Tailspins & Tiki Gods:The Mayor

The Mayor:

The Mayor of Port Cochere is a Ministry of the Interior functionary who, they say, found out something he shouldn’t have about his superior.

He was promoted out of his section, but was then given the “Guilded Cage” assignment of Port Cochere for his troubles.

A French colonial governor has less leeway than, say, a British colonial governor. All instructions come from Paris, and are to be followed, without delay or interpretation. The “Home office” in Paris is several weeks away from Papeete (the regional capital), and it’s an even further delay to go from Papeete to Porte Cochere.

Therefore, the Mayor is put on the end of a very short leash, officially speaking. If he was a by-the-book player, this would be a nightmare. The place sustains itself on things that ought not to, officially, be happening. Virtually any ‘failure’(that is, public revelation) on the part of the Colonial government would be squarely placed on him. He’s presumably already sacrificed his one bit of blackmail material just to get a field posting.

He and the Governor are technically on the same side (Keep French Polynesia French, carry out orders from Home, etc), but at the same time they know the deal ("You are disposable, M'sieur." "I know." ) and even if they were friendly that would put a strain on it.

Basically, he’s more than what he seems. But not MUCH more. (Think of a French William H. Macy-in-Fargo, and you’re in the ballpark.)

To his credit, he does keep a steady appearance and manages to not let the place explode. But he’s notas clever as he thinks he is. And almost everyone plays for bigger stakes than he ever did- he’s worried that the Kamekame are going to brush the town off the island, or the Legion would refuse to heed his commands, or that some faction would somehow take the island out from under him.

As many as can arrange it bring their wives and kids. He has not. Not just because of the circumstances, not even because he’s got local mistresses. It’s because he likes that they think of him as on top of things. He desperately wants to ‘become the mask’ of his competent identity, and them thinking he’s that in Paris is better than them realizing who he is, right there.

“Playing Defense”:

-He is not at all interested in taking on anything that is going to get him into MORE trouble. This includes taking blame or determined-responsibility for as much as possible. He is happiest when getting the least official attention.

-He is attempting to do the ‘hang around, find out something useful, put it to work’ thing that so many do here. He’s just not particularly good at it. It worked once and that was his one-hit wonder.