Historical, Novel and Movie characters of Gothic Earth

[Olly]

Sweeney Todd: Odem

Hanged in 1802, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street cheated death. The many people he murdered caused the Red Death to take Todd into its fold, turning him into an Odem. Todd still haunts Fleet Street, now home to some of Britian's most famous newspapers, stalking victims and possessing them, then using the bodies to kill. On each corpse he carves an S and a T. So far Scotland Yard has no clue to what these letters mean.

Very interesting. Very interesting, indeed. That'd keep the players on their toes!

I wonder what became of the woman who ran the pie shop, next door to Sweeney Todd's barbershop? The one who Todd sold 'the meat' to...

Man, this thread is awesome! We should put a netbook together with some of the stuff we've got here!

Some new submissions from me:

Ichabod Crane
Sleuth - Lawful good

Ichabod Crane is a cowardly, snipe-nosed man with large ears, a constable in the police force of the city of New York. Despite his chicken-heart and weak will, he is nevertheless a dedicated constable, who champions unorthodox methods of police work when it comes to solving crimes, performing autopsies with complicated surgical instruments of his own design.

Having become unsatisfied by the way the police department in New York operates, he has been assigned to investigate a string of unusual murders in a small, mostly Dutch farming community upstate, known as Sleepy Hollow.

Banquo
Rank 3-4 Ghost – Neutral good

The bloody visage of Banquo still haunts the halls of Glamis Castle in Scotland, wailing and bemoaning its assassination, instrumented by his trusted friend, the usurper of the Scottish throne, Macbeth. Though a horrible and gory sight to look upon, Banquo’s ghost is relatively harmless and benign.

Shere Khan
Restless Prey Tiger - Chaotic evil

Despite being slain by the ‘mancub’, Mowgli, wielding a branch of 'red flowers', the ferocious tiger, Shere Khan, nevertheless rose as an undead horror, to once again stalk the jungles of India.

A vengeful and bitter creature, Shere Khan roams the jungles, exacting bloody vengeance for his murder by stalking and killing any human that crosses his path.

[Lord_Kjeran]

Chello!

Note: As I do not own any 3.0/3.5 RL books, I am using 3.5 classes.

Erik, the Opera Ghost
Bard 12, Assassin 4, Swashbuckler 2
Neutral Evil

Erik (last name unknown) was born in France in 1831. Horribly deformed, his face appeared as that of a skull and was described by some as a "living corpse". However, the young Erik was a musical prodigy as well as being intuitively masterful in the architechural arts. His mother, in a fit of guilt, arranged for one of the most prestigious architechs in France to tutor him at the age of 7.

The local priest also tutored Erik for the good of his soul for the learned father perceived that such talent could easily be turned to evil.

Rejected by his mother and the local townpeople because of his deformity, Erik ran away from home at the age of 9. He was captured by gypsies and shown in their freak show. At this time, Erik learned much in the way of ventriloquism, prestidigatation, and magic. when he was older, around the age of 12, the "freak master" attempted to sodomize Erik. Grabbing the man's knife from his belt, Erik struck him with a precise shot to the man's aorta, killing him instantly. It was Erik's first kill....

Erik fled once more into the night. It is believed that this is the first time that the Red Death noticed and contacted him, offering him power. Erik began a life of wandering, mahem, and the occasional murder.

After a few more years, he arrived in Rome at the age of 16 and was noticed admiring a building under construction by the master mason in charge. He recognized the potential in Erik and took him into his home as his apprentice and son he never had. He too noticed the Darkness in Erik and did his best to bring Erik some happiness. For a time, Erik was able to be truly happy.

However, the mason's daughter returned from her convent school and began to needle Erik night and day. "Why do you wear a mask? " she would ask him. his mysterious nature caused her to fall in love with him, and she would torment at all hours. Whenever she finally succeeded one night in getting Erik to remove his mask, she backed away from him in horror. She ran backward, running into an aged balcony which gave way. She plunged to the ground below. For a third time, Erik fled into the night.....

Erik moved on to eastern Europe and the Near East, travelling as a magician and becoming skilled in the use of the Punjab lasso, a weapon capable of decapitating a man when used correctly. Erik was brought to to Persia where he designed and built a magificant palace for the Shah. He became a favorite of the Shah's mother, the Sultana, a perverted woman who enjoyed murder and torture. He became her prized assassin and designed and built a special torture chamber for her amusement. He became a user of opium in a vain attempt to ease the pain of his soul....

There was still good in his soul, though. He became friends with one of the Shah's relatives, a dragora in the royal service. The man's son was dying, and Erik befriended the boy, making clever little toys and amusing him with tricks of illusion and magic in his final days.

When the boy died, Erik finished the Shah's palace. The Shah then ordered him killed so the secrets of the place would never be known. The boy's father, however, warned Erik and helped him to escape. Erik fled into the night a fourth time.

Erik wandered again for some time, but eventually ended up back in Paris. He was attracted to the Paris Opera House, then under construction. He contacted the builder and managed to become one of the masons in charge of the construction. He also saw the building as HIS masterpiece and, at night after everyone had left, Erik built numerous secret passages, trapdoors, and even a suite of apartments under the Opera House for his own use.

After the opera opened, Erik continued to live there, extracting a salary from the managers by posing as the Opera Ghost and enjoying himself immensely. Then Christtine Daae arrived to begin a career with the Opera, and the events which are now common knowledge occured....

Sources:

Gaston Laroux, The Phantom of the Opera
Susan Kay, Phantom
Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Phantom of the Opera

[Jakob]

Hmmmm...

What about this?

Belphégor, Le Fantôme du Louvre
Human Ghost (rank 5) Mystic 15 (when disembodied), LE

Belphegor is the name the gendarmerie gave to the misterious creature seen stalking the halls of the great Louvre Gallery in Paris.
Although just a whisper now, he is to become the terror of Paris in the next years.
Belphegor has been awakened just one time since its arrival (along with his mummy) at the Louvre in 1891, when one of the guards of the museum stole a golden amulet from the bandages the mummy was wrapped in. The spirit, a vengeful egyptian priest, immediately took possession of a girl, a journalist interwieving the director, and had her dress in the cerimonial garb of the priesthood he was part of.
After retrieving the jewel (and killing the thief) the girl was left free of the priest's influence, and the matter was quickly forgotten.
In the years, the spirit of Belphegor gathered around him the ghosts of all who died in and around the Louvre during history, doing so to have eyes and ears active for him throughout the museum, while he sleeped in his mummified body.

Belphegor has been contacted by the Red Death, but he refused to work for the evil entity: he knows that he risks his own already endangered soul, and he just want to pass in afterlife, to reunite with his god, Anubis. The Red Death would give him immense powers, but would make him just a slave, and Belphegor is just not very fond of the idea.

While possessing the body of another person, Belphegor bestows on his host an enhancement bonus to Strenght equal to 2d4, and he can freely use his magic, though he does so rarely, for fear of being again stalked by the Red Death. The host is considered always taking 20 on Move Silently and Hide checks, but only when fully dominated by the ghost.

Bibliography:
Belphegor (1927) by Henri Desfontaines, written by Arthur Bernède.
Belphégor - Le Fantôme du Louvre (2001), written and directed by Jean-Paul Salomé.

[Blake_Alexander]

Dr Laszlo Kreizler (Intellectual/Physician LG)

An alienist with a nearly matchless intellect, Laszlo Krizler has witnessed much of the pain and suffering in the world through his work with the mentally unsound during the early part of the 1890; however, it was not until his involvement in an investigation into a sting of murders of boy prostitutes in 1894 that he could identify the true evil. After the investigation, Kreizler has redoubled his efforts to aid the recovery of those seeking redemption from past crimes.

John Schuyler Moore (Journalist NG)

A reporter of the New York Times, John Moore had saw much of the shadowy side of New York, but nothing prepared him for the part he would play in investigating the greusome slayings of boy prostitutes in 1890. Since the incident John has returned to his life as a journalist at the Times, but now is eyes are opened to the true evils that inhabit the back alley of his city.

Marcus and Lucious Isaacson (Detectives LG)

Detectives with the New York police department, the Isaacson's were selected by Police Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt to aid Kreizler in his investigation not only because of their skill with investigations and their knowledge of "cutting edge" techniques, but also due to their moral character, a factor missing form much of the corrupt police force during 1894. Since their involvement in the investigation, the Isaacson's have remained as detective in the New York police department, yet they are still haunted by the events of that year.

Sara Howard (Intellectual LG)

A progressive minded woman, Sara Howard involvement in the investigation of 1894 served to guarentee her a place in the male dominated world of 1894 New York. The investigation has also left her aware of the evils at work in the world, and as a person of moral character, Sarah has felt compelled to continue the fight against the minions of evil with the city.

Cyrus (Criminal (reformed)/Tradesman LN)

A former partient of Dr. Kreizler's, Cyrus now serves Laszlo as a manservant. As an imposing black man, Cyrus sees himself as the first line of defense should the forces of darkness within the city rise against his employer and friend.

Stevie (Criminal CG)

Another fromer patient of Laszlo's Stevie serves as the eyes and ears of Kreizler on the street. Stevie is loyally serves the doctor and will continue to as long as Laszlo is in need of his assistance. Despite Stevie's readiness to assist in such dangerous affairs, Kreizler is rather protective of the boy, often acting was his father figure.

Source: "The Alientist" by Caleb Carr, 1994

[Olly]

Hmmm... Technically, hasn't the lovely Drusilla been taken by the Mists of Ravenloft to serve as our resident dread receptionist? If that's the case, bang go my Spike and Dru ideas... A pity...

Also, though I've never actually read it, wouldn't Victor Hugo's The Hunchback Of Notre Dame be ideal for this thread?

Can anybody else, perhaps with a knowledge of the book, think of any NPC ideas for the characters (Quasimodo, Claude Frollo, La Esmerelda etc.), perhaps as ghosts or some other sort of undead?

Don't know why, but I'm thinking Esmerelda would make a good banshee...

[Jakob]

Hmmm... Then I say:

Claude Frollo
Male human geist Parson 2/Intellectual 5 LE

Slain by his "son" Quasimodo after the death of Esmeralda, archdeacon Claude Frollo stalks the halls of Notre-Dame as a geist. He witness EVERYTHING that happens inside the church, but cannot interact in any way with ANY living being.
Recently, a minion of the Red Death "gifted" with thew ghostsight ability, entered the church to meet an informer, and saw him crouching in the northern corner of the chapel. He approached him, and after a brief exchange, Frollo accepted to be the "ears" of the Red Death inside the holy place of Notre-Dame. Since the day he joined the number of the minions, at least twelve agents of qabals (who used to meet inside the church) had been slain, thanks to his delation.

Frollo's geist appears as a momento before his death: a tall middle-aged man, with aquiline features, dressed in the black and red archdeacon suit. His face is crushed to a bloody pulp, and his body appears mangled, since the geist appeared in the exact moment the living body of Frollo met the soli of the square after being thrown down from the tower of Notre-Dame by Quasimodo.
The geist has only one "appointment" he cannot avoid: at seven o'clock in the evening, he ascends to the tower of the church, where a spectral Quasimodo (in truth, the embodiment of Frollo's curse) again throws him all the way down to the ground of Place de Notre-Dame.
Needless to say: Frollo experience everytime the same pain...

What do you think?

Shere Khan
Restless Prey Tiger - Chaotic evil

Despite being slain by the ‘mancub’, Mowgli, wielding a branch of 'red flowers', the ferocious tiger, Shere Khan, nevertheless rose as an undead horror, to once again stalk the jungles of India.

A vengeful and bitter creature, Shere Khan roams the jungles, exacting bloody vengeance for his murder by stalking and killing any human that crosses his path.

I never thought about the Jungle Book charachters. Very good!

[Olly]

Claude Frollo
Male human geist Parson 2/Intellectual 5 LE

Slain by his "son" Quasimodo after the death of Esmeralda, archdeacon Claude Frollo stalks the halls of Notre-Dame as a geist. He witness EVERYTHING that happens inside the church, but cannot interact in any way with ANY living being.
Recently, a minion of the Red Death "gifted" with thew ghostsight ability, entered the church to meet an informer, and saw him crouching in the northern corner of the chapel. He approached him, and after a brief exchange, Frollo accepted to be the "ears" of the Red Death inside the holy place of Notre-Dame. Since the day he joined the number of the minions, at least twelve agents of qabals (who used to meet inside the church) had been slain, thanks to his delation.

Frollo's geist appears as a momento before his death: a tall middle-aged man, with aquiline features, dressed in the black and red archdeacon suit. His face is crushed to a bloody pulp, and his body appears mangled, since the geist appeared in the exact moment the living body of Frollo met the soli of the square after being thrown down from the tower of Notre-Dame by Quasimodo.
The geist has only one "appointment" he cannot avoid: at seven o'clock in the evening, he ascends to the tower of the church, where a spectral Quasimodo (in truth, the embodiment of Frollo's curse) again throws him all the way down to the ground of Place de Notre-Dame.
Needless to say: Frollo experience everytime the same pain...

It's very good, I'm very impressed by your ideas and glad that somebody has taken one of my ideas on board and produced something so good! Did I mention how much I love this thread?

However, I do have a little suggestion of my own.

Though I've never actually read the book, I have done a bit of research on the Internet about it. Weren't there rumours amongst the clergy of Notre Dame that Frollo had attained his position as archdeacon through dark, magical means? It would be interesting to expand this...

Anyway, very well done! I doff my hat to you!

Shere Khan
Restless Prey Tiger - Chaotic evil

Despite being slain by the ‘mancub’, Mowgli, wielding a branch of 'red flowers', the ferocious tiger, Shere Khan, nevertheless rose as an undead horror, to once again stalk the jungles of India.

A vengeful and bitter creature, Shere Khan roams the jungles, exacting bloody vengeance for his murder by stalking and killing any human that crosses his path.

I never thought about the Jungle Book charachters. Very good!

Aw, thanks. Hope I've inspired a few more ideas!

[Igor the Henchman]

Though I've never actually read the book, I have done a bit of research on the Internet about it. Weren't there rumours amongst the clergy of Notre Dame that Frollo had attained his position as archdeacon through dark, magical means? It would be interesting to expand this...

A logical move then would be remake Quasimodo into some sort of infernal creature. If I remember correctly, the rumored "dark, magical means" involved Frollo selling his soul to the devil himself, who in turn took to living in Notre-Dame under the guise of a misshapen bell-sounder until his prize could be claimed.

If that's the way we go, suppose Quasimodo the devil fell in love with Esmeralda. After killing Frollo for getting her executed, he took away her body and even now works towards bringing her back to life.

This changes to the book story slightly, but what the hell.

[Jakob]

Did I mention how much I love this thread?

As much as I do, I guess!

So, what then?

Phoebus
Middle-aged Human Ghost (rank 1) Soldier 3/Dandy 2, N

Years passed since the fateful day in which Espmeralda was killed and Frollo fell from the church of Notre-Dame. As Victor Hugo pointed, Phoebus met a dreadful destiny: he got married.
Phoebus was no more athletic and comely, though was still is really attractive. He left Paris to live in the country, but he HAD to come back after the death of his wife and son during the labor.
Phoebus is slowly building anew his circle of friends and contacts, and it seemed he was going to spend his old age in the great city of splendors.
It was not to be.
After a few weeks in Paris, he suddenly died in his sleep, with no evidence of crime: everybody just thought he was "called home by God".

In truth, Phoebus came back to Paris because of his dreams, in which he was haunted by the rotten corpse of Esmeralda, asking for revenge. Since for once he wanted to be the "good guy" he has never been, he went back to Paris to find Esmeralda's body and give her a proper burial.
Unfortunately for him, he misunderstood his dreams: Esmeralda has, in fact, become an evil spirit who has power and influence only in the boundaries of the city of Paris. As soon as she found Phoebus in Paris, she just stopped her heart.

Phoebus is now an incorporeal ghost, with the look he had at twenty-five. He cannot manifest freely, and can only speak and can be seen only by comely young women. Phoebus is now at the orders of Esmeralda, and because of this, of the Red Death.
He loathes his condition, and many times he tried to break free of this bond, sometimes asking investigators (females, of course) to find the way of breaking his curse. He doesen't realize that doing so, allows Esmeralda to find more and more people who opposes the Red Death, thus condemning them to an unhappy fate...

Esmeralda is going to be here soon!

[Olly]

Did I mention how much I love this thread?

As much as I do, I guess!

So, what then?

Phoebus
Middle-aged Human Ghost (rank 1) Soldier 3/Dandy 2, N

Years passed since the fateful day in which Espmeralda was killed and Frollo fell from the church of Notre-Dame. As Victor Hugo pointed, Phoebus met a dreadful destiny: he got married.
Phoebus was no more athletic and comely, though was still is really attractive. He left Paris to live in the country, but he HAD to come back after the death of his wife and son during the labor.
Phoebus is slowly building anew his circle of friends and contacts, and it seemed he was going to spend his old age in the great city of splendors.
It was not to be.
After a few weeks in Paris, he suddenly died in his sleep, with no evidence of crime: everybody just thought he was "called home by God".

In truth, Phoebus came back to Paris because of his dreams, in which he was haunted by the rotten corpse of Esmeralda, asking for revenge. Since for once he wanted to be the "good guy" he has never been, he went back to Paris to find Esmeralda's body and give her a proper burial.
Unfortunately for him, he misunderstood his dreams: Esmeralda has, in fact, become an evil spirit who has power and influence only in the boundaries of the city of Paris. As soon as she found Phoebus in Paris, she just stopped her heart.

Phoebus is now an incorporeal ghost, with the look he had at twenty-five. He cannot manifest freely, and can only speak and can be seen only by comely young women. Phoebus is now at the orders of Esmeralda, and because of this, of the Red Death.
He loathes his condition, and many times he tried to break free of this bond, sometimes asking investigators (females, of course) to find the way of breaking his curse. He doesen't realize that doing so, allows Esmeralda to find more and more people who opposes the Red Death, thus condemning them to an unhappy fate...

Esmeralda is going to be here soon!

Heh heh heh! I love it, love it, love it!

So, is Esmerelda going to be a banshee, as I suggested? Or some other form of undead?

And what about Quasimodo? If, as Igor suggested, he was an infernal creature of some sort, what manner of creature would he be? Maybe a tiefling or a half-fiend caliban?

[Olly]

A couple more NPCs...

Andre Delambre
Human scientist (and later, human/fly hybrid scientist!!), chaotic neutral

Andre Delambre is a dedicated young scientist, about to unveil his latest creation, which will revolutionise the world: the matter transporter.

Though the machine has yet to be tested, Delambre is confident that he will be able to find a test subject soon enough, even if it means that he will have to test his invention himself.

(From ‘The Fly’. Though, technically, it isn’t set in the Victorian era, with a bit of tweaking, I feel that it could make an interesting addition to a Masque Of The Red Death campaign)

Renfield
Ghast, chaotic evil

Renfield resides in Dr. Jack Seward’s asylum where he spends his days gibbering incoherently about bats, darkness and his master, whomsoever he may be. He displays a ghoulish habit eating still-living creatures, such as flies, spiders, mice and even birds, obsessed with consuming their lives.

Unbeknownst to many is that Renfield is not human. He is in fact, a ghast, an undead lackey of the most powerful vampire in the world, Count Dracula himself. Indeed, closer examination of Renfield reveals that his eyes are predatory and bloodshot, his skin is deathly pale and that his nails are long, thin and incredibly sharp.

(From ‘Dracula’)

[Olly]

In hindsight, you probably wouldn't want to mix Renfield and the Fly... For obvious reasons, given Renfield's unusual appetites!

[Cole Deschain]

Douglas MacArthur

A young officer who entered West Point in 1899, and graduated in 1903, MacArthur might come into his own a little late for most campaigns... except, of course, that West Point has its own history. I mention him simply because a DM of a mind to use West Point in the 1890s would find MacArthur an interesting NPC to use. His towering ego and pride were present even then, but so was his deidcation to duty. He could make an interesting foil for civilain NPCs nosing about the Point, or he could make an unusual and occasinally frustrating ally.

(history)

Benedict Arnold

Known in the United States as a traitor of the first order, Benedict Arnold does not sleep soundly. His geist, pitiful and ineffectual, is cursed to forever haunt the plain of West Point, site of his treachery, and witness the continued history of the army he almost caused to never be. His vigil has engendered in him an undying hatred of the United States Army, and while he is truly impotent to act most of the time, by an extreme exertion of will (attainable, at best, once a decade), he can manifest as an exceptionally potent poltergeist for one night. Sadly, he is limited mostly to simple pranks, such as hoisting the reveille cannon to the roof of the West Academic Building. Much of his strangeness is simply written off as student pranks, which enrages the impotent spirit even further.

(history with a U.S.-oriented slant. )

Arthur MacArthur

The father of Douglas MacArthur, Arthur served in Washington DC as a major from 1889-1893, then in Texas as a Lieutenant Colonel from 1893-1897. In 1897, he was posted to Minnesota, and was subsequently called into more active service for the Spanish-American War. In 1898, he arrived in the Phillipines, at the head of the expeditionary force. Those who invesitgate strangeness in the Phillipines owuld do well to either cultivate or steer clear of then-General Arthur MacArthur, aged 53. He remained on the islands until 1901, and any amount of Red Death related strangeness could go down during his time as military governor.

(history)

Salomon Andree

During the Polar frenzy of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Andree stands out. His attempt to reach the Pole by balloon was something of a novel idea. While the accomplishments of Fritdjolf Nansen were to bring Sweden (and later, after its independence, Norway) considerable presitge, Andree was a Swede whose plans didn;t involved drifting on ice for months on end. Needless to say, his balloon and its crew came to a bad end, somewhere north of Spitzbergen only July 14, of 1897. The three members of the ill-fated expedition made a trek south over the polar ice, and reached the unihabited White Island, where all three died. Their remains were not found until 1930, meaning that a party could take part in one of the relief expeditions launched on Andree's behalf.

(history)

[Olly]

Benedict Arnold

Known in the United States as a traitor of the first order, Benedict Arnold does not sleep soundly. His geist, pitiful and ineffectual, is cursed to forever haunt the plain of West Point, site of his treachery, and witness the continued history of the army he almost caused to never be. His vigil has engendered in him an undying hatred of the United States Army, and while he is truly impotent to act most of the time, by an extreme exertion of will (attainable, at best, once a decade), he can manifest as an exceptionally potent poltergeist for one night. Sadly, he is limited mostly to simple pranks, such as hoisting the reveille cannon to the roof of the West Academic Building. Much of his strangeness is simply written off as student pranks, which enrages the impotent spirit even further.

(history with a U.S.-oriented slant. )

Good call on Benedict Arnold, my friend! Always had a bit of a soft-spot for history's traitors!

[Cole Deschain]

The Dead of Mountain Meadows

In early September, 1857, a wagon train from Arkansas was ambushed in the southwestern corner of Utah, in a place called Mountain Meadows. The ensuing massacre was perpetrated not by angry Utes, but by Mormon inhabitants of Utah. The children seven and younger were taken away, to be dispersed among the community with the rest of the loot, and the entire incident was to be pinned upon the Utes.

The details of the massacre are fairly grim, but suffice it to say that the wagon train fell undfer siege for a period of four days. In the end, the defenders of the trainw ere exhausted, and when a Mormon delegation appeared under a flag of truce, they agreed tyo set aside their weapons and allow the Mormons to escort them away from the "Indian attackers."

Once the party had advanced a certain distance, the massacre began, as their supposed protectors killed every living soul over the age of seven years. The slaughter was total, and the bodies were left to rot.

The bodies would lie on the field until May of 1859, when the Army arrived to bury such bodies as remained. A rude cairn was erected over the largest grave.

Apparently, Brigham Young wanted no memorials to the massacre (he himself was implicated in the organization of it, so this is hardly surprising). In May of 1861, he accompanied a party to the site of the cairn and had it torn down. U.S. troops rebuilt it in 1864.

The Mountain Meadows Orphans were, so far as can be ascertained, recovered, and sent to their surving relatives. Only one man, John D. Lee, leader of the party that did the actual shooting, was ever held accountable for the massacre.

The site of the massacre, formerly prime grazing land, seemed blighted in the years following (this is still the history part, bear in mind). In 1877, Lee's lawyer wrote, "The curse of God seems to have fallen upon it, and scorched and withered the luxuriant grass and herbage."

Needeless to say, in the World of the Red Death, this leads to any sort of ghost story a person could come up with.

(History. Yes, history. And not a big hit in Salt Lake City.)