Jean "Trankil" Martinique

=• Background •= Jean was born into poverty in Haiti and immigrated to New Orleans with his mother when he was a young boy. There he discovered innate talents for two things: finding trouble with the law, and cooking fine foods. He bounced back and forth between the two pursuits as a teenager: he'd get a job as a line cook somewhere to lay low when whatever trouble he was in got too deep; eventually, he'd get bored and into trouble, which would get him fired; he'd then end up commiting any or all of a wide range of petty crimes while unemployed. Repeat. Those who knew him all were convinced that he'd either end up in a world-class kitchen or in jail, but which of the two it would be was a mystery to all of them.

Katrina knew that both were wrong. But she wasn't one of Jean's acquaintances until she slammed into New Orleans at full force in 2005. And most of what has been written about her is only half-true.

Jean has never talked about what happened during the chaos of the hurricane and its aftermath. And he was among the lists of the forgotten missing from that city until 2007, when a Phoenician kidnapping and extortion plot was uncovered and disrupted by a "temporary consultant to the Boston PD". From that time, Jean has been quietly involved in a number of Secret World-related events, mostly on a small-scale. And his name began to come up repeatedly among those who pay attention to such things, as an independent player who gets things done professionally and discreetly, without leaving a lot of witnesses or loose ends.

The Illuminati took note. They hired Jean to help with their newly-acquired subsidiary, Aegir Communications. Aegir was originally an unaffiliated corporation with a longstanding history of facilitating ties between the various human factions of the Secret World. Recently it has fallen on hard times; with the sudden death of the founding CEO, Solveig Rystaad, the company is now officially controlled by his supremely unprepared daughter, Seanne Rystaad. Jean's orders are to ensure the stability of the company and the safety of its new CEO during the transition.

Which of those two issues is a bigger priority to the Illuminati is known only to them and to Jean--and neither is talking.

=• Personality •= Jean is a very reserved and careful person. He's quiet, formal, and doesn't talk much unless he's got something to say that he thinks will be useful. He has worked very hard to erase any signs of his background--his Creole accent is still there, but only faintly and usually is expressed by the choice of words that he uses rather than his pronunciation of them.

At this point, he's got quite a lot of experience and training in the supernatural and is long past being terribly surprised by the realities of the situation. However, he's not generally the type to promote his own reputation--he finds that people are more intimidated by him when he's not saying much, and he prefers it that way.

He is rumored to have a sense of humor, but all evidence suggests otherwise.

=• Skills •= Jean is a skilled magician and competent with small firearms. He's also a talented chef, not that he'd be likely to ever share that information with anyone.

=• Friends and acquaintances •= Jean has exactly two friends. They both live on his windowsill in New York, and require watering infrequently. He has not given either of them names.

His major responsibility is keeping an eye on Seanne Rystaad, and if he still has all his hair a year from now it will be a miracle. Luckily, he has some help on this front from her personal assistant, Mila Cameron.

While exploring Kingsmouth, he came across Sylistra Erzaes and recruited her to Aegir. The two of them seem to like each other and cross paths often--but they're also both so cautious and introverted that nothing much has come of it.