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Tom
full name:
Thomas Howell
alias:
Tom, The Woodsman
age/dob:
28 / May 15
pronouns:
He/Him
occupation:
Field Researcher, Youtuber/Blogger, former Librarian
Tier:
5
Archetype:
Tom is a smart Protector/Investigator who would rather be reading.
BACKTAGGING: Yes
4TH WALLING: If on appropriate meme or with appropriate character
THREADJACKING: With permission
KISSING: Yes, 18+
HUGGING: Yes
SEX: Yes, 18+ and prior relationship preferred (even if it's handwaved)
FIGHTING: Yes, though they're not my favorite to write
INJURY: Yes
ROMANCE: Yes, 18+. Tom is bisexual and polyamorous. By default he has existing partners but I am willing to waive this for memes if necessary.
DEATH: Not without Discussion
4TH WALLING: If on appropriate meme or with appropriate character
THREADJACKING: With permission
KISSING: Yes, 18+
HUGGING: Yes
SEX: Yes, 18+ and prior relationship preferred (even if it's handwaved)
FIGHTING: Yes, though they're not my favorite to write
INJURY: Yes
ROMANCE: Yes, 18+. Tom is bisexual and polyamorous. By default he has existing partners but I am willing to waive this for memes if necessary.
DEATH: Not without Discussion
permissions
PERSONALITY
Tom is a quiet, somewhat reserved young man with a very dry sense of humor and fierce loyalty to his friends. He can come across as stand-offish when he's still getting to know someone, but he's really just riddled with social anxiety. Having his best friend and platonic life partner Lori (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
strangemidwest) nearby (and she nearly always is) helps. In relationships, he can be a bit of a push-over and people-pleaser, and this has gotten him into some bad romantic entanglements in the past. He's a huge nerd that has very strong opinions about libraries and access to education.
Tom is intensely protective of the people around him, despite looking like a beige sweater came to life and became a librarian. He is a naturally helpful person and a problem-solver, which makes him very good to have around in a crisis but he is not especially adept at handling the emotional fallouts. If there is a problem, he wants to figure out a way to fix it, and if it can't be fixed he is at a loss for what to do.
He works as a Field Researcher at Warren-Hill Institute in Columbus, Ohio investigating reports of the strange and supernatural around the American Midwest with his partner Lorelei Eaton (bonded pair, Do Not Separate). They also run a blog (Ohio Is For Weirdos) and youtube channel (Strange Midwest) for their own private investigations. Lori is the face of the channel while Tom is the cameraman and tech wiz.The channel is nearing a million subscribers, which is both exciting and stressful because they jokingly promised a Tom face reveal at 1 mil thinking they'd never get there. Thanks in part to a collab with one of Tom's partners, the channel reached 1 million subscribers and the Tom face reveal stream was done during the Halloween special. It went just fine.
strangemidwest) nearby (and she nearly always is) helps. In relationships, he can be a bit of a push-over and people-pleaser, and this has gotten him into some bad romantic entanglements in the past. He's a huge nerd that has very strong opinions about libraries and access to education.Tom is intensely protective of the people around him, despite looking like a beige sweater came to life and became a librarian. He is a naturally helpful person and a problem-solver, which makes him very good to have around in a crisis but he is not especially adept at handling the emotional fallouts. If there is a problem, he wants to figure out a way to fix it, and if it can't be fixed he is at a loss for what to do.
He works as a Field Researcher at Warren-Hill Institute in Columbus, Ohio investigating reports of the strange and supernatural around the American Midwest with his partner Lorelei Eaton (bonded pair, Do Not Separate). They also run a blog (Ohio Is For Weirdos) and youtube channel (Strange Midwest) for their own private investigations. Lori is the face of the channel while Tom is the cameraman and tech wiz.
Setting
Tom is from The Magnus Phenomenon, a campaign run under The Magnus Archives Roleplaying Game system (slightly modified to allow for multi-classing). The setting is an alternate universe of the original podcast set in Columbus, Ohio. He is familiar with a growing number of characters from The Magnus Archives (and likely The Magnus Protocol in later sessions), though there are variances due to the alternate universes. The two exceptions to the rule are Jon and Martin, who ended up in London, Ohio after the TMA series finale, because that's close enough, right?
For more in-depth info on the setting and who Tom knows, both from the podcast and original campaign characters, look here!
Unfamiliar with the Magnus podcasts? No problem! It is enough to know that the institute Tom works for is definitely evil and definitely plotting to end the world and he is an unwilling asset in that, trying to escape that inevitability while helping anyone he can in dealing with the Horrors along the way. He is kind of a werewolf but also kind of not.
For more in-depth info on the setting and who Tom knows, both from the podcast and original campaign characters, look here!
Unfamiliar with the Magnus podcasts? No problem! It is enough to know that the institute Tom works for is definitely evil and definitely plotting to end the world and he is an unwilling asset in that, trying to escape that inevitability while helping anyone he can in dealing with the Horrors along the way. He is kind of a werewolf but also kind of not.
Appearance / Impressions
5'6 . Tom is a trans man who has had top surgery and has been on HRT for roughly six years. He has a leanly muscled build. He prefers to keep some stubble on his face. He tends to dress in neutrals and greens, and prefers to keep his torso covered even in hot weather. To the average person, he does not look like he could hold his own in a fight, but those who are particularly observant may notice a hidden strength. Those in tune to the supernatural may notice quite a bit more than that.
Scars: very old bite scar on either side of his left shoulder (appears to be from a very large canine). top surgery scars that are a few years old. very nasty-looking stab scar on lower right stomach. burn/pierce wound scar on right shoulder (burning pickaxe). yet more pierce wounds on both shoulders, symmetrical (grabbed by mothman). animal bite on right forearm. grey curled mark on left elbow (always cold). scar on left thigh from a chunk of flesh being taken out.
Tom is soft-spoken and articulate, but tends to "uh" and "er" when put on the spot. Think large vocabulary, but introverted and a bit socially awkward. He has definitely mispronounced words that he has only read and not heard spoken aloud before in his life, and the mistakes haunt him to this day.
His scent is fairly neutral with a subtle hint of pine trees and old books.
Background
Statement by Thomas Howell, regarding an encounter from his childhood
"I was born in a very tiny, very rural town out in Michigan. A place called Timberlost. Well, that was what was closest to us, anyway... my parents and I lived in a cabin in the woods outside of town. My mom gardened and homeschooled me and my dad hunted, and it was... peaceful. I was eight years old when... something broke in. We had a bay window that I liked to sit in to read. That's what I was doing after dinner. There was a loud crash right next to me, and my mom screamed, and-- I didn't even feel the pain on my shoulder at first. Just the pressure, like someone was grabbing me by it. Only it wasn't a hand, it was the jaws of-- I thought it was the Big Bad Wolf. Like in fairy tales."
"Mom took my dad's shotgun off the wall and shot at it, and my dad grabbed me to try and pull me away from it. It let go, but-- it didn't run off like a normal wolf would have. A normal wolf wouldn't have jumped through the window anyway. My dad shoved me back towards the bedrooms-- I looked at it before I ran. My mom shot it in the head but it didn't seem to care at all. It was coming in the window into our house. I ran into my parents' bedroom, and I-- I was so scared. I locked the door and hid under the bed. ...I don't know exactly what happened after that. I remember my parents screaming, and that thing snarling, and gunshots... and then it was quiet."
"I was too scared to call out for my parents, I kept waiting to hear them again, but... it was so quiet. And then I heard scratching at the bedroom door, like-- like a dog wanting in. I watched from under the bed as it tried to turn the doorknob. It was the kind of lock where the knob would still turn if it was locked, it just wouldn't open. It turned the knob. I saw it. I know I did."
"I don't know why it gave up after all that... I was still too scared to come out. I-- fell asleep, or passed out, under the bed. I was too scared to leave the room, so when I woke up, I stayed in there. Luckily there was an ensuite, so I could use the bathroom and drink from the sink, but... I thought it might be waiting for me outside the door, so I didn't open it, even when I was so hungry that that hurt more than my shoulder. I think I stayed in there for two or three days? Then I woke up to our neighbor calling for me-- he and my dad would go fishing together sometimes, and-- and he found them. I was so weak, I could barely move enough to unlock the door, and he had to carry me out. He tried to keep me from seeing what had happened to them but-- it was all over the house."
"They said it was just a wild animal attack. But it wasn't. Ever since I've had-- dreams. Nightmares. That it was chasing me. Letting me think I'd escaped. And now I've seen other monsters with my own eyes... so maybe that's real too. If it is, and it might find me, I-- people need to know."
"I'm not going to let it kill the people I love again."
"I was born in a very tiny, very rural town out in Michigan. A place called Timberlost. Well, that was what was closest to us, anyway... my parents and I lived in a cabin in the woods outside of town. My mom gardened and homeschooled me and my dad hunted, and it was... peaceful. I was eight years old when... something broke in. We had a bay window that I liked to sit in to read. That's what I was doing after dinner. There was a loud crash right next to me, and my mom screamed, and-- I didn't even feel the pain on my shoulder at first. Just the pressure, like someone was grabbing me by it. Only it wasn't a hand, it was the jaws of-- I thought it was the Big Bad Wolf. Like in fairy tales."
"Mom took my dad's shotgun off the wall and shot at it, and my dad grabbed me to try and pull me away from it. It let go, but-- it didn't run off like a normal wolf would have. A normal wolf wouldn't have jumped through the window anyway. My dad shoved me back towards the bedrooms-- I looked at it before I ran. My mom shot it in the head but it didn't seem to care at all. It was coming in the window into our house. I ran into my parents' bedroom, and I-- I was so scared. I locked the door and hid under the bed. ...I don't know exactly what happened after that. I remember my parents screaming, and that thing snarling, and gunshots... and then it was quiet."
"I was too scared to call out for my parents, I kept waiting to hear them again, but... it was so quiet. And then I heard scratching at the bedroom door, like-- like a dog wanting in. I watched from under the bed as it tried to turn the doorknob. It was the kind of lock where the knob would still turn if it was locked, it just wouldn't open. It turned the knob. I saw it. I know I did."
"I don't know why it gave up after all that... I was still too scared to come out. I-- fell asleep, or passed out, under the bed. I was too scared to leave the room, so when I woke up, I stayed in there. Luckily there was an ensuite, so I could use the bathroom and drink from the sink, but... I thought it might be waiting for me outside the door, so I didn't open it, even when I was so hungry that that hurt more than my shoulder. I think I stayed in there for two or three days? Then I woke up to our neighbor calling for me-- he and my dad would go fishing together sometimes, and-- and he found them. I was so weak, I could barely move enough to unlock the door, and he had to carry me out. He tried to keep me from seeing what had happened to them but-- it was all over the house."
"They said it was just a wild animal attack. But it wasn't. Ever since I've had-- dreams. Nightmares. That it was chasing me. Letting me think I'd escaped. And now I've seen other monsters with my own eyes... so maybe that's real too. If it is, and it might find me, I-- people need to know."
"I'm not going to let it kill the people I love again."
History
After the attack that killed his parents and left him forever marked, Tom was sent to live with his grandparents in Dublin, Ohio. As a child, he had a very hard time fitting in with his peers and developed a terrible temper that was understood to be from the trauma he'd endured. It came to a head when he attacked another child that had been bullying him, leaving them bloodied on the ground. His grandparents moved him to another school district, and the incident made him terrified of his own anger.
After high school he attended Hollins University, an all-women's private university in Virginia, where he met Lorelei. His grandparents passed while he was away at college, and it was only after their passing that Tom came out as a man. After graduation, he and Lori moved in together in Columbus and started their blog Ohio Is For Weirdos and eventually the youtube channel Strange Midwest.
Some years later, while driving home from D&D, they stopped for gas and came across a voice memo device laying in the grass with an unnerving message recorded on it. The incident that followed would lead to their being recruited by the paranormal research branch of the Warren-Hill Institute.
Many misadventures have occurred since he began working at Warren-Hill, but the most personal was being sent back to Timberlost after two investigators sent there returned in bodybags with the third still missing. While there, Tom learned the true nature of the monster that's haunted his nightmares: a Hunt Avatar called the Woodsman that would massacre families, leaving one survivor in order to mark them by the Hunt. Those he marked would eventually be drawn back to him, seeking revenge, so he could revel in the fight. With the help of Lorelei and some newer friends, Tom was able to best the Woodsman, taking the Avatar's own weapon from him and killing him with it.
With the monster that killed his family and haunted his steps his entire life gone by his own hand, Tom is now investigating what exactly Warren-Hill is up to and why no one is able to quit their jobs there alongside Lorelei and many others. While investigating, they came to learn that they, along with several other employees at Warren-Hill, were being groomed to fill a "Fear Senate". An Avatar for each Fear entity, caught in the Web, to usher in the apocalypse. Already deeply marked by the Hunt, Tom tried to avoid falling further into it, but ended up falling into those instincts many times in order to protect those around him, until it was only a matter of time. To become an Avatar, you have to experience a death of some sort; for some, it is a metaphorical death. For Tom, it was very literal. While investigating reports of Mothman (yes, really), he was snatched into the sky by Mothman and dropped from several stories up. (Yes, really, he got killed by Mothman!)
Upon his death, Tom was given a choice; to chase or to be chased. He chose the former, and came back... different. Due to his new not-quite-human nature, he needs to feed on the fear of others in order to survive-- and specifically he needs to feed on the fear of being hunted.
After high school he attended Hollins University, an all-women's private university in Virginia, where he met Lorelei. His grandparents passed while he was away at college, and it was only after their passing that Tom came out as a man. After graduation, he and Lori moved in together in Columbus and started their blog Ohio Is For Weirdos and eventually the youtube channel Strange Midwest.
Some years later, while driving home from D&D, they stopped for gas and came across a voice memo device laying in the grass with an unnerving message recorded on it. The incident that followed would lead to their being recruited by the paranormal research branch of the Warren-Hill Institute.
Many misadventures have occurred since he began working at Warren-Hill, but the most personal was being sent back to Timberlost after two investigators sent there returned in bodybags with the third still missing. While there, Tom learned the true nature of the monster that's haunted his nightmares: a Hunt Avatar called the Woodsman that would massacre families, leaving one survivor in order to mark them by the Hunt. Those he marked would eventually be drawn back to him, seeking revenge, so he could revel in the fight. With the help of Lorelei and some newer friends, Tom was able to best the Woodsman, taking the Avatar's own weapon from him and killing him with it.
With the monster that killed his family and haunted his steps his entire life gone by his own hand, Tom is now investigating what exactly Warren-Hill is up to and why no one is able to quit their jobs there alongside Lorelei and many others. While investigating, they came to learn that they, along with several other employees at Warren-Hill, were being groomed to fill a "Fear Senate". An Avatar for each Fear entity, caught in the Web, to usher in the apocalypse. Already deeply marked by the Hunt, Tom tried to avoid falling further into it, but ended up falling into those instincts many times in order to protect those around him, until it was only a matter of time. To become an Avatar, you have to experience a death of some sort; for some, it is a metaphorical death. For Tom, it was very literal. While investigating reports of Mothman (yes, really), he was snatched into the sky by Mothman and dropped from several stories up. (Yes, really, he got killed by Mothman!)
Upon his death, Tom was given a choice; to chase or to be chased. He chose the former, and came back... different. Due to his new not-quite-human nature, he needs to feed on the fear of others in order to survive-- and specifically he needs to feed on the fear of being hunted.
