The reality of Gotham lends itself to a number of very colorful characters. Presented below are two of the more extreme of these, eternal foes forever tied to the other by their obsessions.
Kelly Anise was born an outcast. It was not her illegitimate birth, something that occurs all too often in Gotham, so much so that it is not even a stigma among the upper classes. And she was born poor, definitely poor, but no different from the vast majority of the city. What made Kelly an outsider, hated and even feared, was that she was an albino. Pale skin and white hair in a reality where Darkness was the coin of the realm. In earlier times she would have abandoned on a remote mountaintop, left to the elements and the animals. In these more civilized times, she was abandoned in the heart of the city, left to the concrete and neon, the strays and the strayed. Like many of her socio-economic strata, young Kelly Anise turned to a life of crime to survive. Like most who survived, she was good at it, very good. Good enough to say that she has never been caught.
Life would have continued on in much the same vein for Miss Anise, who had since begun to make a name for herself among the Gotham Underworld as "The Raven", the preeminent cat-burgler of her time, except for a simple twist of fate. One night, as she burgled the home of a local playboy millionare, a home that just happened to be in the penthouse of the city's tallest building, she chanced to see the moonrise over Gotham.
In that instant, the city became as beautiful and a transcendant as it had been harsh and degrading the moment before. In that instant, she took Gotham as her lover, and vowed no harm should ever come to it. Of course, she remained The Raven, and burglary was all she knew. But her robberies became less random, more directed, stealing from those that deserved it and giving to those that deserved as well. Gotham was built on the cornerstone's of corruption and vice, and it's city government and police force were no different. This was perfect for a burgler, but could also be bent to the needs of a savior as well. The right monies in the right hands, the right information kept out of public hands, and soon The Raven was not just the preeminent cat-burglar of her time, but the unchallenged lord of the Gotham Underworld, the secret master of the city. No mayors were elected, no unions broke, no orphanages forclosed, no buildings torched without the tacit approval of The Raven. And slowly but surely she began to rebuild Gotham in her own image. To bring to reality the dream of that long ago moonlit night.
The Raven has never been caught, no measurements taken, no notes left for long. Her obsession with Gotham is known, but not fully understood by anyone but herself. As a cat-burgler she remained hidden, and as a crime lord she goes to great lengths to disguise her apearance. Even the few that are allowed to see her face twice rally get the same glimpse, the only constant being her albinism, a "flaw" she now wears like a badge of honor, and her gender, which she also takes pride in. Even the name "Kelly Anise" is speculation, with half a dozen or more tales told about her birth and rise to power. On the street she is known as the White Witch, which may indicate magical abilities or merely be a mention of her albinism and nothing more.
Background: When Trey Proser turned thirteen, the most horrible fate that can befall a young boy befell him. In one single moment, his entire family was taken from him, never to return.
Oh, to be sure, they still live. Mr. Proser has since retired from his dental practice, and he and the missus own a respectable little cottage on the outskirts of the city. Their son even comes to visit them on alternate weekends, or less, when he "can find the time". They have never been in danger for their lives, unless you count the scalawag who acosted them, also the night of young Proser's thirteenth birthday. But he was quickly dispatched by father's sword cane, nary a threat worth remarking. Or perhaps it was the robber who eventually bears the blame, because it was after they returned home that night that Trey Proser received the news that would utterly destroy the world as he knew it: He was in fact not Trey Proser. He was adopted.
Yes, his father still called him son, still refused him no stop at the store, as long it was not to buy candy. His mother still held him at night, still packed him lunch when he went out exploring, always including one caramel. But in Trey's eyes he was no longer their son. He could see it in the small pause his father used with the word "love". Feel it in the way his mother did not hold him as tight. And Trey Proser vowed that he would once again be their son. That he would prove himself worthy no matter what it took.
Taking a guide from that most terrible night - which was not only his thirteenth birthday, but also the thirteenth day of the thirteenth month of the thirteenth year of the new century - he adopted the nom de guerre of Terrance Thirteen, and immediately ran off to join the Great War. Finding it easy enough to lie about his age when the Army was desperate for bodies, Terrance threw himself into his duties with an abandon that impressed even the most hidebound Sargent. But his constant insistance that he be transferred to another unit, to another duty ment that he only rose in rank to Corporal before the War to End all Wars itself ended. Upon returning home, he immediately entered the University, taking every class he could - and more than a few he could not - eventually receiving advanced degrees in the fields of Law, Medicine, Chemistry, and Theology. And all of this before his twenty-first birthday.
Seeking to put as many of his talents to immediate use, Dr. Thirteen joined the police. He insisted that he be placed in the academy like any other recruit, and that he walk a beat as long or longer than the rest as well. Though his tendency to work on "outside interests" made him the consternation of his superiors, even they had to admit that he got the job done, and usually with enough flourish to reflect on them as well. By the age of twenty-five, he was the youngest Inspector on the force.
By the age of twenty-six, he had quit the police force entirely, to focus more on his "outside intrests". He still works with them, on occasion, as a "consulting detective", but his need to be the best, to be worthy of his parents love, has surpassed their paltry concerns, and he seeks greater and greater challenge.
His mother wishes he would come by more often, and worries that he is not eating enough.