Antares Castiglione
Dr. Antares Castiglione (Earth-2619) | |
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Affiliation | Consortium |
Position | Handler |
Agent | Dietrich Falkenrath, Jaeger Falkenrath |
Area of Expertise | Operations planning, Biochemical engineering, Strategy |
Aliases | Chief of Special Projects |
Played By | Nick |
Card. Antares Castiglione (Earth-2620) | |
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Affiliation | The Host |
Position | Cardinal |
Choir | Virtues |
Area of Expertise | Strategy, Manipulation, Bureaucracy |
Aliases | Cardinal |
Played By | Nick |
Dr. Antares Castiglione (Earth-9150) | |
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Affiliation | GSI |
Position | Director |
Directorate | Research & Development |
Area of Expertise | Biochemical engineering, Quantum mechanics |
Aliases | None |
Played By | Nick |
Antares Castiglione is a critical figure on several parallel Earths. He is often, but not always, associated with a medical or scientific research role. On Earth-2619 he works as the Chief of Special Projects and a Handler of Agents for the Consortium. On Earth-2620 he is a Cardinal responsible for the Virtues Choir of the Host. On Earth-9150 he is the Director of Research on the Object for the Global Security Initiative.
Earth-2619
Early Life
Antares Castiglione grew up in southern Italy, his father had been a medical doctor and his mother had been an American expatriate artist traveling across Europe. The pair had met at an art exhibit and quickly fell in love. His father's strictness was balanced by his mother's kindness but although he preferred the arts, he was forced into science and technology by his father and continued down that path through university until he came to the attention of the Consortium.
As a Researcher for the Consortium
Dr. Castiglione was well-regarded from his onset by even his most senior leadership. His ability to think through complex and lay out a strategy by which gaps could not only be bridged, but shortened, allowed him to advance quickly. By his third year with the Consortium, he'd been named the Chief of Special Projects and was once of the few staff invited to sit in with Sapientia as well as learn the truth behind the Carrion Virus and the Consortium's role within it.
Though still a junior researcher at the time, Castiglione was the first to call attention to the unforeseen effects of Compound 36 in those with similar or near identical genetics. He provided evidence of his findings, specifically relative to Severine and Emilia Lafaille. While the head of the innovations team at the time was interested, not much was done in the way of exploration as the formulation for Compound 36 was within the works. It was only a short time later that the 9th Generation then defected but the idea had been planted in his mind to continue to work with twins with compatibility with the Compound.
Over time, Castiglione's work became more and more noticeable by the Sapientia, who then promoted him to Chief of Special Projects. This gave him carte blanche to focus and direct his own brand of research however he deemed fit. He coordinated with several Consortium lawyers at the time, Aleksandr Orlov among them, to begin documentation of identical twins being treated at Consortium hospitals in order to begin building a database of twins along with their genetic compatibility ratings with the Compound. Of particular interest to him were twins with no legal guardians that had become wards of their respective states and nations.
Of particular note was his work on Project: Black Gemini, which continued the initial findings observed within the Lafaille twins in a controlled environment with a set of twins having been raised entirely by the Consortium since adolescence.
As a Handler for the Consortium
To be clear, Antares had no specific interest or desire to become a Handler for Agents within the Order. However, given his on Project: Black Gemini, there was no other option to have him field test their capability not only against Aberrations, but also against Initiates and Order Agents as well.
One such exercise involved pitting Black Gemini, Dietrich Falkenrath and Jaeger Falkenrath, against highly-ranked Initiates in a field exercise that included Elizabeth Crane, Lance Betancourt, Asuka Oda, Cameron Lord, and Kate McClary in an abandoned mining town in Eastern Europe. Asuka was found to be able to not only track the twins, but also to revert Compound activation in them, limiting their enhanced combat abilities. Lance was inadvertently killed in the conflict, when he was meant to only be critically injured. It was during this assignment that Antares determined that the twins needed further psychological conditioning and turned to his associate Eden Yates, whose father within the Sapientia green lit the project to begin with.
Physical Appearance
Antares Castiglione is an older man in his early 60s with grayish-black thinning hair. He is of average build and is slightly taller than average, just over six foot. He's considered pale for a southern Italian, taking after his mother's Scot-Irish background. He has no distinguishing marks to speak of.
Powers and Skills
Although he has no powers to speak of, Antares is skilled in many academic area and had political connections both inside and outside of the Consortium. He is one of the leading minds within the Consortium think-tank and is regularly called upon by the Sapientia for his knowledge and recommendations. Perhaps even more dangerous is his ability to influence policy to obtain whatever he wants whenever he needs is.
Where he lacks in perhaps physical strengths, he excels in academics. He is a scientific genius with specialties in biology, medicine, biochemical engineering, and mathematics. By using a combination of these disciplines he's able to understand and predict impacts to changes in chemical compounds and how they'll benefit or damage biological systems.
Other Information
Antares Castiglione is fluent in Italian, English, and Latin and is conversational in several other European languages as well.
Earth-2620
Early Life
Much like his Earth-2619 counterpart, Antares Castiglione grew up in the southern region of Italy, not too far from Sicily. His father had been a medical doctor, specifically a neurosurgeon and his mother had was studying art history abroad in Italy. Once again, the pair had met at an art exhibit and quickly fell for each other. Unfortunately, his father put his career before his marriage and they divorced not long after Antares' third birthday. His mother was awarded full custody in the divorce and she moved them to Rome, Italy where he could enjoy the arts that he loved so much. Inspired by the beautiful paintings, breathtaking sculptures, and centuries of religious history, Antares found his love of art to be intertwined with that of his growing faith. Eventually, he enrolled in seminary.
After the Plague
During his time in the priesthood, Father Antares Castiglione was on the frontlines as the Plague swept across the land. He spent much of this time as a relief worker and actively assisted in trying to bring hope to those ravaged by the growing darkness in the land. When others turned to science, he continued to rely on his faith. Italy, it seemed, was one of the few areas in the world that seemed to be largely untouched by the Plague. Although he knew the dangers of the work he performed, he continued doing so and was nearly killed by the growing legion of Heretics in an encampment outside of Valencia, Spain where he was assisting with evacuations.
He was found to be an inspiring figure, often requested by military personnel to be their chaplain, to which the Roman Catholic was hesitant but allowed it as it was thought to bring more non-believes into the arms of the Church. In addition to providing pastoral, spiritual, and emotional support for service personnel -- he would also provide recommendations on strategy and tactics. At first, very passively but later much more aggressively. When his recommendations became operationalized on numerous occasions, he was sought after as much more than a simple chaplain, but as an advisor to some of the most powerful militaries in the world and all the while continued to bring more believers into the Church.
The Church itself was changing at the same time. Using its wealth to form a safe haven for those it needed to prepare for the end of times, invitations were extended to some of the most brilliant minds in the world. Scientists, medical doctors, engineers, lawyers, flooded into the Papal State. As Heretics descended into Italy, the country begged for assistance from the Vatican and the Vatican agreed; for a price. All of Italy would fall under the purview of the new, Roman Catholic Empire. Having witnessed no less than sixteen nations fall within a matter of six months, the government of Italy had no choice and ultimately agreed with a few negligible conditions.
It was then that the Host was released, giving even more people cause to believe and restore their faith. Italy, the seat of the Roman Catholic Empire, became the first country in the entire world to rid itself of the influence of the Plague and the monsters that dwelled within it. Dubbed Heretics, the Host would continue to search them out and destroy them.
As a Cardinal for the Roman Catholic Empire
Antares' military and strategic exploits had come to the attention of the Pontifex himself. Impressed with his resolve and his willingness to get his hands dirty, he was promoted to Cardinal and was asked to lend support, inspire followers, and provide the Church -- no, the Empire -- with his leadership.
The world continued to change and so did the Church. The role of the Cardinals became more and more involved in strategic operations as well as guiding the Host so that it could perform its duties and protect the citizens of the Empire and, moreover, the world. Certain Cardinals were then named to be in charge of specific Choirs of the Host -- prestigious appointments made by the Pontifex directly. To that end, Antares was granted guidance over the Virtues Choir and its Servants.
Within the College of Cardinals, he has several allies but is quite skeptical of Eden Yates, Kara LaSalle, Mason Thresh, and Kieran Foster, all of whom were scientists prior to being named Cardinals. Further, because they control the most powerful of the Choirs of the Host, he uses his connections to keep tabs on their whereabouts and activities and has suspected at least one of them of wrongdoing that inevitably caused the deaths of no less than a hundred civilians in Barcelona, Spain.
Physical Appearance
Antares Castiglione is an older man in his early 60s with grayish-black thinning hair. He is of average build but surprisingly muscular for a man of his age, primarily due to his time as a relief worker and still maintains an active workout regimen. He is more often than not seen wearing his Cardinal robes, something he is quite proud of, especially given that much of the work he'd done during the Plague events is the reason why he was granted his station.
Powers and Skills
Although closely associated with the Host, Antares has no powers to speak of directly. He does, however, direct the operations of that Choir in conjunction with other Cardinals so he is for all intents and purposes responsible for a powerful contingent of the overall Host. Additionally, he is skilled in military strategy as well as in manipulating others. Less malicious than it sounds, he's adept at getting people to do things his way, is quite often the right way. This skill was developed in him after the Plague arose and honed to perfection during its crisis operations.
Other Information
Antares Castiglione believes that the Relics implanted in the Host are divine and has no knowledge of their actual nature.
He is fluent in Italian, English, and Latin.