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Mar. 5th, 2021 12:32 pmIN CHARACTER
Character Name: Ashton Oleander O'Maher (He will introduce himself and go by Lee, not giving out his full name unless necessary)
Played-By/Art Claim: Timur Simakov
In-Game Tattoo Placement: On his ribcage, right side.
Current Health/Status: Alive and Dreaming
Age: 22
Species: Human
Content Warnings: Uh. writing samples have graphic violence and discussion of consent/rape issues.
History: Lee was raised by his Grandmother in a small town in the northern Appalachian mountains. His Grandmother is the unofficial town Midwife and local herbalist as well as The Local Witch. Everyone knows she's a witch but no one really talks about that. They certainly don't talk about the pretty dark haired Fern O'Maher, Lee's mother, who died a few years after giving birth to him. And they don't talk about his father because no one (except maybe his grandmother) is quite sure who he is.
The O'Maher Family have always been healers in the northern highland of the Appalachian mountains and as the nearest proper hospital and doctors are a few towns over, they've been their small town's first line of medical care. Plus with the cost of US Healthcare as it is, Granny O'Maher asking for a couple loaves of bread and some apples or maybe a new pair of shoes for her grandson isn't nearly too much to ask for.
Lee was raised fully expecting to follow in his grandmother's footsteps, although due to his age (22 currently) he doesn't have anywhere near his grandmother's level of skill or experience. Still, he's well on his way, having grown up assisting his grandmother tend to minor wounds, setting bones and delivering babies.
Being young, he of course prefers to hike and camp in the mountains, tend the bee hives, fish and hunt. On weekends and during tourist season he helps out at the nearest bar, washing dishes and bar-tending for a bit of pocket money and because he does spend an awful lot of time on his own.
Lee finished highschool but never showed any ambition to pursue college or do much of anything besides stay in the mountains carrying on his Grandmother's legacy. He is very proficient with herbs and plants and he does enjoy the scientific side of botany. He could have been a very good botanist had he gone to college.
With Most of his friends from school having moved away to pursue careers/university his closest friends are the trees and mountains themselves as well as a few spirits who lurk by the edge of the cemetery. He does keep in touch with his school friends but feels they don't have a lot in common anymore. They never really had much in common aside from doing the things boys do. It's hard to tell your school friends about how you would go out on the full moon with your grandmother to offer roses and a hare's heart to various saints or demons.
When Lee was fifteen, he made a blood pact with the demon Surgat. The demon helps Lee with his magic, gives him protection from hostile/malevolent ghosts and spirits in exchange for regular offerings. The toad can often be found in his pocket. It is the only creature that knows his full name aside from his grandmother and probably the government.
His deal with Surgat grants him the ability to unlock any lock.
Personality:
Edited upon requests
Please note that Lee is 22 and not nearly self aware enough to know most of this about himself.
His life is and has always been uncomplicated and easy and he very rarely has ever wanted anything. He likes to read (mostly non-fiction) and spends a lot of time alone up in the mountains. Where most of the youth of the town have always wanted to leave and find better opportunities, he has wanted nothing more than to dig his roots deeper. He loves his mountain town and his life there.
Generally speaking, while Lee is good natured and congenial, he holds people at arms length and never really lets people get to know him. It didn't start as a deliberate means of emotional self-preservation, but he has since learned that if people are not going to being permanent fixtures in his life, he doesn't really want to open up to get to know them. Emotions are messy and distasteful and any sort of vulnerability is not something he's comfortable showing.
Although superficial and shallow relationship are the most common and thus the most comfortable for him, and in spite of trying to supress, he does in fact feel very keenly Emotions, which he feels rather keenly for someone so adverse to them are suppressed until they become explosive. Lee is much more likely to smile when he's sad or lonely and pretend that everything is fine. And everything is fine until it is Not. At home, his grandmother can generally tell when he is distressed by emotion because he acts out physicall. Usually chopping wood or doing some sort of harder physical labour around the house.
As a child, Lee was aware that his father had never even been a presence in his life and His Mother had died when he was an infant. There is no ill will towards either of his parents but it was the first signs that People Leave.
Growing up, he also had the realisation that anyone with ambition or drive didn't stay in their small town. He grew up knowing that most of his friends would end up leaving and the autumn after their highschool graduation all but a handful did to go off to University or look for more meaningful jobs in big cities. It was the first time that Lee actually felt feelings of abandonment and it shook him. He had made the mistake of feeling too much for a handful of people and it left him hurting. He tells himself that he should have known better. He knew better.
With no large dream that he could ever share and most people assumed that he simply lacked ambition or drive. He was smart enough to pursue college so why wouldn't he? But Lee is passionate about plants and his occult practice and works very hard to be very good. He hates being called lazy and unambitious and being seen as someone without passion for things because it is far from the truth.
Not being able to openly discuss his magical practices even with his closest friends, he nurtured a feeling of Otherness. He had a sense of purpose but no one he could truly share it with. Even the handful of closer friends didn't know most of the details aside from his having odd superstitions and feelings about the moon or weird little quirks and familiy medicines that seemed to work.
Deep down, Lee really does want a connection to others, but he is so used to guarding his feelings now and keeping most of his life a secret, he also has no idea on how to open up. His current method of trying to maintain a normal balance is to be around people in a limited and controlled capacity. He works a couple nights a week and during tourist season in a bar. It gives him the illusion that he is trying to be 'normal' and that he is engaging with people but it is usually people he wont see after a night or two.
Being used to magic and that it can do practically anything, he isn't fond of being told No. or that he Can't do something. While he grudgingly will admit even magic follows some rules, anything is practically possible so why should he have limits? This can become a point of stubbornness at which he will dig his heels in and refuse to compromise simply on principal.
Lee's most significant relationships are with his Grandmother who he adores and loves unconditionally. He's protective of her especially as she's starting to slow down and show the deterioration of age but even as a child he had been protective and loving, getting into a fight at school over her honour. He is very aware that the worst thing in the world is going to be losing her one day.
Josh. Lee's best friend from third grade onward. They were typical boys who did boyish things like hiking, camping, sleepovers and the occasional fist fight. They were fairly inseparable as kids and he is the person Lee trust the most outside of his Grandmother. Josh has likely been witness to some of of Lee's 'strange' habits such as talking to plants or saying hello when he passes the graveyard gates. Lee trusted him with those small glimpses into the other side of his life. He started the 'Witchboy' nickname out of good humour. When Josh left for University in New York it devastated Lee in a way he hadn't expected. He knew of course his friend would be moving away but the emotional ramifications of being Alone didn't hit until a few weeks later when he was actually gone and Lee felt that absence. It Hurt him. This is where the seed of an abandonment complex started and in defence of being hurt again he has put up walls.
Surgat. Currently Lee's familiar. The Demon is the closest thing to a friend that he has now, although Lee is intelligent enough to know 'friend' is probably not a term you want to apply lightly to a demon. Still, they have a pact and work together for their mutual benefit. Surgat pushes him to experiment and explore darker margic but Lee does trust the creature for the most part and it has proven itself to be reliable.
In more casual relationships such as with his boss at work and other people around town that he has grown up around, he is polite and friendly and will engage but holds most of them at arm's length. Especially after Josh and the other boys he was close to have gone. The town is quite small and most people are on a friendly basis. It's the sort of town where you say Hello to your neighbours and chat at the grocery store. Because Lee loves his little town and the people, he does enjoy working at the bar and telling tourists about the best canyons and hiking trails/campsites and after a few drinks he might even let them know about the canyon's with the strange lights at night.
Abilities/Powers/Weaknesses & Warping:
On a general/Mundane level, Lee knows about plants and their medicinal purposes as well as metaphysical purposes. Mugwart can help induce prophetic, lucid dreams, but it can also induce a dangerous miscarriage. He's helped deliver babies and in an emergency he's a valuable set of hands with first aid knowledge as well as lots of folk-healing knowledge for common ailments. He makes tea and salves and has any number of herbal remedies on hand.
As a witch, the simplest way to understand his magic that it is energy focused by his will for a specific outcome. If Lee can think it, he can make it happen, however the larger the intent the more energy required. Plants, Animals, his home mountains and the spirits he has relationships with all contribute to that energy which make his spells successful most of the time.
At home, to avoid depleting his own energy, he works closely with demons, various gods and nature spirits who help him alter his probability and opportunity to get what he wants/needs.
His magic is generally innocuous and passive seeming (No fireballs or lightning fingers) but it does manifest his desire and boost luck and opportunity although it can carry consequences aside from whatever offering to the spirits might be necessary for their help. If you ask for a thousand dollars, it will come to you, but it might be your inheritance from a family member's death. So with that in mind, he is generally very careful about the sorts of magic he uses. It's better to ask for abundance and opportunity than straight cash for example.
With his magic, there is also always a price to be paid and the larger the magic, the larger the price. Hence using spirits and things other than your own power so you aren't the one paying the price.
Surgat His toad familiar is the result of a blood pact made with the demon (the demon appears to people as a regular toad) who helps protect him from magical harm and does magical tasks/errands for him and lends him its power for larger workings.
Surgat by their bloodpact also grants Lee the ability to unlock any lock.
Lee has the ability to curse and hex should he want to. This means focusing ill intent and bad luck onto someone. He has only ever hexed school bullies and redneck bigots but he has no problem doing it since he is more comfortable avoiding confrontation. It usually manifests as someone having A VERY BAD DAY but could be much worse. Again, there is always a price for magic so this is used sparingly.
Passive magic skills he possesses: The ability to travel into other people's dreams or bring them into his own. Divination primarily through cartomancy, bibliomancy or scrying. He's able to communicate with spirits/ghosts. He can sense strange energies or energy being moved/changed from it's natural currents.
Glamour magic. He can alter how people perceive him through magic.
Lee almost always carries a knife which functions practically as both a regular knife (it is very sharp) but more importantly as a spiritual weapon. It can cut/injure ghosts/spirits and destroy things like magical barriers, spells ect. This is primarily for defence but has offensive applications if he were in the right situation to think of them. When he uses the knife it is the only time the magic he uses is immediate/obvious although only to creatures/people who can see magical energies/beings would know that he's not just cutting through air. The Knife is a 5 inch dagger bladed smith and wesson boot knife with heavy enchantments.
Warping: There is an energy drain when he uses spells to the point that it could endanger his life.
Inventory:
1) His mountain Bike
2) His knife that can cut spirits/ magical barriers ect.
3) His favourite deck of Tarot Cards
4) His copy of his grandmother's grimoire (a heavy book of spells, herbal medicines and information on ritual magick. His go-to when he needs information he doesn't know.
5) His toad familiar
6) His bartending outfit: Cute black wide-brimmed hat, a black t-shirt and oversized cardigan (with pockets) Black skinny jeans and doc martens. He has a black triple layered necklace: Silver chain with pendants: Obsidian arrowhead, black tourmaline point and a chunk of labradorite. In his pockets he would have a pencil eyeliner in black, a lighter and some cigarettes.
Writing Samples:
I included a couple extra because as an OC it's easier to show various aspects of Lee's personality and world that informs his experiences.
Please note Content Warning for Graphic Violence, gorey things and discussion of consent/rape in writing samples.
Grave Robbery
Ritual Magic
Canyon Lights
Exodus
Spring Dance
OUT OF CHARACTER
Player Name: Asci
Player Age: 28
Player Contact: DMs
Other Characters In Game: None. First Time Application
In-Game Tag If Accepted: Lee O'Maher: Asci
Permissions for Character: Here
Are you comfortable with prominent elements of fourth-walling?: Sure. As it's an OC I'm happy to provide info to mods as necessary since there's no wiki. Tell me what you need.
What themes of horror/psychological thrillers do you enjoy the most?: I enjoy the good creeping unease of a lovecraftian horror. I have no squick against gore but I appreciate an atmospheric slow burn creepy over the chaos of things like texas chainsaw type horror. I also really just enjoy a good old fashioned ghost story and I'm fascinated by folk horror and themes of outsiders, strangers and alienation.
Is there anything in particular you absolutely need specific content warnings for?: Naw I'm good. Throw it at me.
Additional Information: The magic/witchcraft system I devised stems from simplified Solomanic and Medieval Grimoire practices and more Traditional Witchcraft rather than the New Age or Wiccan systems although there might be some overlap. Fun Fact: The Invisibility spell using beans and a severed head in my writing sample is actually a 'real' ritual from an alleged 17th or 18th century grimoire.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimorium_Verum
