Post by Bixir on Feb 17, 2023 23:35:06 GMT
Name: Jacques-Renard Deveaux V
Age: 28
Gender: Male
History:
Jacques-Renard Devaux was born the fifth of his name in his family. Deveaux had been a name of considerable repute with the Church, each of them committed in service to the Church in one of many ways. For Jacques-Renard, it was an esteemed legacy of Templars dispensing the will of the Church that the other divisions were much too squeamish to do themselves. Jacques’ father, Romiere, was a staunch zealot, who did not leave any of his children wanting for God’s favor, lest they be struck for believing out of turn. Jacques quickly acclimatized to the life of a devout, and soon enough, began to believe himself what he was being forced to spew.
Though Jacques did interact with his siblings, he proved to be rather distant even with them, and seldom interacted with them beyond what was expected of him. To his father’s approval, he focused much more on the rigorous training that was set before him and his siblings, from their early childhood up into their late adolescence. He adapted to this almost as well as he had come to believe in the ways of the Lord.
As was the case for some of the more… serious Templar training schools, Jacques-Renard began his first operations at the spry age of fourteen. In spite of the doubts many members of the Church believed became of recruits sent out too early, that did not prove to be the case of Jacques at all. If anything, he was all the more successful for how unassuming he appeared in the crowds before he eliminated the target. The cold distance the boy had exhibited in his childhood only became more deeply rooted as he matured through these missions. If Jacques had smiled with his siblings before, he did not smile at all now; the work of the Templars was nothing to be amused over.
Jacques went on to become one of the division’s most prominent members. He always turned down partners, insisting that he alone was sufficient to eliminate the threat. Time and time again the Church was prickly to his lone wolf fixation, and time and time again Jacques proved that he indeed was sufficient. The sheer dedication with which Jacques threw himself into his mission unsettled the Church, as it reminded some members a little too closely of the likes of Kotomine Kirei, and that he may find himself upon a similar path. Lengths were taken - some by Romiere himself - to ensure that Jacques did not have any chance encounters with magecraft that might persuade him to begin to dabble in the Association’s heresy. As far as Jacques was concerned, mages were heretics, plain and simple. Heretics that the Church, for reasons beyond his understanding, did not hunt outright, but heretics just the same.
Finally, Jacques’ reputation as a strictly isolated agent was interrupted by a firm decree from the head of the Templars for him to take on a partner. Of course, he was given no choice in the matter, Jacques no less firm on his self-sufficiency. But even he would not turn away an order, and so he began to work with one Damian Rothchild. Very quickly he discovered that he was not at all like him, or what he had come to take for granted among the Templars. He was playful, nearly to the point of breaching protocol, and made japes at him that he could not make heads nor tails of. It was confusing to say the least, and yet so very little of it seemed to interfere with the missions they went on together. It was… comforting.
As strangely welcoming as this relationship had become, something continued to eat away at him. He knew full well that these interactions, and the extent that Jeremiah dragged them out to, was far outside acceptable operating parameters for Church associates, much less Templars. More worryingly still, the questions he would ask him, and how he behaved while they were at the Vatican and other bases of operations did not help set his suspicions at ease. Just the same, he could never find any hard evidence to cement these concerns, and he certainly couldn’t bring them to Jeremiah. He made him feel more guilty than any holy man had any right to.
This all came to a head when Jacques discovered Jeremiah attempting to break into a Burial Agency depot that they had been dispatched to investigate after a recent attempt at a break-in. Though Jacques was already wary of Jeremiah on this mission, he still let his guard down slightly when he confronted Jeremiah. Though it did not cost him any physical harm, the heretic was able to escape in the confusion. He taunted Jacques’ foolish sensibilities, questioning how he could truly be as devout as he is when he had such debased tastes and vulnerability.
Jacques was never quite the same after that. To say nothing of the reprimanding he received from his father and many other supervisors among the Templars, it was a wonder that he had any desire to continue serving. Despite this gross failure and near-exposure of Jacques’ sensibilities, he remained a Templar. His reputation did not survive, however; he was a fallen star, and likely to live out the rest of his shameful days doing remedial work when they deemed it lowly enough for him to carry out. Although, given the state of the Church in the wake of all that has been transpiring, perhaps there is hope yet for Jacques-Renard Deveaux V to yet again make a name for himself.
Personality:
Jacques is a model Templar, in that he does not seem to have much of a personality to begin with. He is a cold, efficient man, dedicated to the mission one hundred and ten percent. The relationships he does form are almost exclusively professional, and hold little lasting sentiment for the man. He finds idle talk tiresome and wasteful, and though he does not belittle happiness or optimism in his partners, he is entirely unfazed by it. Much of this is due to his upbringing, though it is also a part of who Jacques has always been. A man of the mission, whatever it might be that day.
In light of recent events, however, Jacques’ mindset has shifted dramatically. Though he still considers himself a devout, righteous man, he is more distant, from the Church and especially from himself. He has lost much of his respect for the Church and its way of doing things, let alone the Templar division proper. His eyes opened to the disparate reality that the Church has continued to fail to address in full, Jacques has radicalized his methods, even for a Templar. He has no remorse for his victims, and certainly no brethren of the Church he may have to put down. As ever, Jacques-Renard Deveaux is a model Templar, ruthless and efficient.
Magical preference:
N/A. As a Templar, Jacques was instead trained in Church techniques designed for neutralizing Mages, Mystic Codes, and other high-profile targets short of Dead Apostles.
Visual Appearance:
