"S'just the way of it, son. We all sell our souls sooner or later."| Identity |John 'Constantine' Constantine
| Origin & Backstory |John Constantine was born into the shit that would follow him for the rest of his life - and appropriately enough, he arrived in Liverpool, 1989. His twin asphyxiated in the womb on John's umbilical cord, and his mother, Mary-Anne Constantine, died giving birth to him and his stillborn brother because an earlier forced abortion had weakened her womb, causing it to rupture and bleed out. Thomas Constantine, John's father, and the man who had forced the abortion upon his wife, was incapable of accepting the responsibility of Mary-Anne's death, and instead blamed his surviving son, John - and they grew up harboring a deep dislike of one another. Thomas had little involvement in John's upbringing, and much of his care was left to his older sister, Cheryl Constantine. After their father descended into alcoholism and was imprisoned for petty theft and voyeurism, Cheryl and John moved to Northampton to live with their Aunt and Uncle for a brief time, before returning after Thomas' release. It was their return to both Liverpool and their father that set John off onto his journey into the magical and occult.
John had discovered his ancestry in Northampton, his blood belonging to a long family line known as the Laughing Magicians, legendary mages known for their power over Synchronicity and their uncanny ability to bluff and trick even gods. This discovery led him to delve into the practices of his lineage, and he began to partake in magic. His first act was to seal away his childhood innocence and vulnerability in a small wooden toy-box he once used, ridding himself of the burdens of virtues he'd lost long ago. Later on, in his teenage years, John botched a curse that left his father withered and frail and doomed to die - and subsequently ran from home, his sister, and Liverpool, heading to London and making a permanent home in an apartment with his roommate, Francis 'Chas' Kramer, who would go on to be John's oldest, closest, and longest surviving friend.
~ | 2008: Zatanna Zatara, Mucous Membrane, and Astra | John soon got involved in the occult circles of London's population. He practiced his magics and learned more about the occult world lying behind the mortal one, and began to travel to other cities and countries to expand his knowledge. In New York, 2008, he met a talented female magician called Zatanna Zatara, and the two began a relationship. Together, they grew enamored with Punk Rock after attending several gigs, and John was inspired to put together his own punk band, a three-man piece called Mucous Membrane. They released an album, and it was on their first tour that John got his first taste of magical heroism, and the disasters it would rain down upon his life.
On tour with his band in Newcastle, John stumbled across the aftermath of a horrific magical incident: an abused child - a little girl called Astra - had taken revenge on her adult tormentors by tapping into her raw innate magical abilities, conjuring a vicious monster to slaughter them in the middle of an orgy - and now the monster refused to leave the mortal plane. With a recklessness that would soon enough become his MO, John convinced Zatanna, Chas, his bandmates, and several other occultist friends to pour their power into summoning a demon of their own to combat the monster. Sadly, while their abilities were enough to bring forth the creature, they were not enough to bind it to their will. The demon, Nergal, killed the monster, and then tormented Constantine's friends and snatched Astra away to Hell. John suffered a nervous breakdown, severing ties with everyone he knew, and eventually being committed to Ravenscar Psychiatric Hospital, only ever keeping regular contact with Chas Kramer.
~ | 2010: Lung Cancer, the Triumvirate of Hell, and Blackmailing God | Constantine was released from Ravenscar in 2010 with a clean sign-off on his mental health - despite persisting nightmares - and several 'goodbyes' from inmates and keepers alike. Constantine had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer - brought on by his continuing smoking habit of nearly 30-a-day - and he'd been let out to enjoy his last days in freedom. The world had changed during his time in the ward, and was now filling up with extraordinary men and women, on all sides of the moral compass, and while Constantine knew that perhaps he was one of them, he refused his call. Instead, he traveled to Ireland to seek out a friend he once had who he believed could help cure him with magic and rituals.
He found Brendan dead, having drunk himself to death with rampant alcoholism and a suspiciously infinite supply of the best wines known to the world. It was at Brendan's funeral that Constantine had his first encounter with the entity that would become his greatest nemesis - the First of the Fallen, one of the three Triumvirate Rulers of Hell. Brendan had sold his soul to this being in exchange for an endless cellar of the finest wines in the cosmos, and the First had arrived to collect. Not wanting his old friend's soul to be eternally tormented in Hell, Constantine proposed a final toast to the mortal - spiking the First's wine with Holy Water, and tricking him into drinking it, rendering him helpless and unable to collect Brendan's soul. Unable to collect before midnight, Brendan's contract was declared null, and his soul ascended to Heaven. Wounded by the insult of being fooled by a mortal, the First declared Consantine's soul his by the 'right of insult', and swore to collect him upon his death and render unto him torment twofold, enough to make up for the soul he lost.
Slowly dying from cancer, Constantine created a plan. In secret, he summoned both the Second and Third of the Fallen - the others of the Triumvirate - separately and struck up deals with both, pledging his soul now three times over. Soon, the First, Second, and Third discovered Constantine's scheme, and realized that should he die, the Triumvirate would erupt into a war over ownership that would tear apart Hell and of which the only true winner would be God and His angels. Too proud to form an alliance, they instead decided that their only option was to cure John of his cancer, and allow him to live. While doing this, however, they also took their power to create a counterpart to Constantine, a Demon formed of all his worst attributes and vices, but lacking none of his cunning or magical prowess. In doing this, they were assured that when Constantine's soul finally came to rest in Hell, it would be consumed by this Demon, whose power would be near unparalleled, and used for naught but evil and the destruction of Earth and Heaven. John knew this, and in cunning desperation, contacted God. His aspect appeared, and came to converse by campfire. John warned Him of the demonic power that would be released if his soul was to come into Hell, and that such a being would surely topple the Triumvirate and unleash countless Demons upon Earth and to assault Heaven, and shut the Gates of Hell so that the damned would have no rest, and be forced to rise again. Constantine blackmailed God into keeping his soul from Hell to prevent this. God knew that the events John described would come to pass, and agreed - but before His aspect disappeared from Earth, He warned John of great suffering that would soon visit itself upon his life.
~ | 2013: The Magic War, Rosacarnis, The Return of the First, and Cheryl |
John drifted for a time, travelling throughout and between England and the US, performing as a stage magician and learning more about magic and his abilities, and occasionally being drawn into occult business. He found himself in America for Sta'rro and the 'Dawn of Justice', aiding with his magic where he could, but soon left again, and came back to Britain to reconcile with his sister Cheryl, whom he'd thought dead. It was at that time that a Magic War erupted in London, and Constantine found himself thrust into the middle of it, his sister dragged in with him. He allied with an entity known as the Shadow Dog against a demonic being known as The Beast; the ensuing battle and eventual victory left him vulnerable, and he was ensnared by the demon Rosacarnis, under commands from the First, who bound him to her will for day. She had John father three demonic children, who then went on to slaughter anyone who had ever known Constantine - from family and friends to enemies and those who had met him only briefly as an ally in the Magic War. Cheryl's husband, a pious man, was whipped into religious fanaticism and pushed to see his wife as a witch - and she was duly slain by his hand. In grief, Constantine dove into Hell to retrieve her soul and resurrect her, accompanied by the demon Nergal.
It was not long through their journey that they encountered the one who barred Constantine's entrance into Hell; the demon created from his negative aspects. John was forced to allow Nergal possession of him to defeat the Demon Constantine, tainting his soul irreparably. Eventually, John and Nergal arrived at the hall of Rosacarnis, wherein a feast was being held with Rosacarnis, the First, and Constantine's three children in attendance. John baited Rosacarnis into attempting to slay him in return for Cheryl's release, but as she attempted to do so, the First intervened and immediately killed her as well as two of the three demon children she had forced John to sire, declaring that Constantine was his to collect when he deemed.
Alone with Constantine, the First summoned up Cheryl's soul. He deemed her pure and innocent, a soul that truly did not belong in Hell - but offered her a deal. Telling her that her husband killed himself after murdering her, and was therefore twice-damned, the First offered to fairly divide his punishment between him and Cheryl if she remained to be tormented in Hell of her own free will. Constantine argued and pleaded in vain against it, screaming that her husband had murdered her and was not deserving of such mercy at one's own suffering - but ultimately, Cheryl still loved her husband too much, and agreed to the deal, deciding to stay in Hell, and preventing Constantine from bringing his only remaining family back to Earth. The First gloated, and sent John back home, and in mad grief he ran into the night and fled to America, turning his back on Britain and the torment he suffered there, only Chas Kramer following him.
~Now, it is 2014, and Constantine is 25 years old, a resident of Chicago who likes to holiday in Gotham, earning a living as a Private Investigator of both mundane and paranormal matters, as well as being drawn into occult conflicts and slowly growing into his role as a hero of Earth - as much as he hides from it. While cynical, disillusioned, and foul-mouthed, and still going strong with his smoking habit, Constantine is a compassionate Humanist at heart, and struggles to keep the forces of both Heaven and Hell in check within himself and in the world around him, seeking to keep humanity free from either influence.
| Character Notes |SUPPORTING CAST:
John Constantine's closest and oldest friend. The two met after John ran from home and found himself in London with a dire need for a roof over his head; the cheap spare room in Chas' mother's house was easy and quick to grab. The two formed a firm relationship out of cigarettes and sarcasm, forming a deep respect for each other. Chas revealed to Constantine that his mother was a witch, who had killed his father after his younger brother was found hanged by his own hand. Her familiar tormented Chas endlessly, and Constantine stepped up to help, slaying the familiar, and through it, Chas' mother. With this debt setting the backdrop, the two left for their own place and their own paths.
The two are a tremendous pair. With Chas as the muscle and Constantine as the brain, they take turns in pulling each other's arses out of various fires. Chas has since become a cabbie by trade, and is often roped in as Constantine's 'wheels' on whatever case he's working - but rarely while letting Chas in on the 'know' about the occult aspects of Constantine's life. John refuses to put Chas in danger with knowledge, and whether or not his has worked, Chas remains steadfastly loyal and alive - the longest surviving of any of John's acquaintances.
An immortal, voodoo-wielding ex-mob boss, and (currently) an uneasy ally of Constantine's. Midnite was born in the 18th century along with his twin sister Luna, and taught voodoo magic by his mother, and later moved to New York, where he met a slave named Cuffee, who was planning to overthrow the rule of the white man and end black oppression. Cuffee requested Midnite make him a powder that would turn his followers invulnerable; however, Midnite's voodoo failed, and the following brutal slaughter of Cuffee's rebellion angered him greatly, causing him to gather his friends and curse Midnite to immortality for as long as white men ruled over black, as well as decapitating his sister and turning her skull into an instrument of voodoo.
Eventually, Midnite started his own club - The Midnite Lounge - and began to run a black market operation using it as a central hub, slowly building power before he came to hold a significant portion of New York's underworld in his hands. He met Constantine in 2012 when he attempted to sell him a rifle he claimed to be the Ace of Winchesters - a gun that fired bullets capable of outright annihilating demons. However, John realized it was counterfeit, and turned down the deal, instead stealing it later on, along with $50,000, and disappearing back to England.
Midnite desired revenge, and later got his chance, spotting Constantine back in New York a few months later and casting a voodoo spell to send him to Hell. In response, John fought his way out, freeing Luna's soul in the process. Luna, furious with Midnite for the role he played in her death, his abandonment of her despite his powerful voodoo, and his current immoral ways, compelled her brother to walk off the 83rd floor of the Empire State Building, well aware of his immortality and the fact that the fall wouldn't kill him, just spread him.
Despite having been burst by the impact, Midnite's body reformed through its immortality, and Midnite considered him and Constantine even, by way of besting one another, and John freeing Luna, despite her immediate actions. He respected the wishes of Luna and quit the criminal life, instead turning his club into a safe, neutral haven for magicians, half-breed, angels and demons alike. When the Magic War came around in 2013, he joined John as an ally at his request, and aided in the defeat of The Beast.
Midnite and John remain uneasy allies despite their past differences, and The Midnite Lounge remains open for business to whoever can get in.
John Constantine's elder sister. After John ran away, she was left with her dying father in an empty house in Liverpool. After his death, she inherited the house and found a job. She eventually met, fell in love with, and married a religious man named Tony, selling the house for a tidy sum while they moved in together in a new place in London. She was caught up in the Magic War of 2013 as a victim, her husband whipped into a violent religious frenzy by one of John's and Rosacarnis' demonic children, who thought her a witch and killed her - and them himself when he came to.
John plunged into Hell to retrieve her soul and resurrect her, but ultimately failed when the First offered her a deal to fairly split the punishment her husband's soul deserved and she accepted. Her soul is still in Hell, endlessly tortured alongside her husband, and John still grieves.
John Constantine's father. A nasty man native to Liverpool, he married Mary-Anne, John's mother, at a young age. He drank a lot and beat her, and forced her to get an abortion when he got her pregnant during a violent sexual escapade early on in their marriage, weakening her womb.
After his wife's death at John's birth, he refused to accept responsibility and instead blamed John, loathing the child and leaving much of his care to Cheryl as he drank himself into oblivion. Eventually, he was imprisoned briefly after stealing underwear from his female neighbour, and John and Cheryl moved to Northampton with their Aunt and Uncle. After his release, John and Cheryl returned, John armed with knowledge of his magical heritage. John grew tired of Thomas' abuse and attempted to curse him lightly, but failed the ritual and instead put doom upon him. Thomas grew frail and withered, causing John to flee Liverpool, and eventually Thomas died in his chair, beer in his hand, his soul damned to Hell.
John Constantine's mother. A pretty girl born in Liverpool, she married Thomas, John's father, at a young age. He was a foul man who drank and beat her, and after a violent sexual encounter caused her to become pregnant early in their marriage, Thomas forced her to have an abortion, which weakened her womb from the stress and trauma.
Eventually, Mary-Anne grew pregnant and John and his twin. John's twin asphyxiated in the womb on John's umbilical cord, and during the delivery of John and his stillborn brother, her weakened womb ruptured and she bled out, dying on the table, her soul ascending to Heaven.
The child at the center of John's first foray into occult heroism. Living in Newcastle, she was abused by a group of sadistic and depraved adults that included her mother and father. She discovered that she possessed natural talent for magic, particularly evocation and conjuring. She tapped into her innate powers and summoned a terrible monster of her imagining to slay her oppressors, which it dutifully performed in the middle of an orgy - but then refused to leave, and began to torment her and others.
John intervened after stumbling upon the initial massacre, and enlisted the help of his friends to summon a demon to slay the monster. They succeeded in the summoning, but were unable to bind it, and after it killed the monster, it tormented John's friends and slew Astra, taking her soul back to Hell with it.
While John has since taken revenge for her on the demon that seized her soul, he considers Astra's fate his greatest failure, and her retrieval is a constant objective.
The First of the Fallen was the first being God created after the universe was complete, and he was intended to be God's companion, and the embodiment of His conscience. However, the First soon came to believe that God was insane, and as a result, he was banished from Heaven and cast down to Hell, his name forgotten and replaced with the moniker he sports now. He was soon joined by the Second and Third of the Fallen, and the three quickly organised a ruling triumvirate to prevent a war that would tear Hell apart and destroy them all. The Triumvirate lasted until Lucifer, the most powerful being in the universe after God, was banished and fell to Hell; however, he soon abdicated, and the Triumvirate was established once more, holding a fragile truce.
The First's initial encounter with John Constantine, the mage who would soon become his greatest fixation, was in Ireland, 2010, at the funeral of Brendan O'Marrall, an old friend of John's. Brendan had been an alcoholic, and the First had tricked him into striking a deal - his soul for an endless supply of the finest wines. The First had supplied the wines - but they had been so exquisite that it was impossible to stop drinking them, and Brendan died that same night, bottles clutched to his chest. The First came to the funeral to collect, but John tricked him into drinking wine spiked with holy water, weakening him to the point where he was unable to collect Brendan's souls before midnight, rendering the deal void and allowing Brendan's soul to ascend to Heaven. Furious and wounded at being tricked by a mortal, the First swore that Constantine's soul was now his to collect by 'right of insult', and that he would drag it to Hell when John died.
John tricked the First again, selling his soul to the Second and Third of the Fallen, and they were forced to cure him of his cancer and prevent his death, lest they descend into war over ownership of his soul. The First's fury grew brighter, and he swore revenge, harboring an obsession with claiming victory over the mortal.
The First eventually managed to wound Constantine; after Rosacarnis' machinations after the Magic War of 2013 resulted in Cheryl Constantine's soul being taken into Hell, John fought through to the hall of Rosacarnis, where the First slew Rosacarnis, her two sons, and Nergal, and then made a deal with Cheryl's soul that resulted in her willingly choosing to stay in Hell. The First gloated, and sent John away, content in a victory over the Mortal - but the First's plots are far from over, and he is still happy to torment John Constantine whenever he can.
Creations of God, and the other two-thirds of the Triumvirate Rule of Hell. After God created the First, He realized that other beings were needed to keep him in check; thus, he created the Second and Third, demons of nearly equal power to the First, and cast them down to Hell with him. They quickly set up a triumvirate rule lest Hell be destroyed with them in civil war, and while Lucifer deposed this rule for a time, it has since be re-established.
After the First declared Constantine's soul his by 'right of insult', John sold his soul to the Second and Third separately. When they realized, they knew that if John died, they would erupt into a war over ownership, a war that only God would truly win. Instead, they cured him of his cancer and prevented his death.
A Demon created from magic and John Constantine's negative aspects by the Triumvirate Rulers of Hell. After John tricked the First, Second, and Third of the Fallen into healing him, they also used his energies to create a malevolent being from all of his worst attributes, which would stalk the wastelands of Hell and, should John enter, find and consume his soul to gain unimaginable power.
Eventually, when John dove into Hell to save his sister after the Magic War in 2013, the Demon Constantine found him, and attempted to kill him and consume his soul. Helpless alone, John was forced to allow the demon Nergal to possess him; while, together, they managed to defeat the Demon Constantine, John's soul was irrevocably tainted by the possession as a result.
A brief ally of John Constantine in the Magic War of 2013. A creature created by God to defend Mankind from The Beast, it stalked the dreams of men who would seek to free The Beast and use them to cross over into the physical realm, taking form as a ferocious and fearsome large black wolf.
When The Beast threatened to return to Earth in 2013, the Shadow Dog appeared and a Magic War erupted, into which John was dragged. The two allied with each other to defeat The Beast, leaving John drained of power and vulnerable after victory, the Shadow Dog disappearing from the mortal plane once its purpose was fulfilled. It is still alive, out there somewhere, always awaiting the return of The Beast, and sworn to protect Humanity.
A demon that escaped being named by Adam in the Garden of Eden, allowing it to take whatever form it desired. It then followed Adam and Eve out of Eden, actively desiring the destruction of Mankind by its hand, using its ability to take whatever form it chose, and the ability to possess willing hosts, to bring disasters upon Humanity across the globe - the Shadow Dog never far behind, keeping The Beast at bay and preventing its true return.
In 2013, The Beast tried new tactics and slowly grew in power, possessing followers en masse and preparing for a true return to the mortal plane. The Shadow Dog realized this, and a Magic War erupted, John Constantine being one of the many recruited. Eventually, The Beast was defeated, and shut away by the Shadow Dog.
The Beast, however, it not truly dead, as that which has no form cannot be utterly slain - and it plots still.
A powerful demoness, daughter of Nergal, and mother of the three demonic children Adam, Saul and Maria. She betrayed her father and usurped his throne, seizing his kingdom of Hell.
In the aftermath of the Magic War of 2013, Rosacarnis saw an opportunity in the weakened and vulnerable John Constantine, and bound him for a single day of his life - a day that she split into three bubbles of reality, having John sire a child with her in each, three demonic children that she named Adam, Saul, and Maria. They immediately slew everyone John ever knew, and took Cheryl Constantine's soul back to Hell with their mother.
John followed them, enlisting the help of Nergal, who wished to take back the throne his daughter had deposed him from. They found their way to the hall of Rosacarnis, where she gloated in her apparent victory over Constantine - before being startled by her father's reappearance, and then goaded by John into slaying him in exchange of his sister's release. Before she was able, she was slain by the First, along with Adam and Saul, who deemed Constantine's soul his own by 'right of insult', and to be collected only when he chose.
Three demonic children sired by Constantine and the demoness Rosacarnis in the aftermath of the 2013 Magic War that left John weakened and vulnerable. They emerged into the mortal plane and slew everyone John every knew, friend, family, and foe alike, and goaded Cheryl Constantine's husband into killing her, taking her soul to Hell, and forcing John to come after it.
After John found his way to the hall of Rosacarnis, he baited their mother into attacking her, and she was immediately killed by the First, as well as Adam and Saul. Maria was left alive, suffering an existential crisis and confused as to whether she truly desired to exist.
A powerful Demon that John Constantine constantly encounters. Nergal was the demon John summoned to aid Astra, and the two have been steady enemies ever since. John eventually caught up with Nergal, and took revenge for Astra, battling him and eventually using considerable magic to banish Nergal to the border of Heaven, where he was burnt by Heaven's light and cut up by an angel. Nergal, slain but not defeated, fell back to Hell.
Years later, in the aftermath of the Magic War in 2013, Nergal found himself bound to John's service as Constantine braved Hell to save Cheryl Constantine. While his power was enough to throw off the shackles John had bound him under, he agreed to help if John, in return, aided him to depose his daughter, the demoness Rosacarnis, and let him take back the kingdom of Hell that she had taken from him. During the journey, they encountered Demon Constantine, and John was forced to allow Nergal to possess him to attain victory over his dark aspect, tainting John's souls irrevocably.
They eventually found their way to the hall of Rosacarnis, but after she was slain by the First, Nergal attempted to take her throne for himself once more - and was also slain, cut up and banished, scattered across the wastelands of Hell.
FREQUENTED LOCATIONS:
A small one-bedroom apartment with an open-plan kitchen, toilet and separate bath/shower-room, and a sizable living space, located on the upper southwest side of Chicago. While Constantine allowed Chas to aid him in furnishing and decorating, though there are several quirks about his apartment that one would only find if they looked for them; Constantine's table has only one chair, and it always faces north, as does his sofa. There is only one clock, and it is the one found on Constantine's wrist. On further inspection, one can also find carvings of symbols and quasi-letters lining all of the door-frames - symbols that form barriers stronger than the thickest steel against creatures not bound by walls. Constantine's room also bears the symbol of every religion upon its wall, and his bookshelves have volumes of strange names to behold. All in all, Constantine's apartment is, at first glance, a typical small bachelor's place furnished by a man - but a closer look gives a small hint into John's inner life.
A triangular corner room on the fifth floor of a shared building in downtown Chicago, Constantine's office is where he takes new clients, updates old ones, and hides from anyone else. It's nondescript, almost to a point - a desk, a filing cabinet, a lazy fan on the ceiling. A small plaque on the door reads 'J. Constantine, Private Detective' with a line below that says 'Occult business and other matters'. No one really mention the first half of the lower line unless they're there about it. While there are no symbols on the walls or pendants in drawers, the inside of the doorframe is, once again, lined with carvings. The only ones getting in to Constantine's office are those with appointments.
A club in New York run by the ex-mob boss and immortal voodoo practitioner Papa Midnite. A dingy leisure lounge bathed in red light, it acts as a safe haven for any being who has a connection to the occult and supernatural, whether mortal or not, and the club is designated neutral grounds, all quarrels left at the door - the only rule, and enforced strictly by Papa Midnite himself.
The club is open to whoever can get in - the only requirement to entry is a single tarot card shown face-down by Papa Midnite's bouncer. If you can tell him which card he had chosen, you can enter the lounge.
A large mental health facility in the North of England, Ravenscar has existed in one form or another for hundred of years, and will exist for a hundred more. The 'treatment' used within is questionable and often outdated, and the staff are often negligent or outright cruel. It is not a place of dedicated healing, and most patients do not leave. John Constantine was one of the lucky few - but the fear that his chosen life will lead back to that shadowy building hangs over him eternally.
Gotham is a seedy city patrolled by a bloated and half-corrupt police force and inhabited by scared citizens and criminals, home to Arkham Asylum, Blackgate Prison, the Iceberg Lounge, and some of the worst people the world of mental illness has to offer, as well as your more standard fare of mob bosses and crime families. And it's Constantine's favourite holiday spot.
However, in the last few years, a newly appeared vigilante known only as The Batman has become the guardian of the city's soul, alongside James Gordon, an honest cop in a dishonest town, and his Major Crimes Unit, compiled of the only GCPD officers he trusts. The town is slowly cleaning up, though it resists it every step of the way.
The lowest point of the afterlife, a place of despair, suffering, and terror, where the souls of the damned reside and are subject to horrifying torture and punishment for untold millenniums. Hell's landscape is an unspeakably ugly tapestry; ranging from vast, impossibly dry deserts to mountain ranges with unseeable peaks to forests of trees so dense and black it is like night itself sprung from the ground, all with corpses and anguished souls strewn across the land - husks of corpses still reaching for impossible water, mangled bodies that have fallen in their insurmountable climbs, sufferers impaled on branches and woven into the very roots. Within this awful topography, powerful demons have carved themselves territory, raising impossible geometry from the ground to house themselves and their kin, creating entire communities dedicated to destruction and torment, ruins reflecting bygone eras of humanity and representing mankind's deepest, most awful repressed wants and vices.
Hell is almost mind-shattering in its profound horror. Luckily, Constantine's already come back from insane before.
EQUIPMENT:
A grungy, light-tan trenchcoat that John has owned for many years, and one that he rarely - if ever - ventures out in public without. It's dirty and stained and has all manner of smells beaten into it - chemical, magical, demonic, human - and it conceals an extraordinary amount of pockets and compartment, within which Constantine can store - or hide - as many tools as he may need for his current job. The only constants, in one particular pocket, are a pack of Silk Cut cigarettes, and a simple brass Zippo lighter.
Constantine's most important possessions - besides his trenchcoat and cigarettes - are the tools of his trade. That is to say, occult relics and artifacts that aid in his defense, offense, and whatever utility he can think of using them for. Most of these are mainly used offensively - obviously, Constantine's signature set of silver, engraved, blessed Knuckledusters, as well as small vials of liquids like holy water, elixers, and various essences and serums. John also ha several talismans and pendants with various religious and occult symbols and icons, most of which can be used as either weapons of banishment or wards of protection. He also carries small, pocket-sized editions of a few of the main religious texts, like the Bible and the Quran, as well as a pack of tarot cards, and other assorted magical knick-knacks that could save his life if used with quick-thinking in a desperate moment.
| Powers & Abilities |While Constantine's magical prowess is most certainly not to be dismissed out-of-hand, he rarely relies on it, especially in the midst of combat. He faces his challenges instead armed with the cunning and quick-thinking that his family line is nearly legendary for, as well as his vast knowledge of the paranormal and occult, his skill at manipulating friend and foe alike, and his extensive list of contacts - which, combined, are often more useful than the spells, rituals, and curses at his command. John Constantine is considered by many to be the world's greatest con-man.
Constantine's sorcery is still a force to be reckoned with, however. With experience in Evocation (the calling of supernatural entities), Illusion (the distortion and misdirection of the senses), and Necromancy (the summoning of, and communication with, the dead), John Constantine's magic spans many fields. He also has a wide range of protective magics at his command, shielding him from both physical and supernatural attacks, and well as protecting his mind from offenses such as telepathy, possession, and mind control. John is also capable of using sigils and runes to block omnipresence for a time, rendering his actions completely secret for a period of time, similar to when he dealt with the Second and Third of the Fallen to trick the First. John's offensive magic is less practiced than his defenses, but still capable of mild electrokinesis, telekinesis, pyrokineses and immobilisation. John's magic has also permanently granted him a form of Third Sight, allowing him to see Demons, Angels, and Half-Breed for their true selves constantly, regardless of what disguises and illusions they have thrown up to hide themselves among mortals, as well as allowing him to utilise magic to dispell camoflauge.
Finally, beyond his wielding of the arcane arts, Constantine is also versed in the use of stage magic, including sleight of hand, pick-pocketing, and escapology. He is also in possession of many magical - or anti-magical - artifacts, some of which he uses regularly to battle the forces of Heaven and Hell.
| How is this character different? |My Constantine is a highly-edited mash-up of the three canon interpretations that currently exist; a mix of his early days in DC Vertigo's Hellblazer, his later appearances in the DCU alongside more commonly known heroes like Superman and Batman, and his newest incarnation in DC's New52. Several events are yet to happen to Constantine, if indeed they happen at all, and others have been removed entirely to allow a more streamlined, intuitive history. My Constantine is younger, brasher, bolder, but still tormented and scarred, with some aspects edited and shaken up to allow him personal quirks that will serve to truly mark him as my own interpretation of his character. Hopefully, he is one that will enter the UDC universe a better fit, and one that will not appear jarring alongside the capes and costumes of other characters.
| What is your goal with this character? |My Constantine's immediate goal is the retrieval of Astra's soul from Hell, a fate he indirectly inflicted on the girl, and something he considers his greatest failure that still haunts him today. Beyond that, Constantine defends the world from the influences of both Heaven and Hell, and works to solve crimes and mysteries of both mundane and occult natures. Hopefully, he will come to be friends with the major heroes of the DC universe, and go on to recruit Deadman, Zatanna, Black Orchid, and Andrew Bennet to form the Justice League Dark. He will also deal with the First and his activity, and resolve supernatural phenomenon that have been haunting him since his birth.
| Sample Post |John Constantine took a long drag on his cigarette. He was stood on the sidewalk on a back-alley, nondescript street of New York City, a small sign hanging above a single wooden door embedded in marble architecture. The sign read 'Midnite's', and behind the door lay burgundy carpeting, stairs leading down into the Lounge, and dim, red-tinted lighting. John stubbed out his cig on the wall he was leaning against and blew the last of the smoke into the air. It clung to him and wreathed his neck as he pushed through the door into the Midnight Lounge.
Constantine stamped down the stairs, his hands thrust into the side pockets of his trenchcoat. A bouncer awaited him at the bottom, a velvet rope hanging across a doorway on his left and a neatly-stacked deck of black-backed cards on a small chrome stool-table on his right. John grunted as they locked eyes, acknowledging a recognition born of repetition. John's eyes ran over the bouncer's array of runic and symbolic tattoos, particularly the triangular designs on the tops of each of his wrists. He could keep John out through physical force alone, but he was more than capable of keeping the occult world's nastier beasties out too. John gulped mentally. He always did.
He reached the bottom and stood dutifully in front of the doorman, who looked Constantine and his dusty coat up and down, and then reached for the deck. In a movement too fast for John to see the mechanics of, he removed a random card from the deck and showed it to Constantine, black-side up. Constantine didn't skip a beat.
"The Fool, ya witty bastard."
There was a micro-second's worth of an amused smirk that flashed across the bouncer's tattooed face, and then the card was back in the deck, and the velvet rope had been pulled off from across the entryway, allowing Constantine to go in. He did so, and was immediately hit by loud music and the smell of smoke, liquor, and just the faint hint of copper. Or maybe blood. John didn't waste any time in what was essentially the lobby - instead, he headed past the bar and toward the back of the room to a small mahogany door, the dark wood almost camouflaged against the brown leather buttoned to the wall. John knocked thrice. A small porthole slid open, a pair of beady eyes behind. They scanned Constantine up and down, and then the porthole slid shut. John waited, heard several metal ka-thunks as the door was unlocked, and then stepped in as it swung open and then shut behind him.
He saw Papa Midnite immediately. The voodoo-baron was splayed out across a circular booth in the corner of the room, a single figure sat in front of him - hunched forward, hands on the table, hair slicked back with a mixture of grease, wax, and sweat. He'd almost look nervous - if John didn't see him for what he was. A Half-Breed, some unholy child that didn't live up to the annihalistic expectations of its father. Sections of his skin were rotted and a single gnarled, curled horn spiraled out from the left side of his forehead. Whatever glamour he had was irrelevant, stripped away by John's Third Eye. Constantine was a magician, and he'd seen enough of the world not to be fooled by parlor tricks anymore. He waited until the Half-Breed had finished whatever conversation he and Midnite were having, and then took his place as he left the table for a different table and a drink.
"Thought your sister persuaded you to leave the mob business." Constantine sat down, leaning back in the seat and pushing the tails of his coat out from under him. Midnite sat up, arms no longer stretched out against the leather of the booth-bench. He raised an eyebrow.
"I must have regrown a conscience when she pulped me in front of the Empire State." He replied, and Constantine grunted in amusement. "But he wasn't a convict." Constantine grunted again, rolling his neck to watch the half-breed subtly over his shoulder out the corner of his eye.
"Certainly looks like an escapee to me..." He muttered, and Midnite frowned.
"You know the rules of my house, Constantine. Under my roof, you will abide by them." Constantine turned back, eyeing Midnite. "What are you here for, John."
John sniffed. "Same thing. Stiff drink, some light conversation, and a warm place to light one u..." He trailed off as he opened his pack of fags and found them empty. "Aah, dammit."
"Light conversation, John? Any particular subject?" Papa Midnite asked as he beckoned with a finger for two glasses and some liquor to pour into them. John waited while the drinks were brought over, keeping an eye on the half-breed at the table across the room - he was half-certain he was doing the same - and then eagerly took his glass as Midnite finished pouring. He drank before speaking, and drank when he'd finished.
"Hell. Souls. Little girls. Keepers and whereabouts."
"Still? Constantine, no one knows anything about her. Nergal took her and put her in some dark, forgotten corner, and he's not talking." Midnite sighed, but Constantine didn't move, back to watching the half-breed. He had noticed the horn twitch as he'd looked up sharply at the Midnite naming Nergal. Constantine wanted to test the waters.
"She's somewhere, Midnite."
"She's gone, John. Astra is gone." Another twitch. John faked a relent, throwing his hands up and finishing his drink.
"Fine. You win. She's gone." Papa Midnite tutted, half-smiling at John's obvious front. John got up. "I need a new pack of Silk Cut anyway." He said. The half-breed rose slowly as well. John suppressed a smug smirk. "I'll see you around, Midnite."
"Not by my skulls, John. You're not in New York for long."
Constantine waved him off and left - the half-breed following. With any luck, he thought he had the advantage. Constantine rubbed the sigils inked onto his forearms.
