William Prior
There are no Gods here. Doesn’t that tell you anything? It’s about power and control, to keep you all in line. People in power tell us that if we don’t do as the Gods want – as they want – then our souls are damned. Think of the amount of murder they’ve committed and tell me whose soul is more likely to be damned, theirs or yours?
—Melinda Salisbury
Personality
Firstly, it's important to understand that most of what Will does is in some way servicing his pursuit of 'curing' death for the betterment of mankind. This is ugly work, but very few advancements in science (and he considers magic a yet-to-be-understood science) have ever been pretty. Men and women who've dared to challenge norms or approach problems in novel ways throughout history have, almost unanimously, been demonized until their innovations are more widely accepted. Although frustrating at times, he accepts this.Will is a study in contradictions. Religious dogma says that his soul is forfeit for providing the service he does, and that each sin he consumes for the benefit of others further distances him from God. Unsurprisingly, he's so unenamored with organized religion in general that he borders on aetheist, but he believes that there's something beyond life, or he wouldn't bother doing what he does. However, he doesn't treat whatever that is as sacrosanct enough to withhold from what the magical community would consider hoodoo or the black arts of necromancy, either, which has had the fun side effect of somewhat alienating him from that cultural sphere, as well. As with the historical Sin Eaters of old, he's often wanted but rarely truly welcome among his own people. Taboos are funny like that. This doesn't bother him much. 'Mundane' people with good hearts and easy smiles have, and will always be more appealing to him, anyway.
He's autonomous and self-reliant to a fault. It's not that he doesn't like people. He genuinely does, and is openly, happily demonstrative. He's an outgoing and balanced extrovert without needing to be the center of attention, or in constant company. He believes people have a great deal of inherent goodness in them, even if they choose to pay more attention to their social media stream than they do the quality of their souls. He gets it, looking inward isn't fun. His soul probably looks like a tar baby by this point, so he's not about to point fingers, but he's not the sort to rely on any but those who've proven trustworthy and capable. He simply doesn't have the time for mistakes where his work is concerned. He's deeply kind, charismatic and bouyant, but blunt and difficult to manage on the rare occasions when he's pushed to anger. A gentle man with a mottled, but (mostly) well-intentioned heart, he's nevertheless intolerant of bullshit, putting on aires or intentional naivete. He's the cheerful damned, walking towards what religion insists is eternal torment for his transgressions with his chin up and a shock white smile on his face.
A personality such as his operating in the deepest trenches of the dark arts will confuse some, but understand that he began to follow the Left Hand Path out of a genuine desire to do good. Death, he believes, is the ultimate evil, the worst offense against life, love and goodness—the triumph over which he believes should be the highest calling of the magical community. Truthfully, he's willing to go to such inexcusably dark corners of his magic to achieve the necessary ends that he might be considered morbidly unhinged or evil by those who don't know him. As a result, when he's feeling put-upon he'll sometimes keep to the company of his familiar, Bartholomew, because he
Bartholomew (or "Towser") needs mentioning here. He's Will's oldest and most trusted friend. As Towser only speaks to Will via their magical enmeshing, anyone who doesn't know Will might fairly be concerned for his sanity if they catch him speaking to the large Doberman; it's not just casual comments, but deep, seemingly one-sided conversation. Because he deals so strictly with matters of the spirit and soul, Towser is an excellent judge of character. If he doesn't like a person, neither does Will. The opposite is also true.
Powers & Abilities
Sin Eating
In order to power the rest of his magical abilities, Will consumes the sins of both the living and the dead. This is accomplished by laying a consumable on the skin of the originator. Traditionally it was bread, but even a stick of gum will work. His magic draws the weight of guilt from the soul into said consumable, turning it black. He won't gain knowledge of the sin he consumes by doing so, but he'll experience the burden of it for an hour or two afterward. This sometimes causes sour dispositions and mood swings, but he handles it well after many years. "Sin" is an abstract term. Anything that a person feels was wrong, experiences guilt over or is troubled by having done qualifies and may be removed, permanently. The giver will not experience negative feelings or burden over what has been removed again, unless they repeat the action, which can be subsequently removed as well. Whether this serves as a religious function for a client or simply lightens the soul is unimportant to him—they can treat it as they wish. It's difficult for him to do more than three or four times a day. Thankfully, he gains a great deal from staining his soul. Every sin he consumes increases the depth, breadth and capacity of his magical abilities cumulatively over time. The rate is very slow, but has helped augment his potency over the years. The more serious the absolution, the more power he takes from it. His practice is so inextricably linked to the consumption of sin at this point that if he has gone several weeks without having done so, he has a difficult time casting even basic spells. Raising the dead becomes impossible if he has abstained for more than seven days. The execution of powerful spells also requires him to replenish his stores more quickly. For example, if he were to raise an entire cemetary, in theory, he'd have to 'refuel' immediately.
Necromancy
As a baseline, he can raise a single mindless, obedient thrall (human and otherwise) with minor effort and keep it around for roughly 72 hours without difficulty. The body will continue to decay while in use unless he works some serious magic, but he typically has no need. Beyond 72 hours, the body will begin to come apart at the seams, even if it was fresh and entirely intact to begin with. Fragments of spirit trapped inside the body will start to rebel, becoming snappy and increasingly feral. Often more useful is his ability to draw a departed soul back into an empty body. This a sort of out-sourced mediumship, useful for gaining important information, interrogation and more. More than one or two soul summons a week is unwise and very tiring. He keeps a small trunk of old taxidermied animals (thanks Dad) to animate and use as spies and sentinels at will. This costs him almost nothing, as the flesh does not even require sustaining. Truly, the actual extent of his ability to summon, control and manipulate the fell energies of the living and the dead is largely unknown at this time—necromancy isn't something practiced or experimented with lightly. Rumor has it that playing with the balance between life and death too haphazardly has killed practitioners before, or turned them into horrific half-beings, trapped in a sort of sub-human waking death.Will keeps two reanimated children in his workshop as assistants and extra hands—the tragic victims of local crimes he felt deserved another chance at life. Tess and Mickey (7 and 11, respectively) are pale, glassy-eyed, unnerving little creatures with halved capacities for things like speech, thinking, feeling or emoting. Their movements are slightly unnatural, too smooth or too erratic in turns. Both speak Creole French as a default, but backwards. They don't eat, or blink, or really sleep. Both Will and Towser adore them and consider them family.Hoodoo / Conjure Work
An ancillary study he uses more as a method or support to his primary abilities, not a means in its own rite. He can create, utilize and unenchant mojo bags, hoodoo dolls, arcane candles, incenses and oils for good or ill, as well as smudge as a means of cleansing.
Bartholomew Holbeck
Towser is most often seen in the form of an ageless adult Doberman Pinscher. His intermediary into the spiritual realm, amplifier and extension of Will's magic, Towser will be with the Warlock until his death—should he fail to work out how to avoid such nonsense. Towser himself cannot be killed, as he's technically a linked spirit. He believes himself originally a warlock in Colonial America, but cannot be sure. He may well have been that warlock's familiar, but can no longer distinguish his memories from his dreams, or remembered experiences of old magical partners. Will and Towser communicate telepathically - he speaks to no one else. When not masquerading as a dog, he sometimes appears as a vague black apparition, or replaces Will's shadow, much like Peter Pan's. While he is almost always with Will in some form or another, he can be sent abroad in town or within the cirque as a dog to carry out errands and commands.
History
- Born in La Salle Parish, Louisiana, Will is the son of a mixed heritage evangelical snake preacher with a considerable taxidermy hobby, and a Haitian Vodou practitioner who tried to go straight and convert for a few years in a 'stab in the dark' attempt to soothe a guilty heart. His upbringing was so aesthetically Southern gothic as to be almost laughable, and so fraught with hypocrisies, double standards, bigotries and impossible-to-meet expectations it’s a wonder he’s turned out as well as he has. His mother turned back to her magic and away from her pedantic husband after less than a decade of marriage. Mother and son moved to Port-au-Prince when he was seven, after the divorce finalized. It was good timing. His magical affinity started to present at around the same time. Pops wouldn't have been thrilled.- Haiti made for a rough upbringing, but instilled in him an enduring 'do it yourself' proactiveness and resourcefulness which has served him well. His mother started teaching him to play cello after school, around the same time the streetwise neighborhood boys started teaching him to box (by using him as a punching bag until he fought back and earned his stripes) and to use a Ka-BAR. He was a stubborn student at school, less so with his mother's magical instruction at home.
- His interest in necromancy kicked up around age nine. A neighborhood stray dog, Prince, walked with Will to and from school almost every day. His mother wouldn't let Prince in the house, but Prince was his dog. One afternoon, Prince was not waiting for Will after school; he'd been struck by a grocery truck a block away. Attempting to comfort him, his mother explained that Prince was 'in a better place' now, and that death was not an ugly thing...but she hadn't seen Prince's body or heard the sounds he made before he stilled. Four months later, Will's beloved grandmother spiralled from seemingly good health to the grave over the course of a week—it was a grisly, undignified end for a kindly powerhouse of a woman. Any disillusionment Will had with the 'kindness' of returning to one's Maker was permanently extinguished.
- The worship of Haitian Loa from old Vodon tradition common in Port-au-Prince caught his interest, particularly the invocation of Baron Samedi, Legba and Ghede, centered around thanatology. Intro to conjurework necromancy.
- When he was 16, his mother absolved the sins of a former Tonton Macoute operative who'd made a fortune for himself in the criminal underworld in exchange for funds to send Will to school back in the States. Her son had a good heart, but she'd seen that the environment was turning him colder and a little coarse. She saw a potential for great darkness in him, even then, and aimed to curtail it.
- In many ways the move fixed the course of his life. At 16, with neither parent to guide him and still grappling with his developing magic, he was adrift. Anxious to make friends but feeling the far more privileged students at Le Lycée Français de Los Angeles to be slightly alien, he kept to himself for several months, his nose in his books and his fingerprints worn smooth by resin and hours at the strings. A spirit began visiting him in dreams, courting the notion of a magical partnership—a mutually beneficial give and take. For several reasons (some he'd later come to question) he accepted the proposal, and gained himself a familiar. Until his graduation from Le Lycée, his familiar, old Bartholomew Holbeck hid as Will's shadow. After graduation, he took the shape of a classically bred European Doberman Pinshcer, which Will had certified as an Emotional Support Animal so that Towser could accompany him corporeally wherever and whenever he wished.
- Attended Tulane for college on a sholarship, studying pyschology (with a focus on practices and pathologies around death and grieving) and music. He got a job moonlighting at a magical curios shop in the eclectic French Quarter of NOLA; a tourist trap concealing a real witch's emporium. There he began to put his skills to use, making good money on the side, which he diligently put away.
- His reputation spread throughout the NOLA magical community and beyond over the course of his bachelor's and master's programs. He would have left the city earlier in search of greener, newer pastures, but he met and was engaged to a bone witch who called the city home when he was 27. Lasting for four years, the pair called off the relationship six months before they intended to marry. Early on, she believed she could handle how taboo the magical community considered some of his practices, but the fact that he was unwelcome in her coven wore on her over time.
- From 31-34 he worked with a CBT & Trauma Clinic, living a double life. During the work week he was a well-respected professional. At night, he made his services available to the city's occult and supernatural underbelly. Frequently, he traveled abroad; making a point to expand his contacts to most of the established European covens.
- His mother died unexpectedly last year. He went back to Haiti to pay his respects (after briefly resurrecting her to say a proper goodbye) and has no plans to ever return. Since, he's returned to NOLA and purchased the shoppe where he first cut his teeth.
Miscellaneous
Mundane Skills
Drives Automatic and stick, but prefers motorcycles. Fairly proficient with non-automatic firearms. Taxidermy (he'll never tell). Can crochet (not likely to brag about this either). Can quote the bible backwards and forwards; is a veritable encyclopedia of passages citing hypocrisy, nonsense, human rights violations, anachronisms, etc. Has been playing the Cello since he was nine. Athletic, physically capable. Learned to use a Ka-BAR while in Haiti. Boxes. Can cook Creole dishes well, but has a habit of overusing spice in everythign else. Speaks english and fluent French (standard and Haitian Creole).