Profile
“The world spins, people die. Ain't none of us escapin' it. What happens afterwards though, that's different for us all. It depends how you lived, and mostly how you die. You ascend or descend them spiritual planes—or get stuck here with me...”
Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, with a sixth sense, Kaz Briggs had the spirits of the dead around him even as a baby. He grew up acting as if he were in a whole other world, constantly letting his mind cross back-and-forth, and seemingly talking to the air. Really, he was talking to his ghosts, most often his Spirit Guide, a little boy named Kamen. His parents were two "normal" people, who, at first, hoped their distant and disinterested child merely had imaginary friends. Yet when his social interactions with real, living children kept taking a backseat to ghosts, his parents began to worry. To them, their child had weird mood swings, either becoming increasingly quiet to the point of mute, withdrawn from the world, or acting completely out of character (his OOC-ness came when a ghost entered him, taking his child's body for a spin). His mother quickly forced Kaz into therapy, treating him for Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality Syndrome).
Without really understanding the reasons for it, Kaz's childhood was full of family tensions, most of it directed towards his paternal grandmother, a local Voodoo Queen and soon-to-be ordained Mambo called Mama Lazarus. His Maw Maw was the only person to support Kaz's gift, encouraging him to use his Mediumship and helping him focus through Voodoo and Hoodoo arts. His parents, unfortunately, wanted nothing to do with her cults and religions, vehemently blaming her for Kaz's "mental state".
Then Hurricane Katrina hit and the levees around NOLA broke, flooding the entire historic city and killing well over a thousand dead in Louisiana. The Briggs family left before the tragedy struck, taking shelter in Houston, Texas. However, Kaz still felt the death toll visiting him and went into spiritual seizures. Worse, they left Mama Lazarus behind, and the Voodoo Queen vanished. Everyone thought the older woman died in the floodwaters, one of the many bodies still never found. Eight-year-old Kaz knew better, believing if she had died her spirit would visit him, or one of the other many, many ghosts would tell him she had journeyed over the Crossroads. To him, it was a mystery, one that left him without his caring support. The little family returned to the French Quarter to rebuild their lives, but now Kamen became his primary teacher in controlling the other ghosts—and his resentment towards his parents began.
At 13, Kaz decided to run away from the suffocating living world he was stuck in, and left to find what happened to Mama Lazarus. He went back to the only city he knew: Houston. From there, without the restraints of his parents desperately begging him to "act normal", Kaz freely experimented with his powers, reigning in malicious spirits and actively seeking out paranormal problems. He also continued his search for his Maw Maw, and while slumming the occult underground he learned of Slate Guidry's interest in Voodoo and curses.
With all other resources exhausted, and having no ties or place to live, Kaz ends up in the small bayou town of Maison Rouge. And once there it was not difficult to locate the wannabe rockstar at the local bar and dives... (wip)
Among the House Kaz became known as Klaxon:
Because he's often blaring music through headphones when he wants some "alone time", to drown out the voices of the ghosts around him—who sometimes communicate back just as glaringly. This, rather jokingly, earned him the nickname 'Klaxon' because: "It's always the quiet ones you have to watch out for..."
About
Growing up surrounded by the dead, Klaxon doesn't differentiate between the souls trapped on this plane and the living. In fact, he tends to prefer the company of his ghosts, so he isn't socially outgoing. Which is fine as his back-and-forth between the planes leaves his physical body always cold, as if perpetually in a morgue, and most folks don't even like to shake hands with him. He's learned to let go of all earthly distractions and tends to stare or blank out often, ignoring Visible conversations for all the Invisible ghostly chatter around him. However, this makes him a focused and hard-worker when it comes to the job, because he knows if he doesn't focus, he could get distracted and then it won't get done.
A withdrawn child, Kaz grew up creative, making hand-made ritual charms and cultural crafts with his grandmother, and with a passion for drawing—although most of the time his artwork was dissociative in nature, since he'd free-hand with a ghost's hand. He still continues to draw and hopes to find time to apprentice at a tattoo shop (but if you want a free tattoo, he's more than willing to practice on you).
Open-minded, a believer in everything, Klaxon is very much an accepting "it is what it is" type and doesn't hate on much. He's more connected to the spiritual plane, has seen the world through countless souls, so he has a lot of apathy towards the Visible plane. He doesn't judge, and therefore doesn't consider things either "right" or "wrong". To him, it doesn't matter what the living does, because everybody dies the same in the end. That being said, he isn't fond of his parents, due to his poor childhood and the way they almost angrily treated him and his grandmother like outcasts... he never knew they had deeper reasons...
Likes
- Art and drawing
- Tattoos and piercings
- LOUD metal music
- Keeping to himself
- Graveyards (ghosts don't hang around them as often as you'd think, so he gets "alone time")
Dislikes
- Zombies
- ~
- Sports
- People trying to change him
- Hot water and drinks (due to having a low body temperature it feels like getting burned)
Powers | Abilities
- Mental Mediumship
- Clairaudience - He can hear spirits' voices, able to communicate with the dead and gaining otherworldly knowledge.
- Clairvoyance - Ghosts show him things to "read", such as memory transference through visions, time-slips, or phantom objects.
- Clairsentience - If not shielded, he can sense any lingering, clinging emotions from ghosts; this can happen in areas they once lived, reading off loved ones left behind, or from the ghost themselves through channeling.
- Aura Barrier - A must for anyone dealing with the Other Side, Klaxon can [mentally and emotionally] "wall off" his soul from the spirits (and whatever else) crossing over, a state of being and sheer willpower. This keeps him safe and assures against forced possessions. He can not do this for other people, but he can teach it.
- Physical Mediumship
- Channeling - Klaxon can call to, draw out, and even bind spirits from the Visible Plane of the Living, or visa-versa. He can act as a conduit to open multiple channels connecting the Afterlife.
- Exorcism - Through his lifetime of honing his mediumship Klaxon has become strong enough to exorcism ghost from the Visible Plane completely. It is something he does not use lightly as he is sensitive to the needs of the dead. Often it is used in extreme haunting cases where dangerous poltergeists or cursed spirits are involved.
- Poltergeist Fighters - Klaxon is not physically strong, not much of a fighter himself, but he can bind ghosts to him (similar to how ghosts will haunt a particular place or person) and unleash them on others to attack. He doesn't like to use ghosts in such a way, like guard dogs, but it is a necessary evil for him. In Voodoo, spirits can be trapped in colorful glass bottles and this is often Klaxon's method of keeping them near.
- Psychometry - He is strong enough not to need third-party objects, but Klaxon can of course connect/read through occult artifacts like Ouija boards, or translating messages via tech as Electronic Voice Phenomenon (E.V.P.).
- Vessel - He can act as a "host body" for passed souls. This allows him to let the ghost communicate using his voice, or to help himself in dire situations by containing a ghost with greater powers or skills.
- "Cadaver Eyes" - As a Vessel his eyes glaze over with a whitish film, like a body that's been dead awhile.
- Possession/Ghost Physiology - Under possession, Klaxon can observe through his own eyes but allows the ghost to control his behavior and actions. He is aware, but to those on the outside he will seem like a completely different person. He can cast them out any time he wishes.
- Voodoo hounsis bossale
- Loa Worship - A religion based around worshiping ancestors and the great intermediary spirits, Klaxon uses his medium skills to speak with the Loa, asking for their help with magic or guidance when needed. This is not something he does often as the Loa do require a certain amount of service and boons to be paid in turn.
- Loa Physiology - If they demand it, the Voodoo intermediary spirits of the Loa will use Klaxon's host body to interact with the Living. Referred to as being 'ridden', Klaxon will display the personality, traits, skills, and magical abilities of the specific Loa possessing him. Notably works with the Ghede family.
- Crossroads Magic - Seeking divine intervention at the place where two roads cross (symbolic of the gates between the Visible/Living and Invisible/Dead), this magic allows for spiritual help in spellcasting and transferring souls.
- Vèvè (Sigil) Casting - Every Loa is represented by a specific pictorial, a religious symbol that acts as a beacon to call them to the Visible Plane. Klaxon casts the symbols in a magical representation when he is Ridden, or humbly in chalk or corn meal for rituals.
- Gris gris, ouanga/wanga - Use of charms and talismans, including Voodoo dolls, and Creole ouanga (positive) and wanga (negative), to influence, bless, and hex the world around him. This is a trade and form of faith he picked up from his grandmother.
- Voodoo Powders - Strong spiritual energy tied into herbology, these "black magic powders" are used for a wide range of spells and effects.
- Hoodoo rootworker
- Herbology and Potions - Botanical concoctions to "cross", remedies to cure, Hoodoo at its core is Natural (of nature) Folk Magic and very personal to each family that practices it. Klaxon uses the recipes handed down from his grandmother.
- Candle Magic - Ritual burning to cast spells, aid prayers, and "lay down tricks".
- Gris gris, ouanga/wanga - See above
- Multi-lingual - Speaks fluent English and Louisiana Creole-French, conversational Haitian-Creole, Cajun French, and European French, and is beginner-level Spanish (self-taught since moving to Texas). His Creole is used in his Voodoo prayers and invocation
Klaxon showing his trademark "Cadaver Eyes"
Limitations | Weaknesses
Klaxon's primary power, that of being a Medium, is completely dependent on the cooperation of the ghosts around him. He is not a precognitive psychic himself and can only "read" what the spirits share with him, even if it's subtle, mysterious, or abstract. This, naturally, leaves room for his human interpretation, as well as sometimes having to "fill in the blanks". As a spiritualist, Klaxon can only commune with the Afterlife; he cannot utilize Animism as a source of magic.
Despite his practiced strength with summoning and controlling ghosts, there are more powerful otherworld entities that can force a possession, to which he is wary. He has no experience in demonology, and to try and communicate with demons (or angels) would be difficult for Klaxon; to Vessel these kinds of beings would be dangerous. However, with his lifetime of opening channels and doors, Klaxon has made himself susceptible to being visited—and toyed with—by celestial and fallen types. Even with Voodoo Loa, being a vessel cheval (horse) and being "mounted" by the Gods means total amnesia for his actions, which, depending on the individual Loa and circumstances, could be anything from embarrassing, up to potentially life-threatening for human Klaxon.
In Voodoo, Klaxon is merely hounsis bossale, meaning raw, wild, or uncultivated; he is not an ordained Priest of the religion and would barely be considered a shaman. He prefers to work with his ghosts over any magic, and what he does practice is his way to stay close to his Louisiana Voodoo Queen grandmother, valuing and missing the support of his like-minded Maw Maw; he uses his Voodoo knowledge as a means to find her, to get into that world of magic and monsters. Still, Klaxon barely dedicates himself to the cult and is only a second-rate Hoodoo Conjure Man; he has little chance or desire in making gris-gris and folk magic a full-time career. He can work roots on someone, but without the Loa's guidance and help from the ancestor spirits, his magic can struggle.
Not to mention his empathy for his ghosts has produced his greatest fear: Zombies. And in Voodoo, the dark magic of a Bokor can raise the dead, and he'd prefer to avoid falling into such circumstances or having to witness the rituals.
Playlist
Blood in the Water - Shaman's Harvest
Trivia
⚜ His body temperature is always below average (and drops further when he's channeling) making him cold to the touch, like perpetually in a morgue. He spends too much time "outside" himself on the other side, or housing souls.
⚜ Klax often mumbles aloud, "Ouv lapòt." In Creole it means "Open the door" and is an instruction to Kamen to let him cross over, allowing him to channel and speak with spirits.
⚜ Klaxon enjoys drawing, always being an artistic person and good with his hands. He hopes to someday have the time to intern at a tattoo shop. He focuses on black-and-grey illustrative in dark, surreal themes.
⚜ Character was created on November 5, 2015, so I made the month and day his birthday.
⚜ Read more Trivia here
Links
China Copperfield
[ Love Interest ]
What started as "all work" slowly, quite casually, became something deeper. Klaxon met China when she showed up to hire him for his medium services, but they became close during their time together with her investigations. The friendship they formed carried on long after the battle, until Klaxon could no longer deny he had romantic feelings for Chai.
Kamen
[ Spirit Guide ]
With him since the day he was born, Kamen acts as a guardian for Kaz whenever he would cross over. Through the years the little boy's soul has been a play-mate for child Kaz, a troublemaker for teen Kaz, and, as he gets older, Klaxon looks at Kamen as a little brother he never had.
HTML by Pinky
