Carter
Appearance
Standing at exactly six feet in height, Carter is a creature of lean muscle and pale flesh. Stress lines have marred the youth's brow and eyes, often leading strangers to assume that he is far older than he truly is. His hair is a salt-and-pepper blond that is kept cut relatively short, his eyes dark and blue as the ocean surrounding his hometown. He carries himself proudly, a chip clearly upon the boy's shoulder, but it is a chip that he feels he has earned. Carter exudes total control and confidence with every measured step he takes.
When consumed by the powers of his patron, he is a far different creature. His skin takes on a ghostly palor, and the blood in his veins runs black. His eyes take on the dark colors of the void, and his voice takes on an ethereal note that tends to make the usual mortal's hairs stand on the back of their neck.
Skills and Abilities
Brawler: Once, Carter was nothing more than a skilled brawler. He was a skilled combatant with a blade, and learned to fight dirty as most pirates do. These abilities grew tenfold once he made the pact with Gorranth and his patron deity.
Life Drain: Carter's magical abilities have grown unnaturally quickly, courtesy of the exchange of his soul for the powers of the void. He is a practitioner of the dark arts, and uses such powers with the skill of a practiced magician. Necromancy in its more base forms are Carter's bread and butter. He draws his vitality and strength from those he kills, forcing their life force to become his own, and using whatever excess remains to augment his physical abilities to superhuman levels.
Flames of The Patron: Carter can call upon the powers of his patron to summon flames of an ethereal quality. They come in shades of blue and white, and freeze to the point of death rather than burn: They assault the soul as much as the physical body. These flames are quite powerful, but must be called upon sparingly lest they consume the user. Better control over the flames can be maintained for a time by the sacrifice of mortal lives, the power of their life force used to augment the user's dominion over such ethereal powers.
The Void: Carter can manifest the gift of his patron in the form of pure deathly energy. This can be used to kill distant enemies, blast through walls, and other generally destructive activities. Such energy is variable given how much life-force he has absorbed along with his emotional state, and using too much will sap his own life force and lead to his death should he be reckless.
Brothers In Death: Carter can raise the corpses of the recently dead so serve his whims, so long as he has gathered enough life force from the living to do so. Currently his ability to raise the dead is limited to a small handful of standard creatures, but it is an ability he plans to grow with practice.
Hidden Nature: Carter can conceal his ties to Gorranth and the specter's patron by simply ignoring their calls to power. This hides the fact that he is lacking a soul from most of those capable of searching for such things, but one particularly skilled in such abilities would likely become aware of Carter's unholy bargain.
Embrace Gorranth: Carter allows the spirit of Gorranth to gain a level of control over his body. When united with the servant of his patron, Carter's abilities are significantly amplified, as well as his general constitution. Entering this state is extremely dangerous for Carter, as he is forced to undergo the visions of horror and torment that assault Gorranth's psyche at every waking hour. He will hallucinate being in whole other places at time, hear the vocies of the long dead, the screaming of those souls tortured within the pits for their sins, and many other hallucinations designed to drive the mortal mind toward insanity. Maintaining this bond for too long would undoubtedly lead Carter to incoherent mania, and one can only guess as to what would happen to him if he survived that stage.
Personality
Carter is a broody individual with a dark sense of humor. He does well in social settings, a skill he learned while trying to thrive within his father's pirate crew. He's keen to go his own way, not feeling any strong bonds toward anything save for himself, and will rarely throw himself in with others unless it serves to benefit his own purposes.
Despite the loss of his soul, Carter has retained the compassion his mother instilled in him. He loves life, and believes all people have the capacity to be 'good'. He rationalizes his position as a 'good' person by writing off many of his past misdeeds as the actions of a different man, one who was forced to do such things lest he or his mother be murdered.
Even still, these sins weigh heavy upon carter's soul. He is melancholic and borderline suicidal at times, though he would never take his own life, but rather seeks to throw himself into situations where he might perish protecting others. In this way, he hopes to leave a good memory, and escape from the corrupting fall he knows will come now that he lacks a soul. He wishes to prove that he is 'good' despite his past and the bargain he has made with the darker creatures of the void.
At times, the corruption of his mind is evident. Lacking a soul, Carter finds himself less driven to help others, and finds himself more inclined toward violence and apathy. He is aware of this corruption, and chooses to do 'the right thing' because he still knows what it is. In his mind, even if he feels like serving himself and at the expense of others is the right choice, he also knows that he would not have thought such things before his soul was made forfeit. With that in mind, he makes most of his decisions based on the way he composed himself before the loss of his soul, rather than after.
Biography & Lore
Life within Cerak At'thul is unpleasant at the best of times, but for the slaves that dreg about within its shadows, it is a living hell. Carter was born to a prostitute in service to a local pirate lord. It is common knowledge that the pirate lord in question was his father, but rather than raise the boy as his son, Gerwain simply dropped a few coins and took the infant as his property.
The lord, Gerwain Lechner, had a soft spot for his child, though his heart was not warm enough to claim the boy as his heir. Carter was forced to serve as the errand boy of Gerwain's pirate clade, and from the age of five spent the majority of his days serving whatever whims the pirates asked of him. It was his father's way of saving him from the brutality of the sex trade that his mother had been forced into - the boy had a pretty face, and many individuals of dark intent would pay a high price for such a child.
Though he was spared the horrors of his mother's fate, Carter's childhood was not a pleasant one. The pirates within his father's clade were not nearly as fond of the boy as their lord was, and made a point to treat him as something sub-human for their own entertainment. It was not uncommon for the pirates to force Carter into bouts with other slaves for their entertainment. These fights would go on until one of the combatants was rendered unconscious - after refusing to fight and sustaining two concussions, Carter decided it was better to dish out the pain than to take it. He grew into an accomplished scrapper, and the fights grew from bouts with slaves to scuffles with new blood that wished to join the pirating band.
As he grew older, so too did his responsibilities grow. Carter's duties grew from simply drudgery to accompanying the pirates on their voyages, and soon the boy was trusted enough to wield a weapon and assist in their assaults on merchant vessels.
Carter was a good pirate. The boy was skilled with a blade, fearless of death, and ruthless in the way he plied his new trade. The crew began to value Carter as something more than just a slave, often giving the boy women and gold to appease him.
None of the rewards given to Carter appeased him. The boy wanted only one thing: the approval and love of his father. Unfortunately for Carter, the only thing he truly craved in life was unattainable, and such became clear when he approached his father and asked to be freed of his bonds.
Carter had killed, raped, and stolen for his father's pirate band. He had gone against the screaming of his soul, and performed the most vile acts he could imagine so that he might earn his father's acceptance. Unlike many of his companions, Carter had been stricken with a terrible weakness since birth: a good heart. Every sin he had committed, every travesty done in his father's name, had taken a piece of him each time. He had no choice in performing these actions lest he be punished or killed for his refusal, but the weight of his sins weighed heavy upon his compassionate soul. The only way he could see himself living was if his father accepted him as his kin; only then would all the hellish pain Carter had committed upon the innocent be worthwhile.
It was unfortunate that Gerwain had no desire to see his son rise above anything other than a position of servitude. The drunken captain laughed in the boy's face when the request was given. He had no desire for rivals, nor did he wish to pass his legacy on to the child he had fathered with a concubine. Carter was given a small sack of coins for his service, and told that he would remain exactly where he was; the position suited him, his father said.
Carter disagreed.
When the ship returned to port, Carter went straight for the brothels. Continuing the series of unfortunate events, Gerwain made a point to pay a visit to Carter's mother for his usual relief. It is unknown what caused the events that occurred within the chambers, but the result was striking enough on its own. Gerwain had slit the woman's throat for one reason or another.
Stricken by grief, Carter retired to his personal cabin for two days. The boy was left utterly alone in the world without a friend to call upon, or a family to seek comfort in. He had only his mind for company, and it was a cruel companion. Left alone to face the sins of his actions, Carter decided the only way to atone for the pain he had delivered upon the innocent was to take his own life.
The drugs helped numb the aching pain that came with the process of slitting one's own wrists. Carter lay back in his back, his veins opened to the world, his lifeblood spilling onto the sheets of his dirty cot. As the world faded and reality grew distant, a voice spoke to him.
It was a raspy thing that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. It told him that his choice to end his own life had been a mistake, and there were other ways to atone for the things he had done. Grief stricken, Carter snarled through tears that it was already too late, but the voice disagreed.
Purple mist flowed in through the cracks in the shanty cabin, and coalesced into the translucent form of a hooded phantom. It pointed at him with bony fingers that, its visage hidden by the black robes it had enshrined itself within. The being identified itself as Gorranth, a creature of the ethereal, and servant to a god that Carter did not know. It promised him life, and a purpose, should he form a pact with it.
Left with no other option save for death, Carter agreed.
The merging of the spirit's mind and his own brought about vision of insanity. He saw the world set aflame, the earth sloughing off the face of the world like flesh from burned bone. He bore witness to masses of beings of every race and creed, all stripped to their undergarments and forced to slaughter one another for the entertainment of thirsting gods.
"This is this world's future Carter. You will help me bring it about." Gorranth's voice had whispered in the back of his manic mind.
The pirate's son was left speechless as the visions flowed into more images of abject suffering. This continued for several minutes until Carter lost consciousness, or so he believed.
The boy awoke seconds later standing in a sea of darkness. Beneath him was a large marble circle, and upon that circle stood a single ebony throne. Gorranth stood alongside him, the spirit's hood drawn back to reveal a fleshless skull and empty eye sockets. It looked at him with a rictus grin, and pointed with a bony finger toward the being that sat upon the throne.
It was a creature that Carter could not describe with the human tongue. What regarded him from the throne was a mess of swirling colors and gangling limbs; he could make out the vague hints of a humanoid form within the miasma of color.
"Who are you?" The boy asked plainly. He had no fear anymore - there was nothing the monsters could show him that he had not already seen, not already done.
When the figure spoke, it did so within his mind, with his own voice.
"I am the progenitor of the long dark: the one that watches from the void, and I have been watching you, child of flesh."
"For what purpose?"
"That remains to be seen." The figure upon the throne tilted forward as if inclining its head, though Carter could not be sure. "I must say that I am curious as to what it will be, should to take our contract."
The youth's brow furrowed, "Contract?"
The being made that nodding motion once again. "Your life for a bond. I have no desire to control you, nor do I wish to destroy you. I want you to live, child, but all magic requires a price. Nothing is free - do you understand?"
Recognition dawned on Carter as his eyes went wide. "I know what you want. You'll make me a servant - I'd rather die than be a slave any longer." His voice took on an aggressive tone, and he began to wonder just how well he would do in a fist fight with what he was beginning to suspect to be some kind of god.
Gorranth rumbled with laughter that sounded more like coughing than mirth. "The opposite, should you stop to listen for a moment."
Carter parted his lips to speak, but thought better of it. The being upon the throne spoke once again.
"I must have your soul," the words hung in the air, "In exchange, I will restore your life, and give you the power to take revenge upon your oppressors. I will not call upon you again, but you may call upon me. I shall be your patron."
Carter was surprised at his reply, "What does that entail, and what do I call you?"
The entire world shook as the ethereal being laughed, "You must find out for yourself, and you will learn my name in time. For now, Gorranth shall accompany you as my representative and teacher. You may do with your life as you wish, but when you die, you will return to me. Do you understand?"
A few moment of silence followed before Carter found his voice.
"What happens if I let myself die?"
"Then it is over."
"...I will take your deal."
Reality rushed back as Carter was ripped from the realm of the ethereal. He found himself standing in his body once again, the cuts on his arms having been healed and scarred over by magical means. He stood upon the deck of the ship he had crewed for his father. Fresh corpses lay strewn in various bloody piles across the deck. A single living soul stared up at Carter through terrified, glossy eyes.
"Hello father," as realization fell over Carter, he found himself growing amused. He gazed down at his arms and saw his veins had turned a deathly black, the skin pale and corpselike in its pallor. Gorranth's robed form stood alongside him.
Gerwain pleased with his son, "I-I didn't mean t-to upset you boy. I apologize, I -"
The sound of skin ripping like torn fabric filled Carter's eardrums as he drew the machete across his father's throat. Crimson vitae spilled from the gash in the pirate's throat as he reached up in vain to stop the endless flow of blood.
The feeling of power left Carter then as his father grew lifeless. It was replaced with an emptiness he had grown all too familiar with, but this time it was tinged with regret.
Despite the monster his father had been, Carter had still loved the wretched man. Just as he'd loved his mother. Tears spilled freely from the youth's chicks as he fell to his knees, the weight of his actions far too heavy to let him keep standing.
"Life is beautiful, isn't it?" Gorranth's ghastly voice almost sounded sympathetic.
Carter peered up at the living skeleton through bloodshot eyes and nodded, "It is," his voice was ragged with sobs, "It is."
The denizens Cerak At'thul could only watch as the galleon Gerwain Lechner had sailed for twenty years was engulfed in flames, and silently slipped beneath the waves, taking her entire crew with her.