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GENERAL CHARACTER STATISTICS
Character Name: Professor Samael Archibald Norse
Name Meaning: None
Alias: “Doc.” He hates that nickname, though.
Gender: M
Species/Race: Human
Age: 39
Place of Birth: Bristol, England.
Current Residence: Billington Estates, uptown London
Occupation/School/Grade: Professor of Theology and Philosophy
Family: Nathaniel Norse (father; deceased), Elizabeth Norse (mother; deceased), Lucille Grottingsby (sister; deceased), Alfred Grottingsby, (brother-in-law; Samael wishes he was dead).
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Height: 5′ 10″
Hair: Salt-and-pepper black
Eyes: Dark
Distinguishing Marks: None
General Appearance: The professor’s long history of sorcery has taken a bit of a toll on his body; he is leaner than he should be at his age, although he is far from frail or weak. Still, his endurance is limited, so instead of running from battles, he will attempt to either suspect his attacker in stone long enough for him to escape, or simply put all his energy into a one-shot teleport to one of his three fixed locations (the basement of his home, his winter home in Italy, or the center of the London sewers). Samael avoids dressing in black, as it makes him look more gaunt than he actually is, which attracts unneeded attention. He is usually wearing a pressed, tailor-made suit, and takes great care in his appearance.
Strengths: Although he is not a decent fighting type of sorcerer, Samael is an expert on summoning and binding demons to the various talismans he carries. The demons he summons with these are fairly mediocre in power (for a demon, anyway); to summon something larger, he needs to use his equipment at home. Since he does not have the strength of his youth as much as he used to, Samael is a tactical man these days–he will turn himself invisible in a battle, sneak into some shadows, and fire entangling nets of demon fire or some such at any opponents. If outmatched, he will teleport away.
Weaknesses: He may be a strong summoner, but Samael is not as young as he used to be. And a lifetime of necromancy has taken a definite toll on his body. In close-range combat, he’s as good as dead unless he can teleport away or make a quick summoning. Samael is also a perfectionist; he cannot leave something alone if he thinks he’s made a mistake. This has almost cost him his life more than once, but old habits are hard to break.
More: Ironically enough, Samael first got into the occult nearly twenty years ago, when he was first starting his career as a doctor. Samael sold his own soul to the devil in exchange for miraculous healing powers, and great luck as a surgeon. The highly critical church, though, began to get suspicious, so Samael quickly gave up his practice and moved from his hometown of Bristol to London. Now that he was no longer a doctor, Samael wanted his soul back, but the devil refused to back out on their bargain. Panic-stricken at the thought of spending an eternity in Hell after a lifetime of doing nothing, Samael went to college for six years, and became a professor of Theology at the same school, and dedicated the remainder of his life to finding a way to get his soul back.
MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS
Allies: The demons he summons
Enemies: The demons he summons, if he cannot bind them.
Current Goal/Purpose: Samael never had any real love for Johnathan, but even he doesn’t hate the man enough to ignore the fact that he accidentally let loose a pack of nightmares into England. Recently, Samael has thought that perhaps capturing and banishing these demons would put him back into good light with the Heavenly hosts, to where they’d give him his soul back.
Talents: Summoning and binding demons.
Inabilities: Strenuous physical activity.
Fears: Samael fears death, for dying would mean going straight to Hell; do not pass Go, do not collect two hundred pounds. All the spells of immortality he’s read have required the sacrifice of another human, though. Samael may be a necromancer, but he’s not evil. Just thinking about killing another person like that makes him cringe.
General Personality: Professor Norse is an intelligent, bookish man, who insists on perfection. Everyone who knows him speaks well of him, saying how clever and well-mannered he is. Samael is a “devout” Catholic, and attends Sunday mass at exactly nine o’clock sharp.
Inner Personality: Although a bit cryptic sometimes, Samael is not very different in private than he is in public. He tends to be a bit more fussy (if that’s actually possible), but even in the middle of a summoning, he is cool, calm, and even pleasant.
Fondest Memory: Nothing comes to mind, but if you asked him, he’d probably have a few right off the top of his head.
Biggest Regret: Selling his soul.
Secret: Samael dreads the thought of any of his friends discovering his unusual “hobby.” Not only would they alienate him, but they would also, no doubt, tell the church, who would have him killed on the spot.
SPECIALTY CHARACTERISTICS
Special Items: On his person, Samael always carries three talismans. The first, a gold necklace with a tiny glass sphere in a clawed hand attached to it, which calls a lesser demon. The second is a simple leather bracelet, which calls a demon of greater power. The third is a ring on his right hand, with silver wings. This activates his teleportation.
Weapons: Samael carries a staff of summoning when he expects trouble, or when he leaves the city on “business.” This item allows him to summon demons and monsters of some power, although he cannot summon named devils or archdukes. As always, though, binding the greater demons after the summoning is a problem, especially those of greater power. The demons from his talismans, though, are always bound.
Magics: Professor Norse is able to cast spells of varying power, such as blasts of hellfire, walls of demon fire, opening gateways to Hell under people’s feet, and so forth. This is not his specialty, though, so he will usually rely on his items, and only go to his true magic if pressed.
More: Samael’s home is his Place of Power. Here, there is very little he cannot summon and conjure up, and he is at his greatest strength here.
HISTORIC BACKGROUND
General History: Samael Archibald Norse was born to Nathaniel Norse, a high-ranking officer in the British navy, and Elizabeth Norse, who was the assistant to the Queen’s dressmaker. From his earliest days, Samael showed an intense passion for learning, and he devoured every book his parents put in front of him. He was most fascinated, however, by the medical sciences, and when he was only nine years old, Samael decided he would become a doctor.
Books and medical journals were Samael’s friends when he was growing up. The politics of the court bored him endlessly, as did the stories of war in far-off countries. All Samael cared about was learning. His disinterest in war turned to a bitter hatred, though, when he learned of his father’s passing in a naval battle thousands of miles from home. His mother, grief-stricken by the news, was in mourning until she passed away years later.
Now alone with his younger sister, Lucille, Samael enrolled into Oxford, and received his degree in medical sciences within a mere two and a half years. The events leading up to the bargaining of his soul, the loss of his practice, and his dedication to the occult begins here, and is described in detail above. Not long after getting his teaching degree, Samael’s sister was married away to a man Samael did not have much respect for to being with, and within six months, she died of cold complications, and Samael has not heard from his brother-in-law since.
Regarding Johnathan, Samael has no recollection of how and why their feud began. Just thinking about the man, though, gives the professor a pounding headache. Peace between the two is unthinkable, as long as one or the other is breathing.
Present Life: Caught up in a fit of rare anger, the professor tried to summon a named demon to deal with Johnathan once and for all. The summoning went wrong, though, and instead of summoning one named demon, Samael summoned several hundred weaker ones, and a few larger forces he has yet to identify. That was several months ago, and the good doctor now spends a considerable amount of his evenings stalking the streets of London, searching for the dark creatures he unleashed.
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