Character Base

• Character Name: Palamedes Sextus
• Age: 20
• Canon (Date/Year Released)/Canon Point: The Locked Tomb series (2020)/during his death-staycation in his River Bubble — or: post-death, but while he's still kicking around in the pseudo-afterlife during Harrow the Ninth
• Items Coming Along: A copy of The Necromancer's Marriage Season, a pencil, a decorative throw pillow, the clothes on his back.
• Content Warnings for Character: necromancy, body horror, death, violence, illness (not his, specifically cancer), suicide

Character Background

• History: here
• Core Relationships:

Camilla Hect, cavalier and dearest friend. Brought up together in the Sixth House and (according to them) the best of their generation in their respective fields, Palamedes trusts and relies on Camilla over anyone else. Their bond is one of deep loyalty and care for each other, and they understand each other implicitly; Palamedes wastes no time on sentimentality when he makes a dramatic (read: explosive) decision and needs to convey a message to Camilla through Gideon: he simply says that she knows what to do. While they don't dedicate excess time to telling each other they care, it's because they don't need to; it's implied. It's known. They've got it.

Dulcinea Septimus, penpal of the Seventh House, Dulcie and Palamedes have never met in person; they became friends purely through written correspondence when Palamedes was 8 and she 15, and his affection for her inspired him to dedicate his study to medicine, in order to save Dulcinea from her terminal illness. While he loves her deeply, he is markedly not possessive of her time or attention, and only wants her to be hale and happy. (She dies, regardless.)

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, definitely Not the greatest necromancer of their generation (affectionate), Palamedes refused to engage in petty rivalry with Harrow when it was clear that teamwork and mutual respect would serve them better. He is fond of her; they are mostly friends; he trusts her with his life, anyway.

Gideon Nav, the Ninth cav, and also a friend. Like Harrow, he cares deeply for Gideon as a friend and ally, although without the silly-fake-rivalry between necromancers. Gideon's often inappropriate humor and brash actions are somewhere between fondly exasperating and a comfort for Palamedes; he is first able to relax around her (as much as he can do that in general) when she is rude to him, but specifically rude because of cavalier-brand necromancer-worry. She's good, and he's glad to know she's sort of all there after they both kind of die.

Cytherea Loveday, Lyctor who killed and impersonated Dulcinea and proceeded to murder a handful more innocent people. Palamedes blew himself up trying to kill her after manipulating her ailing body from the inside out, and he would do it again.

Character Personality Through Key Moments

(2+) Positive Experiences:

Doctor Sex: (cw cancer mention) Or, how 13-year-old Palamedes Sextus solved a locked room necromantic mystery without using any necromancy. Through sheer observational skills and laser-precise hypothesizing, Palamedes looks around a room previously locked for hundreds of years and deduces not only how someone got in (and who) but also why with startling accuracy. He's really smart; not only is that expected of him, being a scion of the Sixth House and a naturally talented necromancer, but he has the drive and determination to push himself beyond any and all limits in order to achieve his goals. The challenge of an impossible task is something he relishes, truly enjoying the thrill of being thwarted at every turn as he tries to crack a puzzle wide open.

Some of this is just because he is who he is, but a healthy dollop of it comes from his devotion to Dulcinea Septimus; particularly, his dedication to finding a cure for her hereditary blood cancer, and if not a cure, then a way to extend her life more comfortably than it is. He does it, is the thing: Dulcinea lives longer than expected until she's murdered, and uses medical inventions Palamedes came up with as a teenager solely to improve her chances. He's devoted to his loved ones and the pursuit of knowledge, of fixing things, of taking necromancy and making it healing. The adventure in the locked study of Doctor Sex highlights all of this about him, as well as giving him the boost he craves in his studies— like, class credits, we're talking about. The adults are impressed by his work enough to treat him like a colleague albeit briefly, and so Palamedes wins twofold: the satisfaction of a job well done, and the leg up to pursue his own interests, including medical applications of necromancy.

Befriending the Ninth: According to the rest of the Nine Houses, the Ninth are not to be trusted. They are a death cult populated by bone weirdos who do scary things — and in fairness, this is true — and Palamedes sees through it entirely because of Gideon's heart and Harrow's talent. He encounters both in quick succession almost immediately upon meeting them both, and where one might expect a whip-smart, goal-oriented person like Palamedes to settle into the expected Rivalry between two talented necromancers, Palamedes refuses outright: he helps Gideon to save Harrow, he consults Harrow for mystery-solving in the interest of teamwork, declares that he trusts her with his life above all the other necromancers, provides emotional support for Gideon at the drop of a hat... Palamedes looked the "smart kids rivalry" trope in the face and said No thank you, instead insisting the Ninth join him in a fun and funky friendship.

Is there sass, yes, of course there is; if nothing else, the "rivalry" between him and Harrow is jokingly taking shots at each other's ability level, and all for fun. But meeting and befriending the Ninth pair at Canaan House not only affords him friends and allies beyond his own cavalier, but helps push him down the path to realizing what the work of Lyctorhood truly is — which in turn spurs him on to try and complete it to do it better than it exists now. Truly, the power of friendship is inspirational.

Riverbank Reunion: (cw suicide) When Palamedes detonates his own necromantic energy to destroy the thing that killed Dulcinea (among others), he tethers himself to a "bubble" in the River, where souls descend after death. It is wildly improbable and incredibly boring for him, and so when Harrowhark appears one day, the drudgery of sitting around as a soul in a single unchanging room becomes a hope spot. He learns from Harrow that Camilla is still alive and has his bones, which is helpful (really); inadvertently, that Gideon is still around inside Harrow's brain; that the work still has a chance to be completed. Maintaining his sense of self in the River is easy enough for him, but the threat that he might lose focus and instantly go mad is always there; especially after learning it's been 8 months and not the few weeks he might have assumed, he is a little stressed. Still, the reunion with Harrow is ultimately positive, which shows his resilience in a different way than literally holding his own soul together in a river of insane souls: if there is a single iota of a chance, Palamedes refuses to give up.

This moment also shows the insanely high level of belief he holds in his friends' capabilities; he's genuinely surprised Camilla isn't with Harrow sooner, because of how fervently Camilla would defend Harrow in his untimely absence, and upon learning that she managed to get her hands on some of his skull, he is exuberant about Camilla's loyalty and acting under pressure. He believes that Harrow can do anything she sets her mind to even when she barely remembers him, and the split-second glimpse of Gideon in Harrow's head is enough to convince him in an instant that a very bad situation is fixable. These people are capable and competent, even when they act otherwise, even when only Palamedes is saying so; they can do it. He's just a very supportive buddy.

(2+) Negative Experiences:

Go Loud: In this particular moment, distrust and I-got-mine-ism break out among the various (still living) necro/cav pairs at Canaan House, and in a display meant to intimidate and seize power, the Second challenge the Sixth to a duel for their keys (crucial to unlocking the necromantic secrets of Lyctorhood). Palamedes is instantly irritated at this, and while he demonstrably does not know the first thing about dueling and the other houses see the challenge for what it really is: the Second, highly militarized, picking on the Sixth, librarians, as an easy display of strength, he still permits Camilla to participate. Of course, Palamedes doesn't back down from a challenge unless he's absolutely certain the end result is death (and even then, it depends), but it's twofold: he also sees the Second's challenge for the straight up bullying that it is, and so he tells Camilla to go loud and summarily kick the Second cav's ass six ways to next week. This is the Sixth's display of force, actually, and he goes into it knowing a) what the Second is trying to do, b) that Camilla is not going to lose, and c) he will most definitely take the chance to put everyone present in their place for picking on the "weak" house. He does this. He spitefully demands the Second's keys despite having a copy of their only one, to prove his point: that inter-house conflicts are stupid and pointless when they have bigger concerns, and he is more than willing to be spiteful and mean to prove it.

So, one might say he has a petty streak. His anger simmers until it righteously explodes, and he makes certain to show his work. The argument: squabbling amongst themselves for leadership and control is dangerous and stupid. The evidence: well, Camilla can and will bust heads at the drop of a hat, and her necromancer can and will spitefully remove the bully from the playground if given the leverage. The Sixth are librarians and historians, but they are also not to be trifled with, and he doesn't shy away from making that clear. There's definitely a businesslike ruthlessness lingering in the Sixth.

The Murder of Dulcinea Septimus: Knowing Palamedes' affection for Dulcinea, it goes without saying that learning the woman he thought was her (they did never meet in person, to reiterate) is actually her murderer and dumped her body in an incinerator does not endear him to Cytherea Loveday. The whole Dulcinea experience at Canaan House is a bad time for Palamedes, actually, as he takes her basically ignoring him (because Cytherea didn't know Dulcie was close to the Sixth) as another polite rejection of his affections. When she proceeds to flirt with Gideon nonstop, while Palamedes doesn't resent either of them for it, it still hurts to witness on more than one occasion. He spent most of his life writing letters (several of the love variety) and trying to save Dulcinea's life — in a small back room of his mind, he wallows a little. Just a little.

The deception, however, is leagues worse. He realizes it all at once, like a picture coming into focus, and he moves to confront Cytherea so quickly that Camilla can't keep up with him (this Doesn't Happen). He throws caution to the wind and makes the final choice, to take her out with him for the murders she's committed, but not before he calmly stands in front of her and keeps her talking about her crimes. He doesn't care; he's disgusted by what Cytherea has done and how she tries to justify it to him, but he needs the time to use necromancy and reach into her body and accelerate her cancer. This is merciless no matter what Cytherea has actually done, but again: Palamedes shows his work. He wants as much assurance as possible that his final attack is going to work, and so the man who dedicated his life to healing one woman reaches into another to destroy her ailing body all the faster. To Palamedes, it's for certainty that a murderer who can heal herself in an instant will stay dead — but one could argue there's an element of pure vengeance in there as well.

Tea with Gideon: This one is more neutral than explicitly negative for Palamedes himself, but as the conversation he has with Gideon centers around her self-loathing and blaming herself for the deaths of Harrow's parents, and her worry that Harrow is a murderer, the subject matter is a downer enough for him for it to qualify. Ironically, most of this moment shows better qualities of Palamedes: his frank honesty, his compassion for a friend in need, and his realism for the unpleasant truths of tragedy. In comforting Gideon, Palamedes demonstrates that he understands the urge to wallow in tragedy but refuses to embrace it, using Gideon's self-loathing over "causing" the deaths of Harrow's parents to say that he also must be guilty of causing a few unnecessary deaths, so please lock him up at once, but at least leave him something to write on. The conversation is bittersweet at best, and serves to show Palamedes' willingness to put all else to the side for a friend who needs him.

It also demonstrates his firm belief that if someone he trusted implicitly— in his example, Camilla— they could literally get away with murder, because he would trust that they knew what they were doing. So there's that.

Deer Country Attributes

• Canon Powers: Palamedes is a necromancer, which is most succinctly explained here. Palamedes' specialization is in psychometry, or the ability to learn the history of an object/person through touch. He has demonstrably used this ability to tell the age of objects and read the presence of other people in a place after they've left. He is arguably the best necromancer of his generation who is specifically not a Lyctor, which is a feat unto itself. He also:

- manipulates bodies from the inside out, such as when he used necromancy to reach into Cytherea and dial her cancer up to eleven, as it were
- preserves his own soul/mind in a bubble in the River, or the place the souls of the dead go; this is remarked on as insanely difficult to the point of seeming impossible, particularly because he hangs around there for 8 months without his soul deteriorating
- has an eidetic memory, cited as always remembering everything he reads without trouble
- while he has the knowledge of many of the Eightfold Word/Lyctoral theorems, separately, he finds the concept of Lyctorhood and how it's achieved so abhorrent that he won't touch the pieces, particularly soul siphoning and the various other ways necromancers can use/"ride" a cavalier; just worth noting that he could, if his entire moral compass was flipped upside down

• Blood Type: Darkblood
• Omen: a harpy eagle
• Blessed Day: 6/6 because he's from the Sixth House. That's it.
• Patron Pthumerian: Remina, whom he will adore for being a living library. He's the youngest Master Warden of his house's Library, which is literally the central focus of the whole house, so — he gets it. He's into it. It would be nice to have tea, but he understands if a floating eyeball can't come to a tea-and-notes session.
• Blood Power Manifestation: As a Really Fucking Good Necromancer and a quick study in general, he'll take to new blood powers like a fish to water, but they're not going to be very powerful. With the Darkblood powers he'll be able to move around small objects — nothing bigger than, like, an end table. The canon powers will still dominate, but taking notes from across the room with a floating pen is quite delightful.

Writing Samples

One: here
Two: here

The Player

• Player Name: Laura
• Player Age: 30
• Player Contact: pm
• Permissions: Here.