Castor, The Black Prince

  Samhain can be described in a few words but ultimately the best word is "Opportunist". He knows how to recognize a desperate soul and most often times appears to them in their most desperate hour in order to strike a bargain with them. Despite being an opportunist he has a sense and code of honor when it comes to the contracts he makes, though quite frequently he uses his cunning and his lawyer-like wit to circumvent or dance around rules or subjects in order to twist things to his favor. While he does not do this often, it is a possibility if it is a desperate measure on his behalf. He will always take whatever opportunity he is given should it be in his best interest and the best interest of any designated party he is representing or acting on behalf of.

  Samhain is most notable for being the one who operates in plain sight, but guised in a way that no one can really do anything about it. Charisma, charm and cunning portray him to be a humanitarian with a kind and generous heart to his fellow man, though those who know him best realize that this in indeed a farce. Samhain is the type of individual who will set up and enact an elaborate plan or string of events, a modern day James Moriarty of sorts. He sets events into motion while never touching them, keeping himself in the spotlight to portray his innocence and cooperation while secretly already having planned for this eight steps ahead of time. That being noted, he is most certainly the planning and plotting type who continued to evolve and change his game plan on a constant basis.

  Samhain could easily be considered eccentric, the deals he makes often some times seeming unfair in the sense they favor of the other person he is dealing with. There are times his deals are for nothing at all, maybe just a napkin to wipe his mouth with, or it could be something a precious as a family heirloom or your grandmother's ashes. Why he varies like this is a total enigma. Samhain is not the type for dealing with souls, he find the concept stupid and is easily agitated when people automatically assume that he desires their soul. He even often times goes through the pain of explaining that he has no use for souls, no one really has use for souls so people should really just drop their self-gratifying hyper-inflated sense of self importance and realize that their soul is quite literally useless to anyone other than them.

   Samhain views himself as being a powerful person, but is in no way under the assumption that he is more powerful than anyone. He will never underestimate anyone, and is quite often times caught over-estimating them instead. He employs safety, caution and professionalism to all things he does, from dealing to actual "combat" itself. Samhain does not like to fight, he is not a man of physical conflict. He finds that conflict is beneath him, and in the "fighting you is beneath me." sense. He believes that not only is it beneath him to engage in physical conflict, but it is beneath the individual who likely attacked him or wishes to fight. He believes that all conflicts can be handles civilly, though when it comes time to fight or engage in combat Samhain will have his minions engage the enemy for him. While he believes fighting is beneath him he is not "above" sending his minions for a preemptive strike or assassination of a person that threatens him and his endgame or has wronged him.

 Samhain as a "villainous" figure is a mastermind, a planner and while he does desire some form of power he does not believe in the concept of world domination, and he finds all who aspire for it to be stupid, arrogant and ultimately the most foolish of mankind...though he loves them for the fact they are the most likely to deal with him, and thus he has a great potential to gain from them and their dealings. The extent of his villainy ends with his making deals for his own unknown ends or his sending his minions to kill the occasional threat, engage the police, frame and start a gang war or quite simply going back to the good old days and robbing banks for cash.

 Despite a villainous nature, Samhain is not "all bad" so to speak, as he is just as likely to assist a Hero as he is to assist the Villain -(if not more so as he finds most villains incompetent, unpleasant  or just all around "too difficult to root for.") - Samhain also refrain against senseless murder. While killing can in fact be fun to do so without need or cause is simply bothersome, and utterly pointless. Causes for him to kill stem form one of four causes which are as follows: Critical failure, or making decisions that led to unnecessary loss of lives. Uncovering his secrets or stealing from him. Posing a legitimate threat to himself, his "End game", or the ones he acts on behalf of. Harming pregnant women and children will also result in probable cause that will cause him to enact a ploy to end your life.

 Finally, Samhain is capable of the occasional "good deed". This is perhaps the only sign that the "Good" in him hasn't entirely died out. Despite his dark humor, Samhain is likely to impart words of wisdom, offer tremendous or minor help, uplifting words or even a "free-of-charge" assistance that he would generally have a heavy one-sided contract in his favor for. He generally denies having any good intentions and it is uncertain if this is simply him trying to play a bad-guy front or if his good deeds are in fact all somehow supporting his ultimate "End game", whatever it may be. It is an interesting note, however, that Samhain is quite a sentimental person. Despite his general self-serving and stoic ways he tends to place a high personal value on certain items and artifacts of no real value, and seems to have a highly protective and emotional tie to them.

Samhain in often times referred to as "The God of the Dead" to some pagan mythos. This is inaccurate. Samhain is actually the word used to describe the "event" that has come to be known as Halloween. Culturally pronounced as "Sah-vin" or "Sow-en" (Sow rhyming with Cow) this event was noted for as the Final Harvest before winter and a night to remember an honor all those that had died in that year, as superstition dictated that it was the night when the veil between life and death was the thinnest. Christianity eventually came to the Pagan faiths and cultures and began to employ many methods of conversion, one such method being "assimilation" where they took symbols like the Cross of St.Patrick and Samhain and "mixed/fused" them with Christian values to make it more acceptable to the pagan faiths. Thus "All hallows eve" was born, and from there came the holiday most people come to know as "Halloween". Halloween is a commercialized holiday, a night of children in costumes and candy while older people sit there and complain that it's "The devil's holiday", proof that no one truly remembers the origins of a once meaningful and very important holiday.

  No, this person is not "The holiday incarnate" or any such nonsense. This person is a man who was raised to be a good man. He was a hard worker, determined and strong. He was a saint that had the blessings of a powerful inner light that made him a guardian of others. He was also a man who suffered a great loss of meaning and eventually forgot that who he once was. Sound familiar? Well now you know why he took the name "Samhain". Just as the holiday itself he was the last harvest, a celebration of hard workers. The man was a saint, blessed with powers of holy light, as the holiday became about a religious dogma. Finally, just as the holiday did, the man had gone so long to accomplish one task that it eventually was no longer remembered for what it truly was, or in the man's case he could no longer remember who he truly was. Metaphorically of course...he remembered his name, but he had lost sight of what he stood for, who he used to be. None of it mattered anymore, there was only one thing that mattered to him... fear.

  His fear, the fear of others. It all came down to the simple brass tax that who he was, the pure spirit he once had, was gone. Devoured by fear and drowned in darkness where it was left to be smothered out. All goodness inside him was darkened. Darkened but did that mean evil? Did he have to be evil if he were dark? He didn't know...and quite honestly... he didn't care. The glimmer of who he was was all but destroyed, a single and powerful fragment that try as he may, Samhain was not able to snuff it out. He wanted the light to go away, because just as all darkness did it was repelled by the light, the light was blinding to him. He was now a creature of darkness, reborn in it, sculpted by it and now to even look at the purity and goodness that he once was he was utterly blinded by it. This...light that he had was very powerful and no manner of darkness could devour it, who he was was still alive in himself somewhere and until that light was put at rest he could never forget his past. Nightmares and visions, memories of a life almost completely forgotten. These visions and dreams reminded him of who he was, and he became disgusted with what he had become, only to wake and not remember anything other than guilt and disdain for himself. So long as that light existed, he would never be able to start anew, he would never find happiness or peace.

  Samhain found a solution for his problem. He enslaved the little light of his. He crafted a lantern that fueled off the light of innocence and goodness. With this lantern he imprisoned his light, but alas it was not a perminant solution. This lantern could only keep his light from affecting him if he were to take the goodness and light of another's heart and use it to outshine his own light. Taking the heart of an good and pious man, Samhain placed the heart in his lantern and it would glow perfectly, illuminating even the darkest darkness without forcing him to cringe. This method also allowed him to control the pious man and influence his actions subliminal. Unfortunately this solution was not permanent, as the light slowly but surely began to dim. Upon inspection, Samhain learned that the hearts he put into the lantern were slowly corrupted by the darkness that was used to forge the object, and so as all lights did they would flicker out and die. When the light died, the heart turned to ash and remained collected in the bottom of the lantern, and the pious man died while Samhain's light would shine once more. The light burned him with a fierce vengeance for what he had done to the innocent man, but soon Samhain would do it once more, simply to keep the light at bay.

 A new way to keep the light in check, Samhain was free to go about his business as he saw fit. He would wander the world, make deals and form alliances as he acquired many enemies who sought to kill him, each and every one of them failing. Samhain never did anything truly "powerful" or momentous, he simply was there making deals, hoarding artifacts and collected items from all around and from all sorts of deals he had struck and assisted with. It was in his travels he decided he would try to forge a real life for himself. He would try to be a normal person. Unfortunately the nature of power is addicting and it requires great discipline to resist. Discipline that Samhain actually had, surprisingly. He carved a life for himself, a common man in a little town. Unfortunately it came time that he was forced to do as all humans did, and go to war. He served faithfully, he served loyally and he did so without the need nor desire for thanks. He simply returned home and started up a small shop of his own to lazily wait out some years before moving to the next town lest people become suspicious of his lasting presence.

  His travels to find him a new home actually brought him in the path of a rather strange and eccentric woman, one whose eyes and mouth were stitched shut, but a hole was present that was apparently a form of make-shift mouth. Samhain even now doesn't understand the logistics as to how but he will now and forever remember that it was creepy as heck. Regardless, the woman spoke to him, calling him by his true name. Immediately Samhain grew irate, demanding to know how the woman knew his name. She revealed that she "saw" a great many things, including that he would soon meet a young man by the name of Dante, a man who would become one of his closest allies. Samhain ignored the woman, calling her foolish and making his way to the destination of his new home. It took more than days and months later, even a couple dozen years, but after twenty four long years Samhain was ready to move again, people having grown suspicious of him and his rumored ties to the occult. He loaded himself up and departed out to find a new home. It didn't take long for Samhain to encounter a clamor in the streets under the dead of night. It was a young boy who was dressed in dirty clothing. He was picked up and consistently harassed by much larger men who commented about the boy stealing from them. Samhain didn't know why he felt inclined to intervene, perhaps it was in his nature, but he did in fact step in. One of them men punched the boy in the stomach, but before anything else could transpire Samhain made himself known by breaking one of his dinner glasses. After Samhain's babbling the men laughed at him, calling him crazy before starting to choke the child. Samhain laughed and asked them if they knew about the rumors of him dabbling in the occult. The man still choking the child claimed to not believe in such nonsense, no sooner did he gasp for air as Samhain teleported and literally phased the broken glass into the man's lung, snarling through his teeth that the man SHOULD have believed in such things. The man removed his hands form the child's throat as he tried to grasp at Samhain's arms, only to have his hands phase through him. The other man went to strike at him but Samhain wouldn't have any of that bull crap so he beat the daylights out of him, leaving him alive on the streets before returning to the child, healing a pair of broken ribs with a salve. The child was silent but for the first time in Samhain's life there was no fear from a common man...this child did not fear him. It pissed him off truthfully, despite his trying to settle down and live a somewhat normal life he still desired to be feared, he craved it and this child for some reason wasn't apt to giving him his fix... but the child was... familiar in a sense. Of course when the child spoke it startled Samahin, especially when the child's first words were "I'm Dante...who're you?".

   From there the journey was reletively slow. Chance would turn out that little Dante was lacking parents and living his life in the streets. Despite the childs apparent lack of fear pissing Samhain off the child insisted on following him to make up for saving him. Samhain was not the nicest to the child. He never hurt him, but he often times expressed annoyance with the child. It was one night in June however when someone attempted to rob Samhain's house while he was out, and the child was an idiot and decided confronting the men and being brave would make Samhain proud of him. It didn't. Samhain returned home an hour later ot find the boy's bravery resulted in nothing more than the boy getting shanked and left for dead. Samhain's occult knowledge were truly put to the test as he endeavored to save the child's life once more. The child was stabilized and Samhain sent for his maid, ordering her to return to his house. Giving the maid access to substantial funding he ordered her to watch Dante until Samhain could return from his trip, though unbeknownst to him it was a trip he would not return from.

  Samhain sought out the eccentric woman from his past, a "seer" as he believed her to be. Of course she was difficult to find, but Samhain was persistent, and when he finally confronted her he demanded to know more about his future. The Seer commented that all she speaks to eventually wish to know more, but she also claimed that it was most frequently impossible. Samhain called her a liar, but the seer countered that Samhain should really reveal why he was here. Was he truly here to know his own future, or was he there to know the boy's? Samhain selfishly rebuked her and claimed that he wished only to know his own, the boy could rot for all he cared. The Seer claimed to not believe him and then went on to say how she could not see his future. She put in perspective how she knew of this moment was to come. She claimed that she and her sister on the same night had dreams of their own demises, Each demise at a different night, each to a different person, each person who cut their life short would inherit their curse. She claimed her sister was already cut down long ago, but now it was her time and she taunted Samhain claiming that is he truly wanted to know his future he should come and take the gift himself so he could decipher the puzzle.  Samhain didn't need to be told twice as he murdered the woman. Her final words imparted to him were controversial and made Samhain irate, though her purpose for saying them was unclear. Examine why you are here. The future. A puzzle. The past. The completed parts. Look at the puzzle completed thus far...history. Only then can you have an idea of how to sort through a future. Who you were. Good...Light. Now Dark, dimmed and flickering out. You are here for that boy. You can deny it but denying truth does not make it a lie simply because you say so. You are here because that boy has begun to rekindle the light... The seer's words scared Samhain, his own fear of the light driving him mad at this point. He resolved that the solution was simple. He needed to kill Dante. Of course as he stood outside his own house, looking in through a window and seeing the maid taking care of the child he couldn't bring himself to do so. So he simply left the child in her care and vanished, never to be seen by her again.

 Many nights and days were spent trying to shift through the fragments and puzzle pieces of the future, learning to control himself and perhaps tame this power. It was impossible. Still all he could see were cryptic messages and fortune cookie styled segments that were so general that it could have been anything. Soon Samhain gave up on his attempts to control the visions, and rather he simply returned to his everyday job of putting the screws to people through contracts and deals. He would find the most desperate of people and lure them into a plan that was a quick and easy instant gratification styled solution at a cost of some kind, some costs far heavier than others. He had found himself returning towards the place he woke up in in his first memory, close to Scotland in possession of a large estate on the emerald isle of Ireland. Despite his lengthy time spent in Italy, Samhain decided that it was time for him to follow the seer's advice. In order to piece the puzzle of the future together he needed to look to the past to see what form of picture was already "pieced together". What better past to look to than his own? Of course Samhain did not remember who he was, or who he truly had been. He remembered a name but who was he? What did he stand for? Too many questions At this point it was like watching the middle thirty-seconds of a movie and then looking at the credits. It was maddening and being even crazier was not on his agenda.

 Lots of stuff happened in the next 4 years, people came and went. Deals were made, none were broken and everyone was a happy customer. Except the lady whose baby he took as part of their deal. He tried being a parent. Lasted a whole two minutes before he realized the smelly little voice-box needed to be shoved off on someone else, as this was not something Samhain wanted to do. Could he have done it? noYes, probably. But he found a nice woman who wanted a baby but couldn't have one. Lucky her in Sam's opinion, he always found puppies to be better than babies- but hey, a deal is a deal.Speaking of puppies he was most surprised when one of his runes triggered, meaning someone was prowling in the woods nearby. Many people knew better than to encroach, but this person seemed to be looking for something.... so Samhain thought he might as well let them find something. Or someone rather. Him. Perhaps this was a deal that he could capitalize on. Imagine his surprise when he appeared to the person camping in the woods in the dead of night and the light of the fire provided just enough glow for the person to recognize Samhain. Samhain went to give his introduction before he found himself being closed in upon by a seemingly fascinated person. It was actually uncomfortable for Samhain, and that says something. Moreso when he's in the middle of stating that he made deals for people and he was randomly hugged. Assuming the person apparently really needed his help or he came from a very invasive culture Samhain continued on, until the young man asked if Samhain remembered him. After a double take Samhain was finally able to make the connection. Little Dante, almost a man of his own, had stumbled into the forests of Ireland. Dante was shocked when Samahin didn't say anything but instead looked at him and simply asked "Well what the Hell are you doing out here?". Dante was pleasantly surprised when Samhain grabbed his forearm and then teleported them inside his new home.

  Dante revealed that the maid died and then he went out in search of Samhain, refusing to believe that he was dead. Samhain then quickly realized where this was going and tried to dissuade Dante from trying to live with him once more. Dante had grown into cunning young man, and actually managed to somehow back Samhain into a corner which forced him to agree to letting Dante stay around. Unfortunately Dante was more of a slave than anything else in doing so. Samhain was fair and all, but the life was difficult as Samhain would torture people for information in the house occasionally, or he'd be demanding that something needed cleaned. Fair, but stern was a good way to put it. Dante soon found himself frustrated with his life, but one night Dante was surprised when Samhain asked why he hadn't tried to run away yet. Dante smoothly avoided the spotlight and managed to actually pry information from Samhain, getting him to talk about the children's clothing, the two masks and the music box from upstairs. Samhain promised to reveal the history behind them if Dante agreed to go into town and collect some materials. This was the first time Dante was allowed to leave the estate since he basically signed his life away, so it was a big step for him...and a big temptation. Dante wandered through town before realizing that he could run and be free, right then and there. It was a tough decision, but Dante decided and for better or worse he would need to live or die by the consequences.

 Dante, to Samhain's surprise returned and then insisted that Samhain owed him a story. Samhain recounted the music box and the two masks with a fogged memory. They were from a world that was not this one. The music box was a containment device, and the clothing belonged to children that Samhain knew, the masks were theirs as well as they were the only momento's that Samhain had of them. Dante was unsure as to why Samhain was so sentimental of the masks, or the children. Within this Samhain found that the seer was right, and that through better or worse that Dante was perhaps his greatest ally at this moment in time. He was fearful however as what this spelled for her promises of him sparking the painful and revolting light. In order to protect himself he took his lantern and stashed it far away, hiding it behind treacherous obstructions of all kinds. Then he sealed the lantern away, hoping that whatever it was Dante was supposed to trigger would not affect him if he were so far away. He would occasionally, however need to rip hearts out and return in order to "rekindle" the flame, lest the inner light cause him harm once more.

 
In his adventures he soon found that while Dante was his greatest ally, he was also a rather crippling weakness. One that he could not afford to have. So, Samhain decided that it was time for Dante to learn a little something of his own. The occult did not stick with Dante, and while they could train him physically all they wanted there was only advancement in martial prowess, no advancement in actual strength or speed, or even stamina. Samhain had given up hope, until of course Dante found an old trunk of things Samhain had collected over the years, of them being things that contained Samhain's true name. Dante was sworn to secrecy, and then impressed Samhain by pointing out that an individual known as "The Archon" was indeed an important part of his past at one time or another. Samhain didn't care about that so much so as that Dante himself seemed to immediately catch on and understand matters and things that were total insanity to Samhain. Soon he found that Dante had a knack for crafting, learning and following instructions, piecing together a couple pieces of weaponry form these "Archon journals" and before long Dante was no longer the defenseless weakness he used to be, and this pleased Samhain greatly. He would need an ally when things came to a head.

 It wasn't long before they came face to face with the entity that had left the journals, rather a cross-dimensional entity that apparently encompassed a whole ton of people or whatever. Samhain didn't bother to care about the basics because soon he remembered who he was, and that this person had a means to give him what he wanted. A way back home. As fate would have it they were there to do just that. Samhain quickly made his deal and got his affairs in order before crossing with the Archon and the barbie doll with fake tits back into the reality from where he once hailed.  Samhain has returned and he has a whole new plan. Now he has established himself in the world by stealing one of the Archon's allies identities, perfect and flawless records that "Castor Jackson Gael" always has existed, the son of a Scottish and Irish union that immigrated to the united states. "Jack" enlisted in the US Marine corps where he earned purple heart for an injury he took to the leg. After his military career was over,  he turned himself into a successful lawyer with a history of REAL clients who all claim they had helped them as a defense attorney, there are birth records, death records for his parents, he has slipped in and inserted himself into the world silently, subtly and blends in as if he's always been there. He now owns a small pawn shop and a more simple life. A perfect cover for all of his mischievous little items.

True Freedom
Advancement Description: Samhain's time in this realm has further been solidified, allowing him to actually further make use of his eldritch phsyiology in more interesting ways. This being the ability to stand apart from known concepts.
Advancement Abilities: Allows Samhain to take actions that have absolutely no consequence in any form of conventional concepts. Concepts being things such as aging, (time), or natural order. Please read the examples below for a more thorough overview.

Example:

Advancement Weaknesses:
 - In case of example one (the heart thing) it obviously requires other player's permission
 - The very nature of this power is quite literally a massive RP mechanic to explain powers he already has and to allow nonsensical things to happen.

Advancement/Item Cost: 5 XP