Holy Soldier — Roleplayer Guild

ante Augustus Marconi was born to Augustus and Isadora. His father was head of a construction company that was responsible for the design and renovation of several buildings and residences in Gotham City—most notably banks in the Financial District and a few mansions in Gotham Heights. Augustus employed several of Gotham’s thugs, hoping that keeping them off the street would contribute to the decrease in crime. It wasn’t until he caught two of his workers having robbed one of the mansions in The Heights that his philosophy began to change. His workers had told him how well they knew the house after they had built it. Breaking into it was “a piece of cake.” Augustus, close to his workers, told them to keep a low profile until the ordeal passed on. He hadn’t really expected his workers to get away with it, but they did. Did no one care about the Gotham elite? What was a few stolen valuables from already wealthy and spoiled moneybags? The contagious greed led Augustus to accept more projects in The Heights and the Financial District just so they could exploit them later. His success kick-started his new business in the Gotham underworld. Augustus and his former construction crew started to hustle. They purchased the products of one gang and sold them to another. They even instigated gang wars in high-crime areas like Crime Alley/Park Row. Overtime, Augustus Marconi noticed that with the slow elimination of competition that the Marconi name was growing in infamy. The Marconis were a small spark, but a certain bird attempted to douse it.

     The Penguin attempted to wipe out the Marconis and nearly succeeded if it wasn’t for the interference of Warren White. With the protection of The Great White Shark and his numerous connections, the Marconis became locked in debt with the crime lord for several years. During those years, Augustus fell in love with a prostitute by the name of Isadora “Bella Rosa.” It was Isadora who empowered Augustus to believe he was destined to rise above Gotham’s trash. Augustus enacted a plan that would free the Marconis from The Great White Shark and have them as an independent mob again. He started working closely with Warren’s “connections,” undertaking jobs and deals that led him to descend deeper into darkness. It wasn’t long before Warren found himself marooned in Arkham Asylum.

     The Marconis went through a progressive period. The spark had become a flame just big enough to keep The Penguin at bay but small enough not to attract the interest of other gangs. The Marconis now seasoned in turf war focused on small-time deals to build morale and equipment. During this time was when Dante was born. Isadora was proud to have given her lover a handsome son. He was their only son and Isadora’s affection for him was near obsessive. She filled the boy’s mind with the same pride she had used on his father. However…she told Dante that he was destined to surpass him and take over the Marconi “empire.” The Marconis’ bloodline traced back to Gaius Octavius and he was meant to rule. The boy took his mother’s praise to heart. While his father ran the family, Dante watched and learned. He was a reader and while he was in private school, he was often the spotlight in class. He got the attention of admirers and bullies, but Dante proved to be the bigger bully. In fact he was quite…sadistic.

     Throughout his time in school, Dante participated in sports and took several art classes. His father never attended any of his competitions and didn’t even learn how gifted his son was in art until Isadora started to hang his paintings throughout the house. Normally a child might have developed “daddy issues” but Dante didn’t. He was quite fine with his father’s lack of attention for he didn’t want the man he would surpass to learn how much his son had truly grown. As a late teenager, Dante’s charm attracted many a fine lady, and there was only one who he brought home to his mother. Her name was Anna “Anne-Marie” Morris. She was a beautiful redhead who planned to attend the same private university as him. Isadora was  secretly jealous and in an unexpected fit, slapped Anna and banished her from their home. She then chastised Dante for desiring such a “plain” girl. She told him how he shouldn’t trust women so easily. If Anna had learned about the family business, then she would have certainly ran to the police. Despite his mother’s excuses to hide her infatuation with him, Dante was embarrassed and angry. Anna never spoke to him again since that day. The incident only fueled Dante’s desire to take over the family even more.

    Dante attended a private university and found the human psychology to be the most interesting conundrum. While in pursuit of a Bachelor’s in psychology, his mother fell ill. Dante, unwilling to drop out of college to take care of her, wanted to believe his father would hire a nurse to take care of her, but his father never did. Karma appeared before Isadora that night and showed her the results of her creation. Both Augustus and Dante were too stubborn and clinging to their dreams to take her health into consideration. Isadora inevitably died. The news reached Dante, and at first, he was angry but then he realized…Anna. Dante attempted to rekindle the love he and Anna had for each other, but Anna revealed that she had a boyfriend. Dante persisted, figuring by telling her his mother was dead and that there was no one to get between them that her mind would have changed. Anna broke away from him and told her boyfriend later that night who sought Dante out. Dante avoided him and called his father’s men later who had Anna’s boyfriend mysteriously removed. Dante never returned to Anna, but relished seeing her grief at the disappearance of her lover. He went on to pursue a Master's  and became a private behavioral counselor. As a counselor, Dante had a variety of clients to include GCPD personnel. He was able to win the favor of several twisted officers and officials and set up a secret business exchange with the Marconi family.

     As Marconis started to get away with certain crimes (since cops started turning the other cheek), several of Augustus’s men started to see Dante as the true leader. Dante was educated unlike his father who started as a mere construction worker. The old man was worn from countless turf wars to the point his sanity was tipping. Dante tried to convince his father to retire, but his father was too stubborn. This aggravated Dante to the point he eventually took his father’s life, blaming him for his mother’s death. Without protest from the family, Dante assumed the role as the head of the Marconi family.

     He underestimated the weight of the burden his father carried and how risky of a game he had played. He took the Marconis from the bottom and raised them to a place on the ladder that his father had spent years forbidding them to go. An infiltrator pretending to be one of his father’s former goons breached the Marconi mansion. The man had managed to make his way to Dante’s office and assaulted him with a suicidal detonation. The mansion was decimated. Dante had managed to shoot the bomber, but it didn’t halt the remote activation. Dante survived but not unscathed. His eyes had been severely damaged and his arms, which had been crossed protectively before his face charred in four-degree burns. The surviving Marconis managed to recover Dante, and they fled to one of his father’s safe houses where he could be treated by an unlicensed doctor. The doctor removed his damaged eyes and flesh. Dante was blind and stunned by how quickly his father’s empire had fallen. Though blind, Dante couldn’t stand for the Marconis to be done-in, in such a way. It wasn’t over!

     Dante demanded his men find him some eyes. They were to go as far as Star City, looking for a man or woman who could provide him with some. A few of his men thought he was mad and left. Those loyal and having no other place to go accepted Dante’s mission and searched for months. They eventually returned with a pair of cybernetic eyes, engineered by a Dr. William Magnus. The unlicensed doctor tried to explain to Dante that he may not have been the best surgeon to implant the eyes, but Dante had been too desperate to see again to see the doctor’s reasoning. The doctor cut away Dante’s eyelids to position the eyes, and the eyes’ unique A.I. latched onto his brain. Frightened by the implants’ response, the doctor feared they might have caused brain damage and Marconi’s men threatened him that if Dante awoke any different, then it would be his life. Dante woke, and was overjoyed to be able to see again. The world was clearer than it ever had been with his human eyes.

     When Dante anxiously requested a mirror and gazed on himself for the first time since the bombing, the Marconis’ skin crawled at their boss’s reaction. He laughed, killed the doctor with a scalpel through the eye, and began destroying the safehouse. Dante turned the safehouse into an inferno, and he stood outside with his men amidst a backdrop of flames, and declared that they were going back to work. Dante kept those who had remained loyal to him and sought out the deserters. The Dante the Marconis’ remembered was gone. Whatever Dante saw in the mirror had possessed him, and they were grateful to be at his mercy.

6'4" | 245 lbs. | Cybernetic | Black | 32

Dante was once a handsome man and the traumatic scar left by his mutilation was deep enough to alter his psychology. His cybernetic eyes protrude from his eye sockets like brass (in color) spheres with four lines dividing them perpendicularly. The lines glow a bright yellow, and at the center where they meet are red glowing pupils. His arms and the right side of his torso are covered in wavy burn scars. Because Dante is often seen wearing a suit and dark sunglasses, neither his scarred flesh nor his strange eyes are often seen. His hair is black, short and feathery, being longer on the crown and shorter on the sides. Despite his frightening appearance, he still insists on looking his best no matter the job. The boss has increased in muscle mass since his change. When he isn’t engrossed in business, he’s working out. Whereas the old Dante used to watch his men torture and execute their enemies, he partakes in it himself now, especially when a defector is involved. [Reference Former Dante: here FC: Hakan Akbulut]

Genius-Level Intellect? - Unpredictable
     Dante possesses an eidetic memory, he’s knowledgeable in several academic subjects with a specialty and fondness for art and psychology, and he’s a master at manipulation.

Persuasion: More like deception and manipulation, Dante knows how to speak and act a certain way, and even say the right words to persuade those of fragile self-esteem, self-worth, or those who secretly doubt their ability to stand before him. He is a frightening man after all. He can lead others to believe one thing only to do or say the opposite. One never really knows if they have acquired his trust and those who have been persuaded often feel better when they give in. Pressure is the devil. He uses this technique to get what he wants, find out information a person might not have normally revealed to him, or even just to see a certain reaction. He can be curious at times. If the nice method to persuade someone fails, then there’s always his favorite method: violence.

Mixed Martial Arts: While not a master, Dante can hold his own if he needs to and unless a person is superhuman or wearing special armor, a punch from him could wind even the toughest of humans. Having honed his skills in turf wars, Dante has improvised his techniques using practicality based on actual experiences.

No Sympathetic Restraint: Dante lacks the “fear” that often keeps a person from using their full strength to harm someone. Therefore, his attacks are 100% violent and deadly. If ever a person comes out of a fight with him alive either they were better than him, or he allowed them to escape unscathed. His intentions aren’t always violent.

Artist: One of Dante’s hobbies is to paint. He can sketch too, but he likes painting more and he’s quite gifted at it. If he wasn’t so crazy, his art would probably sell.

Athletic: Dante used to play sports in school. His favorite was baseball, but he also played basketball for a short while.

Extraordinary Marskman: Dante isn’t a Green Arrow or a Deadshot, but with his cybernetic eyes, he can impressively/frighteningly take down targets in rapid succession (with the right weapon), targets at quite a long range, and even targets through walls! (If the weapon’s strong enough). Regularly, he’ll carry mostly pistols or revolvers. If he’s planning to execute someone, then he’ll use a rifle. Overall, he is capable of using several weapons to achieve the sadistic result he desires.

Language Fluency: Italian and English.

Logical Thinker: Dante is clever. He usually plans one step ahead before he enters any sort of situation. He can come up with a strategy on-the-spot when the odds appear to be against him.

Cyberoptics: Dante has a pair of evil eyes. Evil because of their various visual settings. He can see in pitch-black darkness with them; his eyes can adjust to glare; he can see up to 500 meters with them and similarly he can see magnifications of 50x; and he can see in the infrared spectrum. Infrared allows him to see through solid walls at potential targets. Dante can overlap modes to have glare reduction and infrared on at the same time, allowing him to see humans bathed in hot colors in dim-lighting. He, however, cannot overlap magnifications or have all modes running at once. His cybernetics allow him to see better than the average human. His reaction time and reflexes are quicker than an average human, allowing him to react swiftly in close-combat. He will bob, weave, and deflect even the most expert of punches and kicks. A hero would have to make sure not to carry-on in a predictable style for Dante may learn to quickly anticipate it. There is a downside to having special eyes and that without meclizine (medication), Dante will suffer vertigo. If he ever misses his meds, he’ll become disoriented, sick, and a horrible migraine will follow.

Hellmouth: There are many theories about Gotham City and its grim and gothic atmosphere, but only one makes the closest of sense. Those who have wondered why Gotham was always so corrupt despite the heroes constantly putting the villains away time and time again need only know that long ago Gotham was built over a hellmouth. The hellmouth creates the endless corruption and violence in Gotham. It is why the villains always escape Arkham and Blackgate. It is why forensic science is near obsolete. With as many times the villains get put away, one would think Gotham would improve its security to keep them from returning to the streets, but no. Even the enemy has numerous villainous connections. The hellmouth seems to cater to malevolence. The hellmouth senses the malevolence exuding from Dante and increases his probability in the form of luck. The chance of him getting away with his crimes is increased, but not guaranteed. The chance of him escaping prison to return to the streets is higher than most. The chances of him coming out of a firefight with light wounds is probable. As coincidence as it may seem, it is the luck granted by the hellmouth.

High Pain Tolerance: He's been scorched and had his eyes and eyelids removed by an unlicensed doctor. He and pain are well-acquainted--mentally and physically. He can take a lot of pain from knife wounds to gun shots and frighteningly keep going. If a person wants to kill him, they better go for his vitals, otherwise they are going to have a tough and difficult enemy.
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