Nicholas Mora
Despite all the chatter and rumours about him, Nicholas Mora remains a rather mysterious individual. Very little is known about his past or ancestry, but he has been observed to possess some supernatural powers; including, according to him, the gift of True Vision, allowing him to perceive the true forms of beings which usually would escape mortal comprehension (such as Landry Violence and Moody Cookbook, two of his old teammates). Nicholas Mora is also incapable of speaking any language besides Latin. Both of these statements have been contested by fans, who believe Nicholas to simply be bragging or lying, as he is has earned a reputation as an unreliable narrator.
His personality, as confirmed through interviews with several teammates, is that of an infuriating trickster, who often slings petty insults and pranks at anyone unfortunate enough to find themselves in his proximity. Recently, the target of the brunt of his bullying has been one of his new teammates, Matteo Triumphant; videos have surfaced online of numerous arguments, which often tend to end with Matteo being tricked into releasing the horse spirit Triumphant, and promptly getting kicked through the nearest window by the aforementioned equine apparition. Despite that, Nicholas' pranks have rarely lead to grievous injury.
It is no secret that Nicholas has turned to the hobby of puppeteering to facilitate communication in spite of the language barrier. He makes his many puppets himself, and is quite adept at both crafting and manoeuvring them, often through supernatural means. Though in theory they should be employed to solve misunderstandings, in practice, the old man has discovered new and exciting ways of tormenting and ridiculing his victims through the puppets. When asked about their thoughts on the Tigers player, fans and ex-teammates alike agreed that "when it comes down to it, Mora is a bitter, opinionated, arrogant and sadistic old fart."
Time on the Pies
Recently unearthed stone tablets indicate that Nicholas was separated from the Hades Tigers at the end of season 1. Though not much is known about his time in the Tigers, or the incident which separated him from them, the tablets indicate he was somehow spirited away in a freak accident when the Book was opened, and that his passage through the Lethe apparently made him forget how to speak any language other than Latin (which he had until that point elected to use exactly because it was impractical, and for no other reason than his personal amusement). There are rumours of his angering the gods by playing some trick or another on them, and thus some fans speculate these gods might have used the instability caused by the opening of the Book to curse Mora and banish him from Hades. A lot of these rumours come from Nicholas himself, and the stories he has told have differed wildly. Regardless of what exactly happened, it lead to him playing for the Philly Pies, who all collectively remember him always being on the team.
His time among the Pies was, according to him, "nothing short of miserable": here, no one spoke Latin, nor did anyone appreciate his brand of "humour". Due to his incapability to communicate, both through the language barrier and his own stubbornness, Nicholas ended up playing as a pitcher during his time on the pies, a job he was clearly terrible at. Instead of reflecting on his way of doing things, he doubled down, and elected to cause as much trouble and suffering as he could. Some say this was in a sort of retaliation to his feelings of isolation, but it only earned him an even more terrible reputation, and the ire of all his new teammates. Though he declined to comment on the matter and was quite rude whenever the matter was brought up in interviews, it is clear from his behaviour during these seasons that this did nothing to improve his own mood.
Shmurmgle History and Speculation
Stricken with grief and loneliness after his exile and the incineration of his old friends, Mora became melancholy. His only solace in escaping Hades was he could finally gaze at the stars once more. In a bout of inspiration, Mora began to work on his masterpiece; it is said in some stories that he pulled a constellation out of the sky, and threaded its very stars into the seams of his felt puppet. Enamoured with his work, he elected to give it its own life and will, and set it free upon the world. Most blaseball scholars agree that this puppet's creation was his one true act of love. The puppet was dubbed Frasier Shmurmgle, and he quickly became a player for the Tigers, before being incinerated only 29 days after he began to play.
According to some sources, Nicholas and Frasier's separation was also a result of a divine curse, perhaps even the same one which caused his banishment in the first place. Nicholas being unrepentant, punishment befell his son; and thus, the puppet was dragged through the river Lethe and into Hades, robbing him of his memories of life on the surface and of his own creator. There is no record ever showing Frasier's entry into the realm of the dead, and this is one of the only plausible explanations as to how he could have ended up there. One blaseball scholar specializing in psychology and the dark arts interprets Frasier Shmurmgle's behaviour (sowing discord and animosity) as one last part of his connection to his father, an attempt to get closer to his absent parent through imitation.
