Artemis Murphy

### Powers/Skills

Physical strengthLeadershipEmpowered cybernetic eyeCountless underlings and supernatural monsters at his disposal

### Hobby

Collecting and researching cryptidsIndulging in the supernaturalCollecting wigs & makeupCollecting clothes

### Goals

Prove himself as a strong and powerful figureGet revenge on EricRule over Scotland with Beatrix

# Artemis Murphy

**Artemis Thomas** **Murphy** otherwise known as **The** **Lavender Angel** or by his unofficial title **The Flamingo** is a ruthless gang leader operating throughout Scotland for the vast majority in his career. Originally from Liverpool, Murphy grew up a fairly lost and insecure child and eventually was driven away from his home town in his late teens upon committing an atrocity which distanced himself from everyone he once knew, leaving him to spiral into a life of crime where he built up a reputation as the most feared and powerful man in Scotland. While already known for his particularly brutal nature he eventually became even more dangerous and feared after allying himself with Beatrix Skinner and gaining possession of numerous genetically engineered monsters and cryptids.

He was created by Cherry Dorito

## Basic

**Age**- 24 (physically) Chronologically 48 (first appearance)

**D.O.B-** 4th April 1976

**D.O.D-** N/A

**Nationality**- English

**Diseases/Conditions/Disabilities/Illnesses-** Bipolar Disorder, Paranoia

**Sexuality-** Bisexual

**Identity-** Demigender- He/Them

**Affiliations/Associates-** The Murphy Gang, Beatrix Skinner, The Dollmaker

**Story Appearances**- 5

## Appearance

Artemis is an incredibly pretty young man with dark skin and long, black collarbone length curly hair with deep blue highlights in it, and is always completely clean shaven and immaculately groomed. He is 5ft 9 inches tall and had only one remaining natural eye which was brown, his other eye was replaced with a technological replica which is completely teal in colour, this could be used for a few purposes, especially in combat as he could temporarily, blind, subdue and even hypnotise opponents with it. He also has a glowing crimson scar above the aforementioned artificial eye, on rare occasions he put blue thin framed glasses over his face to help his vision or for purely an aesthetic choice. Without his robotic eye in Artemis had an empty, bloody hole in his face where the eye should have been, the crimson portion of his scar also lost its glow when the prosthetic was removed.

His fashion sense is rather elegant but minimalistic and androgynous, his regular attire would consist of a lavender velvet tailcoat alongside a black turtle-neck, black leather leggings and lavender Cuban heeled boots. On top of this he also applied prominent amounts of make-up to his face. He also had several wigs in differing length which he would occasionally wear but treated moreso as a hobby than anything else. He also enjoyed collecting garments of clothes typically worn by the opposite sex, a hobby he wasn't afraid to show off.

His voice was at relatively low pitch, however he had such good vocal range that he could effortlessly change this at any given time.

## Personality

Artemis is a complicated man, although he was rather unstable, ruthless, short fused and often times downright cruel, he was also genuinely friendly and protective of his gang and has an unrivalled confidence and presence, this protective nature later applied to Beatrix Skinner as well who he ended up sharing a bond with, even forming a relationship with her. He also partook in several interests which could be seen as “taboo” by some such as his fondness for makeup and clothing designed with the opposite sex in mind. He also shared one common interest with Beatrix; Cryptidzoology, although in his case it was the supernatural in general, having already owned several viscous creatures and beasts for the purposes of both fascination and intimidation.

Artemis was also by far the friendliest and most polite opponent one could face in combat, usually giving his opponents a fair chance and being merciful towards them if he had not been wronged by them in the past, even giving people such as The Leopard and Vincent Denholm the opportunity to help in his cause. The one enemy he had who he truly hated was Charlene Silvers thanks to being humiliated by her and for having even further damage to his eye on her behalf, he also hated Beatrix for a good period of time but never really lost his ultimate feelings for her.

As a whole however, he had a fearsome reputation due to his brutal methods and excessive use of force when dealing with his enemies who HAD wronged him before or rejected his offers and conditions, this was down to a large amount of built up anger, resentment, bitterness and feelings of extreme abandonment, he did have limits to how brutal he would go however these were only under very rare circumstances. After losing his whole gang and suffering a betrayal from Beatrix, he became even more ruthless and dangerous than before, letting go of all of his previous grace and respectability and becoming a cold blooded killer fuelled by sheer hatred and frustration.

The deepest secret that he harboured was his fear of Victor Sevello. Even though he never encountered the man he was absolutely terrified of him and wanted to protect those who hadn't harmed him from the man's wrath and try to recruit powerful allies to stand up to him in case of an attack. His fear was significantly diluted however after losing his gang and his outlook on humanity changed, now no longer caring what happened to anyone or anything including himself.

In spite of all of this however, he was ultimately an angry and lonely young man who was incredibly unlucky more than anything else and felt as though he’d been abandoned by everyone he cared for. In the end he genuinely did see the error of his ways and made sure to take a turn for the better.

## Strengths

* **Raw strength**- Naturally he is incredibly strong and is capable of sustaining and delivering large amounts of damage to any opponent just with his fists to the point of being able to crack holes in marbell.
* **Leadership**- Artemis was a born leader and was unflinchingly loyal and dedicated to his team above all else and as such there was a mutual trust between them and him.
* **Preparation & Arsenal**- He always came into a battle with insane amounts of preparation including, summoning tools for any monster in his possession, his own artificial eye to assist him in combat, several concealed and trusty weapons and even built in gadgets added to some of his clothes. Not only this but he personally researched every single one of his enemies and victims months before targeting them in order to ensure he knew their weaknesses, fears, allergies and areas of vulnerability he could use to his advantage.
* **Determination**- If he had set his mind to any task he would have every intention of carrying it out no matter how it would affect him or those around him. This made those on his bad side fearful as they knew no matter what they did, Artemis and his crew would find some way of locating and killing them.
* **Master of Disguise-** Due to his aptitude for makeup and prosthetics as well as his incredible vocal range he can turn himself into virtually anyone.

## Weaknesses

* **Scar**- His scar is a fairly obvious weak point, since it’s located directly above, below and through a technologically created eye and always remains fresh and open due to the supernatural way in which he obtained it, applying enough pressure to any surrounding area of the eye can cause Artemis immense pain and anguish and leave him immobile for up to fifteen minutes.
* **Lack of genuine fighting skills**- In spite of being naturally tough he doesn’t know much about combat, usually relying on rage, brute force and adrenaline to deal damage and hoping it will be effective. This can make him come off as somewhat predictable and to those powerful enough he can quickly be outmatched.
* **Cracking under pressure**- When a plan appears to be falling apart, Artemis could snap at any given moment and begin rushing in without any second thoughts in a vain attempt to amend whatever failed in the first place, usually resulting in defeat.
* **Un-confident without backup**- When alone, he feels defenceless and would act more brash and impulsive, having lost much of his cool and composure, which yet again would result in rather devastating blows. This was especially apparent when he was working for the Dollmaker who would frequently use this weakness to her advantage and keep him under her thumb by playing into it.

## Story

### Childhood

He was born on April the 4th 1998 and grew up as fairly average albeit delicate boy with more feminine interests than most around him. This wasn’t much of an issue for him until high school however when he’d often be at odds with his classmates during subjects such as P.E for not wanting to take part in certain sports, aside from that however he was a moderately popular kid.

From a young age he was aware he had an interest in boys as well as girls however he was deeply ashamed of this and wished to keep it hidden from those around him, this greatly affected his mental health however and left him feeling fairly inadequate and small constantly. On top of this he also suffered from several crippling identity issues and was unsure on what he wanted to make of himself or who he wanted to be as a person, this problems were repressed down by Artemis however not wanting to bring them up for fear of ridicule.

Eventually however Artemis befriended another popular young man named Eric Pearson and the two got along extremely well and grew into best friends quickly. Over his final few years of high school the two were inseparable and ultimately he found himself attracted to Eric and decided to tell him this, feeling confident the boy would feel the same way. Unfortunately for him however Eric was disgusted and ended their friendship, on top of that he was left heartbroken and alone with his reputation destroyed as Eric began spreading lies and false rumours about him.

In some form of consolation though his family were actually supportive of him in this time and didn’t view him any differently for his sexuality. He became withdrawn however and shut himself away from everyone in an attempt to numb the pain and to conceal his own shame.

### Path of Darkness

Months past but there was no end to his pain and on one night after deciding he'd had enough misfortune, he attempted to end his own life via overdose but failed.

In his recovery time Artemis realised all his pain could be linked back to one person in particular, Eric and he thought of nothing more than his former friend, his resentment for him burning in his head constantly. Eventually he was discharged from the hospital but didn't return to school. He distanced himself from everybody and began working on a plan for vengeance before eventually realising that he was consumed by his own hatred externally, leading him to realise he was being influenced by a shadowy being clad in purple. The being offered Murphy a place among his ranks and he foolishly agreed, not realising the consequences this would bring.

He adopted a new persona, albeit only subtly, dying his hair to a shade of deep blue and electing to dress as extravagantly as possible and flaunt his feminine side more, wearing a purple frock coat as his signature piece.

He left a note for his family telling them what he was about to do and proclaiming goodbye, as he was well aware he would never see them again. As soon as the night arose he immediately headed for Eric's house and silently crept into the latter's bedroom, he ensured to knock him out cold before taking him deep into the woods and restraining him to a tree.

After recovering Eric was in disbelief and outrage and what was happening, demanding to be let go. He ignored him however and kept walking towards his former friend, growing more unnerved Eric continued throwing empty threats at Artemis as the latter got closer and closer to him. Finally Eric began begging for his life and panicking, nearly in tears as he pleaded with Artemis to let him go. He ignored him however and held his left eye open with two fingers. Using his new robotic eye He decided to test out some of the features he built into it and proceeded to burn Eric's eyes out of their sockets one at a time, all the while the latter was screeching in agony. After blinding him Artemis proceeded to beat Eric, ending with a final blow to the latter's neck, fracturing his spine and crippling him.

Artemis dragged Eric into the town centre, and threw him into the middle of the cold street before turning his back on his old life and spreading a dark influence over much of the United Kingdom, taking a particular liking to Scotland's north as his permanent residence area. Surprisingly Artemis felt great guilt over what he had done and wanted nothing more to do with killing, instead trying to benefit everyone around him through whatever means, building himself a new life and creating many new friends and powerful allies to help him in his attempts to defend the area from supernatural threats. Artemis also found himself a new lover in this time, a young man named Benjamin Carrow.

Unfortunately for Artemis the purple clad man found him again and for his betrayal decided to remove his ability to age while also tearing out his left eye with his talon like fingernails leaving a painful and unfading scar going going through where the eye had once been. He also killed many of Artemis's friends and trusted supporters including Benjamin.

This left an angry and embittered Artemis to take all of his ideas for defence from the supernatural to the extreme, while also opening the door to his unquenchable thirst for power, leading him to begin building up his influence, start locating and securing various cryptids and begin looking for every possible link he could find to his purple clad enemy as well as other potentially powerful and dangerous threats, not realising that he himself was actually becoming one. He became an urban legend of sorts finally granting him the title of **The Lavender Angel.**

## Stats

Intelligence- 8

Strength- 7

Endurance- 4

Agility-8

Charisma- 9

Leadership- 10

## Relationships

*Beatrix Skinner- Ex-girlfriend/Former partner in crime/Kindred spirit/best friend*

*Charlene Silvers- Archenemy*

*Franky- Best friend and right hand man*

*Eric- Former friend/Enemy/Victim*

*Donald Grayson- Enemy/Love Rival/Worthy Adversary (One-sided)*

*Murphy's gang- Close friends and comrades*

*Purple Clad Man- Greatest Enemy*

*Vincent Denholm- Enemy/Greatest Fear*

*The Champ- Pet*

*The Dollmaker- Enemy*

## Trivia

* He is Cherry Dorito’s second character to redeem himself, after Beatrix Skinner.
* His nickname The Lavender Angel comes from both his preferred outfits and the distinctive lavender scent he has thanks to his usual aftershave and body care routine.
* His feminine nature and eye injury/abnormality caused by an external source was inspired by Pegasus J. Crawford from *Yu-Gi-Oh!.* His pretty and androgynous appearance was also inspired by Marik Ishtar from the same series.
* He is one the few major characters in the *Animal & Monsters* series to never interact with Victor Sevello, although ironically enough he was incredibly paranoid about him coming into Scotland.
* Murphy is partially inspired by bond villains Le Chiffre, Dominic Greene and Raoul Silva due to his fighting style in the case of Greene, and his ruthless yet friendly nature and mostly hidden facial disfigurement in the case of Silva. The disfigurement of his eye is also a reference to Le Chiffre.
* His personality is also somewhat inspired by the version of Two-Face seen in *Batman the Animated Series.* Especially in his first appearance.
* His fashion sense is based off of both The Cat from *Red Dwarf* and Mok Swagger from *Rock & Rule.* His obsession with wigs is also inspired from the latter character.
* The name The Flamingo stems from his pretty and elegant appearance, contrasted against the surprising amount of strength and endurance he is.