Aiden Hart
Doctor, Death Incarnate.
Basic Information:
Age: 30
Gender/Sex: Male
Birthday: Redacted
Employment/Category: Staff:
Physician at Starlight Academy, Manta Carlos General Hospital, and the Behavioral Corrections Facility
Volunteer and Benefactor of the Manta Carlos Animal Shelter
Appearance Description:
To say that Aiden is clean or well-dressed is an understatement:
Aiden is immaculate.
That's not to say he's never drenched in blood or sweat, but it's just that Aiden is so good at what he does that everything looks staged. Aiden is of average height, lightly muscled, and with no overall distinguishing characteristics. He's still quite handsome in his own regard, but he doesn't have an ethereal sense of beauty or anything to separate him from other adult males. He has nice cheekbones, blond hair cut just below his neck to hide a jagged scar on the bag of his neck, bangs that never part awkwardly in the middle, hazel eyes, and straight white teeth that accompany a politician's smile.
In Medical School, Aiden was nicknamed "the angel of death" for being so damn put together during even the worst of finals. Aiden doesn't wear anything unique, either: Jeans, a light blue t-shirt, and his favorite black blazer when he's being casual; scrubs and bandanna during surgery; a white lab coat over khakis and dress shirt during office hours. He wears a thin gold chain under his neck that has a cross and a scythe on it.
When he walks, Aiden walks with confidence. Well-measured steps and an even pace betray some of his martial arts experience. When left alone, Aiden never slouches, but he's learned to adapt a posture that mirrors those around him to make clients, students, and colleagues feel more comfortable.
Personality Description:
Aiden is arrogant, but he hides it very well.
]That's not to say he thinks he's better than everyone; Aiden knows he's better. His pride might be his hubris, but Aiden knows his areas of weakness along with exactly what he needs to make up for it.
He is ruthless, calculating, and at times cold. Aiden is used to making the decisions no one wants to and issuing orders that need to be done. If he were in the military, he'd be an excellent commander, but Aiden is a better doctor than a soldier. He doesn't take orders, but he doesn't disobey them, either. In a fight, Aiden wouldn't yell or scream, and its his silence that makes him all the more terrifying.
]But he's also an idealist. Aiden is fed up with his position in life and has ideas about what he wants and how things should be. In Aiden's world, chivalry isn't dead, but don't expect him to be treating every girl like a princess. That position has to be earned. Hard work is important to Aiden, as is diligence and control.
Aiden is not all hard edges holding a soft and gushy interior. It's important to note that there are parts of Aiden's nature that seem soft--his love of cats, children, and filmography-- but they're parts of his exterior that are soft the way the hair on a rhino's chin are soft.
In general, he's charming and seems easy-going. He loves bad jokes, reading classics and fairytales, and handles paperwork with ease.
It's very easy to forget that he's a terrible person.
Biography:
Aiden makes a point not to talk about his past. The average person forgets to follow up on most conversations, but someone really persistent would be able to glean a few details about Aiden’s past:
Aiden’s parents were both doctors. Aiden used to live in Canada, but spent a considerable amount of time in the United States. Aiden took martial arts classes from elementary through college, but gave it up when he entered medical school. Aiden was a talented student; he graduated high school and college early, so he entered medical school at a young age. He is a cat person.
The truth of Aiden’s story is a little bit different and it is a well-kept secret. Fortune tellers and mind readers have difficulty grasping details when they use their powers to glean information on Aiden’s history. Magic seems to skirt right through him. If anyone were to be able to get the truth of Aiden’s past, it would be other death-related creatures.
Aiden Hart was destined for greatness as a very young age, but there was nothing supernatural about this. He was born on a regular day under regular stars. There was absolutely nothing supernatural about his early life. Rather, his greatness was expected of him from his family.
His parents were both successful doctors at a teaching hospital in Canada. They set aside money for his college education the day he was born. His grandparents dotted on him. He was well-loved by his family. His parents looked forward to having their son grow up and couldn’t imagine life without him.
That was until the car accident.
Maybe it was black ice. Maybe it was a faulty mechanism in the car. Whatever the cause, the Hart’s car was totaled alongside a road miles from a town. Cell phones weren’t common. It was hours before the Hart’s were discovered. By then, it was already too late for their young son.
At least, that’s part of the story. Death did come for the Harts, but he wasn’t there for Aiden. Aiden would have lived, but his parents wouldn’t have. Opportunity struck. Death is an excellent liar.
Death was tired of being Death. He wanted a break.
Death is a great big thing and everyone takes for granted that it’s inevitable, not knowing the hours of work that go into collecting souls, ferrying them to the afterlife, notifying someone that their time is up, and etcetera. There is no vacation time.
He made Aiden’s parents a deal they couldn’t refuse: They could die and he would walk them over to the afterlife themselves, or they could give them their young son and their lives would be spared. The Harts would all have long lives, and this included Aiden, but his life wouldn’t be with them.
Death never mentioned Aiden would have lived without them. He said they could die, not they could all die.
The only problem with this arrangement, as Death soon realized, was that Aiden was very much alive. Usually the mantle of death is worn by someone as a penance, someone who needed to work before enjoying their time in the afterlife. The Death that taught Aiden had been a doctor in the past, which is perhaps what drew his interests to the Hart’s case.
For the next seven years, Aiden lived a life of death. He learned how to walk between this world and the next, how to ferry souls, how to fight, how to care for himself. He was an excellent student and was allowed enough life to achieve well in school, but never enough life to make friends.
His parents were both successful doctors at a teaching hospital in Canada. They set aside money for his college education the day he was born. His grandparents dotted on him. He was well-loved by his family. His parents looked forward to having their son grow up and couldn’t imagine life without him.
That was until the car accident.
Maybe it was black ice. Maybe it was a faulty mechanism in the car. Whatever the cause, the Hart’s car was totaled alongside a road miles from a town. Cell phones weren’t common. It was hours before the Hart’s were discovered. By then, it was already too late for their young son.
At least, that’s part of the story. Death did come for the Harts, but he wasn’t there for Aiden. Aiden would have lived, but his parents wouldn’t have. Opportunity struck. Death is an excellent liar.
Death was tired of being Death. He wanted a break.
Death is a great big thing and everyone takes for granted that it’s inevitable, not knowing the hours of work that go into collecting souls, ferrying them to the afterlife, notifying someone that their time is up, and etcetera. There is no vacation time.
He made Aiden’s parents a deal they couldn’t refuse: They could die and he would walk them over to the afterlife themselves, or they could give them their young son and their lives would be spared. The Harts would all have long lives, and this included Aiden, but his life wouldn’t be with them.
Death never mentioned Aiden would have lived without them. He said they could die, not they could all die.
The only problem with this arrangement, as Death soon realized, was that Aiden was very much alive. Usually the mantle of death is worn by someone as a penance, someone who needed to work before enjoying their time in the afterlife. The Death that taught Aiden had been a doctor in the past, which is perhaps what drew his interests to the Hart’s case.
For the next seven years, Aiden lived a life of death. He learned how to walk between this world and the next, how to ferry souls, how to fight, how to care for himself. He was an excellent student and was allowed enough life to achieve well in school, but never enough life to make friends.
Aiden was old enough to remember the car accident, to remember his parent’s faces, and smart enough to figure out that something wasn’t right with this whole scenario. It wasn’t long until he figured out that he’d been cheated his life. The problem was that Aiden was young. He was trapped.
There are plenty of rules about cheating death, but so, so very few rules about being cheated out of life.
The problem with being Death is that Aiden’s own life is so wrapped up in it. If he fails to collect a soul, he loses a year of his life. Aiden wanted to look for a way to extend his life.
He’s not so much interested in immortality as he is getting back the years that have been stolen from him.
Everything changed for him when he began to collect inhuman souls. Some would argue that souls are all made of the same thing, or that some animals don’t even have souls, and Aiden would agree. Souls are a tricky business, and maybe it’s not even souls he’s collecting, but life. He doesn’t care.
What he knows is this: if he collects the soul of someone who dies before her time, Aiden can take the rest of her life as his own.
He discovered this when he met a young werewolf intent on ending her life prematurely. Rather than ferrying her away, Aiden bound her to him for the rest of her remaining life. The problem with this is that the werewolf only had seven years left to live, but it was seven years of freedom for Aiden.
He lived on his borrowed time and enrolled in medical school, completing his residency, and making the horrible, mortal mistake of falling in love with the best friend of the werewolf. She was human, like he was, but she was unlike anyone he’d ever met. Aiden fell, and he fell hard. They married. They had a child.
His borrowed time was running out. When Ren died on her actual death day, the power that Aiden used to keep himself free was severed. He was lost in the existence of being somewhere between this world and the next, ferrying souls, and trying desperately to get home.
When he finally finding another magical creature to steal the life of, Aiden returned home a year later, but his wife was gone. Aiden has been unable to find any trace of her or their son. She’d completely vanished.
He sought out soothsayers, fortune tellers, those with powers of locations, but no one has been able to find her.
There are plenty of rules about cheating death, but so, so very few rules about being cheated out of life.
The problem with being Death is that Aiden’s own life is so wrapped up in it. If he fails to collect a soul, he loses a year of his life. Aiden wanted to look for a way to extend his life.
He’s not so much interested in immortality as he is getting back the years that have been stolen from him.
Everything changed for him when he began to collect inhuman souls. Some would argue that souls are all made of the same thing, or that some animals don’t even have souls, and Aiden would agree. Souls are a tricky business, and maybe it’s not even souls he’s collecting, but life. He doesn’t care.
What he knows is this: if he collects the soul of someone who dies before her time, Aiden can take the rest of her life as his own.
He discovered this when he met a young werewolf intent on ending her life prematurely. Rather than ferrying her away, Aiden bound her to him for the rest of her remaining life. The problem with this is that the werewolf only had seven years left to live, but it was seven years of freedom for Aiden.
He lived on his borrowed time and enrolled in medical school, completing his residency, and making the horrible, mortal mistake of falling in love with the best friend of the werewolf. She was human, like he was, but she was unlike anyone he’d ever met. Aiden fell, and he fell hard. They married. They had a child.
His borrowed time was running out. When Ren died on her actual death day, the power that Aiden used to keep himself free was severed. He was lost in the existence of being somewhere between this world and the next, ferrying souls, and trying desperately to get home.
When he finally finding another magical creature to steal the life of, Aiden returned home a year later, but his wife was gone. Aiden has been unable to find any trace of her or their son. She’d completely vanished.
He sought out soothsayers, fortune tellers, those with powers of locations, but no one has been able to find her.
The Present: Looking for Immortality
Aiden still wants to be fully mortal. He still wants to have a normal life.
He still wants to find his wife.
The problem is that he is so, so good at being Death.
Aiden isn’t the only grim reaper in the world, and he’s not even the youngest, but he is the most persuasive. He is ruthless and cunning and will stop at nothing to achieve his goals.
He can’t stop being Death without losing years of his own life, but he can convince other people to die so he can take what’s left of their own life. There’s no better place to do this than in a hospital. Aiden found that suicides, in particular, give up a lot of their lives. The death of someone with magic or someone inhuman makes Aiden’s time last so much longer.
While searching for vulnerable magical creatures, Aiden was led to the existence of the Manta Carlos Islands. With legitimate experience treating magical creatures and the illegitimate excuse of having a brother with magical abilities, Aiden conned himself into a position in the school.
His skill set and talent with a surgical knife earned him hours at the Manta Carlos Hospital, and his experience with suicidal ideation landed him a position at the Behavioral Corrections Institute. Aiden is dedicated to his work and has saved plenty of lives.
It’s rare that someone dies in Aiden’s care. When they do, you could say that Aiden takes each loss personally.
Powers:
Species: Human
]Aiden is an aspect of death, but he is still human.
]Aiden can be harmed, maimed, and beaten like a normal human (although given his considerable self-defense skills, it’s pretty damn difficult). He still gets sick, eats, and sleeps like a normal human. For all classifiable purposes, Aiden is human. There’s nothing outwardly magical or supernatural about him.
Spells, diseases, or magical items that would affect a normal human will, presumably, affect Aiden.
Creatures who have the ability to scent or detect magic will not sense anything unusual about him. Other personifications of death, or death-related/ferryman like creatures/fae/etc will likely be able to sense that Aiden is also Death, but it will depend on the individual power of the species.
Personification of Death:
Aiden is a part of Death. He might be considered a Grim Reaper, or a Personification of the abstract Death.
As a result of being a personification of death, Aiden has the following abilities related to life/death:
Aiden can sense how near a person is to Death.
In some cases, this is a specific number (10 years, 5 hours, 53 minutes) but in other cases it’s more of a vague feeling (“their time is soon” or “not for a long while”). In most cases, he must actively choose to do this.
This power is limited to mortal creatures. Creatures who are immortal, but can still die, are more difficult to determine. ((Should a player know the way their immortal character will to die, it would not be impossible for me to have Aiden determine what will kill them and when, but this would be a player-determined situation.))
Aiden is aware when someone is in the active process of dying. As a doctor, he is able to recognize when the opportunity to stave off death. It is death, not dying, that Aiden can control. If it is the person’s time to die, Aiden can sometimes prevent it, but at the great personal cost of losing a year of his own life. (See Ability to save life/take life).
Aiden experiences a compulsion he cannot ignore if he is destined to collect a soul. He is not sure what causes him to collect some souls and not others. He is often present at the hospital where he works, car accidents, suicides, and other painful bodily deaths, but he is not limited to these means of death.
This power is limited to mortal creatures. Creatures who are immortal, but can still die, are more difficult to determine. ((Should a player know the way their immortal character will to die, it would not be impossible for me to have Aiden determine what will kill them and when, but this would be a player-determined situation.))
Aiden is aware when someone is in the active process of dying. As a doctor, he is able to recognize when the opportunity to stave off death. It is death, not dying, that Aiden can control. If it is the person’s time to die, Aiden can sometimes prevent it, but at the great personal cost of losing a year of his own life. (See Ability to save life/take life).
Aiden experiences a compulsion he cannot ignore if he is destined to collect a soul. He is not sure what causes him to collect some souls and not others. He is often present at the hospital where he works, car accidents, suicides, and other painful bodily deaths, but he is not limited to these means of death.
Ability to Collect or Ferry Souls:
When Aiden approaches someone on the threshold of death, he appears to them in a place some might call limbo. The world appears exactly the same. If Aiden is in a hospital room, for example, the patient will perceive himself and Aiden standing in a hospital room, but there will be no one else around. (It is possible someone else with death-related abilities would be able to encounter them, but Aiden has not experienced this personally.)
Aiden can give prompt a life review and the person will see memories from their life that are relevant. Aiden cannot actually see the memories unless invited.
Aiden can ferry a soul to the afterlife, but he cannot actually enter the afterlife himself.
While in this limbo, time seems to stop. If a patient’s heart stops, the space of time that actually passes might only be one or two heartbeats, but it might appear longer in limbo. Time seems to “freeze”, giving Aiden time to collect the soul, ferry it, and return, without much actual time passing in the real world.
In this manner, Aiden may be able to collect or ferry numerous souls in a single day.
Aiden can give prompt a life review and the person will see memories from their life that are relevant. Aiden cannot actually see the memories unless invited.
Aiden can ferry a soul to the afterlife, but he cannot actually enter the afterlife himself.
While in this limbo, time seems to stop. If a patient’s heart stops, the space of time that actually passes might only be one or two heartbeats, but it might appear longer in limbo. Time seems to “freeze”, giving Aiden time to collect the soul, ferry it, and return, without much actual time passing in the real world.
In this manner, Aiden may be able to collect or ferry numerous souls in a single day.
Inability to Die before his Time:
Aiden cannot be killed by mortal means. That’s not to say he’s immortal.
Aiden will die, but until his time is up, strange coincidences will keep him alive. A gun pointed at his head, for example, will misfire or jam. However, Aiden can still be grievously injured. If he is shot in the head, for example, the gun might miss his temple and pass through his orbital zone instead of the brain, but Aiden would be blinded as a result. He is not immune to harm, only death.
If he has bound someone’s life to his own, injuries that Aiden should receive are instead inflicted upon the bound provided they are within a reasonable distance from Aiden. (This distance will be affected by the size and potential magic of a creature. A dragon bound to Aiden, for example, would only need to be on the island. A smaller creature, such as a werewolf, would need to be at a distance under five miles.) (See Consent to take life).
If he has bound someone’s life to his own, injuries that Aiden should receive are instead inflicted upon the bound provided they are within a reasonable distance from Aiden. (This distance will be affected by the size and potential magic of a creature. A dragon bound to Aiden, for example, would only need to be on the island. A smaller creature, such as a werewolf, would need to be at a distance under five miles.) (See Consent to take life).
Ability to Control Life & Death:
This ability title is a bit misleading. What determines someone’s exact time of death will fluctuate and change. A person in a car accident may be near death, and Aiden could presumably take their life, but miracles, fate, magical interventions, and others may keep them alive. A person Aiden senses is destined to die in three days may, in fact, survive and then have a “new” death date. A person who dies on the operating table but is revived will have a “new” death date.
An exception is this: A person who knowingly cheats death will become a target for Aiden. Part of his duty as Death is to find and properly collect the souls of those who cheat death. Aiden does not have any special senses that alert him when this happens, but he can recognize a person who has cheated death when he meets them. The catch is that Aiden needs to meet them personally. When that happens, Aiden could take their life at any time (with player permission).
Because he is death, Aiden does have it in his ability not to take someone’s life when they die. However, the consequences for this are dire. Aiden would lose a year of his own life. He may feel physically ill afterwards. While not power related, Aiden may feel a sense of responsibility over the person he chooses to keep alive. To date, Aiden has only chosen to spare two lives.
It is also important to note the distinction between death and dying. Aiden’s powers are limited to death. While he has some grey area surrounding dying, he cannot actually take someone before their time, unless that person consents.
An exception is this: A person who knowingly cheats death will become a target for Aiden. Part of his duty as Death is to find and properly collect the souls of those who cheat death. Aiden does not have any special senses that alert him when this happens, but he can recognize a person who has cheated death when he meets them. The catch is that Aiden needs to meet them personally. When that happens, Aiden could take their life at any time (with player permission).
Because he is death, Aiden does have it in his ability not to take someone’s life when they die. However, the consequences for this are dire. Aiden would lose a year of his own life. He may feel physically ill afterwards. While not power related, Aiden may feel a sense of responsibility over the person he chooses to keep alive. To date, Aiden has only chosen to spare two lives.
It is also important to note the distinction between death and dying. Aiden’s powers are limited to death. While he has some grey area surrounding dying, he cannot actually take someone before their time, unless that person consents.
Consent to take Life:
If a person or magical creature consents to end their life early, as in the case of suicide or persuasion, Aiden has the ability to “take” the rest of that creature’s life as his own.
The most powerful form of this control over life/death is Aiden literally binding the remaining years of the creature to his own life. This will establish a link between Aiden and that creature. The creature cannot die until his time with Aiden is finished or the link that binds them is severed.
Another option, one that is more frequent, is that Aiden can take a portion of this person or creature’s life as his own but it is greatly reduced. For example, should a person with a terminal illness is expected have on year left to live, Aiden could convince this person to end their life within six months. The remaining six months, Aiden could take, but without being bound to that person he is only really able to utilize three.
It is more often that Aiden gains days or months instead of years with humans or mortal creatures. With magical creatures, Aiden can presumably take years, but convincing a magical creature to die is less common, and sometimes the magic within the creature prevents Aiden from taking more than only a handful of years.
It is feasible, but not possible, that Aiden could technically become immortal by taking life over and over again. It is not in his character nature to do so, however.
Another option, one that is more frequent, is that Aiden can take a portion of this person or creature’s life as his own but it is greatly reduced. For example, should a person with a terminal illness is expected have on year left to live, Aiden could convince this person to end their life within six months. The remaining six months, Aiden could take, but without being bound to that person he is only really able to utilize three.
It is more often that Aiden gains days or months instead of years with humans or mortal creatures. With magical creatures, Aiden can presumably take years, but convincing a magical creature to die is less common, and sometimes the magic within the creature prevents Aiden from taking more than only a handful of years.
It is feasible, but not possible, that Aiden could technically become immortal by taking life over and over again. It is not in his character nature to do so, however.
Player Notices--Consent & Plot based Powers:
It is important to note that nearly all of Aiden's powers are dependent on the permission of the other character's player. Without permission, it is assumed that Aiden's powers are either not active, that he is not yet aware of the information he would glean, or that something else has prevented him from determining this information (example: interference from living in a magical environment).
His powers are primarily plot-related powers.
For convenience, I have separated Aiden's "abilities" into distinct categories, but they are all aspects of the same original power. These abilities have been roleplayed in previous threads with player permission.
Additional Information:
Aiden lives on the island and has a hundred cats.All of the strays on the island are probably really his cats.
Aiden loves cats a lot.
He has a collection of ties with cats on them.
He also likes to make nature documentaries with a hand-held camera.
When Aiden finds a hobby, he goes nuts about it and won't stop until he's amazing at it.
Magical Item Information:
This necklace only works for Aiden. It can also be broken
Plot Information:
As a doctor, Aiden is currently accepting new patients. He can act as a primary care provider or a specialist depending on circumstances or location.