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Full Name: Dorian Stephen Gray
Pronouns: He/Him
Age: 17
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 170lbs
Gender: Male
Eye Color: Green
Hair Color: Brunette
Distinguishing Features: Left Ear Pierced
Origin: Mutant
Team: Excelsior
Base: Avengers Academy
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Hobbies: Gaming, Foodie, Traveling, Pranking

History

Life wasn't exactly normal for Dorian, especially towards the beginning. It's hard to recall his earliest memories, but if he thinks hard on them he always remembers a silhouetted man holding him and singing to him as an odd colored light surrounded them both. Later on in his years Dorian would learn that those earliest memories were of Max, his dad, using his magic to make his way home after grueling missions just to be able to put him to bed and say goodnight. While Max was away on missions his Appa, Ben, would always make sure to stay as present within his life as possible. The house they lived in was always warm and lively, and Appa made sure that Dorian felt as though he belonged.

Appa, ofcourse, was the stricter of the two. Always trying to teach him life lessons while his Dad simply wanted to have fun and enjoy what little time he had with his kid. At an early age Appa tried getting him to play a sport, to be normal whatever that meant. He rolled his eyes at the idea of football, didn't much care for track, tennis, or even soccer. But if he had to pick one he'd settled for baseball. The uniforms were cute enough, and it didn't involve as much running. So he was fine with it. The real joy came from seeing his parents' face light up everytime he hit the field. Win or lose they always supported him.

Years would pass and he lived next door to the Kingston's, knowing them as his second family and viewing Danni as his own brother. When he reached 7 years of age, Dorian was invited to come back with his Dad to Xavier's School. Ben wasn't exactly fond of the idea. No, to say that would be a massive understatement. The night the idea was brought up, Dorian was supposed to be asleep in his room. But as kids tended to do, he wasn't where he was supposed to be. He snuck out of his room, wanting to see if he could sleep with his dads, but as he rounded the corner towards their room he heard yelling. Muffled by the thick wooden doors of their home, but it was clear the subject matter was him and the school. Tears welled in his eyes as he quickly and quietly made his way back towards his room.

He had no powers to speak of and his Dad was still busy with the X-Men, but here he could learn, start school, and be closer to Max. Ben and Uncle Casper, had told him stories of this place, of his father Xavier and how horrible the man was. Dorian wasn't sure what to do. The following weeks were quiet in the household, facades placed before him as they pretended to be fine. Finally he spoke up. He wanted to be at Xaviers. He's spent so much time around other normal kids, he wanted to be around mutants for a change, even if the idea scared him a little.
When they arrived Dorian clung to his dad's pant leg as he entered, prompting Max to pick him up and carry him on his shoulders as they made their way through the expanse of a mansion.

It was different for Dorian, children and mutants running all around him and learning to control their powers while he was merely here to learn the basics. It was about this time that Dorian had begun to romanticize heroism and sword fighting. He waited for the day that they would visit the Kingston's each week, the adults getting together to talk about whatever it was they spoke of and him and Danni could sit in front of the television and watch their weekly show of She-Ra. It lit a fire in him and made him understand why his father did what he did even if it was with the X-Men. To be a hero, to save the world, and to know that even they have flaws and can be anyone, it spoke to Dorian in a way that he hardly understood. How any ordinary person could be a hero. So he studied the sword, he mimicked fighting techniques off the show, and most importantly he had his best friend and brother alongside him to fight crime with. It was just like the theme song said 'with mighty sword and flame we'll never fail you when you call our name.'

That was when another one of Appas life lessons came in. One day, after years at the academy, he had decided to take him somewhere private. Somewhere personal to him. It was his very own grave. There was a bit of heaviness to Dorian's chest, the idea that he was staring at the grave of his own Appa who stood right beside him. He wanted him to promise that he would be careful, to be safe. He needed to see just how dangerous being a hero truly was. And while Dorian had agreed to it, he didn't fully understand at that age, nor does he now. After all, Appa died before the Mutant Circuit, before his family was capable of bringing others back to life. To him, much like any other kid his age, he was invincible. But he'd never tell his parents that.

Dorian learned, and grew, spending most of his time at Xavier's and until he hit the age of 13. Life got a little weird there, he developed powers, found out he had the x-gene, and scared the crap out of his parents. That was the first time that Max had taken him and Ben to an old library, asked Doctor Strange and Wong for access to books on Astral Projection, and spent a majority of his time learning and teaching Dorian about his powers, the dangers, and ways to control them. Strange was...well strange. It was like Dorian's father was a different person around him, and it showed him a new side of his father he never got to see. But his childhood wasn't all study and practice, there were days, sometimes weeks, that Max would have off and even if he looked tired he would always come with a surprise. Family trips to Disney with the Mutant Underground, and those his father had met along the way of his life, impromptu vacations to Italy, Spain, Rome and more even as James protested.

Dorian was never a kid with wants. When your father has the power of magic, and can take you across the planet in less than a second of time then the world is quite literally your oyster. He always loved the trips with just the three of them, four if they could convince the Kingston's to allow Danni to come with. Dorian had heard tales of Max's...mishaps in his younger years, but that seemed so far ago and it always made him chuckle to see them all flustered with his dad's random worldwide trips. Sometimes they would just pop in with me, barely tell Uncle James, leave with Danni, then return less than a minute later having asked us to get the most touristy clothes we could find while gone. When we'd pop back to the Kingston's place we'd have large sunglasses, a splotch of sunscreen on our nose, and bright noisy clothes, it was one of the times Dorian could hear his father just laugh at the chaos and look on their faces. Sadly those Vacations would have to wait till summer once he turned 14, but it was a happy kind of sad.

Though Dorian couldn't see his family as often, he still had Danni. They got accepted to Avengers Academy (AA if you were one of the cool kids) and it was everything that they had worked for. Dee and Danni taking on the world and becoming heroes! There were...a few incidents where dad had to come in. Apparently the school didn't like it when someone possessed the lockers doors and flung them all open to scare other students. Or when someone snuck out of their room because it was too quiet. Really most of Dorians pranks were frowned upon, but someone had to livin' up the place, and a few of those pranks were just great pogger moments. Now its Junior year and its time to see what more they could learn about heroism and combat!

Personality

Dorian tries to be the life of the party. Alongside his best friend Danni, he never wants to let a moment die, trying to keep up the momentum and live life to the fullest. Ofcourse, all of that is pretty easy when your father has the ability to create things on a whim and your uncles command death and life respectively. Dorians never needed to consider any consequences because as far as he has been concerned there never were any. It's this sort of mindset that has lead to his more reckless behavior and allowed him to become quite the devious Prankster. After all within his first year at AA, Dorian spent a massive amount of time out in the field. Not caring for the physical education portion of his lectures, he decided to toss bird feed into the field and blow a whistle every day to call upon some pigeons. After a months of preparation when it came to the annual track meet, the coach blew the whistle only to have an insurmountable amount of pigeons flock down towards the fields and create utter chaos.

Dorian isn't all pranks and chaos however. He cares deeply for his friends and would do anything he can to help them. After all if he's learned anything from bith TV and real life, it's that the bonds you form along the way are what end up mattering the most in the end. He values loyalty and comradery amongst all else, and believes that friends shouldn't keep things from each other because it's the easiest way to allow a wedge to tear them apart. Though he's very doubtful that anything could ever tear him and his bestie apart.

Traits

• Signature Attack (Disrupt Person) - Dorian makes this attack with an edge.
• Surprising Power (Possession) - Dorian ignores rank and origins when selecting this power.
• Signature Attack (Possession) - Dorian makes this attack with an edge.

Tags

• Heroic
• Hounded
• Mentor (Ser Nemo)
• Obligation (School)
• Signature Weapon (Sword?)
• Sorcerous
• X-Gene
• Young

Possession:

• Phase Self: Dorian can become as intangible as a ghost.
  • Prerequisites: None
  • Action: Standard
  • Duration: Concentration
  • Effect: Dorian and his clothing become intangible and can move through anything as if it wasn't there. Nothing can physically affect him, nor can he affect anything that is not phasing with him.
• Phase Walk: Dorian can walk on air.
  • Prerequisites: Phase Self, Rank 2
  • Duration: Concentration
  • Focus: 5
  • Effect: When phasing, Dorian can move in any direction as can anyone or anything phasing along with him.
• Quick Phase: Dorian can become as intangible as a ghost in an instant.
  • Prerequisites: Phase Self, Rank 2
  • Action: Reaction
  • Trigger: The character is attacked.
  • cost: 5 focus
  • Duration: Concentration
  • Effect: The character and their clothing instantly become intangible.
• Partial Phase: Dorian can me a portion of himself tangible or intangible.
  • Prerequisites: Phase Self, Rank 2
  • Action: Standard
  • Duration: Concentration
  • Cost: 5 Focus
  • Effect: Dorian can make any portion of his body and clothing tangible or intangible.
• Disrupt Person: Dorian can hurt someone with his phasing powers.
  • Prerequisites: Phase Self, Rank 3
  • Action: Standard
  • Duration: instant
  • Cost: 10 Focus
  • Effect: Dorian and his clothing become intangible and can move through anything as if it wasn't there. Nothing can physically affect him, nor can he affect anything that is not phasing with him.
• Disrupt Electronics: Dorian can scramble electronics by moving through them.
  • Prerequisites: Phase Self, Rank 2
  • Action: Standard
  • Duration: instant
  • Cost: 5 Focus
  • Effect: Dorian can scramble electronics when he moves through them while phasing, causing them to shut down or crash. In the case of Tech Reliant powers, they are unusable for one round while they reboot.

Magic (Demonic Set):

• Possession: Dorian takes over someone else's body.
  • Homebrewed Power , Changed Agility defense to a contested check.
  • Prerequisites: Cursed, Rank 5.
  • Action: Standard
  • Duration: Concentration
  • Cost: 20 Focus
  • Effect: On the first possession attempt, Dorain makes an Ego check with trouble against an Ego check of the target with trouble. On a success, Dorian takes over the the target's body completely. On a failure, further attempts of possession do not give the target trouble.
    Dorian's Ego Defense is the target number for any checks to end the possession.
    If Dorian attempts to harm someone with the possessed body, the target gets to make an Ego check to end the possession. If the target has the Heroic tag, they gain an edge.
    If Dorian attempts to harm the possessed body, the target gets an edge on the check. If they have the Heroic tag, they get a double edge.

Telekenetic:

• Telekinetic Manipulation: Dorian can handle physical things with his mind.
  • Prerequisites: None
  • Action: Standard
  • Duration: Concentration
  • range: Varies
  • Effect: Dorian can manipulate objects in line of sight with his mind. His maximum range is 5 spaces x rank. If someone would prevent Dorian from taking control of an object, Dorian makes a Logic check against their Agility defense.
• Telekinetic Attack: Dorian can punch or choke somebody with his mind.
  • Prerequisites: Telekinetic Manipulation, Rank 2
  • Action: Standard
  • Duration: Concentration
  • Range: Varies
  • Cost: 5 focus
  • Effect: Dorian makes a Logic attack against the Melee defense of a target within 5 spaces times rank. If is is a success, it inflicts regular damage. On a Fantastic Success, the damage si doubled instead, and the target is stunned for one round.

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Name: Bartholomew Hammish Montgomery Macleod
Alias: Barty
Age: 614
Gender: Male
Powers: Barty is a mutant and a witch.

• Enchantment Magic - Barty is able to seduce, befuddle, and otherwise enchant the minds of others through a variety of means. Whether it be archaic magic or the new wave of waving ones hand about like a lunatic. Either way he gets his way.

Personality Traits:
Charming ~ Insouciant ~ Confident ~ Practical ~ Attractive ~ Snarky ~ Flexible ~ Libidinous

Summary:
The Macleod twins are relics of a time long gone, born in the throes of the Renaissance and the rise of the printing press. The twins lived a relatively sheltered life in northern Scotland. Travel was difficult in the 15th century and their coven was content with the village well south of Forres.

However with suspicion and fear of the supernatural rising out of Germany and carried on in ink, it wasn’t long until the witch hunts of the mainland spread to the Kingdom of England and beyond. When they were not yet twenty summers old, Elanor Cobham found imprisonment for life for treasonable necromancy and Margery Jourdemayne was burned at the stake in a market square. Both were once well connected and well established in their communities and yet it did not save them. Fear amongst the populace was encouraged and manipulated in a twisted game by the nobility of England and they sent their inquisition north, carrying Kramer’s Malleus Maleficarum.

They thought their village safe, nestled quietly in the foothills in the shadow of their mountain. The village traded less, hunted closer to home, and year by year became less and less present in the world. Their magic flourished and the children of the village played without fear and time was meaningless.

However, there were enough stories for the inquisition to find it.

Extras:

• Link to Barty's Strange Academy Sheet

One night, on a cold September evening, just as the candles had finished blowing out and the birthday cake was eaten, Danni and Dorian went upstairs to play. The grown-ups all sat downstairs drinking their coffee and talking amongst themselves, but those two troublemakers raced up to Dannis room to play with Dorian's new toys. It was his thirteenth year, and they'd gifted him a toy sword. So naturally the boys played Superhero as they'd done many times before. Danni was chasing Dorian across the room, rowdy and noisy as ever, when Dorian jumped up atop the bed in an attempt to escape his best friend's grasp. His landing, however, left much to be desired. The sheets slid from underneath him, causing him to slip and fall backwards towards the wooden floors of their abode.

In a panic Dorian managed a feat he hadn't even known he could do. He went ghost for the first time in his life. Phasing into his Astral Self and becoming invisible to the naked eye. Danni immediately began to shriek and scream while Dorian constantly yelled back. He kept trying to tell him he was right there but Danni couldn't hear him. He did the only thing he could think to do and tried to grab Dannis arms to shake some sense into him. But once he held on he felt a strange tugging sensation. He blinked his eyes and when he opened them and looked into the mirror he saw Danni. Dorian shrieked even louder, scaring himself out of Dannis body and landing soundly onto the floor back into his corporeal form.

Of Course with all this pandemonium, Dad, Appa, Casper, and James, all came rushing upstairs to see what was the matter. And unfortunately for Dorian who was still in a state of shock, Danni spoke first. Telling them that Dorian was just inside of him. Dorian had never been afraid of James, up until that point. He thought he was about to be murdered on his thirteenth birthday, but as panic set in, so too did his powers again, phasing beneath the floorboards and gently floating down to the bottom landing. They quickly realized what it was Danni had meant, and any other ill thoughts were quickly washed away.

Life wasn't exactly normal for Dorian, especially towards the beginning. It's hard to recall his earliest memories, but if he thinks hard on them he always remembers a silhouetted man holding him and singing to him as an odd colored light surrounded them both. Later on in his years Dorian would learn that those earliest memories were of Max, his dad, using his magic to make his way home after grueling missions just to be able to put him to bed and say goodnight. While Max was away on missions his Appa, Ben, would always make sure to stay as present within his life as possible. The house they lived in was always warm and lively, and Appa made sure that Dorian felt as though he belonged.

Appa, ofcourse, was the stricter of the two. Always trying to teach him life lessons while his Dad simply wanted to have fun and enjoy what little time he had with his kid. At an early age Appa tried getting him to play a sport, to be normal whatever that meant. He rolled his eyes at the idea of football, didn't much care for track, tennis, or even soccer. But if he had to pick one he'd settled for baseball. The uniforms were cute enough, and it didn't involve as much running. So he was fine with it. The real joy came from seeing his parents' face light up everytime he hit the field. Win or lose they always supported him.

Years would pass and he lived next door to the Kingston's, knowing them as his second family and viewing Danni as his own brother. When he reached 7 years of age, Dorian was invited to come back with his Dad to Xavier's School. Ben wasn't exactly fond of the idea. No, to say that would be a massive understatement. The night the idea was brought up, Dorian was supposed to be asleep in his room. But as kids tended to do, he wasn't where he was supposed to be. He snuck out of his room, wanting to see if he could sleep with his dads, but as he rounded the corner towards their room he heard yelling. Muffled by the thick wooden doors of their home, but it was clear the subject matter was him and the school. Tears welled in his eyes as he quickly and quietly made his way back towards his room.

He had no powers to speak of and his Dad was still busy with the X-Men, but here he could learn, start school, and be closer to Max. Ben and Uncle Casper, had told him stories of this place, of his father Xavier and how horrible the man was. Dorian wasn't sure what to do. The following weeks were quiet in the household, facades placed before him as they pretended to be fine. Finally he spoke up. He wanted to be at Xaviers. He's spent so much time around other normal kids, he wanted to be around mutants for a change, even if the idea scared him a little.
When they arrived Dorian clung to his dad's pant leg as he entered, prompting Max to pick him up and carry him on his shoulders as they made their way through the expanse of a mansion.

It was different for Dorian, children and mutants running all around him and learning to control their powers while he was merely here to learn the basics. It was about this time that Dorian had begun to romanticize heroism and sword fighting. He waited for the day that they would visit the Kingston's each week, the adults getting together to talk about whatever it was they spoke of and him and Danni could sit in front of the television and watch their weekly show of She-Ra. It lit a fire in him and made him understand why his father did what he did even if it was with the X-Men. To be a hero, to save the world, and to know that even they have flaws and can be anyone, it spoke to Dorian in a way that he hardly understood. How any ordinary person could be a hero. So he studied the sword, he mimicked fighting techniques off the show, and most importantly he had his best friend and brother alongside him to fight crime with. It was just like the theme song said 'with mighty sword and flame we'll never fail you when you call our name.'

That was when another one of Appas life lessons came in. One day, after years at the academy, he had decided to take him somewhere private. Somewhere personal to him. It was his very own grave. There was a bit of heaviness to Dorian's chest, the idea that he was staring at the grave of his own Appa who stood right beside him. He wanted him to promise that he would be careful, to be safe. He needed to see just how dangerous being a hero truly was. And while Dorian had agreed to it, he didn't fully understand at that age, nor does he now. After all, Appa died before the Mutant Circuit, before his family was capable of bringing others back to life. To him, much like any other kid his age, he was invincible. But he'd never tell his parents that.

Dorian learned, and grew, spending most of his time at Xavier's and until he hit the age of 13. Life got a little weird there, he developed powers, found out he had the x-gene, and scared the crap out of his parents. That was the first time that Max had taken him and Ben to an old library, asked Doctor Strange and Wong for access to books on Astral Projection, and spent a majority of his time learning and teaching Dorian about his powers, the dangers, and ways to control them. Strange was...well strange. It was like Dorian's father was a different person around him, and it showed him a new side of his father he never got to see. But his childhood wasn't all study and practice, there were days, sometimes weeks, that Max would have off and even if he looked tired he would always come with a surprise. Family trips to Disney with the Mutant Underground, and those his father had met along the way of his life, impromptu vacations to Italy, Spain, Rome and more even as James protested.

Dorian was never a kid with wants. When your father has the power of magic, and can take you across the planet in less than a second of time then the world is quite literally your oyster. He always loved the trips with just the three of them, four if they could convince the Kingston's to allow Danni to come with. Dorian had heard tales of Max's...mishaps in his younger years, but that seemed so far ago and it always made him chuckle to see them all flustered with his dad's random worldwide trips. Sometimes they would just pop in with me, barely tell Uncle James, leave with Danni, then return less than a minute later having asked us to get the most touristy clothes we could find while gone. When we'd pop back to the Kingston's place we'd have large sunglasses, a splotch of sunscreen on our nose, and bright noisy clothes, it was one of the times Dorian could hear his father just laugh at the chaos and look on their faces. Sadly those Vacations would have to wait till summer once he turned 14, but it was a happy kind of sad.

Though Dorian couldn't see his family as often, he still had Danni. They got accepted to Avengers Academy (AA if you were one of the cool kids) and it was everything that they had worked for. Dee and Danni taking on the world and becoming heroes! There were...a few incidents where dad had to come in. Apparently the school didn't like it when someone possessed the lockers doors and flung them all open to scare other students. Or when someone snuck out of their room because it was too quiet. Really most of Dorians pranks were frowned upon, but someone had to livin' up the place, and a few of those pranks were just great pogger moments. Now its Junior year and its time to see what more they could learn about heroism and combat!

The Macleod twins are relics of a time long gone, born in the throes of the Renaissance and the rise of the printing press. The twins lived a relatively sheltered life in northern Scotland. Travel was difficult in the 15th century and their coven was content with the village well south of Forres.

However with suspicion and fear of the supernatural rising out of Germany and carried on in ink, it wasn’t long until the witch hunts of the mainland spread to the Kingdom of England and beyond. When they were not yet twenty summers old, Elanor Cobham found imprisonment for life for treasonable necromancy and Margery Jourdemayne was burned at the stake in a market square. Both were once well connected and well established in their communities and yet it did not save them. Fear amongst the populace was encouraged and manipulated in a twisted game by the nobility of England and they sent their inquisition north, carrying Kramer’s Malleus Maleficarum.

They thought their village safe, nestled quietly in the foothills in the shadow of their mountain. The village traded less, hunted closer to home, and year by year became less and less present in the world. Their magic flourished and the children of the village played without fear and time was meaningless.

However, there were enough stories for the inquisition to find it.

They struck at night, the comfort of a century unbothered lulling them to safety. They carried torches and pitchforks and rope and kindling. The stench of burning flesh and the screams of men, women, and children carried across the hills into the uncaring darkness. Their family was not spared this horror. Their parents fought, like the others, but their murderers came prepared and their magic found no hold. A special pendant, bearing the mark of the Inquisition of England, was pressed against their coven and their magic broke and failed and the witches found themselves powerless.

If not for the ego of the Priest of Forres, the twins would not have been so lucky as to carry the horrors of their village with them. It was the children they could not bear to see hurt and as the Priest tossed the torch upon their own parents, the twins struck. Illusion and Enhancement, hand in hand, wove the death of all. Fire springing forth, spewing from their parents' mouths, finding purchase in the flesh of friend and foe alike. According to the Inquisition, the Devil himself dragged the village to hell in his wraith and none survived.

But the truth was, the twins burned it to the ground. Entranced in their domain, the twins set an uncontrollable blaze to consume the Inquisition and fled with the few survivors they saved. Neither of them were prepared to mourn their people nor handle the grief of those still living. They travelled the Scottish countryside, incorporating a few of their broken coven into new ones each time they stumbled across them until the twins found homes for all.

Sickened by the murders they committed and terrified of the newly created Church of England, the twins escaped England to the New World with Sir Walter Raleigh and assisted in establishing Roanoke. They were withdrawn and quiet, focused on working and presenting a godly image as they worked to find a way to escape. In 1591, a young girl introduced herself to the twins as a vampire and expressed her interest in turning and controlling the settlers. The twins agreed to help in exchange for their own freedom and kept the settlers calm and controlled until she struck. They disappeared into the wilderness for another two decades and reemerged in 1608, joining the citizens of Jamestown.

Their magic ensured questions about their age disappeared on the tongue, kept them well fed and unbothered, even as plague and famine ravaged the settlement. Poor planning had left the colonists without water and poorer tempers wore the relationship with the native people thin. The twins watched without interfering, only stepping in to help with the revolution of 1676 when Nathaniel Bacon ousted Governor Berkley. However, they disappeared when Berkely returned and began hanging those involved.

The twins reappeared some short years later in Salem, Massachusetts, where they found a distant relation, a child of one of those they saved many moons ago. They lived peacefully for a decade, before the witch trials started again. The twins watched as their history repeated itself but this time, the saviors they were had long been lost as they themselves condemned their kin to the flames. It had been too easy, when suspicion fell on them, to plant the devils’ iconography on her and invite the Salemites to find it.

During the 18th century, the twins shuffled from place to place and avoided the growing tension between England and the colonies. They would eventually find themselves in Boston, working in The Green Dragon Tavern. With the rise in tensions against the Crown, the twins once again found themselves assisting in the growth of revolution. Their magic wove privacy around the founding fathers, illusions making them unnoticeable and enchantment easing the concerns of questioning soldiers. Gossip from the RedCoats were a little louder in the tavern and lips a little looser. In the Siege of Boston towards the end of the revolution, the tavern was burned to the ground and the twins lost their home again.

They migrated west with the Louisiana purchase, settling in the melting pot New Orleans had become. When the War of 1812 was declared, the twins decided they would stay out of it and kept to their own business. Intending to stay this time, the twins put down roots. Peadrus entered the workforce as a teacher, using his illusions to age and die as necessary. Again, they decided not to intervene with major events and keep their heads down so they could finally stay in one place.

Unfortunately, a threat to their growing home appeared and the twins found themselves stepping in again. In 1815, whispers made their way to the twins that Andrew Jackson was poised to lose his final skirmish. Outnumbered and outgunned again, the British had the upper hand and were poised to strike the next day. Under the cover of darkness, Peadrus slipped the pair behind the British lines and Pàrlan messed with Edward Pakenham’s head. In the morning, the British assault was disorganized and messy, leaving them with 2,000 dead and wounded. Jackson went home a military genius and the twins contently settled back into their lives.

It was in the Gilded age that they joined a “coven”. A wealthy plantation owner found fun and mystery in the supernatural and the twins, curious to see if it drew any real bumps in the night, offered to participate. The word coven, the twins realized, was loose indeed and it became more of a gathering of debauchery and decadence. Some real powers floated in and out: a moody Asgardian goddess, a vampire, the occasional sorcerer or witch, a demon, an eldritch horror, a Moon Knight, and even a Ghost Rider once. They passed a decade in a pleasurable haze of drugs, sex, and wealth until Marcus.

Marcus was an easy sort, energetic and eager and the twins were drawn to him like a moth to a flame. The three of them became close friends and eventually, they opened up about their magic and found acceptance. Marcus joined them at their home, broke bread with them, and even helped Peadrus at the schoolhouse. He’d blown in from the growing west coast, scars waved away as civil war injuries, and slotted himself perfectly into their lives.

Which was why, when he tried to kill them, it shattered their trust forever. Marcus was a vampire hunter, a descendant of Sir Walter Raleigh, who had discovered the truth and swore to save his people from the clutches of the Devil. The twins part had been discovered through a mix of magic and torture and Marcus was tasked with eradicating them. The resulting fight was entirely one-sided, the twin’s magic unsuited for direct engagements, but their spells managed to find purchase and they broke his mind, leaving him at a workhouse where he’d work out the rest of his miserable life in deplorable conditions.

The Twins followed the Klondike gosh rush, settling in Seattle for a while. Although they had worked odd jobs at the beginning, the twins opened their own speakeasy in 1920 as the aggressive prohibitions against alcohol were signed into law. Although their magic was used in a pinch, the pair more often sold out their competitors to the authorities (and offered a hefty discount) to ensure their business was safe and enshrined as a center of the underground community. After the end of prohibition, they stayed until the end of World War 2 and sold their bar.

The twins found themselves in Memphis, enrolled in a local high school to keep up with the world at large. It was there they met Elvis, a struggling guitarist with a unique hillbilly style and a blend of cultural music that inspired the worst in people. The twins saw the desperation for fame and fed on it, weaving magic behind his back that made the people love him. He walked out of high school signed by a record label and the twins rode his fame, and more, for an easy life. Nothing more than a charm here, a hex there, and drugs, sex, and music numbed everything else. They were… concerned for their stability when Elvis was drafted was unfounded, the early work they did still holding strong with the addition of records made on his leave. They lived on their golden egg, rode it plenty too, up until the early 1970s when they decided to slip out of bed one night and never return. They didn’t hear of his death until 2001.

This would repeat over the next few decades, clinging to blossoming talent, building their careers for an easy life, and then abandoning and forgetting them when they moved to their next project. Rarely would the twins stick their necks out or get themselves involved in world affairs - they left no footprint, no tracks or marks, no paperwork for someone to find them. Occasionally, they would rehome a werewolf, get a vampire out of the sun, direct a baby witch to the proper herbs and books, but each time they charmed their memories, or never let them see the real them, so that what happened in New Orleans would never happen again.

Of course, whispers of a school for the magically talented reached even them. They believed it a lie, a falsehood circulated by hunters and madmen alike to capture their kind and kill or keep them. They never knew which was worse. But with the itch to settle down again growing, they found themselves back in New Orleans, the French Quarter louder and busier than ever before, and it was true.

Strange Academy, a haven for their kind, was real.