[ +- ] Spoiler
Background
Callum Emmerich Tate was born and raised in New Orleans. He started gambling at an early age and developed a love of poker while at Tulane University. By his late twenties, Callum became a fixture at every casino and poker room in the Big Easy. He played in numerous tournaments all over Louisiana, NYC, and Texas, losing some and winning others. Along with the sizeable earnings accrued from winning pots, Callum built a name and reputation for himself in the professional poker circuit. He played at tables with the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Jennifer Harman, and other poker legends. He appeared in televised tournaments and had articles written about him in poker-centric magazines. Following an unexpected come-from-behind victory at the U.S. Poker Open, one publication even dubbed Callum to be New Orlean’s "Mr. Lucky." As a promising up-and-comer, Callum’s ultimate career goal matched that of most other rising poker stars: To earn a chance to play at the World Series of Poker against the best of the best. Getting his name in the Poker Hall of Fame also wouldn't be too shabby.
Unfortunately, Callum’s life met a shockingly sudden and gruesome end in 2019. While driving much too fast on Louisiana’s I-12 during a torrential thunderstorm, the gambler's Mercedes-Benz was struck by, of all things, a lightning bolt. Before losing consciousness, Callum just barely remembers a flash of white hot light, a deafening crack, the smell of searing flesh, and his vehicle skidding out of control. He's still unsure if it was the 300 million Volt lightning strike that ultimately killed him, or the resulting high-speed car crash. Whatever the case, "Mr. Lucky" died that day - losing his life in a freak one-in-a-million accident. Even now, Callum still appreciates the irony in that.
It was in the liminal place between life and death that Callum met the Suicide King. Colors became washed out and sounds muted. Looking down at his own broken and burned body, the life seeping out of him, Callum succumbed to fear and despair. His practiced veneer of discipline, a poker face perfected over years of high-stakes gambling, crumbled in an instant. Deep down he understand what was happening; this was the end for him. Though the gambler had never been religious, he found himself gasping, crying, and pleading to God. He begged for more time; promised that he’d do better with his life if given another shot. He had so much left to do! He wasn't ready to go! He screamed for someone... anyone... to grant him a second chance. And it was the Suicide King who chose to take that bet.
Callum was horrified at the geist’s skeletal visage. As it floated over him, he initially believed it was the Devil. Yet as it rasped at him about the Bargain, he found himself considering the terms, which were surprisingly agreeable. Despite his misgivings, he was desperate and accepted the Bargain faster than he'd ever accepted anything in his life. Callum later awoke in a hospital; his body missing the mortal injuries he'd sustained earlier. Doctors told him that it was a miracle he'd survived his accident relatively unscathed. He was alive and back to normal, save for the new rasping voice in his head.
In the two years since his first death, Callum has become accustomed to the presence of his so-called "Dark Passenger." The reality of being a Sin-Eater, and all the powers that come with it, have been a source of mixed feelings for the gambler. On the one hand, he now knows the supernatural is real and has found that he is capable of some truly startling things that make his previous life seem small and insignificant by comparison. Who cares about poker when you've gained immortality, possess super powers, and can eat ghosts? The ability to see the shades of the dead has complicated Callum’s life more often than not. Then again, he can't seem to shake the vestiges of his former life.
Appearance
Ethnically, Callum is of mixed heritage (German father and Puerto Rican mother) and could easily pass for either white or latino. It's clear to those who meet him that he puts a lot of work into his appearance and cultivates a very put-together look. He's tall and comely with a slim build, tousled brown hair, chiseled features, and a perpetual five o'clock shadow. His brown eyes gleam with mischief, and he wears a constant smirk on his face as though he knows some secret joke. Callum typically dresses in tailored two-piece suits, Tom Ford dress shoes, and collared shirts with the top button always undone. Even in the excessive heat of Louisiana, the Sin-Eater's style never relaxes beyond business casual. He looks the definition of a city slicker.
Concept: Professional card player gambling on a second chance.
Aspirations: Make some money at a poker game (short term), Learn the Black Cat's Crossing Ceremony (short term), Explore the Deep Dominion known as the Neon Table (long term).
Social Attributes (Primary): Presence 2, Manipulation 3, Composure 3
Physical Attributes (Secondary): Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2
Mental Attributes (Tertiary): Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 2
Social Skills (Primary): Empathy 3 (Sense Motivation), Intimidation 1, Socialize 2, Streetwise 2, Subterfuge 3 (Detecting Lies)
Physical Skills (Secondary): Athletics 2, Larceny 3, Brawl 2
Mental Skills (Tertiary): Investigation 2, Occult 2 (Ghosts)
Merits: Tolerance for Biology 1 (free), Fame 1, Sleight of Hand 2, Resources 3, Memento 3 (The Black Chip), Grave Goods 1, Mystery Cult Initiation 1 (free)
Sin-Eater Template
Burden: The Hungry
Burden Aspiration: Win the World Series Poker Tournament at least once.
Burden Touchstone: The sound of shuffling cards and clinking poker chips.
Root: Casual
Bloom: Antihero
Synergy: 1
Rank: 1
Plasm: 10
Plasm Per Turn: 1
Liminal Aura: N/A
Keys: The Key of Pyre Flame, The Key of Chance (geist), The Key of Blood (memento)
Haunt Affinities: The Boneyard, The Marionette, The Caul
Haunts: The Boneyard 1, The Marionette 1, The Curse 1
Ceremonies: Bestow Regalia 3, Krewe Binding 3, Speaker of the Dead 3, Pass On 5
Advantages
Defense: 4
Size: 5
Health: 7
Willpower: 5
Initiative: 6
Speed: 10
Memento: The Black Chip
Key: Blood
Description: A seemingly innocuous $100 poker chip made of black plastic. It's deceptively heavy, and those who pick it up say it feels as though the chip is being weighed down by something. The memento was once the property of a gambling addict who was murdered over gambling debts before he could cash it in. The gambler's ghost, prior to being put to rest by Callum, led the Sin-Eater to it.
Effect: If you spin the poker chip on its edge, it never stops spinning. In casual defiance of physics, the chip spins non-stop until directly acted upon by an external force (such as someone's hand).
[ +- ] Spoiler
Also Called: Rex Suicidium, Patron of the Luckless Dead
In a standard 52-card playing deck, the King of Hearts is typically the highest-ranking face card. It is commonly known as the "Suicide King," a misnomer based on the fact that some illustrations appear to show the King of Hearts sticking his own sword into his head; the result of centuries of shoddy copying by card makers. In actuality, the King’s weapon is simply behind his head.
Much like the playing card, the geist known as the Suicide King is misnamed. It does not represent self-inflicted death, but rather, personifies unexpected endings that are shocking in their randomness. In other words, victims of exceptionally bad luck. This is the pedestrian who falls into an open manhole that he didn’t see. The woman electrocuted by a hair dryer in the bathtub. The skydiver whose parachute refuses to deploy. The hunter whose own bullet ricochets back at him. Sudden, unforeseen deaths resulting from freak accidents or being in the wrong place at the wrong time; it’s these types of fatalities over which the Suicide King presides.
In Twilight, the geist projects itself as a twisted mockery of the face card for which it’s named. It appears as a legless, floating skeleton wreathed in yellow roses and sporting an ornate crown upon its bleached-white skull. A small sword is driven into its right temple and exits through the other side of the head, and its right hand can be seen occasionally resting on the hilt. Blood weeps continuously from its empty black eye sockets, and from within its hollow chest cavity there beats a red human heart. Despite a lack of tongue and vocal chords, the Suicide King speaks in a raspy voice that still serves to unnerve Callum, even after years of hearing it.
Callum has yet to truly comprehend the nature of his geist, though the two have established an adequate working relationship thus far. He’s noticed that the Suicide King gets agitated when confronted by displays of extreme misfortune (so long as such misfortune is due to mundane happenstance and not supernatural interference). The more unlikely and improbable the accident, the more severe the geist’s reaction becomes. This has led Callum to speculate that the ghost itself was once an ill-fated victim of random events. He has a sneaking suspicion that the sword impaling the Suicide King’s skull ended up there, not by its own hand, but by way of a freakish mishap.
Concept: Personification of sudden death by freak accident.
Remembrance: Pleas and sobs for mercy, the cheering of a distant crowd, and the sight of a blade closing in.
Remembrance Trait: Survival
Attributes: Power 4, Finesse 5, Resistance 3
Virtue: Fearless
Vice: Impulsive
Ephemeral Entity Traits
Rank: 3
Ban: Must dematerialize when it hears the sound of metal on bone.
Bane: A weapon that once accidentally harmed an ally.
Innate Key: The Key of Chance
Advantages
Defense: 4
Size: 5
Initiative: 8
Speed: 14
Universal Crisis Point Triggers
• Take damage from your geist’s bane.
• Deliberately ignore the geist’s ban.
• Suffer a wound in one of your rightmost three Health boxes.
Specific Crisis Point Triggers: Misfortune
• Hazy: Be the victim of freak circumstances — nearly hit by a car that runs a red, pickpocketed in the street, or similar.
• Vague: Suffer material harm from bad luck — losing hundreds or thousands of dollars in a card game, suffer significant injury in a car crash.
• Specific: Suffer material harm from bad luck in the same form that happened to your geist.
