So obviously Nicodemus is one of the most strategic and long game minded individuals in the world right? So would it not make sense for him to find the most effective way to hide his most powerful asset? The noose that makes him immortal to anything but itself ? Dresden himself refers to the noose as a " slim grey neck tie" multiple times. What if Nicodemus is the entire reason for the nonsense that is the neck tie that plagues our world? History teaches us the origin of the neck tie was started by the Roman's just before Christ was born to identify certain military personnel. But! Was made popular by the French royal court in the 1600s when they used Croatian mercenaries that wore a similar, albeit shorter and thicker, neck tie fashion as part of their military uniform. As convoluted, and honestly badass in a fucked up evil kind of way, as Nicodemus can be it seems almost easy to identify France in the 1600s as a perfect combination of a super power of war in need of fighting men while at the same time the power house of fashion at the time. This making it all too easy to form a powerhouse of mercenaries, garb them like himself. And March them through a bunch of rich nobles dying for a new look, therefore making it not only common to wear a "noose" but fashionable.