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Manchego

Name Manchego (alias); Manuel Machado (abandoned real name)
Age 22
Race High Elf
Hometown Downtown, Kalashport
Status Alive

Overview

Manchego is the enigmatic leader of the Curds Mafia. He is known for his intimidating presence, uncanny negotiation skills, and mysterious past. Despite his young age and ambiguous background, he commands upmost respect from his subordinate gangsters. He acts as Fet and Mascarpone's boss.

Manchego showed up in Downtown shortly after the collapse of FerrCO and quickly organized several gangs into the Curds Mafia under his command. Through bitter gang wars and tough negotiation, he eventually became the de facto ruler of the entire region. Despite this, he still maintains his cheese shop cover operation.

Manchego has an odd fascination with the underground mines below Kalashport. He has been organizing the bulk of the Curds resources toward excavating and exploring the tunnels, outwardly as a way to build a subway system. He tells everyone he simply has a burning passion for public transit. It is known to the Faction Campaign party, however, that he is searching for a secret weapon called the Empire Drake in order to destroy it.

Personality and Relationships

Manchego has a unique awkward yet intimidating charm. Perhaps it is his strange accent or perhaps it is the fact he is always angry, but Manchego can typically leverage this charm to get what he wants from people without too much trouble. He gets frustrated when people ask him too many questions, which is probably why he keeps Pecorino as his bodyguard and not Fet.

Manchego acts as if he is constantly under an impending deadline. This stresses out other Curds to the point where they avoid talking to him if they can. Pecorino's casual and laid back attitude naturally calms down some of Manchego's constant urgency, so the two work well together. In fact, their natural chemistry has led some people to think they are in a relationship, though Manchego is quick to deny any allegations.

Manchego used to be known as Manuel Machado, the eager young businessman next in line to be CEO of FerrCO. When his father Sylvester explained to him the real history of the company and the Machado family, Manuel went mad, abandoned his identity, killed his father, and destroyed the company, causing the Kalashport collapse. Manchego is obsessed with single-handedly correcting his family's flawed past, which is why he is so secretive about the real purpose of the Curds. Recently, Manchego found out that Tae-hyun is his step-brother and the true heir to FerrCO, and Manchego has struggled to share his personal baggage with his new family member.

History

Pre-Campaign

Manuel Machado was born 23 years before the beginning of the Faction Campagin to FerrCO CEO Sylvester Machado and his wife, Amelia. He grew up surrounded by business elites, which led him to grow an appreciation for entreprenurial culture of Kalashport.

Two years prior to the beginning of the Faction Campaign, Manuel Machado was a student studying finance and business management in order to succeed his father, Sylvester to be the next CEO of FerrCO. On his 21st birthday, Sylvester told Manuel the concealed history of his family, the Elven Dynasty, including all of its war crimes against Guardian Spring 250 years ago. Disgusted, Manuel plotted to kill his father, expose FerrCO for its fraudulent financials, and form a gang to amass the power necessary to find the family's ancient weapon and destroy it.

Manuel confronted his father in his FerrCO office and shot him to death, announcing that he will "let the present reconcile the sins of the past". Manuel then stole the financial reports and sent them anonymously to the independent reporter Dorothy Leon, who published them to the entire city. Kalashport fell into chaos, and Manuel used the opportunity to disappear and enter the fray with a new identity, the ruthless gangster Manchego.

Over the next several months, Manchego would use violence and negotiation to coalesce several gangs, including that of Fet and Pecorino, under his belt, forming the Curds Mafia. The Curds eventually gained singular control over Downtown Kalashport, and Manchego signed nonagression treaties with neighboring factions such as the Midtown Police and the Kalashport Security Company.

Faction Campaign

At the start of the Faction Campaign, Manchego and the Curds had total control over Downtown Kalashport. Manchego noticed that Lt. Bighammer was growing more and more authoritarian, which could potentially complicate his plans to divert most of his men to find the Empire Drake underground. He sent Fet to investigate undercover. Fet found The Prestige and the rest of the party, and relayed back to Manchego that the Police are forming the POG officers to threaten magic users all over the city. Manchego agreed to sponsor a tavern for the party to train wizards in to oppose the POG officers.

Before the party could start their plan to train new wizards, POG officers raided Downtown in search of Bardlox. The Curds managed to fight them off for the time being, but Fet found out that the POGs were planning another attack to capture Manchego. The party defeated Lt. Bighammer in a surprise attack and SCHNI became the new police chief, leaving Manchego and the Curds safe.

After the POGs were dealt with, the Curds became aware of a treasure hunter named Tess Mystique, who Manchego suspected was also looking for the Empire Drake. Manchego ordered the newly-joined Curd, Mascarpone, to go to the Canal District to find her and make sure she doesn't keep snooping around. Mascarpone and the party found Tess in Deep Trench looking for the Pearl, and they managed to defeat her in battle at the Clamiseum and convince her to stay out of Downtown.

While the party was in the Canals, Manchego and Pecorino were invited by Abigail Halibut to a dinner party in Highland Heights celebrating Norm Riesling's safe return from being disappeared. At the dinner, Abigail's dragon scale heirloom and Norm Riesling both disappeared, and Highland Heights shut down the dome, trapping Manchego and Pecorino. While they were stuck at a taco restaurant, Fet hinted to Manchego that he and Tae know about the Elven Dynasty, causing Manchego to panic.

It turns out that the dinner invitation was a plot by The Stack to get Manchego out of Downtown so they could steal his map of the tunnels leading to the Empire Drake. They staged an attack on inner Downtown to draw Curds away from the cheese shop, allowing Icy Wendy to take the map easily. Manchego returned to his town burning and his map stolen, and he asked the party once again for help. They found a way to navigate the tunnels without the map using SCHNI's reconnaisance robot to track down the Stack thieves.

Before they all went into the tunnels, Manchego revealed to the party the truth behind his identity and the real purpose of the Curds. The party had already deduced all of this however, and Tae showed Manchego that he is also part of the Elven Dynasty - and likely Manchego's half-brother. Manchego to this point had placed the responsibility of his family's sins entirely on himself, so to hear that he had a half-brother, especially an older half-brother, forced him to re-examine his approach.

The party and Manchego trekked through the tunnels and were eventually surprise-attacked by The Stack. The party counter-attacked and defeated the thieves, forcing Bubba Bufo to sign a contract saying he would not go after the green dragon scale (and also that he would take part in the Culture Festival later). They finally found the Empire Drake chamber and began battle with the deadly machine. Manchego was KO'd by the Empire Drake pretty much instantly, but his newly-found half-brother quickly revived him. After a tough battle that nearly let the Empire Drake escape to the surface, the party destroyed the machine, completing Manchego's plan.

Post-Campaign

After nearly dying to the Empire Drake, Manchego decided he needed to improve his combat skills. He stepped back from the Curds temporarily and hired Havarti to train him in the art of battle. As part of his final test, Havarti has sent him on a trip to Q'uavi to test his skills.

Appearance

Faction Campaign

Manchego is an average build high elf. He has slicked back dark hair, light tan skin, and striking green eyes. He wears the standard Curds uniform of slacks, a yellow shirt, green vest, and orange bowtie - all of which are ironed and neat. He carries a large, polished silver revolver on his belt. Manchego is always seen wearing long sleeves.

Haunted Forest

In Q'uavi, Manchego wears forest green dyed behir skin armor inlaid with golden studs over a cream collared shirt and his signature orange bow tie. An orange cape is attached to the back of his armor. He wears his usual pants with attached studded padding and a pair of black Chanel boots. This outfit starts off immaculate but becomes increasingly tattered as the mini-campaign progresses.

Trivia