Parael MagnusThe Ringleader
Joined January 1st, 1634Act: The Ringleader when not on the combat team, the Ringleader manages the safety and security of the circus. He has the ability to empower mortal humans to help them combat daemons.
Parry's ability to empower mortals comes at a cost- the Ringleader cannot answer questions as to where this power comes from, or where the circus will go next. The performers will never be given a hint as to whether they have sold their souls to a daemon like the ones the are called to battle.
Why Parry Magnus Joined the Circus. Parry Magnus established the Circus on behalf of the Powers-that-Be in order to combat the daemons infesting the human world. He voluntarily Fell from the Celestials to enact his superiors' plans against the Powers that Were. And he also wanted to put on the most
fabulous shows imaginable!
A BiographyParael Magnus may be classified as "angel" to the more religious minded of humans. Those like him refer to themselves as "Celestials" among the Powers that Be, while their enemies, the Powers that Were, employ their own agents called daemons. Parael Magnus was of middling rank before his Fall, noted for being an effective combatant against daemons, but enjoyed too much freewheeling among humanity. Food, wine, women, men, and exotic substances- he couldn't get enough of them. So when the Powers began searching for one of their own to voluntarily Fall and take the fight to daemonkind without breaking the ancient pacts, Parry couldn't raise his hand fast enough.
Parry "fell" to Earth on January 1st, 1634 as a mortal in the realm of the Holy Roman Empire. He quickly found himself in a world overcome with bloodshed and dogmatic battle over an old man nailing a paper to a doorway- a silly thing to kill people over if you asked him. The Powers that Were had a free hand to play in such devastation, but Parry was determined to create an alternative venue from which his agents could operate. Within ten years, he had established
Cirque des Chasseurs as an organization that had toured large swathes of what would be called England, France, China, Egypt, Russia, and India. Every morning the Circus gates would close on one city, and every night they would open on a new one of Parry's choosing.
Parry is well aware that he has a cheerful, fleeting nature. He seems easily distracted by sweet things, bright colors, and adorable animals. Many newcomers to the Circus take their powers and sign their Contract, assuming he will be a fool or easily swindled. Parry is not easily swindled, but he can be a fool. Nevertheless, while he cannot reveal that he is a Celestial to his many circus workers, a few of the longtime circus performers have sworn that the last time Daemonkind found the circus and attacked it, they witnessed Parry become something... otherworldly.
A Connection- Parry Magnus empowered each and every member of the Circus. When a potential combatant against the Powers that Were is identified, he approaches them each in their own way, but presents them with their contracts all the same. In times gone by they were printed on Vellum and signed with ink and quill, the terms spelled out informally but with the specifics highlighted where needed. Today he's upgraded- his tent (modeled after an Ottoman Harem, complete with hookah, silk pillows, and plush carpets) has a laptop and printer prepared to write up contracts as needed.
Beyond the signing of the Contracts, Parry takes only as much interest in the individual performers as he has time to spare. The Circus as a whole has several hundred members, but many of them signed contracts for what Parry considers paltry things like extended lifetimes or miraculous cures to incurable diseases. These he tasks with shepherding the townsfolk from one attraction to the next- like lures on a hook, allowing the more specialized performers free reign to investigate whatever city they are camped in at the moment.
Audition It's been as though you're walking in a dream. There is no other way for you to describe it. Your parents took you to a circus once. Long ago. Tired looking lions. Bears that did a few tricks. Clowns on motorcycles. Cotton candy that cost your whole allowance for the week. It was all a big ripoff, and you knew it back then when you were only a few years old.
This? This is something else.
The park in the center of town might be the size of a football field, and the iron fence rings the whole thing with one gate and entrance booth, but you've been walking for hours and haven't seen the same tent twice. This is absolutely maddening! The whole evening began with what could only be described as an ensemble of sensory overloads in the Grand Tent.
There you sat on the bleachers with hundreds, maybe thousands of others from your town, stacked like stadium seats going further and further down to a central ring. The air hummed with enthusiasm, the scent of popcorn, caramel, hot chocolate, and other small treats filling your nostrils.
It began with the trapeze act. Except it was not trapezes. Great curtains made of silk were unfurled into the air above the ring. Acrobats entangled themselves within and began twirling through the air, swinging into each others arms while torchlight replaced the crude electrical bulbs to illuminate them. The performance is sensual, passionate, but also filled with love. There are six acrobats swinging into each others' waiting arms. You get the feeling that each of them loves one another like husband, wife, and anything in between. It's a strange thought, but you can grasp the passion therein.
The act never really concludes so much as it is interrupted by the show beneath it. (You find out later on that the performance was called "Lovers' Embrace" and would continue for the rest of the night.)
"Ladies, gentlemen, boys, girls, and none-of-the-above." The figure takes the center ring. A tall, lanky man(?) in a great black suit- jacket, pants, bow tie, top hat, and a half cape of silk. Within his white gloves, he clutches an old cigarette holder, lit and trailing smoke. The look is stereotypical, but he stands and carries himself in a way that you can easily imagine him wearing clothing dyed in a rich Imperial Purple, or sensual scarlet.
"I want to welcome you to tonight's entertainment. We at Cirque des Chasseurs wish you all nothing but a night of the greatest tastes, the brightest lights, the most mystical sights, and the most pleasant sounds as you have ever or ever will, experience."
The Ringmaster pauses, inhales a breath from the cigarette holder. He exhales with a flourish, forming a cloud of smoke several times his own size. A trick of the lighting? Are they funneling smoke from the torches?
"As the manager of this entertainment venue, I wish to impart a few rules to you all. First, there shall be no smoking within the tents or on the premises."
The cloud above him twists and bends in the wind while the cigarette dissolves. Somewhere, a light flashes with the brightness of the sun. There is a crack, and then a roar. When your eyes adjust, there is no smoke in the tent. The torches remain lit, but even they will not give off any wisps. In the center of the ring, where the cloud of smoke once hovered, there stands an enormous lion.
@Cherrywitch A golden haired woman stands beside the beast, dressed in scarlet and with a playful smile on her face- like someone who is about to play a trick on someone but they've no idea what is about to happen to them. She cracks a whip, but not to prod the animal- only as a signal. You think.
The lion begins pacing up the aisles, followed by the tamer. It stops halfway up the stairs near you, only for the tamer to tell the beast "I think now is fine." The beast pauses, straightens its spine, and the tamer stands perfectly on its back. Like a California surfer on their board, she rides it up the steps and out of the great tent's flaps, not once losing her balance.
"Reach out your right hand. Into the aisle," a voice beside you says. Another
@Tenslashsix man, dressed in a suit and top hat, sits beside you. He nods quickly. You hesitate, but do so. With not a moment to spare your hand catches a piece of jewelry, a bracelet, fallen from one of the acrobats. Later, she will approach you for it and offer to show you around the Circus. Some of the things you will see, you will remember unto your deathbed.
"Another rule- please, no touching the performers!"
A woman
@FancyHats struts into the ring beside the Ringmaster, standing from the front bench. It is hard to make out details other than the shape of her figure- after all, her dress is immediately wreathed in flame when she stands and burns as bright as a neon sign. Approaching on her left is a hugely muscled, mustachioed man with arms that could probably lift weights at an Olympic competition. He reaches out with one hand to touch the dress, only to suddenly and dramatically pull it away before running up the stairs to one of the tent's many exits. He curses in French the whole way. The woman extends one hand to the Ringleader, who accepts it and bows, the flames of her sleeves lick around the Ringleader's gloved hand but do not seem to catch.
"Unless of course, they
invite you to do so!" The woman bows, then casually follows the strongman up the steps, her dress extinguishing itself to become a vibrant blue and cream color, though the sleeves seem to smolder like coals.
"Not a rule, but some advice. Please watch where you step! You may not know when an act comes to you instead of the other way around."
The sound of steel hitting wood jars you. Where your hand had extended a moment ago, a knife was embedded in the wooden step leading down the bleachers, vibrating from the speed of its impact. A dozen others are likewise embedded up and down your section. You crane your neck upward- to see a young man,
@FourthKing barechested with an open vest, held at the ankles by an acrobat. He is swung from one performer to the next, and he plants the knives into the steps of each section from over a hundred feet in the air, slinging the blades with unerring accuracy, easily dodging guests who are still walking to and from their seats. When you turn to grab the closest knife to you, you find only a pile of smooth ocean sand.
"Please do not feel compelled to offer monetary tips to our performers. They are being... suitably compensated for their skills."
You'd forgotten about the Ringleader with the stunts going on, and turn your head back in time to see him stepping onto a high wire above the central ring. Before him is a chestnut-haired woman,
@VerusEbullio wearing her own flowing, fanciful coat and gown. While the Ringleader keeps his footing, he genuinely looks uncomfortable that high above the ground, using his walking stick to keep perfectly balance. The woman, meanwhile, cartwheels away from him on a cord that looks as thick as a fishing line. She gives an over the top gesture of exasperation to the assembled crowd.
'See what I have to work with?'She removes a silk blindfold from her coat pocket, ties it around her face with both hands, pivots in place and then walks casually down the line, between soaring acrobats and above a hundred foot drop- with no net below it.
