Jean Allain, the Jackdaw, the Knave of Diamonds
Jean Allain grew up in a French travelling circus, the son of a dancer and an acrobat. From an early age, he was a cunning, dangerous, amoral child. His family didn't mind too much, because they supplemented their income with theft and fraud, and he soon proved to be gifted in both acrobatics and crime.
But just before the war began, the circus came to Paris. His life changed when he saw the Regent Diamond on display in the Louvre. Its sparkle lit a matching cold brilliance in his soul; he decided, then and there, to dedicate his life to higher, purer tests of skill than pickpocketing and minor burglary. Already precocious, he tracked down Arsène Lupin and worked for a time with that master of thieves, though the two had a falling out for reasons unknown.
Allain's villainy is not of the blackest streak — for example, he will kill only in self-defence — but he has worked for and with killers, monsters and madmen. He cares not who retains his services; he lives for the challenge of liberating the world's most closely guarded treasures.
He returns to Paris each year to engage in a private ritual: he enters the Louvre, steals the Regent Diamond, takes it on a tour of the city for a night, and returns it to the museum by dawn.
Aspects
Born to the circus life
Head for heights
Honour among thieves
Bolt-holes across Europe
Ex-student of Lupin
"Why? For the thrill!"
"No-one can get in there, you say?"
"I don't steal petty change."
"A rat is most dangerous when cornered."
"The Regent Diamond, my first and purest love."
Skills
Superb: Athletics
Great: Burglary, Stealth
Good: Sleight of Hand, Deceit, Alertness
Fair: Empathy, Gambling, Resources, Weapons
Average: Academics, Art, Contacting, Fists, Investigation
Stunts
Athletics: Acrobat, Contortionist, Safe Fall, Human Spider
Burglary: Criminal Mind
Deceit: Clever Disguise
