Colonel
David Cornwall
'R' - Head of PISCES
Written by Nick Brownlow
David Cornwall was born at his family home
in Poulton-Le-Fylde, Lancashire, on the 1st February 1888, although he spent
most of his childhood in suburban London. Whilst originally a family of wealthy
local landowners, for the better part of the last century the Cornwall family
business had been exploration and adventure. Cornwall's Grandfather served in
the East India Company prior to the Mutiny, his Uncle died in Mali searching
for the source of the Niger and his Father made a fortune working for De Beers Consolidated
Mines in South Africa. Cornwall inherited the family wanderlust, and after
graduating from Sandhurst College in 1909 he enlisted in the Army, intending to
see the world. Unfortunately, he only had time for one tour of the Sudan before
the 'war to end all wars' erupted in Europe. Now a Captain in the British
Expeditionary Force, Cornwall was posted to the front- in France. In the face
of the atrocities of daily life on the Western Front, the youthful Cornwall's
love of life and adventure was slowly tempered by a world-weary cynicism.
Nevertheless he proved himself to be a capable and highly intelligent officer
on many occasions, and was routinely selected for special duties such as trench
raids and reconnaissance patrols (to the mortification of the men under his
command). Eventually, it was one such special duty that afforded Cornwall his
first glimpse of the incomprehensible forces that lurk at the fringes of
mundane experience.
In 1916 there were widespread rumours in
the trenches that cannibalistic 'dog men' had been seen roaming the
battlefields and feeding on the fallen. The British High Command had no idea as
to their source, or indeed what substance they might have, but they were common
enough for Field Marshall Haig to become concerned at the effect they were
having on the men's morale. Seeking to debunk the rumours, Haig ordered Army
Intelligence to organise a fact-finding mission into No Man's Land. The
operation was code named DEATHWATCH, and Cornwall and his men were selected to
go 'over the top' and investigate. They soon discovered a series of tunnels
under the battlefield that were clearly not the product of human engineering.
Nor were they uninhabited. After a brief but bloody struggle, Cornwall's men
were able to clear the tunnels of the inhuman things that lived in them using
gas and grenades. Realising the High Command were unlikely to take their
stories of grave monsters and charnel gods seriously, Cornwall ordered his men
to report that what they had encountered was a group of shell-shocked,
cannibalistic deserters - which of course was exactly what the High Command
wanted to hear. As a reward Cornwall was transferred to intelligence duties,
planning special operations behind enemy lines. Four months after he left the
front all the other DEATHWATCH survivors were killed at the Somme, leaving
Cornwall alone with the knowledge of the other-worldly things that gorged
themselves on human flesh in the blood and mud.
At the end of the war Cornwall stayed in
the Army, but found himself permanently attached to intelligence duties. In
effect he was now a full-time SIS Officer, and served in Cyprus, Palestine and
the Suez before finally being assigned to the Istanbul station in 1924 as a
military attaché. By this time, both of Cornwall's parents were dead and he had
inherited a modest fortune. Cornwall used his wealth to fund his
extra-curricular interests in all things 'preternatural', which had become
something of an obsession with him.
Around the time Cornwall was posted to
Istanbul, the British were facing increasingly stringent opposition in their
Middle Eastern holdings from Islamic fundamentalists. The SIS head of Station
in Istanbul was particularly concerned about the presence of charismatic Arab
leader Selim Makryat in the city; a man who enjoyed not only widespread popular
support, but also appeared to be extremely well connected in Turkish
officialdom. Selim had expressed overtly anti-British sentiments many times in
his public speeches, and his following appeared to be growing larger and
increasingly fanatical. Selim made the British very, very nervous.
Cornwall's initial task was to placate the
HoS's fear that Selim had links to the Comintern. Whilst he was able to quickly
put the issue to rest, the strange fates of the agents he employed to acquire
this knowledge - they either became fanatical devotees of Selim almost
overnight or disappeared completely - convinced Cornwall further investigation
was required. It took him a great deal of time and money to discover the truth.
Selim's public persona as a fanatical Islamic fundamentalist leader was just a
front. Selim and his inner circle (which included several high-ranking
government officials) were members of a secret society known as the Brothers of
the Skin. Claiming a lineage that could be traced back to the Crusades, the
Brothers worshipped ancient desert gods and djinn, including a pre-Moslem pagan
deity known as the Skinless One. After an attempt was made on his life using
preternatural means, Cornwall hit back by planting evidence on several of
Selim's close associates and exposing them as traito rs to the Ataturk
Government. All were subsequently tried and executed. Without the political
protection of his lieutenants, persons unknown then assassinated Selim shortly
after. Rumours abounded at the British Embassy that Cornwall had somehow been
behind that as well.
Whilst a success in SIS terms, the Foreign
Office was not pleased with the outcome. The Turkish government were
embarrassed by Cornwall's accusations, and the Foreign Office had to admit that
they were spying on them as well, putting a severe strain on Anglo-Turkish
relations. In the aftermath of the scandal, Cornwall begrudgingly resigned his
commission, fully intending to retire from public life and write about
preternatural phenomena from a seafront property he'd purchased with his
inheritance, close to where he was born. It was at this point, however, that
Cornwall was approached by the strange and awkward figure of Commander
Frederick Ramsey - formerly of the Admiralty's Naval Intelligence Department
and now head of MI-13 - the Foreign Office's Special Reconnaissance Section.
These were hard times for MI-13; the
former head of SIS - the legendary Mansfield Cumming - had always seen the
Special Reconnaissance Section as his intelligence ace in the hole, but his
successor Admiral Hugh Sinclair was rather more sceptical. Considered something
of an 'eccentric' even by his close friends, Ramsey was unsuited to fighting
the bureaucratic battles needed to keep the department afloat; nor did he enjoy
the kind of influential connections that might have helped, having relied far
too heavily on his close relationship with the former 'C'. Despite the
humiliating conclusion to his career with SIS, however, Cornwall still enjoyed
the good favour of many senior SIS officers, and so Ramsey persuaded him to
come out of retirement and join MI-13 as his assistant, placating Sinclair and
effectively running the department whilst Ramsey continued obsessive quest for
the truth. When Ramsey died in 1932, Cornwall was quickly appointed his
successor.
Whilst a lack of funding imposed severe
limits on what could be accomplished at MI-13, Cornwall was determined to make
the best use of the resources that he had, and fostered a large network of
contacts in the occult underground both in Britain and abroad. This proved
vital to the survival of MI-13 in the run up to World War Two, as the network
yielded a steady stream of low-grade but extremely interesting intelligence on
the occult interests of the Nazi High Command. Whilst not everyone in the War
Office took Cornwall's reports seriously, there was enough interest to justify
the department's continued existence. For Cornwall, the intelligence he
received made for uncomfortable reading; he was able to track over a number of
years the evolution of a super-secret department within the SS with
responsibility for using the occult as a weapon of war. Access to decrypts
finally allowed Cornwall to confirm the existence of this unit - the Karotechia
- in late 1939.
MI-13 by this time, however, consisted of
only a few small, unregarded offices in Whitehall, and was not in a position to
act on this intelligence. Cornwall was running MI-13's network almost
single-handedly, and given his extensive experience of the Middle East, there
was considerable pressure on him from SIS to dissolve MI-13 and transfer out to
the newly formed SIME station in Cairo. Then one of Ramsey's retired 'talents'
- Amanda Chalmers - had a premonition concerning the impending advance of
German troops into Belgium and France, including details of the British rout at
Dunkirk. Taking his chance, Cornwall sealed the details of Chalmer's prediction
into an envelope and had it delivered to Prime Minister Winston Churchill with
instructions that it should not be opened until June 5th. When Churchill did
open the envelope - the day after Dunkirk - he saw that Chalmers had precisely
predicted the events of the last few days. He became a believer. Bypassing the
other heads of service, including Cornwall' s nominal superior, the newly
appointed 'C' Stewart Menzies, Churchill invited Cornwall to Downing Street for
a meeting.
After being briefed by Cornwall on the
role of MI-13 and the existence of the Karotechia, Churchill decided to turn
Cornwall's undermanned unit into an inter-agency task force, jointly funded by
the existing intelligence services, and drawing on all of them for personnel
and other resources. Cornwall, promoted to the rank of Colonel, took charge of
the new organisation - PISCES - that he would lead for the next fifteen years.
As with the creation of SOE and BSC, this was a hugely unpopular move within
the existing services as they felt the Prime Minister was undermining them.
Stewart Menzies in particular - incensed that Cornwall had gone to Churchill
behind his back - bore a grudge that would sour relations between SIS and
PISCES for long after his retirement in 1953. Cornwall had taken a calculated
risk in going to Churchill, but it had paid off. Now, as head of Britain's
occulted war effort, the real work began.
Role Playing Notes: The word most often used to describe Cornwall by
those who meet him is 'intense'. He dislikes social pleasantries, often
appearing abrupt and rude. Ruthlessly pragmatic and somewhat cynical in his
outlook, Cornwall is a staunch Imperialist with little faith in the bulk of
mankind's ability to govern its own affairs. Those who know him well will
testify to the tremendous, almost insane sense of stamina and endurance he
exudes; Cornwall frequently gives the impression of someone who has seen and
heard things that would have driven most men mad, but is holding it together
(just) by sheer force of will alone.
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References:
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COUNTDOWN
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p.14-21 |
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Horror
on the Orient Express |
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Cthulu
Live: Delta Green |
p.39-45 |
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STR: 12 |
DEX: 13 |
CON: 15 |
SIZ: 11 |
INT: 16 |
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APP: 10 |
POW: 18 |
EDU: 20 |
SAN: 40 |
HP: 13 |
DOB: 1888
Race: Caucasian
Nationality: British
Damage Bonus: 0
Education: Sandhurst College
Skills: Accounting 30%, Anthropology 21%, Archaeology 16%,
Bargain 55%, Conceal 35%, Credit Rating 65%, Cthulu Mythos 19%, Fast Talk 45%,
History 45%, Library Use 45%, Navigate 40%, Occult 55%, Persuade 60%,
Psychology 65%, Spot Hidden 45%
Languages: English 100%, German 65%, Turkish 50%, Arabic 44%,
Hebrew 39%
Attacks:
Fist/Punch 60%
Grapple: 35%
Handgun: 70%
Rifle: 52%
Spells: None
Magic Items: None
Physical Description: Cornwall is tall, lean and wiry. Despite
his age, he looks like (and is) a tough customer. His skin is leathery and worn
from his years in the sun, whilst his hair has turned grey and begun to recede.
He rarely smiles and his stare could best be described as 'piercing'.
Original content for this page is copyright 2003 Nick Brownlow and may be freely copied, posted on other websites, or used in other media in whole or in part with the following mandatory conditions imposed on usage: (1) any usage must respect and protect copyrights on all material, and specifically must obey restrictions placed on use by Pagan Publishing on its copyrighted material, and (2) regardless of alterations or additions, Nick Brownlow must be credited as author of parts © Nick Brownlow.
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