, he’ll also have a holdout piece on his person and a shotgun for those occasional forays into the field. His home and his vehicle will also have back-ups. Bill had a bad experience once with being unarmed, and he swore, never again.  He’s got a smartphone but he only ever uses it to keep up with Facebook. 

Home: Bill lives alone. He’s got a nice little apartment. He’s almost never home though. Usually only to sleep.

His time off is usually split between the courses he teaches at the “Y” and the homes of his brothers and sisters.Mostly looking after his Nieces and Nephews...and THEIR kids.  He’s also active in his church. Going back to the apartment is a grim reminder of all the relationships that just didn’t have the staying power over the years. When he finally does retire though, he’s thinking he’d have to get himself a dog.

Circle: Bill’s circle is pretty broad. He’s liable to have allies and contacts all over the map. Also, in terms of the department, he knows where at least a few of the bodies are buried. There are at least a couple of things that will slot into proper hands if Bill should meet with an untimely end.

Story Uses:

“That reminds me of a story” 

Bill Donnelly is one of those sorts of guys who would make a good mentor. He’s tough-minded and usually fair. He’s willing to teach what he knows and takes pride in teaching thoroughly.  His teaching methods may be rough but they are never needlessly cruel.  Perhaps your PC is a member of law enforcement or maybe one of his “Y” students.  His stories are always told with a purpose in mind and they are by turns, horrifying and laugh out loud funny.

“I’m sorry ma’am. But that officer has been here all night doing paperwork”  

If there is a flaw in Bill’s character, it is that he is ALWAYS going to give his fellow officers the benefit of the doubt, and even so, might turn a blind eye to certain activities that he KNOWS are wrong. Like, being on the take...Cops have a hard job and the pay certainly sucks, so why shouldn’t the boys have the occasional nice thing? Right? Naturally, there are few things that cannot ever be countenanced, But if it all comes down to your word against the word of one of his boys or girls...Well. Sucks to be you.

"Yeah. I may have seen something like this before"

In terms of options, Donnelly might be a secret ghoul or a secret wolf-blooded.  In any case, He's seen some freaky shit in his day and isn't likely to discount a wild tale from a fellow officer out of hand. He may also be part of The Union or at least very friendly to their cause.

Connections:

* Lt. Lorraine Janofski "One of the best. I'm glad she's doing well."

* Thomas Jones Rutherford "Oh yeah. The writer guy. I've talked with him a time or two. Very generous fella. I'd think by now he'd know the cop biz like the back of his hand.

* Officer Karl Richter "You watch, that kid is going to be Captain someday."

* Bartholomew Reines "I'd like to meet and get my hands on this fella someday. Every single student of his that I've ever had, I've had to re-train. He's a menace.

* Reverend Dr. Miranda Goines "Hey Miranda, how's the family? You know the drill, right?"

* Christine Horowitz  "I don't care for this young lady and her accusations against my boys. I'd tell you more but I'm afraid I'd have to feed the swear jar."

* Rory O'Halloran "We're probably related. Best Irish cuisine I ever tasted. Good guy to talk to as well."

* Miss Virgie Hawkins "Mike Hawkins was a lucky man. I was a groomsman at his wedding. and I think nearly every time I go into Hanlon's that I miss her face and her great advice. I don't think I would have gotten to where I am today without it.  I understand from her son that she's gone into the ghost hunting business. Ordinarily, I'd probably side with him...except...I've seen a thing or two. Man...If these walls could talk.

* Officer Wesley Ullman "It's just a matter of time with this kid. The only question is, "Is he going to take anybody with him?"

Santos Martinez

Concept: The King Inside

AKA:  “Little S”  “Ghost Eyes”  “El salvaje”

Desc: On the short side, but muscular and wiry. His boys have seen him climb up in the pockets of bigger dudes and beat the living shit out of them from sheer ferocity. Keeps his hair short, and his face shaved because his Mamacita likes it like that. Strong intelligence in his eyes. 

History: When Santos was little. His Abuella told him, “Santos, you must be strong and you must keep your eyes open and pay attention. Everyone is going to try to make life rough on you. But you must not let them...”

Santos never forgot what his Abuella told him. She sat on the side of his bed and brushed the hair out of his eyes and wept for him knowing that he would face many struggles in his life.

    When he got up for school the next day...They told him that his Abuella had passed away in the night.

And he had known...that it was not a dream.

Santos was never going to be a good student. He couldn’t see very well and he fell behind in reading.  But he was a good listener and many time could manage to pick things up that way.  He also had come from a large family. 2 brothers and 3 sisters. So his social intelligence was off the charts. He got good at reading people. And when he got picked on for his size. He never bothered with trying to tell the teacher. He would wait, be patient, and then, at some point find one of the people who’d picked on him and jump the guy from behind with a sock full of pennies.  After a while, other kids stopped picking on him.  One of his uncles, one of the dead ones taught him that.

The gang guys came around looking for fresh meat. Santos joined because he needed money and he wanted respect. He got both. Mainly because he had something the other new recruits lacked.  He was tough already, and he knew things. He knew things that he had no business knowing. And anytime he failed, or screwed up, or caught a beating he didn’t deserve. He used it as a means to learn and toughen up more rather than cry about how unfair it all was. 

He rose through the ranks. He was smart. Maybe not book smart. But certainly street smart. And while he still wasn’t a strong reader, he could do math like he could breathe it.  His only strange habit was that he would still go to church on Sunday.  He could be seen making offerings and lighting candles and visiting graves. No one seemed to know why and when he occasionally got asked about it, all he would say was. “Hey. It’s not for me you understand. It’s for my mother.”

But it wasn’t.  Santos is a fairly strong medium. He has no trouble bartering with ghosts for things they want to be done in the real world in exchange for useful information. Sometimes it’s simple. “Light a candle for me at mass”  Sometimes it’s not simple. “Talk to my woman and tell her to move on with her life.”  Sometimes it’s lucrative. “Tell my son where I stashed the money so he can get out.”   Santos might take SLICE, you understand, But he’d never cheat the dead because they ain’t got nothing to do but make you miserable if you do.

Santos pays attention. Some months ago, he got popped and went for a middling long jolt on the inside. But even inside, he’s got more pull on the streets than most. Between his weekly phone calls to his woman, messages he can pass through guards he’s intimidated or bought off, and the occasional bit of haunting, He gets the job done. And lately, he’s been finding that sometimes it’s SAFER to be inside. Being up at Clearwater Correctional Institute for Men is no picnic certainly. But there are times when it’s goddamn peaceful compared to being out on the streets.

Still. Santos is working the angles and hopes to manage an early release. He’s kept his set together by dint of solid planning, having REALLY good people radar and putting his homeboys into roles that play to their strengths, and again, the occasional bit of haunting. Most of his boys think he’s into the Santeria shit hardcore. He’s not, although he does lean into the expectation if it’s useful and probably wouldn’t mind learning more if he could find someone who could teach him.

Attitude: “it’s good to know things, Esse. And when you fishing blind...It’s even better to act like you know more than you do.

Skills: On the physical side, He’s tight. Better with a knife than with a gun. Pretty decent with his fists, likely to have dots of Boxing and probably brawling dodge and stuff like that.

On the social side, he holds very few people dear and is distrustful of anyone who isn’t from his hood or isn’t actually deceased. It’s not that can’t be social mind you. He’s actually quite adept when he wants to be. He just has trust issues. As I mentioned, He’s good at reading people and it’s saved his life more than once in the yard.

Mentally, He’s a product of street education. Long on streetwise, heavy on tactics and organization. But short on actual academics.  He can certainly read, but most of the time he tends to think of it as a waste of time. His one literary vice is military manuals. He tends to pick them up at flea markets. Lately, his woman has been sending them to him.

As far it goes, He’s got Unseen Sense (Ghosts) AND the Medium merit, or he might, if you want him to have a bit more juice, have something like the “Voodoun” template from Second Sight (Obviously, It’ll be more like Santeria, but the powers are probably very close to one another.)  He may even be a Sin Eater in some way.

Gear: As a habitual offender in for a fairly long bit, Santos doesn’t really have a lot in the way of gear. But unlike a lot of dudes, Santos only ever really keeps a pad of paper and a pen in his cell with him. He’s very very self-contained.

Home: Block D. Cell 14.  Although, back home, He and his girl had a nice place. Lita needed a bit more room than Santos ever would. Lita’s garden was the pride of the neighborhood.

Circle: His boys. His girl. His family. His Dead People.

Story Uses:

“Yeah...I heard all about you. Although I AM surprised you came all this way to see me.”

It’s possible, that from inside, Santos might be issuing orders that are causing you and your fellows PC’s some problems. Nothing to do with YOU necessarily, just muscling some other dudes, and maybe there are problems with other people getting caught in the crossfire. Hey, homes, it’s just business, you know?

“”Some friends of mine put the word out. I just wanted to see who would come calling.”

It may be, with his other “career”, that Santos hears about things going on in the old neighborhood. You never know, he might seek the PC’s out in order to professionally befriend them.

Connections:

* Carlos Villalobos "I met this guy once. Never seen somebody shoot so fast. Glad I was his back-up that day instead of being downrange of him.

* William Lee Travis  "Yeah. I don't mess with that guy. If you're smart, you won't either.

* Jack Marston "Man. I don't blame that guy. He was just doing his job. That don't make us friends though."

* Rika Martinez Santos's cousin is Rika's pop. Maybe weird shit just runs in the Martinez family.

* Clavo Hernandez "Days gonna come when I'm going to get out of here, and when that happens, I'm going to drop off the radar.  My man's already seen to it."

Stefan Janofski

Concept: Dead Cop

AKA: Stefan used to be referred to by his siblings as “Choirboy” because (A) he WAS in the choir, and (B) he was the only one of the Janofski kids to embrace the Catholic Faith.

Desc: In life, Stefan Janofski was a real specimen. 6’5” blond and blue-eyed. Strong-jawed and broadly framed.  He was the kind of fellow in the Police academy that they call, “A Gazelle”   Many times when a person dies there are marks left on them, like some residual stain on them. Stefan doesn’t have that except that his skin is darker than it was in life. As if it were charred.

History: Like his dad before him, Stefan ALWAYS wanted to be a cop. He wanted to be like his father because his father was a superhero in his eyes. Don Janofski would just shake his head and smile and say, “Kid. Be better than me.  Be BIGGER than me.”

Don died in the line of duty, and even as the Janofski kids stood around the casket, each made their own promises about being cops. Not all of them came true.

On his birthday, Stefan applied to the academy. He breezed through the physical part as everyone knew he would. But he struggled with the classwork as everyone who knew him knew he would. Stefan’s never been a strong reader. But he’s never been one to quit either. So he did everything he could. He got a tutor. He listened to his sister’s advice. Did subliminal videos on Youtube to help with memory retention.  You name it. He did it. and it worked.  He came through with flying colors...Well ok, he did alright.  

Unlike his sibs, Stefan LOVED being a street cop. The test for Detective had him totally intimidated anyway. He was a likable guy though, could play the political game and made a number of friends in the department pretty fast.  He was brave. He was mostly honest. and he had the decorations to prove it.

But he never took a nickel that wasn’t his. He didn’t begrudge anyone else doing it. It wasn’t his way to question that. He understood that times were hard and that cops have rough lives. He never so much as gave any of his friends a sour look.  He just never took any for himself.

And it made them nervous. Never so much as a peep to his family, as near as anyone could tell. Maybe even saved their lives as there was a LOT of money involved. But one night as he started up his personal ride, it exploded killing him instantly.

So, Stefan’s been off the count for a while now. He keeps an eye on his old friends because he suspects a number of them. He keeps an eye on his younger brother and sister and deals with the occasional swells of Pride/Jealousy that goes along with that. And he keeps a paternal eye on the rest of the department as best he can...

But he still itches to know who pulled the trigger and who gave the order. Maybe Heaven still is there for a good Catholic boy if he can just figure out how to solve his own murder...from beyond his own grave.

Attitude:  “C’mon Grieder. You’re the smartest cop I know. Surely you can see these cops are dirty as fuck. Jesus, I wish I could talk to you direct.

Skills: Physically, he’s something of a beast and fairly well trained in various forms of combat arts. Unless you’re on THIS side of the divide, that’s unlikely to come up.

Socially, He’s pretty strong. Always likable and easy to talk to, He’s been working on becoming a better and keener student of human psychology and watching over his little brother’s shoulder. His sister’s too if he’s honest with himself.

Mentally, Well... He’s NOT stupid. He DOES have some low-grade learning disabilities. But does LISTEN better than he reads. It’s not out of line for him to have a couple of dots in Occult (Spec: Catholicism) and investigation picked up from work on the streets. 

On the Ghostly side of things he’s got the following Numina:

Drain: Which he’s used more than once to chill out a suspect or two 

Emotional Aura: Which he’s ALSO used more than once to chill someone out. He’s also been working over some of his former friends with guilt and the occasional bout of Pre-psychotic rage.

Implant Mission: Which he’s used on at least a few people to get them to look into his own murder. (There really isn’t much in the way of evidence.) But he’s also used it like, “Dude’s I don’t know why, But we need to find Waldauer right fucking now!”

Sign: He’s just learned this one, He’s trying to figure out a way to use it subtly. If someone twigs to the fact that there are ghosts in the precinct house it could be bad.

Gear: Ghost. No gear really.

Home: Stefan is lucky insofar as he has a LOT of Anchors. Both of his Sibs, His “Friends”, His old car and it’s various constituent parts. and the precinct house.  As such, he gets around a bit more than many ghosts do. Sometimes, he posts up on the roof of the Precinct House. It’s peaceful...if there isn’t an argument with Murphy.

Circle: Stefan knows a few ghosts. He’s had a conversation or two with a mage but getting those people to do anything is like trying to nail Jello to a tree.  He’s seen a Beast or two.

And he’s heard of Sin Eaters but he’s yet to run into one. He’s not sure he wants to.

Story Uses:

“C’mon kid use your head. It doesn’t have to be like this.”

As I said, he takes a certain proprietorial attitude towards his fellow officers. Your first encounter with him might be something like him having to talk down some kid with PTSD and reflexes that are too fast for his own good.

“Look, I don’t have much time and I know you can hear me...”

Stefan can rest if his murder is solved.  He’s been on the prod to do just that but the cover-up was pretty good and it’s a cold case by now. His brother and sister obviously still work it a bit. But if he got a new player on the board with abilities that his siblings DON’T have, it might get it rolling again.

Connections:

* Officer Karl Richter "This guy. He should NOT have walked away from that. What the fuck?"

* Detective Nell Wesley  "Nell's Ok. She's going to get killed...but she's ok.

* Detective Marty Bennetti "Pretty sure THIS fucker had something to do with me being deceased. Can't BELIEVE he's a dick now."

* Detective Dana Crowley "I'm fairly sure that if I can get evidence into her hands... She'll make sure that it gets dealt with."

* Chris Murphy "My debate partner. I get why he's angry. I do. Sometimes though...He can be a bit hard to take."

* Miss Virgie Hawkins "I think she can sense me, but I don't think she can actually hear or see me. Kills me, because I could really use her advice right now."

* Officer Wesley Ullman "Sooner or later, this man is going to kill someone"

* Detective Bob Greider  "You know, for a while there I thought Bob could figure all of this out, so I bothered him some. It's not really in his hands though. Still...I do enjoy watching the man work his magic."