ooc
Player Name: Morgan or Insaneiac
Player LJ: Insaneiac
Email and/or AIM: Email: Solid_snake_Xtreme(at)hotmail(dot)com/AIM: theinsaneiac, tehmorgasm
Timezone: (GMT -8:00) Pacific Time
Other Characters: None
Character: Jackie Estacado, AKA the Darkness
Series/Fandom: The Darkness
Deviance: It follows the game-verse, which is more recent than the comics, so a Deviance 2. Not played here by anyone else. The game's portrayal of the main character, as well as the plot, are quite a bit different from the comic book version. Further details in the Psychology and History sections accordingly.
Age: 21
Gender: Male
Species: Human.
Appearance: http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h218/Insaneiac/JackieEstacado.jpg?t=1212440525. On top of that, he is also the host of the Darkness. You can get an idea for what that looks like with this picture. http://ui06.gamespot.com/261/thedarknessultimatecover_2.jpg
Psychology: Jackie Estacado is a rather complex individual when one gets down to it. Firstly, to understand his personage, you would need to know that he is a contract killer for the mafia. A very proficient and feared one with a startling high success rate and a reputation that speaks for itself. Despite only just turning twenty one a few weeks ago, he has all the makings of a veteran contract killer. He has a keen awareness to his surroundings, registering every movement, noise, and scent with each area. He has a natural sense of targets in a firefight, making it easy for him to keep track of who is in the room, and which of them are hostile. He speaks very little during jobs, only when it is absolutely necessary. He can maintain a steady focus on any given objective, but keep it wide enough to incorporate and adjust to any sudden changes with a fluid like response. He has absolutely no whim about killing, which is not so unnatural given his profession, but will kill even if a person is already in the midst of dying, just to ensure that his tracks are covered and to make sure everything is done cleanly and completely. Thorough and dilligent.
He is very aware of just how damned he is, to the point where he is at least semi comfortable with his fate. Even when things hit the fan and he suddenly finds himself in the worst possible situation, Jackie maintains an aura of control and calm, and approaches each situation intelligently and swiftly, drawing very damaging end results for whatever goes up against him. He is a generally detached individual, coming off as ice cold in many circumstances. But he can and does get angry at times. An important thing to note is, unlike most other killers, he will not let his emotions override his own performance. Even if he is swallowed by a furious rage, he is still always performing in a cool and calculated manner. If anything, it just makes him more ruthless and a bigger threat.
He does have an emotional side to him, which is embodied in his girlfriend, Jenny. And despite her death, she still has an effect over him. Throughout the course of the game, his drive and purpose were the direct result of her death. In almost all of the narrative FMVs, Jackie is talking to what could only be her memory, dictating his next step and intent to her.
Jackie has a habit of twitching his hands when he doesn’t have his guns, sometimes small twitches, sometimes clearly noticeable ones. Each and every twitch is related to his own killer urges. The pulling of a trigger, and pulling back a hammer, the cocking it to the side, holstering and drawing, loading bullets into a chamber, slipping bullets into a clip. Each and every motion is a part of a procedure involving a firearm. While it might look like an obscure nervous twitch to most onlookers, in reality is he keeping within his element even when out of it.
And other times, he will play with his guns, as if they were toys or friends. Recently, he has taken to spending time examining his weapons of choice, a pair of ornately designed 9mm pistols that were given to him on his twenty first birthday, and will often practice his own brand of gun-kata. He also has a habit of talking with his hands, making little gestures or motions to go with his words. He tends to reminisce when he’s alone or talking to Jenny’s memory, often about seemingly inconsequential things. He also has a profound love of the subway, often describing its more obscure traits, like the way it smells, or childhood impressions of it.
He has a lot of respect for what is generally referred to as “the old ways”. And has a great deal of respect for the older people within the Mafia, known as the Old Guard. A clear example of this is when he needs to ask his aunt Sarah for her blessing to bring an end to Jenny’s murderers, a task he has fully committed himself to long before ever having the chance to speak with her. He will also, despite his cold demeanor, help out people in need. He’s a pretty well known person, and more than a few count him as a friend, even if he doesn’t exactly return that friendship.
And then, there is the things living inside of Jackie. The Darkness. Jackie himself is an intimidating person to go up again, but it's the Darkness that truly defines him as the threat he had become to Uncle Paulie and his operation.
“In the beginning there was darkness; a cold emptiness that held nothing. Then came the Light which ignited the universe and tore the darkness from the nothingness. In the aftermath of the fires of creation, the universe spawned three primal forces that compose an elemental trinity.
The Power of Order
The Power of Balance
The Power of Chaos and Creation
The latter power is rumored to be the physical manifestation of the darkness that preceded creation and thus, came to be called, The Darkness”
The Darkness is, like it sounds, the timeless embodiment of the entire world’s darkness. It is cruel, bloodthirsty, and always hungry. As powerful as it makes Jackie Estacado, it can be considered his most fundamental weaknesses due to the control it has over him. And while it may seem like a symbiotic relationship in some way, shape or form, in reality it is not. The Darkness owns Jackie. He is its host. And through it, uses Jackie as a physical presence within the world.
It is sadistic and twisted in nature, but it is also darkly soothing. It swerves between extremes, sometimes quietly placating the host and other times berating and demanding nothing short of absolute obedience. In truth, the Darkness wants only to continue its own existence. And while it won't let Jackie die an easy death, it would rather Jackie not have to die at all. To that end, it incorporates the elements of Estacado's lifestyle into its control scheme.
The Darkness is also intent on making Jackie aware of just how much a puppet he is. While it gives him the full ability to control the dark and shadows, it will cripple him and force him to watch things he could have otherwise stopped. It made him watch as Jenny was murdered in front of him, restricting him from moving too much and forcing his eyes open. And only after the gun was turn on him did it strike, intent on protecting its host. Furthermore, it has the ability now to take full control of him, though this is only when the situation absolutely calls for it.
It also makes a point of taunting and goading Jackie, often by telling him how Jenny is inside of it, rotting away. It uses these to spur him closer and closer towards his own goal, so that it can assume its role as master and use Jackie to its own end.
Its favorite food is the hearts of horrible people and undead WW1 German zombies. I am not making this up.
General Skills/Abilities: First and foremost, he is top tier threat alone with just a pair of guns. Thanks to his natural awareness and finely tuned senses, he has an incredible sense of gun related skills. Quick on draws and reloads, great accuracy and great reflexes. He moves quickly and silently, often sticking to shadows and cover. Highly proficient in almost all types of firearms, and most importantly, extremely fatal in close quarters. He is a master of quick and absolutely effective execution style moves. He has a good measure of hand-to-hand fighting, but only uses it when necessary and only using it to the extent that it is needed, not wasting time on flashy moves.
Then there is the Darkness. Firstly, this gives him complete cognitive control over any shadow or source of darkness. Secondly, he is able to summon forth a large number of tendrils and a pair of serpent heads with razor sharp teeth and thousands of eyes. These act by their own volition, and can stretch out from him and attack his enemies, often going for instantly fatal blows, such as ripping off their throats and jaws, or devouring their hearts. The tendrils allow him to smack people away, ensnare and entangle them, and throw them like weapons, while a very large one, referred to as the demonic arm, allows him to impale them for instant death, and lift things with ease and hurl them just as easily. He can also use them to create black holes that will draw in all matter around it and begin to tear it asunder. He can also detonate these black holes, creating vorpal explosions that will send what’s left flying.
Further more, he can control the darkness around him however he sees fit, turning it into weapons or traps or spiky protrusions. This also includes creating sentient life out of it, referred to as Darklings. These creatures are beings of pure sadism and evil. They take pleasure in killing and maiming anything within the general vicinity, and while they can be held off for a while by Jackie and the Darkness, it is still a being of its own. After a while, it will want to satiate its lust for destruction and chaos.
The Darkness is also capable of protecting Jackie from almost all forms of oncoming pain, so long as there is darkness around them to draw energy from. And should Jackie kill himself or get himself killed, they can recreate and fix him from even the littlest trace of his existence. The only alteration to this is if Jackie kills himself on holy ground, in which case, he goes to the Otherworld. The Darkness’ realm. Otherwise known as Hell.
General Weaknesses: Jackie himself is really human. So he’s not going to have superhuman speed or strength, and a bullet to the head can and will kill him, so long as the Darkness isn’t out. The Darkness, however, is dreadfully weak against the light. While it can be used in the light, it can only exist for a very short time before it is banished, and its uses are extremely weakened. Some of this weakness has carried over onto Jackie, who has extra sensitivity to extreme light, such as flash bang grenades.
History: When Jackie Estacado was a young child, his mother and father were killed. A classic beginning. He was placed into St. Mary’s Orphanage, a place known for its strict religious qualities and for taking care of both regular and special needs orphans. Despite having a very hard time in this atmosphere, in no small part due to the staffs uncaring of who Jackie's family was, Jackie became very close with another orphan, Jenny Romano. Over the year they became truly inseperable, until he was adopted by Paulie Franchetti, better known as “Uncle” Paulie. Jackie refers to this moment as “Being saved from the sharks by a grizzly bear.”
That was when he joined the mafia and started becoming a Hit man. He grew into this role quickly and effectively, growing up into the seasoned contract killer we know today. During these years, he lost he had his first kiss in the subway from a hooker named Candy, and shortly thereafter loss his virginity to the very same. He became a fundamental part in Paulie’s organization, picking up drug money and rubbing out people that had no place. However, he would constantly call Paulie on his way of running the business, challenging him on many points that contradicted and insulted the old ways. This dragged on over the years, putting more and more strife between them and setting the scene for a war.
On the relationship between Paulie and Jackie, it was tense to say the very best. Both in a family sense and in a business sense. They had their moments every couple of years, but for the most part they were at odds. At some point between being adopted and his twenty first birthday, he found Jenny Romano, now a teenager. It took only a short while for them to become deeply romantically involved. In her, Jackie found the things that were worth living for, even if he was living a dark and damned life.
Then came the day of his twenty first birthday. Where his entire life went to absolute shit. It starts with trying to do a pickup of some collection money, and winds up with Jackie catching a hammy fist to the face and some darkness of his own. Him and the boys he had been rolling with made a quick getaway after that.
On route to the next job, everything starts going wrong. And by the end of it, he finds out the hard way that Paulie has put out a massive hit on him, and wants him to be dead by the end of the night. He makes it out of the first attempt, and as he begins to make his getaway, it awakens inside of him. A would be ambush by a well armed bunch of killers turns into a bloodied massacre as Jackie rips them apart quite literally. But it wasn't going to be that easy. The cops, thanks to Paulie’s police pet Captain Shrote, has let his dogs loose as well, and it seems like everyone and everything with ties to the Franchetti crime family is out for blood.
Despite this, he makes his way through the night and numerous hitmen to his girlfriend, Jenny. The love of his life and the one solitary light in his world of darkness. They have a celebration to honor his birthday, where Jackie tells her everything. What happened, what life he leads, the blood on his hands, everything. And while she’s serious about it at first, when he finishes his explanation she brushes it off as one of his crazy stories. The two spend the rest of the night together until Jenny falls asleep. That’s when Jackie leaves to discuss business with Butcher Joyce. Business as in how to bring down the wrath of the Chicago Families on Paulie.
Taking his advice, Jackie aims to take down Paulie’s big drug operation. However, before he could start, the police are on him like stink on shit. Despite superior numbers, they were no match for Jackie and the Darkness. Within a short time, there was a pathway of dead police and bullet casings leading to Dutch Oven Harry’s establishment. Pretending to be a druggie to get in, Jackie slaughters everyone involved and disappears into the subway tunnels, content with having dealt a decisive blow to the Franchetti crime family.
And he dealt one right back by blowing up St. Mary’s Orphanage, killing Sister Mary and several children. Jackie responded in kind, storming the center of Paulie’s operation in Grinder’s Lane and torching money that was due to the Chicago Families. If the first blow was enough to cause Paulie to put on a big show, the second one was enough to cut into the Don. And as the saying goes, an eye for an eye.
Upon returning, Jackie finds out that Paulie and Shrote made off with her into the now ruined orphanage. Jackie, packing heat, darkness, and a tranquil fury unmatched, stormed his way into the orphanage, where he beheld ghostly visions of his life within, and of his life with Jenny as kids. When he was just about to reach her, to save her, the Darkness took over. After restricting him and crippling him, it marched him over to the nearby door to watch as Jenny was killed just in front of him. Unable to stop them due to the Darkness deliberately restraining him, he commits suicide out of sheer emotional devestation, noting in the narrative that "That... well, that was the first time I died."
He finds himself in the Otherworld, the realm of the Darkness with patchwork undead beings in World War I outfits fighting each other, and physical manifestations of the Four Horsemen. He fights his way out of the trenches, now strengthen by the Darkness evolving and growing from all the blood his host had spilled. By escaping to the village, he meets his great-great-grandfather Anthony Estacado, who admits that it was he that brought the Darkness into the family, and begins to guide Jackie on how to free himself of the Darkness' pull. But first, he needed to equip himself with something that could hurt the Darkness, something that was made to put the host and the Darkness on somewhat equal footing.
He collected these guns on a desolate stretch of wasteland called the Hills, given to him by the crucified on the Cross, a physical representation of the Horseman of Death. With these guns, he was able to make his way to an absolutely massive and mobile artillery cannon, the representation of War. By fighting his way through and taking control of this cannon, he is able to stow the fire upon the trenches, and open the door to the castle. However, Jackie is interrupted in his journey through the Otherworld and brought back to the living. The Darkness had, as he put it, "fixed his broken head-ball".
A message from Anthony made it clear to Jackie. To continue this quest, he had to kill himself on holy ground.
Once he recovers, he determines, with the blessing of Aunt Sarah, that he must dispose of Chief Shrote before he can face Paulie. He makes his way to Gun Hill, where Shrote lives. His initial attempt to rub out the dirty cop breaks down into a chase through the apartment, and then across rooftops and through a police department. Unfortunately for Shrote, the police are massacred ruthlessly, not slowing Jackie down even a step. After breaking out onto the roof, Jackie is forced to flee when a helicopter opens fire, destroying the rooftop. While Shrote gets away, he takes an enormous blow to his staff. And while he is faking confidence with numbers backing him, he knows one thing. He’s next on the list.
Taking the advice of Butcher, Jackie’s next attack leads him through an abandoned subway and into the old Turkish Baths, where Shrote is hiding away a briefcase full of compromising evidence. After tearing through the formidable resistance, Jackie takes his prize in the briefcase. The perfect bait for a crooked cop. He made his way back out the way he came, destroying a full SWAT team with relative ease and even bringing down the same attack helicopter that tried to off him at the police station before escaping with a can of worms. And Shrote begins to sweat.
After rigging the briefcase with a gift similar to Paulie’s earlier in, Jackie sets up a meet with Shrote. The place? Trinity Church. The place where Jenny was buried. Holy ground.
The meeting was a set up, which Jackie was betting on, and once again the cops paid the price, being tossed around and destroyed by Jackie. Shrote had come prepared though, and loosed a handful of flash-bang grenades. When Jackie came back to, he was tied up and had floodlights on him to make sure whatever was in him stayed in him. After a torture session that ended abruptly due to poor equipment, Jackie lured two other officers into spilling details about Paulie’s organization, and giving him brief amounts of shade from the floodlight. And after getting enough energy back, he struck out with a single demonic arm and triggered the explosive, killing Shrote and his men along with himself, the narrative noting that "that was the second time I died."
Jackie re-awakes in the Otherworld, exactly where he had left. He makes his way back Anthony, in hopes of finding ammunition for his brand new cannon. The two of them storm the undead Germans front line in a tank, driving through all sorts of madness and meeting it in kind with copious amounts of ammunition. Just before reaching it, however, they are attacked be a massive goliath of the Darkness, who fatally wounds Anthony. Jackie, still at the guns on the tank, takes the creature down when it turns upon him. Jackie rushes to Anthony to listen to his last words but before he can tell Jackie the secret to the Darkness and just what it actually is, the Darkness has him silenced.
After taking the shell back to the cannon and blowing open the doors to the castle, Jackie sacrifices all the power he had gained, much to the Darkness’ fury. The powers manifest themselves in a dark and rotted form of Jackie, revealing itself as the Darkness. He faces the Darkness without his powers, and after a short battle that drained away some of its power, he surprises it by willingly being taken by the Darkness's power, allowing him to fully control the spirit back in the real world. However, the Darkness tells him that, while he has control now, each time Jackie takes a life, he will become more consumed by the Darkness. They are to be one now.
He wakes up in the destroyed ruins of the orphanage, greeted by a ghostly visage of Jenny in her child years. He marks this as the time and place to end it all, and after taking advice from Butcher and Sarah, makes his first big move. Critically damage the drug ship the Santa Maria and putting one big, final hole in Paulie’s life raft. He lays an assault on the drug shipment, kills the captain of the boat and sets fire to a large quantity of the product being brought over. And with this, the Chicago families are set to see Paulie die.
After getting back to Sarah’s house and quelling one final raid by Paulie, he makes his way back to the pier to finish this once and for all, and finally bring vengeance upon Jenny’s killers. Finding his dear uncle out at a refurbished lighthouse mansion, Jackie takes advantage of a solar eclipse to raid the mansion, destroying every last living gangster on the island without mercy. None are left standing in his wake. Upon entering the house, the Darkness and Jackie become a single force, attacking together and tearing down everything in their path. After the dust settled, Jackie hunted down Paulie and cornered him at the top of the lighthouse.
It took two bullets. One through the heart, one through the head. And that was it. The Darkness revels in Jackie's murderous spree, and fully envelops Jackie, shouting "Now you are mine!!"
Jackie finds himself in a dream on a bench in Jenny's arms; Jenny explains that they are only allowed a few minutes to be together one last time. Jackie tries to ask how, but Jenny just quiets him, allowing them to enjoy the last moments together before Jackie wakes back up. And now completely one with the Darkness, he takes over as the Don of the Franchetti Crime Family, renaming it to the Estacado Family. Shortly after that, on a brisk walk…he walks into a store he’s never seen before.
Reality Description: Welcome to Manhattan, New York, 2007. The streets are disgusting, the walls are repulsive and full of graffiti, the subways stink of garbage, piss and burning motors, and just breathing in the air around you makes you feel like you’ve died a little inside. This wonderful place is home to dirty drugs, dirtier dealings, and the dirtiest cops. You can’t throw a can without coming in contact with someone, and half the time, that someone has connections to people that would make you regret throwing that can. While you’ll find some places that give this dirty overstuffed place a bit of shine, most of the time you’ll see what everyone else sees. Grime and crime. The subways are a kind escape from everything else that’s wrong with the place, where an unspoken truce keeps everything in working condition. That truce is simple. Don’t start shit, and neither will anyone else.
Sometimes, that truce needs a little enforcing.
Your key destinations here would be the lovely establishment within Grinder’s Lane, the corner stone of Mr. Estacado’s booming business, and the police station just off Gun Hill, which has since develop a healthy relationship with the governing family in this city. There is Trinity Cemetery and Church, which is a calm and peaceful place that has an absolute no tolerance policy. In other words, if there is ever a disturbance in this part of town, then it ends with a dip in the river with new lead boots. Finally, if you take a boat to the old lighthouse, you’ll find the Franchetti Family Estate. If you ever go there, pray it’s on only the best of terms.
But, that’s not all to this place. There is an ugly side. There’s the Otherworld. And if you’re ever there…then you’ll know Hell. The Otherworld belongs to the Darkness, and he makes it into whatever he feels like. Its current incarnation is that of a World War 1 Battlefield, filled with trenches and patchwork zombies that fight on opposite sides. Your friends are the Brits, your enemies are the Geris, and whatever the Geris have working for them. The war never ends, the dying never stops, the things that fall get right back up again, and so will you. There is no escape from here.
Most of the time.
☆ Threadhopping with this character - yes/no/maybe so?: Absolutely! I only ask that, if it's becoming a deep conversation, you run it past me first through email or AIM.
☆ Backtagging with this character - yes/no/maybe so?: Be my guest, be my guest, BEEEEEEE my guest!
☆ Hugging this character?: Sure. He's huggable. He might just think you're a little off. Or politely tell you to let go of him.
☆ Giving this character a kiss?: Sure, but he'll either think you're nuts (if it's uncalled for) or will likely push you away pretty swiftly and go on his way.
☆ Punching this character: Depends. Most of the time, he'll punch right back, blow for blow style. If you catch him at a bit of an emotional moment, he might just glare at you and mark you for something bad to happen.
If you are looking to start a fight with him, then please run it by me first. I'll likely have no problem with it, but I like to be in on these things.
☆ Is there anything ought not be mentioned near this character?: Jenny is a soft spot for him, and speaking of her in poorer light is a fast way to get a few holes in you.
☆ Is there anything you need us to know about interacting with this character? Special physical features, fighting abilities, STUFF: He has the Darkness, which will sometimes act on it's own accord. Read about his powers for more details on that. He's also got a ton of varying guns on him.
☆ Anything else, please mention here: Email/AIM me if you have any questions.
Player LJ: Insaneiac
Email and/or AIM: Email: Solid_snake_Xtreme(at)hotmail(dot)com/AIM: theinsaneiac, tehmorgasm
Timezone: (GMT -8:00) Pacific Time
Other Characters: None
Character: Jackie Estacado, AKA the Darkness
Series/Fandom: The Darkness
Deviance: It follows the game-verse, which is more recent than the comics, so a Deviance 2. Not played here by anyone else. The game's portrayal of the main character, as well as the plot, are quite a bit different from the comic book version. Further details in the Psychology and History sections accordingly.
Age: 21
Gender: Male
Species: Human.
Appearance: http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h218/Insaneiac/JackieEstacado.jpg?t=1212440525. On top of that, he is also the host of the Darkness. You can get an idea for what that looks like with this picture. http://ui06.gamespot.com/261/thedarknessultimatecover_2.jpg
Psychology: Jackie Estacado is a rather complex individual when one gets down to it. Firstly, to understand his personage, you would need to know that he is a contract killer for the mafia. A very proficient and feared one with a startling high success rate and a reputation that speaks for itself. Despite only just turning twenty one a few weeks ago, he has all the makings of a veteran contract killer. He has a keen awareness to his surroundings, registering every movement, noise, and scent with each area. He has a natural sense of targets in a firefight, making it easy for him to keep track of who is in the room, and which of them are hostile. He speaks very little during jobs, only when it is absolutely necessary. He can maintain a steady focus on any given objective, but keep it wide enough to incorporate and adjust to any sudden changes with a fluid like response. He has absolutely no whim about killing, which is not so unnatural given his profession, but will kill even if a person is already in the midst of dying, just to ensure that his tracks are covered and to make sure everything is done cleanly and completely. Thorough and dilligent.
He is very aware of just how damned he is, to the point where he is at least semi comfortable with his fate. Even when things hit the fan and he suddenly finds himself in the worst possible situation, Jackie maintains an aura of control and calm, and approaches each situation intelligently and swiftly, drawing very damaging end results for whatever goes up against him. He is a generally detached individual, coming off as ice cold in many circumstances. But he can and does get angry at times. An important thing to note is, unlike most other killers, he will not let his emotions override his own performance. Even if he is swallowed by a furious rage, he is still always performing in a cool and calculated manner. If anything, it just makes him more ruthless and a bigger threat.
He does have an emotional side to him, which is embodied in his girlfriend, Jenny. And despite her death, she still has an effect over him. Throughout the course of the game, his drive and purpose were the direct result of her death. In almost all of the narrative FMVs, Jackie is talking to what could only be her memory, dictating his next step and intent to her.
Jackie has a habit of twitching his hands when he doesn’t have his guns, sometimes small twitches, sometimes clearly noticeable ones. Each and every twitch is related to his own killer urges. The pulling of a trigger, and pulling back a hammer, the cocking it to the side, holstering and drawing, loading bullets into a chamber, slipping bullets into a clip. Each and every motion is a part of a procedure involving a firearm. While it might look like an obscure nervous twitch to most onlookers, in reality is he keeping within his element even when out of it.
And other times, he will play with his guns, as if they were toys or friends. Recently, he has taken to spending time examining his weapons of choice, a pair of ornately designed 9mm pistols that were given to him on his twenty first birthday, and will often practice his own brand of gun-kata. He also has a habit of talking with his hands, making little gestures or motions to go with his words. He tends to reminisce when he’s alone or talking to Jenny’s memory, often about seemingly inconsequential things. He also has a profound love of the subway, often describing its more obscure traits, like the way it smells, or childhood impressions of it.
He has a lot of respect for what is generally referred to as “the old ways”. And has a great deal of respect for the older people within the Mafia, known as the Old Guard. A clear example of this is when he needs to ask his aunt Sarah for her blessing to bring an end to Jenny’s murderers, a task he has fully committed himself to long before ever having the chance to speak with her. He will also, despite his cold demeanor, help out people in need. He’s a pretty well known person, and more than a few count him as a friend, even if he doesn’t exactly return that friendship.
And then, there is the things living inside of Jackie. The Darkness. Jackie himself is an intimidating person to go up again, but it's the Darkness that truly defines him as the threat he had become to Uncle Paulie and his operation.
“In the beginning there was darkness; a cold emptiness that held nothing. Then came the Light which ignited the universe and tore the darkness from the nothingness. In the aftermath of the fires of creation, the universe spawned three primal forces that compose an elemental trinity.
The Power of Order
The Power of Balance
The Power of Chaos and Creation
The latter power is rumored to be the physical manifestation of the darkness that preceded creation and thus, came to be called, The Darkness”
The Darkness is, like it sounds, the timeless embodiment of the entire world’s darkness. It is cruel, bloodthirsty, and always hungry. As powerful as it makes Jackie Estacado, it can be considered his most fundamental weaknesses due to the control it has over him. And while it may seem like a symbiotic relationship in some way, shape or form, in reality it is not. The Darkness owns Jackie. He is its host. And through it, uses Jackie as a physical presence within the world.
It is sadistic and twisted in nature, but it is also darkly soothing. It swerves between extremes, sometimes quietly placating the host and other times berating and demanding nothing short of absolute obedience. In truth, the Darkness wants only to continue its own existence. And while it won't let Jackie die an easy death, it would rather Jackie not have to die at all. To that end, it incorporates the elements of Estacado's lifestyle into its control scheme.
The Darkness is also intent on making Jackie aware of just how much a puppet he is. While it gives him the full ability to control the dark and shadows, it will cripple him and force him to watch things he could have otherwise stopped. It made him watch as Jenny was murdered in front of him, restricting him from moving too much and forcing his eyes open. And only after the gun was turn on him did it strike, intent on protecting its host. Furthermore, it has the ability now to take full control of him, though this is only when the situation absolutely calls for it.
It also makes a point of taunting and goading Jackie, often by telling him how Jenny is inside of it, rotting away. It uses these to spur him closer and closer towards his own goal, so that it can assume its role as master and use Jackie to its own end.
Its favorite food is the hearts of horrible people and undead WW1 German zombies. I am not making this up.
General Skills/Abilities: First and foremost, he is top tier threat alone with just a pair of guns. Thanks to his natural awareness and finely tuned senses, he has an incredible sense of gun related skills. Quick on draws and reloads, great accuracy and great reflexes. He moves quickly and silently, often sticking to shadows and cover. Highly proficient in almost all types of firearms, and most importantly, extremely fatal in close quarters. He is a master of quick and absolutely effective execution style moves. He has a good measure of hand-to-hand fighting, but only uses it when necessary and only using it to the extent that it is needed, not wasting time on flashy moves.
Then there is the Darkness. Firstly, this gives him complete cognitive control over any shadow or source of darkness. Secondly, he is able to summon forth a large number of tendrils and a pair of serpent heads with razor sharp teeth and thousands of eyes. These act by their own volition, and can stretch out from him and attack his enemies, often going for instantly fatal blows, such as ripping off their throats and jaws, or devouring their hearts. The tendrils allow him to smack people away, ensnare and entangle them, and throw them like weapons, while a very large one, referred to as the demonic arm, allows him to impale them for instant death, and lift things with ease and hurl them just as easily. He can also use them to create black holes that will draw in all matter around it and begin to tear it asunder. He can also detonate these black holes, creating vorpal explosions that will send what’s left flying.
Further more, he can control the darkness around him however he sees fit, turning it into weapons or traps or spiky protrusions. This also includes creating sentient life out of it, referred to as Darklings. These creatures are beings of pure sadism and evil. They take pleasure in killing and maiming anything within the general vicinity, and while they can be held off for a while by Jackie and the Darkness, it is still a being of its own. After a while, it will want to satiate its lust for destruction and chaos.
The Darkness is also capable of protecting Jackie from almost all forms of oncoming pain, so long as there is darkness around them to draw energy from. And should Jackie kill himself or get himself killed, they can recreate and fix him from even the littlest trace of his existence. The only alteration to this is if Jackie kills himself on holy ground, in which case, he goes to the Otherworld. The Darkness’ realm. Otherwise known as Hell.
General Weaknesses: Jackie himself is really human. So he’s not going to have superhuman speed or strength, and a bullet to the head can and will kill him, so long as the Darkness isn’t out. The Darkness, however, is dreadfully weak against the light. While it can be used in the light, it can only exist for a very short time before it is banished, and its uses are extremely weakened. Some of this weakness has carried over onto Jackie, who has extra sensitivity to extreme light, such as flash bang grenades.
History: When Jackie Estacado was a young child, his mother and father were killed. A classic beginning. He was placed into St. Mary’s Orphanage, a place known for its strict religious qualities and for taking care of both regular and special needs orphans. Despite having a very hard time in this atmosphere, in no small part due to the staffs uncaring of who Jackie's family was, Jackie became very close with another orphan, Jenny Romano. Over the year they became truly inseperable, until he was adopted by Paulie Franchetti, better known as “Uncle” Paulie. Jackie refers to this moment as “Being saved from the sharks by a grizzly bear.”
That was when he joined the mafia and started becoming a Hit man. He grew into this role quickly and effectively, growing up into the seasoned contract killer we know today. During these years, he lost he had his first kiss in the subway from a hooker named Candy, and shortly thereafter loss his virginity to the very same. He became a fundamental part in Paulie’s organization, picking up drug money and rubbing out people that had no place. However, he would constantly call Paulie on his way of running the business, challenging him on many points that contradicted and insulted the old ways. This dragged on over the years, putting more and more strife between them and setting the scene for a war.
On the relationship between Paulie and Jackie, it was tense to say the very best. Both in a family sense and in a business sense. They had their moments every couple of years, but for the most part they were at odds. At some point between being adopted and his twenty first birthday, he found Jenny Romano, now a teenager. It took only a short while for them to become deeply romantically involved. In her, Jackie found the things that were worth living for, even if he was living a dark and damned life.
Then came the day of his twenty first birthday. Where his entire life went to absolute shit. It starts with trying to do a pickup of some collection money, and winds up with Jackie catching a hammy fist to the face and some darkness of his own. Him and the boys he had been rolling with made a quick getaway after that.
On route to the next job, everything starts going wrong. And by the end of it, he finds out the hard way that Paulie has put out a massive hit on him, and wants him to be dead by the end of the night. He makes it out of the first attempt, and as he begins to make his getaway, it awakens inside of him. A would be ambush by a well armed bunch of killers turns into a bloodied massacre as Jackie rips them apart quite literally. But it wasn't going to be that easy. The cops, thanks to Paulie’s police pet Captain Shrote, has let his dogs loose as well, and it seems like everyone and everything with ties to the Franchetti crime family is out for blood.
Despite this, he makes his way through the night and numerous hitmen to his girlfriend, Jenny. The love of his life and the one solitary light in his world of darkness. They have a celebration to honor his birthday, where Jackie tells her everything. What happened, what life he leads, the blood on his hands, everything. And while she’s serious about it at first, when he finishes his explanation she brushes it off as one of his crazy stories. The two spend the rest of the night together until Jenny falls asleep. That’s when Jackie leaves to discuss business with Butcher Joyce. Business as in how to bring down the wrath of the Chicago Families on Paulie.
Taking his advice, Jackie aims to take down Paulie’s big drug operation. However, before he could start, the police are on him like stink on shit. Despite superior numbers, they were no match for Jackie and the Darkness. Within a short time, there was a pathway of dead police and bullet casings leading to Dutch Oven Harry’s establishment. Pretending to be a druggie to get in, Jackie slaughters everyone involved and disappears into the subway tunnels, content with having dealt a decisive blow to the Franchetti crime family.
And he dealt one right back by blowing up St. Mary’s Orphanage, killing Sister Mary and several children. Jackie responded in kind, storming the center of Paulie’s operation in Grinder’s Lane and torching money that was due to the Chicago Families. If the first blow was enough to cause Paulie to put on a big show, the second one was enough to cut into the Don. And as the saying goes, an eye for an eye.
Upon returning, Jackie finds out that Paulie and Shrote made off with her into the now ruined orphanage. Jackie, packing heat, darkness, and a tranquil fury unmatched, stormed his way into the orphanage, where he beheld ghostly visions of his life within, and of his life with Jenny as kids. When he was just about to reach her, to save her, the Darkness took over. After restricting him and crippling him, it marched him over to the nearby door to watch as Jenny was killed just in front of him. Unable to stop them due to the Darkness deliberately restraining him, he commits suicide out of sheer emotional devestation, noting in the narrative that "That... well, that was the first time I died."
He finds himself in the Otherworld, the realm of the Darkness with patchwork undead beings in World War I outfits fighting each other, and physical manifestations of the Four Horsemen. He fights his way out of the trenches, now strengthen by the Darkness evolving and growing from all the blood his host had spilled. By escaping to the village, he meets his great-great-grandfather Anthony Estacado, who admits that it was he that brought the Darkness into the family, and begins to guide Jackie on how to free himself of the Darkness' pull. But first, he needed to equip himself with something that could hurt the Darkness, something that was made to put the host and the Darkness on somewhat equal footing.
He collected these guns on a desolate stretch of wasteland called the Hills, given to him by the crucified on the Cross, a physical representation of the Horseman of Death. With these guns, he was able to make his way to an absolutely massive and mobile artillery cannon, the representation of War. By fighting his way through and taking control of this cannon, he is able to stow the fire upon the trenches, and open the door to the castle. However, Jackie is interrupted in his journey through the Otherworld and brought back to the living. The Darkness had, as he put it, "fixed his broken head-ball".
A message from Anthony made it clear to Jackie. To continue this quest, he had to kill himself on holy ground.
Once he recovers, he determines, with the blessing of Aunt Sarah, that he must dispose of Chief Shrote before he can face Paulie. He makes his way to Gun Hill, where Shrote lives. His initial attempt to rub out the dirty cop breaks down into a chase through the apartment, and then across rooftops and through a police department. Unfortunately for Shrote, the police are massacred ruthlessly, not slowing Jackie down even a step. After breaking out onto the roof, Jackie is forced to flee when a helicopter opens fire, destroying the rooftop. While Shrote gets away, he takes an enormous blow to his staff. And while he is faking confidence with numbers backing him, he knows one thing. He’s next on the list.
Taking the advice of Butcher, Jackie’s next attack leads him through an abandoned subway and into the old Turkish Baths, where Shrote is hiding away a briefcase full of compromising evidence. After tearing through the formidable resistance, Jackie takes his prize in the briefcase. The perfect bait for a crooked cop. He made his way back out the way he came, destroying a full SWAT team with relative ease and even bringing down the same attack helicopter that tried to off him at the police station before escaping with a can of worms. And Shrote begins to sweat.
After rigging the briefcase with a gift similar to Paulie’s earlier in, Jackie sets up a meet with Shrote. The place? Trinity Church. The place where Jenny was buried. Holy ground.
The meeting was a set up, which Jackie was betting on, and once again the cops paid the price, being tossed around and destroyed by Jackie. Shrote had come prepared though, and loosed a handful of flash-bang grenades. When Jackie came back to, he was tied up and had floodlights on him to make sure whatever was in him stayed in him. After a torture session that ended abruptly due to poor equipment, Jackie lured two other officers into spilling details about Paulie’s organization, and giving him brief amounts of shade from the floodlight. And after getting enough energy back, he struck out with a single demonic arm and triggered the explosive, killing Shrote and his men along with himself, the narrative noting that "that was the second time I died."
Jackie re-awakes in the Otherworld, exactly where he had left. He makes his way back Anthony, in hopes of finding ammunition for his brand new cannon. The two of them storm the undead Germans front line in a tank, driving through all sorts of madness and meeting it in kind with copious amounts of ammunition. Just before reaching it, however, they are attacked be a massive goliath of the Darkness, who fatally wounds Anthony. Jackie, still at the guns on the tank, takes the creature down when it turns upon him. Jackie rushes to Anthony to listen to his last words but before he can tell Jackie the secret to the Darkness and just what it actually is, the Darkness has him silenced.
After taking the shell back to the cannon and blowing open the doors to the castle, Jackie sacrifices all the power he had gained, much to the Darkness’ fury. The powers manifest themselves in a dark and rotted form of Jackie, revealing itself as the Darkness. He faces the Darkness without his powers, and after a short battle that drained away some of its power, he surprises it by willingly being taken by the Darkness's power, allowing him to fully control the spirit back in the real world. However, the Darkness tells him that, while he has control now, each time Jackie takes a life, he will become more consumed by the Darkness. They are to be one now.
He wakes up in the destroyed ruins of the orphanage, greeted by a ghostly visage of Jenny in her child years. He marks this as the time and place to end it all, and after taking advice from Butcher and Sarah, makes his first big move. Critically damage the drug ship the Santa Maria and putting one big, final hole in Paulie’s life raft. He lays an assault on the drug shipment, kills the captain of the boat and sets fire to a large quantity of the product being brought over. And with this, the Chicago families are set to see Paulie die.
After getting back to Sarah’s house and quelling one final raid by Paulie, he makes his way back to the pier to finish this once and for all, and finally bring vengeance upon Jenny’s killers. Finding his dear uncle out at a refurbished lighthouse mansion, Jackie takes advantage of a solar eclipse to raid the mansion, destroying every last living gangster on the island without mercy. None are left standing in his wake. Upon entering the house, the Darkness and Jackie become a single force, attacking together and tearing down everything in their path. After the dust settled, Jackie hunted down Paulie and cornered him at the top of the lighthouse.
It took two bullets. One through the heart, one through the head. And that was it. The Darkness revels in Jackie's murderous spree, and fully envelops Jackie, shouting "Now you are mine!!"
Jackie finds himself in a dream on a bench in Jenny's arms; Jenny explains that they are only allowed a few minutes to be together one last time. Jackie tries to ask how, but Jenny just quiets him, allowing them to enjoy the last moments together before Jackie wakes back up. And now completely one with the Darkness, he takes over as the Don of the Franchetti Crime Family, renaming it to the Estacado Family. Shortly after that, on a brisk walk…he walks into a store he’s never seen before.
Reality Description: Welcome to Manhattan, New York, 2007. The streets are disgusting, the walls are repulsive and full of graffiti, the subways stink of garbage, piss and burning motors, and just breathing in the air around you makes you feel like you’ve died a little inside. This wonderful place is home to dirty drugs, dirtier dealings, and the dirtiest cops. You can’t throw a can without coming in contact with someone, and half the time, that someone has connections to people that would make you regret throwing that can. While you’ll find some places that give this dirty overstuffed place a bit of shine, most of the time you’ll see what everyone else sees. Grime and crime. The subways are a kind escape from everything else that’s wrong with the place, where an unspoken truce keeps everything in working condition. That truce is simple. Don’t start shit, and neither will anyone else.
Sometimes, that truce needs a little enforcing.
Your key destinations here would be the lovely establishment within Grinder’s Lane, the corner stone of Mr. Estacado’s booming business, and the police station just off Gun Hill, which has since develop a healthy relationship with the governing family in this city. There is Trinity Cemetery and Church, which is a calm and peaceful place that has an absolute no tolerance policy. In other words, if there is ever a disturbance in this part of town, then it ends with a dip in the river with new lead boots. Finally, if you take a boat to the old lighthouse, you’ll find the Franchetti Family Estate. If you ever go there, pray it’s on only the best of terms.
But, that’s not all to this place. There is an ugly side. There’s the Otherworld. And if you’re ever there…then you’ll know Hell. The Otherworld belongs to the Darkness, and he makes it into whatever he feels like. Its current incarnation is that of a World War 1 Battlefield, filled with trenches and patchwork zombies that fight on opposite sides. Your friends are the Brits, your enemies are the Geris, and whatever the Geris have working for them. The war never ends, the dying never stops, the things that fall get right back up again, and so will you. There is no escape from here.
Most of the time.
☆ Threadhopping with this character - yes/no/maybe so?: Absolutely! I only ask that, if it's becoming a deep conversation, you run it past me first through email or AIM.
☆ Backtagging with this character - yes/no/maybe so?: Be my guest, be my guest, BEEEEEEE my guest!
☆ Hugging this character?: Sure. He's huggable. He might just think you're a little off. Or politely tell you to let go of him.
☆ Giving this character a kiss?: Sure, but he'll either think you're nuts (if it's uncalled for) or will likely push you away pretty swiftly and go on his way.
☆ Punching this character: Depends. Most of the time, he'll punch right back, blow for blow style. If you catch him at a bit of an emotional moment, he might just glare at you and mark you for something bad to happen.
If you are looking to start a fight with him, then please run it by me first. I'll likely have no problem with it, but I like to be in on these things.
☆ Is there anything ought not be mentioned near this character?: Jenny is a soft spot for him, and speaking of her in poorer light is a fast way to get a few holes in you.
☆ Is there anything you need us to know about interacting with this character? Special physical features, fighting abilities, STUFF: He has the Darkness, which will sometimes act on it's own accord. Read about his powers for more details on that. He's also got a ton of varying guns on him.
☆ Anything else, please mention here: Email/AIM me if you have any questions.