Slapstick
From Stormravengaming
Slapstick is the leader of the Thieves' Guild in Kadish. His name comes from the greatclub that he favors as a weapon – the stick with which he slaps people around. He is a ruthless master of the criminal underworld, not at all hesitant to repay disloyalty with swift death. However, he also knows his own limitations, and he chooses his fights carefully.
Slapstick's true identity is largely unknown because his face has always been hidden behind a mask. This measure not only protects him from the city watch but also allows him to send underlings in his place, wearing his guise, to represent him. Slapstick has better reason than most to protect his identity, though, for he is in fact the alter-ego of Robert the Prince-Consort of the Desert Kingdom. How long Robert has maintained this guise and controlled the Thieves' Guild is unknown, as are his intentions in doing so.
The Princes of the Universe, in their fourth coming, identified Robert as Slapstick. They have told no one but their unicorn companions about this discovery as yet. Even Robert doesn't yet know that he has been found out.
Description
Slapstick dresses in a red and yellow jester's outfit, and he wears a long-nosed wooden mask with a sardonic grin and rosy cheeks. He always has a greatclub either on his person or within easy reach. The guildmaster adopts an easy, friendly, somewhat mischievous demeanor when dealing with anyone but his underlings.
Theories About the Dual Role
The simplest and therefore most likely explanation of Robert's role as Slapstick is that it allows him to keep control of the Guild and ensure they do not cause too much harm to the city or its important persons. However, there are alternate possibilities that bear exploration.
One of these is that Robert is not, in fact, Slapstick. Under this theory, another master thief holds that identity, and Robert merely appeared to the Princes in the guise. The question then is, did he do so with the foreknowledge of the true Slapstick? There are two branches here: Puppet Robert, wherein Robert is working for Slapstick and cannot be trusted in his primary role as ruler of the city; and Crafty Robert, wherein Robert assumes the guise of Slapstick to achieve his own ends using the tools of the Guild.
Puppet Robert seems a bit more likely option than Crafty Robert, in that Robert came to the Princes in response to a warning from the Order of the Silken Glove, which would presumably have reached the true Slapstick and not Robert. However, it is possible that Robert has spies embedded in the Thieves' Guild who might have conveyed the warning to him, piquing his interest and sending him to the Princes in the guildmaster's guise. However, Crafty Robert would have to be very cunning indeed, for reports of the impostor would surely reach the true Slapstick's ears and raise all kinds of trouble in and around the Guild.
Another possibility is that Robert and Slapstick are in truth the same person, but Robert holds the role for reasons other than simply keeping the Guild in check, possibly unrelated to ruling the city. Robert might run the Thieves' Guild for the sense of adventure it brings, for instance, or to reap the illicit profits from illegal activities. Or the Guild might serve him as a spy network, a source of information and a means of covert dealings within the city and abroad.
How Robert assumed the role of Slapstick is another question to explore. Presuming Robert and Slapstick are the same person, it seems unlikely that he ascended the ranks of the guild in continual disguise, and just as unlikely that he would have attained his position without hiding his true identity. More likely is that there was once another Slapstick who assumed the disguise for his own reasons, and then Robert quietly replaced him and took over his role. One can even imagine a succession of Slapsticks, voluntarily or involuntarily handing the role down from person to person.
