Shaman

Player: @First Player

NAME: Ezra Baptiste
ALIAS: Shaman
AGE: 26
BIRTHPLACE: Port Meridian, LA
POWERS:

• MYSTIC ABILITIES
  Extensive knowledge regarding the occult and the abilities to cast spells, perform rituals
  

In the shadowed quarter—where the air smells of salt, smoke, and candle wax—Ezra Baptiste grew up watching his grandmother work quiet miracles. She was Mama Celestine, a healer whispered about in both fear and reverence, the kind of woman who could coax spirits into conversation and sickness out of flesh. Ezra never wanted that life. He wanted noise—guitars, cars, neon—and not the invisible chorus that followed her every step.

But when she passed, the chorus found him anyway. The old family home became eerily silent, the air heavy with incense and the faint murmur of spirits that refused to leave.

Ezra returned from college for the funeral, skeptical of the old ways and resentful of the expectations placed upon him. It began the night of her funeral. As thunder cracked above, he found himself drawn to Celestine’s altar—a shrine layered with bones, talismans, and a black mirror veiled in crimson silk. When his hand brushed the cloth aside, the air turned cold, and the Loa—the ancestral spirits of the vodoun pantheon—answered. Drums he couldn’t hear beat in his chest. His reflection in the window blinked when he didn’t. The mirror rippled like water, showing him visions of a world overrun by restless dead, of broken covenants and hungry shadows crawling through the cracks between life and death.

The air thickened and he felt power pour through him, wild and terrified, like holding onto lightning without knowing where to aim it. The spirits recognized him as the next link in the chain. They poured into him like lightning through a copper rod, filling him with ancestral power—terrible, raw, and alive. His veins glowed with vevé sigils; the air shivered with every breath he took. In that moment, Ezra became Shaman, heir to his grandmother’s sacred bond with the spirit realm.

Ezra learned that his grandmother hadn’t given him her gifts—he’d inherited her bond with the loa. They spoke to him now, demanding balance, intervention, justice. But mastery didn't come with the inheritance, for the loa are not gentle mentors. They whisper contradictions, test his will, and make their lessons sting. They Loa spoke to him in riddles and dreams, sometimes offering wisdom, sometimes chaos. He could call upon the Baron for strength, coax fire from the breath of ancestors, or bind malicious spirits into salt and ash—but each spell carried a cost. Every invocation walked a knife’s edge between miracle and madness. When he faltered, the spirits could twist free, turning his own power against him.

So Ezra took a name the spirits respected—Shaman—and stepped into the city’s restless underbelly where curses fester and faith has teeth. By day he tends to his grandmother’s shop filled with charms and candles. By night, he follows the pull of the unseen, battling forces that preyed on the desperate and the damned. He learned that the city is more alive than he’d ever imagined—its every alley haunted, its every crossroad humming with deals and debts older than history.

Shaman is not yet a master of his art. He’s a bridge between two worlds, learning to balance reverence with rebellion. Every spirit he binds, every ritual he survives, draws him closer to understanding the truth his grandmother died protecting: that power is never owned, only borrowed—and every gift from the Loa must someday be repaid.

💀 Mystic Conduit:

As Shaman, Ezra serves as a living bridge between the mortal world and the spirit realm. Through ritual, trance, and ancestral invocation, he channels the Loa—powerful spirits tied to life, death, nature, and fate. This connection allows him to perform feats of vodoun sorcery: summoning protective wards of sigils and smoke, conjuring ancestral fire, healing the wounded by channeling the life-essence of benevolent spirits, and exorcising or binding malevolent entities. When possessed by a Loa, his physical form becomes a vessel of supernatural might—his voice distorts, his eyes burn with light, and his gestures carry divine weight. Each spirit grants unique abilities: Baron Samedi grants command over death and decay, while Ezra bestows empathy and protection. However, every invocation exacts a toll, drawing from his vitality or sanity if he pushes too far.

💀 Ritual Magician:
Beyond raw channeling, Shaman wields structured magic rooted in ancient rites. He crafts gris-gris charms and vevé sigils that store and direct spiritual energy, uses bone dust, ash, and blood as catalysts, and communicates with the dead through mirrors, smoke, and candle flame. His rituals can bless a space, curse an enemy, or open passageways into the astral world. These spells require time, preparation, and focus—he’s no instant sorcerer, but a craftsman of balance and symbolism. His power grows with his understanding of the Loa’s will, the rhythm of his drum, and his courage to face what lies beyond the veil.