Blackwell

Blackwell

he/him x ?? x elemental (mushroom florid)

Appearance

Blackwell is a short, rather unimposing fellow, with bright red hair and incredibly pale, sickly looking skin. His pinkish eye is wide and darts around constantly, making note of anything of interest in his surroundings, and his blackened nails are short and ragged from constantly being chewed on. Most prominent of all is the great purple mushroom sprouting from Blackwell's head. At first glance it appears that the weight of the thing has pushed it down over one eye, but in truth it grows from his face that way. Despite looking more or less like a solid person, Blackwell is cold and somewhat spongy to the touch, and frequently more than a little slimy, and if cut he doesn't bleed, only reveals the same pale, spongy flesh present on the outside and, rarely, a dark, thick fluid that oozes for a moment then stops.

Personality

As a """scientist,""" Blackwell's primary personality trait is his curiosity. He wants to understand every part of the living world and, more frequently than is probably comfortable, the dead one. Unfortunately, he is entirely without morals or ethics, and does not take the feelings of other entities into consideration when performing his many experiments. He has been called sadistic, but he takes no pleasure from the act of hurting others, only from the thrill of discovery. That people should be injured in the pursuit of gaining more knowledge is just an unfortunate side effect. For all his many, many, many flaws, Blackwell considers himself to be a fine and friendly sort, and will often chatter away to his subjects as he works on them. He's always happy to impart knowledge to others, whether or not they want to hear about it, and is very enthusiastic about his work.

Abilities

Spore- less of an ability and more of an act of nature. Every so often, Blackwell will wander into the woods to grow long stalks from his eyes and mouth and, after a few hours, will release spores into the surrounding area. He finds this to be a bit embarrassing, hence why he takes it away from polite society. It is, however, necessary for the use of one of his other abilities

Cordyceps- by infecting creatures with his spores, Blackwell can gain a kind of control over them. As each spore is a part of himself, when they settle into something else he can give out simple commands and get a sense for where they are and what they're doing. He cannot see through their eyes exactly, but he can figure out what sort of area they're in, the temperature/weather of that area, and approximately how many other people are present there. This ability only works on insects and small, simpleminded creatures such as rodents or small birds, and he must be careful not to indulge too much in the pseudo-hivemind he has built, or risk losing himself to it. He must also replenish his collection of hosts frequently, as they often die within a week or so of infection. 

Sinensis- despite being somewhat lacking in evidence, Blackwell swears up and down that his particular breed of fungus has certain health benefits. Whether or not this is true of all mushrooms of his kind, Blackwell in particular does have healing magic of his own. The thick fluid he leaks on occasion can heal injuries, and can be mixed into a more potent concoction that can seal up even grievous wounds, such as amputations, which is useful in his line of work. Given enough time and limbs of his own, he can even create a kind of paste that allows him to graft together different parts that were never meant to be grafted, and delights in seeing what new abominations he can create. Much like the creatures he infects with his spores, these abominations rarely live very long, although whether this is a side effect of the paste or the shock of being so horribly disfigured requires more experimentation. There is also the issue of harvesting enough material to create his assorted brews, but Blackwell is nothing if not dedicated to his cause, and has one other trick up his uncomfortably slimy sleeve.

Regrowth- so long as the majority of his body is left intact and he has access to enough decaying leaves and insect bodies, Blackwell can regrow any lost limbs over a period of weeks. It is, of course, an inconvenience, so he tries not to take more than a few fingers at a time for his projects, but he has the potential to take more. He is, of course, always aware of how much he is removing and what he will require to heal most efficiently, and takes great pains to avoid a situation that may cause him to reroot and be forced to grow his body all over again, something he learned via decades of trial and error.