The Thorn of Camorr

[It's been a few days since Locke's arrival and he's spent them busy, meticulously combing through every bit of information he can find. The network he learns in and out, the world less so but thorough enough to start a ruse, his power-well. He learned the basics. Times have been busy after all and in-between research, he's spent the majority of his time picking pockets, slowly gaining enough money for a suit.

The very suit he's wearing as the video flashes on. It's an inexpensive suit, tailored a bit too tight around the shoulders. The face he wears is of a wannabe handsome, black hair slicked back and teeth well-cleaned. The face of a sleazy salesman, if his research proved right. After that all the transformation required was a quick restructuring of facial features. Shapeshifting, Locke was learning, had it's charms.

Smiling broadly he spreads his arms wide in greeting and a crossed leg bounces in delight.]

Ladies and gentlemen! You'll have to forgive me for any ignorances I may show. I'm new to this fine city-or set of cities [He grins and winks]-and am still fumbling my way around. I'm aware it's nothing particularly new so I'll spare you the details save one: people have an incongruous habit of staring at us when we pass! [He claps his hands, laughing as if this were a startling revelation. Then it's mock-serious, legs uncrossed, one fist on his hip as he leans forward.]

Now, usually? I'd take offense to that. Not this time-these beggars got me thinking. [He grins again, leaning back.] What's a crowd without an artist? What's attention without a business? Wasted, I'd say. Damn well wasted. As newly-ah-imported people, we hold a duty to redirect that attention to more productive efforts. I've heard whispers of a few businesses? An election? What better fuel to those fires than the kind we receive for free?

Now, I'm a humble man. I don't assume to be the first to think of this. By the gods, I may not be the first to implement it-[he slams his hand down on the arm of his chair.]-but I am the only bastard worth your trust.

[It's a bit dramatic, but that's part of the character. Steepling his fingers, he smirks over his fingertips.] My name is Leocanto Kosta, ladies and gentlemen. Allow me to be your first publicist.

[Yet, despite his claims, his phone still labels him as Locke Lamora]

[ooc: Locke is using his shapeshifting powers for this post. He will be unrecognizable except in voice to those who know him.]

coming soon

〈 PLAYER INFO 〉
NAME: Greer
AGE: 22
JOURNAL: zhopa
IM / EMAIL: greerhopper, ghostaiken@gmail.com
PLURK: zhopa
RETURNING: yup! I play Gon Freecs.

〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Locke Lamora
CHARACTER AGE: 26? It's never stated but let's go with that.
SERIES: Gentlemen Bastard Sequence
CHRONOLOGY: Chapter 10-2 of The Lies of Locke Lamora. After he's been rescued from drowning in horse pee.
CLASS: Antihero.
HOUSING: anywhere!

BACKGROUND:
Plot summary!

Locke Lamora was born, raised and lives in the city of Camorr. Camorr-blatantly inspired by Venice-is a city with two rulers: the Duke Nicovante, the city's legitimate ruler, and Capa Barsavi, the boss of the city's underworld, the "true ruler" of Camorr. The two of them operate under an understanding called the "Secret Peace", which allows the criminals rights to steal, cheat, and generally act illegal so long as their acts don't touch the nobility of Camorr. Every criminal in Camorr abides by this rule. Every criminal except for Locke Lamora and his small gang of thieves, the Gentlemen Bastards.

Locke himself is known by another name in Camorr: the Thorn of Camorr. An urban legend said to be able to fly through the night and turn invisible, stealing from the fine nobles of the city and giving to the poor. For the past four years the Thorn of Camorr-which are really just Locke and his gang-have been pulling large, yearly schemes on some of the richest dons in Camorr, making them an infamous, if mysterious, figure.

In terms of the story itself Locke is, as is evident by the title, the main character. He plays the reluctant hero trope well, spending most of the story wishing he and his gang were back to the long-term con they had originally planned. Unfortunately, this isn't possible as both Capa Barsavi and a rising menace (to the underworld) called the Grey King both rope him into a twisted plot that involves the fate of Camorr itself. Blackmailed and forced to obey, Locke becomes a double agent against the Capa and ultimately plays a part in dooming him and his family, much to Locke's dismay. This and other, later events spurns Locke into eventually saving the city's nobles from being lobotomized and getting revenge for those he lost to the mayhem.

PERSONALITY:
Before Locke was shoved into a barrel of pee and forced into the whims of two powerful people, he was a typical plucky thief. From a young age, Locke was a prodigy at thieving, showing not only the knack for it but an overwhelming desire to steal. He's a thrill-seeker, always has been. The fear and excitement of the risks becomes an addiction that he can't shake. Once one job is finished it's on to the next and then on and on after that. He jumps into jobs recklessly, often starting without a plan, preferring to let it form as he goes. When it does, it's usually careful and cleverly intertwined and, most importantly, always successful.

With his success in mind it's hardly a surprise that Locke is a proud man. Largely self-absorbed and selfish, his pride acts as a fountain for vanity. He never talks down on skill, only bolsters it, and because of that can come off as extremely insufferable. He often finds himself in disfavor though he's careful to garner favor with the more powerful people. For them, he will suck down his pride and bow before them-kiss their boots if he has to-anything that will help him keep a low profile. This is evident, and noted, by Capa Barsavi who calls him a prudent, obedient man when, in reality, he's not. He's just smart enough to know when to call it quits. He just... chooses not to sometimes. Though that is usually reserved for when he's thoroughly pissed off.

Unfortunately, pissing him off is relatively easy to do. The first method is deceptively simple: harm his friends. A largely lonely man, Locke has built up a small but tight-knit friends group that is closer to family in terms of kinship. To him, they are all he has. They are more important than any item stolen, any glory found. They are the ultimate treasure and two have already been taken. As such, Locke keeps the others close to him, acting as a fierce protector. In fact, his responsibility in protecting them explains a lot of behaviors, including his willingness to swallow his pride and bend a knee to higher figures. He'd much rather deal with a wounded ego than remove his remaining friends from his life.

The second method is to attack his freedom. Locke has lived his entire life in an abundance of choice. He was the chosen leader of his small gang, set to dictate the goings-on and schemes for their jobs. Before that, he was the miscreant with a flare for the dramatic, setting his own plots in motion and riding out the consequences. Simply put, he has never felt bound by a responsibility other than to his friends and he prefers it that way. When given free-reign he is joyous, exuberant and at the top of his game. Try to take that away and he'll attempt to outmaneuver. If that doesn't work, well. He'll try anyway. Locke is nothing if not stubborn and it goes against his blood to lie down when he could fight.

Most of the time, that is. In cases of extreme tragedy-such as, say, the death of his friends-Locke hits the bottom of the barrel. Guilt overrides him and leads him into a spiral of suicidal tendencies. He slips into alcoholism, rejects help and wallows in his own thoughts until he becomes a shadow of himself. While this hasn't happened in the canon point I'm taking him from, it does later on in the book and is worth noting.

That being said, he doesn't take such hostile acts lightly. Locke is from the streets of Camorr and the Camorri obsession of blood for blood is strong within him. Every hostile act against him, every vile wrong, deserves an attack of equal viciousness. Locke is a strong believer in revenge but doesn't necessarily enjoy it. It's a conflict between conviction and reason: he doesn't charge for vengeance because he's deluded it will make his feelings go away. He moves after it simply because it's an unwritten rule of the streets and that's the closest thing to justice he has. It settles things, or at least that's what he tells himself, but there's no real satisfaction. No closure. It's an empty victory that leaves him more hollow than when he started.

This is because Locke is a thief, not a murderer at heart. Sure, there have been a few accidents where deaths have been caused but Locke, at his core, takes no pleasure in death. In a way, he's been surrounded by it his entire life; it sickens him. Haunts him. And yet he keeps going back to it as a method of revenge-a custom native to the streets of his city. He returns to it due to Camorr and the belief that it stems. A belief that states there are no other options save an arrow through the heart for a wrongdoing committed. It's how Camorri work and, in turn, it's how Locke works whether he truly condones it or not. If he were to go against such a truth of his heritage, it would remove it from him and after that, what would he have left? His city is just as much a part of him as anything else.

In fact, it's something he barely thought about before he met Father Chains, the aptly named father-figure in his life. Sold to him at a young age, Locke was then shaped by Father Chains (in the company of a few other children) to reject certain ways of the Camorri streets. Killing, for example, became a sin in his household and Locke learned to feel guilt for the deed. He taught him a variety of rules, taught him language and cooking and gave him all the tools he'd need to be a successful con-man. Due to this training, Locke has a broad vocabulary, an expansive knowledge of etiquette and can assume the appearance of a perfect gentleman at will. Essentially trained as an actor, he can forge new identities on a whim or plan them meticulously, depending on the need.

However, constantly switching identities does pay a toll. Locke has so many aliases and told so many lies that he's caught up in them, unable to remember who he really is. While he doesn't think much about that, it still shines through in how he interacts with people. Only the people closest to him know the name Locke Lamora and even those select few don't know his true name. Everyone else gets a false name, carefully built through months or years of work to seem like a real person. Paranoia, it turns out, is not easy to shake and shake it he never does. It's another street instinct Chains failed to train out of him. He doesn't trust easily, always choosing suspicion first. He keeps a blade close, just in case, and his tongue sharp to those he doesn't know.

POWER:

SHAPESHIFTING What it says on the box. Locke will be able to shapeshift into different people of his own imagining as well as take the form of other people so long as he knows their name. Both will have a time limit of three hours and a "cooldown" period of a day in between. He can also only turn into male forms.

HOLE-Y POCKETS The power to gain invisible holes in every pocket he has. Money will always fall out of it. Activated at all times.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING The power to summon a full-scale illusionary (think holographic) production of The Republic of Thieves (a fictional play from the book), fitted with costumes, actors, intermissions and raucous applause. The illusion only stops when the full play has been performed.

〈 CHARACTER SAMPLES 〉
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:
My dear ladies and gentlemen, allow me to entertain you with a question. Or perhaps "discussion" would be a better word. Either way, allow me to talk about something we all find invariably important: money.

Now, there's no doubt this city and the rest of its ilk have an amazing array of wonderful toys and knick-knacks. [He wiggles his fingers.] All sorts of things worthy of Ooohs and Ahs, for certain. Yet let me pose you a question: is it really better?

I'm talking, of course, about money. Where's the good hard stuff? The mint, the coinage? Where's all the cold hard cash? Not this-[he holds up a stack of 20s, smacking it with the back of a hand.]-decrepit excuse for currency! It has no spine! No strength! It doesn't have that satisfying weight in your palm and-perhaps most importantly-it doesn't go clinky-clink in my purse.

And don't get me started on these "credit cards". Bah!

What I'm asking, ladies and gentlemen, isn't the simple question of which is better. I know. No, what I'm asking is why not change it up? Why keep this stiff, efficient system? It's too controlled! Too neat! Let's make things a bit messier. Savvy?

Crooked Warden knows it'd be good for my business.

LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE: TDM!

FINAL NOTES: In game, he'll be introducing himself as a number of different aliases. Leocanto Kosta, Lukas Fehrwight, Len Johns, to name a few.