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[nekrosmanteia]

PLAYER INFO

Player Name: Leu
Player Contact: leucrotta
Character(s) In-Game: Will Ingram

CHARACTER INFO

Character Name: Gregor Allaine is the name he uses now, but his birth name is Ourias Galenou Demakos.
Age: 125 if I did my math right, looks to be somewhere in his mid to late 30s.
Canon: Original


World Description: It's our world circa 2020 but like, magic exists. That's the only difference. Basically any supernatural thing (ghosts, vampires, werewolves, etc.) can actually be explained by magic. Three other things are worth noting: firstly, that magic's existence is not common public knowledge. Second, that there are organizations of "witch hunters" that dedicate themselves to the eradication of magic (or its users, specifically) not necessarily for religious reasons, but because of the threat they pose to everyone else. And third, that magic in this universe operates on a system of belief. If you believe magic works that way, then it does for you.

For example, if someone became a Wiccan and used Wiccan practices to cast spells, assuming they were born with inherent magical ability, those practices would work those effects. The same applies to any other "system" of magic, so all of them are valid. Including the ones you made up yourself. Additionally, for especially powerful magic users (common parlance among those in the know is "witches") the things they believe to be true can become so. Not on a reality-altering scale (we hope) but like, say, if they were convinced something bad was going to happen to them, it probably would. Or if they were convinced they were possessed by a ghost-monster, they might actually manifest said ghost-monster. Not naming names or anything. The beliefs of witches can affect other people as well, but luckily everyone is different and their varying opinions and viewpoints ensure that very little is ever stable enough of an idea to come into existence. So the world's not like, overrun with tulpas or anything. Technically anyone can do magic with enough work and practice, but it's infinitely easier if you're born with it.


History: God okay, the guy's over a century old A Lot has happened, but I'll try to be as concise as I can.

Gregor was born to Greek immigrants in Manhattan in 1896. His family came from a long line of witches with a specialty in healing, and his mother made a small income mending people on the sly. He had a very close childhood friend, an Italian girl named Gemma whose family could use magic too. Eventually, a group of witch hunters started sniffing around, initially targeting Gemma's family. Out of fear, she pointed them toward Gregor's instead. On top of that awkward situation, both of his parents got murdered by the witch hunters.

From the age of 10 on, he was raised by a sort of godfather, another witch who ran a successful tobacco company. He grew up wanting to be a doctor, displaying an increasingly impressive skill for healing. Unfortunately this came with the side-effect of arrogance, but that's kids for you. He was 21 when he found out that his godfather had been hiding a chronic and eventually fatal illness, and he swore he'd be able to fix it. Aaand then immediately got drafted into the first world war. Unfortunately for him, there wasn't an "I'm in college" exemption yet. He was enlisted with the Medical Corps, assigned to a regimental aid station close to the front lines, and was shot in the chest during an evacuation. The wound wasn't instantly fatal, but he was definitely bleeding out, and his magic wouldn't be fast enough to save him. In a moment of anger, fear, and something like prideful determination, he decided he wasn't going to let death keep him down. And it didn't. He pushed his abilities well beyond their limits and, through sheer force of will, brought himself back from the dead.

Of course, this did not come without consequence. In his family's tradition, abusing one's healing powers (by, say, bringing back the dead,) was punished with a terrible curse, the corruption of their abilities into something monstrous. When he eventually returned from the war, Gregor found he could no longer heal anything, only hasten its death. He was thus unable to save his godfather and got, like, really depressed. He spent years just sort of being a recluse, very slowly and tentatively exploring what he was now capable of. And in the midst of all this, who should appear but his old friend Gemma. Apparently she'd had a bad time of her own, since naming somebody else didn't get her family off the hook with the witch hunters. She'd spent her teenage years alone and in hiding until, as an adult, she stumbled on a name she recognized. Neither of them had anybody else anymore, so despite their troubled history, they stuck together. But Gemma wasn't satisfied with just having a place to go. She was also planning revenge, and Gregor was entirely here for it.

Through the middle years of the 1920s, Gregor and Gemma became a sort of serial killer duo, hunting down the people who typically hunted others. They also developed a weird pseudo-romantic relationship, though it was definitely stronger on his side than hers. Anyway, the whole murder spree did not escape the hunters' notice, and, unable to come close to catching the killer(s), they called in the help of a "specialist", a man named Asa who claimed to be very good at this. Thus began a sort of cat-and-mouse game, which ended after Gregor gave himself up in exchange for letting Gemma go free. (Without asking her, whoops.) It turned out that Gregor and Asa wanted the same thing, as Asa was actually attempting to destroy the network of witch hunters from within. He enlisted Gregor's help in finishing the job, and then set about establishing a network of his own— to protect the city's rather dense supernatural population.

For a super long time Gregor just worked for Asa, putting his terrifying death powers to "good" use. He was essentially an assassin, but not a very secretive one, at least in the communities of those who already knew about magic. His presence in the city was a very good deterrent for anyone who wanted to move in and try to wreck shop, and most witch hunters knew better than to come to NYC. Of course all this violence wasn't unchallenged, and he died a few more times (like, 7) but he got pretty good at undoing that, sort of. Fast forwarding to like, 2013, and during an attempt to take down a murderous witch cult, Gregor encountered a mortally wounded child. He couldn't heal him as a living being, but when he stopped breathing, he was able to mend the dead flesh like he did with his own. Some good old CPR (done by somebody else) brought the kid the rest of the way, and he survived. He and the kid wound up developing a pretty close relationship, not exactly a father-son dynamic, but definitely paternal in nature. He saw a lot of himself in this kid, who was without a family and afraid of what he might be capable of, so it just sort of happened that he wound up mostly in charge of him.

Phew, okay. At present, Gregor's day job is being an adjunct anthropology professor (being an assassin/detective for your bro doesn't pay, sadly). Witch hunters, already pretty rare, are basically not a thing anymore, and most of what he deals with these days is aberrant magic users who might get them all discovered. He's chilled out significantly since the murder-spree days, and he hasn't had any contact with Gemma since. He does not know how he feels about that.


Death: It hasn't happened in a couple decades, but he got taken down again while doing Asa's dirty work. Unfortunately, in the universal game of rock-paper-scissors, gun beats magic, and his aim was worse. Also unfortunately, this time, someone finally figured out how to keep him from coming back. He thinks he can fix himself even if his body is destroyed. He is incorrect.


What are your plans for this character in-game? I waffled on apping him for a long time, but ultimately had to admit to myself that I just really want to play a chill character in this game who is kind of okay with being dead? He's curious enough and will get bored very quickly, so he'll probably stick his nose into various mysteries and such, but a lot of the existential dread will pass over him, since that's all stuff he's already made peace with. My plans at this point are kind of just to see what happens, which is honestly very on-brand for him anyway. I want to toss him at a lot of different people, and I want to play with the idea of pushing fear at a person who has mostly moved past it.


What aspects of this game and/or its setting are you most interested in having this character engage with? The other characters, hands down. Also the forest spirits because he's gonna be obsessed with those weird lil dudes. What is your deal??? Who are you??? As for the setting and plot, he'll definitely want to figure out what the people who lived here before were like, and I personally want to explore that avenue as well.


How does your character generally get along with other people? Shockingly well? He's normally very friendly, even toward people he doesn't particularly like. He might not seem like it, but he's an extrovert, he prefers being around others. He's a good listener and genuinely cares about what people are saying because it helps him figure out who they are. He really wants to know what they're going to do in any given situation, and he likes to encourage people to push their boundaries and figure out what they're capable of. In general, people just kind of fascinate him. Even the bad ones. Especially the bad ones? If he's acting cold toward someone, it's probably because they done fucked up real bad.


What is your character's mental state upon entering the game? Confused and kinda bummed, but not like... surprised? He'll just figure his luck finally ran out, or he got hurt beyond the point of repair (it's both). It was bound to happen eventually. That said he's very used to dying, so he's old hat at that. He was not expecting a boat, though, that's new. He's not religious and doesn't believe in an afterlife, so that'll take some time to process. As will the idea of other worlds, but that's ultimately more interesting than frightening.


Skills/Abilities: Okay starting with mundane/non-magic skills: Gregor is super observant; he grew up reading Sherlock Holmes and took that shit to heart. He's not nearly that good, but you get the idea. He can speak and read both Latin and (outdated) Greek. Knows a lot of occult stuff. Can shot gun. I would not really call him a skilled fighter or anything, but for reasons detailed in the next section, he's gotten pretty good at ending a physical confrontation as quickly and efficiently as possible. Usually by stabbing something important. He's surprisingly quick, but only for a very short amount of time.

And for the magical stuff: I'm just gonna put nerfs in as I go because I know how this works and I want to save you time. :')

General Magic Stuff: aside from the necromancy thing, he can use his abilities in stupid lazy ways. He can move small objects/bring them to himself, close/open or lock/unlock doors, start small fires, stuff like that. He's generally aware of any magic being used around him, unless it's being hidden somehow. If weaker magicians try to cast spells against him, he can probably void it or even turn it back on them. That's assuming he's not caught by surprise.

The Necromancy Thing: It's probably easier to describe Gregor as an "anti-healer" than a necromancer. There are a few parts to this. Instead of mending the flesh of the living, he can only fix the dead— and since they don't need to "work" as a living thing, he doesn't have to put them back together the way they're supposed to go. This probably won't apply in Beacon because there are no dead bodies.

Going with the anti-healer thing, he can also cause flesh to rot with his touch. This can eventually be fatal, but it'd take a solid few minutes of sustained physical contact, depending on what part he's touching. Basically, it's pretty slow. This one also works on plant matter, but it's still kinda slow.

The next part of this is bringing himself back from the dead, which he just straight up can't do anymore. Get wrecked chump.

And finally, the old classic, zombies. Gregor can sense the presence of dead flesh nearby and, if he wants to, he can just sort of adopt it as an extension of himself. This means he can move it around like it's part of his own body, so essentially, zombies. He can also do this to his own dead body, zombie-ing around until he's fixed enough to actually be alive. For Beacon, he straight up cannot do that last part. He'll go right to super dead instead of being a conscious corpse. He won't be able to do the zombie thing to others, either, unless for some reason there is an actual dead body? Maybe for a little bit before they get snatched by spirits or w/e? That's probably in poor taste but there you go. If he ever loses a limb he'll probably do it to that, too.


Flaws/Weaknesses: Gregor doesn't have any actual phobias, and he's had a long time to deal with a lot of the trauma in his past. That said, some stuff still fucks with him. He super does not like people putting their hands anywhere near his neck/throat, not even shoulder-touches. He won't panic but it's Very Unpleasant. The only people that would count as weaknesses for him would be Gemma and Joss, (the kid he's sort of in charge of even though he's an adult now,) and Asa to a much lesser extent. As for personality traits, the big obvious one is hubris. A lot of the time he thinks the laws of the universe don't apply to him, because they sort of don't back home. He thinks incredibly highly of his own abilities, and doesn't see this as arrogance so much as honesty. Additionally, despite his usual chill demeanor, he is extremely capable of being ruthless and even needlessly cruel, and the switch is very sudden rather than gradual. They'd usually have to do something pretty bad or prove themselves a threat to the larger community, but Gregor will straight up kill a dude and feel absolutely no remorse. It's not that he doesn't think killing is bad, just that they deserved it, and it had to be done. And finally, he's a very good example of that whole "curiosity killed the cat" thing. Everything is interesting to him, so he's bound to stick his nose somewhere it doesn't belong. He has like, no self-preservation instinct. None.

As far as physical weaknesses go: The dead-flesh mending leaves pretty nasty results. It's hasty and unnatural, so it causes heavy scarring, and he's used it on himself a lot. He can't breathe super well due to having a partially paralyzed left lung and having smoked for over a century. As a result he can't really run or exert himself for very long, which is why he prefers to make things quick. A lot of his bones and insides are pretty messed up (from, you know, death,) and that can be painful and problematic from time to time. He's just shy of being a functional living thing, which leaves him super tired 24/7. He doesn't always feel the full extent of cold, heat, or hunger.

This doesn't affect him at present, but it could in the case of certain events: as stated way up above, his magic functions on a system of belief. He's aware of this, and uses it to his advantage by focusing on things he knows he's good at so that doubt can't fuck him over. His supreme arrogance bolsters that. But if something were to happen to compromise one of these elements, he could be in trouble. It could either rob him of his well-practiced abilities, or cause his magic to misfire and do something else. It's a great system when it works, but when you get messed up, it's a rapid downhill spiral that takes a while to recover from.


Personality: There are basically three things I keep in mind when writing this character: he's super old, he is self-confidence incarnate, and he defers to the orders of exactly one person in the universe besides himself. The first one isn't a personality trait, but it definitely informs his interactions with others and with his surroundings. He's seen the best and worst humanity has to offer, he's been around long enough to notice the patterns. It's part of what keeps him so chill all the time, slow to act on impulsive emotions. It's also what makes him seek out new experiences, because shit gets boring after a while.

I already talked about the self-confidence thing, but to add to it: just because he's full of himself doesn't mean he thinks any less of other people (unlike certain other characters I play in this game). On the contrary, he has a lot of respect for others, especially those who are trying to do what they think is right (even if he disagrees). Of course, respect does not always equal kindness, and it never equals obedience. If he's doing what he's told, it's sheer coincidence that it happened to also be the thing he wanted to do. Very chaotic energy. A final note of clarification: he's 100% confident in the abilities he knows he has. He's willing to admit the ones he doesn't. Probably part of why his confidence works so well with the magic-belief thing: it's not stretched too thin.


Items: clothes, an unloaded snub-nosed revolver, a big fancy folding knife, some chalk (?), a dry-erase marker (??), a mostly-full cigarette case, and a round, stamped piece of metal on a string that almost qualifies as a necklace.

SAMPLES

Log Sample: Link
Network Sample: Included in the link above!