Father Diavolo/History

Father Diavolo was born Niccolò de Occidente in Cagliari, Sardinia.

## Childhood and Life as a Priest and Father

Niccolò was born as an only child to an aspiring politician and his wife, and not much is known about his childhood due to it being lost to history. When Niccolò was five, his father divorced his mother and left both her and child destitute. Despite not knowing exactly what his father did to get them in such a situation, Niccolò learned that his father used his financial and political power to do so. The action also ensured that not only was Niccolò forced to be in his mother's sole custody but also that his mother's own reputation is ruined to the point where she was completely ostracized from the small Sardinia village they lived in. Niccolò's mother died soon after and Niccolò himself was placed at the mercy of his neighbors and other children, who continued to abuse him due to his association to his mother. Meanwhile, his father continued to abandon him and focused more on gaining power in business and politics, taking advantage of the aftereffect of World War II. His father became known for being powerful and picking those deemed politically or financially "weak" to establish further dominance. When Niccolò was 12, he learned that his father, at the height of his power, was brutally assassinated by a rival. Niccolò came to the conclusion that his father didn't die because he was murdered but because he was unable to maintain the vas but came to the conclusion that his father died because he was unable to maintain the power he has garnered. He vowed to gain power the way his father had but to keep it for as long as possible.

It is his desire for power that made Niccolò decide to be a Catholic priest. Initially, Niccolò feigned interest and devotion to Catholicism to avoid attention as he did what he pleased, and found the unique yet seemingly safe power the clergy had was enough to satisfy his desire to have power. He excelled in his study and quickly became ordained at age 20 due to a high demand for priests to serve in Sardinia at the time. As a priest, Niccolò was immediately respected as a man of God and nearly worshipped by the conservative community of his village as such. He grew to love abusing the fact that he could simply get away with anything he desired - no one would dare accuse a priest of being immoral - and he relished using his reputation as a respected clergyman of his hometown. He quickly used his newfound reputation to get away with crimes like fraud and murder, and even used his supposed celibacy to seduce women- from rich, affluent wives and the lowest prostitutes- along with other crimes related to such. He often frequented prisons to provide services due to lack of funding in the prisons to have a permanent chaplain, frequenting the Primadonna State Prison for Incarcerated Women the most. Despite the prison being strict with having male visitors, Father Diavolo's status as a priest allowed him to not only visit the prison frequently without issue but also have close, often private, unsupervised interactions with the prisoners.

His act of seducing and sleeping with women could be hidden due to him believing to be infertile. It wasn't until he slept with a female prisoner that he discovered his action had led to the conception of Solido Nasto. Not wanting to have children and too avoid taking accountability for his actions, he bribed nd manipulate enough people, including the prisoner, to believe that she was never pregnant, that she was simply imagining symptoms of a pregnancy caused by an old lover that died more than two years ago. Some of people who were bribed were eventually replaced by new employees who were unware of the encounter, making the pregnancy more of an enigma. Niccolò further used his reputation as a priest to proclaim Solido's birth as a Christian miracle and feigned a kind heart by willingly adopting his birth son in his own right while hiding the fact that he was Solido's real father. He further convinced the prison staff to separate mother and son and did what he can to destroy whatever evidence he could find regarding Solido's origins.

The community believed that Niccolò was merely a strict parent due to his Catholic views, but in reality was emotionally abusive to his son. This was in part to control him, taking advantage of the abuse to discourage his son from further questioning his authority. As a result, Solido gained a reputation of being cowardly and bullied by those who wanted to take advantage of it- including his own father. Niccolò was able to justify his actions by using Catholic doctrine and playing in favor of conservative views regarding child-rearing. However, part of the reason why Niccolò was abusive came from him developing jealous thoughts about Solido. Despite Solido being a known coward and ridiculed as a result by the community, his youth and good nature became an admirable aspect of his character. As a result, Solido became beloved and attention suddenly shifted from Niccolò to his son. Niccolò found his powers as a priest waning, something he didn't realize would happen if he took Solido in as a son, and grew to hate Solido for gaining this "power". Niccolò often wondered whether he should remain a priest and be satisfied with his current reputation and power or pursue other ventures, worrying about the fallout that would happen if he did so. These thoughts continued to haunt him as Solido grew older and began to be curious about his past.

He became especially curious when Donatella came to visit the village from Thailand. Solido and Donatella immediately got along, which made them gain a reputation as adorable sweethearts who are destined to marry and establish a family. Niccolò grew jealous of Solido's new reputation as well as had his own obsession with Donatella, but realized that Donatella was starting to make Solido to further investigate his past. This is due to Donatella sharing her culture as Thai, which Solido discovered to be a part of his culture due to hearing in the past that his birth mother was half-Thai. When Solido tried to probe further into his past by asking Niccolò questions, Niccolò began to restrict Solido from interacting with Donatella under the guise of conservative views on courtship and claimed that Donatella was merely a whore that was trying to seduce Solido and damn him to hell as a result. Despite being threatened if it continued to see her or dive deeper into his past, Solido continued to see Donatella privately and the two worked together to find more info about who Solido was.

## Death of Solido Nasto and Discovery of Arrows

Eventually, Solido's findings let him to contact his mother, who had just been released from prison. Niccolò was unable to stop him from meeting and discovering the truth of his birth and decided to get rid of his son once and for all. When Solido came home, believing that Niccolò was in the spare room that was about to be made as a garage, he found his mother hidden underneath the excavated area of the room. Niccolò stood behind his son with a pickaxe and killed him immediately. He then set fire to the entire village to hide his crimes and make it look like it was a tragic fire that happened out of nowhere. Solido was believed to be sent away to the military right before in order to be a sailor, and the body of Niccolò was never recovered. Donatella, who had left Sardinia prior to Solido meeting his birth mother, believed the lie about Solido being sent away and attempted to reach out to him after the fire.

Meanwhile, Niccolò managed to escape to Egypt with little savings. He found himself working as an excavator to earn extra money when he discovered the Arrows and gained his Stand Dark Twisted Fantasy when he scrapped himself from the tip. Discovering such an unusual, new power, he decided to sell most of the arrows and return to Italy with a new identity to create a mafia syndicate. Relishing his new power, he used secrecy and fear to maintain his identity and adopted his alias "Father Diavolo" to establish Passione's familial culture. As a result of Dark Twisted Fantasy's powers, he develops a split personality named Solido Doppio, which represented Solido Nasto's personality, and used his new persona as a unofficial "second-in-command".