Mark Marotte

Mark Marotte
Player: @Bluhman
"At least you'll have a nice war story? Ah, who the hell are we kiddin', you just got your ass kicked by a puppet, go home already."
Character Build
Class Focus:	Ranged DPS/Melee burst damage (DEX/Vindicator/Guardian)
Power Level:	40
Research & Development:	Science
Biographical Data
Real Name:	Mark Marinello
Known Aliases:	Mark Marotte, The Golden Rose
Gender:	Male
Species:	Cursed Human/Puppet
Ethnicity:	Italian-American
Place of Birth:	Detroit, Michigan
Base of Operations:	Unknown
Relatives:	Father: James Marinello Mother: Erica Marinello
Characteristics
Age:	28
Height:	4'10
Weight:	72 lbs
Eyes:	Pale Blue
Hair:	Black
Complexion:	Oak
Physical Build:	Exaggerated, Limber, Narrow
Physical Features:	Missing Right Iris
Status
Alignment:	██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ Neutral
Reputation:	██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ Unknown
Identity:	Unknown
Years Active:	10
Citizenship:	US Citizen
Occupation:	Mercenary-For-Hire
Education:	High School
Marital Status:	Single
Known Powers and Abilities
Manipulation of Puppet-Strings, Wooden Skin
Equipment and Paraphernalia
Dual Golden Pistols, Sabre, SMG, Rose

Attributes
	Strength	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █		Endurance	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
	Agility	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █		Speed	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
	Fighting	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █		Projectiles	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
	Durability	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █		Resistance	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
	Intelligence	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █		Psyche	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
	Intuition	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █		Charisma	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
ReldinBox Template

Mark Marotte is a Detroit-Born bounty hunter. Though originally human, he was cursed by the DEMON cult, transformed into a 4 foot tall wooden puppet. Normally an independent worker, he's grown to rely on others while cursed, and seeks aid from other superhero agencies to try and get his human form back.

Origins

Before the Battle

Mark Marinello was born to a blue-collar family in Little Italy of West Side, where they owned a family-run toy shop. His father, James, was esteemed for his masterful craftsmanship, creating some of the most lifelike puppets and intricate automatons that people had seen in years. Not only this, but many customers rumored that the Marinello toys were charms for good luck; a rumor that was believed more readily by specific customers.

Mark himself was determined to take up his fathers' craft after he retired, but while Mark was eager to learn the secrets of the craft at an early age of 10, James was much more cautious, stating that Mark was simply not old or matured enough to begin learning such a delicate and time-consuming trade. Even though, year after year, Mark begged his father to teach him his ways, James turned down his demands stoically. Eventually, James caved in and promised that he would begin training his son when he was 18 years old. Until then, he'd have to continue keeping up his education, just in case there was some reason he couldn't make toys.

On his own

The Golden Rose at work

Mark's 18th birthday came in 1992; the year of the Battle of Detroit. As if by some sort of cursed magic, the Marinello toy shop, along with most of the other buildings in southeastern Westside, were levelled by an orbital cannon shot. Though Mark was busy at high school, James and his wife, Erica, had both been at home, instantly vaporized along with the rest of the buildings in the area. With this, Mark had taken his father's words to heart: You can't rely on anything but yourself. Taking to the streets, Mark remained a vagrant for a couple of years, learning how to look out for himself during the chaotic period following the battle. Frequently teaming up with other gangs in the area, he soon got a reputation for his skills at planning robberies, breaking out, and masterfully tweaking guns. Mark, using the money he had robbed over his 2 year spree, managed to buy himself his iconic suit and twin, gold-plated pistols. With the slow strengthening of the police force over the years in Millennium City, Mark caught a plane out of the city and headed for Hudson City, where he worked several years as a bounty hunter.

Mark's reputation began to go global as he traveled around the world to perform hits and bedlam operations. With his distinctive style of weaponry and dress, Mark began to be known by many as The Golden Rose. Though the clients he served came from places far and wide across the globe, Mark began to notice a pattern in the targets he was hunting down. Most seemed to be members of the DEMON cult; worshipers of dark gods and users of infernal magics. At first, Mark dismissed this as mere coincidence, until DEMON members began openly attacking him wherever he traveled. Eventually, Mark received a letter from an anonymous sender, telling him to return to his family's store and pay respect to his father one last time. Though Mark knew not of any possible grandparents or siblings that would be able to possibly ask this of him, he decided it was a good idea to go back home, considering the circumstances.

Homecoming and the Truth

Mark's home had been built over; the new Little Italy, a line of nostalgic brownstones and family stores, hearkened back to his childhood days. His family's toyshop, now replaced by a winery, was owned by a lone woman Paula Giovani. She gladly welcomed in the well-dressed gunner after he explained his circumstances, leading him to the stores' basement where many of the old toymaker's belongings were being kept safe in a trunk. Asking to be left alone, Mark opened the trunk up for the first time in years, only to have an apparition of his father show up before him.

Mark's father explained his craft to his son; he had not chosen to be a toymaker voluntarily. All he was was a creator of mystical charms, used to both attract and ward off dark spirits, and it was only in the medium of puppets and toys, a craft he had learned from his father, that he was able to perform these tasks. James had never wanted his son to become another toymaker, but neither had he wanted him to become a killer, either. James had wanted his son to go on and live a quiet, peaceful life, especially to avoid drawing attention to himself from the DEMON cult.

As it turns out, it was no coincidence that Mark was repeatedly running into DEMON. Combining his fathers' close ties to the cult and Mark's potentially problematic interference with their operations, James could not afford to have Mark get in the way, and without pity, James cursed his son, turning him into a puppet version of himself. Unable to move himself, Mark was stuck in the winery basement for a week.

When Paula had noticed that her guest had actually never emerged from her cellar, she went down to check, only to find a puppet slumped over an opened chest of toys. As it turns out, Paula was actually a skilled magician and spy for the mystical security force Project Hermes, and she got to work on a charm to dispel Mark's curse. After a day of carefully placing glyphs and ritual rings, Paula had managed to restore motion to the wooden body; for the first time, Mark actually had to be saved by someone else. Mark initially showed only begrudging thanks to the mage who had saved him, and set out once again to get vengeance against the DEMON clan. However, now being a puppet (and a majority of DEMON magicians being proficient in fire magic), Mark found himself repeatedly bested in combat. He would need help from other people to do this, no matter how much it hurt his ego.

Returning to Paula, Mark began to make arrangements with Project Hermes to become an agent and frontlines gunman, in exchange for intell and magical assistance in getting his old form back. Though Mark hasn't made much progress on restoring his former human body, he has slowly been gaining respect and notoriety as a trustworthy public defender.

Detailed Information

Personality

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Marotte is typically a callous and conceited man. He claims to be one of the best gunners in the world and usually has the credentials to back it up. His attitude causes him to always view others with a condescending light, as if his mastery of the pistol somehow makes him more deserving and eligible for praise than others. By nature, he can be very jealous and prone to pettiness and vengeance.

Marotte's attitude, in this sense, has softened over time, as his limited physical stature and capacities mean that he gets in over his head much more often than before. Though still very much prone to boasting his assets, he does show genuine respect for those who save his hide time and time again. Even despite this, he still is largely self-centered, and when asked to give aid to others, is somewhat hesitant to lend a hand unless he can get something in return.

Marotte is Chauvinistic, sometimes prone to objectifying women. The exception, once again, are those who prove themselves to be useful to him, but otherwise, he mostly remains narrow-minded about them. Most of his romantic advances, especially considering his over-the-top style and transformed body, end in spectacular backfire.

Relationships

Confidant With...

Friendly Toward...

Acquainted With...

Ambivalent Toward...

Foes With...

Grudge Against...

Combat Specifications

Though not that large, Mark carries around more than enough weapons to keep his back safe.

Marotte's physical capacity is extremely limited; he has barely enough strength in his limbs to run. A tradeoff to this is the fact that he does not tire, and can keep up running for a potentially infinite amount of time. Unfortunately, he can only run at a maximum speed of 3 miles per hour.

One boon that has come with his new body is his Puppet Strings. Normally dangling loosely off his arms and legs, Marotte has learned to use some of them as ranged weaponry. Particularly, the string trailing off his right wrist is laced with miniscule barbs that can cut at enemy flesh while also drawing the target closer. In any other case, Marotte can use his strings to swing across chasms and through the city at an average speed of 32 miles per hour.

Marotte's weapon of choice remains as his Dual Golden Pistols. With high kickback for such a small person, his pistols usually aren't that reliable for sustained or rapid fire, but in a pinch, Marotte can make some very deadly shots if given the opportunity. Even if he is limited by his strength, his impeccable aim can sometimes let him end a battle before recoil becomes a limiting factor.

For those times when his pistols are not enough, Marotte also carries around an SMG. His SMG is appropriately sized to his stature, and appropriately has scaled-down recoil. Of course, this means that the bullet caliber he uses on this weapon is dramatically reduced, diminishing the damage potential of his weapon. In any case, the SMG is his bread-and-butter for taking on large groups of enemies.

Marotte's final weapon is his Sabre. As a scaled-down blade, Marotte's sabre was originally a sword-cane that he used to support himself around Paula's wine shop. Over time, however, Marotte has learned to defend himself using the sword-cane, and now that he is sufficiently strong enough to walk without it, he can use it as a deadly backup weapon at close-range.

Like most traditional puppets, Marotte is made out of Wood. This makes Marotte a bit more resilient against physical damage, and enables Marotte to slowly regenerate damaged parts of himself (as well as reattach lost parts). On the flipside, however, Marotte is extremely weak against fire.

Extras

Wooden Dresser

• Prior to becoming Marotte, there was another puppet character I had: Wooden Dresser. He used gadgeteering abilities and was absolutely horrendous to play; never made it past level 15. Marotte's pretty much his spiritual successor.
• Mark Marotte is the absolute lightest and smallest character in this roster.
• He is a ranged bleed build. It actually works out very nicely, and using a knock-to followed by ruptures does some serious damage.