Narciso Artiglio
Now for my favorite part of the night, it's time for 'Did the lunatic come here as the entertainment or as the Inquisition?'! Taking bets!
Obituary: When facing an infinite number of choices, he made the hardest and bravest one. He died fighting Shreve's corrupted inquisitors in the attempted kidnapping of his majesty King Grayson IV, giving his life for the Compact and for his father.
Description: Tall, dark and handsome, Narciso presents an attractive tableau. His body is the one of the dancer or the acrobat, the one that displays casual grace with every movement, and for whom the most difficult steps are made to look like child's play. He keeps his jet black hair relatively long, reaching his shoulders, while remaining either clean-shaven or with a beard and mustache kept trimmed, depending on his moods. His eyes are black, and ever filled with energy. Yet there is an intensity within them, one that beckons and lures further in, while at the same time... eerie and uncomfortable. His voice bears similar qualities, bewitching and sensual with its deep bass, yet with the hints of madness even when it is not on full display.
Personality: Impatient, impulsive and with a mind able to find any situation funny in some way, Narciso is a wildly unpredictable character. He does as he wills, and will often ignore social and courtly norms. Not because he's not aware of their existence, but rather because most of the time, it's far more amusing to see the look on people's faces when someone doesn't follow their little dance. Then again, sometimes it's just as amusing to watch them when he actually does. At turns charming, other times biting, Narciso can also prove to be surprisingly insightful and observant, to the great misfortune of those who attracted the ire of the Inquisition. To dismiss the madman dancing on the line of jest and insult with so much flair is a thing done at one's own risk.
Background: Narciso began his life as a shameful secret. The result of passion or too much drinking between Donato Artiglio, trusted hand of Archduchess Carlotta, and contortionist from a traveling troupe, to be precise. Raised by his mother and the rest of the traveling troupe, young Narciso was told little about his father, the man shrouded in mystery, short of the random bits and pieces his mother or the rest of the troupe would let slip once in a while on a drunken night. The tableau they painted was not terribly flattering. The only thing he possessed, given to him by his mother upon the first birthday he was old enough to likely remember, was a ring of wood. Made from an apple tree, it displayed engravings of entwined branches bearing apples. Nothing outrageous, but to the young boy, it was his most precious possession. Still, with the way they traveled, there was hardly time to learn more about the man.
Instead, Narciso focused on his developing skills. Early on, he exhibited a natural talent for acrobatics and dances, and was swiftly introduced as part of the troupe's acts. He learned quickly, and as he grew older, and his body grew with him, he learned to adapt quickly and improve. His voice also developed, and as he grew from being the child he once was, it deepened, strengthened, to the point that his abilities to sing quickly outshone the rest of the troupe. His name began to spread then, and the more attention was given to him, the more his abilities seemed to develop. A musical prodigy, few were the instruments he could not master, though he exhibited a particular liking for the lute, which he'd combine with his voice to charm and awe his audience.
And then tragedy struck. It came not in the death of a parent, or the violent end of his troupe. No, it came from within. The young prodigy... became mad. Why? How? No one knows. Perhaps it was the price to pay for so much talent. Perhaps it was too much drinking, or drugs, you know how those troupe types are. Either way, he suddenly left the troupe, with not a word to his family, and set out to... somewhere.
He wandered for some time, and at the age of sixteen, he eventually found himself at his father's doorstep. Though he was by then known as Blacktongue, Narciso showed the man the apple ring and claimed him as his father. And that's how Blacktongue got a son.
Yet Narciso's tale was not quite done with him. Not even the one about his past. Indeed, the young man somehow got himself involved with the Inquisition, by way of stumbling across an investigation and helping matters along by helping the inquisitors find their culprit. Though he made no effort to hide his madness, he exhibited enough skill and ability through it all that he was taken back to the House of Questions... and unlike most people who enter the place, came out of it as a member of the dreaded organization.
Since then, Narciso spends much of his time either entertaining or chasing after those who garner the Inquisition's interest. Though at first glance a rather amusing situation, it becomes definitely less so when one considers that very few arrested by the mad entertainer have ever walked out of the House of Questions... and the man never tells whether he's here to entertain or arrest. That'd be spoiling the surprise.
| Name | Summary |