Name:Jackson DuCarthy
Species: Human
Age: 17-19(still not sure at the moment)
Gender: Male
Personality: Jackson is a soul that is haunted by his past deeds, sent to the lodge in an effort to rehabilitate him as well as keep him out of the public eye. He often refuses to talk with most people, not because he doesn't wish to interact with others or is innately anti-social, but because he's simply afraid, both for his own well-being and their own. This fear causes him to often mistrust those who try to get to know them, making him come off as cold and disinterested with everything around him. However, despite his misgivings, jackson is a kind soul at heart and can never refuse a soul that is in need of help, no matter how trivial the matter maybe. He is always ready to give his all to any task that may help another person, even at the cost of his own well being, having a habit of getting in over his head from time to time.
Despite his supposed indifference, Jackson is a very observant individual, always watching those around him in order to both ascertain their intentions and read between the lines if they appear to be going through some turmoil. He just doesn't know better, and despite his lack of people skills, often trys to be the 'hero' in that he wants to help people with their problems, even when they don't ask him too. However, he's never forward or honest with these intentions or feelings, keeping his investigations either purely observational or using his powers to give him a better read on the person he's decided to help and figure out the issue that is plaguing them and the best way to face it.
Appearance: Jackson is around 5'4 and resigned to the fact that he's likely never going to get any sudden growth spurt at his age to make it so that he isn't always one of, if not the, shortest guys in the room(though he must admit that it makes it easier for him to fade into the background). His hair is cut short-ish, dark raven locks hanging just a bit past his ears, but only a bit. His attire of choice is often a black hooded sweater or jacket, a plain, dark grey t-shirt, dark blue jeans, and dark-colored sneakers.
Powers: Clairvoyance: A basic medium ability that allows one to see into the world beyond death, it's a necessary skill for any task that a medium wishes to accomplish, as it enables them to view, communicate with, and combat beings that are normally undetectable by the human senses as they flot the line between their world and our own. In short, this is the ability that allows a medium to interact with denizens of the land of the dead, from departed souls to spirits that have roamed the other land since time began and anything in between. This ability also has useful effects for the living, as it enables a medium to read a person's aura. Everyone's aura is unique to them, much like DNA or fingerprints, and can provide a skilled medium with an immense amount of information about any given individual at a glance. A skilled medium could learn someone's emotional relationships with other people(by seeing how their aura's react with each other), tell the exact state of someone's physical and mental health at any moment in time, and even read emotions to such a degree that they can predict another person's actions and intentions with a terrifying level of accuracy, along with countless other applications, the most widely known(but rarely achieved) skill being that of predicting the future of anyone on person by using their aura to peer into the weave of fate itself.
At his current level, Jackson is able to pick up on someone's general emotional state, though his connection with Ignota allows him to better read into the more negative emotions someone feels, enabling him to pin down with some accuracy some possible causes of these feelings, though things can get a little jumbled at times due to his relative inexperience. One thing that he is much better at is using one's aura to read into their physical well-being that, when mixed with his own medical knowledge, allows him to quickly diagnosis what is wrong with an individual with near unerring accuracy.
Object Reading: This ability is when a medium reads the residual aura of an individual from objects that they come into contact with, specifically those that bear some sort of importance to the individual in question. By using such an important object, a medium is able to focus their senses and synchronize their own aura with that of the person the object belonged too, allowing them to essential
become that person momentarily, at least in their mind. By doing this, they're able to retrace an individuals movements up to the point where they were separated from the object, the length of which one can look back depending on the skill of the medium, the importance of the object to the person, and the length of time said item has been in that person's possession. This can also be used to pick up fragments of the individuals thoughts, as well as using it in a ritual to divine their location, though the exactitudes of it depends again on the skill of the medium and the bond the target holds with the object in question. Also, if an object holds a strong importance to or is owned by several people, then it's hard to read said object due to the intermingling of residual aura's upon it.
When it comes to Object reading, Jackson is more skilled than a child his age should be, but in the grand scheme of things, it's something he only has an average understanding of, and thus, his readings aren't entirely reliable, though he's got a decent chance of getting the general idea of things.
Astral Projection: Astral projection is the act of pushing one's aura out of their body along with their conciousness, forming a spiritual body in the land of the dead that can peer into that of the living, making it a great way to scout out an area or building without risk to the medium. It also gives them a stronger connection to the other world, increasing their ability to perceive and read aura's due to the lack of interference that is present in the world of the living, as well as being able to maintain their focus better due to the lack of human restrictions. However, this ability comes with many dangers, the foremost of which being that the user's physical is completely vulnerable and open to possession by any spirit that wishes to if they don't make a special magical circle around them first to protect it. Even with these circles, it's all to possible for a spirit to wonder by that is strong enough to simply break through the seal. As such, it's often seen as a skill that should only be used when absolutely needed, lest you open yourself and everyone around you to danger. Not only that, but the astral body itse;f isn't exactly the most sturdy of forms, and if you happened to get wounded in this form, a similar wound is likely to form upon your physical body as well, with death in this world often leading to deah in the real world as well.
This is one area where Jackson truly shows his natural talent as a medium. Astral projection is a skill most mediums aren't even to attempt until their late twenties, and yet he has not only attempted this art many times before, but his skill with it is often considered prodigical. He can slip into and out of his body with ease, able to travel up to a mile in any direction before his connection to his physical body becomes strained, and can spend about 4 hours outside of his body without any risk to his health. On top of this, he's also developed enough skill and familiarity with his astral form that he can even summon his spiritual constructs in order to defend himself from the more hostile denizens of the land of the dead. Despite his ability and love for this power, he often makes a point to use it as sparingly as possible, and never without the proper circle, as the thought of spending the rest of his days as trapped between the worlds of the dead and the living while some other being puppets his body and lives his life terrifies him.
Spiritual Energy Constructs:As essential as ritual casting for the act of driving out dark spirits and evil departed, this ability allows a medium to reach their aura across the plane that divides life and death so that they may do battle directly with the being in question. The actual shape and strength of this ability is tied to the skill, willpower, and strength of aura that a particular individual has. Some mediums are even skilled enough to borrow the aura from others if their own is deficient, though this is considered one of the Black Arts among Mediums and, while not strictly forbidden, is heavily frowned upon due to the possibility of killing the donor.
For Jackson, he's generally decent at forming constructs, mostly forming grasping objects like tendrils, chains, and hands from anywhere within 10-15 ft of him. Said constructs are better suited for restraining spirits then banishing them, allowing him to perform the proper rituals needed to more permanently remove such denizens of the other side. However, these constructs are both invisible to most non-mediums and they also can't interact with the world of the living without the help of a powerful other that has bonded with the medium.
Spirit Bond(Ignota): Many Mediums, in order to increase the scope of their abilities, create a close bond with spirits from the other side. The exact effects depend on the subject of the bonding, but the most often chosen recipient of this bond is a recently departed human being, as they are often the ones most open to a contract in order to feel what it's like to live again, but also the least likely to successfully take over the medium.
For Jackson, he bonded with an ancient spirit entity that feeds on negativity and dark emotions, a abyssal shadow that hung over all of humanity in dormant slumber until Jackson awoke it from it's rest by reaching the furthest reach of it's mind during a deep dive into the realm of the dead. The two became bonded on behalf of Ignota, who instantly clung onto this new sensation he felt all of a sudden and refused to let go. As a result, whenever Jackson calls upon Ignota, he gains a noticeable increase to his proficiency with his abilities, most strikingly being that of his constructs.
When using his constructs like this, they take on a black shadowy appearance, surrounded by a dark fog that radiates feelings of dread upon those who look upon it, which now includes those not normally able to view such phenomenon. The sheer immensity of Ignota's existence, as well as how inter-connected it is with all living beings, especially sentient ones, make it so that tendrils of it's power are able to act upon both this plane and the other one simultaneously. Jackson is also able to create better, stronger, and more versatile constructs in this way as well. The best example of this would be his ability to form a 'Shadow' which is a tall shadow humanoid that possess great strength, speed, and agility.
Strengths:Medical Student: He's been studying medicine for quite a while, so he can be a decent provider of first-aid, as well as keeping people from worsening their condition.
Ritualist: A number of rituals are needed in order to do a mediums work, and Jackson knows them all by heart. While these do have an effect on the world, they're nowhere near impressive or powerful enough to be call super powers, as they mainly serve to detain the spirit to one area or item, weaken the spirit, or banish it from the place of haunting, among other things. A supportive set of skills that require several preparations, reagents, and time to properly function, but are often necessary to ensure that a medium survives encounters with particularly dangerous denizens of the other world.
Observant: As stated before, Jackson is a highly observant individual, often taking the time to pick apart at every detail of a scene and every word in a sentence to try and peace together possible meanings from them.
Weaknesses:Beacon: Despite how much it improves his skills, Jackson avoids invoking Ignota's powers in all but the most life-threatening of situations due to the fact that it acts like a huge signal to denizens of the other side. This draws all manner of dark spirits and evil departed to him, and while his body can't be possessed or haunted while his soul is inside it due to his connection with Ignota shielding him, those around him are not as lucky and can be used to indirectly harm him as a result.
Not a fighter: He has no abilities or skills(such as martial arts) that help him in a real world combat scenario that don't require Ignota, meaning that he's practically defenseless in super-powered confrontations and best stay out of the way other-wise.
Background: Misc. Notes: (anything important to the character that should be known, but for whatever reason doesn't fit into any other category)
