Benjamin Carter

Classic Benjamin Carter

Benjamin Carter was born to a very wealthy family that specialized in brewing. His family owned one of the largest brewing companies on the continent, and with it, a large chain of taverns and breweries. However, unlike his siblings, he always was more interested in cooking, and writing. Ben always loved to learn as much as he could about the world around him, and because of this he always wanted to be a scholar. Ben’s lack of interest in the family business often caused him to be overshadowed by his siblings, and less favored by his parents. This caused a jealousy and hatred for his parents to grow inside of him over time. However, Ben was still a good person, as he also always wanted to look out for those that were less fortunate, as he saw the negative impact his family had on the lower classes. Because of this, Ben was often off-put by some of his family’s more ruthless business tactics, as he disapproved of taking advantage of people. Benjamin often lived in the shadow of the rest of his family, as their goals did not exactly align with his. This is why when word got out about a new continent, Ben immediately purchased a one-way ticket. Ben told his family that he was going to go and begin their business enterprises on the new continent, but in reality, he just wanted a reason to get away from them. And deep down, he knew they would not really care whether or not he was gone. So with that, Ben set sail to make a name for himself on the new continent.

**Arrival on Kamorra:**

When Ben arrived in Kamorra, he followed the signs at the harbor that led to the city of Blackkirk. When he arrived, he found the city to be abandoned, no sign of activity anywhere. Benjamin explored the city, but found many of the structures to be completely destroyed. The stables were burned down, the tavern was destroyed, and the forge was completely caved in. However, among the ruins, there were great riches to be found, so Ben decided to stay in the city for a while, until he found his bearings on the new continent. Soon after he arrived in Blackkirk, a demon lord named Malloth plunged the world into eternal night, which caused many monsters to rise and terrorize the wilds. Because of this situation, it was unsafe to leave the city, so Ben started a refugee camp within the walls. During this eternal night, Ben took it upon himself to rebuild the tavern, clear out the forge, and repair the stables. This attracted a few people to his refugee camp, and it was around this time he met Jacob Meyrin, Mark Edwardson, and Daisy Lewis, who treated Ben as their unofficial leader. With more people to help around Blackkirk, Ben’s refugee camp grew relatively successful, and it became a small beacon of hope to people looking to survive Malloth’s eternal night.
Some time during this period, Ben took Jacob out to scavenge supplies for the camp. During this scavenging mission, they visited the nations of Vulpius and Silvalin. Ben and Jacob were both horrified that these nations lined their streets with gold and riches during the eternal night rather than helping the poor and less fortunate. There were many people dying because of the monsters that Malloth had unleashed upon the world. After their mission, Ben and Jacob formed “The Shadow Collective”, an organization whose intention was to remove those in power who were corrupt. Whether this be a king, lord, or an unchecked magic user. People with power should use it in order to help those who lack power.
 After brave soldiers defeated Malloth and ended the night, Ben and the others remained in Blackkirk. During this time, Ben ventured out into the world and began work as a scholar. Ben started by attempting to research what had happened to Blackkirk, and why it was abandoned. He was afraid that whatever happened before would happen again, and all of the refugees that lived there would be harmed. With this, he began research, starting with looking into some of the secret tunnels that were under the city. Eventually, Ben discovered that some of the residents of Blackkirk practiced blood magic, and they were responsible for the downfall of the city. Ben decided that he would set out to find these blood mages, and try to learn more about them. Originally, Ben’s intention was to try and learn blood magic, or any form of magic, in order to enhance his own power so he could better lead his camp. Ben was always jealous of those with power, and questioned why they always seemed to use it for the wrong reasons. If Ben ever actually managed to get power, he would use it for good.

**Joining Thalendor:**

While Ben was deep in his research, the old King of Thalendor, Thales, returned to the ruins of his empire with the intention of reclaiming it. Thales gave Ben the option of joining Thalendor or leaving Blackkirk. Of course, due to the other refugees that had built homes in Blackkirk, Ben accepted Thales’ offer and joined Thalendor. Secretly, Ben always wanted a way out of Thalendor, as Thales had technically forced them to join. Ben continued his investigation into the fall of Blackkirk and blood mages as a whole, although he now did it under the banner of Thalendor, which did not change much for the investigation process.
 During his investigations, Ben came across many blood mages. It was very rare for him to find an active blood mage, as most of the blood mages that were open about their practices were retired. Ben spoke with eleven different blood mages during this period of investigation, whether they be active or retired. For the time being, he kept their identities a secret as he thought that having powerful allies would be a good idea if something bad were to ever happen and he needed to call on them for aid. However, Ben did give up the names of multiple blood mages to the Coven in order to earn a blood mark, as he thought having the Coven in his back pocket would be very helpful as well. Ben eventually finished his research on blood mages and published a book called “The History of Blackkirk”. Ben never became a blood mage himself as he was not willing to take the life of an innocent, which was a requirement for blood mages.

**Criminals of Thalendor:**

One day, a prisoner turned up in Thalendor. His name was Edmund, and he was accused of stealing from Thalendor. King Thales intended to put him to death for his crimes, which did not sit well with Ben. Putting someone to death for simple thievery was too far in his opinion. Ben spoke with Edmund for a long time, where he learned about Edmund’s past, hopes, and dreams. Ben did not believe that he deserved to be put to death, so he masked himself and used the Shadow Collective to break Edmund out and set him free.
 During the course of Ben’s research, the Shadow Collective was hard at work constructing a complex underneath the city of Blackkirk that would serve as their headquarters. With it, came a maximum security prison and a trap. The first prisoner that was held inside was a man by the name of Vladimir. Vladimir was an ex-Thalendorian citizen who turned to crime after his exile from Thalendor. He made the mistake of robbing Benjamin Carter while he was attending to business in Thalenthyr, which put him on the radar of the Shadow Collective. The Shadow Collective apprehended Vladimir and put him to death for his crimes, with Benjamin Carter, dubbed “The Eye”, acted as judge, jury, and executioner. The reasoning behind his death was that he was a criminal who robbed innocent people, a justified kill in Ben’s eyes.

**The Beginning of the End:**

Things began to heat up for the Shadow Collective after Felix Medrano, the captain of the royal guard of Vulpius, turned up in Blackkirk and began to question Ben for being a blood mage. Felix demanded that Ben turn over his research and it became very obvious to Ben that Felix wanted the knowledge for less than innocent reasons. After torture and interrogation, Felix admitted that he wanted to be a blood mage, that he was conspiring against Vulpius, and that his friend Treason was trying to become a blood mage. Felix was put to death by the Shadow Collective for these reasons.
 After Felix’s death, the Shadow Collective marked Treason for death, as Felix had told them that she was to become a blood mage. Edmund, the only living person who knew of the Shadow Collective, reported that Benjamin Carter was the leader, as he recognized the sound of his voice when masked. Ben and Jacob then set out to try and kill Treason before she became too powerful using blood magic. Unfortunately, she escaped the assassination attempt by using a minecart system under Kyazan.
 Benjamin Carter put the following message out during this time “I do not usually make public announcements, but this past day has been difficult for me, as I have watched my name smeared for no apparent reason. For starters, this situation with Edmund is entirely fabricated. I met Edmund when he was a prisoner in Thalenthyr. He was in prison for mugging multiple people and also stealing from Thalendor. I did nothing to free him, I simply tried to convince him that his life of crime would get him nowhere. I then gifted him some of my books, specifically "The History of Blackkirk" and "The White Lotus" in hopes that they would have some lasting impact on him. I did not break him out of any jail, and I do not even know who Marius is, nor would I have a reason to kill him. Secondly, as for this "Shadow Collective" I am unsure of what they are. What I do know is I met with Treason tonight. I once called her a friend. I had asked to speak with her last week some time regarding the artifacts that have been popping up around the world. Previously, her and I had explored the cathedral together, so I regarded her as a fellow researcher on the topic. Treason was recently "Marked" by the Shadow Collective for death. When we met, she quickly glossed over my questions regarding artifacts and began asking me about a man named Felix Medrano. I had the pleasure of meeting Felix once at Cape Oolong and a second time when he came and asked me about blood magic. As most people know, I once researched blood magic, so I provided him with a little bit of information and sent him on his way. Apparently, Felix is missing, so Treason accused me of being a blood mage and killing him. Treason then drew her crossbow and tried to kill me. Apparently she "loved" him and needed answers. I barely escaped with my life. Anyone that knows me knows that I would never kill anyone. I am a peaceful scholar and researcher, and I wish to be left alone. If you have any information on why I am being framed. Please contact me.”
 Following this message, Ben began to deliberately eat poisoned bread in order to give himself a sickly and pitiful appearance. He did not take visitors, and whenever he spoke with everyone he faked a nasty cough. While he was sick, he learned that Treason had put out a bounty contract on him and that hired assassins were trying to kill him. This gave Ben the idea to fake his own death so that the Shadow Collective could operate out of the public eye. Edmund also began to speak out about what a horrible man Ben was, which was partially untrue, as some of the facts that Edmund presented were just untrue. That did not matter though, as the whole world was on a witch hunt with Ben as their target. After he was sick for some time, he faked his own death by assassination and went into exile.

**The End of the Shadow Collective:**

Benjamin lived in the frozen south during his time in exile. He never left his small igloo and spent his time either plotting or writing, as the second volume of the Lustful Wanderer needed to be written at some point. During his exile, his parrot found him, alerting him that Treason and Edmund had both been captured by the Shadow Collective.
 Ben returned to Blackkirk and found that Jacob had captured both Treason and Edmund in the prison. Ben interrogated and psychologically tortured Edmund for his previous crimes as well as for outing the Shadow Collective. He was put to death in front of Treason, which was more torture for her. Treason was then heavily interrogated and it was discovered that she was a chosen member of the Poppy Religion. She attempted to kill Ben using some type of magic, which was another reason that she needed to die. She was put to death after these events.
 After the execution of Treason and Edmund, a wolf spirit came to Thalendor and met with Jacob, Ben, and King Thales. The wolf said that the Shadow Collective needed to end, as it was an evil organization. Two days later, the wolf reappeared, and declared that Benjamin was a necessary evil, as the people that the Shadow Collective killed were far more evil. The wolf died, and blamed other spirits for its death. This event reinvigorated Ben’s and the Shadow Collective’s purpose.
 Benjamin Carter was still in hiding during this time, but he now saw a new threat for the Shadow Collective to go after. Jacob had reported to him that the Poppy had informed the citizens of Cape Oolong about the execution of Treason and Edmund and that they were after him. In Ben’s eyes, the Poppy was a truly evil entity who supported criminals, and it needed to die. Ben also believed that because of his friendship with the wolf, the Poppy could have killed the wolf in order to weaken Ben by association. With this, Ben set his sights on the death of the Poppy.
 Unfortunately, King Thales was mortally wounded during an assassination attempt. Ben attended his funeral out of respect. Although Ben would have liked to kill King Thales himself, he was still a respected leader and at that point, a close ally. Upon returning from Thales’ funeral, Ben found Jacob planting poppies around the city of Blackkirk. Ben decided to question Jacob, who eventually revealed that he was working with Fiore and other followers of the poppy, and that he was going to reveal all of the doings of the Shadow Collective to the world. In a moment of mercy, Ben decided not to kill Jacob, and instead took his eye. A poetic response since the Shadow Collective always said “The Eye Sees All”. Ben left Jacob there, and thought about what he had done. Although he still believed that the Poppy and its followers needed to be dealt with, Ben decided to reevaluate his methods and began to seek answers as to what the poppy was. Ben decided that it was far too dangerous to research the Poppy as himself, as he was hunted by far too many people. Because of this, Benjamin Cater temporarily went into deep hiding, and changed his name to Cabren Retanjim, an anagram of Benjamin Carter. Ben also shaved his head and grew out his beard in order to make himself somewhat unrecognizable. Before going into hiding, Ben took all of the riches of Blackkirk and hid them within the Shadow Collective’s library. He also stole King Thales’ crown from his tomb, not only to hide it from graverobbers, but also to collect it as an artifact. Ben thought these items could come in handy if he ever needed to pay someone off or exchange them for something. After sealing the riches inside of the Shadow Collective, Ben went into deep hiding undercover. While in hiding, Benjamin traveled around doing other small jobs as an adventurer and mercenary while secretly conducting research about the Poppy.

**A New Life:**

Posing as Cabren, Benjamin joined up with Athenaeum while they were moving to a new location. There, he made friends with a few people from Cape Oolong as he began to reintegrate himself into society. Ben started a horse business, where he attempted to breed hearty and agile horses. Rather than charging people for them, he decided to give them for free, as he did not have the space to both breed and keep the horses. He also figured that it was better they were out being ridden than just staying in the stable all day. After some time, Ben noticed a few people were trying to sell opium. He decided to buy the entire stock to try and get it off of the streets. He figured it would stop the opium from getting into the wrong hands this way. During the final days of his stay at Herculaneum, Naj found out about Ben’s past life and the Shadow Collective. Rather than turning him in, Naj attempted to get Ben a fair trial, as he believed that what Ben did was not necessarily evil. When that failed, Naj brought Wright Harlow, the original ruler of Blackkirk, to speak with Ben and allow him to live with them in their hidden sanctuary. Ben accepted, and moved to their sanctuary. The Kirksman had views that were very similar to Ben’s, and he felt at home and welcome among them. Before Ben was finished moving, he heard the farmhand, Sarah Crow, a good friend of his, give away the Lich’s Crown to Feliciano Medrano. Ben figured that if the Shadow Collective would return, this would be the first problem they try to tackle. This unfortunately never panned out, as the portal to the catacombs was opened by Vulpius, and the Lich’s minions were beaten back by their armies. Ben spent the next month or so in hiding, as he was still wanted by most of the continent. He still kept tabs on his old friends though, and oftentimes would try to help the Kirksmen when he could. However, spending most of his time in the sanctuary, which was deep under the earth, caused Ben to miss home. But not his original home, he missed Blackkirk. He missed the old days of Thalendor, Jacob, Mark, Daisy, all of it. He decided around this time to go back to Blackkirk, and try to rebuild it. The Kirksmen gave him their blessing, and helped him to recapture the city.

**Return to Blackkirk:**

Ben immediately built a better tavern, as well as replanted the farms in order to make the city more lively. Ben also built a larger tomb for his friend King Thales, as his previous tomb was very sad, and made out of dirt. Oftentimes, he would go spend time at the tomb of King Thales, as Ben missed him dearly. During this time, he snuck into the catacombs and stole some books from the Lich. From these books, he found many experiments that could quite possibly be the key to resurrection. Ben decided that he wanted to try some of them, or even turn shadow magic into healing magic. Because of this, Ben ramped up his activity in the city.
Unfortunately, when word got out that Ben was living in Blackkirk, he got some unwanted visitors. Aubrey Williams, the brother of Edmund, began snooping around, and asking questions. In order to provide the young man closure, Ben told him the story of Edmund’s death, and showed him where he died. Ben helped Aubrey trap Edmund’s spirit in a book so they could communicate with each other, and Aubrey became Ben’s friend for a time. However, Aubrey soon betrayed Ben and tried to kill him under orders from Cape Oolong. Unwilling to take his life, Ben cut out Aubrey’s eye and set him free, as Ben believed that he was simply misguided, and could still be turned good. Aubrey’s situation quickly gathered more attention, and Ben received more visitors. Unfortunately, a threat was made on Dwight Rosenthal’s life by Mark Edwardson, a former member of the Shadow Collective. Many people believed that this was Ben, once again finding a target to kill, which caused more issues for Ben. More people from Cape Oolong kept coming to Blackkirk to investigate, so Ben took it a step further and devised a plan with fellow Kirksman Sludgrick to intimidate a member of Cape Oolong in order to get them to leave him alone. Unfortunately, Sludgrick betrayed the Kirksman and began working with Oolong, and after a failed assassination attempt on Benjamin, he was put to death. Ben was then visited by Silvalin, who attempted to arrest him, but he got away. This escape inspired him to build what he called “The Blackkirk Backrooms”, in which he connected every building in the city with underground tunnels, so that in the event of an attack he could escape from anywhere. At this time, Ben still wanted to rebuild old Thalendor, but he was concerned that more people would continue to come after him, so he did not work much on recruiting as Ben did not want to see new recruits in danger.
This did not stop recruits from finding their way to Ben however, as multiple people came to seek refuge in the city of Blackkirk. The first person to come and seek shelter within the city was a fourteen year old girl named Lucy. She had run away from Oolong due to the violence and shady practices that were found within the city, or, more specifically, the death of Aubrey Williams. Lucy began living in the tavern, where she found comfort talking to Ben and learning more about the past events of Kamorra. Following Lucy, a man named Hagmer found the city of Blackkirk on a scholarly mission. Allegedly, Dwight Rosenthal had turned Hagmer away, so Hagmer had come to Blackkirk seeking knowledge. Hagmer learned much about the Lich and the Catacombs through talking with Benjamin Carter, and because of this, he opted to stay in Blackkirk in order to continue his research. Finally, a priest wandered into the city, looking to build a church in order to worship his god. Ben approved of this, and allowed him to begin construction on a chapel. Shortly after the priest joined, agents of Silvalin came to Blackkirk to try and arrest Ben. Benjamin Carter evaded the arrest, as the arresting officers had no proof of their claims, which were him being a blood mage. Of course, this was exactly the opposite of the truth, as Ben hunted blood mages. After spending more time in the city, the agents of Silvalin returned. Ben once again got away into the cave system, however, he began to hear explosions above. The Silvalin intruders had begun to blow up parts of the city in order to draw Ben out. Ben was eventually captured by the Silvalin army, and tortured in Silvalin. They believed that he was a blood mage and that his knowledge of blood magic was a danger to all of Kamorra.
Ben would eventually escape the custody of Silvalin, and he made his way back to Blackkirk. His Kirksmen friends found him, severely wounded, and put him into the care of Hagmer, who had been acting as the city’s leader during Ben’s absence. Ben accidentally revealed the truth about the Shadow Collective to Hagmer, who ended up trying to aid Ben in his research into necromancy. However, during the time Lucy had decided to return to Cape Oolong, as she believed that rumors that Ben was a blood mage. Lucy had begun to leak sensitive information to Cape Oolong, one example of this being Ben’s escape routes, which he had previously shared with her in order to keep her safe. Because of this, Ben decided that it was in his best interest to capture her and scare her into not sharing any more information. He got Hagmer on board with this plan, and allowed Hagmer to interrogate Lucy. After this event, Lucy was no longer a problem for Benjamin Carter.

**The Betrayal:**

Ben closed down Blackkirk to outsiders at this time, as he no longer wanted to be harassed by the people of Cape Oolong or Silvalin. This did not stop many people from breaking into Blackkirk however, as Ben had many visitors during this time. People such as Velos and Shadow attempted to speak with Ben during this time, even though he had no interest in speaking with them. Another visitor that Ben had during this time was a girl named Truffle. Truffle attempted to break into Blackkirk to gain information, which resulted in her capture and interrogation. Hagmer once again led the interrogation against Truffle, which would eventually lead to a ritual being performed to attempt to learn more knowledge about necromancy. This ritual unfortunately failed, and Truffle was returned to Cape Oolong safely without the memories of her time in Blackkirk.
Benjamin Carter would soon hear news that Yehudah, the acting King of Thalendor, had returned from his absence. Ben quickly set up a meeting with Yehudah, as Ben still considered himself to be a member of Thalendor. Ben was happy to show Yehudah the progress he had made within the city. Unfortunately, Yehudah soon announced that he had declared war on Ben and the city of Blackkirk, and he had allied with Silvalin, which broke multiple treaties and directly opposed what King Thales stood for. This enraged Ben, so he pushed for a meeting to try and get through to Yehudah. When Ben finally met with Yehudah, he found out that Yehudah believed he was a blood mage. Ben came clean to Yehudah, just like he had come clean to Thales, and told him everything. Ben described the Shadow Collective’s purpose, to rid Kamorra of corruption and blood mages. He told Yehudah of the many successes that the Shadow Collective had, and what Ben had been up to since their last conversation. Yehudah had seemed satisfied, but the matter was not resolved.
The morning after Ben and Yehudah met, Ben awoke to the yells of an army. The might of Thalendor and Silvalin stood before the walls of Blackkirk, threatening to kill Benjamin Carter. However, Ben’s old Kirksmen friends stood with him, and they readied their defenses on the wall. Wright Harlow went down off the walls to negotiate with the Thalendorian forces, but during negotiation, he was captured, and the Thalendorian forces began firing arrows at the Kirksmen defenders.
Ben thought about running away again, about abandoning his friends and leaving his city behind. At least this way, he could go on living. But no, he thought. He was tired of running. He grabbed a bow and prepared to take up arms against the Thalendorian forces. He never got the chance to even fire an arrow. Ben was shot in the chest. His body grew numb as he staggered back and lost footing. Ben tumbled off the walls and into the city below. His last thoughts were not of regret, remorse, or even redemption. Benjamin Carter was content with what he did in life, and if he could do it all over again, he would. By the time it reached the stony floor of Blackkirk, the body of Benjamin Carter was lifeless.

**Flaws:** Jealousy, belief that his way is always the right way, physical strength.

**Strengths:** Intelligence, planning, manipulation, writing.

**Moral Beliefs:** Justice, eye for an eye

**Goals:** Become a scholar and historian, rid the world of those who abuse power.

**Personality:** Kind, optimistic, intelligent. However, this changes while doing Shadow Collective business, where he becomes cruel, sadistic, calculating, and ruthless.

**TLDR Lore: DISCLAIMER, THIS IS VERY TLDR AND NOT TELLING OF 100% OF EVENTS:**

**Starts refugee camp > Finds out previous owners of city died horrifically > Investigate downfall of city > Investigate blood magic > Mugged and threatened by Vladimir > Vladimir executed > Continue blood magic investigation > Felix Medrano comes looking for blood magic > Felix threatens Ben and vows to return with Vulpius to take Ben’s research > Felix interrogated by Shadow Collective > Felix admits to seeking out blood magic > Felix executed > Felix writes last words to Treason, urges her to stop trying to learn blood magic > Treason grows suspicious of Ben, accuses him of blood magic > Treason tries to kill Ben in Kyazan, injures Jacob in the process > Two assassination attempts against Ben > Ben goes into hiding, wanted for supposed blood magic > Jacob lures Treason into prison > Treason is questioned, she casts fireballs at guards and threatens Ben more > Treason executed > Edmund also executed for siding with Treason, trying to kill Ben and spreading false information > Poppy tells Oolong that Ben murdered Treason > Ben wanted by Oolong, Vulpius, and Silvalin > Ben stays in hiding > Ben picked up by Naj, starts peaceful horse business in Herculanaeum > Assassins find Ben, try to kill him again > Ben goes into hiding with Kirksmen > Ben gets bored of being in a cave, retakes Blackkirk > Oolong sends assassins to Blackkirk > Aubrey tries to kill Ben > Ben takes Aubrey’s eye, warns him to stay away > Ben hires Sludgrick to intimidate Oolong to stay away > Sludgrick betrays Ben and the Kirksman, tries to kill Ben > Sludgrick executed > Ben continues rebuilding Blackkirk > Oolong sends Shadow to get information from Ben > Lucy shows up > Hagmer shows up > Priest shows up > Ben improves tavern > Ben evades arrest from Silvalin > Silvalin finally catches and tortures Ben > Ben returns to Blackkirk > Lucy betrays Ben > Ben captures Lucy > Ben captures Oolong intruder named Truffle > Yehudah returns to Thalendor > Yehudah betrays Ben > Ben killed in Blackkirk**

**Unused AI Generated Art:**