Council of Venice Russell "Hit-Parade" Kobayashi

Name

KOBAYASHI, Russell Keisuke

Age

37 (DOB: 20 August 1980)

Height

1.8 m. (5'11")

Weight

81.65 kg (180 lbs.)

Hair Color

Black

Eye Color

Brown

Birthplace

Toronto, ON, Canada

Biography

Our wisdom flows so sweet. Taste and see.


TRANSMIT - initiate the Toronto signal - RECIEVE - initiate the Thin Blue Line frequency - TO SERVE AND PROTECT - initiate the silver badge protocol - WITNESS - Russell Kobayashi.

****

Russell's grandfather, Keisuke "Casey" Kobayashi (1919-1988), had been a decorated sergeant in the U.S. Army's 442nd Regimental Combat Team during WWII, but had emigrated to Canada following the war, when his geology degree got him a job offer from a Canadian oil company. Casey would eventually retire as an executive V.P. in the mid-1980s. (The fact that he also found it smart to relocate because of flak from his new wife's Danish-American family was sheer coincidence.) Keisuke's brother Raizo ("Ray") would remain in San Francisco, eventually turning the family restaurant into a successful local chain. His own granddaughter, Sakuya, became a Bee herself after a law career active in local politics.

Russell's father, Alex (born 1948), was a professor of literature at Ryerson University in Toronto; he died of lung cancer in 2005. His mother, Arielle (née Lavigne, born 1950), was a notable pediatric oncologist; she suffered a fatal stroke in 2010. He has one sister, Rochelle ("Shelly," born 1983); she was a wild child as a teenager and into her 20s, but is now a dental hygenist in Bobcaygeon, and is married and has one daughter (Adrienne Tanner, born 2010).

Russell was born and raised in the Leaside neighborhood of Toronto. From a young age (no doubt influenced by numerous American crime dramas), he was certain he wanted to be a cop. He was a good-but-not-great student (solid B-B+ average). Physically active, he also ran track and field, but not because of a natural love for athletics -- he knew he needed to be in good shape to be a cop, and besides, those cute girls in their track and field uniforms...

Russell's relationship with his parents was generally loving and supportive. They were, however, rather disappointed in his career choice; the words "wasted potential" were said quite a bit. They did make their peace with it eventually; they came to see his career choice as, at least, one that helped society. His relationship with his sister was typical of non-anime relationships between older brothers and younger sisters.

Russell met Sarah Delacroix, Shelly's best friend, when he was 16 and she was 13. It was was mutual loathing at first sight. Unsurprisingly, they would later date while she was in medical school. Their relationship was passionate, and seemed to be almost complimentary (both of them working in jobs that were ostensibly aimed at benefiting society), but the relationship began unraveling as Sarah started her neurology career and they became engaged. Eventually, she began pushing for him to leave the TPS (as much as for what she perceived as the "poor reputation" she received for dating someone in a "lower" career as for concerns for his well-being), and he refused. By the end of 2010 their relationship had ended, and even now they are unable to be anything other than politely uncomfortable around each other.

Russell went to Ryerson University, his parents' alma mater (Class of '03), and got a bachelor's degree in Criminology before going to the TPS academy. There were two reasons for this: one, because getting a college education first was the deal with his parents; and two, because the TPS recruiter told him doing so would speed his advancement into the detective bureau. (The recruiter was correct, but Russell wasn't the only one to do so; he, his future partner Tony DiNicola, and three others from his TPS class made detective within three years, leading to them being called "the boy geniuses.") He loved his job with the TPS, but by 2012, between his engagement with Sarah collapsing, his parents having passed on, and Tony invaliding out of the force after losing his leg, Toronto had stopped seeming like home.

In April 2012, Russell's friend and former classmate Gord Leitner, a staff sergeant in the RCMP, offered him a transfer, at no loss of rank or pay, into a challenging position in counterintelligence. (The fact that he had a newly single sister-in-law who looked just like Tatiana Maslany was icing on the cake.) He asked to sleep on it, but knew exactly what he was gonna decide in the morning....

That night, he swallowed a Bee. And things would never be the same.

****

Within a week, Russell had been contacted by the Templars. An attractive young woman showed up on his doorstep, offering a business-class plane ticket to London and a lucrative job in a Templar front company. Perhaps most importantly, the chance to side with the faction in the secret world that came closest to espousing his own principles.

And Russell.... took it and ran. Two more weeks in Toronto, to wind up vital business, and he boarded that plane, having told people he was moving "for a woman he'd just met." Not precisely a lie....

To this day, the majority of his friends and colleagues in Toronto are confused, even disbelieving, when it came to his reasoning. For a man who loved his job so much that he even chose it over his fiancée, to walk away from it so easily, with such a flimsy rationale? Only a handful -- Tony and his wife, his sister Rochelle, a few others -- truly understood how strong Russell's perceived need to get away was. Not even they had a clue what he was running to.

So, Russell arrived at Temple Hall. He was given a briefing, weapons, training, and the key to a fairly nice one-bedroom flat near the Horned God.

For the next 24 months, he would spend virtually no time there. In fact, he would spend little more than two or three days in Ealdwic at a time, constantly being on the run.

Solomon Island, Egypt, Transylvania. Over the next two years, Russell would be stationed in these regions, and more. His cover identity as an insurance investigator gave him a surprising amount of access to unexpected places, one he exploited ruthlessly. He rose rapidly in the ranks of the Templar field-agent corps, gaining a reputation similar to the one he'd had as the TPS's wunderkind. He also gained a reputation for working solo -- not disdaining teamwork, but feeling more comfortable working alone. As a result, he made only a limited number of friends among the Templars during this stretch of time. Almost all of them were his fellows in the Ordinem Palatini, whose members shared his own priorities of placing justice and protection of the innocent over correct political doctrine.

Around the spring of 2014, the operational pace of Russell's missions started to slacken, and he finally had to face an uncomfortable truth. He had nothing resembling a personal life. And that was something that needed to change.

The catalyst for this realization was having a significant chunk of time off for the first time in over two years. He took it and treated himself to a hometown vacation.

Within 24 hours, he learned the bitter truth of the old cliche "you can't go home again." It was less that Toronto had changed, and more that Russell had. He was a step or two, maybe more, out of sync with the city and the rhythm of life there, and there was no way he would be able to get back in sync with it before he had to leave. Worse, Russell had subconsciously harbored hopes of being able to return to Toronto and rebuild his life there. That hidden dream was dashed on the rocks of cold reality, and he cut his vacation short, needing to leave his beloved hometown a second time before he had a breakdown.

In the late spring, Russell was promoted to Paladin-Lieutenant. During the promotion celebration, his direct superior gave him some simple but profound advice. According to the older Templar, having a personal life, and people to come home to, was key to a Templar agent avoiding burnout or slipping into zealotry. "We make our homes where we find ourselves. You find yourself in Ealdwic, lad."

Russell thought that overly simplistic, if probably accurate. Still, he resolved to not let any more opportunities slip by.

The very next night, he met Allison Keller, and the landslide began.

It has been less than a year, but Russell now again has something that he'd been missing: a personal life. A true love in his life, a circle of friends, even an adopted "family" of sorts. And, ultimately, perhaps even a future. More than ever, he believes in the Templars' mission, but at the end of the day, he fights for the ones he comes home to. It's a sensation he'd never thought to have again.

Of course, he can't tell them that. It'd just go to their heads....

Abilities

Before his recruitment, Russell was an 9-year veteran of the Toronto Police Service, earning the rank of Detective-Sergeant and the Ontario Medal for Police Bravery. During that time, he and his partner closed a record number of cases; perhaps more astonishing, all of those cases were actually, genuinely solved. (This is part of why he was headhunted by the RCMP, and later Interpol.) As a result, Russell's investigative and people-reading skills are all at significantly above-average levels (even by the standards of his former profession). Equally notable are his pattern-recognition abilities and professional intuition. (Templar examiners have posited that these are likely manifestations of low-level ESP.) All of these have been aided with an excellent memory, which verges on eidetic.

Russell is a highly capable combatant. He has proven most proficient with:

-- Blades. He is an accomplished student of the Seiji-no-Akaitou swordsmanship school (a Templar-specific offshoot of the Jingu clan's kenjutsu ryu, specializing in fast and brutal attacks). His preferred blade is a Masamune katana, enchanted to channel anima.
-- Elemental magic. In addition to being a capable combat mage (specializing in fire and lightning spells), Russell has achieved sufficiently fine control to utilize elemental magic in non-combat applications. He uses it to enhance his eavesdropping and counter-eavesdropping abilities, as well as to disrupt his quarry's communication abilities. He has a selection of small foci for his investigative spells, but for combat he favors a Dresden Codex he found while investigating Mayan ruins.
-- Pistols. While he is proficient with all types of firearms, handguns are his forte, and his marksmanship with them is considered to be among the best of his generation in the Templar field-agent corps. This is not entirely surprising, as during his time with the TPS, he was a competitive shooter, and consistently placed as a finalist in departmental contests. Much of his effectiveness with handguns is derived from an active use of his intuition when shooting: a "sixth sense" for placing his shots where they'll do the most damage. Perhaps his favorite "trick" with firearms is to combine them with elemental magic, using air manipulation to increase a round's accuracy and stopping power, or enhancing its effects with elemental aspects. He has a special fondness for handguns in .45 ACP. His signature pistols are a pair of SIG-Sauer P220 .45s with customized grips, modified for anima channeling and to act as elemental foci.

Of late, he has begun developing skills as a healer, but is far from what he would consider combat-ready with them.

On the less-earthshaking end of the spectrum, Russell is a talented singer (baritone), and a decent rhythm guitarist. He is fluent in English, French, and Japanese, with a good working grasp of Italian, Korean, Russian, and Spanish. Finally, he is also a capable cook with steaks and roasts.

Equipment

Standard "day kit": At least two semiautomatic handguns in .45 ACP at all times (not counting a holdout using physical ammo), elemental focus, Interpol ID and badge, Council of Venice ID and badge, CoV smartphone, personal smartphone, handcuffs, folding combat knife, tailored bridgecoat (lined with protective wards and a lightweight nanofiber armor layer).

For heavy combat, Russell often adds a body armor vest enchanted with protective wards, and carries an anima-channeling Red Hand-modified AK-74.