Italy |
Actor |
|
[PP]«Laurentii««Giulia««L««ITALY««««« |
«Private Contractor/Political Operative«« |
Semi-Public Background:
Giulia Laurentiis is a product of Italian politics and Italian corruption. Her grandfather, a judge, was a member of P2, the Italian Shadow Government that had nearly complete control of Italy and several South American governments for almost thirty years. (And few of whose members were ever prosecuted, arrested, or even charged with a crime.) Her father was a member of SISDE, the infamously corrupt and scandle-rocked Italian Intelligence and Democratic Security Service which would eventually be disbanded in 2007. He left it long before; entering into retirement early due to unproven allegations of mafia ties. Not a clean family history one must admit, but it is an old one, with connections and ties and a great sense of history. Whether real or imagined, that still means something in certain parts of Italy.
As far as the public eye is concerned, Giulia is as clean as a whistle, a stark contrast to her family. She went to a very well-thought of private school as a child, and had a history of public service and volunteerism before going to college. She received a double major in political science and psychology from the "Universit di Roma."
After graduating she, like her father, served in Italian Intelligence, but in the Military secret service (SISMI), which she served in for 9 years before leaving honorably. The SISI, it is true, was later accused of such ills as blackmailing politicians, spying on Italian citizens, corrupting and altering judicial evidence, and planting disinformation in the press, but it wouldn't be very patriotic to assume that simply because one or two rogue operatives involved in a few minor scandles were involved in such things, that any randomn loyal and patriotic member of the Italian Military would be so corrupt. Most military officers, especially in military intelligence, want nothing more then to serve their country, and Giulia is no exception. Really.
After leaving the military, she spent several years traveling the world as a private political consultant for a political consultancy firm, teaching politicians in third-world nations how to start and maintain thriving democracies to last the test of time, before returning to Italy to focus on the ailing health of her poor old grandfather. Today, she works on her own, devoting her time to traveling the world.
Private Background: Classified
Apolitical: Giulia isn't really very political. Thats odd for a woman whose whole life revolves around politics, but there it is. She has causes she roots for, inside, and causes she opposes, but she sees it all as a giant con game, a smokescreen that has nothing to do with principles and everything to do with money and power. So she sets aside her illusions of principles, because she realizes that all display of principles in politics is just that; an illusion to fool the masses into giving them power for some stupid cause or other. So she doesn't really care if she's helping a Republican or a Democrat, Communist or Socialist, Loyalist or Rebel. Its all the same tired old excuses and rotting hypocrisy to her. She might make an exception in certain very rare circumstances, but it would have to be very clearcut indeed. This is not to say that she has no political aspirations or no principles, merely that she recognizes the inherent futility of expecting change, order, or even sanity from an inherently broken system. She utilizes the system as it is, not as she would wish it to be. But by utilizing it, perhaps someday, it can become something more…
Powerhungry: Giulia enjoys having power over the powerful, watching elections, headlines and careers move to her whim, or the whim of those who hire her. Unfortunately, as she has witnessed the truth behind power - corruption, bribery, lies, accomplishments meaning nothing…she also realizes how futile power is. So this pleasure doesn't even bring her all that much joy, anymore. Its become ashes in her mouth. Although in some this would cause them to turn away from power to a more simple life, that hasn't occured to Giulia. Instead, it merely increases her ambitions…and so you come back to the ideals and goals of the organization she's a member of…
Decadent: Giulia likes the fine things. Expensive clothes, pretty things, wide open spaces, fine wines. The products of civilization amuse her, the more luxurious the better. She particular enjoys things and displays which show man's dominance over nature, the joyful side-effects of civilization which make all that corruption and intruige worthwhile.
Ruthless: Giulia is ruthless and cunning, willing to do awful, terrible things. This is probably evident from her other personality traits. She is quite capable of ruining lives without remorse or second-thoughts, of ruining careers and breaking promises. To an extent, this is probably true of most spies, however Giulia takes it a step further.
Caring: As ruthless, powerhungry and ambitious as she is, Giulia does actually have an altruistic streak. She doesn't assassinate targets or any of that nonsense. She kills if she doesn't have a choice. As rutheless as she is about putting rather bad men in power, and taking other men out of power, she tries to keep wives, children, average workers, etc relatively unscathed. Sometimes things must be done of course, but she does her best. And while lying, betrayal and corruption are a part of her job, that just makes it all the more important to be -really- loyal to those few who have earned it, which mostly means that either they are a member of her organization, or someone she or they control. This does not mean she won't kill an enemy agent, or kill guards/etc if necessary. But she's not an assassin, and will probably go out of her way to avoid hurting random innocents. This is a fine line, a very fine line, and perhaps one most won't see.
Patient: Giulia is not bored easily, nor is she often inspired into acting before she's ready. Its far better to suffer through a boring task now, then the consequences of impatience later.
Civilized: Giulia is quite capable of treating even her enemies with civility and respect. She sees this as a great virtue.
Combat: Giulia got her start in millitary intelligence, so obviously she's had some combat training. Truth be told however, she doesn't really practice it. She can fight, but she's really nothing special. She won't be a crack marksman or a martial artist. She is familiar with a variety of weapons and competent enough to hold her own against amateurs…but, again, its not hard for an agent specialized in combat to outclass her in this.
Espionage: Giulia is more skilled in the human and strategic aspects of intelligence then the technical aspects. She can use the technology, but don't expect her to know how it works or actually decode anything. That being said, what she's good at, she's very good at. She can create or maintain a cover identity for herself or others. She can covertly enter a secure facility. She can gather information either in person or remotely. Remotely probably means using private contractors or unwitting assets, which she is also very good at aquiring. Uses of technology (planting bugs, wiretaps, etc) is also possible, remembering the above.
She knows how to manipulate aquired information to profile and influence individual targets of opportunity, and how to turn an target organization's strengths and weaknesses against itself. Most of what she did was pretty illegal stuff - disinformation in the press, manipulation of politicians and the judicial system, and so on.
Linguistics: Fluent in Italian, English and Spanish. Knows a few smatterings of French.
Psychology: Giulia understands psychology, albeit in a more hands-on fashion then what most practicing psychologists would think of as their field. She can profile the psychology person, trying to discern their personality, strengths, and weaknesses, or do the same for the psychology of an organization. Its just another type of strategic insight to her. To understand something is to gain a measure of control over it.
Politics: Giulia understands politics. Really, this is quite similiar to her psychological skill. She doesn't really care about the individual issues - what she looks at is the act of undermining a political issue, candidite, organization or cause. Or, by the same measure, propping up any of the aforementioned. Whether through manipulation of the mindset of politicians, or convinent bad luck for specific figures of note, or just outright manipulating the "free press", politics is something she's quite at home in.
Strategic and Tactical Operations: Giulia's stock and trade, even moreso then her political or psychological skills. She finds assets she can use, either professional or amateur, witting contractors or unwitting, and after determaining their strengths and weaknesses, attempts to use them towards specific operational ends. This is her great skill - setting up an operation, planning and running it without actually being there, while leaving as little connection between herself and the events in question as possible.
Favors: Lots of people owe Giulia favors. She understands the value of favors, of helping someone out when they need it in exchange for help later. Politicians, lawyers, judges, businessmen…even some ordinary people. She takes pride in helping others with the understanding that someday they, too, might be in a position to help her.
Assets: Intelligence assets, cultivated for their operational use. Some of them might be useful for information or tips. Others might be useful for infiltation, depending on the target. Newsmen, political aids, maids, prostitutes, police officers, busboys…this list is fluid, and can change over time. Giulia is very careful to nurture and protect her assets, and, like any good agent, to keep them at an arm's length so they don't know too much about her. Its always better to have…or convince…just the right person to do just the right thing for you, so you don't have to do it yourself.
Mooks: Also known as mercenaries, private contractors, etc. Probably not a match for pcs, but still quite useful and a step up from civilian assets. These would be people who believe they are working for a 'contractor' or employer in various ways. Giulia can't do everything herself, and so these are very useful for things such as grunt analysis, humint, espionage, etc. Probably also used for counter-int, and protecting Giulua from the inevitable assassins.
Wealth: Giulia is quite wealthy. Powerful people who want favorable things to just happen to go their way in the press, or bad things to embarass their enemies will pay well for such things, and it is with this wealth that Giulia pays her Mooks, maintains her assets, and generally smooths things over…all while providing herself with the finer things in life, of course.
Legal Slipperyness: Giulia is just one of those annoying criminals whom is very hard to pin down through official legal channels. For the most part, either there's no evidence of wrongdoing, or no evidence goes farther then some unwitting civilian. Even when there is a case againse her, evidence tends to vanish, operations tend to be called off by high-level political figures, judges tend to change their minds, and so on. Its all -really- annoying for those who can only vent their frustration through purely legal channels. Not much of a barrier for those who arn't constrained by such things, though.
Political Control: Giulia's intelligence specialty is manipulating politics and the newsmedia. This isn't direct control, more along the lines of small, limited, targeted surgical strikes. She may not be able to make <Politician X> more popular…but perhaps she can arrange for his opponent to be in a comrpromising position. She may not be able to make <Politician Y> vote the way someone else wants, but perhaps she can arrange for his opponent to aquire information useful as blackmail. Newscasters can be controlled, disinformation spread, and people discredited relatively easily. In a world where the media feeds on hype, 6 second sound-bytes, and the fall of heroes, this is far easier then one would expect.
Obligation: 'Propaganda Due' - Propaganda Due is a covert organization dedicating to aquiring influence and power, one of the few 'Shadow Governments' proven to exist. Its mostly in Italy, but has ties to many small governments (like various South American ones), and to various other intelligence agencies, like the CIA. As an organization which uses bribery, assassination, manipulation of the press, blackmail of judges and juries, destruction of evidence, and fixing of elections, it really isn't one to piss off if your a member of. If it says jump, well, you'd better jump. Think of it as a 'wannabe illuminati'. Of course, there are many benefits to being a member of it, too, but presumably the obligations are equally high. And considering the nature of what it does, I imagine advancement within it comes with no small amount of backstabbing.
Favors: Mafia - Giulia has a 'decent' working relationship with the mafia, which occasionally requires certain favors of her. These generally do not conflict with her obligations to P2.
Enemies: LOTS - Giulia has enemies. No, really, she has a lot of enemies. And we arn't talking about rivals within P2 for advancement. No, thats an entirely separate ballgame. We mean the endless heap of lives ruined by her. Many lives of which have wealth and power. Of course, the goal is for most of those powerful men and women to not realize -anyone- ruined them, or at worst to pin it on a political enemy (possibly one who hired her!). But that still leaves a lot of very powerful men, and very powerful covert agencies who would love nothing more then to ruin, arrest, torture, or assassinate her. Paranoid much, yet? You know what they say…its not paranoia if its true.
Hands-Off: Giulia tends to be a hands-off kind of person. This is a strength when it comes to ensuring nothing is traced back to you or your organization. This is a strength when you have the financial resources to gather unwitting local assets to use for various schemes. But when those assets dry up, or happen to be somewhere else, its less comfortable for someone who tries very, very hard not to actually touch anything themselves. Likewise, relying on support from a shadow organization can sometimes be problematic, especially when compared to a more conventional operative relying on support from, say, the CIA.