Jim Darque
From Changeling Venue
| Seeming | Darkling Antiquarian |
|---|---|
| Court | Winter Court •••• |
| Freehold | The Guild of Broken Waters |
| Player | Joseph McKeever |
Contents |
Overview
Alias(es): Jim Darque, James Black?
Real Name:
Age: Exited the Hedge in 1979
Concept: Bard of Doom
Entitlement:
Physical description:
Mein Jim Darque is tall and thin, exceedingly pale with deep set eyes, and wearing black at all times. While he appears to be solid closer to the earth and his feet, the higher one gets in their appraisal the less substantial he becomes like the flickering of a candle flame until they reach his tapering ears. Highly transformed by the Fae, Jim's head is large for his long slim neck, black eyes bulging over slim feminine cheekbones, so that his skull has an almost perfect egg shape with a point at his diabolical goatee. One of Jim's hands is red, clawed, and horribly scarred; no one seems to know why.
Mask Jim's overall appearance is not so disimilar from his Mein in that he still appears to be a tall pale skinned gentleman in black sans the more excessive physical differences, however it is this similarity to the appearance of his mein that is in and of itself a mask. Instead Jim relies on finite and subtle personality quirks and changes in modes of behavior. Whereas his Mein may be subdued and retiring, in the mode of his Mask Jim may be extroverted and friendly, even effusive and garrulous.
Mantle Jim's Mantle is no less subtle than the differences between his Mask and Mein. Long term exposure to Jim Darque brings a distinct physical discomfort begining in the fingertips and moving along the skin and extremeties. While this discomfort is never dangerous in and of itself, those whom have felt it recognize the effect as an killing frost insidiously working upon them akin to that of hypothermia.
Relevant Mechanics: As a Darkling Jim's magic is less effective during the day. As a Winter court of the fourth degree his seeming additionally looks extra stark, his darkness more pitch compared to the brightness around it and when he works magic it has a tendency to be snow-touched, however with his mantle being what it is he's also often hard to spot. Lastly as an Antiquarian Jim has a fair shake at all matters academic and investigative.
Character Livejournal:
Character Information
Known History
Basic Timeline: Being taken in the late fifties at the age of sixteen Jim Darque saw first hand the nightmarish rise of McCarthyism just before he was taken by The Fae. Returned in 1979 he was proverbially shell shocked to witness the generalized collapse of the cold war society that had turned in upon itself. Struggling to reconcile himself with the idea that he had lost an entire generation of changes Jim saw his way into Changeling society for a time; then he vanished into the labyrinthine underworld of court politics among the Silent Arrows, only recently returning well after the fall of the Old Kingdom as a survivor.
Current Activities: Jim Darque is one of the shadowy hidden fae of the Olympia Domain. Believed to be a Darkling courtier of the collapsed Old Kingdom, he provides a much needed civic service as Warden of his local Hedge at a gate called The Hermitage, and otherwise stringently adheres to the principles of the Winter Court by drawing as little attention to himself as possible. However, it is not unknown for Jim to refer to himself as a Silent Arrow; a phrase which still draws looks of concern among those whom remember the tyranny of the Old Kingdom. Those who know where to look may be able to locate him pursuant to his alter ego, a forestry worker in rural olympia studying the growth and recovery rates of various trees, or through the few fae locales he is known to rarely frequent. It is also well known that in his role as Warden he must regularly report to the seasonal courts to make commentary on the local Hedge. As such Jim Darque has come to be rumored as something of a phrophetic fae, providing advice and insight to those who would risk the manifold dangers of The Hedge. Jim has also recently agreed to consider undertaking the monumental effort of recording local events called A History of The Folly with Bible.
Merit Details: Jim is known to have perfect memory and an encyclopedic knowledge of many areas of expertise. Jim Darque is also known as a collector of Hedge-born oddities and stories, storing them at his Hermitage under strong wards. His many deals and reputation for even handedness has won him small good will among the many courts. He is stuanchly a Winter Court, despite insistence he does not compete for the crown, and while he will not actively break an oath there is a propensity for Darque to be unfortunately unavailable when needs would inevitably bring him into a position to harm his patron court.
Background: Jim Darque was, as best he can tell, a youth in one of the many Levitt towns of fame by such works as Bradbury's 'Something Wicked This Way Comes'. A nothing town from which there were no prospects and no futures. One night however, he was lucky enough to catch a light night creature feature at one of the last William H. Castle movie palaces in the country and on his way home witnessed what he thought were otherworldly lights in the Civil War graveyard just beyond his house. He had no idea how right he was as, approaching the lights which always seemed to float just out of range, the youth was lead astray and staggered across the hedge where he became the victim of goblin slavers. The slave caravan dragged Jim Darque back to Arcadia in chains, where he was sold in a lot of ten for a Fae Penny and sent to one of the many Fae work houses. An existence as pathetic as Dickens and as oppressive as Kafka, Jim was stripped of his name made Adjunct Scrivener Third class Stroke A Comma 3 in Charge of Heroic Fiction (Fables and Folklore) for a publishing house called The Dark of Things.
So dismissed Jim scurried through dark carverns crafted from the rustling leaves of books, and swam rivers of black ink filled with renegade paragraphs until he finally stumbled upon what could only be the green book. Its pages were leaves of ivy, and it's cover was curling thorn, so that when the beleagured fae picked it up, it cut his hands. And where it cut his hands, the ivy burned him agonizingly. As the days and weeks seemed to pass the irritation grew worse, as did the temptation to read the tome, as if instinctually knowing that could end his suffering. At long last Jim's resolve broke and he tore open the book to discover it was the ledger of his sale including his name and the names of his fellow slaves. Knowing he had discovered something of power but not knowing its true signifigance Jim fled, his true name giving him the strength to crawl scratched and bleeding across the Hedge. Free Jim wandered in a daze as a vagabond, unsure of where he was or what to do, eventually finding his way to the candy shop "Sweet Dreams". There, over a roll of neco wafers, a shadow entered Jim's new life. Jim recollects this person only as "Maestro" or "Teacher", but was instrumental in educating Jim in the ways of Changeling existence. Thinking he had found a friend Jim gave his mentor the ledger. His mentor read the ledger, he studied it with care, and then he asked Jim two questions: "You have read this?" Jim nodded. "You remember?" Jim nodded again, and with a killing stroke his teacher swept the written pages from the ledger and tossed them into the fire, where the names burned and were lost forever. Tearfully Jim begged his mentor, "Why have you done this?" to which the mentor replied in a voice as still as a winter's night. "If you knew who they were, you would try to save them. Remember who they are, survive in honor of their memory, but above all remember this: both they and you are Lost." And that's how Jim became Darque.
Motley
Allies
Bible An Autumn court of like mind
Brink Everyone's favorite candy man
Nycto_Feraz Someone whom appreciates doing what he must like I do, even if one must hate themselves in the morning thereafter.
Garret_Wexford An interesting man to say the least
Emma_Hart Fellow caffinated enthusiast
Associations
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Enemies
Character Inspirations
The Books
Neil Gaiman's "Sandman", "American Gods", and his work on the graphic novelization of Alice Cooper's "The Last Temptation"
Zho Sahaal, A character from "Lord of Night" a Warhammer 40K novel by Simon Spurrier
"Something Wicked This Way Comes" by Ray Bradbury
"Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens
"The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair
"Man and Superman" by George Bernard Shaw
"Hour of the Dragon" by Robert E. Howard
"To Serve Man" by Rod Serling
"On the Beach" and "Lord of the Flies" by Neville
"Animal Farm" by George Orwell
and The films
"The Good Shepherd"
"JFK"
Raz Al-Ghul and the Society of Shadows from "Batman Begins"
Soundtrack
- "My Spirit Will Go On" - Dragonforce, from Sonic Firestorm
- "Eric the Red" - Tyr, from Eric the Red
- "All the King's Horses" - Blind Guardian, from Another Stranger Me
- "Black Dragon" - Luca Turilli, from Kings of the Nordic Twilight
- "Blood Brothers" - Manowar, from Gods of War
- "Meet the Creeper" - Rob Zombie, from Hellbilly Deluxe
- "Might as Well be on Mars - Alice Cooper, from Hey Stoopid
- "As Madness Took Me" - Dragonland, from Starfall
- "Pick up the Bones" - Alice Cooper, from Brutal Planet
- "Born in 58" & "Son of a Gun" - Bruce Dickinson, Tattooed Millionaire
- "I'm Alive" - Disturbed
Quotes
- "What?" "Who me?" "No way." "Don't worry, this too will pass."
- "I love anyone with a Darque sense of Humor." ~Nycto Feraz
- "Silent Arrow...such pretty words and poetry. I wonder what shadows he throws against a wall when his stories are told..." - Calliope
- "Sometimes the needs of many must be met no matter the means, and the measure of manhood in the sorrow that is felt thereafter. If one would do well for his kind, he must keep this sadness secret, and press on with a resolve of steel."
Rumors
- Those who remember the Tyranny, and those few who know of Adamant's Folly, occasionally make the claim that Jim Darque is a Viscount of Darkness or the student of one of the last Shadow Kings from the Olympia Court now called 'The Ley of Shadows', whatever the truth rumor persists that part of Jim's current holdings is a vicious oath extracted upon pain of torture and death for his loyalty to the region.
- "Jim Darque is an assassin! An assassin I tell you! Between the years of 1985 and 1989 the number of mysterious lost deaths due to the insidious "Black Box", the Viscounts of Darkness' secret police, nearly tripled and Darque had a hand in the administration of all of them! I know you heard that sob story about a little kid getting kidnapped, but its all a lie! Jim Darque is the last Shadow King who faked his own death! Don't believe me? Where are the contracts! There's a huge gap in the Court's lore due to an 'accidental' fire in 2005 at St. Martin's College but you just know that's someone suppressing the truth! Either the Courts are keeping this monster around for their own benefit, or they don't know what they've got on their hands and it's going to take over! Me? I'm heading for the east coast and I'm not stopping till I hit water!" -identity reserved for safety reasons-
- Jim knows all kinds of interesting things from all kinds of interesting people. If you want to know something ask him and maybe he can tell you. If he can't, he can probably find someone who can.
- During the Folly a Darkling named James Black whom matches Jim's appearance was said to have distinquished himself including earning the rank of Dragon Hunter for fighting a great Hedge Wyrm. However, since no one is known to have seen a Hedge Dragon the validity of the tale is in doubt, as is any connection to Darque
- Jim is a member of a secret society where he takes part in strange rituals and bloody sacrafizes. Rumors of everything from ritual murder to assassinations have been heard.
