App for Genessia
Name/Alias: Yasmine
Personal Journal: n/a
E-mail: yasmine.adams@ymail.com
AIM: crimpingwithnoel
Character Name: Jackie Estacado
Source: The Darkness (Game verse)
Genre: Paranormal
Personality: The most important thing about Jackie is that he’s driven. Whether he’s fighting for his beliefs, fighting for Jenny, fighting for vengeance, trying to get into hell, or whatever else he’s doing, he’s not often one for giving up. He will usually do anything in his power to see something through to the end, but not at the cost of family he cares for.
Until he knows someone fairly well, he won’t talk about himself all that much with them. He might talk about what he’s feeling or what he thinks about something, but he won’t go into details of his past. This is purely because he was a mafia hitman, and while he’s not ashamed of this fact, it is a highly illegal job and he has to trust who he’s talking to about it.
However. There is one exception to the above, and that is if he thinks of someone pure and innocent, he’ll lie. The main example of this in canon is Jenny. She had no idea what he did for a living because he thought “she was so beautiful and pure I couldn’t bear to show her my own darkness.” He didn’t want to ruin that aspect of her. But then, he did love Jenny with every fibre of his being. He’s so grief-stricken when he’s forced to watch her die, that he takes his pistol and tries to kill himself. Which works…. For a little while. The grief he feels has never really left him, and he will still see her visage and/or get immersed in flashbacks in certain places. While it is assumed the darkness shows him these visages (It can make Jackie see whatever it likes), it is also implied that these visions might come from Jackie himself. He will indulge in these visions, not caring that they are not real, enjoying the time with Jenny as if it were really happening.
When he’s in the dark, alone, often he’ll talk to Jenny as if she’s there. This could be linked to the above thing of seeing her, it could be to make him feel less lonely, it could be for any reason. It’s never explained why he does this.
He has a much darker side to his personality, which May or May not come from the darkness. Coming from a mafia family means he’ll have that mind-set anyway, and having been brought up to be a hitman means Jackie is able to turn off his caring and compassion to do the job he has to. He does enjoy his job, which is part of the reason he’s so good at it. When he’s on a job, he’ll often have a one-liner ready at the tip of his tongue. He’s naturally quite violent, having been brought up to believe that violence can solve any and all problems you have - such as one time he’s out at the park with Jenny, and some douchebag came and sat between them. He starts talking to Jenny, ignoring Jackie’s presence completely. Until Jackie hit him, breaking his nose (Which Jenny didn’t talk to him for a week for.) Another example of this is when a group of 5 teens put Jackie in hospital when he was a kid. Aunt Sarah came in on his last day in the hospital, and handed him a slip of paper, which had names and addresses of the punks that put him in there. And he “didn’t make the same mistake they made”.
Jackie likes to talk, and with that, he likes to swear. He’s often sarcastic, but if he wants something, he won’t beat about the bush. If he’s there to kill you, he’ll tell you so. He tends to be rather straight with you but when he lies, he’s accomplished at it.
Jackie doesn’t dress in a suit for everyday wear like most mafia men do. He does what he does, and he does it comfortably. Also, it means there’s less questions from Jenny about why he wears a suit every day.
The Darkling is a manifestation of Jackie’s subconscious - the bit of his subconscious that enjoys chaos and mayhem (and the bloodier, the better). Its behaviour is immature and childish, and it disrespects the enemies’ corpses by pissing on them or farting over them. It’s loud, abusive, out for a good time (which is what it considers killing and blowing stuff up), and has absolutely no inhibitions. But it’s also somewhat of a friend to Jackie, quite a few times going beyond the call of duty completely and going against the darkness for Jackie’s sake. It is also, for some inexplicable reason, British. And proud of it. Because of its ability to respawn in the dark, it will often make kamikaze runs, and enjoy the hell out of it.
History: Jackie Estacado grew up in an orphanage, picked on by all the other kids except one, who would later become his long term girlfriend. It’s never specified in-game when exactly he went to live at the orphanage, but one assumes it is at the age of five or after, seeing as in the second game, Jackie tells us about the time he was five and woke up to find his father sat on his bed, hovering over him with a butcher knife in his hand. While he was in the orphanage, he was repeatedly told that his mother was a hooker, and his father her john, and that they were both dead.
The orphanage was strict and abusive. Eventually, he was adopted by “Uncle Paulie”, which Jackie says is like being rescued from a shark by a grizzly bear. Paulie raised Jackie to be a hitman, and Jackie became one of the best. But even after being taken away from the orphanage, he continued seeing Jenny. He never told her what his family was into though, because “She was so beautiful and pure, he couldn’t bear to show her his own darkness.”
Jackie, on the eve of his 21st birthday, was targeted for assassination by "Uncle" Paulie Franchetti. While hiding in a cemetery bathroom, The Darkness - an ancient force that is pure evil and runds in the family - awakens within Jackie and slaughters the remaining mobsters outside, with the benefit of Jackie becoming the possessor of unholy demonic abilities that feed off the dark. Using these powers, Jackie is able to survive further assassination attempts and track down Paulie, but not before Paulie and Eddie Shrote, the corrupt police chief, kidnap Jackie's girlfriend, Jenny Romano. They take her to the orphanage where Jackie and Jenny grew up, and murder her in front of a powerless Jackie, unable to save Jenny due to The Darkness deliberately restraining him.
He commits suicide, and finds himself in the Otherworld, the realm of The Darkness. He meets his great-great-grandfather Anthony Estacado, who admits that it was he that brought The Darkness into the family, and tells Jackie how to free himself of The Darkness by invading the castle in the Otherworld and facing The Darkness there. Jackie is interrupted in his journey through the Otherworld and brought back to the living world by The Darkness.
Once he recovers, he decides that he must dispose of Chief Shrote before he can face Paulie. He chases Shrote to his apartment and then confiscating a briefcase containing illicit goods in Shrote's ownership and rigging it with an explosive, Jackie is able to lure Shrote out of hiding, but then he is captured. After overhearing about a shipment of drugs that a Chicago mob is entrusting to Paulie -after being tortured- Jackie triggers the explosive, killing Shrote and his men along with himself. Jackie re-awakes in the Otherworld, and lays siege to the Darkness's castle with Anthony's help. Anthony is mortally wounded in the attack, but before he can tell Jackie the last steps needed to free himself from the Darkness, the spirit pulls him away.
Jackie faces The Darkness and surprises it by willingly being taken by The Darkness's power, allowing him to fully control the spirit back in the real world; however The Darkness tells him that while he has control now, each time Jackie takes a life, he will become more consumed by The Darkness. He lays an assault on the drug shipment, causing Paulie to flee to the safety of a lighthouse mansion for fear of retribution from the Chicago mob. Jackie takes advantage of a solar eclipse to raid the mansion and finally kill Paulie. The Darkness revels in Jackie's murderous spree, and fully envelops Jackie.
Jackie finds himself in a dream in a park, lying on a bench in Jenny's arms. Jenny explains that they are only allowed a few minutes to be together one last time to say goodbye. Jackie tries to ask how, but Jenny just quiets him, allowing them to enjoy the last moments together before Jackie wakes up.
We then move two years after the events of the first game. Jackie has used his powers to become the Don of the Franchetti family. He has been unable to shake the thoughts of his dead girlfriend Jenny Romano and has since, with the help of estranged occultist Johnny Powell and his study into dark essence, contained his supernatural powers, and now The Darkness "wants out in the worst way".
One evening, at the request of Vinnie, one of his associates, Jackie sits and chats with blonde twins when a van crashes through the window, killing the twins and heralding the start of a full-scale mob war, which has clearly been orchestrated by some outside force. Jackie is wounded in the leg and Vinnie gives Jackie a gun to fend off the attackers while he drags Jackie through the restaurant and into the kitchen. Jackie smells gas leaking from the propane tanks as Vinnie tries to pry opens the door, just in time for one of the attackers to throw a flaming bottle into the kitchen and igniting the gas into a violent explosion which knocks Jackie back and sends Vinnie through the wall, though they both survive. On the verge of death, Jackie sees a mysterious figure, who comments that Jackie is "stronger than his father". The man tells one of his henchmen to keep pushing Jackie and then disappears. As Jackie crawls toward the hole in the wall created by the explosion, still severely wounded, The Darkness encourages Jackie to "embrace The Darkness" and unleash its power once more. Reluctantly, Jackie releases The Darkness, which makes quick work of the henchmen outside of the restaurant whilst also healing Jackie's injuries.
While making his way through the streets and into the subway, Jackie begins seeing strange haunting visions of Jenny which beckon him to come to her. Continuing to fight off more goons, Jackie is reintroduced to a Darkling, a figment of Jackie's subconscious taken form by the powers of The Darkness, who aids him in battle. In the subway, Jackie avoids being hit by a train and makes his way onto the demolished tracks. He then sees another apparition of Jenny who tells him to dance with her. She then disappears as an oncoming train hits Jackie. The Darkness proclaims that Jackie will not die as Jackie wakes up in a psychiatric ward. There he sees Johnny Powell, who encourages Jackie to "find him," and his mob friend Tony, both of whom act different from the people Jackie knew before. Jackie then wakes from the dream and realizes that The Darkness had taken possession of his body and slaughtered the remaining henchmen. He meets up with Fat Tony and makes his way back to his mansion.
At Jackie's mansion, he tells his men to find Johnny Powell to aid Jackie in his quest. He then talks with his Aunt Sarah about Jenny with Sarah commenting on how Jackie is becoming obsessive like his father, which Jackie outright denies. While investigating the cause of the attack, he is captured by the Brotherhood, an ancient secret society formed thousands of years ago by a saint for the sole purpose of protecting the world from The Darkness but is now seeking it for personal gain. Attempting to discover more about the Brotherhood, he enters a brothel located in an office complex, and with the help of a contact posing as a prostitute, Venus, Jackie ventures further into the dilapidated building. After being ambushed and knocked out, Jackie is nailed to a cross and confronted by Victor Valente, the head of the Brotherhood, who was present at the hit at the restaurant. He threatens to kill Aunt Sarah unless Jackie turns over the Darkness willingly, in addition to revealing that he has taken over the mansion. All the while, a mystical object is siphoning away the Darkness from him. He is then tortured and while unconscious, he considers giving up the Darkness. However, the Darkness reveals that it has trapped Jenny's soul and promises to release her when Jackie breaks free, forcing him to resist the Brotherhood's torture. He eventually breaks free from the cross and makes his way to the mansion along with Butcher Joyce and various other members of his organization. At the mansion, Jackie talks with Johnny Powell, who tells him that the mystical object is the Siphon, an object created by the Angelus, the sworn enemy and polar opposite of the Darkness. It created the Siphon to contain the Darkness and is capable of killing its host for good. Jackie then proceeds to take back the mansion. However, while trying to rescue Aunt Sarah, he is incapacitated by a combination of direct light and a gunshot wound and is left helpless as Aunt Sarah is murdered by Bragg, Victor's subordinate. He then shoots Jackie in the face with a shotgun, rendering him unconscious for four days while the Darkness heals him.
Upon reawakening, Jackie attends Aunt Sarah's funeral, where he is attacked by Bragg and a group of Brotherhood thugs. Enraged, he slaughters all of them, personally ripping Bragg's heart out with his own bare hands, but not before learning of Victor's location, an abandoned carnival where Jackie and Jenny used to hang out together. Fearing for the safety of his men, he orders them to lay low while he deals with the Brotherhood. Jackie then makes his way to the carnival, where Victor pins him in an Iron Maiden to siphon the Darkness from him.
After losing the darkness, the darkling frees Jackie from the iron maiden. They hunt Victor, but come across Peevish first. After killing him, Jackie regains his darkness powers, but not the full darkness to power it. After hunting down and killing victor, He fully regains the darkness, before stabbing himself with the siphon to make his way to hell to free Jenny.
This is his canon point, appearing here instead of waking in the Otherworld asylum illusion.
Powers/Abilities/Unique Items:
Mundane:
§ Moving quietly, picking locks, breaking and entering and generally being a sneaky bastard. He's the number one hitman in New York, and a good thief. And this was before he gained the powers of the darkness. Sneakiness is required for this.
§ Guns: He has a large knowledge of firearms. Very accurate shot, and extremely well practiced.
§ Stealing: He's an accomplished thief.
§ Agile: while this is not extraordinarily so, he's good at slipping out of tight situations through narrow gaps and over fences and walls or rooftops unless he's incapped by lights.
§ Strength: Probably should go under supernatural, as the darkness makes him physically stronger than the average human. I just felt it didn't fit there so well as this is one of the things that is always with him, even if its effects are lessened in the light.
§ Extended Clips: When he's stood in the darkness, he gets bonus clip space for Ammo.
Supernatural
§ Manifesting the Darkness: It pulls in the shadows and darkness from around him and creating body armour which makes him harder to kill and gives him increased physical resistance. From his back, demon arms extend, and two heads appear at each side of him.
He cannot manifest the Darkness in the light, and if it is bright enough with him in the direct light long enough, it can incapacitate him. This doesn't happen in sunlight, but through high-powered lights, usually, set up to trap him in a place where not one shadow can be cast.
At the point I am taking him from, he can control the darkness 95% of the time. This means they won't be ripping the face off anything he doesn't want them too, unless he's been damaged so close to dead the darkness takes over.
§ Right Demon Arm: It whips out, and can destroy things. It is strong enough to cut a human in two when it's whipped. But it's often inappropriate to use this in fights, as it has a short range. If he whips upwards, throwing an enemy into the air, he can hold them there using the darkness for a few seconds. If he slashes them back down, a small explosion is caused, causing near-by enemies to be stunned. Very close range of effect, usually not worth using unless surrounded.
§ Left Demon Arm: This side is used to pick up/rip apart people and objects. It's the head that executions are done on, which can be used to gain power and therefore reduce cool down on the swarm and channelling powers, create a shield, create ammo for firearms (which if there's any weapon restrictions will be nerfed), or heal himself of minor to fairly-major-but-not-life-threatening injuries (an example of this is in the first scene of the second game chapter, where he's missing flesh off his right leg and is unable to walk on it. After killing the enemies, the darkness heals his leg). Thrown objects have a small detonation, stunning enemies.
§ Darkness channelling: Jackie has the ability to channel the darkness through his guns. This has the effect of making his shots 100% guaranteed to hit his target, and never run out of ammo. It would also normally mean he can see people (not in detail, just an outline) and shoot through walls - but for the sake of the game he won't be able to shoot through anything he wouldn't normally and will be unable to see through the walls. Channelling is not a permanent option, it does have a time-limit on it and a 'cool down' time, in which he cannot use that power again.
§ Swarm: The demon head on the demon arms breath out what looks like a green, glowing mist, but is in fact a swarm of bugs created from Darkness. They swarm around nearby enemies, stinging and biting the target mercilessly. This too has a time limit and a cool down period.
§ Black Hole: What it says on the tin - Jackie can create small black holes. They're fairly small, and can pull things in from a radius of about ten meters, obviously the pull is stronger the closer to the black hole the things are. He doesn't use this often, more as a way to clear an area that is much too overcrowded by enemies.
§ Regeneration: Jackie can heal himself. Or. More specifically, the Darkness can heal him. The darkness can actually heal any injury that the host acquires (It rebuilds and heals Jackie completely after he gets shot in the face. It takes the Darkness four days, but it does it.) This however, will be nerfed so it can heal any injury so long as it's not life-threatening. Life-threatening and dead will now be beyond its jurisdiction in Genessia. (This gives the chance for more CR opportunities, as well as not cheating the death system.)
Darklings
These little beasts are a manifestation of Jackie’s subconscious through the power of the darkness. He can take control of them, connecting to them through the darkness and getting in its head. This also lets him see what the darkling can see, and hear what it hears.
The darkling cannot survive in the light, but when the light kills it, it will merely appear the next time you are in the shadows. The darkling is inhumanly strong, despite its small size, and fast. It also has marvellous climbing and jumping skills that are hard to match, too. This makes up for him being very easy to kill.
In the Darkness one, we see Jackie manifest many of the Darklings, specialising jobs for them. However, in the Darkness 2 we only see one darkling, which seems to be something of a friend to Jackie. We can only assume this CR between Jackie and this particular darkling grew during the two years between the first and second game. This darkling is a ‘berserker’, which means it doesn’t wield weapons but will happily rip someone’s face off using brute strength.
Communicator Sample: [He’s looking at the comm device. It’s not all that different from a mobile, he supposes. But different enough.] What the fuck - [And then realises he’s being recorded.] Never mind.
[There’s a bustling off-screen and then a second voice is heard. It’s distinctly different, not quite human sounding and with a strong working class British accent.] Oi, monkey, it’s not a Darkness trick - I can feel it right down to me bollocks. We really are here. Wherever the bloody ‘ell here is.
[This news appears to trouble Jackie deeply.] Has anyone been around here long enough to have some goddamned answers? I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be in fucking- [He then realises that saying he’s supposed to be in hell over a public thing to people he doesn’t know is not a great idea. ‘Way to get caught up in the moment, Jackie boy.’]
Vegas. On our way to one of them fucking chapels, we were. [comes the end of the sentence, sounding a touch sarcastic at that. A clawed hand turns off the feed before Jackie can dig them a bigger hole.]
Prose Sample: Jackie stepped into the shadows, letting the darkness wrap around him. He was unusually quiet, thinking about his failed escape. He could feel the Darkness within him, stirring joyously with the attempt’s failure. It had been angry, scared even, when Jackie had grabbed the Siphon, as soon as it realised what the hell it was Jackie was planning. It had tried to stop him, Jackie felt it revolt and try to take control within him, and as he felt the siphon pierce his gut. It had never been under a host’s control so much, and it didn’t like it. He felt a smug sense of satisfaction - two years before, it had made him watch the only person he’d ever loved get her brain splattered across the fucking wall then denied him the privilege to follow her, had taken him over when he killed uncle Paulie and lost himself to it - but now… It had taken him too long, but he had the reigns now. As much as he could do, anyway. It wouldn’t use him in that way again.
But still, it was stirring joyously. It didn’t want Jackie and Jenny back together, didn’t want her free. Jackie figured it was because she was what kept him in control and human.
Why are you waaaiting Jackieeee? She buuuuurnsssssss in hell while you wait! The fucking Darkness was taunting him. Jackie tried to figure out what it was trying to achieve by doing so, but couldn’t see what it would stand to gain by taunting him now. You cannot even ussssse my power to sssssave her now.
Ah. It clicked. The Darkness was pissed off with Jackie still, which was fine by him. He moved away from the shadow, and stepped into the gentle sunlight, walking briskly so as not to be caught out in it too long.
“Shut the hell up.“
It might be fine by him, but that didn’t mean he wanted to hear what it had to say, though.
Personal Journal: n/a
E-mail: yasmine.adams@ymail.com
AIM: crimpingwithnoel
Character Name: Jackie Estacado
Source: The Darkness (Game verse)
Genre: Paranormal
Personality: The most important thing about Jackie is that he’s driven. Whether he’s fighting for his beliefs, fighting for Jenny, fighting for vengeance, trying to get into hell, or whatever else he’s doing, he’s not often one for giving up. He will usually do anything in his power to see something through to the end, but not at the cost of family he cares for.
Until he knows someone fairly well, he won’t talk about himself all that much with them. He might talk about what he’s feeling or what he thinks about something, but he won’t go into details of his past. This is purely because he was a mafia hitman, and while he’s not ashamed of this fact, it is a highly illegal job and he has to trust who he’s talking to about it.
However. There is one exception to the above, and that is if he thinks of someone pure and innocent, he’ll lie. The main example of this in canon is Jenny. She had no idea what he did for a living because he thought “she was so beautiful and pure I couldn’t bear to show her my own darkness.” He didn’t want to ruin that aspect of her. But then, he did love Jenny with every fibre of his being. He’s so grief-stricken when he’s forced to watch her die, that he takes his pistol and tries to kill himself. Which works…. For a little while. The grief he feels has never really left him, and he will still see her visage and/or get immersed in flashbacks in certain places. While it is assumed the darkness shows him these visages (It can make Jackie see whatever it likes), it is also implied that these visions might come from Jackie himself. He will indulge in these visions, not caring that they are not real, enjoying the time with Jenny as if it were really happening.
When he’s in the dark, alone, often he’ll talk to Jenny as if she’s there. This could be linked to the above thing of seeing her, it could be to make him feel less lonely, it could be for any reason. It’s never explained why he does this.
He has a much darker side to his personality, which May or May not come from the darkness. Coming from a mafia family means he’ll have that mind-set anyway, and having been brought up to be a hitman means Jackie is able to turn off his caring and compassion to do the job he has to. He does enjoy his job, which is part of the reason he’s so good at it. When he’s on a job, he’ll often have a one-liner ready at the tip of his tongue. He’s naturally quite violent, having been brought up to believe that violence can solve any and all problems you have - such as one time he’s out at the park with Jenny, and some douchebag came and sat between them. He starts talking to Jenny, ignoring Jackie’s presence completely. Until Jackie hit him, breaking his nose (Which Jenny didn’t talk to him for a week for.) Another example of this is when a group of 5 teens put Jackie in hospital when he was a kid. Aunt Sarah came in on his last day in the hospital, and handed him a slip of paper, which had names and addresses of the punks that put him in there. And he “didn’t make the same mistake they made”.
Jackie likes to talk, and with that, he likes to swear. He’s often sarcastic, but if he wants something, he won’t beat about the bush. If he’s there to kill you, he’ll tell you so. He tends to be rather straight with you but when he lies, he’s accomplished at it.
Jackie doesn’t dress in a suit for everyday wear like most mafia men do. He does what he does, and he does it comfortably. Also, it means there’s less questions from Jenny about why he wears a suit every day.
The Darkling is a manifestation of Jackie’s subconscious - the bit of his subconscious that enjoys chaos and mayhem (and the bloodier, the better). Its behaviour is immature and childish, and it disrespects the enemies’ corpses by pissing on them or farting over them. It’s loud, abusive, out for a good time (which is what it considers killing and blowing stuff up), and has absolutely no inhibitions. But it’s also somewhat of a friend to Jackie, quite a few times going beyond the call of duty completely and going against the darkness for Jackie’s sake. It is also, for some inexplicable reason, British. And proud of it. Because of its ability to respawn in the dark, it will often make kamikaze runs, and enjoy the hell out of it.
History: Jackie Estacado grew up in an orphanage, picked on by all the other kids except one, who would later become his long term girlfriend. It’s never specified in-game when exactly he went to live at the orphanage, but one assumes it is at the age of five or after, seeing as in the second game, Jackie tells us about the time he was five and woke up to find his father sat on his bed, hovering over him with a butcher knife in his hand. While he was in the orphanage, he was repeatedly told that his mother was a hooker, and his father her john, and that they were both dead.
The orphanage was strict and abusive. Eventually, he was adopted by “Uncle Paulie”, which Jackie says is like being rescued from a shark by a grizzly bear. Paulie raised Jackie to be a hitman, and Jackie became one of the best. But even after being taken away from the orphanage, he continued seeing Jenny. He never told her what his family was into though, because “She was so beautiful and pure, he couldn’t bear to show her his own darkness.”
Jackie, on the eve of his 21st birthday, was targeted for assassination by "Uncle" Paulie Franchetti. While hiding in a cemetery bathroom, The Darkness - an ancient force that is pure evil and runds in the family - awakens within Jackie and slaughters the remaining mobsters outside, with the benefit of Jackie becoming the possessor of unholy demonic abilities that feed off the dark. Using these powers, Jackie is able to survive further assassination attempts and track down Paulie, but not before Paulie and Eddie Shrote, the corrupt police chief, kidnap Jackie's girlfriend, Jenny Romano. They take her to the orphanage where Jackie and Jenny grew up, and murder her in front of a powerless Jackie, unable to save Jenny due to The Darkness deliberately restraining him.
He commits suicide, and finds himself in the Otherworld, the realm of The Darkness. He meets his great-great-grandfather Anthony Estacado, who admits that it was he that brought The Darkness into the family, and tells Jackie how to free himself of The Darkness by invading the castle in the Otherworld and facing The Darkness there. Jackie is interrupted in his journey through the Otherworld and brought back to the living world by The Darkness.
Once he recovers, he decides that he must dispose of Chief Shrote before he can face Paulie. He chases Shrote to his apartment and then confiscating a briefcase containing illicit goods in Shrote's ownership and rigging it with an explosive, Jackie is able to lure Shrote out of hiding, but then he is captured. After overhearing about a shipment of drugs that a Chicago mob is entrusting to Paulie -after being tortured- Jackie triggers the explosive, killing Shrote and his men along with himself. Jackie re-awakes in the Otherworld, and lays siege to the Darkness's castle with Anthony's help. Anthony is mortally wounded in the attack, but before he can tell Jackie the last steps needed to free himself from the Darkness, the spirit pulls him away.
Jackie faces The Darkness and surprises it by willingly being taken by The Darkness's power, allowing him to fully control the spirit back in the real world; however The Darkness tells him that while he has control now, each time Jackie takes a life, he will become more consumed by The Darkness. He lays an assault on the drug shipment, causing Paulie to flee to the safety of a lighthouse mansion for fear of retribution from the Chicago mob. Jackie takes advantage of a solar eclipse to raid the mansion and finally kill Paulie. The Darkness revels in Jackie's murderous spree, and fully envelops Jackie.
Jackie finds himself in a dream in a park, lying on a bench in Jenny's arms. Jenny explains that they are only allowed a few minutes to be together one last time to say goodbye. Jackie tries to ask how, but Jenny just quiets him, allowing them to enjoy the last moments together before Jackie wakes up.
We then move two years after the events of the first game. Jackie has used his powers to become the Don of the Franchetti family. He has been unable to shake the thoughts of his dead girlfriend Jenny Romano and has since, with the help of estranged occultist Johnny Powell and his study into dark essence, contained his supernatural powers, and now The Darkness "wants out in the worst way".
One evening, at the request of Vinnie, one of his associates, Jackie sits and chats with blonde twins when a van crashes through the window, killing the twins and heralding the start of a full-scale mob war, which has clearly been orchestrated by some outside force. Jackie is wounded in the leg and Vinnie gives Jackie a gun to fend off the attackers while he drags Jackie through the restaurant and into the kitchen. Jackie smells gas leaking from the propane tanks as Vinnie tries to pry opens the door, just in time for one of the attackers to throw a flaming bottle into the kitchen and igniting the gas into a violent explosion which knocks Jackie back and sends Vinnie through the wall, though they both survive. On the verge of death, Jackie sees a mysterious figure, who comments that Jackie is "stronger than his father". The man tells one of his henchmen to keep pushing Jackie and then disappears. As Jackie crawls toward the hole in the wall created by the explosion, still severely wounded, The Darkness encourages Jackie to "embrace The Darkness" and unleash its power once more. Reluctantly, Jackie releases The Darkness, which makes quick work of the henchmen outside of the restaurant whilst also healing Jackie's injuries.
While making his way through the streets and into the subway, Jackie begins seeing strange haunting visions of Jenny which beckon him to come to her. Continuing to fight off more goons, Jackie is reintroduced to a Darkling, a figment of Jackie's subconscious taken form by the powers of The Darkness, who aids him in battle. In the subway, Jackie avoids being hit by a train and makes his way onto the demolished tracks. He then sees another apparition of Jenny who tells him to dance with her. She then disappears as an oncoming train hits Jackie. The Darkness proclaims that Jackie will not die as Jackie wakes up in a psychiatric ward. There he sees Johnny Powell, who encourages Jackie to "find him," and his mob friend Tony, both of whom act different from the people Jackie knew before. Jackie then wakes from the dream and realizes that The Darkness had taken possession of his body and slaughtered the remaining henchmen. He meets up with Fat Tony and makes his way back to his mansion.
At Jackie's mansion, he tells his men to find Johnny Powell to aid Jackie in his quest. He then talks with his Aunt Sarah about Jenny with Sarah commenting on how Jackie is becoming obsessive like his father, which Jackie outright denies. While investigating the cause of the attack, he is captured by the Brotherhood, an ancient secret society formed thousands of years ago by a saint for the sole purpose of protecting the world from The Darkness but is now seeking it for personal gain. Attempting to discover more about the Brotherhood, he enters a brothel located in an office complex, and with the help of a contact posing as a prostitute, Venus, Jackie ventures further into the dilapidated building. After being ambushed and knocked out, Jackie is nailed to a cross and confronted by Victor Valente, the head of the Brotherhood, who was present at the hit at the restaurant. He threatens to kill Aunt Sarah unless Jackie turns over the Darkness willingly, in addition to revealing that he has taken over the mansion. All the while, a mystical object is siphoning away the Darkness from him. He is then tortured and while unconscious, he considers giving up the Darkness. However, the Darkness reveals that it has trapped Jenny's soul and promises to release her when Jackie breaks free, forcing him to resist the Brotherhood's torture. He eventually breaks free from the cross and makes his way to the mansion along with Butcher Joyce and various other members of his organization. At the mansion, Jackie talks with Johnny Powell, who tells him that the mystical object is the Siphon, an object created by the Angelus, the sworn enemy and polar opposite of the Darkness. It created the Siphon to contain the Darkness and is capable of killing its host for good. Jackie then proceeds to take back the mansion. However, while trying to rescue Aunt Sarah, he is incapacitated by a combination of direct light and a gunshot wound and is left helpless as Aunt Sarah is murdered by Bragg, Victor's subordinate. He then shoots Jackie in the face with a shotgun, rendering him unconscious for four days while the Darkness heals him.
Upon reawakening, Jackie attends Aunt Sarah's funeral, where he is attacked by Bragg and a group of Brotherhood thugs. Enraged, he slaughters all of them, personally ripping Bragg's heart out with his own bare hands, but not before learning of Victor's location, an abandoned carnival where Jackie and Jenny used to hang out together. Fearing for the safety of his men, he orders them to lay low while he deals with the Brotherhood. Jackie then makes his way to the carnival, where Victor pins him in an Iron Maiden to siphon the Darkness from him.
After losing the darkness, the darkling frees Jackie from the iron maiden. They hunt Victor, but come across Peevish first. After killing him, Jackie regains his darkness powers, but not the full darkness to power it. After hunting down and killing victor, He fully regains the darkness, before stabbing himself with the siphon to make his way to hell to free Jenny.
This is his canon point, appearing here instead of waking in the Otherworld asylum illusion.
Powers/Abilities/Unique Items:
Mundane:
§ Moving quietly, picking locks, breaking and entering and generally being a sneaky bastard. He's the number one hitman in New York, and a good thief. And this was before he gained the powers of the darkness. Sneakiness is required for this.
§ Guns: He has a large knowledge of firearms. Very accurate shot, and extremely well practiced.
§ Stealing: He's an accomplished thief.
§ Agile: while this is not extraordinarily so, he's good at slipping out of tight situations through narrow gaps and over fences and walls or rooftops unless he's incapped by lights.
§ Strength: Probably should go under supernatural, as the darkness makes him physically stronger than the average human. I just felt it didn't fit there so well as this is one of the things that is always with him, even if its effects are lessened in the light.
§ Extended Clips: When he's stood in the darkness, he gets bonus clip space for Ammo.
Supernatural
§ Manifesting the Darkness: It pulls in the shadows and darkness from around him and creating body armour which makes him harder to kill and gives him increased physical resistance. From his back, demon arms extend, and two heads appear at each side of him.
He cannot manifest the Darkness in the light, and if it is bright enough with him in the direct light long enough, it can incapacitate him. This doesn't happen in sunlight, but through high-powered lights, usually, set up to trap him in a place where not one shadow can be cast.
At the point I am taking him from, he can control the darkness 95% of the time. This means they won't be ripping the face off anything he doesn't want them too, unless he's been damaged so close to dead the darkness takes over.
§ Right Demon Arm: It whips out, and can destroy things. It is strong enough to cut a human in two when it's whipped. But it's often inappropriate to use this in fights, as it has a short range. If he whips upwards, throwing an enemy into the air, he can hold them there using the darkness for a few seconds. If he slashes them back down, a small explosion is caused, causing near-by enemies to be stunned. Very close range of effect, usually not worth using unless surrounded.
§ Left Demon Arm: This side is used to pick up/rip apart people and objects. It's the head that executions are done on, which can be used to gain power and therefore reduce cool down on the swarm and channelling powers, create a shield, create ammo for firearms (which if there's any weapon restrictions will be nerfed), or heal himself of minor to fairly-major-but-not-life-threatening injuries (an example of this is in the first scene of the second game chapter, where he's missing flesh off his right leg and is unable to walk on it. After killing the enemies, the darkness heals his leg). Thrown objects have a small detonation, stunning enemies.
§ Darkness channelling: Jackie has the ability to channel the darkness through his guns. This has the effect of making his shots 100% guaranteed to hit his target, and never run out of ammo. It would also normally mean he can see people (not in detail, just an outline) and shoot through walls - but for the sake of the game he won't be able to shoot through anything he wouldn't normally and will be unable to see through the walls. Channelling is not a permanent option, it does have a time-limit on it and a 'cool down' time, in which he cannot use that power again.
§ Swarm: The demon head on the demon arms breath out what looks like a green, glowing mist, but is in fact a swarm of bugs created from Darkness. They swarm around nearby enemies, stinging and biting the target mercilessly. This too has a time limit and a cool down period.
§ Black Hole: What it says on the tin - Jackie can create small black holes. They're fairly small, and can pull things in from a radius of about ten meters, obviously the pull is stronger the closer to the black hole the things are. He doesn't use this often, more as a way to clear an area that is much too overcrowded by enemies.
§ Regeneration: Jackie can heal himself. Or. More specifically, the Darkness can heal him. The darkness can actually heal any injury that the host acquires (It rebuilds and heals Jackie completely after he gets shot in the face. It takes the Darkness four days, but it does it.) This however, will be nerfed so it can heal any injury so long as it's not life-threatening. Life-threatening and dead will now be beyond its jurisdiction in Genessia. (This gives the chance for more CR opportunities, as well as not cheating the death system.)
Darklings
These little beasts are a manifestation of Jackie’s subconscious through the power of the darkness. He can take control of them, connecting to them through the darkness and getting in its head. This also lets him see what the darkling can see, and hear what it hears.
The darkling cannot survive in the light, but when the light kills it, it will merely appear the next time you are in the shadows. The darkling is inhumanly strong, despite its small size, and fast. It also has marvellous climbing and jumping skills that are hard to match, too. This makes up for him being very easy to kill.
In the Darkness one, we see Jackie manifest many of the Darklings, specialising jobs for them. However, in the Darkness 2 we only see one darkling, which seems to be something of a friend to Jackie. We can only assume this CR between Jackie and this particular darkling grew during the two years between the first and second game. This darkling is a ‘berserker’, which means it doesn’t wield weapons but will happily rip someone’s face off using brute strength.
Communicator Sample: [He’s looking at the comm device. It’s not all that different from a mobile, he supposes. But different enough.] What the fuck - [And then realises he’s being recorded.] Never mind.
[There’s a bustling off-screen and then a second voice is heard. It’s distinctly different, not quite human sounding and with a strong working class British accent.] Oi, monkey, it’s not a Darkness trick - I can feel it right down to me bollocks. We really are here. Wherever the bloody ‘ell here is.
[This news appears to trouble Jackie deeply.] Has anyone been around here long enough to have some goddamned answers? I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be in fucking- [He then realises that saying he’s supposed to be in hell over a public thing to people he doesn’t know is not a great idea. ‘Way to get caught up in the moment, Jackie boy.’]
Vegas. On our way to one of them fucking chapels, we were. [comes the end of the sentence, sounding a touch sarcastic at that. A clawed hand turns off the feed before Jackie can dig them a bigger hole.]
Prose Sample: Jackie stepped into the shadows, letting the darkness wrap around him. He was unusually quiet, thinking about his failed escape. He could feel the Darkness within him, stirring joyously with the attempt’s failure. It had been angry, scared even, when Jackie had grabbed the Siphon, as soon as it realised what the hell it was Jackie was planning. It had tried to stop him, Jackie felt it revolt and try to take control within him, and as he felt the siphon pierce his gut. It had never been under a host’s control so much, and it didn’t like it. He felt a smug sense of satisfaction - two years before, it had made him watch the only person he’d ever loved get her brain splattered across the fucking wall then denied him the privilege to follow her, had taken him over when he killed uncle Paulie and lost himself to it - but now… It had taken him too long, but he had the reigns now. As much as he could do, anyway. It wouldn’t use him in that way again.
But still, it was stirring joyously. It didn’t want Jackie and Jenny back together, didn’t want her free. Jackie figured it was because she was what kept him in control and human.
Why are you waaaiting Jackieeee? She buuuuurnsssssss in hell while you wait! The fucking Darkness was taunting him. Jackie tried to figure out what it was trying to achieve by doing so, but couldn’t see what it would stand to gain by taunting him now. You cannot even ussssse my power to sssssave her now.
Ah. It clicked. The Darkness was pissed off with Jackie still, which was fine by him. He moved away from the shadow, and stepped into the gentle sunlight, walking briskly so as not to be caught out in it too long.
“Shut the hell up.“
It might be fine by him, but that didn’t mean he wanted to hear what it had to say, though.