Character Sheet: Claude Delacroix

[Claude Delacroix]

Name: Claude Delacroix

Gender: Male

Age: 27

Occupation: Occult specialist and investigator (Employed by the Catholic Church)

Description: A thin-framed man standing at six feet in height. His hair is a dusty mud-blond color kept at a short length. Leans toward wearing tailored clothing in subtle and colder colors (black, purple, dark blues) and a long grey duster with a matching hat.

Bio:

From the outset, Claude was born in an unusual world. His father, Pierre Delacroix, was a French plantation owner in the Carribean, a wealthy and powerful man in several respects who fell hard and fast for the exotic beauty of an Italian woman named Rosario St. Lucca during a trip to the Italian countryside. After a brief and passionate courtship, Pierre and his bride relocated to their flourishing sugar-cane plantation.

Rosario soon gave birth to a set of twins, Claude and his fraternal sister Marie. Soon after the birth of his children, Pierre began to become more distant from his wife, often wandering off for days at a time under the excuse of "tending after the slaves."

As Claude began to reach adolescence, he was exposed to native Carribean "practical magic" and old French and Italian games such as Tarot. Much of what he learned or witnessed from slaves or even his own well-meaning mother and father became absorbed in his mind. After years of such mystic osmosis, Claude became convinced that he could practice such acts on his own.

After months of unsuccessful experimentation in bridging voodoo arts to European magik, Claude finally managed to use an antique mirror belonging to his mother to see something other than a reflection in its glass. Unfortunately, what the mirror showed was Claude's father in bed with one of the female slaves.

In a cruel (or perhaps kind) twist of fate, Claude's mother happened to enter his room while he was using the glass, only to be shocked, sickened, and outraged by the sight of her husband's infidelity. With her children in tow, Rosario returned to her native town in Italy and forbidding Claude to ever practice magic again.

However, Claude had a taste for the mystic, now. No matter how hard he tried to resist or no matter how many timeshe attended Mass with his mother and new extended family, the memories of magic remained. The feelings of raw energy crackling through his body as he performed his forbidden skill and passion. After a short and amittedly miserable period of "normal" life, Claude began practicing magic in secret once more.

Time continued to pass, and Claude's secret activities were eventually discovered by the Catholic church. Rather than excommunicate him outright for heretical practices, they offered him a deal: Go back to the new world and confirm or disprove any "paranormal, angelic, demonic, or simply weird occurances" that came to their attention.

The flames of Hell licking at his heels, the young man had no choice but to accept.

Three years have passed since the bargain with the church was struck, and Claude now finds himself in the New Mexico territory. According to his last letter from the Vatican, his instructions are as thus:

"Investigate possible increase in occultist practice. Seek out all heretics and collect information. Interrogate pagan tribes."


Combat Ability: While not a soldier, the fact that Claude has managed to survive in a rather rough-and-tumle career suggests some degree skill at combat. A self-acknowledged dirty fighter and passable marksman, Claude's abilities suit his needs well, but he'd prefer to avoid outrigt conflict if possible.

Affinity: Magic. At the outset, he is mainly able to merely detect magic as it happens thanks to a sort of sixth sense he has developed over time. Any other magic acts he can perform require some sort of artifact, be it a mirror (limited scrying) or a deck of playing cards (vague fortune telling).