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[curriculum_fictae]

PLAYER INFORMATION

PLAYER NAME: Rho, she/her
PLAYER CONTACT: katoptron
CURRENT CHARACTERS: Hiro Hamada
RETURNING CHARACTER?: Yep!

CHARACTER INFORMATION

CHARACTER NAME: Martin Blackwood
JOURNAL: curriculum_fictae
CANON: The Magnus Archives
CANON POINT: A few weeks before the beginning of S4.
AGE: 30
ALIAS: N/A

SYNOPSIS:

Martin is a soft nerd in a cosmic horror story that really, really enjoys making its characters suffer. Soft characters don’t live as long as he has, of course, so that means he’s developed (or, in some ways, always had) sharp edges underneath all that delicious marshmallowy goodness. But - softness first. Martin is an incredibly kind and compassionate invidual who is devoted the people around him, often to a fault. That may sound like of those job interview flaws that’s secretly a strength, but no. The phrase “lighting yourself on fire to keep other people warm” is used to describe him and it’s both a) deeply accurate and b) not a compliment. This is a guy who spent most of his life devoted to other people, starting with him dropping out of school at seventeen to care for his ailing mother (who hated him for no fault of his own) and continuing to being the one who cares most for the other characters in the Magnus Archive, particularly Jonathan “Bad-Plans-And-Worse-Consequences” Sims. It stems from a truly abysmal sense of self worth, which is really just a black hole in his heart instead of a functioning and positive sense of self. But he manages to make it manifest as kindness.

ADAPTATION:

Honestly? Martin is going to be incredibly grateful to be in MoM. Oh sure, there will be problems happening, but this is all comic book stuff and not cosmic horrors threatening his life, sanity, and also maybe the apocalypse. He’s going to do his damndest to live a quiet life, settling into the mundane parts of living in this world as fast as he can. All superpowers will be treated with suspicion, especially his own, given that any kind of supernatural powers in his world come with massive string attached. Frankly a lot of people will terrify him at first, and his own powers will require a lot of handwringing before he can accept even the most harmless of them. His own mini fragment of the Lonely will be a serious battle for him as he tries to figure those powers out without sliding too far into them. (Meanwhile the other two are just jokes that he will freak out about regardless.) He may also go forth and collect strange stories from his peers for reasons he doesn’t entirely understand. Maybe establish an auxillary Archive? His job is evil, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t necessary…

PRESENTATION:

Martin really plays into that soft, useless nerd exterior whenever he can. He’s the sort of person that’s always there with a cup of tea right when you need it; he takes great joy in taking care of people in small ways, even if it’s just asking how they’re doing and whether they’ve gotten enough sleep. (Please get more sleep, Jon, he’s begging you.) He is blisteringly devoted to the people he loves, whether they want him to be or not. Jon in particular is the centre of Martin’s life in a lot of ways, both romatically and platonically. There isn’t much that Martin wouldn’t do for Jon - or anyone else who manages to work their way deeply enough into his life. t probably comes as no surprise that Martin is a profoundly emotional person in general. Being in tune with the emotions of himself and others is a flaw and a strength rolled up into one. On the one hand, Martin’s emotional intelligence allows him to work with most people very well, to read their needs and slot himself into said need. It makes him one hell of a support type! As mentioned above. But while he reads emotions well, he’s not always good at coping with his own emotions well. Martin is extremely anxious, which isn’t the best thing to be in a horror story. Eventually he gets to the point where he can just sort of endure the crazy shit happening to him, but he never rises to the level of being happy about it. Oh no. The shouting will continue until morale improves. He’s naturally a very fearful and cautious person, not generally prone to taking risks (although his coworkers do comment on his lack of self preservation instincts).

PSYCHOLOGY:

Martin Blackwood is all of the things I’ve just described: soft, caring, emotional, nervous. But underneath it all Martin is also powerfully stubborn and very clever. This gives him a profoundly manipulative edge that, while not always actively in use, is always potentially present. He uses his bumbling soft edges to hide a sharp intellect that takes in everything he sees and files it away for later. After all, who would you rather confess your secrets to? The kind lad who makes you tea or his grumpy gremlin of a boss? Martin also leans hard into the way people underestimate him, and low key manipulates everyone around him in attempt to try to keep things under control. He has so little of that in his life - he just wants somewhere to be safe and maybe have a nice boyfriend or something. Underneath all of this is a Martin Blackwood who is profoundly, achingly lonely, even before making a deal with the Avatar of the Lonely and winding up with his own set of spooky powers. Canon implies he has no friends outside of his frankly awful job, and even those friends all die or stop talking to him by the time this canon point rolls around (except for Jon, anyway). This makes him profoundly unfamiliar with and desperately vulnerable to genuine human contact of any sort. He nurses a crush on Jon for nearly three years with the expectation that there’s no way Jon can possibly return it (until Jon does anyway). Martin is the sort of person who loves people, who desperately desires friends, and yet still can’t seem to form real connections. He assumes that all love is conditional and that no one really has any interest in him.

POWERS:

• POWER #1: The Lonely (Canon-ish; Umbrella)

  DESCRIPTION:

  Martin has been afflicted by one of dread powers in his eldritch horror universe, the Lonely. This affords him a small subset of supernatural abilities paired with massive, pyrrhic drawbacks. Here’s how it breaks down: Vanishing: Martin can disappear into (a pocket dimension version of) the Lonely, leaving no trace of himself behind. Technically, he ceases to exist while this effect is active, though obviously this doesn’t result in him actually leaving. While in this state, Martin can travel short distances (up to about ~100 feet max) and reappear instantaneously, as if he’d teleported. That being said, he can only traverse terrain that he can access normally on foot without undue difficulty. So he can’t go through a locked door (or bypass an obstacle course), for example, but could, say, teleport from the balcony of a first story apartment to the ground outside if there was an accessible path. The distance restriction is from the the initial starting point to the destination point, regardless of how long the actual footpath would have been. If Martin vanishes in front of someone, they may forget that they were talking to him. The effect is mild and completely resistible, though. The effect works best when Martin can Batman it: you turn away and whoops, he’s gone! Who were you talking to again? Nobody, right? Vanishing is a strain on both Martin’s energy levels and his humanity. It’s not healthy to stay vanished for more than ten, fifteen minutes tops, and can only teleport two to three times per day. Generally speaking, this works best when he does it (you guessed it) while alone, though he could take up to one person with him if they’re holding hands. It won’t be pleasant if he does, though: anyone who comes along will get a direct look at an infinite expanse of feeling like no one ever loved you (or ever will) and may lose sanity points as a result. He could, in theory, use this effect offensively, and leave someone behind in the Lonely by letting go of their hand, but the effect is extremely short. Sixty seconds max, and less depending on how emotionally resilient the character in question is. Colourless: Being touched by the Lonely has made Martin even paler than his ginger complexion would normally allow for. He’s frankly kind of blotchy and grey in spots, with his red hair having faded to a very dull roan. Intimate physical contact restores colour to him wherever said contact is made. This also applies to any clothing he wears long enough. Even the brightest neon pink jumper fades to grey given enough time. In addition to the above, Martin’s Lonely influence means he essentially has a fragment of this awful eldritch fear god along for the ride, which will interact weirdly with telepaths, empaths, etc. And probably have other unexpected cross-canon interactions. Don’t stick your fork into the eldritch horror socket, kids, or you’ll get electrocuted. Mostly this fragment will be quite dormant, save for slowly devouring poor Martin’s humanity one failed social interaction at a time. (It can also be staved off/counteracted by positive social interactions, which will naturally reduce the Lonely’s power over him and also reduce the efficacy of his vanishing powers.)

  WEAKNESS:

  I’ve already put some limitations in each of the little sub-sections, but basically? If you’re strong-willed enough to resist, then these powers simply won’t work on you. All TMA eldritch horror gods operate on dream logic, meaning that their counters are very simple. Resisting the Lonely is as simple as keeping your loved ones in your mind, reaching out to your friends, reinforcing your social links, etc. Or just simply not being lonely enough to be affected in the first place. Additionally, using these powers means that Martin needs to feed himself. Phyiscal food will help some, but he’ll have to fuel himself by doing things that isolate himself or others. Long walks, etc. If he doesn’t charge himself back up, then this power umbrella shuts off completely, at least in any usable state.

• POWER #2: Tea Summoning (New)

  DESCRIPTION:

  When someone within 200 feet (or talking to him across the network) really, really wants a cup of tea, Martin teleports in behind them with a fresh mug of their favourite tea in hand. He doesn’t have much control over this! In fact he has zero control over this to start. It’s very good tea, at least, made just as well as if Martin had put it together himself, using any tea varieties / ingredient combinations that Martin is familiar with. (And he is familiar with a wide variety.)

  WEAKNESS:

  The urge to have a cup of tea has to be strong and genuine. You can’t summon him if you actually want a cup of coffee, for example. He can’t teleport back unless someone else really wants tea where he came from. Each jaunt is rather exhausting, especially if it’s a network teleportation; local ones are much easier and can be done multiple times per day. Much to his deep annoyance. Eventually he will be able to refuse being summoned, but when he first gets here he’s going to show up in neighbor’s houses without really meaning to.

• POWER #3: Dormouse (New)

  DESCRIPTION:

  Martin can transform himself into a tiny hazel dormouse at will. It also tends to happen when he is either very relaxed or when his emotions are running high, especially if he’s afraid or angry. And once he’s transforme he has to concentrate hard to turn back again, meaning he’s probably going to get stuck at inconvenient moments. Energy is expended upon transformation, so he could stay a mouse for a day or two, but eventually the effect will simply wear off. While he is a mouse, he has touch telepathy so that he can still talk to people. Otherwise he is just a cute, tiny little dormouse.

  WEAKNESS:

  He is a mouse. A telepathic mouse, but otherwise entirely ordinary. Just scoop him up and put him in a box or something.

SKILLS:

Martin Blackwood’s extremely important list of skills:

• Makes a truly excellent cup of tea
• Reasonably good at research and investigation, especially spooky shit
• Great listener
• Mediocre poet
• Cute spider expert

IN-GAME DEVELOPMENT:

N/A

SAMPLES

THREAD SAMPLE:

TDM link!

VOICE SAMPLE:

1. “What is your criminal history? Don't worry, you won't be punished here for past crimes.”
   I’m - I’m sorry, what? Do you - do you really think I have a criminal history? Me? I - I think the guilt would kill me before I even managed to do anything. I mean, the closest I’ve ever come was accidentally walking out of Tesco with pack of gum and having to go back in and. And apologise without crying. Still cried after.
2. "Have you ever killed anyone? What was your reason?"
   Wh - what are these questions!? No - no, I haven’t killed anyone! And I wouldn’t, thank you very much. Christ. D-do you always screen for murder? What sorts of maniacs do you even get here?!
3. "Have you ever done something that you regret? What would you do differently?"
   Why - oh. That’s. Actually something of a normal question, I suppose. N-not that it. Seems relevant, but. Right. Okay. That’s - god, I could probably fill out a top ten list. But I suppose I … I really regret letting, ah. My friend go off into a dangerous situation alone. Well, not. Alone, but he might as well have gone alone, given he went without me, and - and. Well. He died. Is dead, just not quite enough that the hospital is willing to turn him over just yet. I … I don’t know what I’m going to do without him. Everything’s gone all wrong and - s-sorry, do you have a tissue? I’ve just. Allergies, I think.
4. "Why do you want to return to your world of origin? What did you leave behind?"
   I … I don’t want to? I don’t. I - god. What a terrible thing to say? But it’s - it’s true. There’s nothing left there for me any more. Tim’s dead, Sasha’s dead, Jon is - is dead, and anyone who even knows me back home hates me so. So what’s the point? I might as well just - just - stay here, I guess. Even with all these strange - what, superpowers? Yeah. Still better than home. Better by a lot.
5. "What is your happiest memory?"
   God. I … I don’t even know any more. It’s been so miserable lately that I can hardly remember what being happy even feels like. I suppose I must have some childhood memories that were nice? Like - oh, Mum used to teach me how to cook on Saturday mornings. We’d get up early and take out the cookbook her grandmother had brought into the country. A-and we’d pick out something that looked nice and that Dad would like too. I think I was happiest then. I mean, before the yelling started, anyway, and the arguing, and the eventual divorce, and … you know how it goes.