Luke

[[File:|300px]]

Overview
In-game Name	Luke
Full Name	Luke Cornelius Briar
Origin	Magic
Archetype	Defender
Power sets	Pain Domination Dual Pistols Dark Mastery
Server	Everlasting
Player	Tepe
Physiology
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Age	31
Height	6' 0" (182.88 cm)
Weight	158 lbs (71.67 kg)
Identity
Ancestry	Welsh-American
Birthplace	Upper Gwynedd Township Philadelphia, Pennsylvania United States
Residence	Nerva Archipelago Etoile Islands
Allegiance	Varies
Alignment	True Neutral
Aliases	None
Abilities
Abilities	Hematologist Occult Medicine Covert Agent
Weaknesses	Psionics Anti-Magic Soul Contracts

Luke Briar is a Welsh-American warlock specializing in occult medicine and blood magic. He is most known for his reputation of "quantity over quality" when accepting the sponsorship of otherworldly patrons. He relies on a murky and convoluted network of contradicting eldritch contracts to avoid paying his ever-growing debt to the beings beyond the veil. Luke's many patrons are often collectively called the Nightmare Choir.

Background

Early life and education

Luke grew up in the Upper Gwynedd Township of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Luke's father, Lewis Briar, was a well-respected American physician. Luke's mother, Morgan Green, was a Welsh immigrant and heiress to an ancient lineage of derwyddon (lit. "tree-knowers", druids). Luke experienced an enriched childhood, exposed to both medicine and magic through his parents' respective vocations. Ultimately, this provided the foundation for his life-long interests. At some point during his teenage years, for unknown reasons, Luke came into contact with an ancient entity known only as Velshan, the Blood Matron, who offered talent in exchange for his fealty. Young and naive, Luke accepted her offer. Velshan granted him aptitude for magic and cunning beyond his years. Like many otherworldly patrons, Velshan's gifts came at the expense of incurring an unknown and mysterious debt, a debt Luke would keep secret for much of his life.

Luke aspired to be a physician, much like his father. Luke's undergraduate education, medical school, and residency path, all focused on the fields of hematology and hematopathology—a path likely the product of the Blood Matron's influence. Over the course of his higher-education, Luke would accrue a short list of supernatural acquaintances: demons, forgotten gods, interdimensional beings, undead, and beyond.

Residency and criminal conviction

At the age of 25, Luke began his residency at M. Harvey Medical Center in the borough of Founders' Falls, Paragon City. It is at this point, Luke began combining the disciplines of magic and medicine to aid others, leveraging the magic that he had mastered thus far. Many of the patients under his care would experience mysterious and miraculous recovery. His growing aptitude for occult and foreign magic attracted the interest and suspicion of the Modern Arcane Guild of Investigation (MAGI). He was soon placed onto a MAGI "persons of concern" watchlist within the first year of his residency.

At the age of 27, Luke began a romantic relationship with Catherine Wren, a MAGI researcher and novice magical practitioner. Within a year of their relationship, Catherine became afflicted with an unknown bloodborne illness. Determined to find a cure, Luke began pushing the boundaries of his medical talent, beseeching the aid of his many mentors in hematology. When modern medicine fell short, Luke turned to the occult, further fostering a deeper connection with his growing list of patrons. As Catherine's condition continued to deteriorate, Luke began tampering with even more exotic and dangerous sorcery, even going so far as to hunt street thugs, drug addicts, and petty criminals as blood payment for his patrons' unholy favors.

The pinnacle of Luke's attempts at curing Catherine was a purging ritual originally designed by the Circle of Thorns. The ritual required several ancient artifacts and multiple human sacrifices. Luke willingly turned to theft and bloody vigilantism to fulfill the cost. Luke nearly succeeded in completing the ritual, however a forceful intervention by a MAGI taskforce had interrupted his plans. With the ritual incomplete and unstable, Catherine became anointed with unrestrained eldritch energy, banishing her affliction and replacing it with powerful, wild, and untamed magic. Consumed by her new potential, Catherine mysteriously disappeared into a rift in the ether. Unbeknownst to anyone, Catherine had been sent to the Realm Between Realms.

At the age of 28, Luke was convicted of multiple crimes related to his endeavor to cure Catherine. Though his original intentions and goals were noble, the court had deemed his means merciless, reckless, and nefarious. Luke had therefore received the maximum sentence for crimes of murder, criminal vigilantism, desecration, theft of venerated objects, medical malpractice, and public endangerment by means of occult magic. Luke's criminal conviction resulted in the termination of his residency, life-long ineligibility for medical licensure, and a permanent place in the Ziggurat, a prison for super-powered individuals.

Imprisonment and escape

Compelled by the now fledgling Nightmare Choir, Luke sought to escape imprisonment and investigate Catherine's disappearance.

Roleplay

Note: The following information is out-of-character (OOC) information.

Luke Briar is takes themes and inspirations from characters like John Constantine, Pete Wisdom, Mr. Freeze, and Dracula Vlad Țepeș
Luke is a neutral-aligned, support-focused character that can has a variety of roleplay hooks:

• Your character is an afflicted individual seeking medical treatment for an illness of magical origin.
• Your character is a student of magic seeking a specialist in blood magic.
• Your character is a crimefighter seeking to return Luke to prison.
• Your character is a warlock with the same patron as Luke.