#ooc. lore

there are powers on this earth that have been with us forever. no one knows if they come from other worlds, or were perhaps handed down by gods - but each requires a human wielder. that their might may be exploited. greatest of all is the almighty darkness, glorious entity of chaos and wild abandon. / the darkness issue 2.

the darkness is something of an ancient blessing. unlike the sister powers of the angelus (light) or the witchblade (balance), it does not manifest in the world via a weapon but rather via a person. at some undisclosed point in human history the darkness began inhabiting the very blood of those belonging to what is presently known as the estacado family line. perhaps it was a pact brokered between mortal and cosmic entity, perhaps the darkness itself created the mortals of the estacado bloodline. no one really knows and jackie frankly does not care. all he knows is that this power has been apart of every firstborn's life from every generation of his family.

the power has brought about a storied history to his name. before the days of mob killings that began with his father there were noteworthy pirates known to use the name. nobles from an age when his paternal family still resided in italy and even further back in spain. one such man traveled to the americas when that was a thing to do and found himself as the idol to a brotherhood that sought to have him anoint them kings of the underworld. or something like that. much like his family history, jackie also doesn't bother himself with the weird cult that keeps knocking on his door to be their puppet idol and do things he had no say in promising. he tries to, anyways.

ya see, the darkness has a bad habit of attracting a lot more trouble than it's probably really worth. but since the only way to get rid of it would pretty much end in him dying, he doesn't have options to choose from. weird cult following aside, he's hunted down frequently by the light bearing warriors of the angelus, the darkness' polar opposite and equal. unlike the darkness which allows it's holder's some leeway in a sense of control and maintaining identity, the angelus overtakes it's holder's and turns them into overzealous harpies of blinding light and fire. the only thing on their mind being the total annihilation of the darkness and death of it's vessel. even if that's a big no-no as both powers are required to exist least the world fizzle out into fates know what.

aside from some sword and sorcery novel schlock he has to deal with every now and then, jackie makes fine use of his cursed blessing in his occupation as a hitman. employed exclusively to the franchetti family, he's been treated as an honorary son by the don of the family since he picked up a young twelve year old jackie from the orphanage he'd known all his life. jackie was always a deviously smart boy since a young age and at just sixteen his prolific career in killing jump starts the mob family from small time goons to one of the biggest names in the city. the catastrophic might and limitless potential of the darkness and it's ways of mauling any mortal only enhances that devil's wit of jackie's.