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The Rag and Bone Man is the secretive mime-lord of II-4 Cohort, also known as Camden. It is unknown what his clairvoyance is.

Biography[]

History[]

No one knows who the Rag and Bone Man is. He's been mime-lord of II-4 since Nick Nygård joined the syndicate. Even Jaxon Hall hasn't seen him. All that's known about him is that he is especially vicious and that he and the Abbess are believed to have bad blood between them for some unknown reason. The Rag and Bone Man lives "a wretched sort of subterranean existence, shunning all human contact, speaking only through his mollishers."[1] He became a mime-lord during Jed Bickford's reign. He does keep the Unnatural Assembly posted on his section's changes. He's had three mollishers that people know of. The first one's name is unknown, the second was the Jacobite, and the current one is La Chiffonnière, who became his mollisher in February 2059. The name of his gang is the Rag Dolls. He operates an underground operation known as the gray market.

The Mime Order[]

The Rag and Bone Man does not attend the meeting of the Unnatural Assembly after Haymarket Hector's death.

Paige Mahoney is able to use the golden cord to find Warden, who is being held captive by the Rag and Bone Man in his den, the Interchange. She rescues Warden successfully.

The Rag and Bone Man sends two of his Rag Dolls to murder Paige, but they are unsuccessful. Paige finds a piece of silk stained with Hector's blood on one of them. Clearly they were supposed to frame Hector's murder on her.

Following the scrimmage, Ivy Jacob tells her story before the Unnatural Assembly. She explains that she was once mollisher to the Rag and Bone Man, who was selling voyants to Scion through the gray market. Several mime-lords and mime-queens, including Haymarket Hector and the Abbess, were involved in this trafficking ring. When Ivy tried to expose it, the Rag and Bone Man sent her to Sheol I, along with those she had unknowingly helped put there. The gray market is disbanded, but the the Rag and Bone Man has escaped justice and his whereabouts are unknown.

The Song Rising[]

While imprisoned in the Archon, Paige learns that the Rag and Bone Man arranged the murder of Cutmouth on Jaxon Hall's orders.

The Mask Falling[]

Warden and Paige discover that the Rag and Bone Man has escaped to Paris. He has restarted the gray market under the name the Man in the Iron Mask. He has made a deal with the Paris syndicate, Le Nouveau Régime, to buy clairvoyants for Sheol II. He is working with Jaxon and Nashira. His main hunting ground is Rue Montmartre. He is seen by Paige visiting Georges Benoît Ménard. The Rag and Bone Man essentially acts like a bounty hunter. He sells the credit for the capture of Michael Wren to Ménard.

Paige discovers that the Rag and Bone Man's true identity. He is Alfred, from Grub Street and part of the Spiritus Club. Alfred had plucked Jaxon from a garret and shown his words to the citadel. Alfred had profited from the bloodshed On the Merits had left in its wake. Alfred had "stitched a monster into being." He had appeared harmless, just a man with a passion for good literature and a quaint little office. Alfred had known Jaxon since before Jaxon had been taken to Sheol I. Paige confirms that it was in fact Alfred who edited The Rephaite Revelation to make it glorify the Sargas. The Rag and Bone Man has a been carved up by Jaxon. He tells Paige that Jaxon was furious with him for selling Paige to the gray market and had told him not to ever touch a hair on her head again. But the Rag and Bone Man had tried to kill her before the scrimmage. So Jaxon found him and tortured him. He has a wreath of flowers on his chest from Jaxon for Paige. Paige finishes off the Rag and Bone Man.

Physical Description[]

No one knows what he looks like. He wears a cap and cloth to cover his identity. The yellow cloth mask covers his face and neck. When he moves to Paris, he gets a new disguise that's a helmet-like contraption. He still wears his dirty greatcoat though, and smells foul. He wears gloves and steel-capped boots. When Paige reveals his true identity, he has thin gray hair and a crooked mouth. He has an unusual aura. The most she can say about his aura is that he has one. The hollowness reminds her of a Buzzer. His voice sounds strange and too deep, as if it has been mechanically altered.

Personality[]

The Rag and Bone Man is exceptionally violent, even for a mime-lord. He's also incredibly secretive. Paige can feel his dreamscape, but it's guarded.

Trivia[]

  • He is capable of cloaking his aura.
  • Jaxon says that the Rag and Bone Man's name implies osteomancy.

Appearances[]

References[]

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