Charles Blackridge-The Dreamer

Appearance

A slightly tall, scrawny-looking Londoner who wears a leather WW2 pilot’s jacket, which belonged to his grandfather, at all times, even when it’s boiling out- not likely, given his homeland, but one never knows. His jeans are usually a little bit scuffed, and his shoes, usually something looking like a mixture of combat boots and sports shoes,usually look a little beat-up, too.

Upon first glance, he appears to be just another idiotic person just haphazardly stumbling through life- eyes somewhat averted, hands in his pockets, and so on. However, there’s something about his stride that seems just.. wrong for that description. He always moves with a sense of great purpose, as if he’s urgently needed elsewhere, and doesn’t have the time or energy to deal with those around him.

His most striking features are his eyes. One person described them as 'looking like a chaotic blue sea… waves of turquoise smashing and breaking against solid rocks of saphire; however, there always seemed to be method to the madness, a sense of harmony and balance hard to find even in nature, at least nowadays…'

History/Background

Charles Blackridge claims he was born and bred in London. This is a half-truth, though: he was actually born in a small town outisde of Seoul, South Korea, near the 38th Parallel (for those who don’t know, that’s the boundary between North and South Korea). His father, Colonel Oliver Blackridge, of the British SAS, had been assigned to cover the Parallel alongside a battalion of Dominican Special Forces infantry, under the control of the U.N.; Charlie’s mother was their commanding officer. The affair was kept a secret, so as not to damage the boy’s future. When the North Korean infantry crossed the Parallel, igniting the Second Korean war, his father was critically wounded in combat. To save his life, and her son’s, his mother ordered the SAS forces back, holding the breach with only her unit. All of them were killed; fifty-seven medals were awarded posthumously, with a Victoria Cross going to Charlie’s mother. He wears the award as a necklace, to remind himself of what she gave for him.

During his childhood in London, he was given a military education: he was trained in not just the 'when, where, and how’s' of fighting, but was taught to see the 'why' as the most important part. He fit in well with his father’s men, who would say, 'Well, you’ve got the spirit and the bearing- now if only we could teach you how to maintain th’bloody standards of military tidiness!' He was a happy young lad, but something always seemed wrong about life; there always seemed to be something other than what was obvious around him, something incredible and amazingly powerful just beyond his reach. Furthermore, he had dreams: dreams of strange things, of strange lands, of falling through skies quaking with fire, of swimming through oceans mercury that could not crush him- of his mother, telling him how proud she is of him. He couldn’t understand these feelings until he hit the age of 14, and met the Korean midwife who had helped his mother give birth to him. He had accompanied his father back to Korea for humanitarian operations, and she had managed to single him out of the entire SAS group.

He was frightened of the elderly woman at first, but she knew the dark thoughts on his mind- the thoughts of a better world just beyond his fingertips, that power whose very proximity to him made him feel powerless.

Furthermore, she knew of his dreams.

This piqued his curiosity, and she agreed to show him what he saw every night- to show him the power that he sought. In a small building, she taught the young man how to meditate, and brought him to a new land, one of the same fabric which his dreams were made from. But this was no dream land; no this world was one of nightmares, where nefarious monsters devoured the flesh of the weak, and horrific beings stalked through ashen mounds, made from the dust of innocence destroyed. Horrified, he attempted to run, to flee into the safety of his own mind, but was blocked by the mid-wife, who told him that if he wished to truly master this power, he must learn to control his fears. He saw the creatures approach, and his terror grew, until he remembered his lineage, his training, his pride as a son of an SAS operative, of England! Pulling out his combat knife, he charged one of the creatures… only to see the knife pass through it like a cloud of dust. It was then he realized that these creatures were not truly alive; they were the mental barriers that kept him from his powers. These were the thoughts that told him that the power was just beyond his reach, when he had really had it all along!

From that initial start of realizing that his powers were only limited by the restrictions emplaced upon them by his mind, Blackridge soon set out to increase his powers, slowly expanding the realm of possibilities for his spells. Whenever he found something he considered to be amoral knowledge, he would condition himself to believe it impossible, so as to never be tempted by this knowledge.

As time went on, he found others who seeked the same things as him- knowledge. However, these first encounters were not always happy; they often put him at odds with various occultist groups, such as the infamous Cavaliers of Armageddon, a cult devoted to summoning the Anti-Christ and bringing about revelations- a task Blackridge knows to be impossible, as there is no Anti-Christ, but which could still summon some tough demons. Soon enough, his knowledge of SAS tactics came in handy, and he became an expert cultist-hunter.

This profession led him to his fateful bonding with the demon Gabriel. On the run from Cavalier assassins, he found a greater demon in his realm. However, the demon was in trouble; you see, he was sent to the human world without a body to possess and remake in his image. Without such a tool, his magic energy would slowly bleed away, until i became nothingness- a process that would drive him insane. Desperate to avoid such a fate, Gabriel made a simple deal with Blackridge: 'let me live inside of you to conserve my powers, and I’ll lend you my strength.' Initially, Gabriel hoped to take over Blackridge’s body, but the wily young sorcerer proved too resilient to be outdone. As of now, the two are in a symbiotic, but mutually tense partnership. Blackridge maintains complete control over his body at all times; Gabriel would need to seriously deplete his energy reserves just to control him for 24 hours, which would hardly justify the loss.

Blackridge and Gabriel are currently working alongside a small anti-cult group known as the Torches. Blackridge is also taking an engineering course at Oxford.

Special Equipment

Caor Thine: translated as 'Thunderbolt' in Gaelic. This is an ancient Scottish claymore, forged during the Dark Ages by an invading group of Scottish raiders at Stonehenge. Imbued by druids with the powers of lightning, the blade can be summoned from thin air, with a loud crack of thunder heard loud and clear to anyone near him.

Victoria Cross: this Victoria Cross was awarded posthumously to his mother, and was presented to him in her stead. He now wears it as a necklace, a fact which leads to great confusion amongst his cohorts, who are often un-knowledgeable regarding military terms and just think he’s a hard-core Catholic.

DaVinci’s Magick and Rune Portfolio: a little-known piece of work, widely considered to be the last work done by the infamous Italian inventor. This is a complete catalogue of every single arcane rune and ancient magical symbol invented before Davinci’s time. It comes in very handy when dealing with some of the more… old-fashioned demons and monsters out there.

Guitar: What? It’s just a bloody acoustic guitar. There is literally nothing at all special about this item, other than the fact that he has been known to play it on the street when bored; for some reason, he gets angry when people throw change at him.

Roleplaying Notes

-Blackridge is known for having a somewhat cynical nature, his voice always containing a certain tinge of sarcasm.

-Blackridge CAN summon some demons, thanks to Gabriel’s presence. Because these demons are often low-ranking, and therefore lacking in power, he mainly uses them in auxiliary roles; for example, using a gargoyle to keep track of people.

- Blackridge, despite his interests in the occult, hates most of what he calls 'the mindless occult fan-fiction about bloody vampires written by mindless tarts.' He deeply hopes to one day be able to show Stephanie Meyer what a real vampire is like.

-Blackridge is a huge fan of the Manchester football team. If you want to make friends with him quickly, simply go to a game with him. Even if you’re rooting for the other team, he’ll probably just toss some friendly insults back and forth with you and leave it at that.