"Sometimes, the best way to a man's heart really is through his stomach."
Liliana Falcone is a skilled Tilean assassin who often intervenes with her deadly skills in the quarrels of nobles and the wealthy.[1d]
The different city-states of Tilea coexist in a constant climate of plots and betrayals. The balance of power between the different families is continually reeling from one side to the other, and this is as much because of disputes on the battlefields as it is because of the economic wars and trade agreements that constantly shift between them.[1d]
However, in both cases, the murderers play a very important role in this correlation of forces. Among all the independent specialists that can be hired, there is one woman who stands out among all the others: Liliana Falcone.[1d]
History[]
Origins[]
Liliana Falcone boasts about her successful contracts with three other assassins: Rodrigo di Morte, Klaus Van Der Loehm, and Gunnar Holtz.[1a]
Liliana Falcone has dedicated her life to improving her skills in the art of murder, and to profiting from them. She believes each new job represents an opportunity to improve yourself. She began in the profession under the wing of the legendary Tilean assassin Marcello Falco, called "the Hawk", who instructed her in the doctrines of the profession to ensure her success. The man now pretends to be a retired merchant of Remas.[1d]
This, together with her tenacity and the strategic vision that she had demonstrated, led Falcone to receive the code name the "Bird of Prey." How to travel in that world as a woman was the first lesson she learned on her own. The men of the Old World constantly make the mistake of underestimating or despising her because of her gender have ended up paying with their lives. Falcone only accepts commissions for which her employers offer a good fee, but the results tend to be indisputable.[1d]
Liliana Falcone is an extremely methodical killer. She believes plans are as subtle as they are intricate, and a skilled assassin must think about how to achieve their goal from the moment they accept the job. The assassin must study the routines of their targets and the environment in which they move carefully. One should inquire about all these routines and any other individuals that surround the person who has to be eliminated and might represent a further obstacle.[1d]
Not even her employers are spared form her intense scrutiny. Falcone plans months in advance how to kill her victims. But if she is characterized by anything, it is by her surprising creativity; it is said that she has completed more than fifty jobs and all in different ways. She has no qualms about employing any method needed to complete the contract, nor does she hesitate to use whatever resources are available to her in order to carry out her plans. Falcone knows how to be patient and wait for the precise moment in which to catch her targets by surprise, but when the moment comes she will not avoid a direct confrontation if required.[1d]
Whether through the use of devious plots, poison, or by force of arms, Liliana Falcone always finds a way to overcome all obstacles to kill her target and collect her well-earned reward.[1d]
At some point during her career, Falcone had slain 73 victims.[1a]
Death of Von Staubach[]
While carrying out a contract in the city-state of Miragliano, Falcone killed Von Staubach, an Imperial noble on whom a bounty of 500 ducats was placed. Falcone, first disguised Pietro, a common cutthroat of Miragliano, and later herself as Vespero "The Wasp", the most famous duellist in Tilea, to successfully kill Von Staubach in a duel.[1a]
Tobaro Assassinations[]
As per the contract, Falcone managed to damage the republican-sympathizing houses of Montagui and Capuletto in Tobaro. She did so by indirectly inducing Roberto Montagui to assassinate the head of the Capuletto family in the Temple of Morr in the city for the sake of his wife Raphaella Capuletto.[1b]
Cauto Assassination[]
Falcone slew Giuseppi Cauto, a powerful merchant of the city-state of Trantio, who had gotten rich thanks to the trade of Tilea with Empire through the trade route that passes through the Border Princes. The assassination was commissioned by Heinrich Klug, a member of a cartel of Marienburg merchants who wanted to make sure his city remained the primary trade route between Tilea and the Empire.[1c]
Falcone asked Madame Rosaria, an Apothecary who claimed to have been nurse of Borgio the Besieger, for help in carrying out Cauto's assassination.[1c]
Cassari Assassination[]
Falcone slew Enrico Cassari on behalf of Lorenzo Lupo, the Prince of Luccini, for a reward of 1000 ducats. Cassari, nicknamed "Volante", was a paymaster who had sold out the army of Luccini to the enemy during its attempted siege of Remas.[1d]
During this job Falcone slew the infamous mercenary Hellbrandt Grimm and survived to tell the tale.[1d]
Trivia[]
Liliana Falcone may be a reference to the DC Comics character Sofia Falcone, a ruthless, vengeful, and manipulative crime lord in Gotham City. The surname "Falcone," along with Liliana's aesthetic and background, suggests a possible homage to Sofia Falcone, who is known for her powerful and cunning presence in Gotham's criminal underworld.