[Crimson Circus] The Undertaker

[[ UPDATED 05/05/17 : New (finally) digital ref sheet. Visual reference of Worm and Jackals added to the section concerning them in Extra Info ]]

[[ UPDATED 27/09/15 : new bio format ]]

Name: The Undertaker

Known As: Angel of Death / Funeral Director

Affiliation: Roamer

Appearance:

The Undertaker is rumored to be taking many form, as the saying goes for death itself. In recent times, however, he became more fixated with a single appearance, of a tall male (around 200Cm), looking sickly skinny and morbid with a pale, grayish skin and skull-like face, but there still seem to be an elegance to him.

His clothes look like a cross between a butler's attire and a military outfit – a long jacket in different shades of black with a pulled-up color that reaches just above the back of his knees, simple dark pants and black boots that reach a little below his knees.

The skin on his face seems to be pressed to the skull, with eyes just a little darker than the skin surrounding them and the shadow on his cheeks adding to his deathly looks. His goes between silver and jet-black, and is shaved up to the ears, with the rest tied in in a small ponytail.

He wears black leather gloves, and is sometimes seen with a sting-like metal pieces on his index fingers, that – according to him – are his reaping tools.

The Undertaker claims to choose this appearance as it seems most of the lost souls are more cooperative towards a human-like character than any other form.

He can't change his appearance in an instant, and has to 'tailor' it himself whenever he chooses to change his looks.

Personality:

The Undertaker often displays a calm demeanor, though distant. There is a cold aura surrounding him, appropriate for someone who deals with death in a way.

His patience is scarce, and when he loses what little of it he has he will simply turn and walk away from the source of annoyance, if if it persists – the Undertaker will not hesitate to lash his Jackals at it. To have the Undertaker personally deal with an adversary, one would have to be a serious and immediate threat, or incredibly foolish, to the point the Undertaker feels an unsuppressed need to erase such idiocy from existence.

If one manages to overcome the deathly atmosphere he's emanating and doesn't mistake his distant nature for an expression of boredom or a lack of interest, the Undertaker proves to be a rather pleasant conversation partner with plenty of knowledge to offer.

Abilities:

Silver Stinger- The Undertaker is an angel of death with no scythe, but with a metallic silver stinger that he wears on his index finger, sometimes on both. If this stinger touches a creature's core, it detaches it completely from its physical body.

Ethereal Escort- As a funeral director, the Undertaker is responsible for either putting the cores and souls through proper burial, where they dissipate and properly transcend, or destroy them completely.

Distorted Demise- Used only when especially annoyed with a persistent adversary, the Undertaker will create the illusion of a warped environment around them, striking fear into his target, sometimes making them feel they managed to run away before stabbing them in the back.

Weaknesses:

Since the Undertaker was not created by the Toy Maker and his origin is unknown, it's hard to pinpoint a weakness in him, especially when getting into battles is very rare to him.

General Info:

Known also as the Funeral Director, the Undertaker is responsible of the running and maintenance of an underground network of catacombs that is ever-expanding with the Circus.

Aiding him are two types of creatures collectively referred to as “Worms” and “Jackals”. The Worms are creating and protecting the graves within the underground maze, while the Jackals are the collectors on the surface.

Since most of the bodies and physical remains are being taken care of by Clown Fish, the Undertaker and his subordinates rarely hold actual funerals or burial ceremonies, unless it's the death of a member of the Guard.

Instead, the collect what remains after the body is destroyed – the remnants of the souls, either freed from their corruption or dying after being attacked or willingly succumbing to their own sense of demise.

Being able to see what most others cannot, the Undertaker and the Jackals are collecting said souls from the surface and bring them to the catacombs, where they will be stored away to slowly and peacefully perish.

This process prevents a spiritual overcrowding of the Circus, in a similar way that Clown Fish's role as a regulator prevents the surface from being covered in piles of corpses.

Relationships:

• Being death itself, the Undertaker chooses a general neutral approach to his surrounding, and doesn't tend form any bonds, as “death has no favorites”.

• He has developed some liking to Child's Play, who sometimes will play hide-and-seek with him (mostly without notifying the Undertaker first).

• He has more of a professional relationship with the Tamer, for helping him tame the Worms and the Jackals.

• The Undertaker also enjoys an occasional conversation with Clown Fish, if he happens around its habitat.

Extra Info:

• The Undertaker's origin is unknown, as the Toy Maker admitted to never creating anything for the purpose of burial, and the Ringleader, as with most mysteries of the Circus, refrains from voicing any claims. It is largely assumed that he was there since the creation of the Circus, developing the underground catacombs alongside the Ringleader forming his own dimension.

• Despite being offered numerous times, the Undertaker refused to be an official part of the Guard, as to his reasoning that “death has no allies”, and that he'd regret having to preform a burial of a team member.

• Since his origin is unknown and is not a part of the Ringleader's creation he does not abide to his and the Toy Maker's authority, but still respects their stature as rulers of the Circus. Seeing as he doesn't cause any troubles or disturbances and in fact have common interests with the Ringleader and Toy Maker, the administrative duo just lets him do his job, yet keep a close watch.

• Worms and Jackals: As mentioned, there are two groups of creatures that help the Undertaker in his work, and those are the “Worms” and the “Jackals”, each on a different aspect of the job. These creatures are two species that were domesticated by the Tamer and trained by both her and the Undertaker for their specific tasks. It is very rare to find them roaming wild in the Circus, and are distinguishable in that that their tamed brethren are wearing some sort of uniform (if using the term loosely). The wild ones are often also somewhat larger than the others. Each member of the groups can be identified and told apart from the others based on their varying appearance within their defined characteristics.

  • The Worms are blind and simple-structured. Often limbless, some have frontal limbs, and in some rare instances the will have four limbs and resemble more of a flattened-nose reptiles with circular jaws. Some even have scales instead of a smooth/slimy skin. They mostly vary on the skin/scale color, ranging from bare pink and white to earthy greens and browns.

  • The Jackals are similar to the animal they're named after, having a lot of canine features. Their head are similar to the ones of wolves or jackals, with the little ones sometimes looking like foxes. Their colors mostly stay on the scales of red and black, since they are active on the surface and such coloring enables them to blend in their surroundings. Some walk on four and some on their two hind legs, often presenting a larger torso and bigger, slightly longer arms and hands/paws with opposable thumbs. Those on four legs are faster and more agile than the ones on two, who compensate with greater physical strength. Each type of Jackal is meant to handle different types of foes.Only a select few of the Jackals have an ability to talk and are usually considered as “pack leaders”. Regardless of their ranks within the pack, they all obey exclusively to the Undertaker.

  • Further visual reference of both species