Thread: Reaper Textbook - Character Profile Thread

Full Name Arthur Edward Waite Nicknames Art. He was called Arthwaite by Aleister Crowley in the novel Moonchild . Race Reaper human Age Born October 2, 1857 Personality Arthur is, in a word, focused. Oh, he's witty and charming and loyal, but more than anything else he focuses on a task and remains focused until it is complete. Element Akasha . His scythe is a spectral thing, seemingly made of silvery mists. Abilities Arthur Waite manipulates a force he has variously referred to as 'akasha' and 'quintessence', the fifth of the classical elements. This gives him vast control over the forces of the higher planes the Etherial and the lower and upper Astral. His attacks and defenses are made on these upper levels of reality, manifesting in the physical world as the effects of misfortune and entropy - attacks miss, weapons misfire, vehicles breakdown, and people suffer heart attacks or aneurysms. His powers are not limited to attack and defense, however. He can use them to heal both physical and mental illnesses, and to perceive the possible future by observing the Astral currents. Most commonly, he makes use of his original tarot deck for this purpose. Physical description Although the 'outer world' believes Arthur Waite lived a normal human lifespan and died on the 19th of May in 1942, Arthur Waite the Reaper merely faked his death and used his powers to reverse the physical appearance of aging. He is a tall man, with jet black hair and piercing blue eyes, favoring black or navy suits and his St. Charles College tie when he is teaching or going about his daily routine. When called into the field he dresses for the hunt, wearing khaki and boots, and an overcoat. History Art is the illegitimate child of US Army Captain Charles Waite and Emma Lovell. His father died when he was two years old, and he was raised in England. He was educated at St. Charles' College, a small private school in North London, and by his father. Emma Lovell didn't know it, but Captain Waite was a Reaper, capable of manipulating sound. He was the one that found his son first, when Art began developing his own abilities, and taught his boy the rudiments of how to survive in the alien world he'd become a part of. It was also Captain Waite that led Art to the Reapers, and the dead man's proudest moment was when his own son helped him cross through the Veil. As a result of his own exotic powers, as well as the lengthy association with his dead father and the death of his sister Frederika, Art developed a strong and lasting interest in philosophy and mysticism. He joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1891, the Freemasons in 1901, and the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia in 1902, seeking a greater understanding of the Mystery cloaked by the Name of God. It was during his association with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn that he met and made an enemy of Aleister Crowley the self-styled Great Beast, with the two exchanging vicious and bitter letters in various journals and, some believe, even dueling magically. Art also founded two mystical orders of his own, the Independent and Rectified Order R. R. et A. C. and he Fellowship of the Rosy Cross. Neither lasted, something that could also be said of his two marriages - first to Ada Lakeman and second to Mary Schofield. The demands of his life as a Reaper and his interest in mysticism and the occult crippled both relationships. He had one daughter from his first marriage, Sybil Waite, a charming and utterly human girl. After faking his death in 1942, Art withdrew fully into Reaper society, spending the 40s through the 60s laying spirits to rest and hunting Serpentiles. In 1967 he was offered a Professorship at the Styx Reaper Academy, teaching ethics and metaphysical theory. He still returns to the field from time to time, however, unwilling to grow rusty sitting behind a desk.