1. on the surface he was
1.1. a ghost-hunter
1.2. a scholar
1.2.1. And he's still a scholar. But that's not rumour, right?
1.2.2. and he speaks every language known to man
1.2.2.1. And some that man was not meant to know
1.3. a spiritual leader
1.4. a contract killer
1.5. a trapeze artist (haven't you seen him on the high wires at Mahogany Hall?)
1.6. a contemporary of the Duchess -- it was a long time ago
2. his bookstore doesn't sell books ...
2.1. ... because it's really a front for the revolution.
2.2. ... or rather, doesn't sell them for Echoes.
2.2.1. your soul would do nicely.
2.3. They really just look at you funny. (see: he's a sorcerer)
2.4. But there is something ancient and powerful contained within
2.5. ... it binds them in the flesh of his enemies.
3. he's involved in the soul trade
3.1. He's taken on hell more than once to gather information
3.2. He's trying to get his own back.
3.3. He's trying to get his lover's back.
4. he's a torturer
4.1. and pity the man who harms his friends
4.2. because he regards information as more sacred than human life
4.3. and his husband adores him for it.
4.4. have you seen the things he commissions at the blacksmith's and the leatherworker's?
4.5. Didn't he heave a man through a window once?
4.5.1. a clergyman, right?
4.5.1.1. I heard that he leapt out after the priest and proceeded to stab him with the broken window-shards.
4.5.1.1.1. and then licked the blood off
4.5.2. a doctor!
4.5.3. I heard it was the Duchess herself
4.5.3.1. you know, lover's spat
4.5.4. no, it was the Provost of Summerset
5. he's a sorcerer
5.1. specifically, a necromancer
5.1.1. and he revived his husband with powers more unnatural than what usually revives people down here
5.1.1.1. and experiments on him daily to learn more about undeath, bizarre Rubbery experiments with pulsating amber
5.2. and he uses strange sigils to work his magic -- sigils that it hurts to look at, that it even hurts the paper to write
5.3. part of a cabal of sorcerers who are controlling...
5.3.1. the masters
5.3.2. the bazaar
5.3.3. etc.
5.4. specifically, one of the Fingerkings
5.4.1. and he's behind the mirror more often than not.
5.5. He's enchanted to no longer require food or sleep.
5.5.1. but he's always /hungry/
5.6. Specifically, an elf-wizard.
5.6.1. With an INT of 18, a WIS of 12, a STR of 12, a DEX of 16, a CON of 14 and a CHA of 8
5.7. could he be in league with the Mute Naturalist?
5.7.1. but they're awkward around one another -- could they be rivals?
5.7.1.1. rivals in sorcery?
5.7.1.2. or rivals in love?
6. He's got an urchin army
6.1. seriously have you seen him with those gaggles of children in the streets?
6.2. And that young redhead that's always with him is the army's general
6.2.1. and his lover
6.3. and a network of cats
6.4. and a bureaucracy of sorrow-spiders
6.4.1. That he was given by the Cyclopean Seamstress