Edwin Paine

* Biography
* Threat Assessment
* Trivia and Notes
* Gallery

**Date of Death:**
December 24th, 1916

**Place of Death:**
Gotham City, NJ

### Edwin Paine: 1900 - 1916

Edwin Paine was born in England but came to America at the age of twelve with his parents after his father was hired by a prestigious law firm in Gotham City (Lawford, Lydecker, and Hardwicke). Edwin was enrolled in Brentwood Academy. Though by all records, an exceptional student, Edwin may have been too smart for his own good, having plenty of marks for chastising teachers and sneaking into locked areas.

When Edwin was sixteen, he stole an interesting red leather-bound book from a new teacher's briefcase. Edwin was hoping it was a journal and could find something to use against the teacher. Instead, Edwin found the book half-filled with scribbled rituals, arcane formulas, hand-drawn diagrams of strange creatures dissected, and jotted-down observations on the occult. Edwin was horrified, yet he still read the entirety of the written pages before he made any effort to return it.

In the middle of the night, Edwin snuck out of his room and went into the classroom where he planned to plant the book in the teacher's desk. However, when Edwin entered the class, he found a strange figure stabbing a knife into the teacher's chest.

Startled, Edwin made a run for it. His gasps and footfalls alerted the stranger who gave pursuit. Edwin was a spry child but he was no match for the figure who caught hold of Edwin just as the boy escaped the front doors of the school. In the struggle, the stranger threw Edwin face down into the school's fountain, and held him down.

It was only after Edwin had expired that his murderer discovered the red book on Edwin's corpse. The stranger collected the book, planted a slip of paper with strange markings on the corpse, and fled the scene.

### Edwin Paine: 1917 - 1925

Twenty-seven nights after his death, Edwin's spirit gained sentience on a moonless night and found his ghost had been haunting Brentwood. As the red book had been on his person when he died, a duplicate of the book had been included as part of his ghostly trappings. Able to study the book once more with new insight, Edwin discovered that he had accidentally used an incantation which had severed his soul's connection to an afterlife, thus ensuring he would rise as a ghost... and not just any ghost, but one more sentient than most. With his red journal, which he dubbed the "Book of the Dead," Edwin was better able to master his ghostly existence and make the most of his unlife.

### Edwin Paine: 1925 - 2016

On his birthday, in 1925, Edwin learned how to release himself from the campus and venture out into the world. He had even begun to explore otherworldly realms when suddenly he was snapped back to Gotham, back to Brentwood Academy on October 30th, 2016. Edwin found himself at the fountain of his untimely fate watching a boy named Charles eating a sandwich by himself after being ridiculed out of the lunchroom by three bullies. Edwin wondered aloud as to what had brought him there. As he did so, Charles looked up from his lunch, gazing straight at Edwin. A second later, Charles let out a startled cry as he stumbled backward into the fountain screaming "G-g-g-g-ghost!"

(Continued on Page 2: Dead Boy Detectives: Charles Rowland)

### Supplemental Reports

* (*Submitted by Four-Eyes*) Even though it was a spell which made Edwin a ghost, he still has a need for fetters (anchors to the mortal world). His fetters appear to be Brentwood Academy, his buried remains in Cherry Hill Cemetery, and much more recently his friendship with Charles Rowland and Suzy Linden. Yes, some ghosts develop new fetters. Fun fact, huh?
* (*Submitted by Radar*) When Vic and I started looking into the murder of Edwin Paine, one of us suggested we visit the kid's grave for perspective. Apparently Edwin was around and followed us home. Seeing our crime bunker, Edwin haunted us for months, urging us to solve his murder. He lost interest (thank god) but he still turns up from time to time to talk.

## Threat Assessment

### Resources

* **Spectral Physiology:** All that's left of Edwin Paine is his spirit, a psychic entity lingering on the mortal realm.
	+ ***Astral Perception:*** Having accepted his death and become a sentient ghost, Edwin can see other beings that are naturally invisible like Fae, Spirits, Godlings, Angels, Demons and other Ghosts.
	+ ***Corporeal Manifestation:*** Edwin has shown to have the ability to manipulate elements like wind, fire, electricity, water, and temperature. As a drowning victim, Edwin has a special connection to water and is more easily able to cause it to act unusually (such as causing pipes to burst or causing people in water to be unable to swim or climb out of the water).
	+ ***Enhanced Strength & Speed:*** Edwin rarely uses this ability, but can exert himself to Class II Enhanced Strength when manifesting as a corporeal spirit. Many ghosts are able to move at incredible speeds, Edwin is no different. Even without teleporting, Edwin can keep pace with a car moving under highway speeds.
	+ ***Environmental Attunement (Brentwood Academy):*** Edwin has an attachment to Brentwood Academy. He can cause its doors to open, books to fly off the shelf, and more easily manifest his appearance in the halls of Brentwood.
	+ ***Invisibility:*** Though naturally invisible to those without special sight, Edwin can also choose to go invisible to the supernatural as well, causing himself to disappear from sight to all but the most powerful supernatural beings with "death sight" such as reapers, gods of death, or other ghosts.
	+ ***Naturally Incorporeal:*** Typically, only those with supernatural senses can see and interact with Edwin. Without a body, Edwin is also able to move without hindrance through objects and solid matter. Though he is naturally intangible, he has to make a conscious effort to pass through matter, overcoming his natural subconscious belief that he is solid.
	+ ***Passive Electromagnetic Interference & Thermokinesis:*** All ghosts disrupt nearby electronics with their presence, Edwin is no different, though as a sentient ghost, his interference is usually limited and particularly only noticed when he phases through the electronics or his emotions get the better of him. Edwin's presence lowers the surrounding temperature of his environment by a couple degrees. Psychically sensitive people might sense a powerful shiver or see a single breath fog up when Edwin first enters a room.
	+ ***Telekinesis:*** Edwin is able to move virtually anything with his mind if he has enough concentration on the object. Edwin's telekinesis is powerful enough to shove a grown man a few feet back.
	+ ***Teleportation:*** Edwin can teleport within eyesight with ease, usually appearing to flicker at random intervals in a jagged pattern until he reaches his destination. Edwin can also teleport to realms in the Void or across great distances to places where he has performed a spell learned from his book.
* **Spectral Disciplines:** Over his many years as a ghost, Edwin has mastered other abilities that make him different from other sentient spirits.
	+ ***Hydrokinesis:*** Edwin can manipulate or even create ghostly water from nowhere, such as causing walls to leak water or statues to cry. He can also more easily manifest if touching a source of water. This is tied to his cause of death.
	+ ***Psychometry:*** By touching an object or person and concentrating, Edwin can 'read' the most powerful psychic signatures left on the target's aura.
	+ ***Sorcery:*** Edwin knows a few spells.
* **Trappings:** Aside from his school uniform, Edwin has a spectral duplicate of his trusty, never-dull pencil and the red "Book of the Dead" included among his trappings.

### Weaknesses

* Requirement: Spectral Fetters
* Salt, Iron, Magic, Holy Relics, and Nth Metal can harm him

## Trivia and Notes

### Trivia

* The day of his birth was exactly a hundred years apart from his detective partner Charles Rowland, presumably as part of some sort of ritual for Barbatos.
* The law firm Edwin's father worked for is the same one where Kate Kane currently works as a Paralegal.
* Edwin is not affected by holy ground restrictions and is actually quite fond of visiting cathedrals, synagogues, and other houses of worship as he finds them peaceful.
* After so many years as a ghost he doesn't miss the bathroom anymore and he considers it a big waste of time.
* Death appears to him looking like his mother.

## Links and References

* Appearances of Edwin Paine

1. ↑ Network Files: Edwin Paine
2. ↑ Deluxe Oracle File: Edwin Paine