OOC INFORMATION
Name: Alex
Are you over 18?: Yes
Contact: PM, Plurk and Discord on request or when given
Other characters: None
Permissions & opt-out: Permissions,
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IC INFORMATION
Name: Herbert West
Canon: Herbert West–Reanimator (Original short story)
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Species: Human
Appearance: A pale, fastidious man with sharp, intense features and thinning blond hair. West wears wire-rimmed spectacles, immaculate clothing, and often a lab coat. His eyes are unnaturally cold and calculating, with the unnerving quality of someone who views others as mere data. He carries the smell of antiseptic and formaldehyde.
Canon point: Shortly before his death in “The Tomb-Legions”.
History:
WikipediaCRAU details: N/A
Personality answers:
1. Who in your character's canon influenced the most growth in your character? What do they think about this character?The individual who most shaped Herbert West’s development is his unnamed assistant, the narrator of the story. West does not consider this man a friend, nor a confidant, but rather an indispensable tool. A pair of hands, a fellow intellect (albeit lesser), and a witness to his genius. Though he never says so aloud, West relies on this assistant more than any other figure. He provides bodies, silence, and assistance. Without him, many of West’s experiments would not have been possible. That said, despite their long-term friendship, West regards him with a kind of condescension, much as one might view a dog who follows orders well but sometimes whines too much. If the assistant ever hoped for moral guidance or emotional honesty from West, he was sorely mistaken. Still, West trusts him in his own cold, clinical way. He never questions the man’s loyalty, not because he believes in friendship, but because he believes in dependency and the belief that both himself, and the narrator, cannot act without each other.
2. What is your character most afraid of?West would insist he fears nothing. In reality, what gnaws at him in the dark hours is the possibility that something does exist beyond death. That the "soul" is real, that there are forces which cannot be measured, catalogued, or rationalized. West does not like this, to him everything is mechanical and can be measured, explained, weighted upon natural forces. Many of his reanimated subjects speak in unknown tongues or scream things no living man should know. Some recall things, places, that no brain activity should preserve. If these are hallucinations, he can treat them. If not… then he has broken a law not of man, but of the universe. West fears irrelevance, the decay of his mind, the idea that his great work might be meaningless. But most of all, he fears that death is not an end, and that he has awoken something far older and hungrier than he can comprehend.
3. What is your character's biggest ambition at their current canon point? To what lengths would they go to see it to fruition?At his current canon point, just before his death at the hands of his reanimated "tomb-legions", Herbert West is obsessed with perfecting his serum. No longer satisfied with merely reanimating tissue, he seeks to restore memory, personality, West wants to push beyond what he views as boundaries. He wants not just resurrection, but continuity. He has scoured graves, hospitals, battlefields, even desecrated plague pits, all to refine his formula. He has no moral threshold. Murder, theft, desecration, all are acceptable means to an end. West believes history will vindicate him, if not in life, then in the sheer power of his achievement. The idea of halting now, of surrendering to ethical fear or metaphysical superstition, is unthinkable. He would rather die (and be reanimated) than fail to finish his work.
4. Your character must live with only one sense for a year. They are allowed to choose. What do they pick? Why? How do they cope?West would choose sight. It is the most important sense in his work. For him observation is everything. The dissecting eye is far more vital to him than touch or hearing. He can observe decomposition, reaction, change. He can still write, still mix chemicals, still read notes and record results. While sound might assist in communication or warning, West prefers silence in his lab. Smell and taste are largely nuisances in his line of work. Touch is valuable, but not irreplaceable with proper tools. He would cope through rigorous adaptation, building devices to compensate, using mirrors, visual monitors, and automated instruments. If anything, the sensory restriction might even sharpen his already obsessive focus. Distractions dulled, he would turn ever deeper into his work, inching closer to the final formula, even if it costs him the last scraps of his humanity. And if he does need any of his other senses? Well, then West could always find an assistant, willing or not, to help him.
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Inventory:
• Glass syringes and vials of his phosphorescent green serum (the one he uses to reanimate)
• Bloodstained lab coat
• Personal notebook of anatomical observations and dosages
• Old leather satchel for transporting remains
Powers/Abilities:
• Advanced medical training (surgery, anatomy, dissection)
• Creator of a necrotic reanimation serum that revives the recently dead (results are highly unstable and may vary!)
• Ability to suppress revulsion and fear in the face of horrors - though not immune to madness
• Keen analytical intelligence
(Note: While the serum works, the side effects include madness, rage, and speech in unknown languages; may be altered per Kelesis setting nerfs.)
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Samples:
Here and
HerePlayer Goals:
To explore West in a setting where the soul, death, and metaphysics are tangible and active forces, things West has always denied. I’m particularly interested in horror themes, philosophical tension between science and the supernatural, and slow-burning character interactions where West’s detachment is tested by something he cannot categorize or control. And the potential consequences and reactions to West's attempts to experiment and push the boundaries within the setting.
Soul Choice: Cephalopoda
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