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XP Log
Ventures

Player: J

Appearance 3
One need only look at Simon Saint-Pierre to know he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. His style of dress is equal parts fashionable and businesslike, neither too ostentatious for the lobby nor too casual for anything but the C-suite. As clean cut an appearance as one can get, his suits are perfectly tailored and pressed, with two silver pins on his left lapel; the first, of course, being the dollar sign-like logo of the Syndicate, and a much older, antique pin bearing the letters 'EIC.'

At an average height of 5'11“ (approximately 1.8 meters), he's physically unimipressive. Of course, as his father taught him: It's not just how you look, but how you act…

Despite being physically unimpressive, it's the way he carries himself that exudes power and privilege, and when it comes to that, he's almost scarily good; his expression is, when he desires to be, virtually unreadable without using a single drop of Enlightened Science (Poker Face merit), and he commands any room he's in to such a degree that it almost seems supernatural (Social Dominion practice). He's even figured out how to use it to his advantage in a hypernarrative; by dimming the lights in his room to a 'film noire' setting and lighting up one of his cigarillos, the smoke lingers in the air in the room with an almost sepia tone to it, invoking the 'smoke-filled rooms' where deals are made in the film noire genre.

Unfortunately, he's become so reliant on this tactic that it has resulted in him being addicted to nicotine. While it's hardly a health risk to a Technocrat (especially not one dating a Progenitor), the urge to smoke can strike him at the most inopportune times, which can cut down on his work productivity (something Syndicate takes very, very seriously), given that Florida state law forbids smoking inside public buildings.

Simon is unfailingly polite, even to his enemies. Incredibly difficult to anger and soft-spoken, on the surface, he's the perfect company spokesman. But just like any other corporate mouthpiece, beneath the smiling, “let's make a deal” exterior lies the calculating, steely, unfeeling corporate predator who can fire someone and zero out their accounts with the same made-for-TV smile as when he's shaking hands at a contract signing.

He is like this for one simple reason: He was born into the Syndicate and the Technocracy more broadly, and it's all he has ever known. In fact, not just ANY Syndicate family: His family can trace its roots back to the days of the High Guild. This has been both a blessing and a curse, to him; while he won't lie when he says he enjoys the benefits of being royalty in all but name in the Convention of Cash, he's also developed a complex about it. The hyper-capitalist ideology of Syndicate demands that someone be able to rise or fall on their own merits, and he's perfectly aware that his ‘real’ last name has opened so many doors for him without any effort on his part. To that end, he made the decision to adopt his mother's maiden name upon his acceptance into the Hawking Institute for Enlightened Children, deliberately hiding his true pedigree so that he could make a name in the Syndicate all on his own, without having the red carpet rolled out for him for no other reason than because of who his family is.

And that is why he jumped at the chance to join the new Amalgam in Jacksonville. To him, Pentex is the ultimate insult to the Syndicate; a predatory, Nephandi-infested mockery of everything Syndicate has given to the Masses, which makes the entire system Syndicate built look bad. Destroying Pentex has since become his personal mission, though he is not naive enough to think he can do it himself.

Simon also enjoys the simpler things in life. While he always has a stock ticker running in the background, he's an avid follower of professional sports, and dreams of one day owning his own professional sports team. He loves old movies and old television shows, particularly old British shows like Poirot and the older seasons of Dr. Who. He's a connoisseur of artisanal coffee beans, importing coffee from all over the world and never settling for a store brand. He also loves stand-up comedy, though he laments the lack of any good comedians in the Union.

Obvious Details:

• Resources 3 (6 effective due to Pooling): While it's not as ostentatious as certain others who like to flaunt their money, those with a well-trained eye can spot the designer brands he's wearing and that every single article of clothing he has on has been tailored to fit him perfectly, and that they are not cheap.
• Status 3 (Technocratic Union): Simon is a 'Silver Badge' within the Union, and the unofficial leader of the Jacksonville Amalgam.
• Merit: Regal Bearing: It's painfully obvious that he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and that his family - whomever they are - went to great lengths to raise him to be a perfect gentleman… at least, by the standards of their social class.
• Merit: Poker Face: When he gets into 'business mode,' he becomes an almost entirely different person. Gone is the friendly, convivial demeanor, replaced by a stonefaced, unreadable, and downright intimidating figure who was taught to be utterly ruthless and cutthroat in a corporate boardroom quite literally since he was first capable of speaking.
• Flaw: Addiction (Nicotine): He smokes cigarillos regularly. At least they're the good quality kind, and not the cheap gas station brand.
• Flaw: Compulsion: He can regularly be seen playing with a Rubik's Cube while he's in deep thought. He does this so often that the paint on the sides of the Rubik's Cube is noticeably faded.
• Flaw: Technobabble: He has a way of speaking that shows that he's not used to speaking to the common man. He has a tendency to throw in 'Wall Street' lingo into everyday conversation even when not socially appropriate.
• He always wears two pins on the left-hand lapel of his business suit; first, the 'dollar sign'-like logo of the Syndicate, and two, a much older antique pin depicting the Sign of Four.

Less Than Obvious Details:

• Venture: The Ashukhi Corporation: Simon is listed as a ‘financial consultant’ with the massive Cairo-based pharmaceutical and biotech company.
• Merit: Language: He speaks fluent French, though it's done with an accent that sounds like a weird cross between English and Swiss.
• Merit: Lightning Calculator: He's capable of performing mathematical calculations near-instantaneously, and accurately, all without ever looking at a calculator.
• Merit: Supernatural Companion: Simon has a custom-made AI assistant on his phone called the ‘Mini-Elephant in the Server Room.’ To the layman, it just looks like a homebrew app that gives him updates and tips related to his business dealings with the Ashukhi Corporation.
• Merit: Master of Red Tape: The Syndicate literally invented bureaucracy. It's only natural that his family ensured that he mastered the art of navigating it.
• Merit: Noted Messenger: Simon has a great deal of leverage in dealing and meeting with RDs, up to and including visiting the Chantry. He still cannot access restricted areas within the Chantry, and he does not have a Starkenet account, nor can he attend Council meetings with an explicit invitation from Gregory Handel. All RDs wishing to contact the Technocracy must go through Handel and him, and if Simon wishes to meet with an RD, he in turn must go through Gregory. This in effect makes Handel the equivalent of Gregory for the Technocracy, as the head of the Jacksonville Amalgam, though Simon still has several people above him in terms of rank.
• Flaw: Family Issues: He's… not keen on discussing his family history. It is known, however, that he took his mother's maiden name as his last name.
• Flaw: Rivalry: Let's just say that a certain someone was not happy that Simon got onto the Amalgam and they didn't…

Banality Score: 8
Crossroads Membership: None