Steampunk National Security Character Type Help Needed

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by scc

A detective and/or some sort of criminal are next on the possible list, but is it a good idea to build a party with such a split in it? And would a criminal be employed by the government in such a role?

Plenty of popular fiction of the period had reformed criminals on the side of virtue, sometimes even in lead roles. (Holmes seems to have had plenty of fairly shady contacts.) The Victorians were perfectly capable of entertaining the idea of reform, at least if it got you an interesting character with useful skills in a story. And, of course, in reality, the police would be perfectly willing to employ informants, slipping a few quid to small fry if it helped them catch the bigger fish.

If you want a character who moralistic and narrower-minded people would believe had reformed, showing them as having found Religion is a quick solution. They may have a police record as long as your arm, but if they go to church and sing hymns on Sundays, and occasionally refer to their past careers in tones of deep regret, they must be acceptable.

Female characters may actually be a bit harder to justify if you're being deeply realistic -- one can reform from a life of crime, but being of the weaker sex is permanent. But I'd bet that in practice, even in reality, efficient intelligence officers wouldn't have been above trailing fallen women past susceptible targets. And more to the point, a specialist steampunk intelligence outfit is by definition going to be seen as eccentric, so dropping in a trained scientist from Girton or an upper-class widow with a list of high society contacts (and a list of weaknesses and foibles for each of them) would hardly be extreme.