❧ a b i l i t i e s & l i m i t a t i o n s

   

PHYSICAL
❧ THE BLIGHT HEIR
	Formerly a clergyman by trade, Carlisle once had an affinity for healing and a dislike for the undead; unfortunately, he can no longer heal others quite like he could before, as he is an undead now. While he still despises such abominations on principle, he has had to adjust his priorities. A pacifist by his very nature, this lifestyle led him to study primarily spells of utilitarian purpose rather than those that might cause harm to others, as many other casters would. Like most magicians in his world, he practices somatic spells, and requires his hands for the performance of his magic. Most undeads of his world cannot use magic, as they have neither the capacity nor the cognizance to do so; however, as a specialized, powerful undead known as a Revenant, he has access to traditional magic the same as any living person of his world would. In addition, because he rose from a twice-cursed with the ability to compel others, he has access to aural magic -- that which affects and is affected by the very aura of a person. In short, the exact prerequisites for the Blight Heir's birth were extraordinary, as most Revenants would not have the ability to compel both the living and the dead into action at will. In life, he had a talent for the restorative arts, which utilize the same type of energy as necrotic magic; his affliction -- by pure, unfortunate luck -- granted him the gift of aural compulsion, and raised him into undeath upon his passing. The combination of the two created a unique Revenant who could control the living, then raise them into undeath himself. The infamous Blight Heir, a being who rivaled and surpassed the threat of true necromancers in the region, was created by complete accident from a man who was appalled by the very concept of undeads, and thus did everything in his power to keep people from becoming them. The irony is not lost on him.
❧ UNDEAD PROPERTIES
	As an undead, Carlisle shares their strengths and weaknesses. His physical senses are dulled, particularly his senses of touch and smell; as such, he does not feel pain the same way he used to, and is largely unaffected by airborne threats and temperature shifts. He is immune to diseases, poisons, and sicknesses, and no longer needs to eat. As a magical undead, he does occasionally enter a state of hibernation to "recharge" his energy. This can happen while he's awake, which results in him just standing around for a few hours in a zombie-like haze (literally), but he's much more likely to line it up with a regular sleep cycle, as he hopes to keep some semblance of his humanity. Like with all undeads, he is nearly immune to compulsion and charms; however, he is highly vulnerable to abilities that specifically target undeads with such compulsions, like his own. In addition, healing magic and abilities are now volatile to him, and he can be injured from anything resembling "positive" energy, including enchantments on items and weapons. Thankfully, the same necrotic energies that animate him can also piece him back together if wounded, once he figures out how to manipulate them in the proper way.
MAGICAL
Though an abysmal fighter due to his timid and often cowardly nature, Carlisle is an adept spellcaster. While most of his spells rely on eksth'alva ('magical energy'), some -- namely his aural magic -- are affected by his targets themselves, such as spells with compulsory or mind-altering effects. Primary exceptions to this would be if said target is an outright god or someone with supernaturally high willpower. If you're unsure about something, feel free to drop me a PM so we can hash it out!
❧ Minor Magics
	These spells are basic magic manipulation that any magician worth their salt could cast in Carlisle's world. He can conjure light (either orbs or drawn lines), sparks, puffs of smoke, small flowers, water (about two cups at a time), or handfuls of feathers, sand, or powder. Though he could start a fire with such magic if provided tinder, this kind of magic is mostly prestidigitation. These spells are either somatic and require a gesture for the conjuring, or are focused and cast through a drawn glyph. With his shaky hands ruining any attempt at drawing lines, Carlisle is a subpar glyphcrafter and prefers to use gestures for these when he can.
❧ Necrotic Energies
	Once a naturally gifted healer, Carlisle specialized in the restorative arts, putting people back together via magical means. Unfortunately, as an undead, the manipulation of energy for such purposes counteracts ones keeping him animated -- while still capable of healing even gruesome, life-threatening injuries, he must focus on the task far more than he did when alive, as well as endure excruciating pain during the process. Instead, his healing abilities have largely been attuned toward necrotic magic, which uses the same energy as before, albeit on the opposite end of the magical spectrum. Rather than restoring what he touches with his bare hands, he can now put his focus into draining the life from it, withering and rotting the flesh in an instant. This extends to non-living surfaces as well, though it requires more purposeful concentration and time for him to fully corrode something inanimate, like an item or a wall. Rather than healing the body, he can now manipulate what energy he has to raise a corpse into undeath, even seeing the vague glimpses of the last waking moments of an unconscious or freshly-dead target by putting a hand on them. He can handle quite a bit of this kind of magic without wearing himself out -- more than he could when alive due to his affliction -- but he has his limits and knows he's coming to them when he either starts suffering a massive headache, or the black bile ("concentrated sin," as his uncles used to call it) wells in his mouth or under his eyes. Though his healing was somatic in nature -- he had to use his hands to cast these spells, and has to be touching the target being healed for the magic to be effective -- his years as the Blight Heir developed his abilities to where he can cast some of them at a range, particularly the reanimation of corpses. He hasn't yet figured out the extent of his newfound abilities, and will be horrified to learn his talents now lie in unadulterated necromancy, as let's be real: he does not want to make more undeads, no matter how good he is at it.
❧ Influence
	A byproduct of his condition as a twice-cursed, this magic affects the very auras and souls of those around him, compelling them to action -- or inaction, in some cases. How he can use this ability varies depending on the situation and what he is trying to influence his target to do: he can calm minds, sending people from a blind rage to being slightly less than hostile; he can compel people to either attack or not attack someone; he can cause fear in some subjects, while forcing others to tell the truth or lies. He can even attempt to have people perform more complex tasks, such as crafting something, provided they know how to do it in the first place. He can only influence them to do something they logically can do, but not give them the knowledge on how. This kind of magic is classified as aural magic, and is a relative oddity in Carlisle's world that is usually available only to the twice-cursed, if at all. It's both powerful and hard to control: he cannot choose specific targets with this magic, and thus it affects everyone within a certain radius of him, often including Carlisle himself. Given his morality, he is unlikely to use this ability on purpose, as stripping someone of their free will is 100% abhorrent in the eyes of his goddess. Accidentally, on the other hand... For RP-purposes, whether or not a character is affected is up to the player's discretion. His permissions post is here!
❧ Dealing with the Undead
	Like many other twice-cursed, Carlisle has an attunement toward the undead -- even more so now that he's one of them. He can sense when one is in his immediate area, speak with them, and drain what energy they have through touch to channel it into a different corpse for reanimation. Lesser, mindless undeads (shambling husks, like run-of-the-mill zombies, and the like) are passively compelled by his state of mind: if he's angry, they will be hostile toward the source of his anger, and while calm, they will enter a near-hibernation state where they pay no attention to even the living around them, etc. This could be a boon, as he could potentially protect allies from swarms of undead; however, given he tends to panic easily, it's much more likely to get him -- and those around him -- into trouble. This kind of magic is considered aural in nature, and while Carlisle knows he can sense the undead, he is currently unaware of how they are obedient to him, nor how other undeads -- especially powerful ones -- can sense his presence, as well.
MISCELLANEOUS
	Through years of study and the occasional encounter, he is fairly fluent in his world's versions of Common, Elvish, Draconic, and Anaric (the traditional language of magicians); he also knows enough of the gibberish language of the Forest Folk who live around Bear Den to get by in a conversation.

❧ r e d s h i f t