#imp al

Baseline name: Alastor Merveillhan.

Place of origin: Le Cirque de Merveilles - a travelling circus whose owner believed naming it in French would make it seem more classy. It’s at least meant to mean The Circus of Wonders. This circus ventures between the rings of Hell, with performers ranging between imps, animals, hellborn demons besides imps and a pair of customised RoboFizzes nicknamed Nutz and Boltz.

How did he end up an imp?: When his attempts to fend off obsoletia and give himself his own upgrades and updates without needing to take the risk of trusting a technician with himself didn’t function as intended, Alastor found himself incompatible with the usual methods as well, left facing what seemed like certain identity death. For a while, he did his utmost to behave as though all was well, but wound up spending more and more time in seclusion, unable to keep himself from fading out. He did, however, manage to arrange for his Radio Tower to be maintained, and hide his dwelling from anyone who might wish to loot it.

Unbeknownst to him, he had actually succeeded in creating a backup, but that backup was embedded in his soul itself, inaccessible until the soul was all that remained, the running of his corrupted existing system keeping it from activating. With his memories and identity still intact but buried, he couldn’t respawn unaided, but neither could his soul leave Hell to be reborn as a human - but there were still new lives coming into being in Hell itself.

Was he aware right away?: No, he wasn’t. Initially, he was in something of a dreamlike haze, as his new brain wasn’t yet developed enough to support complex cognition. That did develop for him more rapidly than it would have if his backup hadn’t remained intact, but only so much as the increased appetite needed to support it could provide for.

After a point, he began to gain some tech demon traits - this was due to his backup and further facilitated him beginning to come aware, but was thought to be due to hybridisation or experimentation on an ancestor, as these means of imps gaining less usual aspects aren’t unknown.

It wasn’t until he was around three or four that Alastor was more coherently aware of who he was, able to access most of his memories but unable to actually use most of the magics he’d learned due to baseline imps having low magic thresholds. Naturally, he began to plot how to regain his previous capacity, but there’s only so much he could do that young.

Appearance: Due to various factors, both being drawn to a form that could come to resemble himself and his soul acting upon the form while it was developing, Alastor has come to rather resemble his previous self. The below images are unpractised, and one not entirely proportional. For instance, his legs would be rather longer and thinner, more similar to Moxxie’s. They didn’t show up quite as readily, but he has some little freckles too.

He still has a tendency towards eye shadow, and certain markings resemble features he’d have had before, such as the monocle marking and the marking on his tail base resembling his old tail. He would also be likely to be dressed resembling his old self some of the time, albeit in darker shades of red to not be too samey with his complexion, and with a rather larger bowtie.

Like Blitzo, he has red irises on yellow sclera, but more like the winged imp referenced in the imp headcanons page he has ears - albeit relatively big ones for an imp. He can waggle those, too.

Occupation/s within the circus: Varies depending on what’s needed. All of the circus children are circulated between roles to see what fits them best, but there are a few things he can turn his hand to.

For one thing, his resemblance to his past self was noted - and the root of his name being returned to him - so if there’s any call for impersonations or skits that would involve him or an archetypal character based on him, he’s the one who’d be picked. Given this resemblance though, he’s also more likely than others to be considered marketable if anyone wants to bargain for a novelty imp.

Being a tech imp, he’s also been a frequent pick for maintenance on whatever mechanisms the circus has about, including Nutz and Boltz, who are both gleeful bad influences whenever the opportunity arises. Ironically, Alastor may now know more about how to maintain tech demons than he did before.

Alastor’s new Aunt Laylabelle sometimes requests him as an assistant as well, she’s a magician - while not possessing much real magic, she’s proficient in stage magic. She’s also aware of how imps could gain more magic, but isn’t able to do so herself as she doesn’t know how to make herself more readily summoned.

Alastor is also still quite able to cook given the chance, but that’s not exactly a performance piece for the circus.

Mother: Bernadette Merveillhan - an acrobat born to the circus.

Father: Tomathan Loolhan Merveillhan - originally from LooLoo Land, brought over through a clown swap.

Age: Whatever’s convenient for interaction, if you’d rather encounter him as a child or as an adult, feel free to specify. Default for him is likely to be young adult.

Pre-hotel or post-hotel?: Depends on preference/situation.

Gender: Somewhere in the vicinity of male.

Sex: Intersex is probably the closest applicable term. Technically he already was, but delving into certain magics unprepared also caused some physical changes. It’s no skin off his nose, and he’s had plenty of time to get used to it, considering the magical dabbling occurred while he was alive the first time.