Treacherous Smiler
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- "A treacherous smiler"
- "With teeth white as milk,"
- "A savage beguiler"
- "In sheathings of silk,"
- - "Sea Lullaby" by Elinor Wylie
Beginnings
The story as it seems to be known starts with one Conrad Dimmesdale, a burgeoning occultist operating out of the Nerva Archipelago and his covetous desires, a tale truly as old as time. Dimmesdale had gotten the taste of power from his first successful dalliances into the world of the occult in 1952, and wanted more...fame, recognition, and above all else power! He scoured over all the greats: Agrippa, Crowley, Lévi, and countless others. He spared no expense importing first edition tomes, and obscure text and implements, and yet despite hours of perfecting the sigils and rehearsing the incantations...nothing...not even a flash or a stray spark from the candles. His pride wounded and his thirst yet to be slacked, he continued his forays into the occult, this time with more...obscure texts. Ever more of his fortune going into this unhealthy obsession of his. However, something always went wrong, adding to his desperation. Desperate urges requiring desperate measures...he snuck himself into the sunken city Oranbega, where long dead wizard-kings and their demonic servants held the key to more potent, and far darker rites.
On a small wooden boat, he rowed to the island where their fetid tree grew like a malignant tumor from the Earth, and entered the crumbling stone ruins beneath the surface.
Behaviors
Faces of Fear
The entity known as the Treacherous Smiler is an elusive shapeshifter, whether it is difficult to say if his true form has been seen, his most common forms seem to draw on fears and nightmares of others. With what could potentially be his "true form" (whether it is or not is up for debate) bearing many similarities to a twisted monochromatic clown. Seeing as the entity's true name is unknown, these forms are often referred to by the fear that they seem to reflect. The known forms of the entity are as follows:
- Coulrophobia
- coul·ro·pho·bi·a
- /ˌkōlrəˈfōbēə,ˌkälrəˈfōbēə/
- Noun
- An extreme or irrational fear of clowns.
- - Oxford English Dictionary
Standing at a looming
- Scopophobia
- sco·po·pho·bi·a
- /skō′pə-fō′bē-ə/
- Noun
- An extreme or irrational fear of being stared at or observed.
- - Collins English Dictionary
The fear of eyes from the shadows breeds an interesting beast. Resembling a tall, slender man in a tan suit with a long overcoat, brown leather gloves, and a wide-brimmed hat. The hat seems to obscure the face of any features beneath the brim of the hat, save for a very large grin filled with rows of needle-like teeth and two dim glimmers from underneath the brim approximately where eyes would be on a human. This shape is always accompanied by a localized anomaly of fog surrounding the figure, further obscuring any distinguishing details. Attempts to examine this form closer have yielded very little, although it seems beyond the basic visage of the clothes, no brands or any distinguishing features such as holes or even wrinkles have been observed...it almost seems too smooth to be real fabric laying on a humanoid frame, or at least seemingly humanoid frame.
- Thalassophobia
- tha·las·so·pho·bi·a.
- /Placeholder/
- Noun
- An extreme or irrational fear of deep bodies of water such as the sea, oceans, pools, or lakes.
- - Placeholder
Nature of the Beast
The creature has demonstrated a few capabilities of itself in the time it's been roaming the Isles, although exact details become murky from account to account, these are what has been gathered by those looking into this creature, such as M.A.G.I. and the Legacy Chain.
Shapeshifting - The creature displays a form of shape-shifting seemingly tied to its nature as a phobophage, all known forms seem to be tied to primal fears of man: the fear of being watched, the fear of things not quite human, the fear of murky water, and so on. All of them have a humanoid, but not quite right. The closer they are to humans, the more that seems off. While taking the form of a waterlogged corpse, there may be too many teeth or the skin having an almost rubbery look to it. The creature's forms fall very much into the uncanny valley, whether intentional or a limitation of its shapeshifting is unknown at the current time.
Dream Manifestation -
Feasting - The creature feeds on the fear of its victims. The more raw and primal the fear, the more it seems to sustain the creature. It is perhaps due to this, or some more sadistic glee, that the creature will often stalk its victims, over a large span of time, often going periods without feeding on the same victim so as to not desensitize them to the experience. The lethality of these feedings is unverified, but subjects found are often put under protective wards rather than risk further feeding and detriment to the person's health. Feedings leave the surviving victims with a since of paranoia and dread to fall asleep.
Tools of the Waking World
For the abilities it's shown, the entity is not without it's banes: instruments of hope to stave off the beast and stop it for a bit of time while it recovers in it's pocket realm.
Trivia
- As a big fan of horror and inspired by podcasts like The Magnus Archives, the thought of playing a character based on fear and dreams would be a lot of fun. The eventual theme of dream feasting is what led to the power combination of Dark Control/Psionic Assault spinning the fear and holds of the set as dream-like or nightmarish manifestation, not quite there, but still with some hold as well as the drain psyche of Psionic Assault furthering the vibe I wanted for TS.
- In addition to The Magnus Archives, inspirations for this character include NiGHTS (particularly in design), Pennywise, Dream the Endless, and Upside Down Man (Of Justice League Dark Fame) to name a few.