Marcone and his knowledge/experience with the supernatural/magic prior to SF

[Rasins]

I agree on small world. But he has to have run into a wizard somewhere.

Why?  And Where?

Have you run into one?  Do you know?

Remember that most people don't want to recognize anything supernatural.

1) Do we know for sure that the storage locker belonged to Siriothrax?
2) Only a few weeks after Tony put the stuff on sale, Grevane showed up.  So you're suggesting that Tony got the cache years earlier, and gave Marcone a couple paintings, and then sat on the rest?  And that Marcone, just looking at the rest, realized the Supernatural was real?  Because the text says Marcone told Tony about the supernatural after Grevane reached out to him.

No, we don't KNOW that it was part of Siriothrax's hoard, but don't know where else it could have come from.

As to how long he had it, I got the impression that he was selling it off slowly and building up his retirement fund, so yeah, he could have had it for years before he came across the Word of Kemmler and put it up for sale.

[wardenferry419]

Marcone seemed prepared or not bothered by the soulgaze. Many textual mentions of norms experiencing soulgazes often involve hysteria or unconsciousness. I would say knowledge of gazes outside the supernatural community is limited, to a very few norms and fringe magic-users. Does anyone else think Marcone might have been involved with a soulgaze prior to SF?

[Ananda]

That's all too "small world" for me.  I've got an idea that Marcone took the name of a dead man to get out of trouble.  Specifically, that he was a street rat in 60's Chicago that joined the military as John Marcone to get out of town.

How old are these characters supposed to be, anyway? Joining the military in the ‘60s would put him in his 60s as well.

[Griffyn612]

How old are these characters supposed to be, anyway? Joining the military in the ‘60s would put him in his 60s as well.

My timeline puts him at 59 for PT.  He could conceivably be as young as 57 if he stole the "Marcone" identity and used it to join the military early.

Others think he's younger than that.  But there was a mention somewhere that Marcone might have been in Vietnam, and the only way that works with him not collecting Social Security is if he was posted in Saigon for a few years after the war, up until the evacuation.

[Kindler]

I think that if Marcone had anything from Siro's Hord, he wouldn't be magically winning at life and somehow becoming an equal peer with Mab and Hades overnight.

Remember there was a WoJ on Siro and how nobody wants to touch his stash because it has a Fuck-Mothering Dragons death-curse attached to it.

To play Devil's Advocate, how did it work out for Bony Tony? It could very well be that the death curse affects whoever takes it from his stash, and that contact with the goods after it's stolen wouldn't transfer the curse; a loaded musket, once fired, requires reloading. Though it could just as easily be like uranium.

That aside, I've never thought of it coming from a dragon's hoard in the first place. It's a fun idea, and could very well lead up to the inevitable Dragon Book Jim mentioned in a handful of Words of Jim (Word of Jims?) but it seems a bit unlikely that Tony would have known about it and accessed it. But, putting on my paranoia hat, this could have been the work of the Circle trying to stir up trouble and tossing some problems Marcone's way to limit his influence in Chicago.

[wardenferry419]

Does anyone else think that might not have been Marcone's first soulgaze?

[namkcas]

"My timeline puts him at 59 for PT.  He could conceivably be as young as 57 if he stole the "Marcone" identity and used it to join the military early."

I am 57 and was born in 1960.  At 59, he would have been born in 1958.  That means he would have been 17 at the time that the US left Vietnam (1975).  Not impossible, but I don't know how many brand new troops we put in the last year or so.  Most Vietnam Vets are early to mid-60s at this point.

[Griffyn612]

"My timeline puts him at 59 for PT.  He could conceivably be as young as 57 if he stole the "Marcone" identity and used it to join the military early."

I am 57 and was born in 1960.  At 59, he would have been born in 1958.  That means he would have been 17 at the time that the US left Vietnam (1975).  Not impossible, but I don't know how many brand new troops we put in the last year or so.  Most Vietnam Vets are early to mid-60s at this point.

If you check my timeline a few pages back, you'll see I had him in Saigon in '74-75, after the war but up until the full withdrawal in Operation Frequent Wind in April.  If he signed up early, he could have been there longer. 

Edit: I went and found it because it was in the other Marcone age thread.

My theoretical timeline for Marcone, with ages for him, Helen, and Amanda.

2014 SG - (JM-59)(HB-57)(AB-34)
2003 DM - (JM-48)(HB-46)(AB-23)
2000 SF - (JM-45)(HB-43)(AB-20)
1990 - (JM-35)(HB-33)(AB-10) Amanda is shot. 
1984 - (JM-29) End of third tour; returns to Chicago
1983 - (JM-28) Marine helo-pilot for Grenada Invasion (Operation Urgent Fury)
1980 - (JM-25)(HB-23)(AB-00) End of second tour
1980 - (JM-25) Marine helo-pilot for failed Tehran rescue (Operation Eagle Claw)
1976 - (JM-21) End of first tour
1975 - (JM-20) Marine helo-pilot for Saigon Evac (Operation Frequent Wind)
1975 - (JM-45) Marine helo-pilot for Cambodia Evac (Operation Eagle Pull)
1973 - (JM-18) Joins Marines, Helicopter pilot/crew; stationed in Saigon as post-war support.
1955 - (JM-00)

Notes:
 - During his time in Saigon, Marcone develops a strong dislike of heroin and other drugs that other soldiers use to cope with deployment, seeing friends lose themselves to them. 
 - At the same time, he develops empathy towards orphans and other children facing hardships after the war. 
 - He witnesses corruption within the military, learning how to manipulate officials and officers with prostitution, blackmail, and bribery.
 - After Saigon, he remains in the service, making contacts and running his own little organization where he's stationed.
 - He remains I'm the military after Saigon and Tehran, feeling a sense of failure.  He remains enlisted until the successful Grenada mission gives him a sense of accomplishment.
 - After three tours, he heads to Chicago, where he hopes to use what he learned to make a name for himself.  He lasts about 6 years before he becomes a threat to the families.

[Bacchus]

I feel like you guys are missing the easier ways Marcone would have found out.

First off while full power wizards are extremely rare low level practitioners are relativity common. Many of which may enjoy drugs/prostitutes/gambling and may try to trade knowledge to pay off debts, some may have been in the mob themselves. Like previous generations versions of that knife fighter cult leader from ghost story

Second Marcone has extensive contacts in the Chicago PD, a division of which has known all about the supernatural for decades and it seems likely that at some point someone gave him all of their files.

Third the Mob has been a major power in Chicago for over 100 years and would likely have been operating in bad neighborhoods at night the whole time. As the current head of that organization its even plausible that he inherited secret records of all the weird stuff they have seen when he took the top spot.

As someone pointed out the supernatural isn't really kept all that secret its more normal people try very hard not to believe in it, mainly due to fear

The reason Marcone knows is because he has the type of mental strength to judge the gathered information on its own merits. it has been stated in the books that Marcone completely ignores fear, its part of why he's so dangerous.

Thats also why the soul gaze  didn't scare him

[wardenferry419]

You make some pretty good points. Thank you.

[TheCuriousFan]

Remember there was a WoJ on Siro and how nobody wants to touch his stash because it has a Fuck-Mothering Dragons death-curse attached to it.

Personally I just assume that everybody has agreed to leave the stash out in the sun until the "don't touch my shit" curse wears off, then it's time to start looting.