Post by Tally Man on Aug 23, 2010 0:02:55 GMT
Full Name: Unknown
Alias (if applicable): The Tally Man
Birthday: Unknown
Age: Unknown, but probably late 20s. His features are prematurely aged by ill-health.
Hometown: Manchester, UK. Currently resides in Gotham City.
Appearance: The Tally Man is 6'4 tall and painfully thin. He cares little for his own appearance, and his hair is often greasy, his eyes hollow and skin pale with a lack of sunlight. A faint scent of mildew and damp hangs to his clothes.
Tally Man's face is sharp-featured and almost gaunt. His eyes are the flat, murky grey of a raincloud and are surrounded by deep shadows. He does not readily show emotion in his expression, and many find his gaze unsettling in its blankness.
Although he is said to have grown up in Manchester and can speak in detail about his early life in the blighted areas of the city, he does not display the distinctive local accent but nor has be taken on American patterns of speech. His voice is slightly nasal, with a high, grating quality.
Tally Man's clothes when he is on the job resemble those of a Victorian tax collector - a threadbare black suit, a long dark coat, stained black gloves and tall hat. When working, he frequently wears a mask to hide his features.
Personality: Despite his dramatic appearance, Tally Man has little charisma or drive. He has no desire for power or advancement in the Gotham underworld and is content to take orders from those higher up the criminal pyramid. He will follow his orders to the letter, but his interest in the wider schemes of his criminal superiors is limited.
The Tally Man works as a freelance enforcer for various mobsters. He is employed to collect the debts of those who have defaulted on promises; though he usually collects lives instead of cash. He takes no personal pleasure in his work, viewing it merely as a mathematical equation - those who do not pay up, pay the price. Whether mob leader or hired thug, criminal or police officer; in his mind all are subject to the same rule of obligation.
Tally Man is a rationalist who believes every action has its equal and opposite reaction. He knows from experience that the consequences of even one criminal act can ripple outwards until it marks an entire life. This does not trouble him overmuch. It is, to him, merely logical that violence should breed violence and that punishment naturally follows crime.
If arrested, Tally Man will offer full cooperation and compliance with the police and will plead guilty in front of a judge. Similarly he will not question the demands of those in power in the Gotham underworld, considering it only their natural right due to their position in the Gotham City hierarchy.
His reliability, along with his dependence on order and rationality, has led to him being occasionally employed by former DA and now mob kingpin Harvey Dent aka Two-Face. Dent has often utilised his talents for not only enforcement of his city-wide rackets but also financial administration; helping the disfigured mob leader launder money and submit falsified financial records to the IRS.
Tally Man claims responsibility for 66 kills in the line of work. He dispatches his targets quickly and without drama; often with a single gunshot to the back of the head.
It is uncertain whether the Tally Man is capable of feeling human emotion. He is not known to have any close friends or intimates, and no records of romantic relationships exist. He has no hobbies or interests outside of his work, although records from the Arkham library demonstrate he may have an interest in rationalist philosophy and in higher mathematics.
Psychiatrists who attempt to interview the Tally Man find the experience unrewarding. His past patient records suggest a possible oedipal dimension to the development of his psychosis, but such a diagnosis, while tempting, is a simplistic one. Ultimately the Tally Man's true motivation and the workings of his mind like so much else in his life, are unknowable... at least to the sane.
Special Abilities: Tally Man is highly agile, with lightning-quick reflexes. Although adept in the martial art Savate, he has limited physical strength and can be easily beaten in the type of street fight that turns into a brawl. He often carries a sword cane, which he uses to augment his skills in Savate.
He is mathematically gifted, with the ability to rapidly calculate long streams of figures in his head. With an eidetic memory for numbers, he is capable of solving the most complicated magic square or number puzzles with ease, though his interest in such games is limited. He rarely solves these puzzles for enjoyment's sake - instead, they appeal to his sense of order and rationality, becoming almost a meditation.
Weaknesses: Tally Man suffers from poor health due to his malnourished upbringing and is prone to infections of the chest and respiratory system. His thin chest is often racked with spasms of coughing. He's also allergic to cats.
History: Investigations by the GCPD have placed the origin of the criminal known as the Tally Man in the British city of Manchester. Born in the deprived and crime-ridden area of Levenshulme, Tally Man's early life was blighted by poverty and the harassment of the gangs and loan sharks who ruled the area.
His father, a factory worker, died in an industrial accident while Tally Man was still a baby. He left behind a legacy of crippling debt built up over months and years from doorstep lenders working for the local gangs. The sharks passed his father's debt onto his widow and children, extorting growing amounts of money from the family every week. The interest mounted day by day soon eclipsing the original debt, and the family was forced to borrow more and more from the sharks; taking one loan in order to pay for another and driving the family ever deeper into toxic debt.
As the boy who would become known as the Tally Man grew older, he tried in vain to protect his mother and his beloved younger sister from the gangs and their intimidation, and could never understand why his mother did not resist when the lenders came for their money each week. Every week brought the same anger and frustration when his mother meekly answered the Thursday night knock on the door, her hands shaking as she scraped together what little she could and begged the debt collectors for more time. All his mother could answer to his childish questions were tearful resignation and the words "Everybody has to pay the Tally Man."
The week he turned 13, Tally Man took a stand. That Thursday, when the debt collectors came to collect their payment, he seized a poker from the fireplace. Meaning at first only to defend his mother, he leapt on the men who threatened her, and in a rage attacked them with the poker, beating one of them to death.
A heavy sentence in the harsh regime of a boys' borstal followed, where he became the frequent target of abuse from his fellow inmates and warders alike, who scornfully described him as a "mama's boy". Tally Man has never spoken of what he suffered in the cells and the yards of the borstal. Perhaps it is best not to speculate.
When the young Tally Man was released and returned to Manchester, he found his sister had died of malnutrition and disease a year after his incarceration. His mother had killed herself in despair. In that instant as he stood in the empty living room of their dilapidated house and watched rats scurry across the floors was born the Tally Man - debt collector and hired killer; an emotionless criminal motivated only by repayment of debt.
It is unknown when Tally Man first came to America, but he came to the attention of the GCPD when he was investigated on suspicion of the fatal shootings of several underworld figures during the last months in office of former DA Harvey Dent. Although had a sound alibi for the time of the killings and no evidence emerged to link him to the murders, he has been monitored ever since. When arrested, he refuses the service of an attorney and declines to post bail. It is speculated that he has protection from higher up the criminal ladder, as no prosecution against the Tally Man has ever been successfully brought.
PB: Crispin Glover
Alias (if applicable): The Tally Man
Birthday: Unknown
Age: Unknown, but probably late 20s. His features are prematurely aged by ill-health.
Hometown: Manchester, UK. Currently resides in Gotham City.
Appearance: The Tally Man is 6'4 tall and painfully thin. He cares little for his own appearance, and his hair is often greasy, his eyes hollow and skin pale with a lack of sunlight. A faint scent of mildew and damp hangs to his clothes.
Tally Man's face is sharp-featured and almost gaunt. His eyes are the flat, murky grey of a raincloud and are surrounded by deep shadows. He does not readily show emotion in his expression, and many find his gaze unsettling in its blankness.
Although he is said to have grown up in Manchester and can speak in detail about his early life in the blighted areas of the city, he does not display the distinctive local accent but nor has be taken on American patterns of speech. His voice is slightly nasal, with a high, grating quality.
Tally Man's clothes when he is on the job resemble those of a Victorian tax collector - a threadbare black suit, a long dark coat, stained black gloves and tall hat. When working, he frequently wears a mask to hide his features.
Personality: Despite his dramatic appearance, Tally Man has little charisma or drive. He has no desire for power or advancement in the Gotham underworld and is content to take orders from those higher up the criminal pyramid. He will follow his orders to the letter, but his interest in the wider schemes of his criminal superiors is limited.
The Tally Man works as a freelance enforcer for various mobsters. He is employed to collect the debts of those who have defaulted on promises; though he usually collects lives instead of cash. He takes no personal pleasure in his work, viewing it merely as a mathematical equation - those who do not pay up, pay the price. Whether mob leader or hired thug, criminal or police officer; in his mind all are subject to the same rule of obligation.
Tally Man is a rationalist who believes every action has its equal and opposite reaction. He knows from experience that the consequences of even one criminal act can ripple outwards until it marks an entire life. This does not trouble him overmuch. It is, to him, merely logical that violence should breed violence and that punishment naturally follows crime.
If arrested, Tally Man will offer full cooperation and compliance with the police and will plead guilty in front of a judge. Similarly he will not question the demands of those in power in the Gotham underworld, considering it only their natural right due to their position in the Gotham City hierarchy.
His reliability, along with his dependence on order and rationality, has led to him being occasionally employed by former DA and now mob kingpin Harvey Dent aka Two-Face. Dent has often utilised his talents for not only enforcement of his city-wide rackets but also financial administration; helping the disfigured mob leader launder money and submit falsified financial records to the IRS.
Tally Man claims responsibility for 66 kills in the line of work. He dispatches his targets quickly and without drama; often with a single gunshot to the back of the head.
It is uncertain whether the Tally Man is capable of feeling human emotion. He is not known to have any close friends or intimates, and no records of romantic relationships exist. He has no hobbies or interests outside of his work, although records from the Arkham library demonstrate he may have an interest in rationalist philosophy and in higher mathematics.
Psychiatrists who attempt to interview the Tally Man find the experience unrewarding. His past patient records suggest a possible oedipal dimension to the development of his psychosis, but such a diagnosis, while tempting, is a simplistic one. Ultimately the Tally Man's true motivation and the workings of his mind like so much else in his life, are unknowable... at least to the sane.
Special Abilities: Tally Man is highly agile, with lightning-quick reflexes. Although adept in the martial art Savate, he has limited physical strength and can be easily beaten in the type of street fight that turns into a brawl. He often carries a sword cane, which he uses to augment his skills in Savate.
He is mathematically gifted, with the ability to rapidly calculate long streams of figures in his head. With an eidetic memory for numbers, he is capable of solving the most complicated magic square or number puzzles with ease, though his interest in such games is limited. He rarely solves these puzzles for enjoyment's sake - instead, they appeal to his sense of order and rationality, becoming almost a meditation.
Weaknesses: Tally Man suffers from poor health due to his malnourished upbringing and is prone to infections of the chest and respiratory system. His thin chest is often racked with spasms of coughing. He's also allergic to cats.
History: Investigations by the GCPD have placed the origin of the criminal known as the Tally Man in the British city of Manchester. Born in the deprived and crime-ridden area of Levenshulme, Tally Man's early life was blighted by poverty and the harassment of the gangs and loan sharks who ruled the area.
His father, a factory worker, died in an industrial accident while Tally Man was still a baby. He left behind a legacy of crippling debt built up over months and years from doorstep lenders working for the local gangs. The sharks passed his father's debt onto his widow and children, extorting growing amounts of money from the family every week. The interest mounted day by day soon eclipsing the original debt, and the family was forced to borrow more and more from the sharks; taking one loan in order to pay for another and driving the family ever deeper into toxic debt.
As the boy who would become known as the Tally Man grew older, he tried in vain to protect his mother and his beloved younger sister from the gangs and their intimidation, and could never understand why his mother did not resist when the lenders came for their money each week. Every week brought the same anger and frustration when his mother meekly answered the Thursday night knock on the door, her hands shaking as she scraped together what little she could and begged the debt collectors for more time. All his mother could answer to his childish questions were tearful resignation and the words "Everybody has to pay the Tally Man."
The week he turned 13, Tally Man took a stand. That Thursday, when the debt collectors came to collect their payment, he seized a poker from the fireplace. Meaning at first only to defend his mother, he leapt on the men who threatened her, and in a rage attacked them with the poker, beating one of them to death.
A heavy sentence in the harsh regime of a boys' borstal followed, where he became the frequent target of abuse from his fellow inmates and warders alike, who scornfully described him as a "mama's boy". Tally Man has never spoken of what he suffered in the cells and the yards of the borstal. Perhaps it is best not to speculate.
When the young Tally Man was released and returned to Manchester, he found his sister had died of malnutrition and disease a year after his incarceration. His mother had killed herself in despair. In that instant as he stood in the empty living room of their dilapidated house and watched rats scurry across the floors was born the Tally Man - debt collector and hired killer; an emotionless criminal motivated only by repayment of debt.
It is unknown when Tally Man first came to America, but he came to the attention of the GCPD when he was investigated on suspicion of the fatal shootings of several underworld figures during the last months in office of former DA Harvey Dent. Although had a sound alibi for the time of the killings and no evidence emerged to link him to the murders, he has been monitored ever since. When arrested, he refuses the service of an attorney and declines to post bail. It is speculated that he has protection from higher up the criminal ladder, as no prosecution against the Tally Man has ever been successfully brought.
PB: Crispin Glover
