Historical, Novel and Movie characters of Gothic Earth

[William Blackmoor]

Mehibeth Almadin // Ankh-Sunamun
Dandy // Cursed Ka-spirit (odem) Adept
Forbidden Lore: In the time of pharaoh Ankhenaton and his queen Nefertiti, Imhotep selected one of his chief agents: Ankh-Sunamun, daughter an influential magician and more importantly one of the pharaoh‘s concubines. She fell in love with the immortal Imhotep and it may well be that it was her who killed Ankhenaton. But she was too late to save Imhotep from imprisonment. She herself was killed by Nefertiti, who had taken the throne under the name Semenchare. But Ankh-Sunamuns malign spirit lived on and was imprisoned in a magical sarcophagus. She was eventually freed by graverobbers and ever since she tried to free Imhotep. She always tries to find a beautiful egyptian women who looks similar to her old self as her host. Presently she inhabits Mehibeth Almadin, a wealthy tradeswoman.

(from: The Mummy Returns)


Victor Frankenstein
Ghost (scientist)
Forbidden Lore: Since his death in the ice of the north, Victor’s ghost has repeatedly tried to spoil his creatures plans and to destroy it. To his frustration, he isn’t able to move things, so he has to relay on courageous people to help him. He always knows the general direction where his creature might be found. Sometimes Victor appears when his work is used by other people as well.

(from: Frankenstein)

Elizabeth,Frankenstein’s Bride
Dandy/ Flesh Golem
Forbidden Lore: Thought to be destroyed by the fire, the flames had a unique effect on Elizabeth’s body: Her burned flesh healed almost flawlessly and her beauty was restored. But nonetheless Elizabeth knows that she isn’t natural anymore and loaths herself. Unable to end her existence she is also plagued by her split personality. One half wants to end the madness her beloved victor brought into the world and take up a near to normal life again, the other half is drawn to the Frankenstein monster and his unholy experiments.

(from: Frankenstein)

Will soon add Lucretia Borga (Ermordenung Dandy/ Court Poisoner) and Baba Yaga (ancient hag)

[Olly]

Nice to see this thread has returned from the grey twilight! I look forward to Baba Yaga!

I'll post a few of my own ideas... as soon as I think of some...

[The Lesser Evil]

"Windsy", the Mortal Immortal
Neutral immortal? Human Tradesman/Explorer
Biography: "Windsy", as his Bertha would call him, began life as a normal man, who chose to work for the (in)famous scholar and alchemist Agrippa in order to achieve the funds he needed to impress his beloved Bertha. After spying Bertha, her protectoress, and a rival lover together, he drank his employer's Elixir of Immortality to cure himself of his love. However, rather than ridding him of love, it gave him the strength to go meet Bertha again. She fled with him to live together in poverty, leaving her old life of luxury and confinement behind. They grew old together; rather Bertha grew old while Windsy stayed young. Meanwhile, Bertha grew increasingly peevish and worrying. Windsy and his wife stayed together until Bertha's end. For many decades, the Mortal Immortal lived in grief over Bertha's death and self-pity over his cursed existence. Dealing with indecision, he finally came up with a plan to put his immortality to the test: to go on an expedition that no mortal could survive.

Current Sketch: Now going on nearly 400 years old, The "Mortal Immortal" as he likes to call himself, is still in a state of uncertainty regarding his future. He continually makes arguments and counter-arguments on how much of an immortal he is. Unfortunately for this strange man, the expedition granted him neither the death for dying nor the fame for surviving he desired. The Mortal Immortal has been somewhat slow in his follow-up plan to more directly end his life.

Forbidden Lore: The Mortal Immortal seeks ever more dangerous and grandiose explorations, hoping to find either death or fame. Of course, hew will need henchmen to go with him, and certainly may not be afraid to take them with him to the grave. It is also rumored that someone is researching an antidote to the Elixir of Immortality... Who knows what sort of bargains the researcher must make to find it...
(Source: Mary Shelly's story The Mortal Immortal .

The House of Usher
Wrecked House, possible sinkhole of evil, ethereal resonance, or phantasmagoria
Biography: What exactly happened on that fateful night when the House of Usher collapsed is still uncertain; however it took with it the last surviving members of the Usher family line. The only survivor, a family friend of the Ushers, spoke only tales of madness and terror, and is now old and feeble or dead.
Current Sketch: The House now lies in smoldering ruins, never examined further because of its infamous reputation. However, recently some nosy investigators have decided to examine the collapsed house to get the true picture.
Forbidden Lore: The ruined mansion seems to have taken on a decayed but sinisterly aware atmosphere, and the surrounding populace gives it a wide berth. Rumors of strange, unexplained noises like incoherent rambling still persist. Nearby gravesites sometimes witness unknown vandalisms where the coffins look like they have been broken from the inside out.
(Source: Edgar Allen Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher)

[Olly]

Spring Heeled Jack
??? - Chaotic evil



Spring Heeled Jack is a mysterious creature, so called because of his ability to make incredible leaps.

Hideous to look upon, he has long, pointed ears, like those of a bat, a hooked, beak-like nose and eyes that glow red in the dark. His hands are gnarled claws, which he uses to rip at the clothes of his victims, and he breathes blue-white flames from his mouth.

He is currently wanted by the London constabulary for a series of attacks made on young women, however, Jack has managed to evade capture time and time again by leaping over impossibly high walls or simply disappearing into the mist, leaving no trace but the sound of his ringing laughter, echoing on the wind.

Those with knowledge of such creatures are completely in the dark about what manner of supernatural creature Spring Heeled Jack actually is. Some claim him to be some kind of fiend, others swear he is a strange breed of bogeyman. There are even those that believe Jack to be nothing more than a human being in an odd costume and some kind of hidden jumping apparatus.

[William Blackmoor]

Baba Yaga
Ancient Hag
Forbidden Lore: In Russian folktales Baba Yaga is depicted as an old crone who flies around in a mortar and wilds enormous magical powers. She is probably one of the most ancient hags in Gothic Earth, her powers greater than those of any other hag found in Russia or Europe. Even without her magic the hag is a fearsome opponent, her teeth are said to be made of iron and her claws slash horrible wounds. Baba Yaga is tied to the soil of Russia itself and it might well be, that she can only be permanently destroyed if Russia itself ceases to exist. It is said, that Baba Yaga was once defeated and spring didn’t come to Russia until she had reformed.
Her Lair is variously described as either a hut on chickenlegs or a cave decorated with the bones of her fallen enemies. The hag is also said to command legions of “lesser” supernatural entities like rusalkas, domovoi, vampires werewolves, and poldunikas.
Scholars of the Red Death believe that Baba Yaga herself is at least a Lord in the ranks of the vile entity’s army of darkness. Others point out, that she might be a renegade, as some stories show Baba Yaga displaying strange acts of kindness to virtous people.

(from: Mythology)

Lucretia Borgia
Ermordenung (Dandy /Court Poisoner)
Forbidden Lore: born 1480 as the daughter of Rodrigo Borgias, who became pope Alexander VI., Lucretia became a femme fatale and a poltical tool for her father and later her brother. After both died (Lucretia is said to have had a hand in the later death) she became a patron of the arts. But she could never free herself of the corruption that had been planted within her. When she felt death approaching in 1519, three days after her seventh child had died at birth, another entity approached her as well, offering eternal life and beauty. Lucretia jumped at the chance of a second life, not asking what she had to do in exchange. She again became a tool, this time in the hands of the Red Death. Lucretia often is torn between the dark joys that her immortal life offers and the self-loathing of what she has become. A blonde, seductive beauty, she is normally dressed in shockingly revealing clothes for the Victorian Age. She is an expert at creating exotic poisons of sometimes magical powers and her powers of seduction seem to be supernatural as well. She has the power to control her deadly touch and it kill’s only if she wants to. If she truly falls in love however, her touch is beyond her control.

(from: History, inspired by the Witchblade TV series version)

[The Lesser Evil]

Grigori Yefinovitch Novykh, the "Mad Monk", aka Rasputin
NE criminal/mystic
Grigori began his life as a decadent peasant thug, so vile that he earned the name "Rasputin", Russian for "debauched person". His life changed after a visit to an Ural Mountain monastery, where he supposedly found God. Rasputin's fascination with the Orthodox Church and religion brought him to discover some kind of ability to see the future as well as calm the mind. He for all outer appearances converted, giving up addictive vices such as drinking and smoking while at the same time going upon fits of fasting. The rogue became involved in religion and joined a cult called the Khlysts. This cult combined a twisted version of Christian doctrine with primal pagan practices. It said one could only receive salvation by deeds of purposeful sin and decadence. Rasputin eventually becomes a twisted mockery of the starets, in Russian tradition holy man in which people would devote their whole existences in listening to. Rasputin travels throughout the land spreading his word, performing "miracles", and debauching.
Forbidden Lore: Although the Mad Monk will not achieve the peak of his power until he achieves control over the tsar and tsarina in the early 20th century, Rasputin is still a formidable foe. His penetrating gaze is famous, or perhaps infamous, for its hypnotic ability, and rightly so. He is also rumored to be able to perform miraculous acts, including healing, as well as to have a near-immortal constitution. Lastly, Rasputin also has the protection of his "flock", and perhaps also the backing of his cult.
(from history/legend)

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

Lenore, The Doubly Dead
NE Scholar (Ghost)
After her untimely illness that led to her being buried alive, she came to in the ground and managed to claw her way back up to the surface. Returning to her home and her husband, distraught and in shock after facing the horrors of being buried alive, the household believed her to be some form of the walking dead and saw to it that she was properly destroyed and once more buried, this time her ashes being scattered after cremation. Her spirit, unable to rest after the hardships it had suffered sought revenge on her husband, sending a raven to haunt and harrass the one she loved most dearly. She soon found that she had been imbued with power to control any raven she enountered. With this she found that she could also pick up on the hardship of any woman suffered upon her by a man.
Lenore normally appears as a phantom raven sitting in the higher limbs of a tree near settlements of all sizes, seeking out more women to be rescued from the savage hands of men, at other times she appears as she did at the time of her death, a distraught young and beautififul woman in a state of shock. However, closer inspection reveals an awareness far to acute for any mortal being to bear in their eyes. Over time she has come to hate all men to a degree and her malice has grown. She wanders her home land of France taking out vengeance on men she suspects may harm a woman in the future. By the later years of the 19th century, Lenore is looking to spread her wings to other lands beyond France, vague memories of her mortal life slowly forming in remembrance of things long forgotten.

Sources - Lenore, and The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe.

Not to be confused with Roman Dirge's Cute Little Dead Girl of the same name

[Olly]

Lenore, The Doubly Dead
NE Scholar (Ghost)
After her untimely illness that led to her being buried alive, she came to in the ground and managed to claw her way back up to the surface. Returning to her home and her husband, distraught and in shock after facing the horrors of being buried alive, the household believed her to be some form of the walking dead and saw to it that she was properly destroyed and once more buried, this time her ashes being scattered after cremation. Her spirit, unable to rest after the hardships it had suffered sought revenge on her husband, sending a raven to haunt and harrass the one she loved most dearly. She soon found that she had been imbued with power to control any raven she enountered. With this she found that she could also pick up on the hardship of any woman suffered upon her by a man.
Lenore normally appears as a phantom raven sitting in the higher limbs of a tree near settlements of all sizes, seeking out more women to be rescued from the savage hands of men, at other times she appears as she did at the time of her death, a distraught young and beautififul woman in a state of shock. However, closer inspection reveals an awareness far to acute for any mortal being to bear in their eyes. Over time she has come to hate all men to a degree and her malice has grown. She wanders her home land of France taking out vengeance on men she suspects may harm a woman in the future. By the later years of the 19th century, Lenore is looking to spread her wings to other lands beyond France, vague memories of her mortal life slowly forming in remembrance of things long forgotten.

Sources - Lenore, and The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe.

Heh, by an uncanny coincidence, I had the same idea after watching The Simpsons' Treehouse Of Horror, with Homer and Bart doing their version of The Raven!

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

It was Lisa reciting The Raven to Bart, but my own conclusions came from many readings of those poems I think it is a nice adaptation of the poems though.

A note on realism though, the term "doubly dead" means to be buried alive, a theme common on Poe's works

[Olly]

Ebeneezer Scrooge
Neutral good human* intellectual/tradesman

*If you favour a slightly more fantastical bent to your campaign, apply the 'Saint' template from the Book Of Exalted Deeds to Scrooge, thus making him a celestial creature among mortals.

A wealthy and generous accountant, Scrooge's towering, cadaverous appearance might appear sinister if it weren't for the spring in his step and the kind smile constantly on his lips. Referred to by many as the kindest man in all of London, who makes sure that his employees are well paid, donates large sums of money to numerous charities and always has a kind word for everybody.

However, it was not always so. Scrooge was once a cold, calculating, tight-fisted, covetous old sinner, who, or so it is rumoured, had his business partner, Jacob Marley, killed, so that Scrooge could secure his half of their ill-gotten wealth for his own. However, after a midnight visit from three mysterious ghosts on Christmas Eve, Scrooge was convinced to change his wicked ways, and became the saint of a man he is known as today.

Scrooge will eagerly aid the PCs in any way that he can, although most of his aid will be of a monetary nature. For example, he may donate large sums of money to the PC's cause. He may purchase as gifts the finest equipment available, to aid them in their quest. He may pay for and arrange all their travelling expenses for them, all out of the goodness of his heart. As such, Scrooge is an invaluable ally for those wishing to stand against the tide of darkness and corruption.



I thought it was about time we had a real 'good guy' for Masque Of The Red Death. We have so many evil and neutral aligned characters, and I fancied a change!

As you can see, it's not a particular departure from Dickens' book, but maybe some of you good people have other ideas that we can add into Scrooge's character.

[Olly]

Must... Fight... Urge... To... Add... Willy Wonka...

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

Must... Fight... Urge... To... Add... Willy Wonka...

Add him, he's one of the most sadistic agents the Red Death has ever employed

[Olly]

Heh heh... I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to do his evil justice. You're more than welcome to, if you want, though, Wiccy!

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

I don;t own a copy of the book (for shame, I love Roald Dahl too) and would have to rely on the older movie for referrence, which I also don;t own, lol. Not seen the new movie yet, so I really wouldn't be able to do him all that much justice either.

[Lady Ligeia]

I have some ideas. I am new to the boards and new to the MotRD setting, but not new to gaming. I have some other NPC ideas.


Anton Phibes
LN Dandy/Intellectual (later, LE)
Thiry years before he became horribly burned in an automobile accident, Anton Phibes is a child prodigy. He is a rising star in the music world: a brilliant organist, conductor, and musicologist, and he has a head for clockwork mechanics that startle even the greatest inventors of the age. Many nights he spends in great libraries in all the major cities of the civilized world, studying music, philosophy, theology, and arts darker and more seductive than musical notes alone.
Forbidden Lore: Some say the young Master Phibes could only have achieved his musical and mechanical brilliance through contacts with agents other than music instructors. But who can speak against the charming boy? He can make a pipe organ sing like a choir of angels ... or perhaps a choir of something considerably more sinister at least ...

(From The Abominable Doctor Phibes and Doctor Phibes Returns)



Other characters from Poe's stories could be worked up, such as my namesake, Lady Ligeia, M. Valdemar, the unnamed protagonist from The Telltale Heart (perhaps now an aged, raving lunatic in some asylum whose name to this day, is unknown by the doctors there), M. Auguste Dupin, Montressor, etc.

I don't have the books yet, so I don't know if anything has been done with the Golem of Prague. It would probably still be around somewhere!

Professor Challenger, from Arthur Conan Doyle's Lost World would be a good addition as well.

And here is one I came up with on the spur of the moment (had to look up the spelling of "Houyhnhnms", though!):

"Lemuel Gulliver"
CG Intellectual
This incredibly old man is willing to tell his startling tale to anyone with the heart to listen. His story is incredible, as he claims to be none other than *the* Lemuel Gulliver mentioned in a bizarre manuscript pubished by Jonathan Swift over 170 years ago! The man may be some descendant of that traveller of strange lands, but he certainly couldn't be the man himself. He would have to be over 200 years old. However ... his tales do have the accuracy of a man who saw many strange sights with his own eyes. He speaks of an island of people no bigger than his thumb, of talking horses, of giants, of flying islands. Those who know the man think he is some long descendant of the actual Gulliver, but the old soul insists this is not the case and often goes on wild rants about how he is never believed.
Forbidden Lore: This is, indeed, the real Lemuel Gulliver. Although he will never reveal his secret, he discovered an alchemical formula in the flying island of Laputa that enables him to extend his life unnaturally. Using this formula, he has spend the last many decades trying to rediscover the near paradise he experienced on the Island of the Houyhnhnms. Although given to fits of temporary lunacy, Lemuel Gulliver is an accomplished physician and knows much of the stranger parts of the world. He is unaware of the Red Death, but knows that some greater force is at work in the world. His greatest fear is that the giants of Brobdignag, now having heard from him of the wretched state of the world, will leave their secluded island and embark on a crusade against humanity.