Althalos Morbin

[Althalos]

Name: Althalos Morbin
Player: Joe / Kosal
Race: Human
Age: 34
Profession: Mortician (official), Necromantic Mage (Unofficial)


Personality & Appearance
Althalos Morbin, sometimes referred to as just Al, (a nick-name he despises), usually instills a sense of unease upon first impression. He is a man in his mid-thirties who appears to lack some basic understanding of social etiquette, it does not take long for the majority of people he meets to realise that there is something not quite right about him. Althalos is plagued by a number of psychological dispositions which are imbued into his personality; he has the unflattering tendency to stare at people he is conversing with, without breaking. Althalos can come across as quite cold and erratic when talking, it is not uncommon for him to mutter twisted, paranoid perceptions about someone under his breathe, even if they are standing mere feet away from him.

Althalos’ skin is pale and aging, being a thin man, he appears gaunt, with a set of high cheekbones and two large, dark hues beneath his sunken eye-sockets. If there was any semblance of handsomeness in his youth, it is only beset now by a morbid shell. Hair no longer resides upon Althalos’ scalp; the only indication that he possesses a hair-colour resides in his black bushy eyebrows. His eyes lack a significant amount of pigmentation but are a pale, piercing green, his pupils appear shrunken to a pin-point and lack any degree of natural dilatation.

In regards to his clothing Althalos usually wears dark colours, often adorning a black tunic with matching greaves. He will also wear a pair of dark leather boots and gloves, completing his attire by sporting a long black hooded robe. Where once upon a time Althalos specifically chose to wear this set of clothing out of respect for the delicate nature of his legitimate work as a funeral coordinator, he now wears them out of habit. His cloak of insanity provides a lack of concern for the feelings of others now.


Possessions
Althalos is the owner of what was once a respectable two-story home in the Residential District of Marn, it has fallen into disrepair over the past decade. The upstairs floor is no longer maintained or in use, it is disheveled and lined with an inch layer of dust.

Althalos, not one to be thrown by clichés, has converted his house’s cellar into his ritual-room, where he practices his dark arts; the once-dining room table, now stained crimson, has been modified with a series of crude arm and leg wraps intended for restraint. A set of book shelves containing a mix between guides to surgical practice, human anatomy and understanding magical principles, lines the back wall. There is a rack containing surgical instruments next to a make-shift furnace which is used to burn any failed attempts at animation on harvested corpses; Althalos has dug out a tunnel in the ceiling above this furnace which leads into the house’s chimney system. The cellar is not exceptionally well hidden, the entrance being a small pull-up hatch which is covered by an aged rug in the hallway.

Althalos also owns a black and white mare which he rides across Marn to and from his home and the mortuary where he works. Althalos chooses this mode of transport in order to keep-up appearances; on the nights he chooses to bring home a corpse to practice on, he will wrap it up in embalming cloth and strap it down to the back of the horse as he rides. Sadly this practice is not a sign of any retained sanity that he would not carry a corpse through Marn in his hands, but simply a practicality due to the weight. So far, he has not been caught.

Apart from his items of clothing, the only other artifacts Althalos usually carries is a sharp surgical sickle and a silver locket around his neck, which he keeps hidden at all times beneath his tunic. Engraved within the locket are the initals 'AM'; one of his remaining shreds of sanity being this reminder of his late-wife.


Strengths & Abilities
Althalos is a highly intelligent man; he is quick to learn new skills and can understand new concepts however abstract, surprisingly easily despite his psychological dispositions.

Althalos has an in-depth knowledge of the human anatomy, understanding the finer details of everything from the respiratory system to bowel movement on a biological level. He can perform surgery but has since given up this pursuit for his new taste in magic.


Spells
Life Channel
The first spell Althalos learned was how to channel the life-energy from a living individual into another living individual in order to heal them of ill-effects. This channel drains the life-energy from the former individual into the latter. He has not perfected this spell yet, and has only successfully managed to perform it once, every other occasion has inadvertently killed both individuals (or ingredients as he now sees them) in the process.

The spell is cast over-time, the more significant the injury, the longer it takes to heal and the more energy required, therefore heightening the risk of death in the individual who is being drained.

Althalos reported this magical ability to the authorities promptly after learning he could cast it.

Life Sap
An integral part of the Life Channel spell, the Life Sap spell is the initial draining of a person’s life energy without the need to channel it in another direction (or individual). Ultimately, when Althalos casts this spell he is draining the life from an individual.

This spell is also cast over-time, the longer it is performed, the closer to death an individual will reach.

Althalos has not reported this magical ability to the authorities.

Corpse Animation
In his ongoing struggle to restore life to one who has died, Althalos has learnt how to animate corpses to do his bidding. With this spell, there is no semblance of the former individual except their body. Althalos can control through speech what the animated corpse will do. So far Althalos has only managed to perform this spell in moderation, he has not been able to keep the corpse animated for longer than an hour, but believes this will change with practice.

This spell requires a ritual performance, which involves the placing of candles around a corpse and spoken incantation.

Althalos has not reported this magical ability to the authorities.


Weaknesses
Schizophrenia & Paranoia – Despite being highly intelligent, Althalos’ logic has suffered from his lifestyle. Althalos’ personality is as complicated as a schizophrenic. In certain circumstances, his paranoia will play-off of his illogical thinking. He may suspect an individual of ill-intent to an unreasonable degree, and at the same time he would not take into consideration all the problems that might occur while carrying a corpse across a city on horse-back.

Erratic Behaviour – His personality disorders have given rise to his erratic behaviour, which is a hindrance in itself- he can be unpredictable at times and is prone to sudden out-bursts of aggression.

Morbidity – Althalos is losing touch of his humanity as he delves deeper and deeper into his necromantic craft, losing understanding in social company or conduct, he prefers to work alone with the dead.

Susceptible to illness – Due to his lack of exposure to the sun and working as closely with the dead as he does, both in his work and spare time, he has become more susceptible to sickness and disease.


History
Althalos Morbin began life as a promising young individual, bright and gifted; he showed all the makings of a prodigy, succeeding in anything he set his mind to. Althalos made both his parents proud when he announced his apprenticeship as a physician in Marn’s hospice at the age of 19. Seven years later, Althalos had become an accomplished surgeon, known for the success rate on his surgery table he was a respected member of society, bringing in a decent wage.

During this time, Althalos met and fell deeply in love with a woman named Amelia, who he courted during his apprenticeship. When he became wealthy enough to afford a home of his own, he proposed to Amelia, and wedded her that very year. Althalos bought a horse and began his hopes to begin a family-life, bearing offspring.

The hopes and dreams of Althalos Morbin had reached their peak and during the winter season of the following year, Amelia Morbin Contracted a pox. Althalos began slipping at work, pre-occupied by his sick wife at home, more and more of his patients began dying on his operating table. In the end there was no option but to demote him, for fear of his patients’ wellbeing.

Althalos began working in the morgue; with his keen understanding of the human anatomy he was at least beneficial in helping to identify the causes of death in unfortunate individuals.

Amelia showed no signs of improvement, her condition worsened as the years went on and it was believed that it was only a matter of time before she would die. On one particularly busy day at the hospice, Althalos was called to help patients as they had become understaffed. A man was rushed into Althalos' care while bleeding to death from a stab wound; as the man lay convulsing on his bed Althalos called for assistance while he prepared to stitch the man's wound. The nurses' hands fumbled with the needle and he dropped it to the ground; Althalos reeled on the nurse in a sudden fury only to find him gripping at his chest, from which a green fluidic string was seeping from beneath his grasp, making its way towards the bleeding patient.

Althalos felt the energy emitting from himself, he did not know how but he realised he was causing this phenomenon. Before his eyes, Althalos watched as the gaping wound on his patient began sealing at the touch of this energy string until he was completely healed. The patient sat up in as much shock as Althalos felt, while the nurse fell to the ground clutching his chest in pain.

The surgeon realised that he had somehow cast this spell and so being the decent upstanding citizen he was, immediatly went to report it to the authorities. Althalos brought the representative to the scene of the incident, allowing both the patient and the nurse to recount what they had witnessed. He swore that he would not cast this spell again without the expressed permission of the authorities, despite not knowing how he had cast it in the first place.

Althalos realised that he possessed some magical healing ability and was not about to abandon his wife to die if there was some way he could prevent it; medical science had failed to cure her, so maybe this would prove to be her saving grace. He immediatly went to work studying the principles of magic, trying to learn as much as he could about what he had performed. To Althalos' horror, during his research he discovered that the spell he had cast was necromantic in essence, it involved draining the life force of another in order to extend the afflicted.

Althalos had run out of time, the hospice believed his wife only had a matter of days to live, he had to act now or it would be too late. Althalos led a colleague back to his home where his invilid wife rested, and with all the knowledge he had gleaned, Althalos cast the spell again, draining the life of his colleague, channelling it to save his dying wife. However something had gone wrong, the spell was not working like before and Althalos watched as his wife died before his eyes in agonizing pain, she screamed out in fear before falling silent and still. Althalos ceased his spell, rushing to take her in his arms but there was nothing more he could do. In a fit of sobbing wails, he turned to see his fallen colleague, shrivelled, aged, cold and dead. Althalos had literally sucked the life out of him; the surgeon slipped into a chronic state of depression.

Althalos' first act of insanity then came when he fabricated the reasons behind their deaths, he ensured that he was not implicated, working in the morgue afforded him that luxury. From that point on Althalos became hellbent on continuing his study into the dark art of necromancy, it became his fevered dream that he would one day be able to restore his wife to life, the twisted ultimate goal of this necromancer was restoring life to one who was dead. He began harvesting the corpses, rather than disposing of them, he would bring them back to his home in order to practice his art.

The hospice became suspicious that something was wrong, he had taken the death of his wife hard of course, and his personality was gradually changing; he would become cold and quick to anger. Althalos started missing work, spending more time at home in his cellar, studying his craft. The hospice let him go altogether, dismissing him from work.

Althalos realised he still needed some sort of legitimate work to maintain his livelihood, as well as a way of obtaining corpses for practice. He took up a job as a mortician, a funeral coordinator, this afforded him the cover he needed for his magic, although his wealth had taken a hard hit. Althalos was facing the possibility of losing his home altogether, but he had been driven so insane by his craft and his detachment from the world that he cared about nothing else.

Althalos would do anything he could to bring her back, by any means necessary and he would need all the knowledge he could get hold of in order to advance.

[Niabi]

Wow, I really like this. I want to point out that studying magic might be hard to do inside of Marn as the government doesn't allow books or teachings on the subject that aren't highly influenced by the Temple's belief that magic is wrong and evil. I'm sure there is still some out there but it would be much harder than taking up a class at the college or a trip to the local library or book store.

Approved.