Is Paris Burning: Mathieu
Mathieu Baudy
Mathieu Baudy - Journaliste de Combat / Artiste Parisien
Strength 10
Dex 11
Con 11 (Includes +1 for Harsh)
Int 15
POW 12
Cha 14
SAN 60
BP
Perceptive and Charming, Thrillseeker
Photographer (Jazz Age) Template seemed pretty close.
Alertness 60
Art (Photo) 50
Insight 60
Research 50
Stealth 60
Social Etiquette 40
Athletics 60
For Lang (Algerie Arabic) 30
For Lang (English) 20
For Lang (Vietnamese) 20
Streetwise (Parisian, Saigon) 40 I
Survival (Mountain - Pyrenees, Rif, Central Highlands RVN) 50
Military Training 30 (From Harsh Background)
Firearms 60
Drive 40
Unarmed Cbt 50
Charm 60
HUMINT 40 Espionage Training I
Search 40
Swim 40
Occult 20
Unnatural 10
I took two bonuses to Resources so it's 11 - 6/5/0 with 2 Boxes
Bonds are 4
Uncle 14
Artist GF 14
"New Left" Art Movement 6
Org. Claude 6
Mathieu just couldn't settle in Paris, he is a known thrillseeker, even at his tempered levels at 38 year old. He covered a few shows and then gigs. Finally just a quick hop over in 1964 and the hooks got into him. brief interludes to cover the Congo Crisis again and then the US Civil Rights movements have given him a decent spending packet, a few ex girlfriends and some very useful contacts...
Having worked in the central Highlands in Vietnam with 5th Special Forces Group, among others, Mat has insinuated himself into MACV with numerous operational contacts. His military experience and French language helps him in some ways with the locals as well as the US Special Forces officers who can appreciate his knowledge of Galula and experiences in Algeria and the Congo.
Rank and file grunts and most Americans think he's a crazy 'old man', very hip and 'modern'. He dresses well, not posh but with a bit of flair and clear experience. Some mistake his accent for naivete. He has actaully been working for OC off and on for much of the 60's. He has some fellow travellers in the CIA and MI6 but he keeps them at arms length. Preferring the thrillseeking 'playboy' disguise.
In the field he just wears plain jungle fatigues but in many transitionary areas or in town he wears khaki trousers, Bata boots and linen shirts. His hair is longish, his cravat and sunglasses stylish. In any costume he will be carrying his well worn Browning High Power and gravity knife. He also always carries a MACV-SOG zippo, Gauloises in a batterd tin and a few hundred US dollars. His camera kit has pared down to a pair of 35mm cameras a Leica RF and a Nikon SLR with a claymore bag for his film.
Mathieu Baudy is from South Pigalle in the North of Paris. Since his youth, during the occupation, he has also frequented its local bars and other establishments along with its jail. His family was killed during the war and his uncle, Frederic Marat, moved into town shortly afterwards to help with Mathieu and some other children.
Being just young enough, born in 1930, to avoid the Second World War as a participant he lamented his youth and overcompensated in many ways. Stealing cars and other things after liberation allowed some movement. He is always trying to prove his courage, many would say trying too hard. He rides a Norton Manx 350cc motorcycle that he got some time ago after some early photo sales.
For the last few years he has been travelling back and forth to Algeria covering the war for independent and mainstream press as a journalist and sometime photographer. This has been very dangerous and has made him slow down a little bit. It has also brought to a head his relationship with his political friends, Sylvain Chaumeix, as well as relations with the Army. (The Coup attempt has made things clearer!)
His friends in Paris tend to be artists, bar staff, prostitutes or small time hoodlums and grifters whom he gets along with. He is quite honest these days and avoids the more unsavoury types. Some of his friends are with various cliques at the universities and hang out in Montparnasse. (Influenced by Andre Breton to Guy Debord) One of his raw wounds is his not being able to paint as well as he would like (overly critical or true?). He dates painters (or writers) still (Ariane Chemin).
Recently, (at a late night salon!) he was introduced to the ghoul network in subterranean Paris by an art critic (did the art critic survive?). It took him several days of binge drinking to get over that!
Mathieu stays in his girlfriends loft with his photographic equipment and books. His uncle has the rest of his stuff, including his tools. His handgun, (Browning High-Power) is carried out of habit again. (As is his German ‘gravity’ knife from his uncle.) He is not broke by any means but he is used to living like this. He is also trying to figure out if he should risk another trip to Algeria.
Over the last few days in Paris, he has been involved with two shoot-outs and a time travelling conspirator who was disassembled by a hound.
His paranoia isn't getting any better.
He has taken to loitering in libraries and garrets as well as graveyards. He stays up too late and smells of dirt and Pernod. His notebook is a true horror show, don't look.
Typically dresses nicely yet non-descript. Black trousers, collared shirt, leather jacket, scarf and boots
Mat's foray with the publishing house and the spooks was enthralling enough that he is hooked, so to speak.
He starts chasing down various notes that he had taken from Bergiers journals, he bought a copy of the book as well.
This copy is already heavily annotated.
His own notebooks are full of writing and working sketches, many of which he has turned into paintings. Intensly macabre and violent works that gather little interest from his old crowd, perhaps due to the obvious pathology, but likely the major style shift away from the clique has pushed him away. 'Mat, the journalist, (with some disdain) is painting now. He has nightmares you know. Poor Ariane...'
He spends more nights out, sometimes painting or drawing, revisiting locales from the Galliard case. He also spends time in the catacombs and Montmartre cemetary. After a few run ins with other thrill seekers he has another list of people to follow.
His outfit looks a bit rougher, he shaves infrequently, drinks fairly often and smokes too much.
He does sometimes get himself together in a fit of organization, he swears off drinking, cuts back the smokes and get a few runs in. He will apologize to Ariane, visit his uncle and catch up with the old artist salon.
Then he starts to crave it again, first satisified by looking into another trip to Algerie, before the end you know. Perhaps just a road trip to the Alps or Cherbourg. But soon enough, he is back on the prowl, chasing up numbers and addresses. On stakeout taking pictures, then trying to get the print to show what he saw.
Old Gumshoe version set in 1960
Occupation – Journaliste de Combat / Artiste Parisien
Motivation – Thrill Seeker
Military Service – None (extensive and frequent trips to Algerie during the war)
Revelation – “Things man was not meant to know.”
Bonds
- Ariane Chemin, Girlfriend, Artist 2 (1.7)
- Frederic Marat, Ex-Maquis Uncle, Retired Policeman 2 (1.75)
- Sylvain Chaumeix – Socialist Artist ‘Situationist International’ 2 (1.6)
Abilities
Academic
Anthropology 1
Criminology 1
Foreign Language 1 Algerian spoken Arabic
History 1
Law 1
Library Use 2
Military Science 1
Occult 1
The Unnatural 1
Interpersonal
Agency 1 just raised 1 with xp from Paris
Cop Talk 0
HUMINT 3
Interrogation 1
Negotiation 1
Streetwise 2
Tradecraft 1
Technical
Art 2 (Writing, Drawing, Painting)just raised 1 with xp from Paris
Notice 3
Photography 1
General
Athletics 6
Bureaucracy 3
Conceal 4
Demolitions 1
Disguise 3
Drive 2 Auto and Motorcycle
Filch 5
Firearms 4
First Aid 3
Health 6
Mechanics 4
Melee weapons 4
Network 5
Preparedness 4
Sanity 9
Sense trouble 6
Stability 6
Stealth 8
Unarmed Combat 4