Tagdrethal (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nomoreremedies) wrote2037-02-22 09:17 pm
nomoreremedies) wrote2037-02-22 09:17 pm
info / history / abilities
FULL NAME
Tagdrethal
AGE
around 350
SPECIES
demon/junior Dark Lord
SIN
Avarice
NICKNAME
Tag
PRONOUNS
he/him but not picky
SEXUALITY
open
TRIGGER WARNINGS
violence, coercion, trapping people in contracts and buying souls
IN A NUTSHELL
Demonic flunky with a cheery exterior wants you to believe you're in this together, right up until he throws you to the wolves.
Alters in age slightly when he chooses to, but prefers to appear relatively young most of the time. Often wears suits when conducting business, but generally dresses to match his surroundings. Likes shiny new gadgets and expensive clothes and other things that are both very of the current time, and big status symbols. Tag has a kind of presence which has very little to do with looks and more to do with what he is; there's a kind of weight to him physically, he pulls attention easily when he chooses to, and he can appear suddenly very sinister without changing anything about himself. His original accent is long gone, and he will usually go for the most generic local accent possible; but he will sometimes fake one slipping out to fuck with someone, and is pretty talented with a variety of them.
PERSONALITY
✚ amiable, analytical, confident, methodical, efficient
– patronizing, disingenuous, cruel, greedy, manipulative, demanding
– patronizing, disingenuous, cruel, greedy, manipulative, demanding
The way Tag appears most of the time is loose, a little flighty, sometimes a little slimy, amused by humans and all their new interesting inventions, cheerfully understanding of their faults. He's very open with people contracted to him that he's middle-management and that, while he is the one responsible for them, they all answer to a higher power together. He tries to use that to develop a kind of 'all in this together' mentality between him and the hellborn he contracts with; he encourages them to see him as an ally, and is quick with gifts and praise for jobs well done.
Some of this is genuine. He does like keeping up with the newest things, and he does find a lot of humans amusing most of the time, especially the kind he has reason to interact with. He is, genuinely, middle management in the demonic ranks, beholden to those above him and mostly passing along tasks that either they request or he thinks will please them.
However, when he's disappointed or angered by a contract, the friendly mask drops to show a focused, cold anger that he'd much rather be taking out on his bosses, but will burn off safely on whoever's let him down as an outlet. There's a deep, terrifying well of bored rage to Tag after all these years that usually stays hidden. It's rare that the other party gets through without at the very least incurring some major debt if it comes out.
He can be patronizing, half from age, half purposefully trying to annoy people. His gifts are usually double-edged swords, appealing to people's weak spots to get them to sin more or incur more debt, sometimes outright dangerous. Very rarely does Tag not have some kind of secondary motives to the things he does, especially since getting his heart set on getting out, but he's pretty good at keeping that concealed.
He still struggles with the sin that put him in such deep debt in the first place, but the things he wants tend to be a little weird, these days. He still wants the material things he always did, but he can also get them himself these days without even bothering with debt, and he's bored enough to still want more. He doesn't hesitate to use the people in his contract to bring him what he wants, when something comes to him. Sometimes it's very specific things, sometimes it's more abstract things, situations or people, or whatever catches his fancy, but whatever it is, he'll still come up with things now and again.
Tag's first priority is himself, and has been since he was alive; it's only gotten worse since turning demonic, and the loss of the few people he cared about in life. He will happily and easily toss anyone under the bus to save himself, no matter how much he genuinely likes them. Survival is the name of the game, and Tag's a long-time champion.
Some of this is genuine. He does like keeping up with the newest things, and he does find a lot of humans amusing most of the time, especially the kind he has reason to interact with. He is, genuinely, middle management in the demonic ranks, beholden to those above him and mostly passing along tasks that either they request or he thinks will please them.
However, when he's disappointed or angered by a contract, the friendly mask drops to show a focused, cold anger that he'd much rather be taking out on his bosses, but will burn off safely on whoever's let him down as an outlet. There's a deep, terrifying well of bored rage to Tag after all these years that usually stays hidden. It's rare that the other party gets through without at the very least incurring some major debt if it comes out.
He can be patronizing, half from age, half purposefully trying to annoy people. His gifts are usually double-edged swords, appealing to people's weak spots to get them to sin more or incur more debt, sometimes outright dangerous. Very rarely does Tag not have some kind of secondary motives to the things he does, especially since getting his heart set on getting out, but he's pretty good at keeping that concealed.
He still struggles with the sin that put him in such deep debt in the first place, but the things he wants tend to be a little weird, these days. He still wants the material things he always did, but he can also get them himself these days without even bothering with debt, and he's bored enough to still want more. He doesn't hesitate to use the people in his contract to bring him what he wants, when something comes to him. Sometimes it's very specific things, sometimes it's more abstract things, situations or people, or whatever catches his fancy, but whatever it is, he'll still come up with things now and again.
Tag's first priority is himself, and has been since he was alive; it's only gotten worse since turning demonic, and the loss of the few people he cared about in life. He will happily and easily toss anyone under the bus to save himself, no matter how much he genuinely likes them. Survival is the name of the game, and Tag's a long-time champion.
BACKGROUND
The man who would become Tagdrethal was born Tobias Dryden in 1683, but there's very few people around anymore who'd ever have known that. Tag himself only sort of remembers his human life outside of the duties he did for his Dark Lord. He had parents once, hellborn themselves who sold the family into debt to become powerful in their town, and a brother who sold himself for the love of the woman he was obsessed with. A sister who went into debt for her beauty. A wife who'd remained ignorant to Tobias' work, or at least played at it to keep the peace; children, who'd grown to follow in his footsteps the way Tobias had once followed his own.
But mostly, when Tag thinks about being human, what he thinks about is wanting, an ache so strong that never stopped. He took his first debt for that sense of wanting, for money and material comfort, and from there the game seemed endless, paying off little increments with work only to incur more debt for the next desire he couldn't shake. He never had to worry about proper work, taken care of by his Dark Lord's offer, so he threw his life into chipping his debt away enough so that he could afford the next request. Through that constant push and pull he became one of the more proficient Hellborn in his lord's service.
Because of his lifetime of devoted service, he was granted the gift of ascension upon his death, made into a demon to continue on his work for the Dark Lord.
At first, it was fine. Tag -- now rechristened in the ritual that turned him from being human -- had never been in it for the work itself, but he never hated it, either. Being a demon himself meant some of the jobs he'd once had, the kinds that needed a more earthly touch, were off the table now, but opened up all kinds of new responsibilities for him to take on, such as making deals and overseeing hellborn of his own recruitment. For a while it was fun, even, having all these new things he could do, not having to worry about debt in return for getting whatever he wanted these days.
But the ease and the time passing took the shine off most things Tag wanted once, and his Lord's demands became more and more pressing, his own status as a favorite more precarious over time, and it's been a long time since he took any joy in his work. He keeps it up, because it's all he can do, but for most of his demonic life, what Tag's wanted more than anything is a way to escape.
Sometime in the 1960s, he started hearing rumors of a way that might be possible. Gathering more information without alerting his bosses has been a long, slow process, but it's not like he doesn't have time.
But mostly, when Tag thinks about being human, what he thinks about is wanting, an ache so strong that never stopped. He took his first debt for that sense of wanting, for money and material comfort, and from there the game seemed endless, paying off little increments with work only to incur more debt for the next desire he couldn't shake. He never had to worry about proper work, taken care of by his Dark Lord's offer, so he threw his life into chipping his debt away enough so that he could afford the next request. Through that constant push and pull he became one of the more proficient Hellborn in his lord's service.
Because of his lifetime of devoted service, he was granted the gift of ascension upon his death, made into a demon to continue on his work for the Dark Lord.
At first, it was fine. Tag -- now rechristened in the ritual that turned him from being human -- had never been in it for the work itself, but he never hated it, either. Being a demon himself meant some of the jobs he'd once had, the kinds that needed a more earthly touch, were off the table now, but opened up all kinds of new responsibilities for him to take on, such as making deals and overseeing hellborn of his own recruitment. For a while it was fun, even, having all these new things he could do, not having to worry about debt in return for getting whatever he wanted these days.
But the ease and the time passing took the shine off most things Tag wanted once, and his Lord's demands became more and more pressing, his own status as a favorite more precarious over time, and it's been a long time since he took any joy in his work. He keeps it up, because it's all he can do, but for most of his demonic life, what Tag's wanted more than anything is a way to escape.
Sometime in the 1960s, he started hearing rumors of a way that might be possible. Gathering more information without alerting his bosses has been a long, slow process, but it's not like he doesn't have time.
ABILITIES
DREAMWALKING
Tag is capable of showing up in people's dreams at any time he cares to. He cannot make himself unseen by the person in question; he can hang back, but he stays solid and some version of himself as he does it, so someone who knows him or dreams in vaguer images might notice him. He can do physical damage to people in their dreamspace, as well.
MINOR SHAPESHIFTING
While he'll always be essential himself, Tag can choose to appear as he did at any age during his human life. He usually chooses to remain young these days, but may opt for something older in order to be respected in specific situations. He can also draw on his demonic nature to make his presence feel quite a bit larger and more sinister; it won't make him actually grow taller, but it will give the impression he's looming even over people he physically isn't bigger than.
CRAVINGS
Can touch someone and give them a deep, focused desire for something specific that will absolutely consume their attention for a short time. It's easiest with an item, but he can do other, more abstract things if he's willing to knock himself out a little. This is Tag's original demonically granted gift in life, and he's had a lot of practice with it.
DUPLICATION
Can create temporary copies of an item he's touching. The bigger it is, the harder it gets, and when it fails it turns up with some kind of weird mistakes. He can turn these items permanent, but it'll cost him with his boss, so he rarely does.
SIGIL BOND
Tag is tied to a specific sigil as part of his demonic nature, and can be called by it at any time. While it's not an instant-appear deal, the longer he ignores the call, the more it will get under his skin. He prefers to wait until the person in question is asleep and come to them that way, but he will show up in person if driven to it eventually. There are specific ways to use it that will make the call stronger from the outset -- drawing it in certain materials or drawing it on the caller's skin will make it particularly strong, and drawing it with or on something that belongs to him will make it drive him to the point of distraction almost immediately.
SETTING
Tag was originally created as an NPC Dark Lord for the tabletop game Sins of the Father. PCs find out that their parents, if not generations further in their family, sold their family's souls into some kind of dark power's debt before they were born, and they're now expected to continue the line of servitude. Those in service to a Dark Lord are known as hellborn, and can ask for more gifts, in return for yet more debt to eventually work off with whatever their Lord requests. Hellborn also can get supernatural gifts, in order to make their jobs easier.
I'm happy to adjust the level of TTRPG flavor for how Tag works; in general, the important part is that he gets people to sign their soul over in return for whatever he gives them, that gift tends to linger through the family line, and they have to do things he asks in return for what they got. Everything else can be played around with!
I'm happy to adjust the level of TTRPG flavor for how Tag works; in general, the important part is that he gets people to sign their soul over in return for whatever he gives them, that gift tends to linger through the family line, and they have to do things he asks in return for what they got. Everything else can be played around with!