Charles Baudolino

=• History •=

Born in Syracuse, New York in 1984, Charles Baudolino experienced a fairly normal childhood in a typical American suburb. When his interests at college took him to literary studies instead of banking, his family disowned him.

Charles spent his post-college years as a local self-published poet in the region, traveling from one town to another reading his work in small bookshops and cafes in-between working night shifts at grocery stores. He managed to produce two small books which he initially self-published before selling the rights to Plunkett Publishing: "The Flowers of Ill-Content" (2009) and "Zombie Prayers, Answered" (2011).

During one reading in the dismal city of Utica, a zombie burst into "Feenoir's Discount Books & Tea" and attacked his audience of four people. Somehow in the terror of the moment, Baudolino grabbed a chair and a heavy edition of Longfellow poems and chased the rotting creature out. The cause of the undead attack still bothers Baudolino to this day. Later that night, after he drank himself into a near-comma and was convinced he had swallowed a bee, the Templar came for him. Soon afterwards he found himself in their employ as a new field agent and was dispatched to Kingsmouth, Maine.

As a Templar
Initially Baudolino distinguished himself as a new Templar agent during the "Solomon Island Incident". He made valuable contributions to the effort to investigate and discourage advancement of the Filth in Kingmouth town, while befriending and aiding the town's beleaguered survivors. It was there he acquired what would become his signature uniform, a used cosmonaut space-suite, from "Scrapyard" Edgar. While on assignment in the area he met and befriended Wynnifred Gwynn, a magical but unaligned freelancer who used the calamity on Solomon Island to her own benefit to gain weapons, money and materials. The two became close friends. Soon afterwards the pair met Ezekiel "Clutter" King, a known Illuminati agent, and the trio made a formidable team, which would later grow to include agents such as Jenifael "Tazzy" Waltz and "Morticus".

Eventually however, his progress was diminished by his phobia of blood and stunted psionic/magic development. Temple Hall also frowned upon his companionship with a non-aligned magic user and an Illuminati agent. Upon the resolution of the Solomon Island Case, Baudolino returned to London and fell into a drinking habit to cope with the grotesque experiences he encountered in the field, along with his forced relocation to Templar territory and the loss of his previous life. He became somewhat infamous on Ealdwic pub scene for his social misadventures, which eventually led to his total demotion and near-expulsion from Templar society. Templar Hall revoked his Agartha access and forced him to remain in Ealdwic as a local "Investigator"--a purely superficial title, considering the heavy magical protection and relative safety of the Templar-dominated area. His companions Wynnifred and Zeke took him in to their care at a small hovel in London's Darkside.

As "Ealdwic Investigator"
=• Recently •=

Months later, Winnifred and Clutter moved to a new home in al-Merayah, Egypt. Left to his own devices and feeling lonely, Baudolino fell into a spell of drinking and carousing about the Horned God and Crusades, further ruining his already dismal reputation. At the behest of his publisher Hiram Plunket, Baudolino began preparations to conduct a poetry reading to kindle interest in his literary work. Sometime shortly thereafter he met and began a relationship with Gredine "Didrika" Matthews.

On February 19th Baudolino held a much publicized poetry reading of his self-published works. Much of the publicity was in fact fabricated hype, alluding to his "international fame" as a "literary sensation". Few attended the event, though it became infamous when after only a few poems into the reading Baudolino was knocked unconscious and kidnapped by two assailants appearing to wear Atenist garb. Baudolino was missing for three days, until discovered in haggard condition in a remote warehouse in Egypt. The recovery team was led by his close friends Wynnifred, Zeke, Didrika, Skyler "RavnPyre" Ravenstorm, and Joshua Hart. Apparently suffering some degree of psychological trauma, possibly involving the usage of blood, Baudolino was quite shaken and took a few days to recover, though the degree impact his short imprisonment may have had on him is yet to be seen.