Luke

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Overview
In-game Name	Luke
Full Name	Luke Cornelius Briar
Origin	Magic
Archetype	Defender
Power sets	Pain Domination Dual Pistols Dark Mastery
Server	Everlasting
Player	Tepe
Physiology
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Age	35
Height	6' 0" (182.88 cm)
Weight	158 lbs (71.67 kg)
Identity
Ancestry	Welsh-American
Birthplace	Upper Gwynedd Township Philadelphia, Pennsylvania United States
Residence	Nerva Archipelago Etoile Islands
Allegiance	Varies
Alignment	True Neutral
Aliases	None
Abilities
Abilities	Hematologist Occultist Alchemist Covert Agent
Weaknesses	Psionics Anti-Magic Soul Contracts

Luke Briar is a Welsh-American warlock specializing in occult medicine, hermetic alchemy, and blood magic.

He is an apostle of the Nightmare Choir, a collective of often-bickering otherworldly patrons from a wide variety of domains.

Biography

Early life and education

Luke grew up in the Upper Gwynedd Township of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Luke's father, Lewis Briar, was a well-respected American physician. Luke's mother, Morgan Green, was a Welsh immigrant and heiress to an ancient lineage of derwyddon (lit. "tree-knowers", druids). Luke experienced an enriched childhood, exposed to both medicine and magic through his parents' respective vocations. Ultimately, this provided the foundation for his life-long interests.

During his teenage years, for unknown reasons, Luke came into contact with his first eldritch patron: an ancient entity known as Velshan, the Blood Matron. Velshan offered talent in exchange for his fealty. Young and naive, Luke accepted her offer. Velshan granted him aptitude for magic and cunning beyond his years. Like many otherworldly patrons, Velshan's gifts came at the expense of incurring an unknown and mysterious debt, a debt Luke would continue to pay unknowingly for much of his life.

Luke aspired to be a physician, much like his father. Luke's undergraduate education, medical school, and residency path, all focused on the fields of hematology and hematopathology—a path likely the product of the Blood Matron's influence. Over the course of his higher-education, Luke secretly accrued a short list of supernatural acquaintances: demons, forgotten gods, fae lords, interdimensional beings, and more, all competing for a share of Luke's mind and soul. Luke became a capable young warlock, even going so far as to seek the wisdom of the Midnight Squad and the Circle of Thorns. The latter was more sympathetic to his unbridled ambition.

Residency and criminal conviction

At the age of 25, Luke began his residency at M. Harvey Medical Center in the borough of Founders' Falls, Paragon City. It is at this point, Luke began bridging the disciplines of ancient magic and modern medicine, leveraging the knowledge that he had mastered thus far. Many of the patients under his care would experience mysterious and miraculous recovery; Luke became a reputable up-and-coming physician. Luke's growing aptitude for occult and foreign magic attracted the interest and suspicion of the Modern Arcane Guild of Investigation (MAGI). He was soon placed onto a MAGI "persons of concern" watchlist within the first year of his residency.

At the age of 27, Luke began a romantic relationship with Catherine Wren, a Midnight Squad researcher and magic practitioner. They were immediately compatible, sharing many interests and personal goals. Within a year of their relationship, Catherine became afflicted with an unknown bloodborne illness. Determined to find a cure, Luke sought the aid of his many mentors in hematology. When modern medicine fell short, Luke turned to the occult, further fostering a deeper connection with his growing list of patrons. As Catherine's condition continued to deteriorate, Luke began tampering with even more exotic and dangerous sorcery, even going so far as to hunt street thugs, drug addicts, and petty criminals as blood payment for his patrons' more costly favors.

The pinnacle of Luke's attempts at curing Catherine was an ancient purging ritual. Originally created by an ancient cabal, later perfected by the Circle of Thorns, the ritual required several religious artifacts and multiple human sacrifices. Luke, without hesitation, willingly turned to theft and bloody vigilantism to fulfill the cost. He believed himself morally justified in taking the lives of the cruel and villainous, believing they had squandered the privilege of living. He saw himself as an exception. Luke nearly succeeded in completing the ritual, however a forceful intervention by a MAGI taskforce had interrupted his plans. With the ritual disrupted and unresolved, Catherine became imbued with unrestrained eldritch energy, banishing her affliction and replacing it with powerful, wild, and untamed magic. Consumed by her new potential, Catherine mysteriously disappeared into a rift in the void. Unbeknownst to anyone, Catherine had been sent to the Eye of Nogoros, an unexplored and nearly unreachable space within the Shadow Shard.

At the age of 28, Luke was convicted of multiple crimes related to his endeavor to cure Catherine. Though his original intentions and goals were noble, the court had deemed his means merciless, reckless, and nefarious. Luke had therefore received the maximum sentence for crimes of murder, criminal vigilantism, desecration, theft of venerated objects, medical malpractice, and public endangerment by means of occult magic. Luke's criminal conviction resulted in the termination of his residency, life-long ineligibility for medical licensure, and a permanent place in the Ziggurat, a prison for super-powered individuals.

Imprisonment and escape

Compelled by the now fledgling Nightmare Choir, Luke sought to escape imprisonment and investigate Catherine's disappearance.

Personality

Luke in his youth was arrogant, zealously curious, and vulnerable to the allure of shortcuts to power. Early in his life, Luke often overestimated the extent of his ability, naively considering himself strong enough to contend with the beings beyond the veil. He had quickly learned that he was no contender, but instead a reckless puppet with tangled strings. In the present, Luke suffers from the consequences of his past hubris. He is forced to navigate a fragile web of blood pacts and contracts between every member of the Nightmare Choir, relying on minute contradictions and ancient loopholes to eschew his ever-growing debt. Such taxing circumstances have made him cunning and methodical yet weary and untrusting. The cost of being a warlock has robbed him of any ambition beyond freedom from his present burdens.

The constant state of brokering deals with eldritch powers has made him cold and pragmatic; many of his relationships—both professional and personal, earthly and otherworldly—have become explicitly transactional. He is reclusive, reticent, and has few true allies; his allegiance must always be bought or earned. He harbors unconditional love and loyalty towards only one person: his wife, Catherine Briar. He is unrelentingly protective, and commits his might and magic to her defense without question. He silently regrets all that he had put her through, and prioritizes repaying his debt to her above that of his patrons. According to Luke, she is his sole motivation for persisting against the forces that are eager for his demise. Luke often states that were it not for her presence, he would've surrendered to the songs of the Nightmare Choir long ago.

As a practitioner of medicine, his transactional nature persists. Luke specializes in care that eschews death: curing fatal afflictions or mortal wounds where survival is likely impossible without otherworldly aid. As a result, he maintains his reputation as a "last resort doctor". He often only treats to the level agreed upon by a contract; rarely will he offer his services without a price. For those unable to pay, Luke is not beyond reverting the aid he has provided or collecting his fees by other means. His transactional nature in medicine is not necessarily due to a lack of empathy or compassion, but rather due to the costly nature of the magic he practices. In a way, his care mimics the contracts he makes with his patrons. Unlike his patrons, however, Luke is never pleased to incur these costs onto others, and rarely will he ask for more than what is absolutely required.

Roleplay

Note: The following information is out-of-character (OOC) information.

Luke Briar is takes themes and inspirations from characters like John Constantine, Pete Wisdom, Mr. Freeze, and Dracula Vlad Țepeș
Luke is a neutrally-aligned, support-focused character that has a variety of roleplay hooks:

• Your character is an afflicted individual seeking medical treatment for an illness of magical origin.
• Your character is a student of magic seeking a specialist in blood magic.
• Your character is a crimefighter seeking to return Luke to prison.
• Your character is a warlock with the same patron as Luke.