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Player Information:
Name: Pur
Age: 27
Contact: AIM: purplejabberwock;![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
purple_drake
Game Cast: Solomon Wreath
Character Information:
Name: Anton Shudder
Canon: Skulduggery Pleasant. Although Anton is from the same canon as Solomon they interact only once in canon, without speaking to one another, and the nature of that meeting ensures they will have no desire to interact in other situations; therefore, their interactions in the game will be minimal.
Canon Point: Just after book four, Dark Days. There is one known patron at the Hotel at this canonpoint, but he will be absent from the Hotel when it and Anton are brought into the game.
Age: No age in canon is specified, but he’s going grey so he’s middle-aged for a sorcerer; at least five-hundred.
Please note that all headcanon will be in purple text.
Reference: This is the fan-wiki page for Anton, but as this wiki is fan-run there are subjective conjectures and assertions displayed as fact, and anyone is capable of editing the pages. I regard its information with a grain of salt. Watch for major spoilers for book eight.
Setting: The Skulduggery Pleasant universe is, in most ways, similar to our own. The differences are secret in a manner similar to the Harry Potter universe, and therefore not immediately visible. Public history and most political events will be the same. However, there is an underlying magical presence and a very definite worldwide magical community, as well as a number of magical beings. Magical folk call themselves ‘sorcerers’ and can live up to 800 or 1000 years, and refer to non-magical people as ‘mortals’.
Magic
Magic in SPverse is a latent force nearly everywhere. It collects in geographic ‘Cradles’—Ireland, Africa, Australia and China—which make the residents of those nations more magically powerful than others.
Within individuals magic takes the form of two overarching branches of magic: Elementals and Adepts. Elementals can influence the four elements: fire, water, air and earth (though for most, influencing earth is a one-way ticket to becoming a statue for an indeterminate period of time). Adepts encompass everything else. They usually either choose a single discipline (like Necromancy) or a subset of connected magics (like the Sensitivities of future-sight and contacting the dead). Some are ‘natural-born’ and have a talent in a particular magic which usually stays with them all their life, but most can use any sort of magic in their childhood. At their age of majority, between 18 and 21, they undertake their Surge, whereupon their magic becomes more powerful but limited to their chosen discipline.
Names are highly important in magical society due to the fact that any sorcerer with a minor amount of skill can control a person using their name. Everyone has three names: the name they’re given at birth, the name they take for themselves, and their true name, which is the source of all their magic (or lack thereof). A taken name casts a seal of magic over a given name, thus preventing someone from being controlled. One’s true name goes a step further. Controlling a given name controls a person’s actions; controlling a true name controls their very identity. If a sorcerer ever discovers their true name, they must seal it with sigils to prevent others from ever controlling it.
The language of magic occurs in sigils. While a possible discipline on its own, sigils can be used by anyone, even mortals, and many sorcerers use them as a support for their usual practices.
While Skulduggery implies that most legends have been true in some fashion, given the rarity of most non-humans it’s clear magical humans are the majority. Vampires are the most common non-human; although they appear as ordinary people in the daytime, unaffected by daylight or conventional vampire weapons, at night they tear off their skins and become bloodthirsty animals. They are, however, the exception. Werewolves no longer exist. A type of giant, sentient insect-looking species, the crenga, are all but extinct. There are various other characters said to be non-human (such as Springheeled Jack and Black Anise) but canon never specifies what they are except to state they are extremely rare.
Anton, while still human, possesses an exceedingly rare magic which makes him appear to be inhuman. It’s called a gist; a manifestation of all the user’s hate, rage and bad thoughts, sealed inside the user to be released as they will to attack those whom they choose. If the user loses control, they will be sealed inside the gist the way the gist was sealed inside of them. Mastery of this magic is widely considered to be impossible.
Politics
The magical communities are governed by a council of elders consisting of two Elders and one Grand Mage. The seat of their power is called the Sanctuary, which controls the daily running of the magical nations. However, a great deal of political power still rests with the most powerful and prominent sorcerers of any given nation, who can elect or depose a leader through popular vote. Canon implies that while Sanctuaries have been around for a while, the current method of governing through the councils is relatively new establishment, likely formed after the last magical war—which ended in the mid-to-late 1800s.
Individual Sanctuaries maintain diplomatic connections in a manner very similar to the mortal world, albeit through magical means of communications. The Cradles are those nations which hold the most political power while simultaneously being regarded warily due to the amount of magical power they possess. When the magical world undergoes a tumult, chances are it’s a Cradle that caused it.
Most of the time Sanctuaries enforce laws within their own borders, but later in canon many other nations begin to pressure Ireland to allow them access in order to ‘stabilise’ the nation. Given the various reactions, this sort of international policing is new, and therefore the magical communities are far more nationally insular than their mortal counterparts.
There are some organisations and peoples which remain apart from their national Sanctuaries. Within the nations, many sorcerers seem to define their communities by the magic they use, such as the Necromancers and the Children of the Spider, and as such consider themselves beyond Sanctuary policing. Warlocks, while human and magical, utilise their magic in a manner which sets them apart—by choice—from the rest of magical society. While Necromancers deal with magical society, Warlocks disdain them. The various cultures of witches react in much the same manner, and remain reclusive and aloof.
Anton is a singular example of such a person. He owns a hotel which is intended to be neutral ground, apart from any nation’s law or authority; sanctioned and enforced only by Anton’s skills, magic and honour.
History
The most relevant history is the most recent magical war involving the struggle against an evil Elemental known as Mevolent. Mevolent was a worshipper of dark gods known as the Faceless Ones, who once existed in canon’s reality before being ejected by a previous race of magical humans called Ancients. The Faceless Ones were so powerful that simply looking directly upon them drove people insane. Mevolent’s intent was to bring them back, and began a war in order to secure the world in the name of his gods.
Mevolent’s most trusted allies were the Three Generals. Baron Vengeous was a man of faith known for his brutality to both allies and enemies. Nefarian Serpine was known for his cruelty and his talent for ‘picking up’ magics, most especially the Red Hand. Lord Vile was a massively powerful Necromancer in a suit of black armour who was only active for five years, but was known to be unstoppable in that time.
On the rebels’ side was Eachan Meritorious, the charismatic Irish elder who alone survived Mevolent’s ambush on the rebellion’s leaders. Corrival Deuce was one of his foremost generals, so highly respected that long after the war was over he was asked to become Grand Mage. The Dead Men were a group of Irish special-ops combatants who became known for their ability to survive suicide missions. This group included Skulduggery Pleasant, Ghastly Bespoke, Hopeless, Erskine Ravel, Dexter Vex, Anton Shudder, Saracen Rue, and Rover Larrikin.
The war began in Ireland, but such was Mevolent’s charisma and reach that it spread to the whole world. The rebellion against him was led by Eachan Meritorious, and initially included many peoples of Ireland, including the Necromancers. As Mevolent’s reach spread, Meritorious allied with other nations to stop Mevolent, but he also lost support from some factions. Prejudice still existed within the magical community, and some groups were not well received or acknowledged by those in command of the war-effort.
Canon now has a timeline for the war! Mevolent was killed in the mid-1800s—a recent short story set in 1861 establishes Mevolent’s death as being very recent, within the last few years. Baron Vengeous was arrested soon after Mevolent died, while Serpine continued the war-effort for an undetermined, but likely short, period following. A Truce was struck with Serpine to grant him and the remains of Mevolent’s forces amnesty in order to avoid a continuation of the conflict. Afterward, the magical nations were left to rebuild, but they had lost much in the way of infrastructure and the manner in which minorities had been treated left them embittered.
In Ireland, at least, the overwhelming undertone was compromise to avoid conflict at all costs. Unfortunately this led to the tension which began canon, in which Serpine used the Sanctuary’s complacency to renew the conflict on a localised level. While Serpine was stopped, his murder of the council of elders marked the beginning of an era of instability for Ireland.
The Midnight Hotel
Following the war, Anton Shudder was among those dissatisfied by the Sanctuaries’ collective use of political authority. Rather than feeling the need to strike back, he simply ensured a little piece of real estate could not be touched by any nation’s authority.
This ‘little piece of real estate’ is called the Midnight Hotel, and has become legendary throughout the world. It has only one rule: no violence is permitted within its walls. The victim of any violence will be personally championed by Anton himself, regardless of who they are; the instigator will then be obliged to face Anton in battle. Anton’s reputation and magic is such that no one dares to contravene this rule. It’s widely recognised as the safest place on the planet.
The Midnight Hotel is a three-storey building with twenty-four rooms (though only twenty-three of those rooms are able to be patroned). Its most recognisable feature is its ability to move location from anywhere in the world to another location anywhere in the world, and do so within an instant. By policy this happens every twelve hours, but canon states that it can move any time, any place, provided the person at the controls knows where they’re going.
The Hotel is heavily warded against sieges (it takes specialised knowledge before a throng of zombies is able to pierce the wards); internal damages (the rooms are suitable for containing vicious and highly powerful beings such as werewolves and vampires); and contains numerous wards ready to activate at need (eg, a ward to jam firearms). It contains at least one hidden emergency exit, and its controls somehow involve the grandfather clock on the second floor. Anton is the only staff-member and the only person who knows how the Hotel’s magic operates as a whole.
There is one drawback to the Hotel: the Twenty-Fourth Room. The Twenty-Fourth Room is a prison cell for roughly two thousand evil spirits known as Remnants. They possess individuals in a fashion which leaves the victim’s personality intact, but lacking a conscience, and within four days the possession becomes permanent. In the latter half of the 1800s the Remnants were successfully captured and incarcerated inside the Midnight Hotel. No one is permitted near this room and its magically-locked door can only be opened by one key, which Anton keeps on his person at all times.
Personality: While we have some history for Anton, all of it is in relation to the Dead Men, during the war, and most of it is shown in canon. Therefore all of his characterisation comes from instances of canon rather than any childhood history. While Anton presents as a humourless straight man, there is much more to him than that. His core attributes are his control, his self-awareness, his honour, and his pragmatism. He is also proud, maternal, fierce and exceedingly dry in humour.
Most of Anton’s personality can be definably linked to his magic. His gist is a literal monster inside of him, and if he loses control of it even for an instant he’s the one who becomes trapped within the gist. For that reason, Anton’s control is immovable. He still has emotion, because he’s capable of feeling great fondness and loyalty and love, as he does toward the Dead Men; but canon never shows him displaying any negative emotion greater than suspicion or irritation, and even that irritation is faked for humour. Even when a sociopath uses his Hotel rule against him to steal a Remnant, thereby leading to the murder of two of Anton’s patrons, he never displays any anger; simply an intense resolution to help Skulduggery find them and bring them to justice.
Directly connected to Anton’s need for absolute control of himself is his self-awareness. The gist is a kind of magic which relies upon a firm sense of self. While canon states outright that Anton is among those who believes the gist can never be mastered, it also makes clear that gist-users are rare, the death-toll is high and Anton is very old for one. The main reason for this is that he knows who he is and where his limits lie, and he lays down boundaries he will not cross. He knows who he is, what he is, and accepts himself without anything worse than regret or anything greater than humility. The abovementioned boundaries are thus ruled by Anton’s honour and his pragmatism.
Anton turns the above two traits into opposites, and in doing so allows himself a balance of which most men could only dream. His honour means he can deal with others knowing he is doing so righteously, as best as anyone can ask. He will not contravene his word; he won’t kill innocents; he won’t judge others. It’s this code which allows him to remain so completely neutral even in the face of people so obviously ill-willed. One such example of this is his Hotel rule; the aforementioned sociopath books a room specifically knowing that he will be protected from Skulduggery, because Anton would defend him even against his best friends while under his roof. Dealing honourably with others allows Anton a foundation on which he can build all his positive emotions, something which is indescribably important to the state of his control. He needs positive emotions—needs them to stave off the negative, and the only way he can do so without begrudging others their actions is to reduce everyone, even those he loves, to the same level field.
However, as a soldier in war Anton has been forced to kill or harm others. For that, he uses his pragmatism as a shield. Pragmatism isn’t about morality; it’s about survival. It means recognising the darkness within him, and dealing with it, and with others who possess it. Canon displays this primarily through Anton’s reputation; no one wants to cross Shudder, because everyone knows he won’t hold back. He’s far better at interrogating than most of the Dead Men simply by being intimidating. When a group of sorcerers attempts to have him assassinated, Anton kills those ambushing him without hesitation even though they would have been his allies during the war with Mevolent. In many ways Anton is of a primal system: kill-or-be-killed, blood-for-blood, tit-for-tat. His honour means that he can believe the strong has a responsibility to protect the weak while his pragmatism allows him to do so with as much force as others bring against him, and that these two traits don’t contradict each other in a way which will make him break.
While Anton is a proud man, his pride is actually not in himself; it’s in others, and his association with those others. Anton’s honour-code provides a baseline for his interactions, but there are still those to whom he has given his love—namely, the Dead Men. While he won’t breach his boundaries for them, for that would give the gist an opening to take control, he will do anything else for them. They have his respect and his pride, and he approaches them in a way simultaneously protective and familial. When he tells stories of the Dead Men, they are inevitably to highlight the Dead Men’s strength, honour and goodness as people. His favourite story to tell, regarding Saracen, is his favourite because of his intense pride in his friend, like that of an older brother; it’s to such a degree that all the Dead Men are now exasperated with hearing the story told.
In such ways Anton is the maternal one of the group. He is the one with the most unabashed pride and respect; when he meets Valkyrie, he is the one who teaches her with gentle encouragement instead of sardonic prods, as the others do. The fact that he is the sole staff-member at the Midnight Hotel just proves that he enjoys taking care of others, not in the role of a warrior but in the role of a comforter.
Although Anton cannot allow himself to be controlled by negative emotions, this does not mean his intensity won’t rule him. Anton does nothing halfway; his work, his living, his regard for his friends, are all felt and performed to their utmost. In battle he is ruled by nothing but clear-thinking and instinct, but is no less intense because of that. It is this very ferocity which adds to his reputation. Shudder doesn’t hold back, because he gives as good as he gets; but he gives it back with everything he has, to a level most others can’t handle. In this, Anton is similar to his gist: his gist is everything terrible about him distilled, but it does not lack for the intensity to perform its function. By driving forward as Anton does, he is able to keep from regretting. Regrets lead to guilt and guilt leads to fear, or anger, or uncertainty, and those lead to the gist.
Finally, while Anton presents as sober and humourless, in reality he possesses an exceedingly dry deadpan humour with which he enjoys making others think he’s serious. It’s so dry that even the Dead Men, who know Anton as well as anyone can and are themselves sardonic in humour, are fooled by it. That said, most of the time he does prefer to just appreciate others’ humour while using his to play at being the straight man.
Appearance: In canon Anton is described as ‘greying’, which makes him middle-aged, with sharp features and an impassive or humourless sort of composure. He’s tall, thin and wiry, and has long hair at this canonpoint. He dresses like a funeral director while working at the Hotel, and apparently by choice otherwise; but he also dresses to his circumstance when he can.
Post-app update: Canon never properly describes Anton's height, but it does state that he's one of the largest of the Dead Men. Given the other Dead Man described as 'largest' is a broad muscular body-builder bloke and Anton is never described as being so muscular, chances are Anton is one of the 'largest' because he's the tallest. Since the majority of the Dead Men top 6'0" to begin with and Skulduggery is described as 'tall' even among the Dead Men, but is shorter than a character canonically labelled as 6'6", I'm putting Anton at about 6'6".
Abilities: Anton is very much the domestic type. As the only staff at the Midnight Hotel, he can be assumed to have a great range of general skills—to say nothing of his magic. He’s quite a well-rounded bloke, really.
Non-magical skills
Anton’s a hotel proprietor and prison-guard in one. Canon makes no mention of the Hotel being war-time bounty, so Anton probably designed and built it himself, which makes him both architect and labourer. To maintain the Hotel’s upkeep as a business he’d be an administrator, financer, cleaner, cook. Moving all over the world as he does, he would have to be passable or fluent in dozens of languages, more than most sorcerers. Due to the nature of the Hotel’s existence, he likely handles banking in-between nations, as well as legal-looking passports and visas.
From the glimpses of his past we know that Anton is a capable horse-rider, hiker, and wilderness expert. He is also an excellent storyteller.
Non-magical fighting skills
For all Anton’s range of skills, it’s his talent as a warrior that makes him so feared. He knows how to handle numerous weapons, including pistols, swords and variants of such—though he apparently favours shotguns.
He knows many martial-arts disciplines and, moreover, has been able to combine them into a unique style which leaves no room for hesitation. His instincts and reflexes are fast and immediate; he does not hold back. When a group of sorcerers decide to have him assassinated, they send twenty-three other sorcerers to ambush him. Anton kills half-a-dozen of them and retreats from the fight without injury and without using any magic at all.
While it’s possible that his magic has a passive aspect to heighten his mundane fighting skills, canon never specifies whether this is so.
Magic
Anton is stated many times to be one of the scariest sorcerers alive, though most of that reputation is due to his magic. As stated above, Anton is a gist-user—someone who does battle with a manifestation summing all their hatred, rage, and bad thoughts. It’s released through the chest, and remains connected to their owner with a cord of ‘light and darkness’, one which stretches and bends as far or as much as is required.
The gist is impervious to any attack, and while released is easily fast enough to be capable of intercepting any attack aimed at its owner. Once unleashed, it slaughters anything at which it’s directed with apparent ease—canon shows it killing dozens if not hundreds of beings in very little time. The only thing in canon which the gist is unable to damage or penetrate is a time-bubble-creating mist around a ghost-town, so its magic includes an ability to penetrate even augmented armour.
This sort of magic has a major drawback: its control is debateable. If Anton ever, for an instant, loses control of the gist, the gist will turn on him and take over his body, and he’ll be imprisoned within it the same way it’s imprisoned in him. And then it will go out and kill whatever, and whoever, it wants to kill. When it’s out, it doesn’t want to go back: it’s a struggle to bring it back to himself, one which leaves him fall-down exhausted every time.
None of this is to say that Anton himself is invulnerable; he can be killed, if taken by surprise before his gist is out. It’s just that taking him by surprise is nearly impossible.
Suitability: Anton was born in the Middle-Ages and he experienced a centuries-long war, which alone indicate his suitability for a war-time game. He was also involved in that war’s clean-up, so he’s suitable for the post-Malicant plot too, knowing the consequences of war and what it takes to re-establish a society. Moreover his magic is one of extreme pain and anguish, so he’s well able to handle darker facets of life.
Inventory: On his person Anton will have: the key to the Remnants’ room; the master keyring for all the doors and locks in the Hotel; his clothes; an old brass pin in the shape of a circle, flat on one side with the words ‘Larrikin’ and ‘Dead Men’ carved into it.
Suite: Anton, being a stoic and steadfast sort of bloke, would feel most comfortable in Earth Sector. He enjoys nice aesthetics, but mostly is interested in practicalities, so the architectural combination will appeal to him.
In-Character Samples:
Third Person: The evening of Scarab’s arrest, Anton returned to the Hotel to lock the vampire Caelan in his room and move the Hotel to Nigeria, where things would be quieter than they currently were in Ireland. The three patrons who had barricaded themselves in their rooms during the zombie attack opted to leave soon after the Hotel’s transition, in spite of the inconvenience. Anton didn’t mind. It gave him time and space to restore the Hotel. The Remnant had not yet been returned, but it would only be a matter of time.
The next morning Anton unlocked Caelan’s door, took the Hotel back to Ireland and got out Miss Nuncio and Mr Jib’s contracts to find the section regarding emergency contacts. They were details that were usually unnecessary. In fact, this was the very first time in the more-than-century-long history of the Hotel that Anton had been obliged to use those details. He wasn’t pleased by that fact.
It wasn’t just a matter of reputation, though certainly that was going to take a blow. It was the fact that he had failed to protect those to whom he had promised protection. Mr Jib had been an idiot; Anton did not accept responsibility for idiocy. But Miss Nuncio had been courageous and determined, and among the more amiable of his tenants, and Anton regretted her death as far as he allowed himself.
Miss Nuncio didn’t have anyone to contact. Anton was almost relieved by that. It would have been the more difficult of the two deaths to explain to family. Mr Jib had written the number of a brother, but when Anton called to advise him of Mr Jib’s death he didn’t seem too concerned.
“Always figured he’d go down sooner or later,” said the brother, “what with those ridiculous monster-hunting guidebooks he reads.”
He didn’t want Mr Jib’s collection of The Monster Hunter books returned, however, so Anton added them to the common-room library. Or intended to add them to the common-room library, just as soon as he had a serviceable common-room again. Or, rather, intended to make them the common-room library, as any other books in the common-room were either shredded or too drowned in blood and zombie bits to be useful as anything but bad-smelling tinder.
Mr Jib’s brother didn’t want his body back either, so Anton found his remains in several different locations in the woods and brought them back for the pyre where he had left Miss Nuncio. There wasn’t all that much left to burn, really, but Anton used the bloody, broken remains of his furniture to strike up a good bonfire and then stood there watching for a few moments before turning to re-enter the Hotel.
There was a great deal of work to do and the blood and parts had already been given a whole night in which to congeal. He would have to replace the carpet and some parts of the timber flooring, flooring which had been part of the Hotel since he had built it over a century ago. The part of the furniture that hadn’t been bloodied, simply broken, would suffice as replacement lumber; but it was still galling that such a long term of service had thus been ruined.
Anton spent the day tearing out the parts of the carpet, floor and windows that could not be cleaned, and did the first round of scrubbing the stone walls. When Caelan arrived in the later afternoon Anton locked him inside his room and moved the Hotel to the Caribbean, and then retired to the kitchen to make meals for the rest of the week, listening to Caelan snarl and strike the walls in the room above. The Hotel held.
It was vindicating to know that, after all this, the Hotel could still hold.
Network: [Turns on. There’s a man in front of the camera, a sharp-featured, middle-aged man with an impassive sort of composure and an intensity of focus as he tinkers with the controls. The audio, that of a crowded café, dims. Comes on. Video goes to static and turns off. Returns. The console beeps as he attempts to lock the feed and the public terminal objects.
[The man tilts his head in a manner anyone who knows a certain skeleton might recognise.]
Hm.
[And then the feed shuts off.]
Name: Pur
Age: 27
Contact: AIM: purplejabberwock;
Game Cast: Solomon Wreath
Character Information:
Name: Anton Shudder
Canon: Skulduggery Pleasant. Although Anton is from the same canon as Solomon they interact only once in canon, without speaking to one another, and the nature of that meeting ensures they will have no desire to interact in other situations; therefore, their interactions in the game will be minimal.
Canon Point: Just after book four, Dark Days. There is one known patron at the Hotel at this canonpoint, but he will be absent from the Hotel when it and Anton are brought into the game.
Age: No age in canon is specified, but he’s going grey so he’s middle-aged for a sorcerer; at least five-hundred.
Please note that all headcanon will be in purple text.
Reference: This is the fan-wiki page for Anton, but as this wiki is fan-run there are subjective conjectures and assertions displayed as fact, and anyone is capable of editing the pages. I regard its information with a grain of salt. Watch for major spoilers for book eight.
Setting: The Skulduggery Pleasant universe is, in most ways, similar to our own. The differences are secret in a manner similar to the Harry Potter universe, and therefore not immediately visible. Public history and most political events will be the same. However, there is an underlying magical presence and a very definite worldwide magical community, as well as a number of magical beings. Magical folk call themselves ‘sorcerers’ and can live up to 800 or 1000 years, and refer to non-magical people as ‘mortals’.
Magic
Magic in SPverse is a latent force nearly everywhere. It collects in geographic ‘Cradles’—Ireland, Africa, Australia and China—which make the residents of those nations more magically powerful than others.
Within individuals magic takes the form of two overarching branches of magic: Elementals and Adepts. Elementals can influence the four elements: fire, water, air and earth (though for most, influencing earth is a one-way ticket to becoming a statue for an indeterminate period of time). Adepts encompass everything else. They usually either choose a single discipline (like Necromancy) or a subset of connected magics (like the Sensitivities of future-sight and contacting the dead). Some are ‘natural-born’ and have a talent in a particular magic which usually stays with them all their life, but most can use any sort of magic in their childhood. At their age of majority, between 18 and 21, they undertake their Surge, whereupon their magic becomes more powerful but limited to their chosen discipline.
Names are highly important in magical society due to the fact that any sorcerer with a minor amount of skill can control a person using their name. Everyone has three names: the name they’re given at birth, the name they take for themselves, and their true name, which is the source of all their magic (or lack thereof). A taken name casts a seal of magic over a given name, thus preventing someone from being controlled. One’s true name goes a step further. Controlling a given name controls a person’s actions; controlling a true name controls their very identity. If a sorcerer ever discovers their true name, they must seal it with sigils to prevent others from ever controlling it.
The language of magic occurs in sigils. While a possible discipline on its own, sigils can be used by anyone, even mortals, and many sorcerers use them as a support for their usual practices.
While Skulduggery implies that most legends have been true in some fashion, given the rarity of most non-humans it’s clear magical humans are the majority. Vampires are the most common non-human; although they appear as ordinary people in the daytime, unaffected by daylight or conventional vampire weapons, at night they tear off their skins and become bloodthirsty animals. They are, however, the exception. Werewolves no longer exist. A type of giant, sentient insect-looking species, the crenga, are all but extinct. There are various other characters said to be non-human (such as Springheeled Jack and Black Anise) but canon never specifies what they are except to state they are extremely rare.
Anton, while still human, possesses an exceedingly rare magic which makes him appear to be inhuman. It’s called a gist; a manifestation of all the user’s hate, rage and bad thoughts, sealed inside the user to be released as they will to attack those whom they choose. If the user loses control, they will be sealed inside the gist the way the gist was sealed inside of them. Mastery of this magic is widely considered to be impossible.
Politics
The magical communities are governed by a council of elders consisting of two Elders and one Grand Mage. The seat of their power is called the Sanctuary, which controls the daily running of the magical nations. However, a great deal of political power still rests with the most powerful and prominent sorcerers of any given nation, who can elect or depose a leader through popular vote. Canon implies that while Sanctuaries have been around for a while, the current method of governing through the councils is relatively new establishment, likely formed after the last magical war—which ended in the mid-to-late 1800s.
Individual Sanctuaries maintain diplomatic connections in a manner very similar to the mortal world, albeit through magical means of communications. The Cradles are those nations which hold the most political power while simultaneously being regarded warily due to the amount of magical power they possess. When the magical world undergoes a tumult, chances are it’s a Cradle that caused it.
Most of the time Sanctuaries enforce laws within their own borders, but later in canon many other nations begin to pressure Ireland to allow them access in order to ‘stabilise’ the nation. Given the various reactions, this sort of international policing is new, and therefore the magical communities are far more nationally insular than their mortal counterparts.
There are some organisations and peoples which remain apart from their national Sanctuaries. Within the nations, many sorcerers seem to define their communities by the magic they use, such as the Necromancers and the Children of the Spider, and as such consider themselves beyond Sanctuary policing. Warlocks, while human and magical, utilise their magic in a manner which sets them apart—by choice—from the rest of magical society. While Necromancers deal with magical society, Warlocks disdain them. The various cultures of witches react in much the same manner, and remain reclusive and aloof.
Anton is a singular example of such a person. He owns a hotel which is intended to be neutral ground, apart from any nation’s law or authority; sanctioned and enforced only by Anton’s skills, magic and honour.
History
The most relevant history is the most recent magical war involving the struggle against an evil Elemental known as Mevolent. Mevolent was a worshipper of dark gods known as the Faceless Ones, who once existed in canon’s reality before being ejected by a previous race of magical humans called Ancients. The Faceless Ones were so powerful that simply looking directly upon them drove people insane. Mevolent’s intent was to bring them back, and began a war in order to secure the world in the name of his gods.
Mevolent’s most trusted allies were the Three Generals. Baron Vengeous was a man of faith known for his brutality to both allies and enemies. Nefarian Serpine was known for his cruelty and his talent for ‘picking up’ magics, most especially the Red Hand. Lord Vile was a massively powerful Necromancer in a suit of black armour who was only active for five years, but was known to be unstoppable in that time.
On the rebels’ side was Eachan Meritorious, the charismatic Irish elder who alone survived Mevolent’s ambush on the rebellion’s leaders. Corrival Deuce was one of his foremost generals, so highly respected that long after the war was over he was asked to become Grand Mage. The Dead Men were a group of Irish special-ops combatants who became known for their ability to survive suicide missions. This group included Skulduggery Pleasant, Ghastly Bespoke, Hopeless, Erskine Ravel, Dexter Vex, Anton Shudder, Saracen Rue, and Rover Larrikin.
The war began in Ireland, but such was Mevolent’s charisma and reach that it spread to the whole world. The rebellion against him was led by Eachan Meritorious, and initially included many peoples of Ireland, including the Necromancers. As Mevolent’s reach spread, Meritorious allied with other nations to stop Mevolent, but he also lost support from some factions. Prejudice still existed within the magical community, and some groups were not well received or acknowledged by those in command of the war-effort.
Canon now has a timeline for the war! Mevolent was killed in the mid-1800s—a recent short story set in 1861 establishes Mevolent’s death as being very recent, within the last few years. Baron Vengeous was arrested soon after Mevolent died, while Serpine continued the war-effort for an undetermined, but likely short, period following. A Truce was struck with Serpine to grant him and the remains of Mevolent’s forces amnesty in order to avoid a continuation of the conflict. Afterward, the magical nations were left to rebuild, but they had lost much in the way of infrastructure and the manner in which minorities had been treated left them embittered.
In Ireland, at least, the overwhelming undertone was compromise to avoid conflict at all costs. Unfortunately this led to the tension which began canon, in which Serpine used the Sanctuary’s complacency to renew the conflict on a localised level. While Serpine was stopped, his murder of the council of elders marked the beginning of an era of instability for Ireland.
The Midnight Hotel
Following the war, Anton Shudder was among those dissatisfied by the Sanctuaries’ collective use of political authority. Rather than feeling the need to strike back, he simply ensured a little piece of real estate could not be touched by any nation’s authority.
This ‘little piece of real estate’ is called the Midnight Hotel, and has become legendary throughout the world. It has only one rule: no violence is permitted within its walls. The victim of any violence will be personally championed by Anton himself, regardless of who they are; the instigator will then be obliged to face Anton in battle. Anton’s reputation and magic is such that no one dares to contravene this rule. It’s widely recognised as the safest place on the planet.
The Midnight Hotel is a three-storey building with twenty-four rooms (though only twenty-three of those rooms are able to be patroned). Its most recognisable feature is its ability to move location from anywhere in the world to another location anywhere in the world, and do so within an instant. By policy this happens every twelve hours, but canon states that it can move any time, any place, provided the person at the controls knows where they’re going.
The Hotel is heavily warded against sieges (it takes specialised knowledge before a throng of zombies is able to pierce the wards); internal damages (the rooms are suitable for containing vicious and highly powerful beings such as werewolves and vampires); and contains numerous wards ready to activate at need (eg, a ward to jam firearms). It contains at least one hidden emergency exit, and its controls somehow involve the grandfather clock on the second floor. Anton is the only staff-member and the only person who knows how the Hotel’s magic operates as a whole.
There is one drawback to the Hotel: the Twenty-Fourth Room. The Twenty-Fourth Room is a prison cell for roughly two thousand evil spirits known as Remnants. They possess individuals in a fashion which leaves the victim’s personality intact, but lacking a conscience, and within four days the possession becomes permanent. In the latter half of the 1800s the Remnants were successfully captured and incarcerated inside the Midnight Hotel. No one is permitted near this room and its magically-locked door can only be opened by one key, which Anton keeps on his person at all times.
Personality: While we have some history for Anton, all of it is in relation to the Dead Men, during the war, and most of it is shown in canon. Therefore all of his characterisation comes from instances of canon rather than any childhood history. While Anton presents as a humourless straight man, there is much more to him than that. His core attributes are his control, his self-awareness, his honour, and his pragmatism. He is also proud, maternal, fierce and exceedingly dry in humour.
Most of Anton’s personality can be definably linked to his magic. His gist is a literal monster inside of him, and if he loses control of it even for an instant he’s the one who becomes trapped within the gist. For that reason, Anton’s control is immovable. He still has emotion, because he’s capable of feeling great fondness and loyalty and love, as he does toward the Dead Men; but canon never shows him displaying any negative emotion greater than suspicion or irritation, and even that irritation is faked for humour. Even when a sociopath uses his Hotel rule against him to steal a Remnant, thereby leading to the murder of two of Anton’s patrons, he never displays any anger; simply an intense resolution to help Skulduggery find them and bring them to justice.
Directly connected to Anton’s need for absolute control of himself is his self-awareness. The gist is a kind of magic which relies upon a firm sense of self. While canon states outright that Anton is among those who believes the gist can never be mastered, it also makes clear that gist-users are rare, the death-toll is high and Anton is very old for one. The main reason for this is that he knows who he is and where his limits lie, and he lays down boundaries he will not cross. He knows who he is, what he is, and accepts himself without anything worse than regret or anything greater than humility. The abovementioned boundaries are thus ruled by Anton’s honour and his pragmatism.
Anton turns the above two traits into opposites, and in doing so allows himself a balance of which most men could only dream. His honour means he can deal with others knowing he is doing so righteously, as best as anyone can ask. He will not contravene his word; he won’t kill innocents; he won’t judge others. It’s this code which allows him to remain so completely neutral even in the face of people so obviously ill-willed. One such example of this is his Hotel rule; the aforementioned sociopath books a room specifically knowing that he will be protected from Skulduggery, because Anton would defend him even against his best friends while under his roof. Dealing honourably with others allows Anton a foundation on which he can build all his positive emotions, something which is indescribably important to the state of his control. He needs positive emotions—needs them to stave off the negative, and the only way he can do so without begrudging others their actions is to reduce everyone, even those he loves, to the same level field.
However, as a soldier in war Anton has been forced to kill or harm others. For that, he uses his pragmatism as a shield. Pragmatism isn’t about morality; it’s about survival. It means recognising the darkness within him, and dealing with it, and with others who possess it. Canon displays this primarily through Anton’s reputation; no one wants to cross Shudder, because everyone knows he won’t hold back. He’s far better at interrogating than most of the Dead Men simply by being intimidating. When a group of sorcerers attempts to have him assassinated, Anton kills those ambushing him without hesitation even though they would have been his allies during the war with Mevolent. In many ways Anton is of a primal system: kill-or-be-killed, blood-for-blood, tit-for-tat. His honour means that he can believe the strong has a responsibility to protect the weak while his pragmatism allows him to do so with as much force as others bring against him, and that these two traits don’t contradict each other in a way which will make him break.
While Anton is a proud man, his pride is actually not in himself; it’s in others, and his association with those others. Anton’s honour-code provides a baseline for his interactions, but there are still those to whom he has given his love—namely, the Dead Men. While he won’t breach his boundaries for them, for that would give the gist an opening to take control, he will do anything else for them. They have his respect and his pride, and he approaches them in a way simultaneously protective and familial. When he tells stories of the Dead Men, they are inevitably to highlight the Dead Men’s strength, honour and goodness as people. His favourite story to tell, regarding Saracen, is his favourite because of his intense pride in his friend, like that of an older brother; it’s to such a degree that all the Dead Men are now exasperated with hearing the story told.
In such ways Anton is the maternal one of the group. He is the one with the most unabashed pride and respect; when he meets Valkyrie, he is the one who teaches her with gentle encouragement instead of sardonic prods, as the others do. The fact that he is the sole staff-member at the Midnight Hotel just proves that he enjoys taking care of others, not in the role of a warrior but in the role of a comforter.
Although Anton cannot allow himself to be controlled by negative emotions, this does not mean his intensity won’t rule him. Anton does nothing halfway; his work, his living, his regard for his friends, are all felt and performed to their utmost. In battle he is ruled by nothing but clear-thinking and instinct, but is no less intense because of that. It is this very ferocity which adds to his reputation. Shudder doesn’t hold back, because he gives as good as he gets; but he gives it back with everything he has, to a level most others can’t handle. In this, Anton is similar to his gist: his gist is everything terrible about him distilled, but it does not lack for the intensity to perform its function. By driving forward as Anton does, he is able to keep from regretting. Regrets lead to guilt and guilt leads to fear, or anger, or uncertainty, and those lead to the gist.
Finally, while Anton presents as sober and humourless, in reality he possesses an exceedingly dry deadpan humour with which he enjoys making others think he’s serious. It’s so dry that even the Dead Men, who know Anton as well as anyone can and are themselves sardonic in humour, are fooled by it. That said, most of the time he does prefer to just appreciate others’ humour while using his to play at being the straight man.
Appearance: In canon Anton is described as ‘greying’, which makes him middle-aged, with sharp features and an impassive or humourless sort of composure. He’s tall, thin and wiry, and has long hair at this canonpoint. He dresses like a funeral director while working at the Hotel, and apparently by choice otherwise; but he also dresses to his circumstance when he can.
Post-app update: Canon never properly describes Anton's height, but it does state that he's one of the largest of the Dead Men. Given the other Dead Man described as 'largest' is a broad muscular body-builder bloke and Anton is never described as being so muscular, chances are Anton is one of the 'largest' because he's the tallest. Since the majority of the Dead Men top 6'0" to begin with and Skulduggery is described as 'tall' even among the Dead Men, but is shorter than a character canonically labelled as 6'6", I'm putting Anton at about 6'6".
Abilities: Anton is very much the domestic type. As the only staff at the Midnight Hotel, he can be assumed to have a great range of general skills—to say nothing of his magic. He’s quite a well-rounded bloke, really.
Non-magical skills
Anton’s a hotel proprietor and prison-guard in one. Canon makes no mention of the Hotel being war-time bounty, so Anton probably designed and built it himself, which makes him both architect and labourer. To maintain the Hotel’s upkeep as a business he’d be an administrator, financer, cleaner, cook. Moving all over the world as he does, he would have to be passable or fluent in dozens of languages, more than most sorcerers. Due to the nature of the Hotel’s existence, he likely handles banking in-between nations, as well as legal-looking passports and visas.
From the glimpses of his past we know that Anton is a capable horse-rider, hiker, and wilderness expert. He is also an excellent storyteller.
Non-magical fighting skills
For all Anton’s range of skills, it’s his talent as a warrior that makes him so feared. He knows how to handle numerous weapons, including pistols, swords and variants of such—though he apparently favours shotguns.
He knows many martial-arts disciplines and, moreover, has been able to combine them into a unique style which leaves no room for hesitation. His instincts and reflexes are fast and immediate; he does not hold back. When a group of sorcerers decide to have him assassinated, they send twenty-three other sorcerers to ambush him. Anton kills half-a-dozen of them and retreats from the fight without injury and without using any magic at all.
While it’s possible that his magic has a passive aspect to heighten his mundane fighting skills, canon never specifies whether this is so.
Magic
Anton is stated many times to be one of the scariest sorcerers alive, though most of that reputation is due to his magic. As stated above, Anton is a gist-user—someone who does battle with a manifestation summing all their hatred, rage, and bad thoughts. It’s released through the chest, and remains connected to their owner with a cord of ‘light and darkness’, one which stretches and bends as far or as much as is required.
The gist is impervious to any attack, and while released is easily fast enough to be capable of intercepting any attack aimed at its owner. Once unleashed, it slaughters anything at which it’s directed with apparent ease—canon shows it killing dozens if not hundreds of beings in very little time. The only thing in canon which the gist is unable to damage or penetrate is a time-bubble-creating mist around a ghost-town, so its magic includes an ability to penetrate even augmented armour.
This sort of magic has a major drawback: its control is debateable. If Anton ever, for an instant, loses control of the gist, the gist will turn on him and take over his body, and he’ll be imprisoned within it the same way it’s imprisoned in him. And then it will go out and kill whatever, and whoever, it wants to kill. When it’s out, it doesn’t want to go back: it’s a struggle to bring it back to himself, one which leaves him fall-down exhausted every time.
None of this is to say that Anton himself is invulnerable; he can be killed, if taken by surprise before his gist is out. It’s just that taking him by surprise is nearly impossible.
Suitability: Anton was born in the Middle-Ages and he experienced a centuries-long war, which alone indicate his suitability for a war-time game. He was also involved in that war’s clean-up, so he’s suitable for the post-Malicant plot too, knowing the consequences of war and what it takes to re-establish a society. Moreover his magic is one of extreme pain and anguish, so he’s well able to handle darker facets of life.
Inventory: On his person Anton will have: the key to the Remnants’ room; the master keyring for all the doors and locks in the Hotel; his clothes; an old brass pin in the shape of a circle, flat on one side with the words ‘Larrikin’ and ‘Dead Men’ carved into it.
Suite: Anton, being a stoic and steadfast sort of bloke, would feel most comfortable in Earth Sector. He enjoys nice aesthetics, but mostly is interested in practicalities, so the architectural combination will appeal to him.
In-Character Samples:
Third Person: The evening of Scarab’s arrest, Anton returned to the Hotel to lock the vampire Caelan in his room and move the Hotel to Nigeria, where things would be quieter than they currently were in Ireland. The three patrons who had barricaded themselves in their rooms during the zombie attack opted to leave soon after the Hotel’s transition, in spite of the inconvenience. Anton didn’t mind. It gave him time and space to restore the Hotel. The Remnant had not yet been returned, but it would only be a matter of time.
The next morning Anton unlocked Caelan’s door, took the Hotel back to Ireland and got out Miss Nuncio and Mr Jib’s contracts to find the section regarding emergency contacts. They were details that were usually unnecessary. In fact, this was the very first time in the more-than-century-long history of the Hotel that Anton had been obliged to use those details. He wasn’t pleased by that fact.
It wasn’t just a matter of reputation, though certainly that was going to take a blow. It was the fact that he had failed to protect those to whom he had promised protection. Mr Jib had been an idiot; Anton did not accept responsibility for idiocy. But Miss Nuncio had been courageous and determined, and among the more amiable of his tenants, and Anton regretted her death as far as he allowed himself.
Miss Nuncio didn’t have anyone to contact. Anton was almost relieved by that. It would have been the more difficult of the two deaths to explain to family. Mr Jib had written the number of a brother, but when Anton called to advise him of Mr Jib’s death he didn’t seem too concerned.
“Always figured he’d go down sooner or later,” said the brother, “what with those ridiculous monster-hunting guidebooks he reads.”
He didn’t want Mr Jib’s collection of The Monster Hunter books returned, however, so Anton added them to the common-room library. Or intended to add them to the common-room library, just as soon as he had a serviceable common-room again. Or, rather, intended to make them the common-room library, as any other books in the common-room were either shredded or too drowned in blood and zombie bits to be useful as anything but bad-smelling tinder.
Mr Jib’s brother didn’t want his body back either, so Anton found his remains in several different locations in the woods and brought them back for the pyre where he had left Miss Nuncio. There wasn’t all that much left to burn, really, but Anton used the bloody, broken remains of his furniture to strike up a good bonfire and then stood there watching for a few moments before turning to re-enter the Hotel.
There was a great deal of work to do and the blood and parts had already been given a whole night in which to congeal. He would have to replace the carpet and some parts of the timber flooring, flooring which had been part of the Hotel since he had built it over a century ago. The part of the furniture that hadn’t been bloodied, simply broken, would suffice as replacement lumber; but it was still galling that such a long term of service had thus been ruined.
Anton spent the day tearing out the parts of the carpet, floor and windows that could not be cleaned, and did the first round of scrubbing the stone walls. When Caelan arrived in the later afternoon Anton locked him inside his room and moved the Hotel to the Caribbean, and then retired to the kitchen to make meals for the rest of the week, listening to Caelan snarl and strike the walls in the room above. The Hotel held.
It was vindicating to know that, after all this, the Hotel could still hold.
Network: [Turns on. There’s a man in front of the camera, a sharp-featured, middle-aged man with an impassive sort of composure and an intensity of focus as he tinkers with the controls. The audio, that of a crowded café, dims. Comes on. Video goes to static and turns off. Returns. The console beeps as he attempts to lock the feed and the public terminal objects.
[The man tilts his head in a manner anyone who knows a certain skeleton might recognise.]
Hm.
[And then the feed shuts off.]