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wickham ✦ he/him ✦ 107 ✦ cervine ✦ order mage ✦ 6'0"
You approach the tall, wrought iron gates adorned with winding ivy and look up to meet the gaze of the two looming gargoyles at the top of the tall brick walls on either side of the entrance. They seem to peer down at you questioningly through their still, inanimate staring. Through the gates you can see the long cobbled pathway leading through the overgrown grounds of the manor keep which sits up on top of the lonely hill. The manor is an impressive presence, even from this far away. It casts dark shadows across the land around it, darker still than the grey clouds lingering above. Though it is difficult to see through the exceptionally overgrown grounds surrounding the manor, you are able to spy the pallid green glow of light through one of the tower windows, casting a beacon of maladious warning to those who might be thinking of passing through those iron gates. This is Wickham manor, and though you may enter freely, your safe exit is never guaranteed.
When it comes to his work, Wickham is a very serious man. With a penchant for hyperfixation, Wickham often finds himself becoming entirely engrossed within his work, and it is common to not see or hear from him for weeks at a time when he finds himself locked in his manor hard at work. Rather eccentric, Wickham is confident outwardly though harbours many insecurities within himself. He often overcompensates for these with fabulous fineries, clothes or other pleasures. Focussed on his goals and his task at hand, Wickham is a “for the greater good” kind of man and lives by his own moral compass, for better or for worse. Not afraid to sacrifice for his mission, Wickham is determined and not easily swayed from his vision of what the future of Ivras could - or should - be.
Though he may not look it outwardly, Wickham has something of a silly streak and enjoys dancing, and being a little goofy at times. A socialite type, Wickham seems to know everyone but is not close to anyone. When rumours haven’t already preceded him, Wickham is generally first looked upon as being a little strange. Outwardly vivacious and charismatic, yet he is happiest when he is alone with only his work and his gargoyles for company. This can make Wickham something of an enigma to most, as nobody has really experienced the truth of his nature, as none have ever become so close to knowing him truly. Wickham prefers to keep people at arms length, figuratively and literally, he does not like to be touched and keeps his hands gloved at all times.
In terms of the noble house of Wickham, this was a renowned and well known house, and many would know of it by mention. Most however would assume their line had ended decades ago and many would be surprised to learn of Wickham’s continued existence. [485]
[CW for child abuse, mentions of torture, implications of “pure” bloodlines]
Born without magic to a proud and illustrious family of wild mages, Ignace entered the world as the shame of the House of Wickham. For the first time in centuries, the Wickham household had a non-mage sullying their pure bloodlines. For a family so vehemently opposed to non-mages, this did not bode well for the boy.
From the moment he was born, Ignace was treated as though he were a curse upon his family. Looked down upon as a pest, as vermin. As an embarrassment. His proud mother was torn to ruin over the shame of her mistake, and his father blamed her for it. All of the family did. She was supposed to have been from a wealthy and noble lineage, but all the young woman had brought them was a blighted son not worthy to carry their good name. The family hated Ignace so much that they started to call him a bastard, making false claims that his mother had run off in the night and gotten herself pregnant by some travelling vagrant. By the time he was a young boy, Ignace wished that those stories were true.
With their practised skill at harnessing magic and their astute study of the occult sciences, the Wickham family were decidedly not about to accept a non-mage into their proud and clean lineage. Something had to be done about poor, worthless Ignace. And so, when he turned six, the rituals began. Each and every month the family would take the boy down to their cellars, where many of their rituals took place, and bound him upon the grand altar within the summoning circle. There, they would apply all manner of science and magic combined, to attempt to withdraw the magic they were certain lay within him. The family held a theory that those with the right blood, the correct genetic makeup, were capable of harnessing magic. Only, with Ignace, this gene lay dormant. It was their will to bring it forth, to activate it. They thought that by stimulating his DNA at a molecular level, this might create just enough instability in his atoms to release this ominous gene and to activate his magic.
The family would tell Ignace, between his tears and his little punches and thrown kicks as he struggled, that it was for his own good, that it was because they loved him. And perhaps a part of that was true. Maybe, somewhere deep in there, they did love him. Or perhaps they loved the thought of him. The idea of him. Ignace thought it was merely their pride. They wanted so badly to fix their mistake, that they were willing to do anything. Even if that meant tearing the boy apart. And so they relented, pulling and drawing at the boy’s atoms, despite the pleading and the begging and the screaming for them to stop. The pain which rattled his little bones, every single fibre of his being, continued for a year and a day. Until something within the seven year old finally snapped. On that fateful night the boy’s body began to change irreversibly.
They had sought to destabilise his atoms, and they had succeeded, a little more than was at first intended. At first the exact nature of Ignace’s magic was not immediately obvious, only that something in him had changed. There was a strange luminous glow beneath his skin, a light in his eyes which was not there before. It took some further experimentation for the family to realise that Wickham’s powers were more passive than they had hoped. Still, they were incredibly useful, and in time the family found that they were indeed invaluable to their work.
Throughout his preteen years and into his teenagehood, Ignace grew from being the family’s dirty little secret, to being their greatest asset. With his abilities, Ignace could transfer powers between mages. Take, and give, as his lord and lady commanded it. Though with each exchange, the boy grew weary, and the pain was never ending. The more he used his magic, the more Ignace’s subatomic structure began to destabilise, and soon he was showing cracks and disintegration in his physical being. Though his mother and father cared not, and he was forced to always wear his pair of leather gloves, lest he accidentally use his powers without their permission. [723]
Wickham lives alone (save for his gargoyles) in his empty, lonely manor, working away at his metaphysical theories. Occasionally he will go out during a great hunt to observe and - if he can - collect samples from the monster to aid his research. He is quite a loner but never turns away a weary traveller who might stumble upon his grounds.[60]
1. Wickham is able to absorb the magic from other mages and store them inside of himself for an indefinite amount of time. Though he is unable to use these powers himself, Wickham holds them within himself like a catalogue, a library, an archive, of various different magical abilities. When he absorbs a mage’s power, they no longer possess their magical ability.
2. As well as absorbing other’s powers, Wickham is also able to transfer a power from his internal catalogue into another person. So far, through his research and experimentation of this, Wickham has found that he is only able to transfer or give magical abilities to those who already possess the prerequisite for possessing and wielding magic. He believes that this is due to a special gene which all mages possess as part of their genetic makeup, whether they realise it or not.
It may be that someone has the gene but it is dormant, meaning they display no magical ability, but are capable of receiving a power from Wickham. Or it may be that a mage dislikes their current abilities and wishes to trade their own for a new one. Wickham can facilitate this, for a price. [198]
Power notes
OOC, Wickham cannot take a mage’s power without their owner’s prior consent and without them giving their magic to him willingly.
Wickham cannot use the powers he absorbs, they simply sit within him.
Wickham cannot give a non-mage powers, however it has been kindly approved by the mods that if someone wishes to have their non-mage receive powers via the Rite of Grace it can be arranged for it to happen through Wickham IC if you like!
The weight of so much power residing within him takes its toll, and Wickham has found over the many years which he has been internally collecting magic, that it is affecting his body greatly. The longer he retains these powers within his organic body, and the more of them he holds, the more unstable his atoms become.
This has led to a gradual decay or breaking down of Wickham’s structural integrity, and slowly his atoms are breaking apart into subatomic particles, and he is losing his physical form. There are rips and tears, missing parts of his organic body, which now hold his shape in the form of tiny particles of dark matter. This is especially prevalent in his hands, up his forearms, from his chest up his neck. [129]
Always wears gloves, for he cannot always control his magic and may accidentally harm another by touching them with his bare hands.
Being that he is, as far as he is concerned, the last of his ilk, Wickham wears his family name proudly. It is something of a personal taunt toward them, for they always said that he was unworthy to hold their name. Now he wears it as a badge of pride.
There aren’t many who know his first name, he always simply goes by and introduces himself as Wickham.
“Iggy” to his friends. Of which he has none.
Very close with his gargoyles.
Does not like being touched.
Pact of Fortune
Handmade Idol
Familiar
