Bastuda Martyr

—Anders Eppli, over the phone to Klarisa regarding the **Bastuda Martyr**

The **Bastuda Martyr** is the pseudonym of an unidentified serial killer active and currently at-large in **Jade City**.

They were first mentioned in an incident report that appeared in **"Midnight Call"** which detailed one of their murder scenes. "The Martyr" murdered two young women at the Club 290 nightclub in Jade City on December 30th, 2697. Both of the murders committed by this individual involved the rape and mutilation of the victims, after which they forced emergency calls using the victims information to notify the police to their precise location. The victims were former employees of the Club who were terminated for inactivity despite having been reported missing a month prior, which has complicated the police's murder investigation.

## Name

The name "Bastuda Martyr" originates from a transactional record of a Club 290 patron purchasing a private room using a crypto wallet on their hand-augment. Interestingly the second name, *Martyr* means "a person who is killed or made to suffer for their beliefs (especially their religious beliefs)". While there are many theories as to the beliefs or reasons why the killer made this alias, their true identity is still a mystery.

## Background

On December 30th, 2697, the HYPD received a silent emergency call from the Pleasuredome Highrises Club 290 by one Fey Stiletto; after dispatch made several attempts to get a response out of her, the call abruptly disconnected. Shortly after, a second call came in from Lily Honeycombe that was also silent before disconnecting. Due to the suspicious nature of the calls, Senior Detective Klarisa Fevroniya was dispatched to further investigate. While on her way, dispatch notified her of multiple automatic alerts regarding an 11-72A suspect on scene. However, when she arrived the club appeared to be in no state of distress. When club staff were questioned about the suspect in question, they confirmed an individual matching the description had come in to purchase a room, although the purchase was found to be fraudulent and their room had been locked down since.

While attempting to locate the 11-72A inside their private room, Klarisa found the bodies of two women dismembered and mutilated, laying naked in bed covered in their own blood. Forensics teams later identified the women through DNA-evidence found on scene as Fey Stiletto and Lily Honeycombe — the original cold callers; the women were former employees of the club who had been mentioned in missing persons reports filed a month prior. Future subpoenas into the club's transactional records confirmed the purchase was done with a crypto wallet using the alias "Bastuda Martyr"; when police obtained the security footage from the day of the murders, they found out all of the camera feeds had been smudged around the timeframe when "The Martyr" was in the nightclub, leaving them with no physical description to positively ID the killer.

## Investigation

The investigation into the Bastuda Martyr is being led by Senior Detective Klarisa Fevroniya and Detective Anders Eppli. In the days following the murder, they made significant headway in breaking down the sequence of events leading up to the murder as well as a potential modus operandi. Anders discovered that none of the victims' properties, including their apartments and personal vehicles, had been affected while they were missing; he also found it suspicious that they were able to make emergency calls seemingly at the same time as the murder, leading him to believe it was a deliberate move by the murderer to lure police there.

Klarisa and Anders found further discrepancies in the testimony given to them by the club management, especially Lucas Gilliray, who was first on scene and responsible for locking down the room initially. Gilliray claims in his statements that he "knew about the room owner issue" through the fraudulent purchase, but that he "did not physically see anyone enter or leave that room"; however he also stated during the initial questioning on scene that he "saw someone matching the description with a power weapon," despite no description being provided. When asked about the victims employment, he informed them he was the one who approved their termination, stating he was "following the club's employee policies on inactivity" and that he was "not made aware of their disappearance." It is unclear whether he was contacted about the missing persons reports and he knowingly ignored them or if the reporting officers failed to communicate them to the club.

Gilliray's statements do not corroborate the fact that at no point while "The Martyr" had their private room locked down did he see anyone enter or exit the room, suggesting that he either knowingly locked it down when the murders took place, or after the murders had already been done. Furthermore, Anders deduced Gilliray slipped up in confirming the 11-72A call despite Klarisa not providing him with a physical description, proving that Gilliray was aware *someone* was armed in the club at some point prior to him locking that room down. This has led the investigation to conclude that there is an accomplice connected to the murders, who knowingly allowed or assisted the murderer in getting the women back to where they were originally abducted from and having them killed after they were no longer needed by their captors.

## Search for Suspects

While the Club 290 staff are suspected of being accomplices to the murders that occurred on December 30th, 2697, the search for Bastuda Martyr is still ongoing.

## Trivia

### Character Basis

* The Bastuda Martyr draws inspiration from the bloody and violent history of Ireland, and is felt through various influences:
	+ Their name alludes to Castlemartyr, a town infamous for the hanging and killing of many Irishmen for martyrdom.
		- *Bastuda* is similar to the Occitan word *bastide*, from Latin *bastita*, meaning "fortress, building."
	+ Their method of killing involves a blunt weapon, which alludes to the tendency for old Irish warriors to use axes and clubs.

### Story

* The Bastuda Martyr's murders were the first case Anders investigated in 2698, with "The Martyr" serving as an antagonist in his story.
* They have been shown to execute their victims, dismember and mutilate their corpses, and then notify the police to their whereabouts.

## References

1. ↑ A suspect armed with a power weapon. Power weapons are lethal or non-lethal devices with an integrated power source which directs energy into the device when used, including electric weapons, electromagnetic pulse weapons, electroshock weapons, electrothermic weapons, laser weapons and plasma weapons.

Under Coalition law, it is illegal for any supranational citizen or other civilian under its jurisdiction to be in possession of these weapons. Former CFA personnel that were granted an honorable discharge or are otherwise registered veterans are permitted to continue carrying their power weapons provided they were personally purchased in the line of duty, and not issued to them on logistical requisition. Businesses may also apply for special permits to operate selectively approved models of power weapons for security purposes; these permits allow all employees of the permitted role or higher to carry them anytime they are at work.