One brief adaptation and...
Name: Kurtis Hunveldt
True Alias: The Gentleman Magician
Other nicknames: the Gentleman, the Magician, Chaotic Magician, the Third Magician, and the Top-hat
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Alignment: Anti-Villain/Neutral
Nationality: American
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Era: Reborn
Hometown: Eden Vale, (fictional) Suburb of Minneapolis
Backstory:
The Hunveldt line can be traced back hundreds of years. Mostly as thieves, bards, and performers. Occasionaly, they become lawyers, but that's another tale.
In that time, they have perfected the many arts of the stage, backalley, and tightrope. And realized the potential of combining all three.
As a result, they could possibly have wreaked much havoc and much financial damage, were they not also reasonably intelligent. They realized that their possible misbegotten riches would only serve to attract the wrong sort of attention. And so, became mercenary thieves. Of course, being also performers who loved flair, they had to take it a step further.
They sent a warning note in the form of a riddle to the estate of their first target, who happened to be a shipping rival their client. When word got around, many of the villagers attempted to figure out the riddle, and some came to watch at the announced time. They were rewarded with an amazing performance of the first true 'Gentleman Thief'. The shipping rival lost much respect and most of his reputation. Their client was so thrilled, he shared with his friends his 'secret' and offered to use his connections to help them find more 'jobs'.
The Hunveldt family took advantage of that offer, and never regreted it.
Although the particular names of all the parties involved have been forgotten, the skills and connections have survived to the modern day.
Kurtis is but another member of his family to take on the prestigious position of 'Gentleman Thief', and the third to inherit the title 'Gentleman Magician'.
Although he has no real fighting skill, Kurtis is an expert at planning, and has great dramatic flair. Rather than fight his way out, he will taunt you and run away. Surprisingly fast, and with a knack for escaping through 'Impossible' means, such as running on thin air, making an impossible jump, or outright disapearing. In the rare occasion he is cornered, he makes use of a staggering variety of tricks to distract, blind, surprise, and stun those who cornered him, before making an escape in the confusion.
Also, keeping with tradition, he announces his targets through riddles and very public notices, ranging from newspaper ads, to blimps, to a letter inside the local police chief's lunchbox (Generaly, these include a statement regarding the contents, and a recomendation to lay off the chips and try some celery).
The title 'Magician' isn't for show either. The Magician treats most of his heists like a performance, and plays his roll to the hilt. Pulling rabbit-shaped grenades from his top hat, is possibly his most well known trick, but not his favorite. Equally known is his ability to make things disapear, like precious gems and himself. Of course, there are many more tricks he employs, but those tend to be his most well know ones.
Also, due to the advances in modern security, and the priorities of the world switching from the real world to the digital one, Kurtis realizes he may be the last member of his family to don the mantle of the 'Gentleman thief'. As a result, he pressures himself to do the absolute best and give the world one last truly magnificent performance.
NEW
The various 'Gentleman Thieves' of history have all enjoyed the privilege of a fairly low capture priority, for several reasons. One of which, is their reputation as 'Impossible to capture'. To date, there are no recorded succesful captures of a Gentleman Thief. Thus, when something is considered impossible, folk are less likely to try it.
Another reason why they have never been viewed as true criminals, is that their primary goal is not truly to steal, but to damage the reputation of the one they are stealing from. Afterall, if a man in bright white clothing came into your home, after telling you specificaly when, to steal from you, and makes off with several of your possessions, while loudly singing a rather rude song, and you fail to stop him from doing so... you come across as an idiot. To drive home this point even more, unless they have been hired because the client specificaly covets that object they steal, they will most of the time return what they have stolen. Some times, in very interesting ways. And, unexpectedly kind, sometimes, such as when the Duke of Nottingham discovered his stolen signet ring in his soupbowl, it was discovered that the soup had been poisoned as part of an assassination plot.
The third reason is that a surprisingly large amount of the time, as mentioned previously, they will return what they have stolen.
The fourth reason delves into classified war intelligence, where several Gentleman thieves acted as spies, saboteurs, and assassins. This is a time that many gentleman thieves showed support, by not showing up. Many critical intelligence reports were put together by the Gentleman thieves.
However, many Gentlemen despised themselves for what they did. They went against many tenets of their own honor codes, and most never 'performed' again.
Personality: When 'On Stage', The Gentleman Magician is a polite, flamboyant, cheerful, performer and very eager to show off. When 'Off stage'... Kurtis is very withdrawn and quiet. He is so obsessed with giving the best show, and planning for it, and arranging it, and preparing for it, that he has very little time for anything else. His social life suffers for it.
He's also better at dealing with pressure as the Magician than as himself, so things Kurtis wouldn't dare do, the Magician would, could, and will. While Kurtis has problems dealing with women, the Magician is like some freakish pop-star that girls throw themselves at. And while none of them get close, the Magician's charms win them over. He has several dedicated fan-clubs, several of which belonged to his father, the second Magician.
Basicaly, Kurtis is a messy loser, while the Magician is a criminal pop-star.
Uniform: A bright white suit, with blue trim, and a white mantle. Also wears a top-hat and a monocle.
Equipment: Varies to suit the performance, but you can generaly count on:
Smoke Bombs
Flash-bang grenades
Sonic grenades
Grapple gun
Nightvision/telescope (the monocle)
Hang glider (More than one reason for the mantle)
Abilities: Amazing planner, acrobat, performer, and stage magician. His abilities at mimicry and disguise are downright amazing too. Sadly, his fighting skills suck.
OK, I think that covers the revisions...
Oh, the Alignment.
Have to go add some more stuff in for that.
... aaand done.
) would be more suited to the world of Mystery Men than to Watchmen, but...
