Application for Tu'Shanshu

[whatfriendsdo]

Player Information:
Name: Jae
Age: 25
Contact: via character journal PM
Game Cast: NA

Character Information:
Name: Karrin Murphy
Canon: The Dresden Files (books)
Canon Point: Just after Changes, before she finds out about Harry's death.
Age: 35-ish.
Reference:

Her Wikipedia Entry By Someone Who Doesn't Seem To Like Her
Dresden Files Wiki-entry

Setting:
OUR WORLD. BUT WITH MAGIC. Set in modern-day Chicago for the most part, with, you know, magic and monsters and crap, Kept Secret From The World (I've always wondered how the tit urban fantasy writers managed to really justify that beyond "PEOPLE SEE WHAT THEY WANT TO" but oh well). There are wizards, monsters, werewolves, other traditional Western creatures and mentions of Eastern ones as well, though they haven't played much of a part in the series thus far.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS:

Special Investigations
The department of the Chicago Police that gets thrown all the shitty unexplainable cases and has to make them make sense for the big boys upstairs. It's a dead-end job, the sort of place you land in when you've pissed off too many politicians with connections, and until a few years ago it was Murphy's department. She whipped it from a pack of slackers and dirty cops into something like a functional, competent weirdness-response-team, and further injured her reputation upstairs by bringing the only wizard in the phone book on as a consultant. SI is incredibly close and familial, given their isolation in the acknowledgement of the weird, and even after Murphy was demoted from lieutenant to sergeant and the put under the command of the new lieutenant her men stayed loyal. She lost her position entirely when she went off the grid on a rescue mission without reporting in - she was gone for more than a day during a crisis in Chicago, and as a result got forced into early retirement.

The White Council of Wizards
A BUNCH OF OLD DUDES WHO THINK THEY KNOW BEST RE: MAGIC, LIFE, AND THE WORLD IN GENERAL. Murphy views them as a useless and powerful nuisance, people who talk about what needs to be done without regard for the people living in the middle of it. While he was alive, Harry fell under the jurisdiction of the Council because of the whole, you know, being a wizard thing. He was supposedly one of their Wardens, or magical enforcers, but found himself at odds with them as much as anything. Murphy does not like them. At all. Moreover, their powerbase is crippled due to a recently-concluded war with the Red Court of vampires. A war that Murphy had a hand in ending. The power vacuum left by that war has led to humongous upheaval in the supernatural world and a great deal of trouble for an out-of-work cop still determined to do the right thing, with or without wizardly assistance.

The Vampire Courts
There were four. The White, Black, Jade and Red. SUPER CREATIVE RIGHT? Now there are three, since the Red Court went and pissed off Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden which if you live in this universe is something you should know not to do. Long story short there was epic magic that they tried to use Harry's daughter for, and it backfired so spectacularly that it wiped out every last Red Court vampire on the planet. Awesome! Except for the fact that there is now a massive, huge, gaping, horrible hole in the supernatural power structure that everyone and their mother's cousin is trying to fill.

The White Court are essentially succubi. They feed off of human desire and lust, and the easy source of that is of course, sex. The nice part of hooking up with a White Court vamp? Best sex you've ever had in your life. Downside? Last sex you will ever have in your life. They are, at the moment, the most powerful of the remaining Courts due in large part to sheer numbers. That said, they're so addicted to politics and power games that they kind of knot themselves into a mass of alliances and animosities that makes it impossible for them to be of any direct use in combatting the forces that have popped up since the Red Court's annihilation.

The Black Court are your classic Ooga Booga vamps, vulnerable to most of the traditional iconography and remedies and also old, oogly, and intensely powerful on their own. But lol they went and pissed off Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden a while ago. ARE YOU SEEING A PATTERN? YOU SHOULD.

The Jade Court has only been mentioned, without really appearing at all in the books. POSSIBLY BUTCHER FORGOT ABOUT THEM.

Faeries
FUCKING FAERIES.

There are two Courts here, the Summer (Seelie) and Winter (Unseelie), though the Winter Court is the one that really matters for recent events. In order to save his daughter from the Red Court, Harry made a deal with the queen of the Winter Court, Mab - one way or another, this was going to result in Murphy losing Harry once they got back from saving his kid. Either they'd die in the attempt, or Mab would take Harry to the Winter Court to serve as her Knight, and in all likelihood Murphy herself would have been put in a position where she had to stop him somehow in the future. That's what she figured, anyway. But then Harry went and, you know, got shot AFTER the fight with the Red Court and before the farewell date that the two of them had (AFTER TWELVE GODDAMNED BOOKS) agreed to. So Murphy got outcome 3; she was first on the scene at his murder.

Other Random Monsters
There are other things that go bump in the night - werewolves (though most of them are The Good Guys), demons, ghouls, other mythological baddies.

And then there are the Fomor. These are the creepy, mysterious bastards Murphy and her people have been combatting since the end of the war with the Red Court. They've been kidnapping anyone with low-level magical powers, taking werewolves off the streets, even snagging base monsters to use for who knows what. They've started augmenting humans as well, brainwashing them into cultish loyalty and turning them loose on the streets. The augmentations melt away into water if their bearers are killed, so there's nothing for cops to go on but gang fights and typical murders when Murphy and her people put a gang of Fomor-drones down. The power of the Fomor and their people is incredible, and drove Murphy into alliance with John Marcone, the biggest crime boss in Chicago. He was the only one who had the resources to fight the Fomor and the will to back it up. For all he's a scumbag, he cares about the city in his own way - not that Murphy will ever give two shits how he cares about Chicago. He's the enemy of her enemy, but he'll never be a friend.

Personality:

Loyal and absolutely fierce when it comes to the protection of her city and her people. She’s less loyal to the law than she is to Chicago and its residents; she’s broken laws when she knows that staying within them means more people will die, and she’s bent, belabored and fractured the truth to get the resources and arrests or convictions she needs. Her relationship with the Chicago PD is tumultuous at best—she has very little respect for her superiors, and functions within the system only to keep her job and financial support for her department.

She’s passionate; her stubbornness and ferocious loyalty are both clear examples of this. She exhausts herself with it at times, refusing to give up on promises made or perceived debts owed despite the possibility that she won’t be able to fulfill them on her own. She’s loving, creating attachments with people even when she’s clearly stated that she has no interest (see her relationship with the mercenary Kincaid, whom she confesses to Harry she loves despite hooking up with him for the sex and a relationship with little commitment). She’s also—for all that she would NEVER admit it—a very maternal creature. She cares about and for people; she’s been doing it her entire life. Her career is based around taking care of others and protecting the innocent. She can’t help it: she’s a caretaker, and part of a caretaking family—even though she tends to keep them out of her professional life as much as humanly possible. It’s her way of protecting them. She took on a lot of responsibility when her father killed himself, even though it wasn’t required of her. She grew up trying to take care of everyone and then went into a career where she does the same, in which she became a leader. Another form caretaking, in a way. She almost never expects anything in return (again, see Kincaid), investing a lot more in things than she might get out of them.

When she hits critical mass in terms of emotional trauma, she goes cold. If she gets betrayed, she does the same. It takes a lot to crack back into her shell—in some ways she’s as passionate about closing herself off emotionally as she is about everything else. She’s also stubborn as hell. If she invests herself in you, be prepared to make room for her in your life, regardless of how you might feel on the subject. She’s intrusive, nosy, and occasionally overbearing, going cop on people without meaning to. Call her on it and she might back off. Maybe. Unless she thinks you’re doing something stupid. In which case she’ll probably just change tactics. She dislikes bullies, and she doesn't stand by in any given situation when there's an opportunity for her to do something about it--even when it makes things worse. That’s one of her flaws as well as one of her more endearing characteristics.

She’s an honorable person, firmly rooted in the spirit of the law, and has a clear moral compass. She’s a tarnished hero, maybe, her blacks and whites made a lot more gray by her time working with Dresden, but she still has nigh-unshakeable faith in people as a potential force for good—it’s a position she clings to in defiance of most contrary evidence. In more recent books she's not so much less guarded as more comfortable with herself as a player in the supernatural field. She has a confidence that she didn't in the earlier books due to both experience and knowledge, and while that doesn't make her more trusting, it does drive her to interact more with people on an interpersonal basis.

Trust is one of her major hang-ups. There are very, very few people in her life that she truly has personal faith in. Yes, she has faith in the concept of humanity, and when she does believe in you it’s unshakable--but earning her trust is a very difficult thing to do, and until you give her good reason to, she’s not going to open up. She’s private, keeping her issues to herself and only sharing personal problems with her nearest and dearest--Harry being the primary example, though there’s some evidence that in earlier books she shared conversations with Thomas regarding her relationship with Harry and the emotions attached to it. Her reaction to broken trust is violent and immediate; she’ll shut you down and shut you out, and probably look for an excuse to punch you while she’s at it.

She harbors a private fear of going insane, probably a result of her father’s influence in her life and his reputation as being a druggie/madman thanks to the things he saw. One of her exes accused her of being delusional, and Murphy’s never quite forgotten or forgiven that. She’s also extremely sensitive to being thought of as a weak link in any chain. While she knows and has come to terms with the fact that she’s not (and never will be) as powerful as Harry, and can’t deal with the supernatural on the same level he can, she still refuses to be a burden on anyone. It gets to the point where she might look at a helping hand (in any situation, not just supernatural conflicts) and see an insinuation that she’s weak or can’t take care of a problem herself. Being defenseless is probably one of her worst nightmares; being defenseless while her friends need her tops the list of Worst Possible Outcomes. She hates giving up on anything--perhaps a residual effect of what her father killing himself when she was young--and is tenacious in any and every project she tackles, pounding herself into getting it done or getting it right no matter the difficulty. Failure is unacceptable. She demands the same high quality of the people around her, which aggravates many and makes her plenty of enemies--at the same time, those who deliver are the ones who have helped her without fail throughout the series, and they’re as loyal to her as she is to them.

She probably won't have a great deal of difficulty accepting the idea of Tu'Shanshu in general. She's been to fairyland, fought monsters brought to life from B-movie horror films, tackled werewolves and ghosts and brain-invaders and vampires. Giant city on the back of a turtle? Sure. What she won't accept is the idea that she's stuck, or dead. She'll drive herself to explore, network, and try to dig in to get details about the city, the turtle, and the world. 'Between life, death, and dreaming' isn't nearly concrete enough for her. The place is a mystery to her, and one she'll set out to solve so she can get back to her home and her people.

Appearance: Five-foot-sneeze, blonde, blue-eyed, ripped and often described as looking like someone's favorite aunt.

If your favorite aunt was capable of breaking your face with one hand. Visual reference.

Abilities: Casts bullets for competitive shooting, is an excellent mechanic (she custom-built her bike), and a freakishly skilled martial artist. No really. Her canon list of martial arts is Wing Chun, Jujitsu, Kali, Savate, Krav Maga, Tae Kwan Do, Judo, boxing, and Shaolin Kung Fu, though her primary is Aikido. She's a ninth dan and used to teach it, though I don't think she does any more. She's a squishy human, so I don't think power limitations are necessary.

Inventory: Jeans, loose shirt, leather jacket, and a custom-made bullet proof vest that layers kevlar and chainmail. Also two empty shoulder holsters.

Suite: ME-1A. One floor. Part of it will likely get turned into a sort of personal gym/work room and investigative headquarters. She's from Chicago, and used to modern amenities. Something that reflects surroundings she's used to will help her stay in denial focused and feeling stable.

In-Character Samples:
Third Person (contains triggers for allusions to suicide):

It used to be her father's place at the table. It used to be hers. Murphy leans against the wall of her mother's kitchen, watching her siblings and their children turning the little space into a riot of attempted helpfulness. She'll probably slip her way out before dinner and make her apologies later. Her sister won't let her forget it, but her mother…

Her mother will probably be scared, if Murphy doesn't leave a note. Would never admit it to anyone, least of all her children, but seeing her daughter forced out of a job and then having her disappear in the middle of a family dinner - family history repeating, a cycle that ends with accidental discharge of a weapon in a dark room all alone.

Murphy leaves a note.

Chicago still feels cold, even though the snow has finally started to melt. She wanders a while, wondering if this is where her father went on those night he came home late and hoped no one heard him walk in. Never drunk. Always quiet. He knew she was there, watching from the top of the stairs, and he'd always smile her way even though their eyes never met.

Her peace with her father has come all her life in increments, moments of clarity or forgiveness. Now, she knows. After losing the job, after Harry disappearing. Tonight, she finally understands one thing.

She'll never understand why he did it.

And she's glad.

Network:

[voice]

My name is Karrin Murphy, formerly of the Chicago PD. Looking for anyone else from the area - well, looking for anyone like me, really. No offense to the locals, but I could use some company that's out of its depth. You think you're used to weird, and you land in a giant city on turtleback.

Drinks will be on me, if you know where to find them. Could use one of those too.

[/voice]