Camden Crane

Camden Crane is a wandering monk wielding abhorrent eldritch powers. Though he exhibits moments of lucidity, he is quite mad, and can be cryptic or flighty at even the best of times, making it difficult to collect precise information.

## History

Picked from among the farming villages near Catania, Camden Crane was all too eager to join the local clergy of Iomedae to spare himself a life of backbreaking labor. The priests had a particular mission for him, one that would require years of training. The abbey housed a tome within its sealed depths known as the Librum Effluvium. A dark, cursed tome, and one that had already claimed many others who had attempted to plumb its pages. Crane would be prepared and made ready to read it, in a search for some incantation that might lift the book's curse and allow its knowledge to be used for the good of all - or at least allow it to be properly destroyed.

Many mental tests did Crane endure in order to hone his sanity for what was to come. But ultimately it was not enough. The book left him reeling and desperate, flooding him with ghastly images. Stellar vistas, deepest darkest pits of existence, beasts that were as powerful as they were utterly mindless. Worse yet, he knew he had been changed somehow - the madness had seeped into his flesh and twisted more than his psyche. Awakening by the book's pulpit, Crane's fearful eyes drifted downward and spotted the body of another priest, flesh lashed and torn, yet withered beyond recognition.

Between the dark weight that now sat in the root of his brain, and the murderous crime he assumed he had committed in his maddened stupor, Crane quickly fled the monastery. It took many days of hiding, sobbing and shouting at the sky before he gathered himself enough to decide what to do next. In time, he began to embrace the strange change, as if he had always been this way.

## Appearance

There is a distinctly uncanny look about Crane, his features partly human and partly some aquatic beast. His eyes no longer blink, instead an internal membrane swipes horizontally across his eyes, similar to some fish or amphibians. His cheeks and neck are decked with gills, and his hands and feet sport powerful webbing and claws. His eyes remain more or less human-like at a distance, though they bulge and stare in peculiar ways. His hair is black and sharply straight, typically slicked back to neck-length behind his head or tied with a band.

Strangely, all accounts of Crane's past refer to him as an ordinary human. It is possible that he was transformed, or something lay dormant within his bloodline until now.

## Personality

Though some may dismiss Crane as impossible to communicate with, it is not so difficult to get his attention, particularly when ancient lore is involved. Despite his penchant for bloodlust and insane revelry, he is largely harmless unless provoked. Even then, it may be difficult for him to understand that someone means him harm, and he often gladly places himself in harm's way.

His method of speaking is described as being similar to a man talking in his sleep. There is a definite theme to his mutterings, about fairly ordinary topics that simply have nothing to do with the current situation. One can even converse with him for short periods of time, but inevitably he will bleed back into confusing tangents, making it unclear if he was really talking to anyone but himself all along.

Though he clearly draws his power from some primordial being beyond or betwixt the stars, his acknowledgement of their influence fluctuates rapidly. Though the source of his powers seems to point toward Yog-Sothoth, sometimes he will claim he knows nothing of his eldritch patron, other times he will openly worship in its name, and still other times he will actively defy and fight against it. It is possible that he himself has not yet decided his own allegiance on the matter, or perhaps there are multiple entities involved.

## Friends

Crane has yet to form any particular alliances, but generally favors those who similarly suffer from madness, or worship forbidden beings.

## Enemies

Aberrations and Aboleths seem to cause Crane the greatest amount of agitation, though he has no particular nemeses at this time.

## Goals

Crane's pursuit of ancient lore is perhaps one of his most predictable traits. Though he is not always certain which side of the yawning celestial precipice he stands on, he is forever drawn to it.