Val Halmore [WIP]

One cannot be whole without others to share ones burdens

-- Cultivatist Tenet

A young caller of spirits trying to prove himself so that he can come back home.

Backstory

It was after dinner and Val was helping to clean up along with two others. Everyone else was setting up outside. Tonight was to be an arts night, full of singing, dancing, and crafts to remember some story of some ghost. And like usual Val wasn't having any of it. He had better things to do tonight.

He finishes his work quickly and retreats to the shared library, where he hid out the nightly ceremonies since he was a kid. He logs into one of the computers and checked the directory for any local hauntings.

"Val?"

Behind him was a specter, a translucent white form with powerful muscles contrasting against his polo and teeth like a field of needles, decorated with dozens of pages compared to the one Val had and kept around his neck. He stood loosely holding a small stack of papers.

"Good Evening Spirit Anthony?"

"I believe I have an exile for you."

Val gets up and takes the papers from the spirit. It's was the series of questions they asked exiles to help them figure what unfinished business they might have holding them in the Inner. This one was already filled out. It seeming to be about a young woman how died in a car accident on her way to work. Despite being dead many of her answers contained a sense of urgency to finish projects that aren't hers anymore. That she wasn't able to appreciate the rewards they would have brought her.

"Well that's an easy one. This won't make a good Fulfillment for me at all. But she wouldn't have to wait long. It would be easy to find another Burgeoning to basically join her on a vacation. They just got to remember to remind her that while it's different than if she did it alive, she is no longer bound to the duties of the Inner. That she's free."

"Are you sure you don't want to take on this one as well?"

"Yes"

Anthony narrows the shadowy holes that replaced his eyes just slightly "Very well. Please follow me. Some of us would like to speak to you."

---

Six months ago Val was kicked out.

The world that Val come from is one one of many creatures. It's quite common to see humans sitting along side orks to elementals to the offspring of distant unknowable creatures of madness and chaos. This only heightened by the fact that the dead walked among them. Specters, ghosts, spirits, all able to visit from the Outer, assuming they didn't get stuck here as an exile.

In particular Val is a Ducorpian, someone who believes that death is just the next stage of one's existence and that people shouldn't forced to the Outer just because they're dead. His specific sect being Cultivatist which focuses on how in life you should focus on self actualization so that in death you are not left with regrets that bind you to The Inner. The dead should use their wisdom to help the living.

The Millet Field Cultivatist Village, where he grew up, like most other Cultivatist communities was quite isolated. The only times he had interacted with outsiders was in public school, meeting with other Ducorpian groups, or through media. They also took the practice very seriously so when Val got kicked for refusing to select a mentor and neglecting to finish his Fulfillment ritual it was disorienting but not surprising.

He was left to room with a Basin (someone who lives away from any particular group to help them gather resources they couldn't make themselves. Nowadays that just means money.) by the name of Dean Grosnew in an apartment till he chooses a mentor... Or finishes his Fulfillment if he can find a ghost that meets his expectations... and won't kill him in the process.

• Quick Thinking

  • quick to make decisions and make connections.

• Knowledgeable
  • Just kind of a nerd

• Strong Willed

  • To the point where if he's still awake he can fight possession if he really doesn't want to do something.

• Ducorpian

  • He has a lot of experience with living among spirits and knows many rituals by heart. His community still has his back if he gets in trouble even if they're a bit upset with him at the moment.

    • Jasper Foley

• Arrogant

  • He often assumes he knows things he doesn't and will not ask for help unless forced to.

• Sheltered

  • He has only spent a few months living in the “real world” and doesn't 100% know how things work outside of his Cultivatist circle. Especially when it comes to interacting with people with different beliefs/culture.

• Rushed

  • Often misses important actions in order to get things sooner.

• Ducorpian

  • All the spirits he has encountered so far were basically just people but dead now. At worst they used their abilities to try to scare him into leaving them alone. He won't think there was the possibility to actually get hurt by them and thus has no real fear of spirits.