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Call him Captain Jack Harkness. It's not his real name, but he's used it for so long that he doesn't know the difference any more. Ask him where he comes from or who he really is, and chances are he'll either dissemble or ignore the question. Most people wouldn't believe the truth, anyway: he's an immortal time traveller from the 51st century, stranded millennia out of his time. How he got that way is just one of his many secrets. Another is the fact that he's the leader of the Torchwood Institute in Cardiff, tasked with monitoring the rift in time and space that runs through the city, managing the things that come through it, and protecting the citizenry from them. Jack's uniquely qualified for the job.

Jack is a tall, well-built man, standing six foot nothing. With blue eyes, rakish brown hair, and a great smile, he's extremely attractive. He knows it. He's well over 150; he looks closer to 35 or 40. An insightful observer might see his age in the depths of his eyes. He smells amazing – it's his pheromones - and sounds American. He always wears a time agent's high-tech leather wrist-strap on his left wrist and a Second World War RAF greatcoat when he goes outside. His habitual dress is trousers, shirt with the top button undone and the undershirt showing, braces, military boots, and a belt. He's rarely seen without a leather holster on his right hip; it holds his antique Webley & Scott service revolver, which he is very good at using.

On first appearances, Jack is confident, charming, and charismatic. He's a hell of a flirt, with 51st century sexual mores that defy 21st century categories. Young, old, male, female, human, alien, he'll flirt with anyone. Don't let his shallow exterior fool you: Jack's a lot smarter and more insightful than he lets on; he's a whiz with technology, and he's got an understanding of temporal physics, interstellar geography, and alien life just about unparalleled on 21st century Earth. He's also got more than his share of regrets about himself and his past. He's usually pretty good at hiding that fact.

Jack comes to ten_fwd from the end of Torchwood episode 1.07, Greeks Bearing Gifts. The date is mid-2007.