Michael Conway

Reasonably tall at 5'11'' but not enough to be particularly intimidating, Michael has always had a very approachable air about him. When he smiles, he smiles with his light blue eyes as well as his mouth, giving him a very genuine quality that can often get him out of trouble if necessary. He keeps his blond hair short, having never been particularly bothered about his appearance - even if others have accused him in the past of having 'designer stubble'. Michael's quite well-built and his very casual dress sense means he can usually be found wearing jeans and a shirt even on more formal occasions.

When most people meet Michael, they're often struck by his honesty - he'll be the first to admit that his number one priority is looking after his own interests. Of course, some would argue that if he wasn't preoccupied with the rest of the world Michael would never have joined the Delegates of Themis in the first place, but the truth isn't quite as simple as that. Deep down, Michael isn't quite as much of a mercenary as he'd have many people think, and he's also far smarter than he'll often let on. He'll freely confess to having flexible loyalties, although it's not necessarily true - he just has a tendency to keep people guessing about everything, including his affiliations. Distancing himself from his family caused him to build up several walls, and his inherent distrust of people often leads him to be secretive and not give much away.

Nonetheless, to people he meets he comes across as very easy to get along with, particularly because he'd much rather ask people questions about themselves and act genuinely interested in their answers than reveal anything about himself. Michael's not particularly short-tempered and it takes quite a lot to get him angry, although when he does reach the end of his tether there are very few people who can calm him down. As he very rarely shouts, when he does it's even more impacting than usual. His attitude towards morality, on the other hand, is somewhat of a paradox in itself - he despises the Mafia for what it did to his brother, not because he necessarily believes that all crime is wrong. Michael certainly had no objections to his job as a smuggler and believes most criminal activity can be blamed on the government. He also believes that death can sometimes be a necessary sacrifice and that there's truth in the idea of 'an eye for an eye' - to him, true justice is only served when the punishment fits the crime.

Michael's biggest weakness, by his own admission, is probably how terrible he is at handling money - he's incapable of saving up and very prone to blowing large amounts of cash on a whim. Also quite fond of gambling, Michael frequently ends up completely broke and has to borrow money from somebody. Most recently, that person has more often than not been his cousin Elizabeth Smith.

Michael Cicero was born in Trenton, New Jersey, the second son of Emily and Thomas Cicero. Growing up, the Cicero family was reasonably well-off, although Michael didn't fully understand at the time how his father actually earned a living. As his older brother Henry later explained to Michael, Thomas Cicero 'made a little money on the side' working as what they called a 'wiseguy'. Although Thomas could never be part of the Cosa Nostra himself, since he was only half-Italian, he'd spent many years working for local 'made man' Angelo DeSimone. When Michael later confronted his mother with this knowledge, she told him that she'd always known and that it was the reason she'd married Thomas in the first place. As he grew older, Michael did reasonably well at school but saw his older brother follow in his father's footsteps and was intent on doing the same himself. Once he'd graduated from High School, despite having pretty decent grades, Michael opted not to go to University and instead began some 'light' work in smuggling as preparation for joining his brother and father in working for the Mafia. It wasn't long after that, though, that Michael was to be completely disillusioned with what he saw as a glamorous life as a gangster. His brother didn't come home one night and Michael was informed by his father that he'd been 'whacked' - killed off by members of the Mafia. When his father continued working for them despite what had happened, Michael was disgusted and distanced himself completely from his family as he coped with the grief of losing his older brother.

Disillusioned by his father, Michael left home and decided to change his surname, adopting his mother's maiden name of Conway. Michael believed his mother must be half-decent deep down and that it must have come from somewhere - having never met her family, he naturally began to wonder about them. After some research, he ended up discovering that she'd actually been born into a fairly wealthy Jewish family and had a sister called Jane Eviana. As it eventually transpired, Emily had been the 'rebellious' daughter who had decided to run away, marry a man she'd always known was affiliated with the Mafia and cut off all ties to her own family. Jane, on the other hand, had married well and even had children who Michael had never met. He spent a considerable amount of time tracking down his cousins and, when he eventually met Elizabeth Smith, found a stable pillar he could finally support himself on.

Uncertain of the direction of his life after the death of his brother, Michael drifted from job to job as he tried to find his true calling. He also built up a deep resentment of the justice system during this time, despising the fact that all the people who worked for the Mafia were still on the streets despite the fact that their criminal acts were common knowledge. He first heard of the Delegates of Themis through his cousin and was immediately interested, enthralled by the concept of a job with what he considered to be an important purpose. Ever since, he's been one of Themis's most loyal Delegates and still remains very close to his cousin, affectionately calling her 'Lizzie' and always turning to her when in trouble.