Clarence

Clarence
plague patron; age unknown

A complete asshole. Weirdly sociable and likes to visit his followers but he's equally irritable and snappy. Locked in rivalry with a second plague patron.

Clarence's festering skin is sensitive to temperature, especially in liquids. While cool air can numb it, ice and/or boiling water causes the patron unbearable pain. There's a bath tub full of sickly green liquid in the asylum that negates his little condition for a while. Best not to ask what the liquid is or how much time Clarence spends in that tub (hint: it's a lot). He likes to randomly show up at followers' houses and have little tea parties. Dishes made from liver or other intestines are his favourite. Usually just drinks blood, but other beverages are fine.

Story

Born into a now-forgotten village an unclear time ago, Clarence was just a peasant. Like his parents and all of his family. Food was scarce, harvests were poor and thievery was abundant. But death never discriminates. Some sort of death deity went on a rampage sending a terrible plague down on the village and other areas that culled everything in its path. Authorities began dealing with it the only way they knew how - digging corpse pits and dumping the dead into them. Naturally, Clarence caught the plague as well. It turned people into absent zombies, and he was tossed into the pit a little... early. Clarence was still conscious as more corpses were dumped on top of him. It's unclear whether suffocation or the plague took him first. In any case, Clarence died buried under the corpses of the village folk.

Some time later, perhaps a couple of months, the young man opened his eyes again. He still saw death and decay but the smell didn't come off as sickening. Rather pleasant in some way. His mouth was dry and teeth aching - that's assuming Clarence still had any teeth left. Before he knew it he'd bit down on the closest corpse - apparently it was just what the doctor prescribed. Clarence dug his way out of the pile in a most gruesome way - by eating through the corpses that were piled on top of him. People he knew, too. In the process he'd noticed his own body taking a turn for the better - it slowly dawned on him that he'd become something... inhuman. Well of course. After a dozen or so bodies and no death, why would he still be human? Clarence scoffed at the thought. How silly. But his skin wasn't recovering. It was covered in ugly blisters and rashes, an early sign of the plague.

In any case, the patron moved on. He abandoned the pit, the village ruins, he wasn't even sure how much time had passed. But the first step was to look presentable - only then could he actually go and settle down. Slowly, Clarence had started gaining a following. It was small, but devoted. Then the other plague patron took notice of him. And the others in the same community. Perhaps a second life wasn't so bad. Clarence settled down in an abandoned asylum in an undecided place. Perhaps it's off the mortal plane, perhaps it's floating around. It's a little unclear. The decrepit asylum balances on a cliff atop a contaminated lake devoid of life, surrounded by nothing but dead plains. But Clarence likes it there. He likes the following he's acquired, his disciple also. Dying doesn't have to be terrible, does it?

Abilities

Swarm
Clarence summons a swarm of plague-carrying rats/locusts/mosquitoes/any other kind of plague carrier animal to either spread a specific sickness or just devour everything in their way.

Cure
Only used when one of his followers beseeches him to do so. Cures most (if not all) sorts of ailments. Cannot be used if the ailment was cast by another patron, though.

Devour
A self-healing skill. Clarence chomps down on some unfortunate soul's flesh to restore his own. 

Bullet Curtain
Applied to Clarence's rifle. Briefly gives the old thing a fully automatic function with endless ammunition.

Miasma
A sickening smell surrounds Clarence and weakens all sentient things around him to the point where they likely can't stand on their feet. Can be negated with a nicely-crafted gas mask.

Sight
Clarence can see through eyes of a plague carrier animal on demand. Rats, ravens, mosquitoes, locusts and other critters that carry diseases deadly to mortals are all his familiars.

Passive Abilities

Fester
Any open wound caused by Clarence is instantly infected and must be treated immediately or the victim will contract flesh-eating bacteria.

Immunity
Clarence himself is naturally immune to all sorts of viruses and bacteria out there.