Kaz Brekker | Six of Crows

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Kaz Brekker Dirtyhands had come to see the rough work done. Six of Crows PLAYER IC INBOX OPT-OUT KINKS MoM VISUALS PLAYER CONTACT HMD OPEN I'm a businessman Ask anyone that's crossed him: Kaz Brekker is the deadliest boy in Ketterdam, a city that does not tolerate weakness even at the best of times. The firepox fever burned the gentleness out of him and the freezing water of the harbor washed whatever was left of the country boy away. When he emerged from the harbor, just nine years old and still fever-weak, Kaz began to build himself into something to be feared. He grew into something cold and ruthless, all sharp edges and tailored lines. It's difficult to sift through the myths to find the truths about Kaz. He knows the value of a well-time gesture and the power of rumors. Kaz wears gloves as a concession to his haphephobia, he walks with a cane because he has a limp, and he has turned both of these weaknesses into things that work for him. Kaz's cane is notorious, capped witha silver crow's head and lead-weighted to break bones when he swings it. But who would deprive a cripple of his cane? His black gloves are as recognizable as the cane: ask around Ketterdam and you'll hear that Brekker wears gloves because his hands are burned, broken, ugly, permanently bloodstained, or because he has claws instead of fingers. He's called Dirtyhands for his willingness to get the work done, regardless of how nasty a job it might be. These rumors are a shield against the truth: Kaz Brekker can't stand to be touched. Any skin to skin contact reminds him of the corpses that buried him on the sick barge, of his dead brother's bloated body. But nobody touches Kaz because no one dares to touch Kaz. You're a thief, Kaz Ketterdam eats people whole and Kaz has bent the worst part of the city to his will. Almost single-handedly he has dragged the Dregs from obscurity up into the powerful hierarchy of gangs in the Barrel, making them a force to be reckoned with. He keeps the books for the Crow Club and Fifth Harbor, which he owns significant shares in. For nearly ten years, Kaz has been driven by nothing but dreams of vengeance against the man whose actions led to his brother's death. He obsesses over how to take Pekka Rollins apart, brick by brick, how to ruin his life the way he's ruined Kaz's. Death is too good. He has to lose everything first. Normally Kaz is level-headed and entirely business-minded, but Pekka Rollins wakes something murderous in him and there have been times when Kaz has allowed this to get in the way of his carefully laid plans. For all his scheming, he is still a boy driven by spite and rage. There isn't much about Kaz that anyone would call redeeming. He's a shrewd businessman and any deal he strikes in good faith, he'll hold to. He's loyal to few and doesn't allow anyone too close. He's capable of terrible acts of violence, he's willing to bully, intimidate, threaten, and blackmail to get his way. He's spent so long as the Bastard of the Barrel, as Dirtyhands, that he barely remembers the country boy he once was. He is too damaged, too scarred, to ever be him again. Possibly, there's a scrap of softness somewhere hidden deep, some part of him that remembers a happier life: a part worth saving. But it hasn't seen the light in years and in neglect has shriveled. That's the way Kaz likes it. That's what I said Kaz is an accomplished lock pick, thief, forger, liar, and all-around ruthless criminal. Since the age of nine, he has been scraping a living in Ketterdam and has risen to the top of its criminal underground. He has his hand in several legitimate business ventures and runs cons, rigs games, and won't hesitate to engage in extortion, bribery, kidnapping, or murder. He is well-known for doing any job, no matter the danger or violence involved, so as long as it will make him a good deal of money. Both this trait and his various egregious actions have earned him the nickname "Dirtyhands." haphephobia: a fear of touching and being touched people: every relationship is a business agreement violence: a language that Kaz speaks fluently thief: he steals things, lies, and cheats Kaz Brekker is never without his black gloves or his crow's head cane if he can help it.