Joseph Butler
Joseph Butler
Stephen Nichols as Joseph Butler
Name Joseph Butler
Status Alive
Age 29
Occupation Vicar
Place of Origin Cambridge, England
Date of Birth 1983
Player ArchbishopCranmer
Timezone PST
Notes Notes for Joseph Butler

Joseph is a traditionalist Christian of the Lutheran variety who is on his way to being a pastor. He does not yet completely understand the powers he received when escaping the Gloom and knows nothing of the Watch. He generally simply goes about his normal daily tasks, well as much as he can considering his powers tend to muck things up a bit.

Background

Jesus mentioned plucking your eye out should it lead you to sin, well, in Joseph's case it was plucked out for him…and, well, if he could pluck out what was put in its place, he might even cut off his right hand to make it so.

Joseph began life like many people, taking the faith of his fathers to heart. He sang the hymns, prayed the prayers, read the scriptures and catechisms that had been passed down to him from generations long before him, and better yet, he actually believed it. So much so that as soon as he was able he applied and was accepted into House of Theological Studies for The Evangelical Lutheran Church of England.

Unfortunately like many Seminarians that is where doubt began to fill his head and then his heart. With each year he came closer to getting the degree for his chosen vocation, the more disbelief clawed its way into him and tightened its grip, to the point that just as he was being sent off on his Vicarage in London, the internship in an actual house of worship so one can get some on the ground understanding of what life in the pastorate is like, he had nearly lost his faith and depression ate away at his well being.

It was a few weeks into his Vicarage that all this changed. On a particularly bad night for him he decided to go for a walkabout to clear his head. His walkabout ended up being much longer than he thought it would be so in an attempt to get home at a somewhat decent hour he decided to take a shortcut down a side alley and about half way through his short cut took him directly into Hell. Well what he perceived as Hell.

The horrors he saw there will haunt him for the rest of his life as will the slow torture of the removal of one of his eyes by one of the demons there. It took three long excruciating hours for the eye to finally be ripped out of its place, and one more tortuous hour for what grew into that empty socket to finally settle in. However, God smiled on Joseph in that hour, what grew back in its place was his salvation. Upon opening his eye the demonic being that was crowing over him enjoying every exquisite moment of his pain suddenly spat a hissing vocalization and backed away in fear. Joseph took that as his moment and ran for his very life, and somehow just as he was about to fall over from sheer exhaustion, he fell back onto the streets of London.

After a few moments he slowly made it back up to his feet and walked home covering his, to all visual inspection by men seems to be nothing more than an empty blackened eye socket. All along the way people shied away from him, some even beginning to weep aloud should he look directly at them. Once he got home he simply collapsed into his bed and slept for hours.

When he woke up the next morning, all his doubts where gone. He had been put through Hell to show him the truth of what doubting the Faith would lead him toward and the fate of those who died outside it. He dug out an old eye patch he had purchased as part of a costume for a costume to cover the space where his eye had once been and made his way to a physician to get it looked at. The doctor was barely able to force himself to check it out, but when he had gotten the prognosis, everything seemed fine to him, outside of the eye being missing. The doctor did report a slight redness building up the longer he looked into the socket as well as the odd feeling of intense guilt he felt while looking into it.

However, Joseph was released with a clean bill of health and sent home. However he kept noticing people acting slightly odd when he walked into the waiting room or just into their general presence.

So now he stands waiting to finish his Vicarage, a new sense of purpose and ready to see what the world is going to bring him.


Personality

Joseph is a decent chap, if you can stand to be around him long enough to get to know him. He a Christian, and unashamed of it, and he takes it seriously…so be warned give him a chance to talk about his faith and he likely will. He is a kind man, but often brunt in the way he converses with others, straight to the point with what he has to say. Mainly because people tend to keep a wide berth from him and he feels he has to get what he has to say out while he can, no time for beating around the bush. He can be trusted to do what he says he will and to keep secrets entrusted to him.


Paranormal Abilities

Joseph's ability has a range of effects, a few completely unknown to him, and they affect humans and Others in slightly different ways.

Hand Caught in the Cookie Jar: Just being in the presence of Joseph causes one to feel the feeling that one has done something wrong. Nothing to great, and with a mild effort it can easily be ignored, but people tend to notice that they began to feel this way the moment he walked in the room or into their presence.

Guilt: If his socket is uncovered and he gazes directly at someone they feel unshakeable fits of grief and guilt over anything they have done wrong. It could be anything from something they have done recently or anything they have done in the past. And this feeling of guilt does is not necessarily tied to something they normally would feel is wrong themselves. The feelings they get are tied to what is wrong according to Joseph's worldview. So for instance, a petty thief who would normally think a wallet he just lifted from a passerby a right jolly good jaunt, would feel anguish over his ill gotten gain, despite what he would normally feel about it.

Penance Stare: Should Joseph ever actually have cause to single someone out and with purposeful intent concentrate his gaze on an individual face to face, eyes locked with each other, or as much as Joseph could lock "eyes" with someone, he can actually see into the person's mind. This does, however have some side effects. For the other person, it starts out as the above description of Guilt, but gets worse the longer the stare is held, to the point that if the gaze is held too long, the person's mind may shatter under the weight of all the guilt. For Joseph, any sins he dredges up, he experiences them as if he had committed the act himself, which means at least while the gaze is held, he feels the same exact amount of guilt and shame as the other person and if he is not careful, may fall apart mentally himself.

Effects on Others: Should Joseph uncover his empty socket and gaze directly at any Others, they will back off in fear. However, should his gaze not be directly on them, either because he looks away from them or they have moved into his peripherals or behind him, the fear no longer affects them and they can act as they wish.

Also due to the his strong faith, "lesser" Others tend to shy away from him because they do not like being in the presence of one with true faith, but if driven on by necessity or by an Other of significant power his faith will be of little help to him. "Greater" Others however, whatever their feelings about one with strong faith, are not hindered in any way by Joseph's faith.


Skills

Joseph has few skills that above the level that the average person would have outside his expertise in religious matters as they relate to Christianity from his studies at Seminary. He does also have above average oratory skill from his training in public speaking and sermon delivery.


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