David Abraham Riedmaier I know you’ve suffered but I don’t want you to hide. It’s cold and loveless – I won’t let you be denied.
Age: 36 (18 September 1974) Flavour: Merchant Alignment: True Neutral Ability/specialisation: Due to the nature of his work, and having a few connections where it counts, David has an extensive knowledge of demonology. If you come across something lurking in the shadows and there's something written in a book about it somewhere, he will most likely have heard of it, and he would know how to kill it. That doesn't mean he will, of course, but he can source and sell you the necessary tools, and you can be the hero.
David also has substantial knowledge of the Occult, more extensive than the personal interest in tarot divination. It started off more as a byproduct of studying demonology than anything else, but he specialises in protective seals, using spells, wards, sigils and symbols to keep the non-humans at bay. This is regularly put to use in setting up the Market and his apartment and workshops are all adequately sealed as well.
Despite his stance on not wanting to join in the war efforts, he is a hands-on person - by Market standards he is considered a better-than-average 'apothecary', and can synthesise and procure artificial power sources (in vials and enchanted accessories) as well as modify and customise weapons for use against non-human species. He is particularly adept in synthesising the 'consumables', the powers in vials, and he has tried out at least 80% of the temporary offensive and defensive powers available for sale on the Market. With what free time he does not have, this is his current area of research/field of practice.
By contrast, though as a Merchant he is required to have at least rudimentary knowledge of alchemy and psychometry, he knows just enough to meet the minimum standards and nothing more.
On a different side of things, David's firearm of choice is a modified Desert Eagle .50AE which he keeps on his person during his waking hours (within reach when he's not). The .50AE by itself puts unnecessarily large holes in people and can easily take down stags and bears; the custom ammunition is designed to put a dent in angels and demons. He has at least four SIG Sauer P229s for more covert operations. He also has a pendant which he wears from time to time; something synthesised through Market materials and old spells from old books that negates magic within a 25 metre radius. If you see David walking towards you with a handgun either tucked in the back of his pants or in his hand and that pendant dangling off his neck, you probably won't live long enough to register how much trouble you're in with the Merchants. Occupation: He owns a stall called 'Slice of Heaven', and it's a permanent fixture in the ever-moving Market. Weapons for hunters, ingredients for Occultists, trophies for collectors, books for the curious, answers for the desperate - Slice of Heaven has a bit of everything to cater to everyone's needs.
He doesn't attend to the store personally, but he's always a mere phone call away. And while he may not be patrolling the Market all the time, he is one of the Merchants everyone in the same business knows by name and by face. After all, he is the one who sets up the necessary security measures for every business in the Market, protecting the Market and its supply against an array of Hellspawn and Immortals. He knows where the Market will be before most people do, and he will know if you decide to fiddle with the Merchants' commission rates or skip a payment.
Please play nice, and make payments on time - you wouldn't want to get on his blacklist. The worst thing that could happen to you isn't a random demon attack. It's a neon sign flashing above your head that says 'I'm a fucking idiot, and I'm free game'.
Back in the land of mere mortals fuelling the capitalist machine, David is a major shareholder at Progressive Integrated Solutions. Resident location: Isle of Dogs in London's East End, walking distance from Canary Wharf station. If he's not at home - only a handful of people know where he lives anyway - check in with the Market, or look for the corner-most pool table at the Flying Horseman.
Personality I want to reconcile the violence in your heart. I want to recognise your beauty is not just a mask.
There is no such thing as one person with just one mask. Everyone has multiple personalities that they cycle through in a single day, shapeshifting to fit in with the people they talk to, to perform the tasks required of them, dancing with angels and demons to the same song.
In many senses David is the quintessential Merchant. There is a war going on at his doorstep, and he could not care less for how it was going to turn out. Everyone is going to die eventually, and he is no saint. Heaven waits for no one. Temptation, corruption - redemption was no easy path, and the alternatives were so much more viable. If he lives a long life, he has half a century to go. Perhaps he will die tomorrow. Whatever the case, no one would be able to cheat death regardless of the outcome of the war, so why not enjoy it while he can? And enjoyment - indulgence, extravagance, power - they all stem from the same currency.
Folks, the pursuit of happiness is one and the same with the pursuit of wealth - don't let the Dalai Lama try and convince you otherwise.
This means he doesn't take it lightly when the Market isn't going as smoothly as it should. The Market is controlled by equal parts money and equal parts fear, and this balance needs to be maintained. They were Merchants, they were Machiavellian; opportunistic, intelligent, cunning - if they had any sense of morality to begin with, they would have thrown in the towel and joined in the war. So if you decide to try and cheat the system, don't be surprised if David comes collecting with a concealed firearm, knocking on your door.
So, based on first impressions, he may seem like the type who fits the enforcer role - the one who takes the active, hands-on approach all in the name of serving his own interests - but that's only one side of him (all is serious on the business front, to word it simply). To close acquaintances he can seem like a different person altogether; someone who has a good sense of humour, is a natural leader albeit a little laid-back, takes things in his stride, someone who is always there, any time of the day for anything you need (and is consequently perpetually tired because of it).
He is well-connected - he knows people, he knows things in general; a lot more than he lets on, in fact. While he doesn't make a habit out of smiting otherworldly beings that lurk the tainted streets of London (killing off the demand = lower supply = bad for business), there will be the occasional encounter that he will end up having to take care of himself.
Nothing is ever ordinary in this line of work, but it's all part of being a Merchant.
History I want to exorcise the demons from your past. I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart.
He was a very ordinary child in a single-parent home. She never told him about his father, and he had never really asked - she seemed stressed out enough as she was, slaving away at a day job that didn't pay enough. Childhood memories were nothing more than fragments of moving from one state house to the next, drifting across schools, taking money from the other children whom he knew he was never going to see again just so they could get by.
She told him that she was going to die a few days before she disappeared. She always knew things about the future through her tarot cards, and she had spent many nights before explaining to him what each card meant. She said that he had to keep moving, just like the way they had been moving houses, because the angels were coming to get them.
Clearly someone was deluded.
But she did die. Or at least, she disappeared, and her body was never found. Her brother and sister-in-law took him in afterwards, and he lived with them and his cousins. He wasn't the troublemaking type, and mostly he kept to himself and the pack of tarot cards his mother had left behind. He never quite got the hang of it the way she did - didn't know how she could make the predictions she did, didn't see what she could see.
It all seemed a little silly, especially to those at school. He thought it was something he had to throw away when his uncle found the cards on his bedroom floor, but instead all he got was 'You're too young to be introduced to the family business, but I want you to know.'
He has been involved with the Occult and the Market ever since. It was a different world - a world she tried too hard to keep her son away from, but the eccentricity and the wonders drew him in the way it ensnared her all those years ago. He read the same books she did and then some, but while she became a dedicated Occultist, he learned what he needed to know from the books and got involved with the business. He got to know people, became familiar with the circumstances they found themselves in, and for over a decade now, he's become a prominent name and face amongst the Merchants.
He still has those tarot cards, two and a half decades on. They're very old now, faded with bent corners and some torn edges, but once in a blue moon when he decides to use them, they still tell him things the way they spoke to her. He doesn't like getting involved in something that was so far out of his league he could barely scrape at it - there was an assortment of Natural and Occultist vigilantes for that - but he has an extensive collection of, shall we say, First Editions, that the Library has been wanting to acquire from him, and he has a few bits and pieces lying around his house. Just in case.
OOC Trust me, you can be sure. You may be a sinner but your innocence is mine.
Name: LCP Contact details: ScytheHooded [AIM] PB: Christian Bale Journal name:_machiavellian_ Any plot you’re thinking of: Other Merchants are definitely going to have complicated backstories worked in with this guy. Librarians will no doubt be tracking David, for his books and his heavy involvement with what is going on. In general, those who have ever wanted something, either officially from the Market or unofficially through directly getting in touch with him, will make his acquaintance as well.
Credits & Disclaimer
Disclaimer: I am not Christian Bale. This character and this game is fictional. Lyrics:Undisclosed Desires by Muse Layout:Here