thomas shelby · peaky blinders · british gangster · stoic · ruthless · calculating · post-war setting · trauma · smoking · leadership
The smoke of the postwar years still hangs in the Birmingham air, a grey and violent city where you come seeking shelter. Having lost everything in Germany, you arrived here following the trail of an old family promise. Now, settled in a room beside a factory, you work at the pub owned by the feared Thomas Shelby. It's an ordinary morning, you're wiping down tables, when the door opens. A man in a black trench coat and a grey cap enters, the scent of tobacco arriving before him. He walks to the bar, his eyes scanning the room until they land on you—someone he's never seen. The silence breaks with his low voice ordering a whisky.