Post by Jimmy Carwin on Sept 12, 2014 20:04:48 GMT
JAMES ALEXANDER CARWIN
(Tom Hardy)
(Tom Hardy)
Full Name:
James Alexander Carwin
Nickname(s):
- Jimmy
- The Surgeon
- The Hammer
- The Fenian
DOB (Age):
January 5th 1892 (28)
Birthplace:
Mountjoy Square, Dublin, Ireland
Job/Profession:
- Drug smuggler
- Arms trafficker
- Bootlegger
Affiliation:
The White Hand
- Carwin Family
Sexuality:
Heterosexual
Hair Color:
Dark brown
Height:
6'1"
Weight:
241 lbs
Distinguishing Features:
- Scarring on upper back - contact burns due to mustard gas exposure at the Battle of Hulluch (1916) and the Third Battle of Ypres (1917).
- Diagonal shrapnel scar on both shoulders - artillery attack at the Somme (1916).
- Scarring on left forearm, triceps and left upper back - knife wounds inflicted in trench raid at Messines (1917).
Appearance
James "Jimmy" Carwin is, like his grandfather and father before him, a tall man. However, he also inherited his maternal grandfather's broad shoulders and deep chest. After leaving school at 14 years old, Jimmy took to a life of manual labour in the Dublin Docklands, hauling loads, loading crates, and working as a welder and machinist in the Point Depot when the work was available. The years of heavy lifting have led to a thick neck and massive upper back, giving him a suitably intimidating silhouette, an effect which is only exaggerated when he spreads his cannon-like arms. He usually stands straight, but not stiffly, as one might expect from a soldier. He usually dresses well, but not extravagantly, considering the attention-grabbing dress code of the "Young Turks" to be asking for trouble - a man needs to look respectable and nothing more; there's no need for garish pinstripes, oversized rings, or two-tone patent leather shoes. The final small detail of his appearance are his crooked, angular fingers, the result of having broken them repeatedly at work, in fights, or when partaking in sports.
Personality
Some gangsters have a split personality between home and work. Others have no off-switch for their illicit brutality. Some can't help but let their softness creep into their professional lives. Jim Carwin exposes nothing - while the Moustache Petes are open about their greed, secure in their positions of power, and the Young Turks bask in the extravagance their crimes allow them to afford, Carwin projects nothing more than an aura harder than granite. Everything is measured and calculated. He will rarely seek restitution without putting deep thought into the process, and considering the objective fairness of his requests; it doesn't matter if someone was his friend - if they were an idiot, he's not going to demand the blood of a good man in return. But when he does bring the hammer down, he strikes like the hand of God Himself, with no demands made, no chance to surrender given, and no quarter offered or asked for; even demons fear the cold wrath of a calm Irishman.
Fighting in two wars has left James a deeply haunted man with scars on his mind and soul to match those that the Somme, Messines and Ypres left on his body. His heart broke to slay his former brothers in arms in 1919 when he joined the Flying Columns, and this conflict served as an important factor that drove him to leave Ireland to join his uncles in New York, serving the cause from afar with donations and surplus hardware from the Great War. While not prone to fits of anger, when pushed he resorts to absolute brutality, treating the war in the streets just as he did the war in the trenches, rarely leaving a target in a position to come back for revenge (Carwin also considers himself a student of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu and Musashi in this regard). Despite his early school leave, Daniel is intelligent and well-read, and endeavours to conduct himself professionally whenever possible.
Background and History
James was born into European criminal royalty. Though the Carwin dynasty's hearts never left the Dublin tenements where their journey began, they poured their blood, sweat, and tears into the criminal graft as much as they poured them into good works in their local communities to earn the support of their people. A military family, the Carwins turned their contacts to their advantage and began their work with the White Hand and Irish rebels in the 1870's, smuggling surplus arms left over after the American Civil War, the Phillipine Insurrection, the Boxer Rebellion, the Anglo-Zulu War, the Boer Wars, and even the Balkan Wars. Wherever the Empire's armed forces marched, so too did the Carwins, and the Irishmen filled their coffers on the bones of the slain. Disgraceful though their war profiteering was, the mighty Carwins fought with great valour and distinction to atone for their crimes and drive attention away from them whenever someone came sniffing for missing ammunition or "damaged" equipment.
In 1906, Jim left school and began working the docks, learning the ins and outs of working in the port and smuggling on ships while he learned the trades of welding and machining. He never looked back - his version of college was learning to drink, swear, fight and steal, how to load a revolver, how to kill a man in silence. His growth was fast and brutal, with his family demanding his treatment be harsher than their other "apprentices" - if he was worthy, he would overcome. If he was unfit to be the Carwin heir, he would break. And overcome he did - in 1914, James enlisted in the 16th Irish Division. He was among those who suffered a vicious baptism of fire at Hulluch, while his brothers in Ireland fought at the GPO in the Easter Rising. Despite suffering blistering and chemical contact burns on his back, Carwin was among the soldiers who opened fire on the German soldiers as they fled from their own gas, and burned several alive with white phosphor grenades.
James suffered his most serious wounds at the Somme, when a German shell landed right in his trench. Shrapnel deflected from Jim's helmet and embedded itself in his left shoulder, a wound that plagues him to this day. Shrapnel from a second shell disintegrated upon impact with his rifle, held outstretched in shock at the two blasts; this time the fragments made contact with his right shoulder, causing a less severe injury. Medical staff deemed the shrapnel wounds to be of low severity - James received a generous helping of morphine, was stitched up and returned to the frontlines two weeks later. Subsequent doctors would remark that this quick return to battle was what caused the long-term damage to Jim's left shoulder. At the Somme, Jim's first true taste of blood in battle came in trench raids, where he used a trench knife and a "borrowed" firefighter's axe to shocking effect. His wounds and the close action at the Somme were Jim's true coming of age, and a changed man took part in the attacks on Guillemont and Ginchy. Gone was the compassionate young Irish soldier who wanted nothing more than to go home - Jim's now-infamous granite aura came to the fore and he was said to fight like a man possessed in close combat.
The next year in Belgium, Jim again faced the horrors of a gas attack at the Third Battle of Ypres. Just like at Hulluch, he suffered contact burns from the mustard gas, but his gas mask again allowed him to return fire and advance on the heavily-fortified German positions at Gough's orders, wading through knee-deep mud to bring the fight to the Huns. In 1918, he was one of the soldiers who fought tooth and nail against the German Spring Offensive, despite the Division's exposed position at Ronssoy, and was one of the soldiers transferred to the XIX Corps and stalled the German attack before the Battle of Hamel. When the Division was returned to England in June for reconstitution, Jim found himself part of a Scottish battalion due to Ireland's conscription crisis. Jim retired from the British army shortly before the regiment was dispersed throughout the British armed forces and finally disbanded in 1919.
After reconciling with his brothers upon their release from Kilmainham Gaol, Jim left for Tipperary to join Dan Breen's Flying Column in the Irish War of Independence. Despite the general distrust they held for a British army veteran, Jim was able to contribute an in-depth knowledge of British military tactics and customs to the Flying Column, as well as being one of the truly combat-forged fighters. His feelings on the struggle soured as the Black and Tans' atrocities increased in number and intensity; Jim's inner conflict at seeing his former brothers commit such acts of brutality, as well as his own guilt for killing them in retribution, drove him to leave the Flying Columns for New York, to join his father and his uncles in their efforts to further fund the rebellion through organised crime, and turning a profit on old Great War equipment, as well as the niche trade of cocaine, morphine, and heroin in the city. James still dabbles in moonshining and bootlegging, but despises the frantic competition with the Italians. Due to the sheer number of Carwins infesting the Irish neighbourhoods, Jim's network is far more unified than widespread elements of the Irish mob, forming something of a "wrist" to the White Hand - unseen, unsung, but critical.