COMMANDANT JEAN-PAUL BARDET

Commandant Jean-Paul Bardet is the oldest and most loyal Ghoul that the General has. He's been working and feeding for 70 years, and is responsible for a majority of the business that the General can't do or can't be bothered with. He drives the van during the day, handles the training of any new Ghouls, and does assorted reconnaissance and dirty work. He's exceedingly loyal, very enthusiastic, and startlingly unnerving.

Details

Pre-Ghouling

Prior to being selected for enlistment by the General, Jean-Paul worked in a glass factory in Southern France. He had no children or partner, but was quite close with his parents and siblings.

Ghouling

The General's Ghouling habits are messy. He selects people on the street that he deems fit to be in his army, attacks them, and Ghouls them by force. Jean-Paul was one of the very first Ghouls the General ever made, around the time of his first Metamorphosis. From the start, Jean-Paul realized that he could either fight to survive by playing along, or he would be killed. He worked hard to figure out the General's rules and patterns, taught himself the necessary skills, and made it through the General's gauntlet even as the other Ghouls around him were murdered by the General. For the first few months he considered it just a means of survival, but after one full year he took on the General's derangement and threw himself into it with the fervant belief that the war was just as real as the General had been saying it was. His determination paid off- it earned him a higher and more stable position in the army, which he now inhabits comfortably. Most of the General's Ghouls feed from vitae poured into shot glasses, but Jean-Paul has earned the privilege of drinking directly from his veins.

Appearance

Jean-Paul wears the same light-blue uniform with brown leather as the General does, just a bit less decorated. His insignias match those of a WW1 French Commandant. He, however, wears the hat all the time.
His hair is black and cut short, contained mostly under his uniform hat, but often poking out of the brim. He has a well-maintained beard and a very carefully styled mustache that he takes a lot of pride in.
His eyes are dark brown.

Behavior

Jean-Paul is respectful and loyal to a T. He obeys the General's every command and carries out his work with a somewhat violent enthusiasm. He's friendly to his superiors, charismatic, and smiles a lot, which gives him the vibe of a much more stable individual than he actually is.
To the lesser Ghouls, however, Jean-Paul is a threat. He runs drills with an iron fist and shows no mercy for mistakes and weakness. He's harsh on his trainees and even harsher on any of the General's Shovelheads that survive battle and get dragged along with the troops. Jean-Paul has no issue with killing another mortal, and even less issue with killing a Kindred that he believes is unworthy. This is a byproduct of the deep resentment that Jean-Paul harbors for any surviving Shovelheads. Being groomed for Embrace by the General, Jean-Paul believes that his rightful place is as the General's childe, serving at his side, and any Shovelheads that aren't killed off in the initial battle are a direct threat to this position. He works them harder than the Ghouls, with complete intent of killing them the first chance he gets.
At the same time, Jean-Paul knows that his Embrace is contingent on finding a replacement for himself. He sometimes will give a more dedicated or talented Ghoul trainee a second chance at something they've failed at, because until a Ghoul can come up to the same level as him, he won't ever be Embraced. In the time he's been working with the General, no Ghoul has ever come close to becoming his replacement.

Jean-Paul spends a lot of time observing. He's the General's second pair of eyes and ears, always lurking somewhere. His best Discipline is Obfuscate, which he uses to creep around unseen, often to spy, gather information, and listen to what his trainees are saying when they think he's not around. This has cost a fair number of younger Ghouls their lives. Other time's he's following the General around at an unintrustive distance, always ready to be called upon.

Notes

• Jean-Paul smokes Gitanes, much like the General. He switched over from Gaulouises when he was promoted, around the time of the General's second Metamorphosis.
• Jean-Paul loves chess, and is the only person in the troupe that can so much as hold a candle to the General's skill. He likes spending his free time thinking up new moves to throw onto the field.
• His ability to adapt and learn on the go has given Jean-Paul a wide array of random skills over the years.
• With the General, Jean-Paul only speaks French. This sometimes makes people assume that he can only speak French, but he has a strong grasp of English and a few other languages.
• Jean-Paul will never task the trainees to something he cannot do himself. Unfortunately for them, Jean-Paul is far more skillful than the average mortal, which makes keeping up with him very difficult for fresh Ghouls. Not everybody can run a mile in six minutes or less.

Mechanical Details

Merits
• Benevolent Domitor
• Groomed for Embrace
• Clear-Sighted

Flaws
• Addiction
• Sadism
• Bound

Derangements
• I Am Fighting The War

Gallery