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"The Soiling of Old Glory" by Stanley Forman,
Boston Herald American, 1977 Pulitzer Prize Winner
Instructions

Character Sheet (Template Here)
Name:
Age:
Gender:
Physical Description:

Mundane Skills:

Supernatural:

Character History:

Psychological Profile:

Possessions:

Occupation:

Relationships

This is still a WIP, I probably won't have time to finish this unless we're NOT going snowboarding tomorrow.

Name: Cassiel Novak
Age: 28
Gender: Female

Physical Description:
Coming in just under 5’8”, Cassiel is just tall enough to not need high heels but loves them nonetheless. She has a head of sun kissed blond curls that frames her face, her cheekbones are high, nose tall and chin pointed, and she looks much younger than her 28 years of age. Her pouty lips are naturally cherry red and her crystal blue eyes glint with speckles of gold. She holds her frame well, and a lifelong love of sports keeps her in good shape; hard, sinewy muscle resides under soft feminine curves.

Mundane Skills:
Cassiel graduated college with a degree in interactive design and computer science focusing on web development. Before the world was plunged in emergence chaos Cassiel worked as a freelance web designer and developer. She was also the head organizer of local developer meetups.

Supernatural:
When the shit hit the fan, so to speak, Cassiel began experiencing moments of nausea followed by blackouts. She always came to surrounded by men, both strangers and friends. They would look at her with undisguised lust and need, but none acted upon those desires. At first.

The power of what she could only describe as the Siren’s Song grew stronger even as she became more aware of it. She stopped experiencing blackouts, but every time she opened her mouth to speak men around her would step into her personal space until one day, a man with more guts than most, made to grab her.

The Siren’s Song can act as a beacon and cause confusion. As the power grows stronger it can develop in multiple branches such as mind control, hypnosis, musical empathy and even death. Cassiel is in the early stages of her powers, she can only affect men and lure them in with her voice, but have no affect on women.

The Siren’s Song does not affect animals. Cassiel does not have any physical changes.

Character History:
Cassiel grew up in the heart of New York City. Her family tread the line between well off and filthy rich. After she graduated from university her parents helped her with the purchase of a swanky two bedroom condo on the outskirts of downtown. Cassiel began working as a web and brand designer for a local web development firm for two years, until she felt she had mastered her craft and moved on to become her own boss.

Five years into being her own boss, Cassiel was a successful web designer and developer, working with a couple of contractors that she regularly outsourced to. She began a meetup for local developers and others working in the tech field, bringing the community together.

Needless to say Cassiel is a social butterfly. She liked throwing parties at her place and going out with her friends, and she had a lot of friends. She enjoyed the challenge of organizing large events for her ever growing meetup of professionals just like her, and loved being the center of every one of those events.

Psychological Profile:
Although her career path was a solitary one, Cassiel grew up in a well rounded family with a sunny outlook. She enjoyed people and even took some psychology and sociology classes in college to better understand them. When she was younger, Cassiel was the life of the party, and as she grew older, she became the centre of them.

Cassiel believed in the goodness of human nature. She volunteered at soup kitchens in her earlier days, and had since helped run numerous fundraisers and plan events free of charge.

Although she had come in contact with poverty and social injustices through her volunteering, having grown up in a pampered and sheltered life Cassiel was still a princess in some ways. She enjoyed her ladies night out and spa days. She truly believed that in order to shower love onto others, she needed to love herself first.

When magic returned, it was fascinating. Cassiel viewed the emergence of new powers and magic as a move forward in human advancement. It was only until after she discovered her own powers that things took a turn for the worse. She found that she could no longer speak without the fear of attracting unwanted attention. For a social person and an event organizer, not speaking was detrimental.

Cassiel was still able to conduct her day job through emails, but she had to resign from all positions that required her to work with people face to face. She became secluded and only kept a handful of closer girl friends around. She was well aware of the panic that Emergents caused, therefore she kept her powers to herself, not even telling her parents even as they asked after her, genuinely worried that something was wrong with their usually outgoing daughter.

Eventually it became impossible to live in New York City, where her family and friends constantly bombarded her with questions and inquiries. They meant well, but it became increasingly difficult for Cassiel to lie about what’s truly happening to her, so one day she decided that it was time for a change of scenery.

Possessions:
2011 VW Golf - Before moving Cassiel traded in her convertible for something less conspicuous and more practical.

Moose - Orange tabby cat. When Cassiel realised that animals were unaffected by her powers she got herself a cat that she could talk to.

Laptop and PC - Doing web contracts was her source of income, so Cassiel still maintained a fairly up to date rig and something more portable for leisure use.

Rental suite - Cassiel did not want to leave any obvious paper trails, so she opened up a bank account under a false identity purchased from an online hacker friend and canceled all her credit cards. She was lucky when she found the floor level suite in a house owned by an elderly woman, and paid rent in cash every month.

Cassiel has no weapons, and has no real training with firearms.

Occupation:
Web developer and designer.

Relationships:
After the move Cassiel’s mostly kept to herself. She talked to Moose when things got too quiet, and enjoyed quiet evening chats with her landlord, Marge, whom she shared the kitchen and laundry with.

She kept in contact with a few contractors that she outsourced to for work, but those she communicated with strictly over email. She called her parents once in a while to let them now she was doing well, but never left any trails for them to trace back to her.

Name: Kurtis Siedow
Age: 22
Gender: Male
Physical Description: Kurt is of average strength. Not being particular strong or weak. He stands at five foot eight inches. He weighs one hundred and forty one pounds. He tries to keep his blonde hair short and neat yet as it grows out it becomes an unmanageable mane. His face is soft, kind and young looking. Many people can't tell he is actually twenty-two and take him for being a high school student. Kurt makes a habit of wearing clothing he feels are decent looking, comfortable and effective which consists most often of jeans, a t-shirt and one of his few high-collar jackets. (Doesn't like hoods. If it were to rain he'd rather let it hit his head.) He wears oval-shaped, wire-frame glasses which allow him better sight over distance but are not crucial to him being able to see.

Mundane Skills: Kurt has a moderate ability to teach and lead groups. He's a decent cook but not a fast one. He is a quick sprinter and has trained in tae kwon do and aikido classes but has never actually had to fight an opponent outside of sparring.

Supernatural Abilities: Kurt is able to see the spirits and mystical forces that would normally be invisible to a regular person as they are at work. It still messes with his head sometimes but he has learned to tell the difference between a spirit and a person he hasn't seen before. Kurt has categorized most of the spirits he has met into three types;
Beneficial, that is to say a spirit who is friendly and wants to help. Though it would seem he hasn't met any that can physically harm anything there are those spirits that will help Kurt out by scouting and by teaching him old magic.

Deceased, that is to say the spirits of those who have perished on earth that will not pass on. These are some of the creepiest suckers. They will often resemble the way they die, cut off head, brutalized, etc.. And when something doesn't want to pass on it can turn into a malignant spirit. Deceased can be put to rest by helping them complete what was left undone in their life.

Malignant, that is to say the pure evil and destructive. These spirits are specifically ones that want to possess things so they can either simply get a chance at life in the magically restored world or cause havoc and pain. Some are strong enough to move objects even without a physical body.

This power does not affect Kurt physically but it can mess with his head at times. He HATES graveyards. 'Nuff said!
This is not necessarily all of the types of spirits or categories possible as it is only what Kurt thinks of or knows so far. In the future Kurt could call the aid of spirits in certain situations and could learn old magic from some in order to cast a variety of magic spells. He also runs the risk of catching the eye of the malignant spirits and being attacked or possessed.

HeySeuss said
-- spirits can manifest and do so quite powerfully so regular ass people know they are there. They fear them mightily, because there is no actual communication with them when they are like that, at least so far because the spirits speak on a different frequency than sound. I think part of his ability involves being able to understand them and see them even when they aren't manifested, and perhaps to see the magical potential all around him. Auras, ley lines, you name it. He might not have the strongest ability to manipulate all these things (but will learn) but he can see the breadth of what magic has done -- it's like he sees and hears in another spectrum. There's more to spirits and the aural world, but that's the basics as he would know them.On the other hand, he's probably also very distracted a lot of the time, he might be having a hard time keeping it together with the here and now because of the richness and variety of what he sees.

Character History: Kurt grew up in a conservative and religious family and had an upbringing that consisted of moving around every two years until his parents finally forked out the money to buy a house when he was nineteen and by that time he was moving out anyways. In that time he really only had the opportunity to hang on to a few of his friends through long-distance relationships mostly over the internet.

Upon moving out at age nineteen Kurt took an active role with his church for the next two years, devoting his life to study, teaching and providing charity. It gave him valuable patience and taught him the courage and willingness to do almost anything that he deemed to be necessary as well as the ingenuity to help solve problems in order to help others. After all of this he returned home to his parents and prepared to head to college.

Before he could head to college he got himself into a part-time job working at a ma and pa joint in town. This was when magic ignited the world. At first it seemed like he'd still be just fine going to college - until the media exploded with so many opinions on what they should do to emergents and the government finally pressed forward. Then his own power started to emerge.

It was whispers in the dark at first. Haunting voices that kept him awake at night. For weeks his nights went with little rest as if each were its own nightmare. He would see faces appear in the dark that clearly shouldn't be there. As time passed on the voices become more distinct and he started to understand what it was that was happening despite how frightening it was. No one around him could hear them or see them like he could. They were spirits, disembodied or otherwise. A lot of them couldn't tell that he could see them which often scared him a little. Ugly, beautiful, human or alien there were many and they came in every form imaginable. Some he could speak to when others weren't around. More there were that were malignant and fearsome that he would avoid them like they were rabid dogs.

Kurt has since reached out to the few others in Haye Township that he knew he could trust, mostly because they shared his predicament.

Psychological Profile: His first realization that he was an emergent wasn't the most excited one. When you realize that being haunted IS your power and that you're not actually crazy well I suppose things get interesting. Suffice it to say he wasn't sad to be an emergent and to have something so few did. He doesn't really differentiate emergents and regular people. To him they're all people they just have different talents to contribute.

Kurt has a confident stand on what is right and what is wrong so when the government started taking his real rights away and announcing emergents and by extension him as monsters or demi-humans and not real citizens then he knew they were mad. They had to be mad. He had been just normal a few months earlier and now the government was scouring the country to cram him and others into camps for "safety" and who knows what else.

Kurt had made his mind up early in the process that the emergents deserved freedom no matter how dangerous they were. Those that committed crimes needed to be punished according to the severity of their crimes. Those that weren't criminals shouldn't be treated like them. If the country were to change through this all then let it. It was meant to be, God bidding it.

Possessions: Kurt is the not so proud owner of a 2001 red Forester that gets the job done. He has a pretty powerful laptop capable of doing quite a few things at once and otherwise has your average necessities like clothes and shoes.

Titles/Holdings/Power Base: Maybe he would have some kind of power in his church, if everything wasn't already voluntary and gave no power or sway to begin with.

Relationships: Kurt's closest and childhood friend is named Joseph. They keep in touch over the internet.
Will is his younger brother who is still living at home and just finished highschool.
His older brother is Alan who lives out of state. Kurt doesn't know if his family has any power and he has not told any of them of his own.
His mother and father are Ally and Alan Sr. who he just refers to as mom and dad.

Name: Sydney ’Syd’ Marshall

Age: 21

Gender: Female

Physical Description:

Mundane Skills:

Supernatural:

Character History:

Psychological Profile:

Possessions:

Occupation:

Relationships:

Name: Oskar Hartmann

Age: 28

Gender: Male

Physical Description: Oskar stands at 6’3 and weighs 190 pounds, with broad shoulders and long arms. Little fat is present on his frame, mostly sinewy muscle mass, though Oskar is far from a body builder’s physique. He earned his build through purely functional tasks, like swimming, running, and climbing, so he possesses no bulging forearms or beefy thighs. Oskar’s hands and feet are both extremely callused from years of gripping coarse rock. His skin, perhaps a little weather-beaten, is nicked with a scar or two here and there, but none very large. Oskar’s lean body type is reflected in his facial structure. His head is long and narrow, with a sharp jawline and defined cheekbones, though these features are slightly distorted by a stubbly beard that he maintains. Two scars mar Oskar’s left cheek; one mirrors the shape of his lower eyelid in a wide arc about an inch below his eye, and his second is half an inch below the other, extending two inches down before tapering off. Neither are very deep or ugly, but they are certainly unique. His chestnut-colored hair is cut in a long fade, swept upwards and to the side. Oskar’s hair does a good job of concealing the antlers that persistently grow from his head. The antlers are the same color and texture as bone, though much thicker and stronger than any in the human body save for the femur. When they grow, the antlers begin as a single spike, but gradually branch out into numerous points. Unlike deer or elk, Oskar’s antlers don’t have a velvet coating in early stages, and they grow quite rapidly. He cuts them down to the pedicle every morning, a fairly painless procure, to keep them hidden beneath his hair.

Mundane Skills:
-Graduated from the University of Munich with a major in journalism and minor in photography
-Avid hiker, mountain climber, swimmer, and rock climber
-Overall good physical condition
-Knowledgeable of basic survival skills (ex. Finding/making shelter, starting fires, foraging, navigational techniques)

Supernatural: Oskar has always felt a special connection to wildlife growing up in German’s countryside. After the reemergence of magic, this relationship took a strange turn. At first, it was barely noticeable. On his regular hiking trips, animals on the side of the trail seemed to linger a few seconds longer. Crickets and songbirds didn’t stop chirping as he walked right next to them. These irregularities, Oskar barely noticed. The connection slowly increased, although it was still hard to tell one was even present. When in nature, animals were more docile towards him, allowing themselves to be photographed before wandering off. Animals also appeared in higher frequency to Oskar while he wandered the woods, as they no longer actively avoided him. While Oskar found this strange, he figured that after spending so much time in nature, he was very relaxed when among animals, and the creatures could almost sense that he meant no harm.

Then wildlife began approaching him. The curious creatures, from ferocious carnivores to skittish herbivores, would slowly walk up to him, even allowing Oskar to touch them. He knew that, while it was rare, some animals who had never seen humans before didn’t see them as a threat, and therefore had no fear of them. However, these creatures had certainly seen man in the past. This was the first red flag for Oskar. Soon after, animals started actively following him. Both predator and prey could often be found following his footsteps in the wild, with wolves peacefully trotting alongside deer. When he went inside, a small flock of birds sitting on the telephone wires would often greet him once he walked outside. Some days when waking up, he could see a grey wolf from his window, almost as if the animal was guarding him while he slept. At this point, Oskar knew something was wrong, but he didn’t know how serious it was until two small bumps formed on his head. These bumps grew at a rapid speed, becoming full-fledged antlers in a matter of days. During this period, his bond to nature seemed the stronger, but Oskar quickly cut the antlers off when returning to civilization.

Character History: The Hartmann family can trace its origins back to the very first tribes that occupied modern-day Germany. His grandparents were both children during WWII, but saw little of the fighting that took place since they lived in a small town nestled beneath the Alps. The impact of the war, however, was quite harsh on them, and they grew up poor. Oskar’s grandparents worked hard to make sure their children, including Oskar’s mother and father, could attend school. His parents both lived in the same little town they grew up in, fell in love, an opened a lumber company together. Then, Oskar’s older brother, Dierter, was born, and Oskar followed five years after.

Oskar’s youth was largely shaped by his grandparents, a kind, working-class couple who acted as a second set of parents for him. His grandmother, in particular, had a large impact on his life. The elder was always eager to tell her grandson old folktales, from Washington Irving to the Brothers Grimm, giving Oskar quite the knack for story-telling. She also told him of the Hartmann family history, some fact, with plenty of fiction to grab the attention of a young boy. Oskar’s grandmother told him stories of his ancestors living in Germany’s Black Forest, living in harmony with the nature around them and protecting the beasts of the woods from invaders. These tales stuck with Oskar, and he spent many hours playing in the forests with his older brother, making legends of their own.

Oskar’s teenage years were spent in a very similar fashion to his childhood. He spent a large amount of time outdoors hiking, rock climbing, and swimming to the point that his parents joked he was a feral child. When not running around like a wild man, Oskar was usually engulfed in a novel or newspaper, though he still enjoyed the occasional tall tale. Unsurprisingly, he decided to pursue a career in journalism, where he could enjoy both of his passions; writing and traveling. Following his brother, Oskar attended the University of Munich and graduated with a major in journalism and a minor in photography. Dierter, having met and fallen in love with an American girl at school, moved back with the woman and shortly after married her. Oskar took the complete opposite path, working as a freelance journalist and traveling the globe. His stories were never anything groundbreaking, generally restricted to cultural studies and wildlife examinations, but he managed to etch out a living and forge a decent reputation for himself. Oskar travelled extensively in South America, Africa, and South Asia, greatly maturing in this period.

Oskar hardly noticed the Emergence at first, his powers being so mundane they could be passed off as nothing. Animals were much friendlier to him, but that was about it. His brother contacted him and told Oskar of a family of albino white-tailed deer in the White Mountains near his home, suggesting it could make for an interesting story. Oskar agreed, seeing it as a chance to visit Dierter, and flew to New Hampshire. He tracked the family of deer for a week before finally finding them. During this period, a pair of antlers grew from his head, and when he returned home, Oskar promptly cut them off. Both he and his brother were reminded of the stories their grandmother told of their ancestors, the forest guardians, but knew his strange abilities were caused by the Emergence. Oskar desperately wanted to return to Germany, but his brother warned him that the government was actively hunting Emergents, and he would be rooted out in the airport and taken away. Dierter allowed Oskar to stay with him and his wife until it was safe.

Psychological Profile: The Emergence has Oskar rather scared, not just because of his powers, but the government’s reaction to the event. It is startlingly similar to his grandparent’s stories of their Jewish neighbors being rounded up like cattle and sent to the work camps. Although the US government says that no harm will become of them, Oskar has a feeling that the captured Emergents are subjected to either death or experimentation. He hasn’t heard word of any other government’s reaction, but only prays that he might be able to seek refuge in Germany. Oskar’s abilities aren’t overly obvious, so he hopes he can conceal them for as long as possible. Out of all the abilities that Oskar heard about on the TV, like inhuman strength and energy manipulation, he is quite pleased with his ability, although he would rather have none if possible. His power helps immensely with his work, as Oskar is now able to get shots of nature no photographer would ever dream of. He used to occasionally hunt wild game with his father and brother, but stopped after the Emergence, as the animals would walk up to him with absolute trust. Oskar eats much less meat than he used to as well.

For a man who spends most of his time alone, Oskar is a surprisingly social guy. He enjoys going out on the weekends, spending time with his friends, and meeting new people. What makes him almost introverted is that he doesn’t crave human interaction like most do; Oskar could spend a year isolated from the rest of the world just as easily as he could live in a large city, surrounded by people. In general, he is a laid-back individual who is very easy to talk to. He has a good heart, always trying to do right by the world, and this trait has caused him significant stress in recent days. As a journalist, Oskar knows he could bring the story of the Emergents to the world, exposing their strife, but this would undoubtedly result in his capture by the government. Besides, he is accustomed to writing stories about rare animals, adventures, and unique locations, not the oppression of an entire people.

Possessions:
-1970 BMW /5 motorcycle
-Assorted camping, climbing, and photography equipment
-Savage model 110 hunting rifle

Occupation: Freelance journalist/photographer

Relationships
Max - His three year old Leonberger, Oskar takes his faithful companion with him everywhere. He was given to Oskar by an Austrian trapper he wrote a story on; the man was so entertained by Oskar’s company that he gave him one of his pups that he bred. Max is a very loyal dog, but not overly aggressive. He’s quite large, although considered average in Leonberger standards, weighing 145 pounds and 30 inches tall at his withers.

Dierter Hartmann – Oskar’s brother and friend, the two have never grown apart despite the distance between them. Although Dierter is much more serious than his brother, when Oskar is around the two are extremely playful. Oskar is currently living with his brother until it is safe to return home.

Amanda Hartmann – His brother’s wife, almost as stern as her husband. She is pregnant, and already has a mother’s overprotective nature, particularly to Oskar.

Albert and Clara Hartmann – Oskar’s parents in Germany. He is close to both of them, but his work doesn’t allow him to visit much, so he is usually restricted to calling or skyping them. Although they both have blue-collar jobs at the family’s lumber yard, they are glad that both of their sons are better off than they are, just as they are better off than their own parents.

Irma Hartmann – Oskar’s only living grandparent. She is the biggest influence in Oskar’s life, embedding in him an interest in nature and story-telling. He talks to her almost every day on the phone, telling her of his adventures and exploits. Irma has a deep wanderlust, but having grown up in post-war Germany, she never had a chance to travel until she was old, so she lives vicariously through her grandsons.

Name: Brian Parr (his Italian great-grandparents were Gaspare, but they shortened it on Ellis Island)
Age: 29
Gender:Male
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WIP

Name: Emelina 'Eli' Ward
Age: 21
Gender: Female
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Name: Aliciana Mae Gonzalez

Age: 12

Gender:Female

Physical Description:


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