The Colonel’s been around for twenty or so years, running the Treasure Chest—an enormous paddle boat that he turned into a floating casino a while back. He caters to locals and tourists alike, and he employs many of the surrounding parish’s population. He’s free with a smile and easy with his money. He owns much of the city’s real estate, and he’s been known to let tenants on mortgage payments more than once – and doesn’t charge interest or late fees when he does. It’s a little odd for someone in the casino business to be so forgiving with debts, but cash does not seem to interest him. See, the Colonel is one of the more knowledgeable folk in New Orleans when it comes to things of an uncanny—and some would say unsavory—nature.

He often caters to clientele who are not, strictly speaking, human; from them, he gathers up debts like nobody’s business. That man gathers up favors and oaths and IOUs as if he’s ravenous for them. He only occasionally calls them in—but when he does, you’d best pay up. Those kind of people know that oaths and promises have power; the Colonel seems to know that, too, and seems more able than most to call upon that power when you renege. There are reports of people reduced to a smoking pile of ash when they owed The Colonel and refused to repay him.

Most of the games played on the Treasure Chest are for money and, like any casino, the house always wins. Nice a guy as the Colonel might be, he’s a businessman; he’s not likely to forgive every debt coming his way. Some people get pretty despondent over such things- losing one’s life savings can lead some to take their life. There are an unusually high number of suicides out at the casino, but no one has ever found any connection between them and the Colonel – other than the obvious.

The reason this is the case is that there has just as many stories about the Colonel cheering up despondent patron. He will strike up a conversation with them and by the time it has ended hopelessness and sadness were gone. The feelings were not replaced with joy or happiness – it was just that the sadness was suddenly gone leaving them feeling empty and exhausted. The Colonel didn’t forgive any debt, but gave them some free chips to win back some of their money. Most managed to reduce their debt down to a manageable levels after that.

Along with being one of the biggest real estate developers in town, the Colonel is also one of the biggest philanthropists as well. He always seems to be donating to causes and funding projects to help the community and he seems he’s collecting quite a bit of goodwill doing it.

In addition to the above, there are a couple of other bits of weirdness surrounding the Colonel. First, he hasn’t aged a day since he got here. I mean that literally—the man looks exactly the same today as he did when he arrived twenty-some years ago. Many say it’s because he loves what he does so much that it keeps him young. The man has a sort of glow about him when he’s walking about the casino floor, but I think there’s something more to it than that.

The Colonel also seems to have a knowledge of the supernatural and warns the other in the supernatural community whenever a new threat is coming to town. It helps a great deal but some question the man’s motives.

The Colonel also seems to have a past that might be coming back to haunt him. A month or two back somebody showed up at the Treasure Chest to see him and neither one of them looked happy to see each other. The stranger called the Colonel “Gaston” and not in a particularly friendly tone.