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Nicolò Di Genova

Immortal of the Old Guard

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Nicolò Di Genova, A.K.A. “Nicky,” is a Canon Character from Image Comic’s The Old Guard Universe. Characterization is pulled from the Graphic Novels by Greg Rucka, and from the Netflix Film adapted from the Graphic Novel.
As Written by Spirit.

Nicolò Di Genova, also known as “Nicky,” is a canon-based immortal character from the Image Comic Universe for The Old Guard. His depiction pulls from both the graphic novels and from the Netflix film.Born in the 11th century, Nicky discovered his immortality when he died fighting as a Milites Christi at the Siege of Jerusalem during the First Crusade. The man who killed him, Yusuf Al-Kaysani (later known as “Joe”), would turn out to also be immortal, and eventually become the love of Nicolo’s life.Over the course of a thousand years, Nicky and Joe travel the globe together, seeking out places where people are suffering and offering their skills as aid. They are joined by fellow immortals Andromache the Scythian, Quynh/Noriko (MIA), Sebastien Le Livre, and Niles Freeman, coming together with purpose to form The Old Guard.

Overall, Nicky appears to be a quiet, easy going individual. He’s generous with his smiles and soft looks, but rarely talks to people he doesn’t know well. Nicky typically allows Joe to speak for the both of them, only voicing an opinion when he has something relevant to add. This doesn’t mean he’s a push over, or lacking in personality. If one can get him enthused about a topic (such as ancient calligraphy or baking), he will shed his typical stoicism & become endearingly animated.It’s not advisable to piss him off. Angry Nicky is terrifying.

Nicky has a straightforward view on Familia. As a young man prior to immortality, the concept of family had meant duty & obligation. After a thousand years, he finds it is far simpler than that. The foundational cornerstone of Nicky’s family is (and always will be) Yusuf. From that foundation, he has built out a familial unit consisting of Andy, Nile, Booker…. Even Quynh, though she is no longer with them in person.Familia is about the people Nicky is willing to die for, again and again. But it’s also about the people he wants to see happy, to see fed and nurtured, to love unapologetically through action as well as word. That these people are not blood-related means nothing.After a thousand years of life to learn about himself, Nicky identifies as demiromantic and demisexual. Though even that seems somewhat disingenuous, since he is utterly and irrevocably devoted to Yusuf in all canon verses. This is non negotiable in his characterization. There will be no other romantic shipping options for Nicky at this time, certainly none in a canon based verse. Alternate Verses may be subject to reconsideration, but it would be heavily dependent on chemistry and organic character development..

Born to a family of seafaring merchants in the city-state of Genoa, Liguria, Nicolò was the fourth (and quietest) of six sons. Though middle class, his family lacked the distinct affluence & political weight to ensure an education for all of their children. So at age 13, Nicolò entered the seminary to apprentice for priesthood. He received an education in literacy & the Latin language, was taught to transcribe bibles & tend gardens for the clergy. At age 20, Nicolò was promoted to sub-deacon. By 1090, he had obtained the position of deacon himself.Not long into Nicky’s priesthood, Saint Hugh of Châteauneuf gave an impassioned sermon at the Church of San Siro in Genoa. His lesson about piety and servitude inspired Nicolò to convert his cause, becoming Milites Christi and traveling to Israel. There he fought in God’s War (later known as the First Crusade), a bloody and dishonorable invasion of the Holy Land that culminated in the 1099 Siege on Jerusalem. Already disillusioned with the morality of his kinsmen, Nicolò fought and died on the battlefield outside the city’s walls. He was slain by a Muslim named Yusuf Al-Kaysani. A man that he killed in return moments before life left his body.Less than twenty four hours after his death, Nicolò came back to life. He rose from that battlefield, only to discover that his enemy had risen as well. They fell upon each other in violence again, each killing the other a second time. And then a third. And so on, for nearly the entire 40 day span of the Siege of Jerusalem. By the time the walls fell and the city was burning, both men had come to realize that death held no sway over them any longer, and killing one another was getting them nowhere. So, horrified and frightened by the things they had witnessed (by the things they themselves had done), Nicolo and Yusuf fled Jerusalem. They spent the next two hundred years traveling together, growing closer than companions and more emotionally intimate than family. They fell in love, and from that love pledged eternal devotion to one another.Nicolò and Yusuf also found other immortals. Or, more accurately, other immortals found them. They banded together with Andromache the Scythian and Quynh (sometimes known as Noriko), fought alongside them when the cause seemed right (the Baussenque Wars, another ill-concieved Crusade, civil unrest and religious persecution). The group was separated when Andromache and Quynh were captured in England, convicted of witchcraft and imprisoned. Nicolò and Yusuf were unable to break them out of prison before the clergy forced Quynh into an Iron Maiden and dropped her to the bottom of the ocean in an unknown location. The three of them spent the next several hundred years trying to find her. They never did.In the 1800s, the team discovered a new Immortal named Booker. A quartet once more, the Old Guard traversed the globe for the next two hundred years, trying to make a difference. They fought in the U.S. Civil War, in World War I and II, in the Spanish Civil War, in the Crimean War, and in the Vitenam War. They helped people in need during civil unrest in Montenegro, in France, in Cuba, in the Congo, even in the U.S. during the Civil Rights Movement. They take jobs and fulfill contracts, staying under the radar as best they can in an increasingly connected world.In 2019, a former contact named Copley arranged a mission for them in Sudan. It ended up being a trap that revealed their secrets to a powerful, wealthy investor named Merrick. One of their own, Booker, betrayed them for a chance at ending his immortality, and Nicky was captured alongside Joe, tortured and experimented upon in the name of Science. He, along with the rest of the team, were rescued by their newest immortal teammate, Nile Freeman. With Andy now mortal, the Old Guard must decide their next move.

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