Thread: Onyx Landing Character Thread

Character Name Jacob Foster Aliases Preacher, Father, Reverend, the Widowed Gender Male Profession Preacher Apparent age 28 Appearance Photo Personality Foster was a scholar, a preacher, a father, a friend. He was a man without a single ounce of hate in his body. He was a lover of books, a tinkerer of watches, a councilor of guilt. He was always a man who espoused a life in service to the community and to God was all one needed to find answers and fulfillment. He has changed. Jacob has become a man of contradiction. He espouses the word of the lord yet crawls into a bottle or the sheets of a whore on some nights when the nightmares grow too dark. He pours over texts of science, history, medicine, and witchcraft while spouting the gospel to hide his own doings. He speaks the words of comfort and scripture, while barely believing in it anymore, and thus he is able to lie to the faces of the hopeful and devote. He is a man that is hungry for answers at the cost of all others, while he trembles for what he might uncover. Jacob has seen dark things. And those dark things has stained his soul. Recent history Jacob lives in the church with his daughter. A good preacher was hard to come by. He had come to this place for a reason he cant describe, only that there is something wrong here. Something very wrong, and he felt it before. He is already well known through the town, as well as the rumors and sins, but thats almost to be expected on the frontier. Notable relationships His Daughter Katie Foster Strengths, talents, and points of pride 1. Scholar, knows a little about everything 2. Charismatic, he still knows how to sway a crowd 3. Investigative, he is able to notice things and see patterns others my miss Weaknesses, detriments, and points of improvement 1. Wastrel, sometimes its best not to know, better to forget, bring on the drink 2. Obsessive, discovering the truth at all cost, even if the truth is digusting and vile 3. Unhinged, even being awake is no reprieve if the nightmares come then too Background story Son to a family of clock makers, Jacob was an intelligent boy who grew up educated and erudite in the ways of engineering. As a bibliophile and learned man, he grew fascinated with the schools of pharmacology, steam locomotion, chemistry, and mechanics. He would have been a great engineer. Perhaps one of the Fords, Vanderbilt, or Harrimen if it wasn't for two things. The War and Claudia. During the war, the way of steam punk technologies were used for logistics and great suffering, and a great mind as his was set about to making sure, as many Confederate soldiers died to the crank automatic guns, steam cannons, or steam tanks as possible. His job was in their development, and manufacture and he had unfortunately had been able to see the fruit of his work function all too well. Many times, he had fallen into depression, thinking often that for the suffering he had brought to the world, he'd ought to not live in it. A woman saved him. She worked preparing clothing for the war effort when they met. She saw his sadness, and brought her with him to a service. Always the rational man, he had committed himself to Gods work only sparingly, but that day he found Christ. He found forgivness and salvation. More then that, he found love. He knew he would marry her that day. Following the war, the two headed West. Away from the war. Away from the scuffle and scandal. West where the trains needed mechanics and the towns needed education. He found happiness as a teacher and a preacher, a welcome and beloved member of the community while his wife carried and raised their daughter Katie and conversed with other women folk. It was going to be the life he would smile and die in. Happy, complete. And then Caludia was murdered. Not her body. Her soul. Claudia was holding a knife over their four year old daughter when Jacob caught her. The look she gave him... those weren't human eyes. Jacob attacked her, pinning her to the ground. What Claudia became, how her mouth unhinged, how the skin melted off her skull, how great horns grew from her. In a single instant, Jacob saw that hell was real and demons walked the earth. The creature scratched him, he emptied a revolver into the creature. Bullets ripping through its chest like the war. Still it stood, uncaring, it fled west. That was not the end to his suffering. A town, ignorant and clueless and ridiculing to his crazy story, he investigated himself. Claudia's new friends were also missing. Their homes cleared out, and evidence of odd behaviors on the property. The more he discovered the worse it got. Witchcraft, the occult, sacrifices, including the bones of a child. It made a mad man even madder. That creature that was his wife? Was it really a demon? Why has the world suddenly become so dark? He had to know, and he knew he wouldn't like the answer... Are you rational or passionate? There was a time I was passionate. Back when everything made sense... Now all I have are the facts. Atleast I can rely on those. Are you sophisticated or superstitious? There was a time I'd call this all superstitious nonsense. Fairy tales of the old west. If only I hadn't seen them with my own eyes. How do you describe the indescribable? How strong is your faith? To be honest. It wanes. Not because I don't believe there is a god. Its cause I don't believe he is a...good god.