folkmore | application

★ Character Information ★

Character Name: Kieren Walker.
Character Age: Biologically Eighteen, chronologically around 22 - 24.
Character Species: Human / Partially Deceased Syndrome Sufferer.
Current Health: Undead, treated-state.
Outfit: Blue long-sleeved t-shirt; thick brown wool jumper; light brown hoodie; dark maroon-coloured chino-style trousers; boots.

Character Canon: In The Flesh
Link to History: Kieren Walker grew up in Roarton — a village situated in Lancashire, England — along with his parents and younger sister, Jem. His life was unassuming, mundane. He was somewhat of an outsider compared to his peers and community. Roarton is a staunchly conservative and working-class community, typical of rural communities of Northern England. Kieren was a talented artist, sensitive and kind. He was also in love with his best friend, Rick — something that earned the ire of Rick's father, who banned him from their home for the sake of a mixtape.

However, following the death of Rick in Afghanistan, Kieren fell into despair. Not knowing what else he could do, he took his own life at aged eighteen. A few weeks after his death, an inexplicable freak-act of nature brought those who were recently deceased back to life — a one-off event that would be known as 'The Rising'. This began in Roarton and reached further afield, with an estimated 140,000 dead returning. The undead terrorised the living — killing and devouring all that they came across. While cities in the UK (and particularly the South) had the support of the army and government, rural areas were left to fend for themselves. In places like Roarton, the threat of the undead was held back mostly by the living who banded together to create the Human Volunteer Force.

Through time, Halperin & Weston, a drug company, were able to create the drug Neurotriptyline. It could rebuild brain cells in the dead and restore them from the feral, simplified states they'd been in. Through the capture and treatment of the undead — they were rehabilitated and released back into society, to their families — hereby referred to as Partially Deceased Syndrome or PDS Sufferers. Kieren was one of these, allowed back to his family in Roarton. However, PDS Sufferers were not well received. Many of the rural communities abandoned by the government still felt a great deal of resentment, and even hatred towards PDS Sufferers, the 'Rotters' they once fought, now placed back in their communities they once protected.

Kieren struggles with his return from death and tries to carefully navigate himself; he reconnects with fellow PDS Sufferer Amy, and faces the prospect of Rick returning home, too. But in short, it goes badly. Kieren is soon outed as a PDS Sufferer; he, along with Amy, face the ire of their community. Enough so that Amy chooses to leave Roarton.

There's also the fallout with Rick, who confronts Kieren over his suicide and their relationship, along with Rick's father Bill pushing his son to kill Kieren to put an end to his perceived 'influence' over Rick — seeing Kieren as a monster, but failing to acknowledge the fact that Rick is also a PDS Sufferer. When Rick refuses to hurt Kieren, Bill chooses to kill his son — only realising what he'd done afterwards, when Kieren confronts him. Bill is subsequently killed by another neighbour, in revenge for Bill killing his PDS Sufferer wife earlier in a witch-hunt.

Canon Point: Post-Series One, Pre-Series Two.
Canon Iteration: Original Canon.

★ Folkmore Roles & Attributes ★

Skills: Other than the fact he is undead, Kieren is a mundane human. And his skills are very much that: mundane. Most notably, he is a talented artist, and skilled at painting portraits. He is thoughtful and perceptive — noted by a canon instance of how he noticed his younger sister was struggling with confidence in school and made her a mixtape of punk/metal songs to help her.

Canon Abilities: Being undead, Kieren no longer ages, effectively rendering him immortal. He can't feel pain (or any other sensations), and while any physical injuries will not heal — he can be 'stitched back together'. He doesn't need to eat, or fulfil much other basic needs other than sleep and hygiene. He can be killed via an injury to the head/brain, however.

Role: Legend.

Role Qualities/Attributes: Kieren will not so much have a solid circular 'halo' in a traditional sense, but will develop a kind of 'halo aura' about his head of soft golden light. It's less noticeable on bright days, or brighter rooms, but will be more so in the dark or dim settings. He is absolutely not thrilled about this.

He'll also have the usual traits of strength and bravery — he doesn't feel pain so pain tolerance is voided, as is durability. He will also have the natural sixth sense for determining when there is a creature in need nearby. In addition, Kieren will be more likely/vulnerable to being consumed by negative emotions, considering his precarious mental health state.

Role Reasoning: Kieren, essentially, does not see himself as something good. He sees himself as a monster, who has done monstrous things — and wants nothing more than to hide himself from everything, even himself. He might think he knows who he is, but he struggles with his situation — unable to look at himself in the mirror when he's not wearing his cover-up mousse. And yet Kieren does have many qualities that one might conceive as 'good': he is kind and considerate, and fiercely loyal. Legends may fit into 'healer' roles, but the one person who needs to heal is Kieren himself. From his actions in his untreated state, from his losses since returning to society, and to heal his identity — so he can begin to feel some kind of peace with himself. Placing him as a Legend might be something he'll be fighting against internally, but it might just set him on the right path to do that.

★ Personality ★

What was the most traumatic experience your character endured? How did this change them?

Where do I begin with all this trauma. Kieren's return to society after being medically treated is definitely a huge trauma that has greatly impacted him, as it meant living with his actions. After rising from the dead, Kieren did what many of his fellow undead did: hunt and kill the living. Arguably, none of this was his fault — considering untreated PDS-Sufferers exist only on the basest of instincts, namely feeding, and this is a sentiment shared by many. But being medicated has returned Kieren to himself, to who he was before — a very real and feeling person. And his actions have horrified him, and his conscience.

Kieren is haunted by the things he's done, and he carries that within himself. He doesn't even believe the mantra's he's supposed to recite as part of his treatment. Instead he harbours his guilt and shame at taking lives, and then being returned to the very community he once took part in destroying. He's constantly plagued with flashbacks of his kills, now his brain's able to regenerate itself due to his medication; particularly the last one — his sister's friend Lisa. He's quite honest with himself in the fact that he did those things, and feels he shouldn't be forgiven so easily for them — that he is at fault, not wanting to shirk his responsibilities, even those of a state of being he couldn't control.

What experience challenged your character's core beliefs? How did they handle this or change from it?

Rick dying a second time, and the subsequent events afterwards. The first time Rick died, Kieren fell into such a despair that he took his own life. In his own words, everything turned to shit. Life didn't mean anything anymore — losing someone he loved dearly cost Kieren, too. He wanted to disappear, and saw death as a way of doing just that. Rick's return as a fellow PDS-Sufferer was something Kieren saw as a gift, even if perhaps he didn't think the same for himself. And when Rick was killed, this time by his own father, Kieren spiralled once more — even to seem like history would repeat himself. He wanted to disappear again, not knowing or thinking anything else would change.

Only this time, his mother found him in the midst of his breakdown. Kieren found himself being open with his mother about himself and about the thoughts in his own head — his guilt over getting Rick killed, his worries over not knowing what to do, over everything threatening to turn to how it had once been. His mother not only candidly expressed her love for him in the face of Kieren's disgust at himself as a PDS-Sufferer, and insisted that this time he didn't repeat his actions like last time but stayed and lived.

His mother offered him a story of her own, and helped Kieren with that empathy, love and honesty he desperately needed at that time — realising he could talk to his family about 'the real stuff'.

Rick's second death actually allowed Kieren to really talk to his own family for the first time, let him realise he could talk with them. It allowed for Kieren and his father to be honest with one another too, and face the reality of the horror that his suicide left his family in — something that had largely been ignored and unspoken since Kieren's return home. Instead of pushing himself away like the first time — the openness within the family broke what could have been another cycle of misery and loss.

What does your character feel like they struggle with still? Where could they improve? This could be physically, mentally, emotionally, or otherwise.

Despite knowing full well what he is, Kieren struggles with the fact he isn't completely living. That is life can no longer be considered normal. He knows himself to be wrong, and thus struggles with himself on this new course of life, and his identity both in a mental sense and physical sense.

He still views himself as a monster who killed people, heavily scarred mentally by the memories of his time in his untreated state. His flashbacks are horrendously vivid, which terrify him, and cement his feelings of guilt where he doesn't know what to do with himself. He can only carry it around with him, desperately trying to squash it down within himself — or heavily disguising it with self-deprecating and often dark humour. He often finds himself melancholy and anxious, and is incredibly claustrophobic, especially with dark spaces.

We see Kieren ashamed of his appearance, constantly covering his natural skin with cover-up mousse to the point he almost never takes it off, nor does he remove his contact lenses. He meets other PDS-Sufferers who don't wear them in a way that makes him seem half-horrified, half-scandalised — not understanding how they can be so brazen, nor want to conceal themselves. Notably, on the occasions he does remove his cover-up mousse and contacts, he covers up mirror so he can't look at himself. He barely likes to look at himself at all, even when he's wearing his cover-up — alluding to his deep-rooted feelings of disgust and shame towards himself and his current state.

What is your character's safespace? When do they feel the most settled and comfortable? When do they feel confident and relaxed?

It's rare, if ever, that Kieren feels a degree of safety now. He lives in a community that largely hates him, and despite the HVF's disbandment — in the days and weeks that follow his return, patrols and hunts for straggler untreated PDS-Sufferers are still rife. In addition, he doesn't even feel safe within himself — knowing the things he's done and the fact he relies on a daily treatment to keep himself safe.

That being said, he does feel a relative kind of safety within his family and his home. His safespace is a small circle of people, rather than a specific place. Despite the unspoken but strained relationship between himself and his family members since his return home, Kieren does initially express joy and hopefulness at being returned home — to getting to see his parents and sister again. He also finds a safespace with his friend Amy, as someone who he can talk about his death, resurrection and living as a PDS-Sufferer freely and even candidly — something he feels he can't do with his family.

★ Player Information ★

Player Name: Cheryl
Pronouns: she/her
Are you over 18?: y.
Contact(s): heolstor / heolstor#5725
Who Invited You?: Here
Current Characters: N/A
Permissions: Here
Writing Samples: texting samples | prose samples

permissions

In Character

• PHYSICAL AFFECTION: Allowed, but Kieren will react in varying degrees depending on the person. He's a little stand-offish at times, trying to conceal the fact he's undead. That being said, he's not opposed to being affectionately manhandled by others. He's just quite bemused by it.

NOTE: people who touch Kieren will notice he has a lower body temperature. He's not just cold, he's about room temperature.

• PHYSICAL VIOLENCE: Not... really. Kieren isn't much of a fighter, and will most likely try to get away from anyone getting physically violent. Struggles are likely, but he won't actively try to harm someone unless it's out of self-defence and will immediately run once he can. I don't want to get him physically harmed, as he won't be able to heal from any injuries received.

• ROMANCE / FLIRTING: why would you want to Kieren is Pansexual. He's also fresh from losing someone he loved dearly. He's fairly shy and awkward, likely to laugh it off but unlikely to flirt back. While I'm not dismissing any chance of romance, one with Kieren will require a great deal of CR building, especially if partner is living/mundane. Slow burn is ideal.

• SEXUAL CONTENT: Discussion of sexual content is fine. The boy gonna squirm a whole lot. He's still technically a teenager.

• PSYCHIC ABILITIES: Permission required for using abilities on him, but essentially she is an open book! As a general thing: Kieren's mindscape is... unpleasant in place. His brain is being stimulated with medicine, which causes a lot of vivid and violent flashbacks. Please contact for help / info in threads!

• MAGIC / OTHER ABILITIES: Kieren has none to speak of. Characters are welcome to notice there is something off about him, that he's not... quite alive. Although confronting him will likely end up with him either pleading to keep it quiet, or angry rebuttals.

• MEDICAL INFORMATION: Kieren is undead, or in his world: a Partially Deceased Syndrome Sufferer (PDS Sufferer for short). His heart doesn't beat. He doesn't feel pain nor heat nor cold, nor any other kind of sensation. He doesn't eat or drink, but does seem to sleep.

Kieren's natural appearance is one of incredibly pale and veiny skin, with darkened lips and eyelids and white-blue eyes. He wears a specially designed cover-up mousse and brown contact lenses to hide his appearance but there's still something somewhat unsettling/unnatural if one looks too closely.

Treatment of PDS sufferers include a daily injection of Neurotriptyline, which is administered from the back via syringe. It is inserted through a hole between the first and second vertebrae, near the nape of the neck.

Kieren also suffers from Anxiety and Depression and is very Claustrophobic. Also as a side effect of his medication, he also suffers from hallucinations and flashbacks from his time as a rabid.

• OFFENSIVE SUBJECTS / TRIGGERS: Enclosed spaces, especially dark ones, make him incredibly scared/anxious due to his Claustrophobia, which likely is from his time in his coffin, following his reawakening from death. His Neurotriptyline can also induce vivid hallucinations/flashbacks to the time in his untreated state - something which greatly distresses him. Being outed as PDS-sufferer can and will greatly upset him, and he will see it as an act of betrayal from friends/closer CR as he's trying to keep that information largely hidden. The use of highly derogatory names (ie. Rotter, animal) towards people like him will be met with upset, along with mistreatment of those like him.

Out of Character

• NAME: Cheryl

• CONTACT: heolstor | heolstor#5725

• TIME ZONE: GMT

• PREFS / SPEED: Brackets preferred, prose is fine! I tend to be a bit on the slower side, especially during the summer months due to IRL demands.

• BACKTAGGING: Always, being the slow bean I am. I prefer to finish/drop threads within three months however, unless they're heavily related to plot-points. I'd rather finish them over dropping them, but sometimes dropping may happen.

• THREAD-HOPPING: Generally fine, but please ask / give a heads up!

• FOURTHWALLING: I'm pretty comfortable with fourthwalling. Zombie-lore/canons already exist within Kieren's world, so it's fine to nerd out at him.

• CONTENT I ABSOLUTELY NEED WARNINGS FOR, BUT CAN STILL PLAY: I do get uncomfortable / upset with images of crawling / swarming bugs (ie. masses of ants, maggots, spiders) and would prefer images of this are hidden behind links. Written descriptions are fine, but cw warnings would be appreciated.

• CONTENT I ABSOLUTELY NEED WARNINGS FOR AND THAT I CAN'T PLAY: Nothing comes to mind that would appear in the game setting? I'm fine with horror / dark themes in general.