Cassio Montagna/Trivia

* Cassio's character design is heavily based on Polyphia's guitarist Tim Henson and the band's known persona.
	+ The use of Polyphia as a part of Cassio's character and its association with Prosciutto stems from the music video "40oz", which four elderly women are seen playing instruments in place of the band members.
	+ Cassio's ability to reverse flow works as a foil for Prosciutto's ability to age others; while Prosciutto's ability takes items "forward", Cassio's takes items "backwards".
* Compared to other original characters in the Hitman Team, there is no significant character reasoning behind Cassio's name being chosen. The name is famously known in the play *Othello*, where the character Michael Cassio is described as young, good-looking, and flirtatious lieutenant, but the fact was only known after the name was chosen.
	+ In the play, Cassio is accused of sleeping with the titular Othello's wife in order for the antagonist Iago to take Cassio's newly promoted position. However, Cassio is the one who ultimately chosen as Othello's successor and punishes Iago for his crimes.
	+ Cassio is also described to be naïve and innocent as a child, trusting others without being aware of their intentions, and his character traits is what causes Othello to meet his demise.
* Cassio likes smoking Malboro Regular cigarettes, or any Malboro brand, due to it being the most readily gifted to him when he was a street fighter. However, he is willing to smoke any brand if it is available.
* According to the team's documentation, Cassio's code name is Ulivo, which is Italian for "olive". Olives themselves are revered and symbolize wisdom, fertility, power, and purity in various cultures.
	+ According to Roman civil engineer Vitruvius, charred olive wood are best for tying together walls and foundation due to its longevity and durability. Olio considers Cassio to be his foundation to keep him grounded and Taehyung often talked about how his mentor is strong both mentally and physically.
	+ Olives, and olive oil especially, hold significance in Italian culture, as both are not only is used in various Italian dishes but olive oil is especially used in Roman Catholic ceremonies throughout history and even today.
	+ The spelling of "olive" used is not meant as a reference to the Italian center-left political parties known collectively as "The Olive Tree", or L'Ulivo. The alternative spelling of olive is "oliva", which would have been too feminine to Cassio's liking.

## Notes from the Author

Cassio was an interesting character to start with. I knew I wanted to create a Polyphia-based Stand user before creating the series as a gift to my significant other at the time. It was slightly difficult, given how Polyphia subverts the expectations of how rock bands would display themselves- think dripping in Gucci while holding little white dogs but making it look like grandmothers are shredding on guitars- and I initially didn't think having a character to reference Prosciutto would make sense because of that; Prosciutto himself is a serious man. However, hearing The Grateful Dead's music and its use of fusing genres to create an eclectic style heavily reminded me of Polyphia's own style, especially with their albums *New Levels New Devils* and *The Most Hated*. I started to dig deeper into the music videos of Polyphia to figure out what kind of power someone with such a Stand could have, even watching Tim Henson's videos explaining how he made his tracks, when I stumbled upon the music video for "O.D.". The last part of the video showed items being destroyed but then put into reverse, and I thought, "why not make a Stand out of that?". That was part of why I initially had the Stand only called New Levels New Devils, but then decided to incorporate all of Polyphia instead after hearing their *Renaissance* album. Plus, the music video for "40oz" kind of sealed the deal to make Cassio be the stand in for Prosciutto.

The GOAT ability came from nowhere, and I had to use it to reference the silliness the band has but also thought it would be funny to show Cassio with a bunch of goats everywhere. I think maybe in his childhood he had some sort of experience with a goat in a petting zoo that stuck with him and that's why you hallucinate goats when GOAT is activated. Cassio probably finds that effect embarassing, but he doesn't take it for granted; that probably saved his life more times than he thought it would.

Cassio was originally just Prosciutto's younger half-brother. In the original backstory for Prosciutto where he lives long enough to be found by his team, Prosciutto kills his mother in front of his younger brother, who basically tells his brother to get away from him after witnessing what Prosciutto did. But I felt like it would have been way more powerful and sad if they were identical brothers to show the effects of drug abuse, emotional abuse, and how it can affect a person compared to someone who is genetically like them but unaffected. There's a brotherhood these two shared, and I felt like it would be really felt if they were twins instead. So, I altered it, thinking that Taehyung would be the older brother to Pesci and Cassio would be the younger one. It would make their "reunion" when Cassio died more significant when you see how the two brothers had differ and what could have happened if Prosciutto didn't die. I like to think that Cassio and Olio had the conversation with themselves where they wonder what would have happened if they died and their loved one continued to live on; would their loved on (Prosciutto and Risotto) end up being mafiosos like them? Proceed to both of them thinking such a scenario is silly. And then maybe the original Prosciutto and Risotto have thought of the same thing too!

I knew that with a Polyphia Stand user, I had to make the user look like Tim Henson. He stands out in terms of appearances due to being the band's frontman but also having a very feminine, rather soft, appearance contrasted with his attitude and multiple tattoos. Fun fact, which I found out after making Cassio, Tim Henson is actually biracial- half White and half Chinese! Tim's one of those people that look like an anime character in real life, and he's an anime lover himself, so I wanted to have Cassio match that. I did the same thing for Zura too; the both of them have artists that just look like anime characters. It's not even funny. Cassio's style eeply contrasts Prosciutto's more up-tight, prim and proper appearance with his suit and tied back hair. Cassio is just wearing a messy mullet with tattoos going down his arms and neck, smoking as if he doesn't have any lungs, and almost saying "fuck you" to gender roles. He's more up in your face with the luxury, with his shirt being straight up custom Gucci and wearing expensive jewelry to match, compared to Prosciutto's more "wealth whispers" approach. Both still look hella tired and rugged from years of trauma and experience though, but both look like they match with each other despite seemingly clashing.

Despite not looking like a stereotypical mafioso, despite not looking like his brother Prosciutto, he still can command the room and has a formidable Stand to back him up. That's what I really like about Cassio. He's a character that entices you without even doing much enticing himself. I think that's what makes him a good candidate for being third-in-command; where you have two strong personalities leading, it's best to balance it out with a calmer, simpler one, and that's what Cassio represents. In a way, he's like ATLA's Toph, but much more chill. He has his moments where he does show off a stronger personality and deeper characterization, but it's not just because. I didn't want him to be a copy-paste of his brother, so I hope that I was able to do that when writing and creating his character.