#originaltag

My newest and most currently consuming project, Witch Watcher. Synopsis:

Witch Practitioning is the newest field of experimental medicine, which seeks to combine modern medical science with ancient mystical healing in the pursuit of treating previously untreatable supernatural illnesses known as Plagues. Having previously helped create an effective treatment for the Plague known as Virgin’s Tears while studying under her mentor, Salma is a pioneer of her field that is now tackling the most elusive and under-studied Plague, known as Devil’s Guts. This parasitic demonic weed infects a single host at a time, implanting its non-physical vines into the host’s vascular system and slowly draining them of sanity and life. Salma believes curing Devil’s Guts is the key to curing all of the ten Plagues; And to achieve that goal, she willingly infects herself with the parasite to further her research.

I’m sure this has been done before, but here goes nothing.

First put down what Hogwarts house you’re in, and then sort each of your MCs into a house and explain why you think they belong in that house. It’ll be interesting to see how many of your MCs are in the same house as you. I’m doing this for all my MCs that I have planned and know a lot about, but you can do this for as many or as few as you want.

Me: Gryffindor

Hikari Matsuda (The Paper World Society): Slytherin

Hikari initially seems like the kind of person with few ambitions and who just wants to make it another day, but inside she wants a whole lot more. She tends to do things that further her own goals but is cunning enough to make it seem like she’s doing it for others. While she is still a hero and cares about her friends and family, she knows in the long run that she has to look out for number one.

Eleni Markova (The Hollow People): Gryffindor

Eleni is a textbook heroine. She starts out the story as a hollow person (a person who cannot feel emotions) who serves the government of the last city on earth in order to insure the survival of the human race, but even after she gains emotions she’s always risking herself for the greater good even when she fears for her own life. She walks the line of Hufflepuff, but she is not quite loyal enough because she doesn’t always assume that what the government does is the best thing to do.

Indie Caserento (Chemical Numbers): Ravenclaw

Indie is kind of a process of elimination case. She’s not particularly brave (unless she has to be) and her loyalties are shattered, nor does she work hard beyond what she has to do, so she can’t be a Gryffindor or a Hufflepuff. She could be a Slytherin in that she’s cunning, but her ambitions are pretty low. Ravenclaw definitely ends up as her best fit because of how intelligent and creative she is. Her number one skill is hacking, and she tends to learn and pick up on new skills relatively quickly. Her cunningness also translates to creativity as she can think outside the box to solve a problem.

Lona Sharna (Hands of the Forest): Slytherin

Talk about a textbook Slytherin. Lona was imprisoned for the vast majority of her life, and once she gets out she stops at nothing short of taking over the known world. She’s a powerful mage and could rely on that power alone, but she’s cunning enough to get people to see things her way. Unlike Hikari, Lona is more of a villain, but, like they say, the villain is the hero of their own story.

Kilan (Epic of Kilan): Hufflepuff

Kilan is very much an introvert and tends to stick to herself, working tirelessly as the goddess of fate. She doesn’t have many friends and many of them died thousands of years ago, but she maintains loyalty to all of them through thick and thin (even Bazias the most obnoxious love god you’ll ever meet). Her goals tend not to benefit herself as she doesn’t have a strong idea of what she wants out of her life as a goddess other than to be human again, but she is willing to fight for other people’s goals and dreams, as well as to protect the innocent.

Greta Graves (Grey Girl and the Chime Bird): Hufflepuff

Greta was by far the hardest character to sort because she’s only twelve and my newest MC. Of course, Harry Potter characters are sorted at eleven, but like their personalities are not developed enough yet. I was torn between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor for Greta because she has the adventurous, rule breaking qualities of a Gryffindor, but in the end I realized that Greta is a a go-with-the-flow kind of gal. She wants nothing more than to learn some magic and have fun with her friends but is never particularly motivated to face down evil or change the world in a grand gesture. She’s more about helping those she can and working hard to make her life a better one. Her loyalty to others, even her cranky mentor Helga, is kind of her defining trait.

So I only had one character in my house, what about you? Which of your characters is the most like you. I can see myself doing what Eleni does throughout The Hollow People, so it makes sense that we’re in the same house.

Some scene sketches, to play with more cinematic composition/lighting and get outta my funk.

DEVIL'S GUTS [Dirofilaria Daemonium]

FIG 1. :: VASCULAR CENTER - The parasite imbeds itself into the heart on the host. Due to the quasi-immaterial nature of the vines, this seemingly lethal blockage eventually causes some cardiac-related symptoms and yet does not result in immediate threat to the host's survival.

FIG 2. :: KNOWLEDGE - The parasite is categorized as a Daemonium (demon) rather than an Aegritudo (affliction) because it is sentient and communicates with its host through visual, auditory, and tactile hallucinations. There is debate on whether the brain is the true first target of the parasite, rather than the heart, as the first symptom of an infection is the intense sensation that one is no longer alone.

FIG 3. :: INVASIVE SPREAD - The parasite uses the vascular system as a guide to infect the full body, but as infection progresses it can expand beyond and wrap around, into, and through all structures and systems. Similiar to the plant named after it, the parasite will eventually smother the host.

While most priests come into the disipline of Exorcism through lineage or decades of training, Jordanus proved a natural. The Plague known as Snake's Fever is a consuming illness, causing erratic and violent behavior as a hostile demonic entity overtakes a human host and their body is cooked from the inside out by an unending fever. The Plagued are usually abandoned, with only the trained Exorcists able to handle them in their final days; They are a threat to themselves and others, and people have long since decided that anyone infected is at moral and spiritual fault for their own infection.

But when Jordanus' devout, loving, charitable mother came down with Snake's Fever, he knew it was not her fault. With no qualifications, only love and loyalty, he cared for her in her final three weeks. And when the Vatican finally bothered to send an Exorcist, the man was so impressed by Jordanus' endurance that he recruited him into the discipline. Now, Jordanus is the leading authority in the practice; Though, his size and hardened appearance often confirm people's incorrect assumptions about what goes into performing excorisms. And so when the Vatican decided to send an Exorcist to muzzle the heretical Salma Auerbach, W.W., for infecting herself with a Plague, they send Father Jordanus to handle her under the false assumption that he is an expert in domination and oppression or unholy minds.

Instead, the tired old man and his empathetic heart can't resist the hope that Salma may find some treatment or cure. He gives her his support, monitoring her progress to keep less supportive members of the Vatican from hindering her efforts.

Gem Harding doesn't give out much personal info, as she doesn't rightly think it's any of your damn business. But given enough time, one might learn she's a mechanic and ex-biker from Louisiana, who rode down to the Everglades in search of a necromancer. And while said necromancer wasn't able to provide her the solutions she was looking for, Gem finds herself lingering on her property regardless; It's not like she has anywhere else to be or anything else to do.

But Gem in no mooch; She makes her money picking up trash machines from online marketplaces for free or cheap, fixing them, and then selling them at a profit. Between that and the constant maintenance needs of Tits' shitty old swamp house, Gem kept herself busy enough the past few years.

Recently, though, she discovered a critter taking on the shape of a human child, which has reignited her extremely powerful maternal instincts. Despite the strain it puts on her peace, she is determined to care for Hun; She doesn't care how many pounds of flesh this demon takes.

Hezekiah Esposito was abandoned to the Vatican's care as a small child when he began exhibiting symptoms of the Plague known as Virgin's Tears. The supernatural illness manifests in infants and toddlers, causing them to cry blood for no medically evident reason. The constant drain slowly depletes them of life, causing a map of complex medical issues that are unresponsive to traditional care. In the final stages of the Plague, they lose their sight and begin to experience visual hallucinations of the divine. Traditionally, all children with Virgin's Tears pass away before they've finished puberty.

Hezekiah was one of the first exceptions, thanks to the treatments developed by a team of cutting edge Witch Practioners. But his survival came at the price of being a guinea pig, his consent never courted; The Vatican sold his body for experimentation to the group, knowing a terminally ill orphan would have no way to refuse. Despite this trauma, Hezekiah formed a close bond with one of the WPs that helped treat him; Salma. He has studied under her ever since he escaped the custody of the Vatican, determined to make her proud and further develop treatments for other Plagued in a world that despises his kind.