Tall, dark, and foreboding; Aldritch stands out in a colorful crowd like an omen amongst scripture. Slender and intense facial features indicate his heritage, as does a slender frame despite the muscularity of a soldier. Attire choices are decidedly stygian, with most articles being varying shades of black with the occasional highlight of muted color. Thick, midnight locks of hair drape beyond the shoulders, nearly iridescent in their shine. In contrast to his unlighted appearance, bright gray, nigh-white irises regard all with inexplicable frigid intensity.
If Aldritch was famous, he would be known for his austerity. He is stern, cynical, and bleak though not without an occasional spark of facetious exuberance. His tendencies lean toward being reserved and standoffish. In contrast to all the dourness, when the occasional friend breaks past the silent, brooding exterior they often find a lax and accomdating young man hiding beneath the bricks of cynicism and spite with a capability for empathy and compassion that could raise the dead in a perfect world. ​
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Soulcatcher, an iron greatsword, and the only possession left to an infant Aldritch by his absconded parents. The inscriptions along the blade imply that it was once capable of trapping the souls of the slain. However, long periods of exposure to generations of magical null have left it magically inert. A mundane weapon and heirloom, nothing more.
• Black linens tailored to be travel clothing.
• A black gambeson intended for lightweight protection.
• Miscellaneous odds, ends, and trinkets of no practical use or value.
SKILLS
Swordsmanship:
Aldritch is no prodigy, but a talented swordsman nonetheless. Favoring swords of the large variety, he has learned a myriad of applicable techniques from varying sources and teachers.
Hand to Hand:
Entirely without knowledge of martial arts, all of Aldritch's knowledge of empty-handed combat comes from experience and necessity.
Deception:
There is a place for truth, for it is a deadly weapon. However, Aldritch has never been a stickler for unwavering honestly.
Intimidation:
It comes naturally, though less in physical stature and more in choice of appearance and tools. Possessing a gaze that could send the chill down the spine of a phantasm also doesn't hurt.
Artistry:
Describing people, places, and things descriptively with finger speech is an inordinate challenge. As a practical skill to overcome this, Aldritch can sketch things with surprising accuracy and realism.
ABILITIES
CURSE OF THE BLACK TONGUE:
Aldritch is afflicted with a hereditary curse that has passed through his lineage for centuries. The exact origins of the hex are hidden in long forgotten annals and chronicles, though much speculation exists amongst the niche circle of scholars and historians who know if its existence. One explanation asserts that a patriarch centuries ago befouled the divinity of a particularly wrathful god. That same deity is assumed to have cursed him and his line with the Black Tongue. Another suggests that a perverse practice of esoteric necromancy brought the curse upon a mage and his lineage as a mishap or tradeoff. Though none are certain of its true origin, they all share in the consensus that the enigmatic curse is a malady of similar abhorrence to the worst plagues known to record.
When one afflicted by the Black Tongue speaks aloud, regardless of language, intention, or words spoken, as far as the speakers voice coherently carries, (though losing
massive amounts of potency after around ten feet) profane magical abberations are evoked. They are unpredictable in nature, entirely uncontrollable, and often detrimental to the speaker though not always exclusively.
The curse causes objects of worship to blaspheme themselves: holy symbols invert, statues bleed or contort, and scriptures rewrite themselves to nearly incoherent profanities. Inanimate objects not associated with any divinity, or those with more than minor magical properties cannot be directly effected by the curse, but can be caught in the crossfire of its detrimental effects to varying effect based on the object in question.
Tainted speech can cause spontaneous bodily injury and is overall dangerous to organic life. Although hearing it carries
no guarantee of harm, it is unlikely one could perceive it and remain entirely unscathed. These range from minor lacerations to broken bones. The more severe an injury, generally, the less common it is to manifest. Potentially mortal wounds are limited to manifesting upon the speaker with an exception to prolonged and sustained exposure by a non-speaker. However, sustained tainted speech to kill someone is extremely likely to be fatal to the speaker before anyone else. Deaf individuals, or individuals that have hearing protection are effectively rendered safe or moderately protected from tainted speech depending on the level of noise cancellation. Magical wards against harm can also render a person protected from tainted speech even without hearing protection.
Aldritch has learned a gesturing form of finger speech, or ASL, in order to communicate without the risk of harming himself or others. Although, the former in that equation was the biggest driving factor.
(
Player Characters are only effected by the detrimental effects of tainted speech if explicitly allowed and consented to by their respective writers.)
THE NULL:
A reluctance to speak mitigates the effects of the Black Tongue, but is not without its own peculiarities. Prolonged silence causes the unstable properties of the curse to invert, creating a magical null-zone (anti-magic) within the cursed's general vicinity. Extending no farther than personal space, but with the potential to reach a meter in diameter after inordinately long periods of verbal silence. While notably potent magics are only dampened, or in some rare cases entirely unaffected by the null-zone, moderate sorcery fizzles entirely. Though this is temporary for as long as the magic in question remains in the zone for most spells and objects. Weaker and minor wizardry can potentially be permanently dispelled on contact.
Speaking even once will pacify the null-zone as magical aberrations take place, only to slowly reform as silence persists. A null encompassing the speaker's personal space can take hours, while a fully expanded null can take upwards of half a decade.
This effectively renders the cursed individual (Aldritch) unable to cast spells of their own volition, use magical items, or receive magical forms of healing or aid. A turbulent tradeoff to having an edge against predatory magics used against them.
