John Constantine

"I'm a nasty piece of work, chief. Just ask anyone."

John Constantine is a mage, con-man and occult detective with a penchant for sarcasm and dirty tactics. John is ruthless, treacherous, unpredictable and willing to go to any lengths to keep anybody from becoming too powerful.

Personality
John Constantine is an occult detective, con-man and foul-mouthed cynic who pursues a life of sorcery and danger. It's something akin to an adrenaline junkie, though with John, his addicition can only be sated by the weird, the mysterious and the occult. Sarcastic and blunt to the point of rudeness, John has a tendency to cross the wrong people and is just as adept at making enemies as he is at making friends.

Despite his cynicism, John is a surprisingly compassionate humanist. He manages to avoid influence from denizens of either Heaven or Hell, choosing instead to side with humanity. Though often selfish and cold, John's main fight is one of balance. He has seen firsthand what the corrupting influence of magic can do to people, so he struggles to maintain the cosmic balance, collecting lore and magical artifacts so that no one mage grows too powerful.

But that is where his "heroic streak" begins and ends. To achieve his ends, there is little John won't do. He views the people around him as commodities, valued by traits he judges to be useful or not. His primary goal is to look out for "number one" and will double-cross people who trust or care about him if it helps him get what he wants.

John is always looking for the best deals and is willing to work anyone--good, neutral or evil--to get it. He is constantly teetering on the edge between good and evil, rebelling and bending the law to fit his needs.

History
Much of Constantine's history is unknown, kept a close secret by Constantine himself. What is known is a sad story.

Childhood
John was born the younger child to Thomas and Mary Anne Constantine in Liverpool, UK. Thomas, a factory worker, was once a promising young boxer who was forced to retire early due to injuries sustained in a car accident (that he caused by driving drunk). Unhappy and bitter, Thomas sank deeper into alcoholism and developed a minor drub habit. He constantly lashed out, physically abusing John, his mother and his older sister, Cheryl.

John was an unhappy child who lived in fear of his father. He spent most of his time around town and was raised more by the various dock workers, drunks and gang members around town than he was by his own parents. He learned how to run a basic grift and pickpocket before he was seven and had his first drink of beer when he was eight.

John was very bright and very clever, but he did poorly in school, with many disciplinary issues and constant fights with other children. This, of course, only attracted more ire from his father.

On Christmas Eve of 2003, when John was fourteen years old, Thomas went on a particularly bad bender after being laid off at the factory. This resulted in Thomas breaking John's nose, injuring his mother and killing Cheryl. Enraged, John attacked Thomas, who put John in the hospital. Bitter that Thomas got away with murder, John swore to somehow avenge his sister.

Magic
It is unclear how John first learned about magic, only that he "was in the right place at the right time". He studied basic spells for some time, though whether or not he was self-taught or had some sort of mentor is not known.



On Christmas Eve of 2004, John confronted his father and laid a terrible Hex on him: Thomas was trapped in his body, experiencing an agonizing, hellush existence, trapped in his own rotting and withering form--only a screaming husk of his former self--experiencing psychological torment in the form of his daughter's "ghost" (an illusion). Worse still, Thomas is unable to ever die unless someone releases the Hex--the specific counterspell now being lost when John burned the spellbook in a fire.

His mother, horrified at what he'd done, drove John away and made him promise to never return.

The Hellblazer
From then on, John traveled extensively and it's strongly implied he studied magic under several teachers and began to research ancient, forgotten lore. He ran into mad mages, monster and had his first run-ins with the Cult of the Cold Flame during this period of his life.

He made several friends, including his onetime companion and lover, Isabella, cab driver Chas Chandler and summoner Gary Lester. He also made many enemies during this period, including Papa Midnite and Mister E. The latter of which was a target of John's when he was nineteen years old. Mister E, being much stronger than John, captured and tortured John and Isabella, eventually murdering Isabella in front of John and letting John go, just to show that he could.

The Newcastle Incident
On Halloween of 2010, John and a small group of mages--including Gary Lester--traveled to the city of Newcastle, England, where a demon was running rampant. It had been summoned by an angry little girl wishing for revenge on her abusive and pedophaelic father and she lost control of it.

At John's suggestion, they summoned a demon named Nergal to destroy the other one. However, because John mispronounced the demon's name (saying NER-guhl instead of NEER-gahl), the demon slaughtered most of the mages present and dragged seven year-old Astra to Hell.

Recent History
At some point after this, John supposedly won the House of Mystery from Doctor Occult in a game of poker. Also during this time, John was cursed so that he could not return to London and somehow bound the demon Etrigan into the service of the House of Mystery--and, thus, into John's.

In all, John has spent most of his time traveling about, doing what he can to ensure no single mage grows too powerful. Little did he know that his travels would take him to Las Vegas in April of 2014, where his life would change forever.

Notable Accomplishments
--The Newcastle Incident (October 31, 2010) --Various accomplishments as a mage and con-man. (Between 2011 and 2014)

--Won the House of Mystery from Doctor Occult. (Autumn 2011)

--Helped stop an Amazon invasion. (~March 2014)

--Discovered the Swamp Thing. (The Green; S01E02)

--Faced denizen of the Black. (The Green; S01E02)

--Time traveled to the Victorian Era (Christmas Carol; S01E03)

Notable Victories
--Various entities before the beginning of the campaign.

--Gavin (A Nasty Piece of Work; S01E01)

--Anton Arcane (assist; The Green; S01E02)

Relationships with Others
To be blunt, John doesn't tend to play well with others. After losing so many people he cares about to his reckless and selfish behavior--especially Isabel and the Newcastle Crew, in addition to a few incidents he hasn't talked about in-game--John tends to keep people at arms' length, never becoming too attached to anybody for too long.

Zatanna Zatara
A notable exception to his rule is the young magician Zatanna Zatara, daughter of the legendary sorcerer Giovanni Zatara. A bit frustrating and annoying due to her cheerful attitude, eternal optimism and positivity, refusal to kill anything and her damned "moral compass", she has also brought a certain light into the halls of the House of Mystery. Zatanna is good, pure and simple, and something about her has brought an a warmth and happiness to his life that has been absent for many years.

Very quickly, and despite the gap in their age, John has found that he's quickly fallen for the quirky young magician. This is both good and bad; he is terrified of losing her and is convinced that associating with him is going to get her killed. He doesn't think that he deserves her; she's so much higher than he is and he would only bring her down to his level. So, to save her, John tries to drive Zatanna away and convince her that he's no good, but to no avail. Somehow, she seems to be able to either ignore or forgive his many, many flaws and keep on loving him and seeing into what she believes to be a hero. Goddammit.

Powers and Abilities
John has a number of skills and training, both magical and mundane.

Arcane Knowledge
John has spent a great deal of time studying the arcane arts and many occult, magical traditions and lore. He is talented in the use of spells and rituals, and knowledgable about many ancient rites, magical items, monsters and forgotten bits of lore.

--Demonology: John is very educated in the realm of Hell, demons and their ilk. He knows a great about their names, abilities and methods of contacting, binding or summoning them.

--Exorcism: John is skilled at communicating with entities in possession of living beings and forcing them out of the host body.

--Occult Lore: John is very well-versed in lore about monsters, spells and magical items. He has been shown to have a great deal of knowledge about things other characters do not.

--Ritual Casting: Through his years of study, John is capable of wielding magic through means of performing magical rites and rituals. He is very adept at these.

--Spellcasting:  John is capable of casting a wide variety of spells, even those not normally learned or performed by wizards. He is also known to dabble in things like blood magic or tattoo magic.

 --Synchronicity Wave Traveling:   An instictual ability to essentially make his own luck and be in the right place at the right time.

Mundane Skills
--Deception: John is a very skilled con-man, gambler, thief, cheater and liar.

--Disguises: He is very skilled at disguising himself using various accents, make-up, wigs and costumes.

--Forgery: Being in his line of work, John is very skilled at forging identification, ledgers and other forms of documentation.

--Insight: John has a particular knack for seeing past people and judging their intentions and trustworthiness. He's got a good gut for people.

--Investigation: Very perceptive and possessing a keen intellect, John is a very capable detective and investigator. He is quick to spot tiny details and is talented at connecting the dots in any mystery.

--Multilingual: John speaks English, Latin, Greek and various dead languages.

--Persuasion: Diplomatic when he needs to be, John has a silver tongue and is capable of sweet-talking his way out of most tough spots.

--Sleight of Hand: John is a skilled pick-pocket and cheat due to his training and natural talent at sleight of hand. He most often uses this skill in his various grifts and when cheating at gambling.

Paraphernelia
--Aviator Glasses: These stylish glasses have the dual-purpose of being able to detect magical auras and patterns in the world around him.

--Chas' Taxi: Enchanted through unknown means, this taxi technically belongs to his best and longest surviving friend, Chas Chandler. The taxi comes when John whistles for it, no matter where on the Material Plane he is (though the when is important). It seems to repair itself and always has a map of the immediate area in the glove compartment. Strangely, the radio doesn't work, necessitating the use of a portable, wireless radio.

--Cigarettes: John always has a handful of hand-rolled cigarettes on his person. They have all been lightly charmed or otherwise tampered with, providing several basic protection charms and scrying wards.

--Enchanted Knife: John carries an enchanted Babylonian knife with him at all times. He rarely uses it for combat, instead using it to carve runes or other mystic sigils into surfaces.

--Holy Water: Situated in his inside jacket pocket, John always carries a silver flask filled with holy water. You never know when you might need Holy Water.

--House of Mystery: John is the Keeper of the Key and Master of this quasi-intelligent, magical house.

--Lighter: John always carries his lighter, mostly for his cigarettes but sometimes as a component for his spells.

--Magic ID: This blank ID badge creates a functioning Identification based on a combination of what John is pretending to be and what the target expects to see.

--Marked Playing Cards: John always carries a set of marked playing cards with him, mostly commonly for use in his various grifts and cons.

--Spell Component Pouch: This is a small pouch that holds salt, powdered silver and some other common material components for John's spells or rituals.

--Trenchcoat: John almost always wears his long, navy blue trenchcoat when he's traveling abroad from the House of Mystery. A large reason for this is that it's easy to hide lots of things in coast that big, and it's also quite easy to hide your hands. Another reason is that they look cool when you turn real fast.

Weaknesses
--Arrogant: John is very confident and cocky, though he might be a little more confident than he deserves to be. Despite his cunning and resourcefulness, John often bites off more than he can chew.

Trivia
--John's favorite bands are The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Beastie Boys, The Rolling Stones, Iggy Pop, Bad Religion, Dead Kennedys, The Misfits, David Bowie, Wicked Sister and Run DMC, among others.

--His favorite filmmaker is Stanley Kubrick and his favorite film of all time is A Clockwork Orange. He also loves Pulp Fiction, The Big Lebowski, Repo Men, and Star Wars.

--Loves G.I. Joe. In fact, there is a hidden room in the House of Mystery that is home to his extensive collection of G.I. Joe memorabilia.

--Favorite drinks are cheap beers and boxed wine.

--Though he rolls his own cigarettes, his favorite brand are Silk Cut.

--Favorite food is Red Thai Curry. Loves Thai food in general.

--Has a particular affection for cats.

--John has a phobia of deep water.