Irregular Occurrences Application
Name: Antoni Ruedi Martili Damian Balderik von Zwiefelhofer III
Alias: Damian Moriarty, the Student, the Count von Anhalt.
Age: 18
Sex: Male
Biography: Young Damian was born to a rich, yet unknown Swiss noble in the Appalachian mountains. Indeed, the small country of Liechtenstein, whose royal family may or may not be descended or related to the Von Zwiefelhofers, is more well known than this noble family. The young son of the Count of Chur was born on a bright summer day in the mountains to a happy mother and a proud father. Sadly, the birth was not without... complications. The mother died weeks after the birth due to the midwife having not properly washed her hand and infected the Countess with a drastically deadly disease. The new heir of the Count as well was infected, the young child running a fever for the same number of weeks as his mother. The Count prayed every night, searched for every doctor, and nearly sold the family mines to pay for any cure possible. But still, the lovely Countess died in the middle of night. The only consolation for the Count was that, miraculously, as if his wife's soul had cured him, young Damian's fever broke at the same time his mother passed on.
As he was growing up in the mountains, Damian was afflicted with horrible health, the poor child having colds, flus, and fevers every other week. Indeed, he knew more days stuck in his bed with a rag on his forehead than he knew days in the sun. His father, meanwhile, became more and more distant to his ill child, his reasoning being that a man out in the mines and out in the cities as often as the Count would surely carry contagion that might possibly kill his son, and so he distanced himself. This, while possibly achieving the Count's goal, put a large, wide barrier between himself and his son. Damian, though, did not care.
The young noble had a lot of free time, what with being sick and confined to his room for weeks on end. He filled this time with books, learning to read by the age of three and started working his way through his father's extensive library voraciously ever since. He read everything, fiction to non, but his favorite were indeed fiction stories. Mysteries, crime novels, horror, they all captivated him so much that he started writing some himself, the book being published and shared throughout Switzerland under the name of the Count von Anhalt. A pseudonym, of course. Though, the book was published unfinished, just before the dying protagonist, a manipulative spider of a murderer, saw the eyes of his antagonist, a wonderfully deductive investigator.
Many think that this is some sort of poetic ending, emphasizing some philosophical lesson... The truth was, it was at that point that Damian had lost interest in the style of writing, in the story he was creating, and left it there. He moved on to do something more... physical, as it had been suggested by his resident Doctor. He picked up fencing, as it was a noble sport and one that still had some threat in this world of black powder and revolvers, and started training with a master of the art who was hired by the Count von Zwiefelhofer.
While the young heir to Chur had lost interest in his story, it would seem that someone had... developed a strange fondness for it. One day, a letter came for Damian. It expressed the sender's love of the Count von Anhalt's writing style, and the characters themselves. How he had felt truly connected to the murderer and his reasons, like he was truly the character and was playing out his fate in the pages of the book. Of course, the letter implored, the Count of Anhalt could see the sender's problem, the fact that a character he had felt so close to died without seeing the eyes of his killer. The letter asked Damian to respond with a simple description of the investigator, so that the sender may put their... ill-feelings to rest. The letter was signed by a Professor James Moriarty. As a post signature message, the kind professor also suggested a crime series written by one Dr. John Watson for reading material, if the Count von Anhalt had not already read it.
Damian was ecstatic. He had never had a fan write to him before, and indeed this was the first bit of social interaction he had had outside of his doctor, his fencing instructor, and the brief visits of his father. So of course, he racked his brain for days on end, thinking of the perfect description of his investigator. After three days of silence, locked in his room without food and barely any water, only coming out to train with his fencing master, he appeared in the foyer of the mansion with a letter in his hand, addressed to Professor James Moriarty.
And then, he settled down to read the stories of Sherlock Holmes, written by Dr. James Moriarty. It was difficult at first, reading English instead of German, but he got through it.
He was surprised to find, though, some similarities. The description of his investigator matched pretty closely to that of Holmes... and a few books in, the description of the murderer...
Fit almost exactly the description of one criminal mastermind, Professor Moriarty.
For the next few years, Damian and Professor Moriarty kept up a correspondence, one almost of master and pupil, the Professor informing the young genius about his criminal enterprises and his desires, how he planned to foil Sherlock next, and so forth. Damian did his part, answering certain questions the Professor might have had for him, about the German language and certain things that came to mining, and the handling of businesses. Mostly, though, Damian's letters consisted of questions upon questions for the criminal mastermind. How he ran his organization, how to stay separate from the criminal acts, how to not be caught... how to be the perfect criminal, basically. They were kindred souls, these two.
The first, and last, time Damian met Moriarty was at the Reichenbach Falls, where the great Professor planned to finally defeat Sherlock in an epic battle of matching minds. He was, of course, surprised to meet the eighteen year old 'Count von Anhalt', but quickly reconciled his mental image with the truth, especially after seeing that the young man was as eloquent in person as he was in his letters.
And then the events of Reichenbach proceeded as they did, with Damian, the Professor's protégé, watching it all.
He truly is the only one that knows what truly happened to Sherlock and his enemy that day.
Methodology: Much like a spider in it's web, or perhaps the more apt comparison, like Moriarty in his criminal organization, Damian prefers to stay hidden behind his goons and businesses rather than get face to face with anyone. He gathers information, he blackmails, he hires men to do his dirty work for him, just like his mentor. It's how he stays... innocent in the eyes of the law, by not committing any crimes he can be traced back to. One of his best skills is his ability to predict what clues might be left behind by a crime, how a skilled investigator like Sherlock Holmes would be able to find their way back to him... and erase all trace.
Skills: Manipulation, torture, misdirection, lying, deduction, and fencing.
Classification: Mastermind, Criminal
RP Example: I mean... I can link ya my longest post ever if ya want.
Theme Song: Mars, the Bringer of War
