Overview[]

Devilish Don


File:Jackie-armor.jpg

Name:	Jackie Estacado
AKA:
Codename:	The Darkness
Age:	25
Race:	Immortal
Role:	Neutral
Type:	Adapted FC (Image/Top Cow)
Registration:	Unregistered

The Darkness

"It's like you're sittin' in a theater, watchin' a movie of your own life. An' you're up there on the big screen. Big as life-- you're a fuckin' movie star. And you're killin' all the bad guys, tearin' 'em limb from limb. You feel good, you look good. Fuck-- you are good. Then you realize something. Everybody else in the theater? They're screamin', 'cause they're watchin' a horror movie.... and you're not the hero."

Once the Franchetti Family's foremost hitman and now its Don, Jackie Estacado was raised on blood and honor. When elements of his Family forgot the latter part of that equation, Estacado cleaned house.. with a little help from the vast supernatural powers he inherited on his 21st birthday. The latest host to a vast, primal energy, Jackie wields shadow that bends to his every whim born from the depths of primordial chaos. Or does it wield him? One thing is certain: his tirade of vengeance through the underworld seems to be just building momentum.

Sheet[]

Character Sheet

Abilities: Obtenebration

Creation: 10, Dark Portal: 7, Nightwear: 6, Shadowsight: 8, Shadow Strength: 7

Abilities: Skill

Hitman: 7, Occultist: 5/8, Scholar: 5

Abilities: Trait

Hard-Nosed: 8 Magnetic

Abilities: Gear

More Dakka: 6 Stockpile

Advantages: The Darkness, The Family, The Light, The Wealth

Flaws: The Angelus, The Attitude, The Baggage, The Darkness, The Fuzz, The Light, The Not-White Knight

Languages: English, Italian, Russian, and Spanish

Abilities

Gear: More Dakka (6)

Scale: Arsenal

The newest HK assault rifle, fifty pounds of C-4, a sniper rifle that marks and tracks its own targets, or maybe some 40mm Russian artillery for the ol' farmstead, chances are Estacado has it.. or knows somebody who can get it. His people are well trained, well equipped, and carefully monitored-- Estacado doesn't send anyone into the field without the very best gear he can track down for the mission parameters, and the best people he can find on the job. If the man needs to call in favors to get his hands on an Apache gunship, well. Not every problem can be solved with a simple magnum and some stern words.

Gear: Stockpile

Jackie is nothing if not a little paranoid. He has a whole chain of safehouses, garages with vehicles for various purposes, and even a bunker or two stocked for a REAL emergency. Vehicles range up to Toughness 5, ie an armored transport, and speed 4-- in the case of a small, private jetcraft. Some are armed from Estacado's formidable Arsenal.

Obtenebration: Creation (10)

Scale: Size, Distance, Sheer Versatility

The core of Jackie's mastery of the Darkness is his ability to manifest his willpower in three dimensional constructs of mystical shadow anywhere darkness exists and he can effectively visualize. These can be of virtually any form Jackie can imagine and focus on, from intricate biological or mechanical devices to demonic beasts of pure shadow. Melee weapons crafted of the Darkness coupled with Jackie's amplified strength are sufficient to harm even beings like Thor or Superman. All constructs can be broken or dispatched by sufficient physical force, but truly destroyed only by properly attuned mystical forces or artifacts.

These conjurations can may form any chemical compound Jackie understands, from explosives to acids to shotgun primer. Darkness constructs can manifest supernatural effects akin to moderate sorcery (Magic 4), sometimes even with the impact Jackie intends. Sentience can exist within these constructs as an extension of both Jackie's will and that of the Darkness. If persistent dark is available, they may persist indefinitely, set to specific purpose.. or surrendered to the whims of the Darkness.

The most common manifestation of these powers are the Darklings: voracious gremlins from the heart of the Darkness, and Jackie's psyche, that serve as a veritable army of footsoldiers with sharp, gnashing teeth. (They tend to stay at or under 5-6 strength, 4-5 Toughness unless forming Darkling Voltron). These semi-autonomous beasties develop their own personalities as they travel over from the Darkness to this world, and can be conjured in a myriad of form to suit various situations. WARNING: May behave erratically.

It's also worth noting that as these manifestations rely on Estacado's own willpower, truly legendary effects require Push mechanics that leave Jackie drained and weary-- or the direct control of the Darkness, with all the horrors that implies.

Obtenebration: Dark Portal (7)

Scale: Distance

As quickly as he can focus mentally on the shift, Jackie can teleport from darkened areas to another shadow. The Darkness can also 'swallow' physical objects and spit them out somewhere else in much this same way; if they're lucky. This can be used to deflect incoming dangers, as well as to deliver Jackie or his Darklings through solid objects and into otherwise secure rooms that just suffer from unfortunately dim lighting...

Obtenebration: Nightwear (6)

Scale: Toughness

Jackie can summon a carapace of the Darkness in nearly any form he can imagine, from clothing to battle armor. While these constructs can be remarkably resilient, patterned after diamond or even more formidable materials, Jackie can only take so much impact. Anti-tank rounds and clean hits from super-strong superhumans can drop him.. but are not nearly enough to take him out for good. If it's dark out, it's a safe bet at least some of Estacado's ensemble is actually the Darkness.

Obtenebration: Shadowsight (8)

Scale: Perception

To actively exert control over a construct, Estacado must be focusing on it, and more than a handful at once gets quite taxing. He can remain in background psychic contact with any patch of Darkness he's summoned at will, however, sensing the world through as perceived by that construct. He can even sense and make minute alterations in their priorities and perceptions, if he chooses. The net result of this is that Jackie has eyes and ears in potentially every shadow and every dimly lit room where hushed conversations and ambushes catalyze. His awareness of his surroundings with Darklings in play borders on precognition.

Obtenebration: Shadow Strength (7)

Scale: Strength

Empowered with the Darkness, Estacado can easily smash through reinforced barriers or heave a freight car over his head. Various amounts of the power can be allocated internally as necessary to boost Jackie's physical strength and force. When he does not have access to the Darkness, Jackie is nonetheless an impressive specimen, with a natural strength rating of 3.

Skill: Hitman (7)

Scale: Combat

Jackie Estacado is among the best assassins in the business. Or out of the business, depending on the day. The man is lethal with a firearm, preferably handguns. He's a crack shot and has been in enough gunfights that cover and return fire are all but reflexive-- he can drop a man across a room on the draw, dead between the eyes. Jackie's had to kill more than a few opponents with nothing but his bare hands, at high noon under a cruel sun. Not only does he keep in shape, he practices constantly, honing and expanding his art. Granted, a lot of that practice is in the field... so to speak.

Skill: Occultist (5/8)

Scale: Profession

Jackie's learned a lot about the nature of his powers since they first crawled into his skull on his twenty-first birthday. He's learned a lot about the other things that go bump in the night; then killed more than his fair share. In areas related to the Darkness, he has a deep and often almost intuitive sense of artifacts and cosmic mechanisms. Other magic? Well, let's just say Estacado's a quick study.

Skill: Scholar (5)

Scale: Profession

Jackie was always a bright boy, not the brainiest in the world but relative to -his- world, he's a freaking genius. Since the Darkness awoke, Estacado's only expanded his education, learning about chemistry, anatomy and physiology, architecture, gunsmithing... pretty much anything he decided would be handy to drag out of the Darkness. It's this knowledge that allows him to make truly detailed and formidable constructs, as well as compounds such as acids, explosives, or fire born of Darkness itself.

Trait: Hard-Nosed (8)

Scale: Willpower

If there's one thing Jackie Estacado is, it's damn stubborn. Incredibly willful, life never dealt Jackie any trump cards-- but he never let that stop him. Ambitious, determined to look out for his friends, Jackie will heartlessly quash his own paradise illusion and kill the seductive demon projecting it to protect people important to him... or just to settle a score. He never gives up, he never lets go, and it's this all but unshakeable will that fuels the Darkness... and widens the channel between man and void.

Trait: Magnetic

Jackie's always been intense, from when he was just a little waif right up through his days as a Franchetti bagman. A social chameleon, Jackie can pick up quickly on what people want to hear, and attract or repulse them at his leisure. He's incredibly charismatic, well-spoken, and a possessed of a keen sense of style and wit-- for good and ill. He's the kind of man who makes an impression for a lot of reasons, and he's incredibly aware of it. It's one of his favorite weapons.

Advantages

Advantage: The Darkness

The Darkness has been around for awhile. It's seen things; it's devoured those things. When it suits its purposes (read: facilitating mayhem and violent upheaval) the Darkness can directly advise Jackie, warn him, provide visions of the future or the past, even possess his body and cut loose. Keeping the Darkness satiated tends to make it more cooperative, though it would insist it only wants Jackie to enjoy himself; reach his potential. Of course, the opposite? Also too damn true. Still, Jackie's like a little boat on a deep, dark ocean that holds energies that make our universe itself shudder-- it's a hell of a reservoir.

Advantage: The Family

The Franchetti Family is OG, Italian Americans who wanted to preserve the things that meant something-- honor, family. They circled the wagons against corruption in the government, against discrimination (against their own), but somewhere along the line it all went balls up. Things built on blood tend to do that. So Jackie took out the trash. He and the Darkness killed every kid-murderer and rapist in the ranks of the Family and its associates-- then he branched out. Jackie did his homework, the good men, the real gangsters? Those he brought into the fold. Everyone else got fed to the Darkness. It's left Estacado with an unusually old school crew, reasonably capable henchman muscle, and serious rep on the street. Not to mention the connections to all the guns, girls, and gambling a man could imagine. It's good to be the king.

Advantage: The Light

'Try and do a little good.'. It's the last thing the love of Jackie's life said to him before she walked out of it. Sure, Jenny lived for awhile after that, but it took her brutal execution to really sink the weight of that request into Jackie's thick skull, to really educate him on everything he had lost. Everything he sacrificed in his descent to darkness. It would be a stretch to call Jackie a changed man since his Uncle Frankie murdered Jenny, but it was sure as Hell a shift in how he chose dinner for the Darkness. Jackie would swear to you that her ghost is the only thing that keeps him sane. Irony, right?

Advantage: The Wealth

Being the head of a major crime organization comes with a lot of risks, and a lot of perks. Foremost among those perks is that everyone in the organization, and thus everyone who does business with the organization, kicks up some of their take. Jackie Estacada has literally hundreds of millions of dollars stashed away, and routinely seizes his competition's assets for his own use. To say money is no object is understating the fact-- the guy could buy a private island and build a state of the art fortress on it and not tap himself out.

Flaws

Flaw: The Angelus

The Darkness' opposite number is a sentient force of pure light: solar fire. It represents unflinching, merciless order and perfect symmetry, and to say that the Angelus hates the Darkness, and vice-versa, is like saying Israel and Palestine have a little beef. The two ancient powers have been duking it out since before there was human history, and while Jackie doesn't have much personal stake in that fight... the Angelus seldom gives its hosts a lot of options.

Flaw: The Attitude

To say Jackie Estacado has a temper is putting it politely, but probably not politely enough to be safe. He's gotten in a lot of jams over the years because he has a hard time controlling his anger and his sense of knavish honor, and escalates situations readily with his disdain for... well, most people really. He's stubborn enough not to change anytime soon, often, or for anybody else's benefit... much less his own. It's also all but impossible for him to let an opportunity to be a smartass pass by.

Flaw: The Baggage

Forget emotional trauma, though Jackie's got loads of that to spare; we're talking deep, nasty, potentially fatal shit here. Whole crime syndicates, cults, and ancient entities that want Jackie dead, tortured, or used for their own ends-- if not all three in random remixed order. Who he can trust and who's looking to get close to gut him for some twisted ritual to chain the Darkness is a very real lifestyle hazard. Never mind the people he -can- trust who tend to wind up murdered in nasty ways.

Flaw: The Darkness

Simply put, the Darkness isn't Jackie's power, Jackie is the Darkness' avatar. At least, depending who you ask-- it's complicated. Whatever the truth, chaos and Estacado might as well be synonyms. The sentient power prefers it this way, works to keep it this way, sometimes even subtly (or really really not subtly) intercedes in events to make them spiral more fully out of control. It takes all of Jackie's formidable will to keep the Darkness in check, particularly if his aims are contrary to its desires; and the Darkness is tireless, patient... ancient. There's also the fact that if Jackie ever conceives a child, he dies when the infant nears term, and the Darkness passes to that child. It's kind of kills the appeal of being a family man, to say the least.

Flaw: The Fuzz

Jackie was arrested the first time when he was nine, running a drug shipment for the Franchettis. He was in juvie once or twice, and he's got a rap sheet for a laundry list of minor charges; and a handful of failed prosecutions on not so minor charges. Authorities from various detectives to OC strike teams with the FBI know in their heart of hearts that Estacado is no good-- even if no one can really prove it. He's often on the suspect list when interests related to him or the Franchetiis are hit, and getting help or trust from people in positions of authority is often tricky, to say the least-- especially if they're honest.

Flaw: The Light

None of Jackie's Darkness-given abilities function exposed to direct light, particularly daylight. Constructs melt away, Darklings dissipate; the Darkness simply cannot be used in the rays of the sun or high intensity artificial lighting. Direct sunlight is not necessary so long as the entire area is well-lit, like a house with the shades open. In the dark, even in daylight hours, all bets are off. Jackie's one saving grace here is that he can project his Darkness powers anywhere shadow is prevalent, even when illuminated himself. Typical light levels in a place like a bar or restaurant at night are enough to inhibit but not disable the Darkness; track lighting that obliterates most shadow is much more effective. Intense spotlights are enough to force Darklings to recoil, and erode constructs into smoke with sustained exposure-- torches will similarly back the little buggers off, and only damage the Darkness through direct contact. Good luck getting much mileage out of your Bic.

Flaw: The Not-White Knight

It's ironic, isn't it? The amount of trouble Jackie has ignoring a really well delivered sob story. The way he can't just walk away from a scumbag talking down to a kid. Deep down he's still dark shades of that pissy little orphan that stabbed a monk in the neck with a letter opener for laying a hand on his BFF. He's no selfless hero though, getting bloody and taking what he wants.. one step removed from all Estacado knows; can't blame a guy for wanting to do a little good along the way, right?

History[]

Jackie Estacado is a man who came up from nothing, bastard son of a prostitute who died in labor and an equally dead father, Estacado wound up in an orphanage under cruel tutelage and with little affection. The one light in his life was Jenny Romano, his dearest (and only) friend, whom Jackie defended from other orphans and monks alike with brutal fervor. At least, until the day Frankie Franchetti, who had employed Jackie's father Danny Estacado as a hitman, came and adopted Jackie. He was taken into the lush arms of pure luxury, but there was a dark side to the arrangement. Frankie took Jackie in solely to craft the finest hitman he could.

Not even ten years into his life, Jackie first saw gray matter spatter across a car's dashboard, and he was brought into the gang's fold fully. Jackie Estacado was a man who believed in the mantras he was fed-- honor, loyalty, family. They were a better class of criminal, and the scum that got in the Franchetti Family's way had it coming. When Jackie turned 21, the curse that killed his father awoke within him, gifting him with the vast power of the Darkness, an ancient and ravenous void.

After that, the formidable hitman became a legend in the New York underworld. It was a brutal life. Maybe he just squashed the doubts, hid the thoughts in the very back of his mind, embraced his lifestyle and the propoganda of his 'Uncle Frankie'-- but the lies just kept tumbling out, one after another. Hidden secrets, dark designs, and then Frankie wanted Jackie to kill the Batman. Jackie wouldn't do it, couldn't bring himself to destroy someone devoting his life to good-- no rival hitman or dealer, no narc. In a crisis of faith, Estacado went to the GCPD to turn himself in in a series of brutal mob homicides that he had conducted throughout Gotham.

Frankie had Estacado tailed there, and in a panic, attacked the precinct in an attempt to ice Jackie.. thinking he had flipped. The assault was defeated, and Jackie survived, but the damage had been done-- Frankie turned on Jackie with a vengeance, killed Jenny, tore out every support structure his adopted nephew had. It was the worst mistake Frankie Franchetti ever made. Estacado and the Darkness gutted the Franchetti family, restaffed it with people loyal to Jackie, or people who learned real fast to be loyal to Jackie.

Jackie positioned himself at the top of the food chain, and turned hungry eyes outwards; the world is full of scumbags, and way overdue a better class of 'businessman'.

Logs[]

The following logs feature Jackie Estacado:

News[]

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Associations[]

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Wanted[]

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Jackie Estacado's Wanted List