Character app for mayfield_rpg
Name: Izzy
Personal LJ: izzyryu
Contact Info: AIM: izzyryu
email: torawashi [at] gmail [dot] com
Character Name: Roger "Verbal" Kint
Character Series: The Usual Suspects
Character Age: Not specified in canon; approximately 40
Wikipedia entries:
The Usual Suspects
Keyser Soze.
Background (Pre-movie): Verbal, a mediocre con artist notable for a limp caused by cerebral palsy, first appeared on the scene in 1992 (three years before the beginning of the movie), in a New York lockup. He hadn't lived in New York very long; he'd fled Chicago after he got caught running three-card monte. By his own admission he was not the best thief, and before long he was caught again. He met one Dean Keaton in lockup, and three years later the man vouched for him when five felons got together for a police lineup. To hear Verbal tell it, he did a lot of traveling, everywhere from Skokie Illinois to Guatemala, to a new city when things got too hot, living from one score to the next. With the exception of his uncle Randall in Arizona, he had no family, and wasn't particularly close to anyone.
The problem with this is that Verbal Kint doesn't actually exist.
Verbal Kint is a front for the infamous Keyser Soze, a legendary figure in the criminal underworld. He uses the identity of the seemingly harmless Kint to get close to his enemies, to gather information, and to keep his own legend alive.
"He's supposed to be Turkish. Some say his father was German. Nobody believed he was real. Nobody ever saw him or knew anybody that ever worked directly for him, but to hear Kobayashi tell it, anybody could have worked for Soze. You never knew. That was his power." --Verbal
Soze got his start in Turkey, making his initial fortune by running drugs locally. The incident that created his legend began when a Hungarian gang decided they wanted Soze's territory. To get it, they broke into his house, and held his wife and children hostage. Soze responded by killing his own wife and family and all but one of the Hungarians, saying that "he would rather see his family dead than live another day after this." He lets one Hungarian go to spread the story, waits until the funeral of his wife and children are over, then destroys everything and everyone that the gang knows.
After that, he disappeared, only existing in rumor.
"He becomes a myth, a spook story that criminals tell their kids at night. 'Rat on your pop, Keyser Soze will get you.' And nobody really ever believes." --Verbal
He likely left Turkey for Pakistan after his disappearance, and began to expand his operations from drug running to smuggling and arms dealing. This was likely when he first came across Dean Keaton, and where he first met the man who would become his second in command, the lawyer Verbal referred to as "Kobayashi."
"In nineteen-eighty one, Mr. Keaton, you participated in the hijacking of a truck in Buffalo, New York. The cargo was raw steel. Steel that belonged to Mr. Soze and was destined for Pakistan to be used in a Nuclear reactor. A very profitable violation of U.N. Regulations." --Kobayashi
In 1981, he would have barely left Turkey. It's quite likely that the deal wrecked by Keaton's hijacking nearly cost Soze everything. It would certainly explain why Soze would keep an accounting of that debt for over a decade. Soze also acquired a great deal of political influence over the next ten years, able to influence the police in both New York and Los Angeles. A likely explanation would be that he expanded his operations into information brokering as well, gaining a great deal of influence through blackmail and bribery.
Personality: One has to describe the mask of Verbal Kint before discussing the personality of Keyser Soze, since Verbal only very rarely lets his mask drop.
"Verbal" gets his nickname from the stream of consciousness rambling that is his trademark. He fills conversations with a seemingly endless stream of unrelated chatter, telling stories about people he's met and places he's been, and he generally has to be forced back onto the topic at hand. Most people who are forced to deal with it assume it's just mindless, nervous babble, but it's just an act. It's a common grifter's trick to irritate, distract and misdirect. The marks are so busy with the chatter that they don't consider what's behind it, and often end up gravely underestimating Verbal.
It's easy to tell if Verbal respects you enough to deal with you straight (or at least, as straight as he ever gets). That's when he gets quiet. with other criminals in particular, he's content to sit at the bottom of the totem pole, playing the meek sidekick to the more dangerous criminals. He keeps his eyes down and his voice quiet when dealing with Keaton the others. He knows he's the odd man out; a mediocre thief among hard-core criminals, and he's careful not to step on any toes. The others' casual attitude towards death and killing seems to bother him, but he's willing to kill if he has to.
Stripped of the false personality of Verbal Kint, Soze has an arrogance that borders on megalomaniacal. He's obsessed with his own legend, and his first priority is making sure that the name Keyser Soze will always be feared. He's willing to kill an entire ship full of men to silence a single man that knows his true identity, and he's willing to allow himself to be arrested, almost ruining everything just so he can spread the story of Keyser Soze just a little bit further. Soze's reputation for ruthlessness is well-earned as well; he's quite willing to threaten the lives of innocent family or even children to get what he wants. He's one who is keenly aware of the debts that are owed to him, and can carry a grudge for decades. And he does it all behind the facade of a weak-willed cripple.
Abilities: Verbal possesses no supernatural abilites, but he is a talented man nonetheless. He's a decent shot with a gun, and has enough knowledge of both short-term cons and slight of hand to make a convincing con artist.
He's an accomplished liar and actor, with a talent for improvising and adapting. In The Usual Suspects, he was able to essentially invent the events of the movie himself, twisting the real story of what happened on the boat and the events that lead up to it with no preparation other than a few minutes' glance at a disorganized bulletin board. He's very good at reading people while giving nothing away himself, adapting his responses and his persona according to what will best manipulate the situation. He has a sharp mind; he needs it to keep his mask from slipping, and to organize the literally world-spanning organization that he controls as Keyser Soze.
He has a skill with languages, and can pick them up to the point where it's impossible to tell it's not his native language, if his ability with English is any indication. His native language is Turkish, and he can speak English, Urdu (from his time in Pakistan), Hungarian (dealing with rival mobsters in Turkey), and Spanish (drug smuggling contacts in the US). He's also much stronger than he looks, as evidenced by the fact that he was able to shove a length of broken pipe right through McManus's spinal column near the end of the movie.
To call Verbal strong-willed would be a vast understatement.
"...to be in power you didn't need guns or money or even numbers. You just needed the will to do what the other guy wouldn't." -- Verbal
"Soze looks over the faces of his family... Then he showed these men of will what will really was." --Verbal
There is quite literally nothing that he isn't willing to do to stay on top. The very thing that created his legend was the fact that he willingly murdered his wife and children rather than surrender his territory to the Hungarian mob. And not only does he have the will, he has the intelligence to know when to stay his hand. His disappearance after slaughtering the mob and everyone they knew only made his legend grow even faster.
Sample Entry: He knew something was wrong before he even opened his eyes. There was someone in the room with him. In the bed with him. He could hear them breathing, deep and regular.
Orospu çocuğu.
He allows himself a few seconds of anger, letting it flood his brain before forcing it down again. His own breathing is still deep and regular, his eyes still closed. Slowly, his hand moves, silently and casually, slipping between the mattress and box spring.
...his gun isn't there.
Now his eyes snap open; now his heart starts to hammer in his chest. They couldn't have found him this quickly. They couldn--wait.
This isn't his hotel room. It looks like something out of Leave it to Beaver in fact, complete with 50s decor and black and white photos of...
"...Oh what the fuck. Is that me?"
Notes: Soze will still be using his "Verbal" identity in Mayfield, complete with fake limp I'd prefer to have the NPCs and such calling him "Roger" or "Verbal", since people knowing his real name tends to result in Soze flipping out and killing people. >_>
Personal LJ: izzyryu
Contact Info: AIM: izzyryu
email: torawashi [at] gmail [dot] com
Character Name: Roger "Verbal" Kint
Character Series: The Usual Suspects
Character Age: Not specified in canon; approximately 40
Wikipedia entries:
The Usual Suspects
Keyser Soze.
Background (Pre-movie): Verbal, a mediocre con artist notable for a limp caused by cerebral palsy, first appeared on the scene in 1992 (three years before the beginning of the movie), in a New York lockup. He hadn't lived in New York very long; he'd fled Chicago after he got caught running three-card monte. By his own admission he was not the best thief, and before long he was caught again. He met one Dean Keaton in lockup, and three years later the man vouched for him when five felons got together for a police lineup. To hear Verbal tell it, he did a lot of traveling, everywhere from Skokie Illinois to Guatemala, to a new city when things got too hot, living from one score to the next. With the exception of his uncle Randall in Arizona, he had no family, and wasn't particularly close to anyone.
The problem with this is that Verbal Kint doesn't actually exist.
Verbal Kint is a front for the infamous Keyser Soze, a legendary figure in the criminal underworld. He uses the identity of the seemingly harmless Kint to get close to his enemies, to gather information, and to keep his own legend alive.
"He's supposed to be Turkish. Some say his father was German. Nobody believed he was real. Nobody ever saw him or knew anybody that ever worked directly for him, but to hear Kobayashi tell it, anybody could have worked for Soze. You never knew. That was his power." --Verbal
Soze got his start in Turkey, making his initial fortune by running drugs locally. The incident that created his legend began when a Hungarian gang decided they wanted Soze's territory. To get it, they broke into his house, and held his wife and children hostage. Soze responded by killing his own wife and family and all but one of the Hungarians, saying that "he would rather see his family dead than live another day after this." He lets one Hungarian go to spread the story, waits until the funeral of his wife and children are over, then destroys everything and everyone that the gang knows.
After that, he disappeared, only existing in rumor.
"He becomes a myth, a spook story that criminals tell their kids at night. 'Rat on your pop, Keyser Soze will get you.' And nobody really ever believes." --Verbal
He likely left Turkey for Pakistan after his disappearance, and began to expand his operations from drug running to smuggling and arms dealing. This was likely when he first came across Dean Keaton, and where he first met the man who would become his second in command, the lawyer Verbal referred to as "Kobayashi."
"In nineteen-eighty one, Mr. Keaton, you participated in the hijacking of a truck in Buffalo, New York. The cargo was raw steel. Steel that belonged to Mr. Soze and was destined for Pakistan to be used in a Nuclear reactor. A very profitable violation of U.N. Regulations." --Kobayashi
In 1981, he would have barely left Turkey. It's quite likely that the deal wrecked by Keaton's hijacking nearly cost Soze everything. It would certainly explain why Soze would keep an accounting of that debt for over a decade. Soze also acquired a great deal of political influence over the next ten years, able to influence the police in both New York and Los Angeles. A likely explanation would be that he expanded his operations into information brokering as well, gaining a great deal of influence through blackmail and bribery.
Personality: One has to describe the mask of Verbal Kint before discussing the personality of Keyser Soze, since Verbal only very rarely lets his mask drop.
"Verbal" gets his nickname from the stream of consciousness rambling that is his trademark. He fills conversations with a seemingly endless stream of unrelated chatter, telling stories about people he's met and places he's been, and he generally has to be forced back onto the topic at hand. Most people who are forced to deal with it assume it's just mindless, nervous babble, but it's just an act. It's a common grifter's trick to irritate, distract and misdirect. The marks are so busy with the chatter that they don't consider what's behind it, and often end up gravely underestimating Verbal.
It's easy to tell if Verbal respects you enough to deal with you straight (or at least, as straight as he ever gets). That's when he gets quiet. with other criminals in particular, he's content to sit at the bottom of the totem pole, playing the meek sidekick to the more dangerous criminals. He keeps his eyes down and his voice quiet when dealing with Keaton the others. He knows he's the odd man out; a mediocre thief among hard-core criminals, and he's careful not to step on any toes. The others' casual attitude towards death and killing seems to bother him, but he's willing to kill if he has to.
Stripped of the false personality of Verbal Kint, Soze has an arrogance that borders on megalomaniacal. He's obsessed with his own legend, and his first priority is making sure that the name Keyser Soze will always be feared. He's willing to kill an entire ship full of men to silence a single man that knows his true identity, and he's willing to allow himself to be arrested, almost ruining everything just so he can spread the story of Keyser Soze just a little bit further. Soze's reputation for ruthlessness is well-earned as well; he's quite willing to threaten the lives of innocent family or even children to get what he wants. He's one who is keenly aware of the debts that are owed to him, and can carry a grudge for decades. And he does it all behind the facade of a weak-willed cripple.
Abilities: Verbal possesses no supernatural abilites, but he is a talented man nonetheless. He's a decent shot with a gun, and has enough knowledge of both short-term cons and slight of hand to make a convincing con artist.
He's an accomplished liar and actor, with a talent for improvising and adapting. In The Usual Suspects, he was able to essentially invent the events of the movie himself, twisting the real story of what happened on the boat and the events that lead up to it with no preparation other than a few minutes' glance at a disorganized bulletin board. He's very good at reading people while giving nothing away himself, adapting his responses and his persona according to what will best manipulate the situation. He has a sharp mind; he needs it to keep his mask from slipping, and to organize the literally world-spanning organization that he controls as Keyser Soze.
He has a skill with languages, and can pick them up to the point where it's impossible to tell it's not his native language, if his ability with English is any indication. His native language is Turkish, and he can speak English, Urdu (from his time in Pakistan), Hungarian (dealing with rival mobsters in Turkey), and Spanish (drug smuggling contacts in the US). He's also much stronger than he looks, as evidenced by the fact that he was able to shove a length of broken pipe right through McManus's spinal column near the end of the movie.
To call Verbal strong-willed would be a vast understatement.
"...to be in power you didn't need guns or money or even numbers. You just needed the will to do what the other guy wouldn't." -- Verbal
"Soze looks over the faces of his family... Then he showed these men of will what will really was." --Verbal
There is quite literally nothing that he isn't willing to do to stay on top. The very thing that created his legend was the fact that he willingly murdered his wife and children rather than surrender his territory to the Hungarian mob. And not only does he have the will, he has the intelligence to know when to stay his hand. His disappearance after slaughtering the mob and everyone they knew only made his legend grow even faster.
Sample Entry: He knew something was wrong before he even opened his eyes. There was someone in the room with him. In the bed with him. He could hear them breathing, deep and regular.
Orospu çocuğu.
He allows himself a few seconds of anger, letting it flood his brain before forcing it down again. His own breathing is still deep and regular, his eyes still closed. Slowly, his hand moves, silently and casually, slipping between the mattress and box spring.
...his gun isn't there.
Now his eyes snap open; now his heart starts to hammer in his chest. They couldn't have found him this quickly. They couldn--wait.
This isn't his hotel room. It looks like something out of Leave it to Beaver in fact, complete with 50s decor and black and white photos of...
"...Oh what the fuck. Is that me?"
Notes: Soze will still be using his "Verbal" identity in Mayfield, complete with fake limp I'd prefer to have the NPCs and such calling him "Roger" or "Verbal", since people knowing his real name tends to result in Soze flipping out and killing people. >_>