Trilby

Malcolm, alias "Trilby"
	; Trilby from 6 Days a Sacrifice
Vital statistics
Title	The Guide. The Cunning Theif
Gender	Male
Race	Human
Affiliation	Special Talent Project
Appearances	5 Days a Stranger, Trilby's Notes, 6 Days a Sacrifice, Trilby: The Art of Theft

Trilby (born April 11, 1966) is the most notably recurring main character in the Chzo Mythos, and the playable character in 5 Days A Stranger, Trilby's Notes and Trilby: The Art of Theft. His alias comes from the trilby hat he wears, though his real name is never told directly in the series, but it is revealed in the commentary of 7 Days a Skeptic that his real name is Malcolm.

Background[]

Making his living as a professional cat burglar, Trilby is highly skilled in locksmithing, safecracking, stealth, gymnastics, and mechanical engineering. Fashioning himself as gentleman thief, he only steals from the wealthy, trying to justify his thievery with only taking what he feels that people "don't need anymore", preferring to avoid using violence during his break-ins, and often anonymously donating bits of his yield to charity.

Trilby's past is shrouded in mystery. Around 1988 he started his career of cat burglary, but it is apparent that he trained himself and did his first break-ins in Great Britain. For a while he went to the United States after some trouble with his father, but after facing off against a mighty organization known only as "The Company", he decided to head back to Great Britain to do something less hectic by robbing abandoned manors in the English countryside.

At some point he dated a woman named Patricia, who later left him for the lead singer of The Doors. He is uncomfortable around lions.

Trilby always wears his trademark hat, a trilby hat, and his signature is nothing more than an icon resembling it. During his time as a thief, he frequently wore a mask in order to hide his face from cameras and witnesses. However, ever since he signed up with the STP, he stopped wearing a mask altogether. His fame and exploits have gotten him notoriety over the years. After the events of 5 Days a Stranger, Trilby became a media icon, but because of his stealth, police could never pin him down, or even confirm his existence. The STP capitalized on this by making Trilby appear as an urban myth and fictional character, allowing him to easily hide in plain sight whenever the latter conducted missions to suppress occult activities.

Trilby 5days — Trilby in 5 Days a Stranger

5 Days A Stranger[]

Through a contact he learned about a particularly interesting manor, DeFoe Manor. With its owners, Clarence DeFoe and his wife, killed in an apparent murder-suicide, and with no apparent heir, the manor had stood empty for a prolonged period of time, with all its contents intact, ripe for picking, he ends up as the manor's prisoner along with four others: James Fowler, Philip Harty, Simone Taylor and Andrew Jarvis.

Trilby's Notes[]

Four years after the events of 5 Days a Stranger, Trilby is a member of the Ministry of Occultism. Reading about Simone's breakdown in the papers, he decides to have a talk with her. Trilby uses his lockpicks to get into her apartment after receiving no response to his knocks and finds that Simone had been killed by an unknown assailant, although it is implied that the murderer was none other than John DeFoe. He is accused of murdering her, but is acquitted when the Ministry investigated and discovers the crime's supernatural origin. Trilby decides to search for any artifacts that might have survived the house fire that destroyed DeFoe Manor and discovers the idol containing John DeFoe's soul at an antiques sale being held at the Clanbronwyn Hotel in Wales. He goes undercover as the art collector Terrance Railby and meets the current holder of the idol, Abed Chahal. Trilby goes to his room where he meets Siobhan O'Malley, an assistant working for Chahal. As they are talking, the hotel suddenly warps into a twisted version of itself, then back. Trilby discovers that the hotel can switch between the World of Technology and Magick, and uses this to his advantage multiple times before discovering the true instigator behind the events at DeFoe Manor; Cabadath, the murderous servant of the eldritch god Chzo.

Trilby and the Ghost[]

Trilby is sent out on a job for the Ministry of Occultism, which we learn is commonly understaffed, and he stumbles upon one of the most sentient and clear ghosts that the Ministry has even encountered. The ghost's name is Greg and he had been killed in a slum fire. His spirit is attached to his half melted computer and as is the case with most teenage boys, he has never kissed a girl and still longs to, specifically his MSN chat pal Nariko. Trilby is not able to convince Greg to depart into the afterlife so he brings him into the Ministry for further study and to help him pass on to the next world. He does so by bringing the computer with him and Greg is forcibly towed along.

Once in the ministry Trilby, with the help of Claire, who happens to be telepathic, try to give Greg the experiences he is looking for so that he can comfortably pass on. When this doesn't work Trilby has the tech department figure out who Nariko is and where she lives in hopes that they can have her come in to sooth Greg into the next life. It turns out that Nariko is a Texan man who had been catfishing.

Trilby closes himself inside a broom closet to think. A while later he comes to Greg and Claire and kindly speaks towards Greg about how amazing of a ghost he is, and that, because of how unique he is, he will be able to do his country a great service by allowing the Ministry to observe him in their lab. Greg feels elated by this, and follows Trilby down the hall, only noticing at the last moment that the "lab" is really just the broom closet Trilby had locked himself in and had drawn the necessary runes of a banishment circle in, causing Greg to be forced into the next world.

Claire comments that Trilby is a devious bastard but Trilby understands that that is why he was hired in the first place.

6 Days a Sacrifice[]

Set in 2189. The Optimology Church uses Trilby clones as guards because of John DeFoe’s fear of him. The clones don't have the original memories of their progenitor, but these can be restored. Trilby clones at first act as antagonists, but they eventually help Theo to defeat Cabadath and destroy the Optimology complex. The Optimology building is destroyed and only one Trilby clone is left alive. He is taken into the Realm of Magick to serve Chzo as a food source until Malcolm Somerset comes and kills him with Frehorn’s blade.

7 Days a Skeptic[]

Set in 2385. Trilby doesn't make physical appearance but still has large role in the plot. The Mephistopheles crew finds a box that serves as the grave of John DeFoe, containing the charred remains of the boy and the idol which contains his soul. Trilby left a letter in the box so that anyone who ever found it would know what was inside.

It explains the box's contents, his role in the DeFoe Manor incident nearly 400 years earlier, and the incalculable danger the wraith from the first game, now named John DeFoe, presents to humans. Trilby had chosen to not destroy the idol, the source of the wraith, believing that the evil would persist in the ashes and spread over a wider area. Trilby then urges whoever finds the letter to eject the box and its contents back into space, as he himself had sent the contents into space in the first place to keep the wraith as far away from humanity as possible.

List of appearances[]

Games[]

Stories[]

Trilby and the Ghost

Trivia[]

Trilby somehow resembles Alucard from the Hellsing franchise. Both wear English hats, formal clothing, have black hair and are incredibly tall.