Quintin Connell, The Headmaster

[Kryptik]

Name: Quintin Connell (Nickname: Quinn)

Age: 28

Occupation: Headmaster

Appearance:


With golden locks, amber eyes and a soft, handsome face, Quintin is definitely pleasing to the eyes. He stands at a height of 5' 11" and has a lean, conditioned body. Several scars and burns about his body display that he had often seen combat. However, he has more of the appearance of a refined scholar than a battle-worn exorcist. Though this appearance may be deceiving to some part, he is usually seen with a smile and laugh and dialogging at a level that is both intelligent and carefree.


Personality:
Charming. Suave. Bold. Quintin has all the characteristic qualities of a good leader and a charismatic gentleman. He inherits the scholarly intellect and reasoning of his mother, and the charisma and Ritual talent of his father. His aptitude in leadership is naturally superb, as he is able to put a calm and determined focus into any trial or situation he encounters. His proceedings with others are both modest yet compelling, which gives others the impression of feeling at his level, yet admirable and worthy of leadership. He is not as formal and uptight as people might expect from a man at his status, which often makes him seem very approachable and amiable.

He is quick to praising others for their efforts and accomplishments, but also unafraid to reproach those who are slothful or troublesome. He tends to prefer to address an individual's mistakes in private, always looking to save as much face as possible. However, he is not unafraid to quickly send a student to detention for a fault or overrule another for their bad judgments or decisions. Never does he take credit for the successes and accomplishments of others, and often does he overlook his own successes to accentuate those of others. Though this humility might easily cause him to be overlooked, his superiors usually know that he plays an important role in whatever he does. When asked, however, he is glad to tell of his past feats and accomplishments.

Being imaginative yet reasonable, he is respected for his novelty and rationality; recognized for his brilliance as well as his skill in the Rites. He has a curious nature, which makes him fascinated by anything that presents itself to him. Therefore, he finds an interest in almost any subject or assignment. He seeks to understand how things work and why instead of merely accepting that they work. He also has a way at seeing things in different perspectives, always trying to see a subject or matter from different angles. He can see the two sides of an argument without bias, and tends not to make a decision without looking at both sides with an open mind.

Quintin sees himself more as an exorcist than a scholar, though recent conditions restricts him to the latter. Nevertheless, his aptitude in both is great, mirroring his father's skill in exorcisms and his mother's aptitude in scholarship. He has a strong passion in protecting humankind and defeating demons, which is marked in his seriousness and idealistic resolve on the matter. Though he is well known for being joyous and outgoing, when the subject of demons arises, he takes on a more austere expression. He does not joke around when it comes to demons.


Experience History:
- Studied in St. George's Academy for 4 years.
- Studied in Salvificus Veritas Academy for 10 years.
- Bears over 8 years of experience in demonic exorcisms.
- Contributed two recognized volumes of demonology:
- - Beyond the Paranormal: Identifying Demons in Unusual Cases
- - Between Man and Demon: Demonic Influences


Personal History:
Quintin was born to the much revered and esteemed Connell family. Both his parents were of English origin and heavily involved with the matters of the Church. Due to his lineage, he was expected to do great things for the Church.

His father, Gyles Connell, was one of the Vatican's foremost exorcists. He was renowned for having fought in the Napoleonic Wars against a principle French warlock and his summoned demons. In addition, he bore a successful track record for completing nearly every assignment he was given; having failed only once due to the suicide of a possessed he was to exorcise. Quintin's grandfather of his father's side, Anthony Connell, was also a famous exorcist and the first of his family line; renowned for exorcising a Second Ranking demon that had managed to infiltrate the Vatican as one of their own and conspired to topple the Church to ruin, but losing his life in the process.

Quintin's mother, Veronica Davis, was an important high-ranking seer and scholar who came from a respectable family of exorcists. Her work sustained of directing exorcists in locating demons and analyzing their individual weaknesses. Aside from exorcismal direction, she contributed to the academia of the Rites through the publications of several of her research work into clairvoyant rites and demonology.

Gyles and Veronica met when they had worked together deep in the savanna of Africa, providing relief to the natives who were afflicted by demons. It was during that time together that they fell in love with each other, after having saved each others lives from close encounters with a powerful Third Ranking demon. After they had completed their assignment, they continued to see each other. Eventually, Gyles proposed and Veronica accepted, marrying under the mantle of the Church several months later.

Growing up, Quintin was constantly on the move with his parents. The marriage and family Gyles was raising did not reduce his workload, and Veronica was expected to work beside her husband as well as continue her work in the academia of the Rites. Therefore, Quintin had seen many places from Dublin to Jerusalem throughout his early childhood. For him, everyday was an adventure.

Naturally curious, he always sought to see his father work, but his mother would always keep him back and explain to him how dangerous but necessary his work was. This both fascinated and frightened him, but his mother would constantly reassure him that his father had everything under control. He grew quite close to his mother due to her affection and wisdom. She would take him to meetings and conventions regarding the Rites and uses and their ways that they can exorcise demons and improve the well-being of all humans, despite how young he was. The other exorcists and rites users would enjoy having him around and remark how he was going to be someone important someday. Quintin would shy and Veronica would smile, his mother thinking so, too.

Quintin's father and he were also quite close. His father would explain to him about the Rites and his work, and about the demons and why they needed to be exorcised. Though he never took him along during his early years when he had to exorcise demons, he did in one instance showed him a Ninth Ranking demon; which Quintin squashed with his hands. Nothing extraordinary, though his father would say with a laugh that he was already on his way to becoming an exorcist.

Eventually, around the age of four, Veronica and he discovered that he had an innate ability for the clairvoyant. This was discovered when Quintin was able to tell if others approached near without even giving a glance or the use of any other sense. His mother was proud and his father was glad, though Veronica knew that this natural affinity wasn't the strongest. His mother then undertook the task to instructing him about the Rites and how to work them. Quintin was quick to learn, to their joy.

Around the age of 6, they felt it best that he took a proper education in the Rites. So he was then sent to St. George's Academy in London. His marks were high, studying both the Rites and the general courses an average student would study. Graduating from its primary school program, Quintin transferred to the reputable and highly esteemed Salvificus Veritas Academy in Rome. The studies and expectations there were one of the strictest of all the academies, but Quintin managed to pass his classes with fairly good marks. He was well liked by the teachers and the students there, and had no problem making friends with other people. He was also making himself out to becoming an excellent exorcist, as his abilities with the Rites were quite superb for his experience. It was was there where he learned he had a greater affinity for purifying, setting him up for being an able and powerful exorcist. However, at age 16, his life took a turn.

Quintin had finished his exorcismal combat practice with another student when one of the instructors approached him with a solemn look. The instructor, Fr. Giovanni Russo, asked him to come along to discuss a certain matter with several other exorcists. Upon entering the room where several exorcists sat by a table, Quintin knew deep down in his heart what had happened. One of the exorcists, Samuel Schwartz, was the first to speak. He then began to describe the tragedy that had occurred. The death of both his parents. Quintin slumped into a chair, grief-stricken. The exorcist then continued to tell him the cause of their deaths.

Apparently, during an important assignment in China which his parents were a part of, they had encountered a Second Ranking demon. The demon happened to actually been disguised to be one of their own all along, having escaping detection all those years as Francis Herman. His mother had become suspicious of the disguised demon during the assignment, which led her to attempt to fully discover him. However, the demon was already onto her. She was murdered one night while she was on her way to confirm her suspicions to the lead exorcist, Samuel himself. When she was found dead, Gyles immediately knew who the perpetrator was, since Veronica did express her concern to him beforehand. Accusing Francis as the murderer and revealing him before the other exorcists of the party, he sought to exorcise him. He lost his life in the process, leaving Samuel himself to finish off the demon. He told Quintin that if it hadn't been for both his parents, it was very possible that all the exorcists of that party would have failed and died.

Nevertheless, Quintin couldn't believe it. Samuel rose and placed a hand on his shoulder, reassuring him that they gave their lives for a noble cause. It was the end the exorcist would eventually meet, he was told. Finally, he was told that the Church would be directly responsible for him from now on. He was then left to be alone for a while, in which Quintin could only bury his face in his arms and wish things didn't have to be the way they were.

When he came to his senses, he noted the two objects on the table that he so recalled his parents bearing about. One was his father's sword, which was also his grandfather's sword. It was a consecrated weapon; it's edge bearing a potent purifying and chaotic rite, giving it the ability to cleanly cleave through both the physical and supernatural; and a protective rite to keep the blade strong. It was broken once during a bout his father had with a demon once, but reforged with the same shards.

The second was his mother's golden pocket watch, which he so dearly remembered seeing her take out and glance at it briskly and replace it just as quickly. It was a unique object of clairvoyance, which only one deeply attuned to clairvoyant rites could interpret. It was unique in the sense that instead of the twelve Roman numerals, as most pocket watches have, there were symbols. Also, the watch had three hands. The watch had the ability of telling the current state of time; that is, what was occurring at that point in time. The watch couldn't forecast the future or recall an event of the past, only the present and what was occurring, but never intentions of what one planned to do. He remembered her mother teaching him how to use it. She said that it could only be fully interpreted with much practice and meditation. Where its origins came from, she did not know; only that she obtained it from her father when she graduated and became a seer and scholar. He took these objects with much affection.

He eventually learned to accept his parents' deaths. He continued his studies and training, practicing with his father's sword and interpreting his mother's pocket watch. Quintin finally graduated from Salvificus Veritas Academy at the young age of 20. He was now an exorcist, which he accepted with a solemn honor. He understood that someday, his end would not be unlike the deaths of his parents and those before them. Nevertheless, he accepted this fate with honor.

Quintin's first duty as exorcist took him to Iceland with another senior exorcist, Vladamir Ivanov, to investigate the strange occurrence of missing people ending up found dead afloat in thermal pools. Prepared to tackle the assignment, Quintin helped investigate and tie the occurrences to demons. The assignment was completed and the demons exorcised after a month's work and several more deaths, including their guide. Quintin, however, was downcast that more lives had been taken. Vladamir assured him that it was nothing they could have done to prevent, though Quintin could not take that assurance. Ever since, he had been known to put heavy determination into his work. He also took up to continue his mother's research in demonology, hoping that more effective ways of identifying and analyzing demons to more effectively exorcise them could be discovered.

As Quintin gained experience and quickly grounded himself as an exceptional exorcist with a strong lineage, his role as exorcist had taken him further around the world than an average exorcist would travel; undertaking assignments that were odd and peculiar to demon norms. These cases were usually more disturbing and strange than usual demon incidents, taking him from the tundra of Australia to the jungles of the Amazon. Vatican norms usually ensured that exorcists go with at least one other exorcist; however, his assignments soon grew unpopular due to the physical hardships and psychological effects of the cases and incidents. At least one of his fellow exorcist's fell to psychological arrest, which was not uncommon among exorcists.

Any effects it had on Quintin himself went unnoticed by others, though it did constantly gnaw at him from the inside; sometimes causing him to wake up at night with a sweat. It was not as if the demons were any harder to exorcise, but used more disturbing means to cause harm. Despite this, he was celebrated as a popular individual among the exorcists and other people for his outgoing friendliness and striking charisma. He soon earned the unofficial title of the Vatican's Exorcist of Unusual Cases; which he was recognized and respected by from most his colleagues.

At the age of 27, an assignment had taken him to the swamps of Louisiana with exorcist Red Curt. They were investigating occurrences of rotten undead that creep in the dark and savagely murder people, leaving their corpses in pieces. They kept awake within a village for several nights to spot them, and successful located one before it could cause any harm. It tried to attack them, but Quintin was able to sever it to harmless pieces while the creature laughed maniacally as it was chopped. A common effect. He found that no demon had inhabited the undead, which made the assignment all the peculiar. And what's more was that there was more of them.

Later in the week, Red pointed out that the killings revolved around a central region. Hoping to eliminate the cause of the undead and killings, they proceeded to reach that region; traversing over swamp in a skiff. They were able to reach the area by nightfall, and searched all night for a sign or sense of a demon. Before they knew it, dark turned darker. Then there was light and a hard beating sun. They had found themselves in a rolling desert with cracked soil. An especially unusual case, Quintin sought to understand the nature of the place they were in. There being no doubt that it was facilitated by demons, they hoped to find an escape through rites. Doing so aggravated the situation, causing undead to break out from underneath the cracked earth. After a furious battle, the remaining undead disappeared into ash and the scenery changed to a wet, rocky cliff. Quintin and Red were separated as a result. Quintin sought to find Red, but instead crossed a worm-like demon in human form. Quintin attempted to exorcise it, but the higher sphere demon simply evaded all his attacks. Eventually a stab to the abdomen and a misplaced foot sent Quintin throttling down the rocky cliff side, and all consciousness was lost.

Awaking with a panic, he found himself back in the familiar swamps of Louisiana. Despite the writhing pain from the wound on his side, he arose and sought out his fellow exorcist. Spending the day out looking without any sign of his comrade, he proceeded back to the nearest village. Managing to reach one, he collapsed and let the villagers attend to him. Because of the villager's medicine, he was able to live; however, the wound had left a black, disfiguring mark on his side, which he knew as demonic stigma. The stigma was excruciating painful, especially when moving.

He then spent a month afterwards looking for Red Curt with the aid of the villagers as well. They never found him. However, strangely, the undead were not seen or heard of since then. The villagers congratulated Quintin for his efforts in bringing the murderous incidents to an end, though Quintin felt wholly suspicious of it all. Receiving a reply from a letter he sent to the exorcists' headquarters in New York on the recent circumstance in Louisiana, he was instructed to abandon the search and return to New York for further instruction. With a torn heart, he obeyed and left; though the villagers promised they would keep a lookout for Red Curt.

Arriving at New York, he gave a full account of what had happened and had his physical condition looked after by doctors. Quintin still bore the demonic stigma on his side, which was treated by the doctors, but had never showed any signs of improvement. They concluded it was a high level stigma, which may disappear over time, but could not be treated by their current knowledge of medicine and rites. The head exorcists in New York then gave their decision to send an organized search party to look for Red Curt, though they were sure that they would be looking for a body. Quintin did not want to accept his death, but felt interiorly that it was so. This grieved him, to the point of weeping.

He was then summoned back to the Vatican where he would receive the Vatican's decision on how to proceed with him. Because of his condition, the Vatican argued that it would be best that his duties as exorcist are to be suspended. Shocked and unhappy with the decision, Quintin sought to convince the Vatican that he was able for exorcismal duty. The Vatican did not budge on their decision; however, they offered him an opportunity to investigate the rumors around the abandoned building, Sanctum Academy. The rumors were merely the stuff of legend, and many exorcists had dismissed them as stories; arguing that there was no documentation that the academy had ever been opened as an exorcist school once. And though Quintin was quite curious into the academy, he was also skeptical of the legends. However, he accepted humbly and with cheer, since there was no other assignment he could take.

He was assigned to investigate the academy with another exorcist, Eaplia Samuzerbeth, who had been a good friend of his since their studies in Salvificus Veritas Academy. They scrutinized the building and checked for peculiarities and demons. None was found after a week there, though they were surprised that the building was structurally well intact as well as appealing to the eye. A month passed, and more months passed, and nothing registered as unusual about the place. However, the longer Quintin stayed there, the more he began to feel to suspect the place. After sleeping and living through All Hallow's Eve peacefully, Quintin wrote his statement to the Vatican that there was nothing obviously peculiar about the building. However, he stressed within the letter, he felt that the place was indeed infested with a evil force. Disregarding his concerns, the Vatican felt that the building could indeed be of use to the community of exorcists of all affiliations, and gave its intention to open it up as an academy: Sanctum Academy.

The Vatican then named Quintin Connell as Headmaster of the school; partially in an attempt to keep him from exorcismal duty, since his demonic stigma had not improved at all and felt that he could be a danger to himself and other exorcists in the face of demons. Quintin, again, was more disappointed than thrilled at this decision. He had viewed himself as a fighting exorcist, and not as a scholarly one; despite his recognized works in demonology. Also, he felt that the building was unfit for student exorcists due to his suspicions of the place. But again, he accepted this decision, and took it with outwardly merriment and cheer.

Since then, improvements were made on the academy to bring it up to a fine, aesthetic school: grooming wild plants and trees, polishing its marbled edifice and restoring its wooden floors. The result was a fine academy that looked as if it could rival the best ones of Rome and other prominent cities. Quintin was proud, but also unsure. Nevertheless, he had and continues to open his arms to students, eager to instruct and guide them along their way to becoming exorcists.


Residency: Headmaster's Private Room


Additional Information:
Usually seen every now and then flicking open his golden pocket watch and glancing at the timepiece, often within minutes in between each flick and glance.

Suffers regularly from his demonic stigma. The pain is usually characterized by strong, stomach pains. He typically masks any expression of pain when others are around, which leads to others thinking that he is perfectly alright. He avoids taking any drugs for the pain.


Aptitude Hierarchy of Rites
Purifying
Clairvoyant
Protective
Chaotic
Shrouding
Phrenic
Telluric
Consecrative
Anointing
Ambient
Animating
Transmutable


RP Sample: Kyle Day

[Ekcentrik]

Omigosh! It's a teacher!
A new one at that.
Welcome, dear fountain
Old books have nothing on you
The smell of knowledge
Fills this room