Independent Comics Universe RPG Character SheetPlayer Name: Zombiedude101
Character: Jackie Estacado AKA The Current Host of the Darkness
Powers and abilities:
First and foremost, Jackie is the current host of the Darkness, an ancient, evil entity which is capable of granting its user great powers beyond those of mortal limitations. With his darkness powers, Jackie can construct nearly anything out of the Darkness’ essence, ranging from a chitinous armour, to wings that allow him to fly, to magically infused firearms. With the Darkness, he can summon an army of minions known as ‘Darklings’ (Which tend to have their own little personalities and so) to use at his disposal and can also summon a number of snake-like ‘tentacles’ which protrude from his back. He also possesses a highly accelerated healing factor, superhuman strength, superhuman agility and a general resistance to injury or pain, whilst the Darkness will slowly reconstruct his body if he suffers a fatal injury. During this experience, Jackie will find himself in the ‘Otherworld’, a dream-like reality created by the Darkness to keep him distracted whilst it repairs his body. The Otherworld has many forms, ranging from a nightmarish version of a trench frontline during the First World War to a strangely quiet mental asylum. It often varies.
However, he possesses a single major weakness; light. As one would expect from an entity known as the Darkness, Jackie’s powers will not function when exposed to light. His dark constructs and minions will crumble into dust upon making contact with it, whilst his dark essence will recede until it has dissipated. In short, his powers will weaken when in contact with light until they no longer function, forcing Jackie to use creative means (Such as shooting out lights or specifically staying in the shadows) in order to continue using them. Powers aside, Jackie is a very competent man in terms of handling weaponry and particularly excels in the use of pistols, two of which he often carries in his concealed holsters and dual wields as his signature weapons. He also possesses some skill in hand-to-hand combat, specifically martial arts.
Alignment Jackie's alignment is something of a difficult topic; he's been known for both kind and terrible acts and he's well aware that by this point if there's any shred of soul remaining inside of him, he's headed straight to hell if the Darkness ever lets him go. Chaotic Neutral.
Character NotesChief of Police Eddie Shrote is dead - having been assassinated in a church bombing six months prior
Don Paulie ‘Kill the Children Too’ Franchetti is dead - having been found executed on the grounds of his offshore mansion
The Franchetti Crime Family - once a highly influential and overall powerful organisation - is now in disarray due to the lack of an established head and the fact that a large number of its enforcers and lieutenants have been killed off
The NYPD is currently undergoing reform after it’s revealed that the late Chief of Police Eddie Shrote had close ties to Paulie Franchetti and was said to have been under his payroll alongside numerous other officers, and was also linked to the bombing of an orphanage
Butcher Joyce is a ‘cleaner’ working in New York, often known for not taking sides against or for the families
Origin and backstory (as you see it):Born somewhere in New York City to an absent father and a mother who died very shortly after childbirth, Jackie Estacado spent much of his early childhood growing up in St. Mary's Orphanage alongside his long-time childhood friend and sweetheart, Jenny Romano. However, from a very young age he quickly involved in the seedy underworld of New York after the head of the Franchetti Crime Family, his 'Uncle' Paulie "Kill the Children too" Franchetti opted to adopt him to raise in the mob after being passed whispers from a mysterious individual that Jackie’s influence would bring him to great power over the other families. Believing this to be partially related to the fact that Jackie's late father Danny Estacado had a reputation for being particularly vicious, Paulie seized the opportunity to groom his 'Nephew' into a Hitman for the family. As the years progressed, Jackie gradually took to the mafia lifestyle, becoming more and more addicted to it as he matured, losing his virginity at the age of fourteen to a female police officer during an interrogation and committing his first hit at sixteen years old. True to the 'prophecy' that Franchetti had been foretold of, Jackie's actions within the mob led to his 'Uncle' becoming the most powerful Don in the city and it was for this reason that the crime boss initially kept him close. The only good thing he could claim for himself was his relationship with Jenny, who by this point he'd started a relationship with.
However, things changed forever on the night of Jackie's twenty first birthday, when he discovered that he was host to something known only as the 'Darkness', an ancient entity that granted him the use of great, terrible dark powers. Using these powers to great effect to further himself in his criminal lifestyle, Jackie initially revelled in the additional violence and carnage but soon came to realise the price it came with. The Darkness indeed had a mind of its own and would impose its will on Jackie on a whim, whilst other times it would simply taunt him over and over with a searing voice which only he could hear. At the same time, his 'Uncle' Paulie had grown paranoid of Jackie seeking to topple him from his control over the family and attempted to have him killed, to no avail. In response, Jackie fought back against Paulie and significantly damaged several of his operations, prompting him to bomb the same orphanage which Jackie had grown up in and kidnap Jenny. Coming to her rescue, Jackie found the Darkness imposing its will upon him once again and despite his attempts to break free, he was ultimately forced to watch Paulie execute her before his own eyes.
Distraught by grief and unable to continue living without his beloved, Jackie was able to resist the will of the Darkness just enough to break free and end his own life with the same pistol which had been used to murder Jenny. However, it would not be Jackie’s end; instead, he awoke in a hellish place known only to him as the ‘Otherworld’, a realm constructed by the Darkness to hold him whilst it repaired his body. In this instance, the Otherworld resembled a nightmarish version of the First World War’s trenches filled with patchwork Axis soldiers, and as Jackie made his way across, he soon came across a distant yet somehow familiar face; Anthony Estacado, his great grandfather who had fought during the war.
With Anthony’s help, Jackie was able to fight his way through the Otherworld until he finally reached the Heart of the Darkness. Unfortunately, Anthony died during the breach of the Heart yet was able to offer a few final words of advice before the Darkness finally claimed him, and it was with this that Jackie was able to face down the Darkness. Ultimately he surrendered himself to the Darkness as opposed to fighting as it expected, and it was through this that he was able to seize back control of himself from the entity (Partially due to the fact that the Darkness knew he would embark on a killing spree in which it could revel), yet it offered him a few final words of warning before everything blacked out.
Jackie awoke in the mortal world once more, and again with nothing to lose and vengeance being the only thing that persisted within his mind, Jackie relentlessly fought to get to Paulie once again, killing a large number of important figureheads and associates in the Franchetti Crime Family in the process including corrupt Chief of Police Eddie Shrote, all whilst the Darkness revelled in the chaos it had created. Eventually, Jackie made a final siege on Paulie's offshore mansion in the midst of an eclipse and massacred the entirety of the Franchetti household with his Darkness powers, leaving not a soul alive. Paulie cowered in the lighthouse before Jackie eventually made his way up, before executing his 'Uncle' who cursed him to the grave. He'd taken his revenge and had toppled New York City's most powerful crime family in the process, leaving a power vacuum for the other families to squabble over.
Since then, few have heard of his whereabouts in the six months which have passed, though rumours still continue to circulate that shortly before his dissapearance Estacado was offered a chance to seize the reigns of the family by the Chicago committee.
Why have you chosen this character?: It's the one I have the most experience/knowledge with. I've played through both of the video game adaptations for the Darkness (The first was better, IMO) and I've done my research into the comics (And I've read a few issues), so I figured it'd be something I could work with best.
Provide a sample post as the character you wish to portray, three paragraphs or more and with at least one line of dialogue:((https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVwhNpiFkoc appropriate music))
Six months agoBehind him lingered the copper-tinged scent of blood, the faint groans and pleas of mercy of what little remained of the men who’d survived his onslaught. For a moment, Jackie heard the scuttling of a tiny creature with oily black skin and a gremlin-like appearance and disinterestedly glanced away as it gnawed on the finger of a dead man. Death walked in the halls of House Franchetti today. He should’ve known - he was death, but something far worse lingered deep inside of him; a terrible force with an age that extended past the universe itself. It too sensed the death around it and revelled in the chaos, its cold disembodied voice letting out the closest thing it ever had ever known to laughter. Drawing past the door, a familiar voice with a stereotypical mobster-type accent that made Jackie want to pulverise a thousand faces called out from above, heavy footsteps clanking against the grating spiral that was the lighthouse stairwell.
“You think you made a difference here, Estacado? Nothing’s changed, you fuckin’ piker!”His fingers tightened around the grip of the remaining pistol he still owned, the faint smell of half a dozen magazines dispensed into a dozen bodies still lingering close to the barrel. He kept on climbing, following the footsteps. Again, the voice called out.
“You brought this on yourself Jackie, I didn’t do shit that you didn’t do yourself!”Clambering his way up a ladder, he felt the footsteps growing nearer - yet evermore frantic. Fear was in the air. He smelled it. The Darkness smelled it, and it was simple telling how it was excited to be present as its host claimed one final soul. Reaching the top, he could hear that mobster-voice screaming down to him again.
“The problem with you is, you never learned to listen! You always wanted to be me, but it doesn’t work that way, Jackie!”The door was still ajar, leading out onto another set of steps which led to the final point atop the lighthouse. Outside, the sky was a pitch black; the only source of light being the faint rim of sun which had been eclipsed by the moon. Convenient timing, perhaps? Or maybe the Darkness had some hand in an ancient prophecy. It didn’t matter, soon he’d reach the end of his journey. Drawing back the door to the lantern room, he heard that same frantic voice scream out a final threat.
“You’re a dead man, you hear me?! A dead man!” Gunshots followed and Jackie felt specks of blood seep down his coat from where one of the rounds had slammed into his shoulder, but it didn’t bother him; instead he fired off another two rounds and left the middle aged crime boss sprawled across the floor, grunting in pain as he clutched at his stomach. That same disembodied voice that was the Darkness spoke out to him yet again, yearning for the kill more than it ever had before.
”Finish him...”Jackie took several steps towards his Uncle Paulie, remaining silent and monotone as he observed Don Paulie Franchetti - once a powerful man, feared by half of New York City and begrudgingly respected by the other - beg for his life.
“Listen, Jackie. I been thinkin’, I know this worked out bad for the both of us but there’s no need to be rash here...” The last word sounded like a half-restrained sob.
“Why don’t you fuckin’ listen to me, you piece of shit!””Take his life...”The Darkness wanted this one so badly. He could feel it inside him, that urge to unleash a black hell and tear Uncle Paulie asunder, that hunger which yearned to taste the man’s oily heart. But Jackie wasn’t killing for the family, or for the business, or for the darkness. This one was for himself. For Jenny.
“Jackie, I-” Wordlessly, he unloaded what remained of his pistol clip into Uncle Paulie, yet even that allowed the man to spit a few final words as he choked through layers of blood, phleghm and whatever else the bastard had inside of him.
“Estacado, you... fuckin’ piece of shit... I hope you rot in hell forever..” ‘I already am’, Jackie thought.
And that was the end of the line.
