Martin Santos
Sobriquet: Mars -- Short for Martin and a clear reference to his physique.
Appearance: Mars is a six foot tall Caucasian man in his late thirties. Mars is the very definition of a Romanian gangsta and takes every opportunity to reinforce that image. Mars' brutish demeanor is reinforced by his herculean form. He obviously spends several hours a day in the gym working out and given his legendary temper, shooting steroids. His titanic form is covered with expensive and stylish tattoos that seem to defy reason by moving or changing over time. Despite being in his late 30s, Martin has sprouted more than his fair share of gray hairs, which only lend credence to his position as head of the Sons of Santos. When out on the street, he is most often seen in expensive athletic apparel plus gold chains. But he looks equally good naked, in a flak-vest or in a Tuxedo (extra large, if you please).
Behavior: Martin likes to give the impression that he is just a brute, but this is far from the truth. While not a genius per se, Mars has lived a very long life and has picked up a huge number of skills and experiences that make him decidedly competent and dangerous. In part, Martin's image has become a habit that he can never afford to set aside and as such, he unconsciously responds with the vulgarity and violence his position demands, even when other options are available. Its not easy keeping the Dogs in line, after all, gangstas are modern bandits and bandits respond only to fear, monetary incitement and sexual favors. As Martin isn't inclined to share his appointed portion of the profits and would never consider servicing another like a prostitute, he relies on fear to keep the Sons of Santos in line. However, sometimes its good to keep the lackeys off balance so he does randomly throw them a little extra from the weekly take or a woman who has displeased him. His life motto is simple: "If your not the lead dog, the view never changes." And Mars likes being the lead dog, but a dog none-the-less and one who knows better than to bite his master's hand.
History: Martin's real name is Márton Soutzos. He was born in the last decade of the 18th century to a prominent Greek Phanariote family from Constantinople, his first cousin Mihail Suțu served the Ottoman Empire well and became the lord (hospodar) of Moldavia. While he was born in Constantinople and received there a classical education, he immediate family were a branch of the Zantosa revenant family and returned to their homeland of Oltenia (Lesser Wallachia) at the turn of the 19th century. There he grew to manhood a member of a respected noble family and trained to serve in the military. Unfortunately, due to his cousin's treasonous nationalistic sentiments, he was caught up in the Wallachian uprising of 1821, on the wrong or losing side.
In the decades that followed, bloody uprisings took place between Pan-Slovic nationalists and the Ottoman Empire. Having been through this before and being a practical man, Márton made the decision to join a hajduk company of bandit irregulars. His rise to command was meteoric and resulted in numerous deaths ranging from duels to drownings. Never one for subtly, Márton ruled his hajduks through fear and greed, his men served as irregulars to which ever faction offered the most coin. When not gainfully employed Soutzos Hajduks resorted to banditry and even participated as freedom fighters a few times. All that came to an end with the consolidation of national borders and the rise of hardcore nationalism in Central and Southeaster Europe.
By then, all of Europe was deeply meshed in the 'Great Game' and national intelligence services always needed men whose questionable ethics could be guaranteed by payment upon delivery. Márton Soutzos worked as a hired killer for a while and when that grew too stale, he changed his face again and took up smuggling. In that line of work he came to work with the Roma (gypsies) and learned a bit of their ways. The assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne shattered Márton's smuggling organization with the triggering of the Great War. Still, a man without too many scruples and a lengthy history of violence could find work even on the battlefields of W.W.I. After the war, while Europe was in disorder, Márton took up banditry again for a time, but once again nationalistic sentiments ruined a good thing and he was caught on the wrong side of a hastily inked border and discovered to his distinct irritation that he was just a Slav relegated to being a communist foot-soldier or exterminated by the master-race. For Márton and the rest of Europe, those were dark days, but nothing lasts forever as Márton Soutzos could tell you.
In the final months of the war, Márton was snatched up in war-torn Serbia by a pack of Sabbat. Luckily or unluckily, the pack-leader recognized that Márton was a revenant of the Zantosa and a very valuable commodity. Through the tender mercies of the Sabbat Márton Soutzos escaped execution as a war criminal, deserter and profiteer. He was smuggled to America in 1946 where he changed his name to Martin Santos. For several years thereafter, he served one Sabbat luminary or another until the 1960s when he became the blood-bound property of Lucrèce Boucher who found a use for him as an advanced scout for the coming Siege of Detroit. Since the fall of the city to the Sabbat, he has served as Lucrèce's bitch in whatever financial scheme you would care to mention. Despite this 'honored' position, hard times have fallen on Detroit and Martin must range into distasteful areas of criminal enterprise in order to fuel his master's financial excesses.
Recent Events: Mars was running a side gig in Oakwood Heights, making Meth in an abandoned film factory, when a Sabbat pack came in and trashed his little operation. Martin knows he should have cut Lucrèce in on the action, but a man has to have something for himself, doesn't he? Still, he knows something unusual happened that night beyond the Sabbat smashing his Meth lab and it had something to do with those videotapes he bought off of Sebbastyen Coombs for a few ounces of Meth and some loose cash. Now his men are acting weird and he knows its not the Meth because they know better than to smoke his profits. Unfortunately, in order to shake the Sabbat pack (a crew he had never seen before), he was forced to burn his own operation. Presumably, the tapes were all burned up when the factory went up in flames, but Martin distinctly recalled Coombs saying there were more of them, maybe copies...
