Bingelly
Badarby
mickilennial
Dyelli Beybi
Carlyle
Izurich
Qia
Master Crim
Lord Wraith
C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L
B I R D S O F P R E Y
♦ H E L E N A R O S A B E R T I N E L L I | P A M E L A I S L E Y ♦ H E I R E S S | B O T A N I S T ♦ G O T H A M ♦
C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:
"That's omertà. When blood cries for blood, you answer the call."
"You seem to have me confused with some warm-blooded damsel in distress."
"You seem to have me confused with some warm-blooded damsel in distress."
Gotham City has always been at war with itself. Between the crime, the asylum, and the social divide between classes, not many make it out unscathed. Helena Bertinelli and Pamela Isley are two of the city's survivors.
The Bertinelli name was once as much feared as respected in Gotham. Helena's father ruled over his families, both business and blood, with an iron fist. There was no room for error or insurrection in his domain. Her mother while still kinder to her child, was no less ruthless: For her no slight went unmatched tenfold, even if it came from her own husband. Thus, when it was discovered she was seeking comfort from one of the other five families in retaliation for her husband's unfaithfulness the problems began. Fearing Don Bertinelli's reaction, Santo Cassamento approached the leader of the Mob, Stefano Mandragora who sent a kill order on the Bertinelli family. Expecting Don Mandragora to come for a visit himself, the entire family was waiting outside when the assassins arrived, leaving an eight year old Helena as the only survior.
She was sent to Italy, the home of the Bertinelli name, where she learned from her uncles and cousins the history and the way of the Cosa Nostra. As time went on, her interests grew with her, and eventually she began to train in combat, stealth, and espionage with her male cousins. Now, nearly two decades after the night that defined her life, Helena has returned to the city to avenge her family and return the Bertinelli name to its former glory.
Aside from their differences in wealth, Pamela Isley's family story isn't all that different from Helena's. Her home had been small, but her mother made up for it. The most kind and nurturing woman Pamela ever knew, she taught her daughter how to garden and care for plants until their tiny front yard bloomed a different colour with every season, and window boxes spilled over with different vegetation. The darker side to their life lay with her husband and Pamela's father. For all her kindness, Pamela's mother was not a strong woman. She her marriage had been hurried and ill-considered, as her husband's abuse began shortly after Pamela's birth. Anytime he lost his temper, there would be a gift of seeds and flowers the next morning as though to wipe the memory away. It was a terrifying existence, that only reached its true low on Pamela's seventeenth birthday; when her father killed her mother. He was arrested and charged guilty with murder but was far from enough to quell Pamela's yearning for justice.
In hopes to put her past behind her, she left Gotham to go to NYU to study biology and botany. She lived in the city for six years, received her masters and began a relationship with her colleague and former professor Marc Legrand. After years of developing spores that could effect the central nervous system, Pamela made a breakthrough which she was rewarded for by being poisoned and left for dead.
When she awoke, Pamela was changed. While she is constantly learning about what she has become, the betrayal of her former lover was enough to re-ignite her anger and her first course of action was the poisoning of her father in prison. From there she returned to Gotham, taking a job at Gotham university, where Helena found her and promised to help her find and kill Legrand in exchange for Pamela's help returning order to Gotham's mob families.
The Bertinelli name was once as much feared as respected in Gotham. Helena's father ruled over his families, both business and blood, with an iron fist. There was no room for error or insurrection in his domain. Her mother while still kinder to her child, was no less ruthless: For her no slight went unmatched tenfold, even if it came from her own husband. Thus, when it was discovered she was seeking comfort from one of the other five families in retaliation for her husband's unfaithfulness the problems began. Fearing Don Bertinelli's reaction, Santo Cassamento approached the leader of the Mob, Stefano Mandragora who sent a kill order on the Bertinelli family. Expecting Don Mandragora to come for a visit himself, the entire family was waiting outside when the assassins arrived, leaving an eight year old Helena as the only survior.
She was sent to Italy, the home of the Bertinelli name, where she learned from her uncles and cousins the history and the way of the Cosa Nostra. As time went on, her interests grew with her, and eventually she began to train in combat, stealth, and espionage with her male cousins. Now, nearly two decades after the night that defined her life, Helena has returned to the city to avenge her family and return the Bertinelli name to its former glory.
Aside from their differences in wealth, Pamela Isley's family story isn't all that different from Helena's. Her home had been small, but her mother made up for it. The most kind and nurturing woman Pamela ever knew, she taught her daughter how to garden and care for plants until their tiny front yard bloomed a different colour with every season, and window boxes spilled over with different vegetation. The darker side to their life lay with her husband and Pamela's father. For all her kindness, Pamela's mother was not a strong woman. She her marriage had been hurried and ill-considered, as her husband's abuse began shortly after Pamela's birth. Anytime he lost his temper, there would be a gift of seeds and flowers the next morning as though to wipe the memory away. It was a terrifying existence, that only reached its true low on Pamela's seventeenth birthday; when her father killed her mother. He was arrested and charged guilty with murder but was far from enough to quell Pamela's yearning for justice.
In hopes to put her past behind her, she left Gotham to go to NYU to study biology and botany. She lived in the city for six years, received her masters and began a relationship with her colleague and former professor Marc Legrand. After years of developing spores that could effect the central nervous system, Pamela made a breakthrough which she was rewarded for by being poisoned and left for dead.
When she awoke, Pamela was changed. While she is constantly learning about what she has become, the betrayal of her former lover was enough to re-ignite her anger and her first course of action was the poisoning of her father in prison. From there she returned to Gotham, taking a job at Gotham university, where Helena found her and promised to help her find and kill Legrand in exchange for Pamela's help returning order to Gotham's mob families.
C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:
With the goal of the roleplay forcing characters to start fresh, I decided to take two well established characters with dated and inconsistent backgrounds and give them a fresh slate in the modern age. How will Poison Ivy's environmental messages be reacted to in the global-warming age? What if instead of being inspired by Batman, Huntress set out only to return the Bertinelli name to glory? While they may seem an odd pair at first, I believe there is an interesting dynamic between two strong female characters both of which were originally created to be tacked love interests.
Helena will be returning to Gotham for the first time since the murder of her family, to find the five families close to all out war while the Penguin infringes on their money-making schemes. Under the leadership of her uncle the Bertinelli's claimed area is poorly enforced and constantly overtaken by the other families. She seeks revenge for her family, and to rule over those that killed or stood by and watched. All while unaware of her own true heritage.
Ivy is recently returned from the dead after her partner and mentor attempted to kill her. Still in the early stages of her transformation, her powers are constantly developing as well as her connection to the green. Confused as to what is happening to her and filled with anger she returns to her former home in Gotham. There she has and joined the research group at Gotham University where Huntress heard about her talents and offered to aid Pamela's environmental activism and quest for revenge from a place of power; provided she help her get there.
Both these character are morally gray and will begin as such, at least for the start of their story. As they learn more and evolve I see Helena growing into a more traditional hero, while Ivy's connection to the green grows and empathy for human withers.
Helena will be returning to Gotham for the first time since the murder of her family, to find the five families close to all out war while the Penguin infringes on their money-making schemes. Under the leadership of her uncle the Bertinelli's claimed area is poorly enforced and constantly overtaken by the other families. She seeks revenge for her family, and to rule over those that killed or stood by and watched. All while unaware of her own true heritage.
Ivy is recently returned from the dead after her partner and mentor attempted to kill her. Still in the early stages of her transformation, her powers are constantly developing as well as her connection to the green. Confused as to what is happening to her and filled with anger she returns to her former home in Gotham. There she has and joined the research group at Gotham University where Huntress heard about her talents and offered to aid Pamela's environmental activism and quest for revenge from a place of power; provided she help her get there.
Both these character are morally gray and will begin as such, at least for the start of their story. As they learn more and evolve I see Helena growing into a more traditional hero, while Ivy's connection to the green grows and empathy for human withers.
C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:
- Stefano Mandragora: The mafia head of all mafias. He keeps the mob in line not just in Gotham, but for all of the North-Eastern United states. He is also the man responsible for killing Helena Bertinelli's family at the behest of the Cassamento family.
- The Five Families: The five ruling families of Gotham's mob. While they still claim their territories, new upstart-gangs are constantly infringing on their space, and the respect for them has gone down greatly in recent years.
- Bertinelli: Helena's family is ruled by her uncle Luca in America, and he has no intentions of giving up his place regardless of his niece's reappearance.
- Beretti: A family left in shambles after the recent arrest of it's head, Angelo Beretti. He has been supplemented by his young son Antony Beretti the family is scrambling to retain its foothold maintaining the peace between the Cosa Nostra and law enforcement with both bribes and blackmail.
- Cassamento: Headed by Santo Cassamento, Helena's true father, and the one who invoked her family's murder. Once the closest family to Bertinelli, they used to run arm deals together, though they too have lost a great deal of respect and work in the past decade.
- Galante: The family most linked to drug movement in Gotham city. Headed by Claudio Galante.
- Inzerillo: The least liked of the Cosa Nostra, and the only group to have actually grown in the past few years, sharing their space and deals with Cobblepot has proven beneficial to their pockets, but less so for their already poor reputation among the other families.
- Oswald Cobblepot: The man taking over the organized crime in the city, and has been eating away at the historic five family's power for years. Helena plans to organize the families against him, while Poison Ivy seeks to cease his development projects in the green belt around Gotham.
- Marc Legrand: Pamela's ex-professor and boyfriend, he once worked researching Botany at NYU before he tried to kill Pamela with a spore she developed, resulting in her turning into Poison Ivy, and him receiving a generous offer of payment if he were to recreate the effects on a larger scale- courtesy of Oswald Cobblepot.
- Charlotte Rivers: The teenage daughter of Gotham's mayor Sebastian Hady.
S A M P L E P O S T:
Helena still remembered the purple dress she had worn as an eight-year-old outside her family's estate as they waited for Don Mandragora to arrive. She hadn't known who he was at the time, just an important important dinner guest from her father's work. Whatever that was. The dress had puffed sleeves that her mother had to keep reminding her not to play with as a shiny back car pulled up the drive. "But they won't stay down, and my stockings itch." She had complained while her mother clasped her hand to keep her from fidgeting as the door to the car opened, and two men stepped out.
When Helena first arrived in Sicily and come to understand the Cosa Nostra and her family's place in it, she had imagined breaking into the home of every mob family and destroying them each as her own family had been. The reality was much less dramatic, but good things come to those who wait. Or at least that is what she told herself as she ducked out of sight from a patrol; directly into a dumpster positioned outside the 12 foot fence surrounding the Beretti concrete plant. The lights lining the inside of the perimeter meant that cutting through wasn't an option without being seen. It wouldn't have been the best choice in any-case: The less attention there was to a Bertinelli ever being in another family's territory the better. Once the guard's steps had faded to a reasonable distance, Helena aimed her loaded crossbow toward the top of the barbed fence. With a quiet buzz a cable wrapped around it's target and pulled Helena up. She crouched down on her precarious position and scoped out the area.
They hadn't wasted any time shooting, but the only image Helena had of that brief moment was her father falling to the ground at the same moment her mother pushed her into a similar position. Amid the screams someone called for her to run. So she had.
Whether the lack of security was a result of Angelo Beretti's arrest or part of the cause, it was a glaring issue throughout. Non-front factories were harder to break into. Helena shot herself to the top of the flat, square building; directly over the heads of a patrol and was completely undetected. For the moment it was a relief, for the long term something would have to be done. Within moments she had the grate to the building's ventilation system off and was sliding herself in. It was a tight fit, but once she reached a non-vertical passage, she was able to move around enough to crawl, and even reach her utility belt.
The Bernitelli family didn't go down easy. The assassins spent an hour combing through the house, killing everyone in their sight; family member or servant. Helena's mother had forced her into a closet from which she watched as the hit-men intercepted her mother's exit and left her bleeding on the floor. A child, and unaware of her family's profession, Helena screamed. For a brief moment, the killed met her eyes, but turned away. Leaving her to sob as her mother's blood soaked into the carpet until her cousin would discover her the following morning.
There was one final guard standing between Helena and her prize. Under normal circumstances, that would have been a lethal position to take. But in keeping with her cover of stealth and discretion she instead pulled one of Pamela's vials from her belt. With a quick prayer and final inhale she dropped the vial from her position on the vents, held her breath, and waited until she heard the man's body hit the ground. For another few minutes she waited for the pheromones to dissipate before lowering herself to the ground. The guard was still alive, his breathing shallow but even. The key to the door his was tasked with watching was easily retrieved from his hip.
The room they were keeping mayor's daughter hostage in really wasn't bad, all things considered. There were no windows, and the floor and walls were plain cement. But there was a rug, couch, bed, table, even a TV which she was so absorbed in she didn't even notice her visitor until Helena turned it off.
"Who are- Well its about time someone came looking for me. Don't you people know who I am?"
Helena ignored the teenage girl and instead began searching for paper. There was a newspaper beside the couch from two days before, likely used in the original ransom. She picked it up and began writing on it's front page.
"My father will have this place burnt to the ground. The idiots in here will be rotting away in Arkham for years when he..." Her voice finally trailed off as she realized her "rescuer's" free hand was leveling a loaded crossbow at her face.
"Oh darling," She lamented, as though explaining a concept to a small child. Her writing finished, she staged the newspaper in the girl's lap, stood back and snapped a picture."I'm not here to save you."
Charlotte might have yelled after her, but by the time anyone came to check in, Helena was long gone.
When Helena first arrived in Sicily and come to understand the Cosa Nostra and her family's place in it, she had imagined breaking into the home of every mob family and destroying them each as her own family had been. The reality was much less dramatic, but good things come to those who wait. Or at least that is what she told herself as she ducked out of sight from a patrol; directly into a dumpster positioned outside the 12 foot fence surrounding the Beretti concrete plant. The lights lining the inside of the perimeter meant that cutting through wasn't an option without being seen. It wouldn't have been the best choice in any-case: The less attention there was to a Bertinelli ever being in another family's territory the better. Once the guard's steps had faded to a reasonable distance, Helena aimed her loaded crossbow toward the top of the barbed fence. With a quiet buzz a cable wrapped around it's target and pulled Helena up. She crouched down on her precarious position and scoped out the area.
They hadn't wasted any time shooting, but the only image Helena had of that brief moment was her father falling to the ground at the same moment her mother pushed her into a similar position. Amid the screams someone called for her to run. So she had.
Whether the lack of security was a result of Angelo Beretti's arrest or part of the cause, it was a glaring issue throughout. Non-front factories were harder to break into. Helena shot herself to the top of the flat, square building; directly over the heads of a patrol and was completely undetected. For the moment it was a relief, for the long term something would have to be done. Within moments she had the grate to the building's ventilation system off and was sliding herself in. It was a tight fit, but once she reached a non-vertical passage, she was able to move around enough to crawl, and even reach her utility belt.
The Bernitelli family didn't go down easy. The assassins spent an hour combing through the house, killing everyone in their sight; family member or servant. Helena's mother had forced her into a closet from which she watched as the hit-men intercepted her mother's exit and left her bleeding on the floor. A child, and unaware of her family's profession, Helena screamed. For a brief moment, the killed met her eyes, but turned away. Leaving her to sob as her mother's blood soaked into the carpet until her cousin would discover her the following morning.
There was one final guard standing between Helena and her prize. Under normal circumstances, that would have been a lethal position to take. But in keeping with her cover of stealth and discretion she instead pulled one of Pamela's vials from her belt. With a quick prayer and final inhale she dropped the vial from her position on the vents, held her breath, and waited until she heard the man's body hit the ground. For another few minutes she waited for the pheromones to dissipate before lowering herself to the ground. The guard was still alive, his breathing shallow but even. The key to the door his was tasked with watching was easily retrieved from his hip.
The room they were keeping mayor's daughter hostage in really wasn't bad, all things considered. There were no windows, and the floor and walls were plain cement. But there was a rug, couch, bed, table, even a TV which she was so absorbed in she didn't even notice her visitor until Helena turned it off.
"Who are- Well its about time someone came looking for me. Don't you people know who I am?"
Helena ignored the teenage girl and instead began searching for paper. There was a newspaper beside the couch from two days before, likely used in the original ransom. She picked it up and began writing on it's front page.
"My father will have this place burnt to the ground. The idiots in here will be rotting away in Arkham for years when he..." Her voice finally trailed off as she realized her "rescuer's" free hand was leveling a loaded crossbow at her face.
"Oh darling," She lamented, as though explaining a concept to a small child. Her writing finished, she staged the newspaper in the girl's lap, stood back and snapped a picture."I'm not here to save you."
Charlotte might have yelled after her, but by the time anyone came to check in, Helena was long gone.
P O S T C A T L O G:
A list linking to your IC posts as they're created. This can be used for a reference guide to your character or to summarize completed arcs and stories.
