Background: I still wear the robes of my order,
you know. Though all of my brothers have been long since buried and
withered away in the soils of holy grounds all over the world, my robes
have not gone rotten or mildewed for all this time. I, myself, am in just
as good condition as my robes. There is a simple explanation for this, and
that is, very simply, because I have been blessed. I think you know who
has blessed the likes of a lowly Franciscan such as myself, and I shall
delve into this blessing with time. I will tell you this, however - it is
because of this blessing that I became witness to many, many things a
human being would never hope to see in a single lifetime, things many of
which could be considered the most evil acts in existence. I say ‘could’
because some of them never happened, as I was there to stop them. No one
knew, but I was there. I walked amongst the most corrupt, and no one ever
noticed. I have watched as a man performed an arcane dance of darkness to
see into a future that no one deserved to peer into. I have watched an
entire room of smiling occultists stand upon chairs, loop nooses around
their necks, and step off into death all in perfect synchronicity. I have
watched the long-dreaded birth of a dark man who was named ‘Revence’ by
his parents but took on a different title after becoming the
representative of a concept that consumes all around it. He I dislike
particularly, that Quietus. The only being I dislike moreso than he is
what he represents - the Void. He attempts to empty the Universe of
everything. A world devoid of love, hope, and faith? The Void I truly
despise, for nothing else I know of is truly like forcing reality into a
state of apathy - a true sin. That is but one of the things I am meant
to... I would say fight, but I do not fight. Violence can solve many a
problem, though few would be pleased with what would result. Fighting is
most certainly not for me. I am an old man, not quite withered and
shriveled as most old men are, yet I would not be able to endure much
abuse as I have not felt pain in a long time. Much like my Lord and God, I
choose to work in more subtle ways, though unlike Him, I choose not to do
so as mysteriously as He manages to.
Character Personality I am here for a reason. I have a mission to fulfill.
Even after all this time I do not fully grasp what that mission is, but I
am getting a vague notion. I am not here to fight, as you would like to
think. I am here to oppose. To prevent. To aid. Let me explain. I have
lived many a century, and in those centuries, there have been many heroes.
Some do it of their own accord. Others need to be ‘persuaded’ to go in the
appropriate direction. That is what my business is. I influence people.
You would think they would do it from their own will, as that’s what it
comes down to in the end, but it is partially not true. You may recall the
story of Joanne d’Arc, a French girl who went out to lead her king’s
armies under the impression that angels up high were telling her to do so.
I have long suspected that it is not really fact. I think the people that
spoke to her were ones, or perhaps even a single one, like me. We move
undetected, that way we can secretly spread the seeds of goodness in
people through their ears and not their eyes....
Powers and Abilities
always out of sight
- Power: Invisibility
- Level: Supreme
- Kit Power Link: Gadgeteer
The eyes are not the only
gateways into the soul, you know. The ears can fulfill the same purpose,
as they are just as useful to a person, and just as influential on the
mind. But, for the ears to gain their full potential, you must deceive the
eyes first, and get the mind to distrust them and rely on the ears
instead. A man such as myself cannot go around whispering to people, and
expect it to work fully. People find it strange when an old man leans into
their ear and tries to tell them to do good things for people who need
them. So God has given me the choice to become hidden from whatever eyes
are out there - not just human eyes, but eyes that pry into reality, eyes
that do not just see light but see the very fabric of existence and all
that is wrought unto it.... I can move anywhere freely if I so desire,
never seen by any sets of eyes, real or artificial, searching or not. My
influence on this place is almost non-existent, except for what I wish to
influence in the world around me. Nowadays, I find that the amount of my
influence has been steadily rising....
never out of mind
I was a man of the
Inquisition once, back in the days when we meant to guide and not punish
in the Name of God. I guided many back then, those lost souls and doubting
minds who did not believe in the greatness that surrounded them. I still
do that to this very day. With the graces God has bestowed upon me, I move
unseen, unheard, and unscented when I see fit. As I move, I lean to the
ears of some of the people who might just think that they do not matter in
the Grand Scheme, and whisper. I whisper words that instill courage and
uncommon valor, and give them a mission. Some become unsung heroes. Others
find they like the empowerment I provide, and continue with their heroics,
sometime becoming idols, other times becoming vigilantes. But, no matter
what the rest of their lives turn out to be, it all started with a simple
act of bravery. It is a sacred duty that I must perform, spreading a Good
Word of a different sort and giving people the ability to go beyond the
limitations they set themselves. Normal people are becoming too complacent
for their own good, assuming that the champions of worlds are the only
ones who can make a truly noticeable difference in the matters greater
than they. There was a man once who noticed this. He was struck by the
notion that everyone did not have to already be labeled a hero to do
something that mattered. So he did something about it, though he went
about it the entirely wrong way. He had found his way through his own pain
and misfortune, through the loss of his livelihood and the deaths of his
wife and children. His name was Watson Taylor, and it is said that he is
the man who unwittingly set in motion the gears of a failed Apocalypse. He
would’ve made an excellent hero had he not suffered so. There are many who
would be just like him, had I not intervened. And there are many who are
not, yet they would go on to become heroes anyway. You have known of my
influence in present times, I believe. Some gave them names. I cannot
recall, but it had something to do with striding, perhaps? They are a
product of my whisperings. They were the ones whom did not question the
words they heard in their sleep, but accepted them and began to search on
their own. They questioned that which did not feel right, and rightfully
so. There was always something wrong, and it was their own inaction.
Immunity: Danger Sense
As you see,
God protects me well. He has protected me from people who would stand
against righteousness, for if he didn’t I would surely be dead. Indeed, I
could give you a long list of all those who would kill me if given
half-the-chance. Fortunately, no one has come so close for them to even
know I exist, and I will therefore never be required to put forth any list
of that sort. But there is one in particular that has come close, that one
being a wicked entity in and of itself that even holds some sway over God
Himself, though nowI realize that works in both ways. I am protected from
the Prying Eyes of Fate. Fate, though never intending it, would surely
work against me if she saw what I was doing. You see, what Fate knows,
other people can know as well. There is an abundance of people who can see
through Fate’s Eyes - some are blessed with the Gift of the Sight, some
use arcane magicks to pry, some have memories that work in both
directions, others merely cannot help themselves and see what they do not
want to see. If Fate could see me, then so could those who would possibly
want to work against me....
Immunity: Hyper-Senses
I was always
traveling when I was a man of the Inquisition. My brothers and I traveled
to all sorts of places occupied by all walks of life. I never paid
attention to the places that were kept up and always clean, though. I paid
more attention to the places that were bathed in mud and squalor instead.
The people I found there had a tendency to be infinitely more fascinating
and worthy of the Church’s time. One thing those places had in common
though, was that they were constantly overrun by beasts and animals. Wild
boars, dogs, wolves, mountain cats, and more. They have always been able
to sense things much better that we humans have, with a strange intuition
and incredible senses of smell and hearing. I could never walk outside
with impudence and fearlessness because of those wild creatures, usually
ravenous without any real food to find in the villages. Even though I hear
humans aren’t the most delectable of beasts, they would eat anything out
of lack of anything else, and that instilled fear into my heart whenever I
stepped foot outside a monastery or cathedral. I do not worry about that
anymore. I could dance and sing joyously and make a mockery of myself
inside a cave filled with wolves hungry for any kind of flesh never mind
my own, and I would never have to worry. God protects me when I desire
protection, not just from sight, but from scent and sound.
Immunity: Environmental Awareness
Animals are
not the only ones with the intuition I mentioned earlier, you know. I have
seen many with enough wit about them to sense people doing as much as
stepping foot a few feet outside their bedchambers. I have always wondered
how they did it - how they could not really hear or see people coming, yet
still know they were there. I came to me one day that they use neither
sight nor sound, but rather feel the footsteps they walk in. It is a
strange phenomenon that I have had the pleasure of encountering many
times. At one point, I was experimenting with it. I was in America’s
Maryland, this city called Baltimore in the year of Our Lord 1838. I would
walk around various households, pretending to be a phantasm of days past,
and see if I could stir a reaction. I quickly learned that I could stir no
reaction, until I bumped into a decorative stand of the home of one Edgar
Allen Poe by accident, and knocked over a vase that looked to have much
value and even more age. I still have my wits to this day, so even back
then I caught it. I had not noticed, but I did stir a reaction that night.
My back was turned to the bedchamber, and I did not see the balding man
within poke his head out to see what that noise was. When I turned to
look, his eyes were lit up like streetlamps and he pointed as his wife
looked over his shoulder. I heard him say something in English, and I did
not understand what it meant through my own surprise. I know now, though.
I was the equivalent of something like ‘Virginia, that vase just fell off
the table, stopped in mid-air, and floated back up to its perch.’ He was a
fickle man, easily entertained at some points and inconsolable at others,
that fellow. It was a pity that I was not around to console him when he
needed it.
Immunity: Radar
There are
some days where I can feel I must atone. I am regularly entering peoples’
houses without their consent, though I mostly enter with them and never by
‘breaking and entering’ or trespassing through an open window, at least a
window that is higher up than I am tall. It leaves me with a feeling of
guilt. So I go out, and I repent. I walk for days with nothing but my
robes and my wits, usually in a place that is hot and uncomfortable. If
find it purifies my soul, and that I find salvation in warm temperatures.
Sometimes I find more than I hope for. I was once walking around an area
in America’s Nevada called ‘Groom Lake’, sometime in the latter half of
the nineteenth century. I was about to sit down to take a rest, when a
large van with swirls of bright colors on the side barreled past me. It
almost struck me down where I sat, but God protects me not just by hiding
me from sight, but by giving me good fortune. The van had something
scrawled on the side in large red letters, it read something like ‘ufo
hunters’ or something as such. It continued to rush towards some military
installment that I had passed about a half-a-kilometer back, when it
swerved to the left, fell upon its side, and exploded with a great shower
of fire and noise. As I approached to see what had happened and offer my
assistance if any was needed, several black vans carrying maintenance
personnel arrived, put the fire out, and cleansed the area. There was
nothing left by the time I arrived there. They had not known I was there,
much like they had not when I had walked past. It was a fairly curious
happening, one I will not soon forget....
Immunity: X-Ray Vision
Airports
frightened me at first. Places that held massive mechanical birds that
would transport people within its belly.... I did not have the pleasure of
seeing the Wright Brothers’ first flight, but I did watch as the first
commercial airliner was constructed. It was a frightening event to behold,
even though I had been keeping track of the time’s events through
newspapers and unwitting words of mouth, and had known that is was a long
time coming. Though I was terrified upon its innovation, I was not as
nearly as alarmed upon its advancement. New safety devices, precautionary
institutions, security checkpoints, metal detectors - all of them were
introduced to ensure the livelihoods of those who traveled within these
‘commercial flights’. To my chagrin, it is even more advanced here than it
was back in Europe, Asia, and America. There are many curious security
devices - machinations that open suitcases and check their contents
within, people who never go anywhere but instead wander around and
randomly apprehend a person holding a well-hidden firearm, even this
unusually large screen mounted upon the side of a small hallway that
people walk through. People enter this hallway and see nothing, though
those viewing the screen upon one of the sides watch as sets of skeletons
in transparent clothing walk by in place of normal people, as if they were
not being watched at all. It is a strange security measure, but very
useful. Out of curiosity, I borrowed one of the firearms off of a member
of the security personnel, and went through the tunnel myself. To the
vexation of the security manning the area, they assumed that someone was
‘telekinetically’ trying to pass a weapon through the checkpoint. They did
not know I was holding it, so they must not have seen me on the screen,
just as they could not see me with their eyes.
Immunity: Sonar
I often find
myself going to any churches I can find - sometimes to reflect, sometimes
to aid with chores, but mostly in an effort to keep myself busy. I was
helping at this one particular church just a month ago, easing them of
their spring-cleaning duties and such. They needed someone to clean out
the cobwebs from their belfry, and as no one else seemed to want to do it
I took it upon myself to help. I learned very quickly why they did not
want to be up there, and it was because it was infested with bats. Those
small creatures of leathery wing and beady eye instilled much fear in
them. I set about with much caution in cleaning, as I did not want to
learn what happened when they became disturbed. As it turned out, I would
learn anyway. Night began to fall, and I was moving quickly to finish
before the sun sank below the horizon completely. A loose piece of rotted
scaffolding fell, and struck the bell in the chamber. Not only did it pain
my ears, but it also disturbed the bats. Down they came like a swarm of
blackened autumn leaves caught in a strong wind, screeching madly with
surprise and fright. They did not see me, in every sense of the word. I
still carry bruises from where many of them flew into my back. I was lucky
to have covered my head with my hands, or they might have dazed me into
unconsciousness.
Immunity: Thermal Vision
God often
relies in flawed human beings to carry out his Word. I have grown to
appreciate this more and more over the past centuries, for I am a flawed
human being. I am old, and am left with few things that interest me
anymore. Though I routinely avoid whatever pleasures some sins present,
there are some things that even I cannot resist. I once managed to follow
a man into the Fallen Tower - a place of great sin and darkness. A place
with many security devices, too - sound, motion, heat, pressure.... He led
me to a gateway, through the front gates, through the maze, into the main
complex, and all the way to the Fallen Council chamber. I did not go
inside, rather I came upon a rich, influential fellow named Marc Dollar,
and followed him to his private suite. After averting my eyes while he
changed into his silken nightclothes, I began to ‘play with his mind’, as
you may call it. In his ear I began to whisper, inspiring fear and
paranoia instead of bravery and valor, causing him to call his personal
guards many a time. There were many, and I am not immune to touch like I
am to sight and smell, but I was safe hiding underneath his bed. Each time
they left, I would make louder with my aural assaults, whispers elevating
into shouts and eventually screams. They must’ve been the most ghastly
screams he had heard in his lifetime, for he left after the guards became
fed up with him and asked if he was becoming senile. It was a terrible
thing I did, but even monks such as myself must enjoy themselves from time
to time.
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