PDA

View Full Version : NWoD Grade-a-Character: Arlen Pagiel, The Hunter With A Literal Inner Demon



Leliel
2009-12-14, 11:14 PM
Well, our ST on Myth-Weavers, Octavian_5, is recruiting for a Hunter: The Vigil game where we all start in prison (although part of me doubts if the chronicle will end when we get out). I, being the Inferno fanatic that I am, asked if I could make a Demon-Possessed member of the Lucifuge (descendants of demons who use their powers for good). He decided to consider the idea (ie, he advised me to make a pure Hunter version of Arlen, just in case he changed his mind), but he decided to consider it.

So, here's Arlen Pagiel, or: What Happens When Someone With Asperger's Syndrome Is Allowed To Play Demon Summoner.

Backstory, as told in Arlen's words [with interruptions by Beherit, his "Soul Buddy"]:

"I was always a bit of an outcast-you know, the quiet, unassuming nerd everyone picks on in school [Yeah, boo-hoo, so was everyone else. The outcast, not the nerd, I mean]. Even so, I always considered myself to be a happy person, if not exactly a normal one-"Normal", I have now come to realize, just means "Vampire food" [Yay, three cheers for Possessed!]. However, that didn't mean I wasn't lonely. Indeed, one could say that I was loneliness personified. I wanted and desired friends, but I was too afraid, or they were too afraid, to ask.

Then, I met...her [Oo, now we're getting to the steamy parts! Let me get some hellcorn].

Samantha was a mousy girl I met in the junior year of high school. You know the type-glasses, buttoned top, intelligent-a real meganekko [A what? ...Oh. Wow, you humans can have some dirty, dirty minds]. She was close enough to me to the point that I was confident enough to approach her with the metaphorical "laurels of friendship"-and found that she shared much of my interests, up to and including my passion for demonology [A really smart succubus. Ha!]. Soon, we found ourselves friends and research partners, where she shared details about her life, and me about mine [Some of which required a condom. Just you readers wait, you'll see that they saw each other as more than just "friends and research partners"].

She was the perfect friend for me. Which is why I took her death at the hands of a supernatural so badly [Yes, beacuse we all know how devestating the death of a "freind" you equate to a "lady who works in the same office" can be. Especially those who invite you over to their house for drinks, dinner, and a place to sleep. With only one bed. Just to make that analogy more obvious].

We were walking back from the movies one night [See? Even he admits they were dating!]. We were chatting about the movie, pointing out the parts we liked, disliked, and outrighted hated, when I got this feeling I was being watched. I suppose Sam felt it too, since she stopped at the same point I did and started looking around worriedly. All of a sudden, I heard this crunch of a pebble followed by a dark chuckle-more superpreadator then human [For those of you who don't get the analogy, humans, and by extension supernaturals are an apex preadator by way of being sentient and ommnivorus. It's quite the useful evolutionary tool]. Sam and I began to run, but before we could make a yard, a dark man leaped-not just jumped, leaped-from the bushes and stuck a pair of needle canines into Sam's arm. I wanted to help her, but I was paralyzed by fear-paralyzed beacuse I knew I wasn't strong enough. I could only watch as he dragged her into the bushes-the last I ever saw of her.

What drove me in those dark months, I cannot exactly say [Mainly beacuse he was insane, and couldn't make heads or tails of his mental condition at the time]. Was it rage? Anguish? Some primal sense of justice? I did, however, know what I was searching for-power. Pure, unadulterated power, so that no one would have to suffer like me or Sam did . Over time, I gradually came to realize that vampires were not the only thing out of the ordinary in this world, and I began to investigate what was once my "hobby" of demonology as a real scientific field. And I found the power I sought. He's quite amicable, actually. For a demon, anyway [Aww...I'm touched].

He was once a human, the French pirate Soloman Morceau, and he lived during the great period of colonization in the Caribbean. Envious of both his countrymen and Spain, he began to attack both, betraying them to the Dutch in return for wealth, and more importantly, prestige. This, of course, caught up with him, when the French in turn sold him out to Captain Willaim Kidd, who he proved to be no match for [Although to be fair, this IS Captain Kidd we're talking about. You know all those rumors of buried treasure? They can all be traced back to that guy]. Rather then live with the humilation of being defeated by an Englishman, Soloman commited suicide, at which point his ghost rose as a Larval-a human-born demon. Details at this point are sketchy, and I am wise enough not to ask a member of a species infamous for being habitual liars for his past [Smart move], but I do know that he eventually shed his human form and became a Dominion-a true hellspawn-and took the name Beherit [Which is my true name, so if he says it to somone we don't trust, he'll regret it].

I had orginally intended to merely make a deal with a Dominion, but once I had discovered that one had once been human, my goals changed. No longer would I just have an infernal patron-I would take one into me, body and soul [For those of you who don't see the logic in this, he thought he would be better able to relate to a former Larval like me-still a dumb move, but now a logical one]. So I drew up the circle, recited the incantations, and called Beherit from the sea of Hell. You should have seen him-a great kraken of envy and darkness, with the torso and head of a human and the lower body and tentacles of an octopus, but definitely mammal-there was more killer whale then giant squid about him, despite his tentacles. I made the pact [Which wasn't all that hard-It gets really, REALLY, boring in Hell after a while, and besides, I get a nice new living space out of the deal] and took him into myself.

It was almost scary how easily I fit into the Vigil. I was always a bit headstrong and sure of myself, and my natural focus was a boon when it came to more mind-raping monsters [Preach it. I remember this one vamp back home in Maryland, and man did he ever have a fetish for telepathy. Of course, he ran into the far wall of the room as soon as I waved "Hi" to him, so maybe that isn't the best example]. I even made some friends among my distant relatives, the Lucifuge [I believe my Aunt Lilly was the progenitor of a couple of our cellmate's lines. Always was a bit of a swinger after her first husband left her]. But despite their liking for me, they never trusted Beherit. He was always the weak link in the organization, the suspected mole. I don't blame them [Neither do I]. I didn't care, for the most part [I did. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer, and grab your frenemies for dear life]. All that matter to me was the hunt, and making sure those once-human parasites were eradicated [Curiously, he entered the VASCU database for the same reason. Imagine that].

I suppose that's why I'm in prison now [And that. That too]

I eventually learned the name of the bloodsucker that killed Sam. Robert Clyde, of the Lancea Sanctum [Vampire Catholicism, basically. Just one more reason to hate exorcists]. Oh, how I had forgotten how much I loathed him. And to think that he somehow deserved to destroy her because it was God's appointed purpose for him-I am not ashamed to say that destroying him was the driving purpose of my life [By now, you should have noticed this self-pity thing he has going on. Not that it's all too surprising, given me]. So I turned to my books again, this time with a specific demon and mind. Three specific demons in fact [Three very attractive demons. *wolf whistle*].

The Furies were all too happy to listen to me. A loved one lost [Freudian slip!], righteous anger, a truly wicked prey...It was perfect for them, as they were perfect for me. Perfect...Except for one thing.

Their need for sin [Always the fine print. Always the fine print. I warned him, but nooo....]

Oh, they killed him. Along with a bunch of other people, by proxy. Ever hear of those "spontaneous" spree killings in New Orleans? Those were the Furies satiating their Malapraxies, getting enough energy to destroy Clyde. I didn't know they did it, initially. I found that out through the Lucifuge. They didn't know I summoned them, of course, and I didn't tell them. I didn't want to lose my cell [Selfish as always, just the way I like it]. But I...wanted to be punished. I wanted to be hurt for the innocents I killed. I wanted to pay the debt to society for my blind Wrath [Good thing too. Wouldn't want every Tom, Rick, and Amon munching on my host]. So when my cell killed a cabal of dark mages, I didn't bother covering up my own trail. Manslaughter one. The Lucifuge wanted to defend me, but I declined. I want to atone for my sins [Just not all sins].

Now, if only they got a better prison..."

[B]So, good? Bad? Average?

Leliel
2009-12-15, 10:56 AM
Just one grade. Even from a DnD standpoint.

erikun
2009-12-15, 04:30 PM
Quite amusing, especially the demon's comment on meganekko. :smalltongue: I doubt I'd write a backstory so well. Very well written with several juicy plot hooks to hang onto.