//Alright srry about the late reply, University work and classes had to take precedence.
Character Sheet
Name: Gideon Maltese
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Appearance: 5ft 5inches, green eyes, shoulder-length black hair with part of it tied into a braid down his back, his body type is quite lanky weighing probably no more than 130-40 lbs, green eyes, a well kept beard in the Honest Abe style covers his face, and although his voice is fairly baritone he speaks in North American phrases of speech though his exact accent is muddled.
Abilities:
Evocation: Spirit
Thaumaturgy: Thematic, Ectomancy
Role Spells:
"Lind"-Casts a Telekinetic Shield in front of himself, strong enough to deflect most projectiles, and can even cast small projectiles back with a degree of precision, but acts merely as a shield at anything larger than a baseball bat. Designed as a personal spell, not designed for protect multiple people.
"Feldr"-Casts a veil over Gideon, anything on his person, and anything he touches, rendering him invisible to most senses (Barring sound, smell, and Third eyes)
Special Items:
Neo-Pagan Talisman: An Old Norse Triquetra adorns his neck, made of silver and inscribed with tiny motifs of Odin, Thor, and Freya in their separate corners, it hangs by an iron chain around his neck, serving as a reservoir for his power.
Bag of Ghost-Dust: Used in his profession for dealing with corporeal forms of ghosts and spirits who prove hostile towards him.
Tattoo of Yggdrasil: Depicting Odin hanging from the World Tree itself, it is inscribed on the right side of his neck and extends onto his right pectoral and shoulder. Inscribed in runes warding against spirits and motes of Ghost-dust into the pigment, it glows starts to glow when spirits are close, with the pigment turning from black to white the closer a spirit is, though the colour indicator is for others to notice, Gideon feels it as heat on the tattooed skin as it changes colour.
Items: Satchel with his ectomancy implements: ritualized knife, several candles and matches, chalk, a small handbook on runes and their meaning, a Ouija board, salt, several sticks of incense, and a mortar and pedestal. His hooded Grey Cloak and enchanted sword (Gram) symbolizing his office as a Warden of The White Council of Wizards, and his wallet containing his ID, Canadian driver's license, and business cards.
Personality: Gideon is quite reserved in his behaviour, often seeming aloof in his own thoughts and speaking few words, he has generally preferred solitude (relatively speaking, he finds the dead more fascinating than most of the living at times) over interaction with others. His introverted nature isn't helped by the fact that he is a wizard, but he is loyal to his friends and allies, and isn't entirely a loner, he just prefers to keep a professional distance in most social matters. He's quite stoic in his emotions, though that doesn't mean he isn't sympathetic towards those in need.
Background: Born in southern Ontario, Canada to a middle-class suburbanite family of four, Gideon grew up through most of his early life without ever considering the idea of eventually becoming a powerful wizard, not unlike most kids. Though Gideon had always found the supernatural fascinating, and was always skeptical of the more sensational and fantastic interpretations of the arcane and monstrous over what he believed were the older and more "true" beliefs on the subjects, he never admitted openly to taking any of it seriously, he was wise enough not to invite such social ridicule when growing up, gods knew he had enough already.
His first experience with the supernatural came, as most do, unexpectedly. While rummaging around in an abandoned production factory in his home time on a dare from his fellow university students, whom believed the town rumours that the place was haunted by the ghosts of workers who died in an accident there, he found that he could sense the presence of "things" around him, later he would come to realise that they were ghosts, tied to this earth by their violent and unexpected deaths, and still remembering their work, but little else, they were truly tied to the building. Too terrified to run, but also oddly enchanted by the sensation, he walked among them and listened in one their patched conversations, broken memories of things the ghosts could not quite remember, until their attention turned on him, just as surprised that someone could actually sense and hear them so clearly, but viewing him as a trespasser nonetheless, Gideon fled the building as the ghosts chased him off the premises, but chose not to follow him further. He was in for an even greater shock when he ran outside, as his fellow students, so terrified that they'd run off, were replaced by a woman, garbed in a grey cloak, old and venerable, and favouring a runed cane, she was still possessed of a stubborn stature.
Her name was Svanhilda Roriksdottir, and she claimed to be a Witch, not the kind that snatched children away like in the fairy tales to be eaten, but a powerful practitioner of The Art, Magic. She had come a long way from her homeland in Norway on assignment from an organization she served, a global collective of human magical users called The White Council. She was to search for any stray appearances of practitioners of the Art, for the number of White Council members in North America, though not tiny, were not suitable for the task of overseeing all of the continent, and on occasion members from Europe were assigned the task of updating the council dossiers on various parts of the continent that saw relatively little council presence. She was to find any and all magic phenomena, practitioners of the Art, or non-human centres of power, determine their behaviour, make note of it for the council, and deal with it if necessary.
She had been observing the situation at the factory in Gideon's hometown for some time, trying to discern the nature of the ghosts, but lacking much skill in the way of Ectomancy, she was having little success. Still curious about the potential of magical talent in the form of practitioners in the area, Hilda waited and watched for any signs of anyone of that kind appearing to register or deal with the issue. She hardly expected to find a young man with the early unrefined capacities for sensing and hearing ghosts to be what would turn up, but it was fortuitous nonetheless. Hilda calmed the frightened young Gideon, explaining to him what he had seen and what she was doing, Gideon would have been inclined to pass it all off as going into shock and hallucinating, had he not thoroughly convinced himself already that those ghosts he had seen could not have been some illusionary trick, and had Hilda not conjured up balls of light right in front of him to prove her talents, but that's besides the point.
She emboldened him to go back in with her and face the ghosts again, that she would protect him and perhaps be able to grant the ghosts lasting rest. Not seeing much option, he led her back in, facing the still agitated ghosts, with Hilda at his side speaking in his ear and gripping his shoulder, he stood firm, talking back at the ghosts and asking them questions as to what they remembered about their deaths, only to find that the workers didn't realise they were dead. Gideon told them this fact, driving some to despair, others to acceptance as some faded out of existence, and a couple others to anger and madness as they lunged forward at the boy who appeared so brightly before them. So illuminating was the boy to them that those remaining ghosts didn't see the slash of the silver blade coming until it was too late for them, forcibly severing their connection to this world and scattering them away.
Frightened, by exhilarated as to everything that had happened, Gideon was grateful for Hilda's support. She herself was pleased with her find, Gideon had demonstrated the potential of being a capable Ectomancer, and she was now curious as to whether he possessed any other possible talents as well in The Art, so much so that she offered to take him on as her apprentice. When asked how he'd explain it to his parents, who wanted him to take on a respectable career, Hilda told him that they could make up a (not entirely false) story about him being a suddenly awoken psychic, with powerful potential as a medium for dealing in Haunted Houses or haunted places, and having retold the incident at the factory (the fighting ghosts and wizardry omitted in favour of more humane perceptions of hauntings and psychic dealings) his parents still weren't pleased, but respected his mature decision to go and tutor under the kindly and venerable Svanhilda.
Thus began his training, he travelled around with Hilda to various places as she finished her assignment, and presented him to the White Council as her apprentice on her return home to Norway. There, his training and studies formally began, with access to the Council's studies on Ectomancy, Gideon honed his skills to suit his own beliefs and styles, finding a new inspired faith in the Neo-Pagan revival of the Old Norse Gods as a source for his powers. After nearly eight years of training and tutorship on magic, ectomancy, and on how to properly handle magic as a White Council wizard, Gideon undertook the tests for gauging his skills and found himself to be a capable enough wizard to apply for Warden status. Earning his cloak and sword, which he named after Sigurn's Garm, he left his esteemed teacher to forge his own path back home in Canada, upholding the laws of the council when called upon in hunting warlocks (he was particularly good at finding them, using his ever-expanding contacts among the spirit world as a benefit of his Ectomancy), and moonlighting as a specialist on the cleansing of haunted houses, restoration of the sanctity of old burial sites, and savant on all matters to do with ghosts, what most humans saw as the more prevalent aspects of the "supernatural" in their world.
