application for cor_comm

[kindof_itches]

Player
Name - Alishia
AIM Name - inaloadedroom (AIM)
E-Mail - inaloadedroom (at) gmail (dot) com

Character
Name - Carrow
Fandom - JourneyQuest
Canon Point - Post-Fall Into Darkness (s2e08)
Age - No canonical age is given for Carrow; however, based on the apparent age of his PB, it's probably safe to assume he's in his early thirties.
Gender - Male

Appearance - Carrow is about 6'0" and, under all his clothing, is surprisingly well-built for a man of the cloth. He's also, well, kind of dead -- undead, actually -- and it shows, his skin bearing obvious signs of rot, most notably on his face, and his dark hair dirty and matted. His eyes, once brown, have turned a silvery white since the botched resurrection that made him what he is, and due to a mishap with some holy magic after his death, he's missing his right arm from mid-bicep down, the end of the stump blackened and coated in flaking, coagulated blood. He is obviously starkly, unhealthily pale and he seems to only breathe and blink as a sort of not quite yet entirely forgotten reflex. Surprisingly, though -- perhaps even more so, given the fact that he's been shot three times (this is what killed him), run through once and had his neck broken (postmortem) and the wounds won't heal on their own -- he moves naturally, without any signs of stiffness or shambling you might expect from the dead.

As far as clothing goes, Carrow wears the traditional vestments of a cleric of Vieris, God of Light, Healing and Mercy. Which basically boils down to a dark blue and white sleeveless cassock over a white tunic and dark trousers. He wears a light blue stole bearing Vieris' symbol -- a lit candle on a yellow background -- over his shoulders, brown, well-worn walking boots, and a dark leather belt. Up until recently, he also wore the symbol of Vieris around his neck, too, but the medallion was destroyed by a herald of the God. It is the writer's personal opinion that he carries the pieces in a pouch somewhere on his person for sentimental reasons, but it's more or less useless now.

Personality - Before his death, Carrow was what most people would expect from a man of faith: calm, relatively good-natured, and quick to lend those in need aid. He followed Perf off on his quest even though -- or perhaps because -- he was obviously incompetent, lent healing whenever he tried to escape his destiny and the party's fighter decided he needed a beating for it, and frowned on the senseless murder of orcs, despite the fact that they likely would have done the same to them, given half a chance. He had, perhaps, a vaguely dark and sarcastic sense of humor, judging by the fact that he laughed at the idea of his group's archer shooting another one of their companions, but he would never have thought to act on any of that and, after the initial laugh, more or less told her not to shoot anyone.

This, of course, all changed dramatically when Carrow died and was brought back as undead.

Carrow now hates what he is and harbors a sense of resentment towards the still living -- most notably the mage that made this way, Perf. He spends much of the series postmortem making snide comments at Perf's expense on topics ranging from his failure as a mage to the "Meat Henge" tattoo Perf has on his stomach. Still, though, he continues to travel with the party, even going as far as to look for them after they've been separated despite the fact that this separation would have been the perfect opportunity to escape being saddled with them, as seems to be his want, so it seems he still feels a sense of loyalty or at least obligation to the party that hasn't faded after his death. Either that or he holds onto hope that Perf will pull his head out of his ass magically and eventually be able to fix him, that they'll stumble across someone who can or that his God will reward him for weathering this test of will and either revive him or let him die a proper death.

In addition to this, Carrow's dark side has been magnified in death. Watching Perf or anyone else who's wronged him get hurt is something he'd likely wholeheartedly condone rather than railing against, and where he had a problem with the party killing orcs before, he killed -- and cannibalized -- one himself after being undead for no more than few minutes without showing any signs of remorse. It could be argued that he was simply protecting the party, seeing as how the orc he killed had a crossbow trained on them at the time, but honestly, it's likely that wasn't the case or, at very least, not the whole of it as far as his reasons go.

It should be noted, however, that Carrow is not wholly evil. If he was, if he went truly off the rails and embraced what he's become and the powers inherent to that, he'd likely become one of the more credible threats in the series. As it stands, though, he knows that there's something wrong with him -- that dying has infected him with some sort of darkness or magnified his less admirable personality traits -- and tries to avoid doing things that are morally questionable for the most part, using the faith he still clings to as a wedge between what's left of who he was and what he's become. He doesn't want to be a monster, he's terrified of truly becoming one -- which probably explains why, barring what he did to the orc, he hasn't given into any of the impulses that come with being undead -- and he's constantly trying to convince himself that this is some kind of test of faith so that he has an excuse not to give in entirely. So far, it seems to be working for him, despite the fact that he's been presented time and time again with evidence that his God has turned his back on him.

History - According to the show's creator and writer, the human people of Fartherall, the world the series takes place on, are a people divided. There are no great, lasting human kingdoms, no single monarch that rules over all the humans in the land -- instead, there are several, fractured kingdoms made up of a handful of towns and cities that have banded together for convenience sake, not unlike the many Italian kingdoms of our world back in the 1800s. Every so often, though, a warlord or two shows up, conquers most of the human lands, and then ends up dead or overthrown and then everything falls back into disarray. The current warlord du jour is a trio of monarchs known as the Wicked Kings -- which are actually a king, his wife and their son -- and while how long they've been in power isn't revealed in the show, they've clearly been around long enough to have warranted a prophecy predicting their fall at the hands of an unnamed Chosen One in possession of a magical sword known as the Sword of Fighting.

And so the story opens with Carrow, a cleric of Vieris, God of Mercy and Lord of Light, traveling with Perf (the series' main protagonist and a notoriously terrible mage), Nara (an elven archer who seems to have some kind of epic bromance going on with Carrow), and Glorion (a largely brainless fighter only concerned with killing) searching for the sword after being hired by the Wicked Kings to destroy it before it can be drawn.

Canon tells us that the party has been looking for the sword for a year now with little success -- and with Perf trying to get away from the others and the quest for some time now -- while having several run ins with the barbaric orcs, but finally, they get lucky. The find the Temple of All Dooms, the fabled resting place of the Sword of Fighting, and while trying to find a way in and after another attempt by Perf to get out of his obligations to find the sword, Carrow and Nara notice an orc carving on one of the trees, indicating that the orcs have both caught up with them and are pretty pissed off that they -- specifically Glorion -- keep killing their people. Carrow runs off to find Perf and warn him, and the second he does, is killed by a volley of arrows fired by a trio of orcish archers hiding in the tree.

This is not the end for Carrow, however. Under orders from Nara, Perf attempts a resurrection spell on Carrow and while it works to a certain degree, it doesn't work in the way it was meant to. Instead of coming back to life human and unharmed, Perf managed to raise Carrow as a sentient corporeal undead, all of his memories and skills intact, a feat which is supposedly impossible within the confines of this universe, even for necromancers and death priests. Which probably explains why, after Carrow wakes up and catches up to Nara and Perf -- who have been in and out of the Temple of All Dooms, found the Sword of Fighting and drawn it, marking Perf as the Chosen One -- they mistake him for a zombie. After eating one of the orcs still assailing the party, he quickly and rather irately informs them otherwise, not particularly happy with being undead, his very existence now an abomination in the eyes of his God.

Out of some lingering obligation to the party, a desire to see his condition fixed somehow or just a general want to make Perf's life hell for doing this to him, Carrow continues to travel with the group. Unfortunately, shortly thereafter, the group is set upon by a bounty hunter hired by the Wicked Kings to follow the group to make sure they actually destroyed the Sword, if and when it was found, and since it's clear they they haven't, she takes them captive, albeit not before stabbing Carrow, breaking his neck and, after he gets back up again, realizing what he is. She still figures she can get full price for all of them, though, and so she leads them back towards the Wicked Kings' lands via shortcut through the City of the Dead.

As one might expect from its name, the City of the Dead is full of undead, and after being surrounded by them at some point, Carrow convinces the bounty hunter to unbind his hands so he can attempt to repel them, as is possible for clerics. She agrees, and Carrow pulls out his holy symbol only to find that it burns him when he touches it. He ignores this or, well, at least the pain -- he told Perf earlier that he didn't feel much of anything, including pain, anymore -- and attempts to turn the undead. It works, his powers still intact, but with one unfortunate side effect: he manages to repel himself as well and runs in terror away from the party.

Rather than pursue him, the bounty hunter continues to lead the rest of the group through the catacombs of the city, and so when the fear effect wears off, Carrow finds himself alone in the City of the Dead. Eventually, he ends up surrounded by the undead again -- likely because they think he's one of their own -- and worse yet, comes face to face with Death herself. She makes him an ambiguous offer in what appears to be an effort to get him to embrace what he is and serve her, but rather than accept, Carrow attempts to smite her with a powerful holy spell. She disappears before he manages to complete the spell, and since holy magic and undead don't exactly mix, loses his right arm in the process.

Shortly afterwards, the party and the bounty hunter conveniently emerge nearby, and Carrow, clinging desperately to his faith -- and possibly slightly out of his mind at the realization that his God might have turned on him -- threatens the former, trying to get her to release the group. She scoffs at him and he calls forth a herald of Vieris to fight for him. Rather than actually do as he's supposed to, however, the angel attacks Carrow, naming him an abomination, and destroys his holy symbol. A battle between Perf, the Sword of Fighting in hand, and the herald follows. It ends only when Carrow starts to embrace what he is now, using shadow magic -- magic inherent to the undead, necromancers and death priests and the antithesis of his former faith -- to break the shield around the angel long enough for Perf to kill him.

And shortly thereafter, Carrow ends up at the carnival.

Skills / Abilities / Powers - As has been mentioned several times before, Carrow is not only undead but a type of undead unique to his world, and this grants him several innate abilities, first and foremost among these abilities being the fact that he feels no pain. Any injury he sustains will do damage normally, as is evidenced by the few wounds he has taken since his death, but he won't react to it as a normal person would. While being assaulted by the bounty hunter, he was back on his feet a few seconds after each attack, more pissed off than anything. He barely made a sound when he lost his arm. And so on and so forth. This is, of course, useful, but it's also dangerous to a certain degree -- he could and, honestly, looking at his arm, has crippled himself doing something stupid just because he can't feel it. Luckily for him, he's fairly resilient. Wounds that would otherwise kill a normal person won't slow him down too much. He cannot heal normally, nor will traditional healing spells seal the wounds -- in the case of the latter, it's quite the opposite, as in his world, healing spells are generally based on positive energy, which is detrimental to the undead who are, as a general rule, creatures created and sustained by negative energy -- but considering the fact that he should be paralyzed from the neck down, there's not a whole lot that slows him down. It is the writer's personal opinion that if something happened that if his body was completely destroyed -- if, say for example, he fell into a volcano -- he wouldn't be getting up from that, however, or that if his head was removed from his shoulders, that would down him permanently, too. Other than that, though ... well, you get the picture. He does not need sleep, nor food and water, but he does have an odd, constant craving for humanoid flesh that he generally ignores.

Beyond that and again as mentioned, before his death, Carrow was a priest of a God with powerful healing abilities, and as such knows more than a few himself. Since the show draws a large portion of its influence from the tabletop game, Dungeons and Dragons -- and considering a few of the things Carrow's PB, Brian Lewis, posted on an in character twitter account back when the show first premiered -- it's likely that Carrow has the ability to heal all but the most serious wounds entirely, cure poisons and diseases, and even revive the dead. He is also capable of turning or repelling the undead, smiting evil with a shaft of light from the heavens, and calling upon minions of his God in times of need. He has not lost any of these abilities in death, but well, there are a few unfortunate downsides to all of this. Firstly, he needs his holy symbol to make any of these abilities work, and while he carries it on his person, it has been effectively destroyed and is therefore useless until -- or even if -- it can be repaired. And secondly, as mentioned earlier, since most of these abilities are based on holy or positive energy, they tend to have the opposite effect when he uses them on himself. His holy symbol burns to touch, healing spells would do more damage to him rather than repair damage, trying to smite evil cost him his arm, and so on and so forth. He could conceivably heal others if he had his holy symbol, but anything else is more likely to backfire on him than not.

Finally and most recently, Carrow has found that he has access to what is known in his universe as shadow magic -- magic drawn from unholy or negatively charged sources. He is new to this kind of magic -- likely he wouldn't be able to use it at all if he weren't undead -- and part afraid of, part disgusted by it, since it's the antithesis of his faith and God, so he hasn't used much of it in canon. It is the writer's opinion, however, that he could likely use it to restore his arm, heal the damage he's taken over the course of his adventures, command other undead rather than repel them -- basically anything to the opposite of what his normal abilities as a cleric would entail. Fortunately for the world at large, he's fairly new to shadow magic, what he has managed in canon more instinct than actual skill, so he'd have to put some serious work into learning what he's doing before he could use shadow magic to any great effect, and chances are he won't, seeing as how he's not exactly thrilled he can use it in the first place.

Power Restrictions - For the time being, there's really not a whole lot Carrow can do, despite how complicated his ability list seems. Without his holy symbol, his healing magic will not function and while he still clings to his faith, he's not likely to put his shadow magic to any real use.

In spite of this, though -- and assuming he fixes the former or gets over the latter -- let's say that his healing spells and ability to fear the undead would work as intended, provided he didn't use either on himself. He would not be able to call upon a herald of his God or use Vieris' holy power to smite evil, however, seeing as how the God isn't exactly here, nor would he be able to bring the dead back to life. And as far as his shadow magic goes, he wouldn't be able to do anything severely detrimental to other characters or the NPCs. So, basically, no giving other characters the plague or draining all their life force with a touch or anything like that. He would, however, still be able to heal himself with shadow magic, if and when he ever figures out that's possible, or inflict minor wounds with a touch, but nothing much beyond that.

His resilience and immunity to pain will remain intact, if only because the writer finds the idea of him hurting himself and then being an insufferable jerk about it hysterical.

Job - If his holy symbol could be repaired, Carrow could likely serve as a medic for the carnival, seeing as how his healing magic still works canonically, even though he's undead. Until then, though -- or maybe even after, if there's no real need for a medic -- the writer imagines him being part of the Freak Show. Come see the living dead man!

Mark Location - On his left shoulder.

Samples
First Person Sample (Mirror) -
[the mirror is very obviously positioned in Carrow's lap when it starts recording, the angle and the light in the room making him look more gaunt, more pale than usual. he stares at it for a moment, his face running the gamut of emotions -- vague fear, something near hope, there and then gone, anger -- as he puts his thoughts in order. finally, though he settles on irritation]

You can't just keep me here! I'm not some sideshow monster! I demand to be released! [clearly, he thinks the mirror is some kind of conduit to the Carnie -- or at very least that he's listening. he probably won't be happy to find out that everyone else is listening, instead]

Third Person Sample (Log) -
"Bounty hunter."

Their captor looked up from where she'd been going through Perf's pouches, presumably looking for something she could put her trophy -- the angel's head -- in. Her fingers twitched on the mage's belt, as if she was considering the flaws and merits of drawing her sword and stabbing him again; thankfully, Perf make a small, whining noise, and the thought seemed to evaporate in lieu of hitting him in the stomach hard enough to double him over before she sauntered over to him.

"Death priest," she returned in kind, dark amusement in her tone.

He'd be lying if he said he didn't wince. A scowl followed and he glanced sharply over her shoulder for an instant before returning his attentions to her. "Let me go."

"And why would I want to do that?"

He rolled his eyes, and somewhere at his side, Nara giggled and slurred something about his eyes falling out if he kept that up. He ignored her or tried to. Clearly, the bounty hunter had gotten her with another drugged dart. She wasn't making sense. She didn't potentially have a point. Still, he chanced a glance in her direction briefly, and when he looked back, he tried to appear less sour, just in case. "You said it yourself -- I'm dead. You won't be able to collect the part of the bounty that's for me."

"So you heard that, did you?" Carrow considered telling her that that had been a little hard to miss, when he'd been standing right there, but managed to hold his tongue when she actually looked like she was considering it. A moment of silence passed, then another, and finally, she shrugged. "Go, then. But if you try coming back for your friends ... "

"Wait, you're leaving?" Perf demanded, still clutching at his stomach.

Carrow looked between the bounty hunter and the mage, two parts of him at war. On one hand, he'd made a promise before this had all started to keep an eye on Perf, and even beyond that, he still clung to some naive hope that the mage could help him -- he'd done this to him, he could fix it -- or that he was still needed, obligation still a powerful thing even in death, apparently. On the other hand, though, Perf had been the source of all his troubles. If not for him, he'd be dead, at peace in the afterlife with his God. If not for him, he wouldn't be dead in the first place. Either way, he hated him for it more than he had ever hated anything in his entire life.

Finally and slowly, the dark winning out over the light, he refocused himself on their captor, his expression hardening. "They're not my friends."

"I'll keep that in mind," the bounty hunter said sweetly. "Now go before I change my mind."

Or before I change mine, he thought bitterly.

He offered her a wan, wry smile, spared Nara one last apologetic look that he didn't think she'd get -- she didn't, she just stared up at him blankly, half the conversation lost on her let alone the look -- and then turned, making for the woods. He considered himself lucky when no dagger flew through the trees to bite into his back and, not thinking about how horrific he looked these days, doubly so when, near dusk, he stumbled upon what looked to be a traveling circus.

Later, he would curse himself both for abandoning his friends and for thinking this was lucky.

Any Other Details We Should Know - Not really a special note so much as a display of the writer's geekery, but ... based on the spells Carrow used in canon, chances are that, were he from a Dungeons and Dragons game, he would have had to be at least an 11th level cleric. Also, if you don't mind getting lost on TVTropes for awhile, Carrow's a fairly good example of the Damaged Soul subtrope of Came Back Wrong.