About Emilien MoreauPersonality:
Outward: Emilien carries himself with confidence whenever possible, bordering on flamboyance at times. His default expression appears to be a knowing smile, hinting that he knows some secret that he's unwilling to share. He is rather verbose, never saying in a few words what could instead he expounded upon at length. Part of this is because of his natural arrogance and intelligence, always enjoying showing off his linguistic talents. When nervous its even worse, his mind is an asset and he's use to being able to talk his way out of most problems he encounters so when backed into a corner he often seems to ramble. He genuinely loves learning and has two books on him almost constantly so that he can read whenever he had a few free moments. The stranger the topic, the more rare or secretive the text, the more interesting it is to him. The other book he carries is a small black book that never leaves his side, it is his Book of Secrets where he records particularly choice bits of gossip, news or intrigue. When not focused and not currently talking with someone he has a tendency to hum the tunes of songs he remembers his mother singing in his youth. After essentially growing up in an opera house, he appreciates music more than any other art form. His actual singing voice is fairly average and thus he rarely does more than hum.
Inward: Emil is a brilliant individual, it would be difficult for anyone to argue otherwise. His mind is his greatest asset and he is extremely aware of that fact. It is largely because of this that he constantly seeks to improve and expand his knowledge and understanding of the world around him. An unused tool will eventually grow dull. Although he makes an effort to hide it, he does possess a number of insecurities. He knows that his interpersonal skills are less than stellar at times. Generally he can impress people with his flowery speech but as a person he lacks much natural charm. He has a bit of difficulty directly relating to people on an individual level. His default way of looking at someone is how they can be useful to him. During his more introspective moments though he sees how lonely and isolating this way of reacting to people can be. But its hard for him to justify opening up to people and putting himself at risk by doing so. That said, he is generally more relaxed and happy when he is around people whom he has managed to open up to and reveal more of his true self to. Not feeling as though he needs to impress people or fill the quiet with chatter is a sign that he is close with someone. Interpersonal: Those whom Emilien is comfortable sitting in silence with are few and far between. His accountant Gilles and the two managers of the Clerk of the Cork, Noel and Philippe, are his oldest living friends. They know him perhaps better than anyone else, including his mother at this point in his life. Outside of those three though most of his interpersonal relationships are based entirely on business. He has a decent working relationship with members of The Vice. Since they run all number of illegal activities in his part of town its necessary for him to interact with them at times. Over the years they've worked out an equitable relationship. Occasionally Emilien passes on useful information and rumors that might benefit The Vice and in exchange they offer him the use of a team of their own to act as his scouts and occasionally burglars. There is an unspoken rule that although he can sell information to people about The Vice, if someone comes requesting information from him The Vice gets a heads up that someone is poking around in their business. He has something of a friendly rivalry with the operators of the Sloppy Scribe, given that there is at least a little overlap in their clientele despite being located on opposite sides of the Theater Quarter. Noel, before taking full time employment from Emil, had previously been a member of the Starving Artists. Emilien sees the Starving Artists as a curious and intriguing group. As someone who sells people's secrets for a living he is hardly going to claim moral superiority to thieves and con men. But when it comes to people like Noel, who are actually rather skilled in their own ways and truly appreciate art he has a great deal of respect for them. He has paid for information from Artists in the past and is generally happy to treat them to a free mug of ale or glass of wine if they show up at the Clerk of the Cork with a bit of interesting news. The other figure that Emilien truly pays a significant amount of attention to in his neck of the city is La Maupin. Her fighting performances and masked nature appeal to his sense of the dramatic and his love of a well kept secret. The identity of La Maupin is one secret that Emilien would love to get ahold of, not even out of a desire to share so much as to simply know. Backstory:
Emilien Moreau, Emil to his close friends, was born in Isarn and has lived there his entire life. Upon hearing that some people’s first reaction might be to ask, “Why do you still live in that horrid place?” To understand the answer to that question though one would have to understand more about Emil. Rosaline, Emil’s mother, had also been born in Isarn, she eventually became one of the performers at Margaery’s Playhouse. Rosalie was a lovely woman with a beautiful voice who had performed at Margaery’s back when it was an opera house and stuck with it during its transition into the raunchy burlesque show of its more modern days. Rosaline never tried to romanticize her relationship with Emil’s father as some star-crossed lovers separated by fate nonsense. Instead, without bitterness, she described it as a mistake that she would forever be grateful for making. Born in 4685 in what would become the middle of the Council of Perfection, Emilien’s childhood was fairly chaotic. The Common Council was a period of incredible violence that a very young Emil didn’t truly understand. The Galtcreed Pact that followed it was relatively safe by comparison to some of the other Councils that had sprung up along the way. As a boy Emil had often sat in the back of Margaery’s Playhouse and read various books. He loved reading and proved insatiable when it came to learning new things. Galt’s universities were almost all collapsed or collapsing by this point but some of the tomes from those universities could still be found, the works they did were still around if you were willing to look for them.
Emilien’s childhood was spent essentially as an informational sponge. New languages, foreign people, innovative ideas, it was all fascinating to him and he loved to collect books and journals and stories that other people told him. When people simply shared their stories with him he’d often write them down in notebooks so that he could go back to them later. And Emil loved those stories most, the ones that no one else had written, that only he knew because he recorded them. Looking back, it was easy to see how he fell in love with secrets, how he craved the knowledge others lacked, and how that would shape who he eventually became. As Emilien’s grew older Isarn grew continually more chaotic. The Imperial Council with its military focus created a rather frightening period, though Emilien was not old enough to be drafted into any conflict many worried that conflict would be brought to Isarn because of their constant deployments. Ultimately the Council of Enlightenment from Woodsedge would deliver on that worry. While it was not as bloody as it could have been that wasn’t saying a great deal, Emil and his mother both lost people during that transition. It was during the Cabinet of Skulls that Emilien really started to make a name for himself. Since he had always had a way with language he decided that he would find a way to well and truly market that skill. He began scribing for people, initially it was largely small jobs for families who didn’t have anyone who could write a clear and legible letter. But eventually he was able to get noticed as someone who had both skill as a writer and who was willing to ensure that messages got where they needed to go. The interest and focus on the arcane during the Cabinet of Skulls meant that several wizards and other arcanists were in need of various exotic texts as well as people who could help read, translate or simply identify them properly. Most of his money was made in service to an alchemist named Hubert Vallenos for whom he worked under for three years. During that time, he also received some basic training in the art of alchemy and an introduction into the arcane arts on his own behalf. Hubert fled Galt when the Red Raven began his extermination of the Council. Although Emilien was never able to uncover definitive proof, he would later suspect that his master had perhaps been involved in some of the Council’s necromantic experimentation. That didn’t much matter to Emilien, Hubert had been a father figure to him and had taught him a tremendous amount in their short three years together. And more than that he had left Emilien with a small fortune of gold upon leaving Isarn. The first thing that he tried to do with the money was convince his mother to leaven Isarn. In his eyes the city that she lived in wasn’t the one she had been born into and it frankly wasn’t good enough for her anymore. The Isarn of her memories, in her stories, was a beautiful art filled place. The Isarn that Emil saw was a conflict torn hell hole that held hundreds and thousands of enticing secrets buried in the rubble of its one-time majesty. For himself, there was something of value still in Isarn, but he could not understand what his mother still saw in the city. She was a stubborn, strong willed woman though and would have none of it. She said that Isarn was and always would be their home and she had no intention of leaving it. He was able to get her to agree to cut back on her time performing at Margaery’s Playhouse though, she at least be comfortable without having to work herself so hard. Instead he began investing his money into an idea that had been forming for a couple of years now. When his scribing was taking off he had gotten to know a number of people around the city whom could be relied upon in various ways. Whether they were locals like himself who simply knew how to safely and quickly get through streets and alleys to deliver letters or perhaps suppliers who could occasionally get in a special order from outside Isarn itself. His list of contacts and people whom he though he could trust was rather extensive. Slowly but surely, he began to reach out and contact those he felt showed promise and invited them to take part in a business venture with him. Several months later, The Clerk of the Cork, opened for business. One good thing about a revolution every few years is that there was rarely a shortage of empty buildings for a new business to take over—if you were confidant you could outlast the next revolution anyways. The idea was a strange one and not one that ever got monumentally popular. But the Clerk of the Cork was a reasonably sized building divided up into a couple communal areas. The main room was essentially a bar, people could drink and talk and generally socialize, but the backroom was the part that made it different. In the back were books, and tables and chairs and divans to read on and in the corner was a small desk where Emil could often be found when he wasn’t in the main room. It was there that people could ask for clerical and scribe work, for translations or research on a topic, or perhaps just a recommendation on what to read themselves. In time the place would gain a reputation as a good place for artsy or history buff types to gather and chat about books or other scholarly topics. They kept decent wine and beer and somehow managed to have decent coffee to boot—the secret of which Emil refused to reveal to any customer. Of course, to some select few in the know, it was also known as the location of one of the city’s most well-informed information brokers. The group of people that Emil had put together had eyes and ears all over the city and worked to bring him news of any rumor they caught even the faintest whisper of. People who found themselves in possession of a secret knew where they could exchange it for real coin if they were interested. And those who had a bit of extra gold and wanted to hear the latest rumors? Well Emil was all too happy to have a quiet chat in the backroom, there is always some mutually beneficial arrangement to be reached. The business itself was always supposed to just be a front for Emilien to operate from but after several years he has found that he rather loves both sides of his work. He’s found he can enjoy talking with a grizzled historian over a cup of fine coffee just as much as he enjoys recording the secrets of the corrupt upper class in Galt in one of his little black books.
Crunch:
Emilien Moreau
Male half-elf occultist (secret broker) 7 (Pathfinder RPG Occult Adventures 46, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Intrigue 68) CN Medium humanoid (elf, human) Init +3; Senses aura sight, darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +18 -------------------- Defense -------------------- AC 18, touch 13, flat-footed 15 (+5 armor, +3 Dex) hp 45 (7d8+7) Fort +7, Ref +6, Will +6; +2 vs. enchantments Immune sleep -------------------- Offense -------------------- Speed 30 ft. Melee mwk dagger +8 (1d4+2/19-20) Ranged +1 adaptive composite longbow +9 (1d8+3/×3) Occultist Spell-Like Abilities (CL 7th; concentration +12) . . At will—share memory[UM] (DC 12) Implement Schools . . Abjuration (Cloak, 3 points) Resonant—warding talisman; Focus—aegis +2, mind barrier . . Divination (Book of Secrets, 8 points) Resonant—third eye; Focus—danger sight, mind eye, sudden insight . . Transmutation (Boots, 6 points) Resonant—physical enhancement (strength); Focus—legacy weapon, mind over gravity Occultist (Secret Broker) Spells Known (CL 7th; concentration +12) . . 3rd (2/day)—dispel magic, haste, seek thoughts[APG] (DC 18) . . 2nd (4/day)—blood biography (DC 17), obscure object (DC 17), perceive cues[APG] . . 1st (6/day)—gravity bow[APG], heightened awareness[ACG], shield . . 0 (at will)—detect magic, mage hand, resistance -------------------- Statistics -------------------- Str 14, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 20, Wis 10, Cha 10 Base Atk +5; CMB +7; CMD 20 Feats Alertness, Extra Mental Focus[OA], Orator[ACG], Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Skill Focus (Linguistics) Traits pragmatic activator Skills Bluff +4, Craft (alchemy) +11 (+13 on Craft (alchemy) checks to produce alcoholic beverages), Diplomacy +10, Disable Device +15, Disguise +4, Fly +7, Knowledge (arcana) +17, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +11, Knowledge (engineering) +11, Knowledge (geography) +11, Knowledge (history) +11, Knowledge (local) +17, Knowledge (nature) +11, Knowledge (nobility) +11, Knowledge (planes) +11, Knowledge (religion) +11, Linguistics +20, Perception +18, Profession (scribe) +8, Sense Motive +16, Sleight of Hand +7, Spellcraft +15, Use Magic Device +15; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception Languages Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Halfling, Hallit, Infernal, Kelish, Lip Reading, Shoanti, Sylvan, Undercommon, Varisian SQ automatic writing (linguistics), broker secrets, elf blood, gatefinder (perception), gatekeeper (knowledge [planes]), hypnotism (diplomacy), implements 4, mental focus (17/day), object reading, phrenology (knowledge [arcana]), prognostication (sense motive), read aura (perception) Combat Gear arrows (50), masterwork brewer's kit; Other Gear +1 mithral chain shirt, +1 adaptive composite longbow, mwk dagger, cracked magenta prism ioun stone, handy haversack, alchemist's lab, coffee pot[UE], concealable thieves' tools[UI], glass cutter[UE], glue paper[UE] (5), grappling hook, masterwork backpack[APG], silk rope (50 ft.), tea ceremony set[UE], traveling garden[ACG], wrist sheath, spring loaded, 1,130 into Clerk of the Cork, 52 gp, 5 sp Loot Attained: Courier's Secure Pouch [7 Bloodstones (50 gp each), 5 platinum, 35 gold, 100 silver, Government Paper Stock] -------------------- Special Abilities -------------------- Abjuration (Cloak) Abjuration implements are objects associated with protection and wards. Implements: Amulet, armor, bell, bracers, brooch, cloak, holy symbol, shield.
Implements: Book, crystal ball, goggles, harrow deck, headband, lenses, planchette.
Implements: Belt, boots, sandals, vest, weapon.
Clerk of the Cork:
The Clerk of the Cork [+2 Labor | +4 Goods | +35 GP | +35 Influence]
The Clerk of the Cork is a relatively friendly bar in the Theater Quarter of Isarn. If the Sloppy Scribe can be said to cater to artists and arcane scholars then the Clerk of the Cork is the bar for writers, lawyers and historians. They keep decent wine, beer and surprisingly coffee on hand at all times for patrons but they also have a wide variety of books to purchase and simply peruse. Although Emil will often buy books on almost any topic the largest portion of the collection is works on Galt itself, its legends, laws, people and some of its history. To those who are connected to the right people though it is also known as the place to go if you want some information that cant be found in just any book. Emilien Moraeu is always willing to buy and sell a secret for the right price and the back office of the Clerk of the Cork is where he generally meets people at least for the first time. Building - 1,360 gp - +25 Influence | +27 GP
Teams - 520 gp - +2 Labor | +4 Goods | +8 GP | +10 Influence
Total Cost: 1,880 -750 [Trait] = 1,130 gp from Character |
