Apocalypse How Application

[emptyvessel]

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Name: Ana

Age: too old 33

Contact: cuddlebug, koutavi#1461

Character(s) in game: n/a

Permissions: here

→ CHARACTER INFO

Character Name: Marcus Keane

Age: 55

Canon: The Exorcist

Canon point: s2 finale

History: 1971 - A seven year old, severely abused Marcus witnesses his father beat his mother to death. He grabs his father's gun from behind the door and kills him. He is sent to a crowded boy's home for several years.

1975 - Young Marcus is bought by the church and begins training to become an exorcist.

1976 - At age 12, Marcus is locked in a room with a possessed individual, with only a candle and his bible for protection. He will later say that when he looked upon the demon he felt relief because he had a purpose, and that in doing his first exorcism he saw the face of God. He hasn't seen it since, but his faith is strong.

late '90s - Marcus develops a close relationship with a novice nun he calls Mouse, whom he suggests shouldn't take her vows and instead live a normal life. She seems to be staying in part to be close to him, and is intensely curious about his work. Enough so that she goes to visit the demon he's currently exorcising, and becomes possessed herself. Marcus swears to her that he'll save her, but the demon preys on their relationship, sexualizing it, and Marcus is overwhelmed by emotion and unable to complete the exorcism. He leaves before she is saved, not knowing whether she survived the ordeal.

2014 - Marcus, now considered the Catholic Church's best exorcist, is conducting an exorcism on a boy named Gabriel in Mexico City. When visited by Father Bennett and told to cease the exorcism and kill the boy to save his soul, Marcus pulled a gun on him and drove him away but ultimately Bennett was right and Marcus failed to complete the exorcism. For his threatening Bennett, Marcus is ordered to cease his work and live at a home for sequestered priests in Illinois.

2016 - Father Tomas Ortega has a vision of Marcus and receives directions from God c/o Mr Rance to the priests' home. He petitions Marcus for help exorcising Casey Rance and Marcus turns him away, but later shows up at his apartment ("I picked the lock") to investigate Tomas and discuss the case. Ultimately, Marcus disobeys orders and helps Tomas, seeking the burden of proof in Casey's case.

- For leaving the priests' home and his threat against Bennet (and due to severe corruption within the Church by integrated demons) Marcus is excommunicated.

- He keeps on with the exorcism anyway, until Casey's misguided sister calls the police when she believes Tomas and Marcus are hurting her. Marcus is arrested and Casey is taken away in an ambulance, which she escapes from and goes missing, still possessed.

- Marcus is released from prison and conducts his own search for Casey Rance, apart from the official one. He is ultimately the one to find her and battles the demon in water... Casey nearly drowns but God works through Marcus, allowing him to bless the entire lake and bring Casey back to life. Marcus now considers Casey his ward and is determined to save her. He brings her to Mother Bernadette and her nuns to continue the exorcism.

- Mother Bernadette considers Casey past saving and wants to euthanize. As before with Gabriel, Marcus refuses, and continues on until Tomas brings Casey's family to the convent to say goodbye. The demon then jumps from Casey to her mother Angela, unbeknownst to the priests.

- The demon, now in Angela Rance, organizes the murder nearly of all of Marcus' associates. He blames himself for this, both for not realizing the demon had jumped and not getting there in time. During this time Father Bennett goes missing, and Marcus suspects he will be the next victim. He goes searching and is captured by the integrated demons that have Bennett, and is offered a choice: die, or invite a demon into him during the ritual vocare pulvere and become integrated himself. Marcus adamantly refuses the demon and narrowly survives this encounter.

- After helping Angela Rance fight off her demon for the second time in her life, Tomas is determined to become a proper exorcist himself. Marcus is reluctant, but ultimately agrees, and the two leave Chicago together.

2017 - After conducting several successful exorcisms, Marcus and Tomas visit the home of a girl named Harper to determine if she is possessed. Marcus discovers that the girl's mother is drugging her to bring on the possession symptoms for attention, and reports her to child services. Harper winds up in Andy Kim's foster home, and Marcus and Tomas go along to get her settled there. Tomas suspects something is wrong, and Marcus trusts his instincts enough that he agrees to investigate.

- While they investigate Andy's case, Marcus meets and is romanced by a man named Peter, a wildlife services worker that was called regarding animal-related demonic omens. They bond over their PTSD.

- Andy Kim is indeed possessed, and an exorcism begins. But Tomas has been dabbling with engaging the demon on its own territory within the possessed's mind, and ultimately it is too strong for him to exorcise. He offers himself in trade and is becoming integrated, but Andy is able to break free long enough to warn Marcus and order the older priest to shoot him to kill the demon and save both their souls. Marcus does as he is told, saving Tomas by killing Andy and the demon, but at least sparing the father's soul.

- Marcus needs a break from all these antics, doubting himself. He sends Tomas off with an old friend of his and fellow exorcist, Mouse, and is alone once more.

Personality: Compassionate - Marcus will help absolutely anyone who needs it, showing great kindness towards others and a willingness to listen to their troubles. Although he can be rude and often challenges others, when someone genuinely needs a kind word he has it. He's also very good with children.

Faithful - Despite doubting himself several times throughout the series, Marcus is a deeply faithful individual. He doesn't just believe in God, he knows God exists. His doubt is more about whether or not he is a worthy vessel for God's will than anything else. He also has faith in people, believing that each and every possession victim will fight to survive right up until the moment they don't. Still, he doesn't believe it was their weakness or God's but his own, that he failed the person somehow.

Jaded - The world has failed Marcus. People have failed Marcus, and he will call others out when they're being terrible as despite being kind of a jerk himself half the time he never wants to harm anyone. He's generally cynical about society and the Church as an organization, even before he knows that it's being run by integrated demons.

Stubborn - Marcus is absolutely a stubborn bastard. Once he makes up his mind to do something he cannot be swayed, and will do just about anything to ensure that it happens. Whether that's endangering his own life, pulling a gun on another priest, epic car chases, or evading the cops, he does what he says he will.

Brave - Marcus faces off with demons showing no sign of fear, even when his life is in imminent danger. He also doesn't seem to fear normal humans with deadly intent, generally speaking showing a lack of regard for himself and his own life. He only fears losing people, those he's exorcising and Tomas.

Suitability: Marcus is old hat at finding demonic signs and omens, and I expect that this will translate well to hunting for more general supernatural things as ADI instructs. He's also highly invested in saving humanity in general, so an apocalypse is just one more thing to protect people from.

Powers/Abilities: Marcus is a normal human, but occasionally God speaks to him or acts through him, such as when he spontaneously blessed the water and brought Casey Rance back to life during her possession. I have no idea how that might manifest in game but it seemed worth mentioning!

Entity Affinity: The Lonely - although Marcus is used to being emotionally and physically alone, he is not used to being without God, and that sustains him. He only falters when he believes he is an 'empty vessel' and no longer channeling God's will. He also shows that he forms extremely strong attachments for people -- Mouse when he was younger, and Tomas in the present, and desperately fears losing them. Although this fear actually drove him to leave/send them away, he did those things for their safety. Its antithetical presentation doesn't negate the fear of loss.

Inventory: his bible, his rosary, a semi-automatic handgun (loaded), lockpicks, and bottle of holy water

Samples: 9 threads