★ Derrick Starr ★

Also here’s the screencaps I redrew if anyone is curious

I've never actually gotten to play as this guy before, but I love coming up with new characters based on interesting dnd classes, backgrounds, or races.

This guy, Raylin Melviir, is a Drow Warlock (fiend) with the Haunted One background. While perusing different dnd backgrounds, the Haunted One really stuck out to me. I liked how vague and therefore versatile it was, and I was particularly interested in one of the offered Harrowing Events:

"A fiend possessed you as a child. You were locked away but escaped. The fiend is still inside you, but now you try to keep it locked away."

A fiend you say? Isn't that something you can make a warlock pact with?

So yeah, Raylin is a warlock who made a deal with the fiend who possessed him as a child and still haunts his mind. Having your patron, who you already don’t have a great relationship with, as a backseat driver in your head was such a compelling concept that I HAD to put it to paper. I’ve also always had a fascination with characters who share one body, I think Greed and Ling from Fullmetal Alchemist permanently changed my brain chemistry.

I'm still working out some of the backstory, but the idea is that the demon, Maldremon, was some big shot in the in hell, but was overthrown by a coup. To make sure he stayed down, they did some magic to separate his soul from his body and cast it away to the material plane. In his weakened state, he needed to possess the first person he saw or die, and that happened to be a young Raylin Melviir.

Living an idyllic little life, Raylin was a sweet boy with a kind soul who lived with his mother in a small village. When he was around eight years old (or the drow equivalent), he was possessed by this fiend and locked within his own mind.

Now, Mal couldn’t just start his revenge plot right away, so he had to bide his time until this body grew. In the meantime, he decided to have some fun. He became an absolute terror, getting into fights, sent to reform schools, and even getting in serious trouble with the law as he got older. Eventually he was arrested, but escaped, and started racking up arrest warrants and permanent banishments in every town he came across.

Raylin, this whole time, has been locked in his own mind, forced to just watch as this demon ruins his life. At first, he’s confused and scared and begs the demon to let him go and to stop hurting people, but to no avail. Slowly, over time, Raylin becomes more despondent and apathetic, slipping into a sort of sleep for weeks, months, or even years at a time.

After a long time, Ray decides to fight back. He spends months lying in wait, gathering strength, and looking for the perfect opportunity to fight for control, and somehow, he succeeds. Maldremon is none too happy about this, but Raylin stands strong, and is in control of himself again for the first time in decades. He's now the drow equivalent of about 21, but it's been about 45 years since he was first possessed.

Traveling around, out of touch in an unfamiliar body. He barely remembers what it was like to be in control, but this is a jarring change from what he does remember. Mal also didn't help with that, having acquired piercings, scars, and tattoos that he’s still finding.

Raylin is also wanted or banned from a good portion of the towns and cities around him. That, coupled with having basically no life experience or skills, does not bode well for starting a new life.

Raylin initially wants to go back home and find his mom, but he also knows that as long as the fiend is still in his head, it’s not safe to do so. So, his new mission is to exercise the fiend, but he woke up in the middle of nowhere, and finding someone skilled enough to help him hasn’t been working. Mal being a nuisance and trying to take back control also hinders his quest, as this can cause painful headaches. Some days, he has to concentrate so hard that he can’t even get out of bed, head aching and nose bleeding as Mal tries to tear his way to freedom.

One night, Raylin is cornered by bandits, and climbs a tree to escape, but it’s only a matter of time before they get him down. He’s going to die. And, though he’s scared, Raylin accepts this. At least if he dies, he takes the fiend with him.

Maldremon, unable to take back control, freaks the fuck out. He doesn’t know what will happen to him if Raylin dies. Will he die as well, or will his soul just be ejected out? Even if he was, he wouldn’t be strong enough to possess one of these men, and he’d die anyway without a host. Raylin is still holding strong against his attempts to take control, even when it would be to save their lives. Mal doesn’t want to die, so instead, he strikes a bargain.

Raylin at first is dead set on refusing, but Maldremon takes advantage of his fear and anger, though Raylin does the same. The deal is: Raylin receives power and boons from Maldremon to protect them and aid them on their journey. Raylin, in return, must help Maldremon find a new host, though they agree that it will be a completely blank vessel for him to inhabit. And finally, Maldremon can no longer attempt to take over Raylin’s body. With the deal struck, Raylin dispatches the bandits with guidance from Mal, and the two continue on with a shaky truce.

A mark like a scar appears on the back of his right hand as a symbol of their deal, the same symbol that Maldremon used to have on his forehead.

Now, for some of the visuals I added:

I dabbled with the idea that the symbol/scar on back of hand would glow when he casts spells, but I didn't want to deal with a second light source so I made a choice lol.

The random scar on his arm is meant to show that he's gotten in some tussles in his time, or at least Mal has. He definitely has a lot more hiding under his clothes, including two top surgery scars. Mal may be an evil demon ruining Ray's life, but he's not transphobic. I considered added a hint of a tattoo design, but it felt like it'd make everything too busy. I think he has one big tattoo on his back and maybe some on his chest? Upper arms maybe? Idk, thinking of tattoos for myself is already hard enough.

I included empty piercing spots because I love the idea that Mal got them a million different piercings so he could adorn himself in finery, but Ray hates drawing attention to himself so he never wears any.

The braided bracelet he has is actually something his mom made for him. I imagine the original material eventually got too small and old, so, several years into the possession, it broke. Raylin freaked out, nonstop crying for Mal to fix it. Usually Raylin has the backbone of a chocolate éclair, but he wouldn't stop and Mal thought it was annoying, so he found a bit of twine and added some extra length at the break. Now decades later, Raylin back in control, he noticed that the bracelet was still there with a new, longer extension to keep it secure. It must have broken when he was sunk into their subconscious, and Mal fixed it without prompting. Weird, bet that doesn't have any emotional implications or anything.

Drow have superior darkvision but also get disadvantage in direct sunlight, so that made me look into animals with really good night vision. In my search, I came across the tarsier that have these huge, buggy eyes with pupils that are like pinpricks in the daytime but become huge saucers at night.

And on the subject of eyes, Ray's eyes used to be a bright blue, but ever since he was possessed, they’ve become the same amber yellow as Mal's, even now that he has back control of his body.

I also chose that his spellcasting focus is an orb/crystal ball, hence the round satchel at his hip. I really like the idea that Mal can appear in the ball so they can talk to each other face to face. I'm toying with the idea that they can see each other as ghostly figures all the time, but either way, everyone is able to facetime with Mal through the orb.

And eventually when he can choose a boon, he'll get Pact of the Chain which let's him summon a familiar. Instead of a normal familiar though, it allows Mal to possess a small magic body and let's him go do any tasks necessary. The idea of this all powerful demon possessing something like a cat was too funny to me. It also opens up the door to him being obstinate and not wanting to help Raylin lol.

And finally, some personal character details:

One of the personality options for the Haunted One was "I like to read and memorize poetry. It keeps me calm and brings me fleeting moments of happiness," and I loved that so much that I started saving small poems that Raylin could read to make himself feel better. I also found one of my favorite poems in the process, I Heard a Bird Sing by Oliver Herford.

I've since decided that Raylin writes his own poetry as well, since there's not much else to entertain yourself with when you're (literally) stuck in your own head.

Initial characterization was very scared and docile, similar to the expression in this illustration, but as I think about and develop him more, I want to give him more of a backbone and maybe even a bitchy attitude. Maybe that'll come later on as he develops through whatever story he finds himself in.

Old version of the drawing hidden under the cut. I just changed some minor details, but still