info post ⚗️

[manifestering]

OCTAVIAN HOWE
??? (appears 31)

AGE

5'9"

HEIGHT

thin, wispy

BUILD

dark, wavy

HAIR

hazel

EYES

ABOUT

Inventor, scholar, sometimes alchemist, even more rarely arcanist, ghost. The ghost part is the least important part, as far as he's concerned; his titanium drive to pursue knowledge and study universal truths rendered him too stubborn to actually pass on when he died. For a decent while he didn't even know he was dead! When a ragtag gang of outcasts steal him in a heist for something else entirely, Octavian decides he's better off going with them if he wants to continue his work.

personality in brief:
+ intelligent, driven, creative
- stubborn, myopic, dismissive

SETTING

Click to enlarge.

PERSONALITY

the full version is coming... when I get there...

BACKSTORY

Octavian was born and raised in the city of Rose Vale to a moderately well-known family of scholars and magicians, the Howes. He showed an aptitude for tinkering at a young age, encouraged by his academically-oriented parents to pursue that interest. Young Octavian interpreted this as pushing it as far as he could take it, and began inventing small machines for simple tasks (for example, automatic tea-pouring machine) as a hobby. He dabbled as well in the magic spells and rituals his parents specialized in, although he always preferred the machinery.

In school he was introduced to alchemy and became interested in combining that new knowledge set with his experience in inventing. His younger twin brother followed more directly in their parents' footsteps studying magic, and the two often collaborated on making magical items in their teen years. Many of these items, and the volumes of notes the boys created, were sold to help the two build up a nest egg in their early university days; these days, the old magical items are considered immensely valuable collectors items, referred to as the "Howe Relics," now a prestigious set of items to possess after the family's many mysterious tragedies.

But that's later.

In university, Octavian meets and befriends classmate Hiram Bellerose. The two quickly bond over mutual interests in pushing the limits of technology and alchemy, partnering on side projects and university projects alike. The university years, and the few years following, are the golden years for the two of them: nothing but ideas and projects and infinite hope for their future. Octavian's family name has pull, Hiram has money of his own to add to what Octavian's custom inventions made; it's going great. They plan to go into business properly, inventors and alchemists pushing the envelope of modernity and changing lives! Octavian's personal project on the side, how to use modern marvels to extend the human lifespan, toddles along without Hiram's input.

As the years pass, the two begin to have disagreements about the future of their joint venture. Octavian wants to invent, not to mass produce, whereas Hiram wants to do precisely that: mass produce their work to make a marketable business. He's tired of living on commission and word of mouth, while Octavian is content with what they have. Enter the yet-unnamed Howe Engine, Octavian's compromise: a machine that alchemizes Rose Vale's aptly named "rose ore," a rare but powerful mineral in the energy business, in a way that produces more energy on less ore. This is the one, the moneymaker. Hiram is excited to finally get somewhere, and then Octavian says he needs more time to refine it. They argue, and Hiram's temper and frustration get the better of him; he kills Octavian as his partner is at work in Hiram's own home workshop laboratory. He seals the lab, waits a few days, and reports Octavian missing. A month later he unveils the Howe Engine, named for his missing partner, to great success.

In the lab, Octavian continues to work. He wakes up with a sore head and sore everything else, but he has things to do and so he gets right back to it. His awareness of anything besides tinkering with his projects and his notes comes and goes; he can see his own body there prone on the floor in a puddle of congealed blood, but that seems like someone else's problem. Between life and death, the specter of Octavian Howe gets back to work.

He stays that way for he doesn't know how long, until Hiram returns to the lab. Older and richer, he returns one day simply to gloat, and maybe to weep, over Octavian's body, while Octavian's ghost flickers at the edge of perception.

The personal project changes after that, conjuring up old knowledge of his parents' studies and what he knows of spirit magic, so that Octavian can create himself a medium to exist through. With the full knowledge that he is dead and spectral, the urgency of keeping himself anchored amplifies a thousandfold; luckily he is very skilled, and he's nearly finished perfecting a sigil and ritual that can bind his essence to a token when a gang of oddballs break into Hiram's estate to steal a valuable artifact. A Howe Relic, as luck would have it, something Hiram paid to collect for reasons Octavian thinks are partly sentiment but mostly spite. He agrees to help the group only because they arrive with the item in hand when they find him - and his body; he'll help them escape Hiram's magical security if they will take him with them.

They do take him with them. It's been thirty years since he "disappeared," and an apparent twenty since the remains of the Howe family were mysteriously killed in "an accident." Octavian has bones to pick with his old friend, but he has to bring himself back to life, first.

RELATIONSHIPS

repentance

Octavian's favorite person in existence is Repentance St. John, or: Penny. The group's resident mage, the initial burden of how to interact with Octavian successfully fell on his shoulders. As a result, they've spent the most time together, and they're both kind of weird dudes, so Octavian has taken a shine to him. They support each other's interests from the occult to the arcane to the ordinary, and in Octavian's eyes, Penny hung the moon in the sky. Penny, in turn, thinks Octavian is a marvel who is brilliant and can do no wrong. They are very annoying together.

roman

The boss, Roman Bird. Roman is uncertain of Octavian at first—ghosts aren't exactly a common thing, and if they appear, they aren't aware and conscious the way Octavian is. Kneejerk pity (the man is dead, after all) quickly becomes respect and quiet admiration for Octavian's ability to persevere. Soon enough they develop a rapport of mutual respect and off-hours friendship, because Roman has a lot of questions about the old days and Octavian likes to answer them. They're drinking buddies. Somehow.

gabriel

The muscle, Gabriel Gold. Gabriel isn't too sure about the whole ghost in the party thing, so he's nervous and kind of intimidated by Octavian's presence. But he trusts Roman's judgment, so he tries his best to be cordial and somewhat friendly, which usually comes out with a lot of putting his foot in his mouth and being the butt of ghost-based humor. Octavian thinks he's very funny, in a pathetic dingus kind of way. They don't know each other well and neither is very interested in getting to know each other, but professionally, there's trust.

emory

The accountant and sometimes the medic, Emory Howe. Octavian's nephew, making Octavian Emory's only remaining relative. The Emory family perished in a sudden tragedy under mysterious circumstances some 20 years ago, when Emory was a child, after Octavian disappeared; that he had an extended family at all is news to him, as is the tragedy that killed them. For the most part, Octavian thinks Emory is a funny little thing; Emory is kind of skittish and confused about his spectral uncle, but it's nice to have family.

sable

The other muscle, Sable. Whip-smart and deadly, Sable doesn't care about Octavian one whit, besides making sure he's good to Emory. Sable and Emory are best friends and she is fiercely protective of him, so as long as the ghost is kind and unthreatening, she's fine with him. Octavian thinks she's a skilled killer, and has no other strong feelings about her one way or the other.

niche

The strategist, Niche. Plucky and enthusiastic to a pushy degree, Niche is fascinated by Octavian's entire existence. She desperately wants to be his friend and learn everything about him and maybe have him teach her a few things, she's kind of into arcane studies as a little hobby herself you know? Wouldn't it be fun to have a mentee?— She's eager. Octavian thinks she's cute and amusing; Penny considers her a younger sister, which helps keep his patience in check.

bellerose

The mark, Hiram Bellerose. Fundamentally, Octavian's ex. His old partner from the university days and beyond, they had big dreams, they had big plans, they had the talent and the smarts and the skills to make it happen, they had it all—and then fear of being overshadowed took over and ended in Octavian's untimely demise. The worst breakup ever. Bellerose goes on to be a successful inventor, starting with one of Octavian's inventions, stolen after his death and presented as Bellerose's own. Octavian's ghost lives in Bellerose's mansion laboratory, annexed away from the main house. When Bellerose comes into possession of a Howe Relic, Roman and his gang pull off a heist to steal the object and wind up going home with a ghost, too.

ABILITIES

iron will

Octavian's "standard" spectral form is visibly a ghost: he's slightly translucent, he can float, he wisps around the edges; this form's visibility and limited tangibility are a result of Octavian's sheer determination to inflict himself upon reality. He constantly wants to be perceived by the world, which allows him to maintain a form that can be seen and interacted with. As far as his tangibility is concerned, the best way to describe touching him in this form is that there's a lot of give. It's noticeably different when grabbing, for example, his hand vs. a living person's hand; cooler in temperature and more delicate, like he's hollow. He lacks the solid weight of a living being, but he can interact with objects and people.

make-manifest

With the correct tools, Octavian can manifest himself as a "living" thing. How this works: using an object or token as an anchor and a specific sigil as a medium, he can manifest himself a properly solid form that appears - visually, anyway - to be fully alive. Tokens personally owned by him in his life work the best, and metals even better; a metal button from the vest he died in will hold his form for longer than a handkerchief he had in his pocket, for example. If no such tokens are available (things get lost, he needs someone else to carry these things around, etc.) then metal objects conduct the magic he needs most effectively.

The caveats: The form is time-limited, dependent upon the token; better tokens will hold his form more consistently and for longer, before he either has to revert back to his usual form or begin sucking life energy from living people nearby. With a properly done sigil and ritual, he can maintain a manifested form for up to ten hours - his usual is around five or six, due to materials available. (Throwing in a little blood from a volunteer gives it a little kick that also helps.) Additionally, if the sigil is ruined or the item is damaged, he may lose the form. He is also not technically alive or even technically a human being in this form: it's solid, yes, and it appears in all respects to be human flesh, if cool to the touch, but he doesn't manifest organs or anything like that; the manifested form is a puppet made of very convincing alchemy, not a real human body. As such, anything that his body does that appears like a living behavior (eating, drinking, sex) is credited to his iron will yet again insisting really hard that he can do those things.

intangible state

Octavian can reduce his presence such that he can pass through objects and be rendered invisible. This does not require a ritual or any materials, but he doesn't like doing it or doing it for very long because loosening his iron will immediately makes his consciousness start to slip; he very badly doesn't want to lose himself and fade away, so he minimizes how often he utilizes the intangible abilities to very rare, dire occasions.

invention & alchemy

In life, Octavian was lauded as a prodigy of both machines and alchemical pursuits. He's always been driven to create and discover, and made a laboratory of his life to study newer and better applications of alchemy and mechanical engineering. His ultimate goal with both these fields was the extension of life, literally immortality in the case of his alchemical studies. He does not appreciate the irony, most days.

The thing that would have been his breakout invention and skyrocketed his career was a machine that processed the unique ore of the planet into energy in large amounts with very small quantities of ore necessary. Bellerose stole this upon Octavian's death and marketed it as his own, launching his own successful career. As one final kick in the ass, it's named after him: the Howe Engine, in honor of Bellerose's tragically disappeared comrade.

and a dash of magic

He's studied the arcane. Elemental magic interests him very little, as does the magic that ironically keeps him around: the magic of spirits. Most of his magical knowledge is scholarly rather than in practice; he can't carry around a magician's toolkit, anyway.

cooking

He was a pretty good cook before he died! Shame about not needing to eat these days.

LAURA • 30+ • EST • jojoveller • PB: FORGET ME NOT (REVERSE 1999) • CODING