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Jack Pembrook, sorcerer extraordinare and occasional Exorcist - this man is bad news to the Demons he hunts, or so he likes to think. A new face in Millennium City, he seeks to make a name for himself amongst Magical circles, grow his knowledge and expand his business - all while saving people.

History

Origins

"I didn't have any defining tragedy, if that's what you're asking mate... If anything, my family was fairly stable."

It's true, Pembrook's family was loving and affectionate in the Welsh town of Swansea. He was born in 1961 at Morriston Hospital to two loving parents. Their firstborn son, he encountered minor health complications at his birth, these complications were miraculously healed from him in the middle of the night, a bright light supposedly filling the room and curing him of his ailments. To this day, his parents believe this to be an act of divine intervention by the Christian God himself, the experience converting the two parents into devout, loving Christians.

Early life

Jack's home life was, while loving and tender, very boring. At least in his eyes, from a young age he liked to act out and adventure, causing mayhem for his parents but fun for him. This attitude continued into his teenage years, resulting in a long rebellious streak, leading him to several run-ins with the police, breaking his parents hearts and exposure to a world of drugs and vices. It was, coincidentally, this vice-filled lifestyle that drove the young lad down the path he follows today, as an altruistic demon hunter. Throughout his teenage years, he was educated at the Bishop Vaughan Catholic School - the experience still failing to convert him into a devout religious follower like his parents, only pushing him further away from their moral beliefs. He dropped out of school without passing his A-Level exams, leaving his qualifications rather... Lacklustre.

One night, just after his seventeenth birthday, Jack was bound to an underground rave alongside some friend outside of school, successfully evading his parents - for years, they would have no idea what happened that night.

Discovering magic

The rave was everything Jack wanted it to be, loud music, attractive women, drugs and alcohol - a dream for a rebellious youth. That was until the newest Metal band on the scene came out. The music began playing, everyone dancing, but then the most curious things started to happen - Jack's vision began failing, stretching and blurring, until the artists on stage appeared... Demonic, the music sounding like tortured screams. He sought to block it out, covering his ears and shifting out of the mosh pits, to the back of the warehouse. The was a woman there too, not much older than him, clutching her ears tightly, all whilst glaring at the act on stage. She noticed Jack suffering from the same phenomena, glancing at him curiously.

The world changed for Jack at that moment, the artists on stage apparently abandoning their thin veneer between human and demon, assuming demonic personas, the music turning to ear-bursting screams for everyone, crippling many of the crowd and forcing them to their knees. The woman beside him stepping forward, her hand glowing brightly - Jack didn't know, but could feel the ethereal energies flowing from it. She flung the energy towards the act on stage, a planar fracture opening up - sending the demons right back to Hell. The supernatural display both frightening and eliciting awe from the young lad. He blinked for a moment, as though to take in what he had just seen. The woman was gone. He fled the scene soon after that, leaving his injured friends behind in a hurry.

Training

Life returned to a mundane normality after that, albeit Jack's friends being annoyed with him for leaving them, ear burst, at the rave. It became about the monotony of finding a job whilst waiting for his final year at school to end, nowhere seemingly wanting to hire him. He was on his way to a potential job interview when he encountered the woman from the Rave yet again, she was pinned by a strange looking man in an alley. Jack acted impulsively, charging the man, catching him off-guard and knocking him to the ground. Jack went in for a punch, his vision fuzzing again as he raised his fist - the clear image of the man's decomposing, vampiric face filling his view - showing Jack the man's true appearance. The vampire-man threw the distracted and horrified young lad from him with ease, refocusing his attention on the young woman nearby. She had enough time to prepare a spell, chanting some unfamiliar language before producing a magnum pistol, pressing a button on the side of it - the barrel taking the shape of a crucifix. She pulled the trigger, a stake-shaped bullet firing from it, hitting the vampire square in the chest - the creature turning to dust mere moments after. The woman moved over to the shaken young teenager.

"I think she said... 'Come with me, I'll teach you how to handle things like that.' I was just a boy, I wanted out from the normality of my life. It was a no brainer."

London, 1988

After ten years of travelling with his strange female acquaintance, who he refuses to disclose the name of, Pembrook arrived in London, renting an apartment in the lower-class East End. From here, he and his acquaintance seemed to set up some form of Occult business, offering advice and solutions to people suffering from hauntings within the East End, one of the most haunted places within the United Kingdom.

Becoming an Exorcist

Demon hunt gone wrong

The Lost years

Current events

Characteristics

Appearance

Personality

Abilities

Powers

Jack has a few natural born 'powers' which aid him in his crusade against the supernatural:

"Truesight" - Jack has experienced a strange ability which he dubs "Truesight", allowing him to see through the disguises of some supernatural creatures, such as his ability to perceive the demons at the rave the night his life changed.

Magical affinity - Being a magician, Jack has a natural affinity for the magical forces, allowing him to channel them in offensive measures such as hexes and spells. He's the first member of his family to demonstrate such a skill, begging the question of where his magical power has come from.

Skills

Jack has quite the repertoire of skills when it comes down to it - but they aren't all too impressive:

Capable hand-to-hand combatant - Without having formal training in advanced martial arts like many a modern vigilante, Jack developed a 'unique' style of street brawling from his time in drunken fights throughout his life, allowing him to hold his own in fights, for some time.

Accurate shooter - Using his own custom-built "Smiter" firearm, he has gradually developed a keen eye, able to hit targets at just over 30 feet away without compromising the fatality of his shots.

Knowledge of the Occult - Throughout his years of travelling the world and training in the Occult, he has developed a knowledge of many magical technique which he employs on his crusade against the supernatural - these include hexes, magical history and the manipulation of Eldritch energies.

Biblical knowledge - Jack also has knowledge of the 'factual' events in the Bible, demons, angels and the Circles of Hell come under this. His knowledge isn't perfect and is prone to flaws, but he's still learning. His skills in Christian Occultism and Exorcisms are derived from this.

Alcohol tolerance - Through years of exposure to alcohol, he has developed a high tolerance to alcohol, whilst seemingly unimpressive it has saved his life many times.

Weaknesses

Substance addiction - Jack goes through relapses of crippling addiction to alcohol, weakening him mentally and physically through the abuse of drink.

Just human - At least while in human form, Jack has all the weaknesses associated with being a human, all their weak points and failings.

Corrupted soul - Jack's soul has been corrupted through Sin and exposure to demonic energies, allowing the demon inside him to take control of his body at times.

Equipment

Trivia

Other stuff

RP Hooks

Here are some ways you could interact with him:

• Got demon problems? Give him a call, he has a website and a phone number to call.
• A magician? Or someone knowledgeable of magical circles? Maybe you've heard of him, that's a way to recognise him.
• I'm always looking for villains to fight, so demons and other supernatural antagonists can always organise something with me.
• Conversely, I'm also looking for a web of supernatural informants, from ghosts to simple magicians.
• Maybe you encountered him in the past? We can talk about the details of meetings like that.

Theme songs

Tropes

Older than they look - Jack appears to be in his late twenties, in reality he's actually in his early fifties.

Amazing luck - Jack appears to have some guiding hand behind him, giving him unusually extraordinary luck.

Timeshare body - Jack shares his body with an ancient, yet amnesiac demon. Occasionally turning him immoral and evil.

Occult Detective - Jack works as a demon hunter, exorcist and Occult investigator these days. Hear a bump in the night? You know who to call.

Foul-mouthed - Jack doesn't exactly have the most... Polite of vocabularies.

Sarcastic ass - Jack is known for cracking sarcastic one-liners, with a dry and often offensive sense of humor.

Indifferent to much - Jack is rarely surprised by what he sees in his line of work.

Struggling man - Jack, since his teenage years, has battled against vices such as alcoholism.

Inspirations

Okay, when I was creating this character, I had three main sources of inspiration. The most obvious you can detect is probably John Constantine, I love the Hellblazer comics. The other two inspirations are somewhat more discreet: Etrigan the Demon, with the demonic-human aspect; and then Luke Rutherford/Rupert Galvin from the British TV series, Demons.