Crawford Starrick

"This tea was brought to me from India by a ship, then, up from the harbor to a factory, where it was packaged and ferried by carriage to my door, unpacked in the larder and brought upstairs to me. All by men and women who work for me. Who are indebted to me, Crawford Starrick, for their jobs, their time, the very lives they lead. They will work in my factories and so too shall their children."

- Crawford Starrick, 1868.

Crawford Starrick (1827 – 1868) was the owner of Starrick Industries, and the Grand Master of the British Rite of the Templar Order by 1868.

Early life
Born as the youngest son of the wealthy Robert Starrick in the West End of London, Crawford and his siblings were trained for competition. The Starrick brothers were educated in academics and sports as they often challenged and fought each other, much to their mother's oblivious pride.

Turning twelve, Crawford took the opportunity to enter the boarding school wherein he was excluded by his peers. Due to the boy's imperious attitude, the students called him "Lord Starrick". He then began to see the two strata of humanity: those who served and those who ruled.

Realizing that he would earn no acquaintances, he sharpened his charm and hid his disdain with smiles and compliments to bend teachers and his classmates to his will.

Upon graduation, he fancied himself as a railroad baron. To achieve this, Starrick took it upon himself for smart business and purchasing and eliminating his competitors to eventually rise to the top. Crawford continued in his business' expansion and created several industries that reached across London.

Activities as Grand Master
Having inherited his first rail factory from his father, Starrick nevertheless proved to be a brilliant businessman of his own, building an empire that continued to grow. He was also ruthless towards his employees and installed Rupert Ferris as manager to maximize profit and keep spending to a minimum.

Sometime during the 19th century, Crawford participated in an auction alongside Lucy Thorne, who managed to outbid him and subsequently acquired an occult manuscript. Starrick later inducted Lucy into the Templar Order, making her his lieutenant. Despite their collaboration to locate the Shroud of Eden, Starrick had no intention of sharing the Shroud with Lucy. He nonetheless planned to provide her with financial compensation as a form of gratitude for her aid in locating the Shroud.

Through his network of Templar agents, he controlled London and oppressed the working class to keep the Order in power. During this time, the British Assassins worked to reclaim power in the city, and bring down Starrick, principally through their members Henry Green, and the twins Jacob and Evie Frye.

Following John Elliotson's assassination at the hands of Jacob Frye, who also destroyed Starrick's Soothing Syrup production, the Earl of Cardigan and Philip Twopenny met with Starrick to discuss action against the Assassins. Starrick dismissed Jacob's efforts against his corporate empire, referencing the meticulous process in which his own Indian tea was delivered to him.

Subsequently, Starrick met with his cousin, Pearl Attaway, who had manipulated Jacob into acquiring internal combustion engines from his lackey, Malcolm Millner, as well as assassinate him. Starrick promised to arrange transportation for the engines, unaware that Jacob was spying on them and had learned of Pearl's true colors.

Some time after their meeting, Jacob assassinated Pearl. Upon hearing of her death, a grief-stricken Starrick began playing his piano, shooting a Templar out of annoyance for disturbing him. Lucy then entered the room, believing him unaware of Pearl's death before being told otherwise. Deciding to take the Frye twins seriously, Starrick declared his intention to bring them to justice. Shortly after, Starrick was informed of Lucy's assassination by Evie Frye's hands. To Starrick's fury, the key to the Shroud's crypt was taken as well.

After Twopenny was assassinated by Jacob Frye, public trust in the currency dropped as inflation increased. To counter the inflation, Starrick raised the wages of his workers. At the same time, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli introduced the Corrupt Practices Bill to fight electoral fraud.

While meeting with Starrick, Cardigan expressed frustration at Parliament's lack of action and pledged to have Disraeli eliminated in order to end the Bill and maintain the Templars' influence on politics. However, Starrick scolded Cardigan for idling in the Sinopean Club rather than taking a more active role in defending Templar interests in Parliament. The Grand Master threatened him by putting a knife to his crotch and ordered him to keep the Bill from passing.

Claiming the Shroud
After all of his collaborators were assassinated by the Frye twins, including Lucy, Starrick decided to track down the Shroud of Eden himself. He managed to locate it beneath Buckingham Palace while attending a party, planning on eliminating the heads of state and church once he obtained his prize. He encountered Evie and asked her for a dance. He revealed that he had snipers on the rooftops ready to take her and the other guests out once the music had ended. However, Jacob eliminated all of Starrick's men and freed the captive royal guards. Upon being signaled that she was in the clear, Evie kneed Starrick, but he managed to escape with the key to the crypt of the Shroud that she kept on her necklace.

Descending into the vault, Starrick found the Shroud and donned it. Using its powers of healing and enhanced strength, he began to overwhelm the Frye twins, with all of their would-be fatal attacks rendered ineffective. Before he could kill them, Henry Green intervened and joined the fight. In spite of Green's best efforts, he proved to be no match for Starrick's newfound powers.

However, Jacob managed to pin down Starrick long enough for Evie to remove the Shroud from him, making Starrick lose its powers. Now vulnerable, Starrick was no match for the twins, who both managed to fatally wound him.

As he lay dying, Starrick proclaimed that with his death, London would perish without him, as he had intended to create a paradise. He was then rebuked by the twins, before succumbing to his wounds. With Starrick's death, the Templars' control over London had ended.

Personality and characteristics
At a young age, Crawford Starrick and his brothers were trained for competition. As an arrogant individual, he showed great disdain to those who tormented him and eventually saw himself as a ruler among servants. Using his charm, he managed to bend people to his will. Above all, Starrick desired order and control. A staunchly conservative man, Crawford's actions in respect of his role as Grand Master of the British Rite all looked to maintain the status quo, whilst gradually improving the quality of life for his workers, and the city whole. Crawford initially viewed the interference of the Frye twins as little more than an inconvenience, but as their actions began to upturn the order established by Crawford, he took personal grievance with them.

During the temporary collapse of the British currency, following the death of Philip Twopenny, the Governor of the Bank of England, at the hands of Jacob Frye, Crawford increased the average wage of his entire workforce in order to stave off the affects of inflation, and maintain his grip on power; he did this despite the incredulity of his fellow Templar, James Brudenell.

Crawford also saw himself as a fair man. Before learning of her death, Crawford penned a letter promising to support Lucy Thorne financially for her remaining years, in gratitude for her aid in locating the Shroud of Eden. Crawford claimed that only one could wear the Shroud, and that it could only be him.

Starrick fell in love once, to his cousin Pearl Attaway, but she refused to marry him. Despite this, as well as Pearl serving as Starrick's business rival, Starrick still held feelings for her. Upon hearing of her death, Starrick was grief-stricken, ruthlessly executing one of his men for interrupting his mourning.

Equipment and Skills
"They have chosen a Grand Master so ruthless, so thorough, one might think Reginald Birch, himself, had returned."

- Henry Green, regarding Starrick's leadership of the Templar Order, 1868 As Grand Master of the Templar Order, Crawford Starrick displayed considerable leadership skills that enabled the Templars to extend their influence all over London, both politically and economically. Henry Green once compared Starrick's influence to that of Reginald Birch.

In choice of weaponry, Starrick carried with him a dagger as well as a revolver. In his final confrontation with the Assassins, he was shown to be a competent hand-to-hand combatant, able to go toe-to-toe with Jacob beneath the Buckingham Palace.

Upon possessing the Shroud of Eden, Starrick was endowed with its abilities, such as instantaneously regenerating fatal wounds, enhanced strength, and the ability to drain his victim's life-force. Using the Shroud's abilities, Starrick was able to physically overpower the Assassins several times, even holding both Jacob and Evie by their throat simultaneously, and would have killed them if not for Henry Green's intervention.