[Character] Gryle

[Gryle]

******Alpha Level Security Access: Project Utopia Archives******

Enter Query: Rashoud Facility Patient Files

…

***Rashoud Facility Files***

Patient Name: Gryle

…

…

Subject Not Found

…

Patient Name: back

…

******Alpha Level Security Access: Project Utopia Archives******

Enter Query: Gryle

…

Number of Entries: 1

Entry – 15th September 2007: Rare animal smuggler murdered. Source: N! [Click here for report]

Please Wait…

15th September 2007 – Hugo Marveillas: a long-suspected ‘kingpin’ for the smuggling rings dealing in rare and exotic animals, was found dead two days ago by police in Tampa, Florida. The manner of his death is particularly startling: Mr Marveillas was found in a storage shed on a private airfield, stuffed bodily into a cage described by sources as ‘only big enough to hold a cat’. The shed was filled with similar cages, all open and once occupied by rare birds, sources claim, according to the paperwork found in the privately owned storage shed.

Also found dead at the scene were three men believed by authorities to have been in collusion with Mr Marveillas. The state in which they were found is described by another source as “…as though a really [angry] animal had ripped them to pieces. There was blood everywhere. Hell, it was even on the lights, and they were at least, what, fifteen feet up?”

Sources inside the Tampa P.D. claim that the investigation is concentrating on such groups as Earth First, or the even more notorious Greenwar. Certainly it seems that it would take a nova to force a large man into a small cage in such a fashion, as well as dispatching his associates, but in the Nova Age, nothing is certain.

File Appendix: Source – Tampa Police Dept.

Full pathology and forensic reports enclosed, as well as detailed photos of the crime scene. One interesting note: the word ‘Gryle’ was scrawled on the floor beside one of the dead men in his own blood. Stains on his fingers seem to confirm the theory that the dead man, Martin Savell, did indeed write the word himself. Tampa P.D. investigators believe that the smugglers knew their murderer. It certainly seems worth following up on, but as of the time of this writing, no further leads have been turned up.

Another Search? Y/N

N

Thank you, Director.

OOC Information: Decide for yourselves how much of this your characters know. I trust your judgement.

The name Gryle is known by very few individuals, and then only those with very close connections with the underworld. Until recently, there were very few truly freelance professional assassins in the world; the idea itself was generally the invention of fiction. A lot of organisations have had people who, for one reason or another, are good at ending life, but that is not the same as the anonymous ‘Jackal’ who captures the public’s imagination. Of course, in the Nova Age, one can simply hire a morally flexible Elite on the quiet, and so the reality of the murder-for-hire business has actually come close to what was once the province of Hollywood.

His background is shadowy [Cipher 5], but it is certain that he has some type of special operations training, probably pre-Eruption, as he doesn’t rely overmuch on his meta-abilities like a lot of Elites who lacked military training before Eruption.

He is unusual amongst killers in that he seems to have standards as to which jobs he takes. No one is quite sure what these standards are, and he doesn’t tell. (For that matter, it’s entirely likely that no-one has ever asked) But he has turned down some jobs for no apparent reason, and taken others that for all intents and purposes are identical in nature. His discretion is absolute, his silence guaranteed. He is generally referred to a potential client by word of mouth only, from a previous client.

As for methodology, he tailors his stalk to the target, examining weaknesses and all possible angles before constructing the kill with all the attention and patience of a chess Grand Master. Out of a total of forty-nine jobs since his professional debut, he has never failed and never been caught. (The closest anyone has to a lead is his professional name, and that is buried in a police report a decade old. No fingerprints, DNA, or bodily fluids to go on.) His one weakness could be said to be the enthusiasm he displays when the climactic moment of the kill is upon him. The crime scenes he leaves behind resemble a scene from a horror movie. By human standards, certainly, he is a psychopath, the only mismatches being the lack of specific patterns in method or choice of targets and his apparent lack of an irrational driving compulsion to kill.

He seems to be a shapeshifter of some ability, as no two people who have met with him face to face (at least the ones that are still alive) can agree on what he looks like. The unifying feature is that he appears to be of average appearance, bland and unmemorable. Having met him, most people would be hard-pressed to pick a single feature with which to identify him.