A NEW LEASE ON LIFE!
RULES
hien. 30. vietnamese. he/him. i love the national, the smiths, red dead, and my bass. art.
ffxiv: eddie nygma @ cactuar.selective and private. this blog is intended to be low effort, so i will be extremely selective and private.
activity. low. indefinite semi-hiatus.
non-exclusive. i will follow multiple of a character.
new followers. give me of upwards to a week to look through your blog.
pre-established relationships. i prefer pre-established relationships over first-time interactions and am always open to discussion.
ships. sam's main and canon ship is with shrike's margot tine @rottine. i am, however, multiship albeit selective. another thing: sam enjoys being "charming", witty, and clever. this often manifests as saying things that can be flirtatious, but his intention is not to date or to sleep with your muse unless otherwise discussed.discord. available upon request.
starter memes. i very often leave these open-ended. feel free to treat my answer as a drabble or as a starter to a thread.
dropping threads. i will drop any thread that hasn't received a reply in about a month in order keep my drafts manageable.
if you approach me asking for plots or a thread, i expect you to have your own ideas. if i end up being the only one and you expect me to write the starter on top of that, i will unfollow.
one-liners. i don’t do one-liner or dialogue-only rp. i prefer multi-para but do not expect you to match me.i will not follow back if… 1) you are a minor, 2) you play a character who is a minor, 3) you post too much ooc content or photos, 4) there is no rules page or detailed page about the character, 5) your blog and/or dash posts is/are illegible, or 6) you post discourse, callout posts, or share disputes you have with another user.
i will unfollow if… 1) you post too much ooc content or photos, 2) you habitually drop threads, 3) you have been inactive for two months without any noted hiatus, 4) we never interact be it ic or ooc, 5) you fail to pull your weight while plotting, or 6) you post discourse, callout posts, or share disputes you have with another user.disclaimer. sam is clearly very much taken from the saul goodman/jimmy mcgill character of the breaking bad universe. i draw from fromsoftware's bloodborne for the Spires.dni. do not interact if you are friends or write with raphael/q @indeath, ana @goldfanged, or danny @geracht / @gutrage / @zimwy.
SAMUEL CROKER
BASICS
name: samuel (reads "sam croker" [pr. "crow-ker"] on business card with "life in a jam? gotta have sam!")
also known as: debt, sam
gender: male
age: appears late 40s-50s; exceptionally old
birthday: november 14
origin: ilhayl'ir (pr. "ill-hale-ear" or "ill-hell-ear"), the Spires' home
current location: variable; defaults to philly, pennsylvania
race: appears human and caucasian; non-human
occupation/role: presumably a life insurance agent (not actually; this is a front), loan shark dealing in lifespans, member of the Edict of the Spires (former), death entity
orientation: bisexual; no preference
marital status: partnered with margot tine @rottine; married in every way but legally
APPEARANCE
hair: reddish brown and thinning; long, squared-off sideburns; combed to the side, partially covers his forehead
eye color: blue
height: 5'10" (178 cm)
weight: 175 lbs. (79 kg)
build: average, softer about the middle
identifiable features: crooked left canine. heavy gesticulation when he speaks.
attire: favors plaid or solid neutral-colored bespoke suits often paired with bolder dress shirts and ties, paisley or otherwise patterned. matching pocket square. cufflinks. gold watch. gold wedding band. loafers.
faceclaim: bob odenkirk as jimmy mcgill in better call saul
SPIRE APPEARANCE
height: 7'3" (221 cm) slouched over
notable features: riddled with holes that he uses to store or pocket away souls. a large, damp tumor-like growth slung over his back punctured with holes for the same purpose. eyeless. four arms. elongated neck.
build: lanky
concept art: click here. currently uncolored. trypohobia and body horror tw.
OTHER DETAILS
voice: bob odenkirk; craggy, gravelly, croaky
handedness: right
drinks/smokes/does drugs: yes/yes/no
temperature: very warm to the touch; feverish
scent: cheap hotel lotion. drugstore shampoo. terre d'hermès (peppery, orange and grapefruit, woody, flint. typically associated with older men and can be thought of as old-fashioned or dated). some non-humans may pick up on a tinge of, not rot or decay, but something that can only be described as death.
PERSONALITY
sam is all dichotomy. he's bright and sociable; he's sycophantic and bitter. he's honest yet not and never straightforward. sam is intrinsically selfish—"me, myself, and I" are words irrefutably made for him—but despite his best efforts, he never seems to get what he wants. face-front, that chip on his shoulder is impossible to miss.positives: resilient, sociable, clever, resourceful, uninhibited
negatives: vindictive, misleading, selfish, bitter, manipulative
mbti: entp-t - the debater
enneagram: type 7 - the enthusiast, level 6-7, (7w8 - the realist)
temperament: sanguine-melancholic
d&d alignment: neutral evil
BACKGROUND
formerly a member of the Edict of the Spires, an amalgamation of entities responsible for carrying out death, sam, entirely unassuming except when he isn't, represents debt and bargaining. gambling and deals. he was the least trustworthy of the Spires, and because of that, was the least loved. expectantly so.even before his expulsion, it can be said that it's because of his poor reputation with the Spires that sam was often seen walking and living in the mortal realm, very much unlike the others. some believe it's because he enjoys the performance of being human. others, that he resented being seen as, or as he perceives, lesser than by the Spires. perhaps it's both. regardless of the reason, sam plays his role well. he looks human. he sounds human. he's your next-door neighbor and a simple insurance agent, a man you could burn the midnight oil chatting away with. only he isn't.sam, an ex-Spire, lost his immortality, and he will do anything to get it back... even if that means ending and collecting the lives of those whose time have not yet come.
DETAILS AND HEADCANON
debt: sam can add to someone's lifespan, but to do so, he requests something of equal or greater value in exchange. he usually preys on those who are already aware of their own immediate or near-immediate death—that makes it easier to get them to agree to his deal while also reducing the time he has to wait before collecting—and the very core of his deal is this: life for a life. only most don't know the extent of it.from an old story, even a fairytale, is the following:long ago, during a time of great famine, a farmer, bone thin and on death's door, was approached by a man. "i will make a deal with you," the stranger said. "i will grant you life for something in return."the farmer, sallow and eyes sunken, was suspicious. a devil in disguise? yet he knew in his heart of hearts that he was not fated to last another day, and in so fearing death, he asked, "what do you require in return?"the stranger smiled. "the seed of your most precious crop."the farmer, although bewildered, accepted.and how fateful it must be that the devil made good on his word. the farmer survived the following day, and, indeed, many days after, until the anniversary of their fated meeting where the stranger returned to claim what was his."i give to you the seed of my most precious crop," the farmer said, extending his dirt-caked palms. inside were the seeds to grow succulent, red apples, the famine now over, the harvest strong.the stranger smiled. "poor man," he said. "i want your child."sam makes deals and reaps lives through trickery and slippery words. other payments he will ask for are your heart and your eye. that is, your life and the apple of your eye, or the life of your loved one, which he calls "interest". if you fail to make timely payment, then he will take both your life and theirs, doubling his earnings... or more.business: smack-dab in the middle of a crawling downtown city, shoulder-to-shoulder with other otherwise barely-floating businesses in a strip mall, sam occupies a small building fronting as an insurance agency visible only to those who want, or who would want, to see him.the outside is as garish and gaudy as you'd expect: blue-silver foil pennant banners... an overly large storefront stencil that reads 'YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE!' it resembles a car dealership doubling as something else, confused and loud. the words 'CROKER INSURANCE AGENCY' scream in tomato red on a tarpish banner out front.to everyone else who doesn't see it, all that's there is the remnant of a once-standing laundromat. it's long since closed.see this post that describes the interior of sam's office.hc: collecting: how sam collects souls.hc: the number you have dialed does not exist: sam is largely unreachable unless he wants you to find him.hc: you're... not immortal?: what it says on the tin. sam's not immortal. also, he now has a physical heart.
MISCELLANEOUS
hobbies and pastimes: mixology; cooking; casino games; film, largely black-and-white cinema, and late-night tv game shows like jeopardy, both of which he watches religiously with margot tine @rottine; spas and massages; lounging
car: sam drives a beige 2002 honda civic lx coupe
LORE
EDICT OF THE SPIRES
**this page will be continuously updated.the Edict of the Spires is comprised of those who serve Death, a number of whom are responsible for collecting, or "reaping", the souls of those whose time have come. each member remains immortal in return for their services, and failure to satisfactorily collect an adequate number of souls, or any severe infringement, results in the revocation of their immortality—sam's dilemma. in my canon, the Low Spires are natural causes of death and are the ones responsible for the physical "collecting" of souls.the High Spires, unlike the Low Spires, are created from pieces of Death himself and serve a more administrative role. they are immortal without having to feed off of him.the members of the Spires sans Death, the overarching figure of authority, and sam, a then-Low Spire, are:
HIGH SPIRES
• yhara, the mouth - for all intent and purposes, she speaks for, or is the mouth for, Death. while she is physically incapable of actually speaking, she is always seen carrying something that resembles a winding music box, her hand perpetually fused to the crank, eternally and immutably turning. when played, a woman's voice warbles through, presumably her own. she reveals to the collectors the names of those who must die.read more on yhara here.• sepulcur, keeper of souls - responsible for overseeing the collected souls and forging a new moon out of them.read more on sepulcur here.• the midwife - responsible for molding the hearts of each member of the Low Spires, both those presently alive and those who have yet to be, the number of which are innumerable. all of her hearts are housed in an infinite, unending hall deep in the bowels of Death's dwelling not unlike game of throne's hall of faces. each beating heart, as opposed to an inert one and belonging to a present Spire, is physically connected to Death himself through an umbilical cord-like structure which feeds off of his immortality. severance of this cord results in the loss of that specific Spire's immortality.read more on the midwife here.• aluwick of the blood, hunter of the Spires - tasked with putting down Spires who were ordered to die. using their own blood as a means of tracking down a Spire, whether by consumption or by inhalation through the burning of blood incense, aluwick has slowly grown dependent and, eventually, mad on blood.read more on aluwick here.
LOW SPIRES, THE COLLECTORS
• pestilence - represents or is the personification of disease. pestilence spreads illness with the plume of miasma she emits from her shedding skin and hair. once a human, she was then sacrificed to staunch a plague and ascended after melding into, feeding off of, and ultimately dominating the body of a Spire.read more on pestilence here.• time - being edited.• tragedy - being edited.• famine - being edited.• war - being edited.
OTHER DETAILS
hc: creation of a Spire: self-explanatory. how a Spire is created.room of echoes: in an eternal, neverending chamber called the room of echoes, you can find marble- or stone-like statues everywhere, the number incomprehensible, maybe in the millions. upon closer inspection, one may notice that virtually all are captured in moments of either agony or sleep. this is because these are the bodies of the deceased Spires, those who failed to collect an adequate number of souls or who otherwise committed an act for which they were punished for. it is a museum of the dead. a mausoleum.
VERSES
main: sam is partly responsible for collecting the souls of those whose time has come. he's known as Debt... your friend when you're alone and the helping hand at rock bottom, offering you a second lease on life—only that's not the whole truth.sidebar: other non-human or supernatural entities can know sam isn't human. i'm okay with them knowing he's Debt, a collector, or otherwise associated with death.additionally, your muse should not know sam has lost his immortality unless we've discussed it. there may be exceptions, but this will require communication.tagged as: #( samuhelll: v: main. )d&d/baldur's gate 3: this melds my lore into the forgotten realms. sam is still a Spire and still responsible for collecting souls, but here, the Spires are an amalgamation of beings that serve myrkul, the god of the dead. sam himself is a cambion and extracts souls as one might expect of a cambion: through silver-tongued, double-sided deals.for baldur's gate 3, he doesn't fit into the story in any integral way. optionally, due to his connections with myrkul, he may be a known quantity to bhaal's followers or other cambions.tagged as: #( samuhelll: v: dnd. )
