Pierre L'estrange
Pierre L'estrange is a quiet man among the many French-Italian immigrants to Louisiana in the nineteenth century. He took up the job of an apothecary's assistant, ferrying supplies from dock storages to the shops, assisting in the compounding of drugs, and delivering goods to purchasers. Pierre seems to be nondescript and unremarkable, if surprisingly stout and well-toned. Few like to look into the man's grey eyes, grim and watchful.
In reality, Pierre is an assassin sent by a secret society known as The Wheel from their Monacan cell in the French Riviera. His purpose has been to look out for persons of interest and new inventions being imported and exported through Louisiana's harbors. He also ensures enemies and victims of The Wheel do not escape either into or out of the new world.
Backstory: Pierre began as the son of a fisherman and became orphan when his parents died of ship fever. He lived on the streets, learning to survive through scavenging and streetfighting. He joined a gang and quickly earned a reputation at being skilled with a knife. The leaders groomed him into an assassin, training him in savate and to work with a stiletto. He did his new job well, becoming known as the gang's misercordia (mercy), which turned into a byword of the area. Gang members would say, "Do you want us to show you mercy?," meaning "Do you want to die at the hands of an assassin?"
The Wheel eventually absorbed the gang into their network of ruffians and rogues they used among the international ports. Pierre's performance became known to them, and they initiated him into The Spark, their war machine. As a member of The Spark, they submitted him to mechanosymbiosis, quickening his cognitive skills and reflexes, as well as giving him a hardened skeleton that provided greater protection to vital organs. They also tuned his anatomy to conceal the tools of his trade, so that he can walk around appearing unarmed. Pierre survived the horrific process and quickly proved the worth of these new abilities through a series of daylight assassinations of French officers and wealthy merchants.
The Wheel: A secret society who claims to have been around when the wheel and the fire were first used. Their goal is to create a technocracy whose arms control every cog and wheel of international societies. The spread of industrialization is but one of their many projects. They seek to have proprietary rights to inventions through coercing or manipulating scientists, tinkerers, innovators, and inventors into their fold. Those that refuse face the calculating wrath of The Wheel.
Mechanosymbiosis: Grafting of mechanical and biological entities into an integrated whole. Mechanosymbios was developed as a ultra clandestine cog of the secret society known as The Wheel, to serve its executive purposes of threat assessment and threat elimination.
Spies and assassins of both human and clockwork design had been in use by The Wheel for years, but each had their own downfall. Clockwork creatures known as mobilé marionettes were at first clumsy and then ultimately too mechanical to pass off as humans. And humans...well, squishy and easily turned. An arm of The Wheel over military research, known as The Spark, sought to reconcile the differences between the two, complementing strengths, which came to be known as the field of mechanosymbiosis.
These new creatures forged of futuristic technology and biological prowess operate live as two quasi creatures--machine and human--which coexist to perform a main function. Most live as spies or assassins, while some have unknown capabilities and functions. Each entity is unique and possesses skills from both its mechanical programming and human hosts. All are capable of intuition (which allows them to blend into society at large), but often lack primal fears, making them appear stoic or indifferent in the face of danger.
