Moriarty, James

No one on Gothic Earth-- not even Dracula or Imhotep-- is more dangerous than the evil genius, Professor James Moriarty.  He is a machiavellian criminal mastermind, described by the great detective Sherlock Holmes as "the Napoleon of crime". His sheer intelligence-- equal to or greater than that of Holmes-- makes him formidable enough, yet with it comes a daunting secret few have ever understood, a secret that makes him one of the Gothic Earth’s most menacing opponents.

Moriarty is the central organizational force of a large portion of criminal activity in the city of London. He is highly ruthless, an extremely powerful criminal mastermind who is purely adept at committing any atrocity to perfection without losing any sleep over it. He does not directly participate in the activities he plans, but only orchestrates the events.

*"The greatest schemer of all time, the organizer of every devilry, the controlling brain of the underworld, a brain which might have made or marred the destiny of nations—that's the man! But so aloof is he from general suspicion, so immune from criticism, so admirable in his management and self-effacement, that for those very words that you have uttered, he could hale you to a court and emerge with your year's pension as a solatium for his wounded character. [...] Foul-mouthed doctor and slandered professor—such would be your respective roles! That's genius, Watson."*

--Sherlock Holmes

Since Moriarty centered his activities in London, inevitably, he came up against Sherlock Holmes. After a long series of conflicts, Holmes pierced Moriarty's greatest secret-- though he never revealed it to his ally and chronicler Watson, who has never even met Moriarty. In 1891, on the verge of delivering a fatal blow to Moriarty's criminal organization, Sherlock was forced to flee to continental Europe to escape the mastermind's retribution. Moriarty vowed to Holmes that "if you are clever enough to bring destruction upon me, rest assured that I shall do as much to you"

Holmes tried to persuade Watson to return to England for his own safety, knowing that Moriarty would now devote himself entirely to vengeance against the man who destroyed his schemes. But the faithful Watson refused to leave his friend's side and the two of them continued to travel, next going to Switzerland, where they planned to see the majestic Reichenbach Falls.

However, Watson was lured away from Holmes by a distraction Moriarty orchestrated, and when he reached the falls, he found a note from the great detective. It revealed the Holmes knew he was on his way to confront his archenemy alone. Footprints and other evidence showed that Holmes and Moriarty had walked up the muddy, narrow dead end path, and that they had fought. It is also all too clear that during the fight, both fell to their deaths down the waterfall.

In truth, the criminal mastermind survived his conflict with Holmes. He believes the great detective survived as well, and so Moriarty remains in hiding. If Holmes is alive, he is likely hiding from Moriarty in turn.

Cool and calculating, Moriarty prides himself on his ability to predict an opponent’s every move. Only the canniest of Gothic Earth’s heroes, such as the great detective himself, have been able to defeat his ploys. And even still, these plots can never be traced back to Moriarty directly.

Unlike other crime lords, Moriarty pursues crime as a hobby and pastime, though over time it has become his obsession and sole pursuit. For him, crime is an intellectual game, and human beings are his chess pieces. For this reason, the Professor delights in finding opponents who are capable of piercing his stratagems, often treating them with great respect.

With Holmes off the board, Moriarty is constantly looking for new foes to match wits with him, in the same way Holmes constantly sought new mysteries to solve. If he manages to find other adversaries worthy of him, he will hound them night and day, consumed by the only thing that gives his empty life purpose.

As one of the most brilliant criminal minds on Gothic Earth, Moriarty is often sought out by other criminals for his aid-- a "consulting criminal", just as Sherlock Holmes became a consulting detective whose assistance was sought by the police.

According to Holmes, Moriarty is extremely tall and thin, clean-shaven, pale, and ascetic-looking. He has a forehead that "domes out in a white curve", deeply sunken eyes, and shoulders that are "rounded from much study". His face protrudes forward and is always slowly oscillating from side to side "in a curiously reptilian fashion."

## Forbidden Lore

The name Moriarty is an alias, for the mastermind is actually one of the rakshasa, that breed of powerful spirits who wield their malevolent power in the shadows of India. Thus, he possesses inhuman command over the power of illusions and magic. His real name is unpronounceable by human tongues, and no mortal magic is powerful enough to penetrate his disguise, save the *true seeing* spell.

When the British first colonized India, Moriarty became fascinated with the invaders' culture and technology. He traveled amongst them for a time, disguised as one of them, and even went so far as to visit Great Britain itself. When Moriarty returned to his native India, other rakshasa turned against him, saying that Moriarty had betrayed them for the colonizers. Moriarty fled his homeland and went to the only other place he knew — England.

There, the bitter rakshasa forged a false identity for himself. He took on the unassuming role of a simple university professor, but by publishing what he considered to be rudimentary insights-- into subjects such as the algebraic expansion of powers of a binomial or the dynamics of celestial bodies-- he gained a reputation as a mathematical genius. As Moriarty walked in various social circles, he became more and more intrigued with British society, including its rigid customs and etiquette. Eventually, he began pursuing the art of crime, indulging in criminal activities as a mere diversion, a test to see how long he could go before he was caught. This grew into a hobby, and then an obsession. Today, crime is his only source of enjoyment in his long exile from his homeland.

### Lair

Moriarty keeps an inconspicuous townhouse in London. While his home seems quite mundane from the outside, inside, the house is a nightmare concoction of illusions and magic.

No spells or abilities other than Moriarty’s own function within the house. Spatial magic makes the house look much bigger on this inside than it does on the outside. Many of the doors and walls of the Professor’s abode are phantasmal, so an adventurer who enters a room might find that the door she just walked through leads to a room that wasn’t there a moment ago.

## Sources

Moriarty is described for 5th edition D&D, including a full stat block, in *Harker's Handbook* by R P Davis, available at DMsGuild.com