⏵ player information
name and pronouns: Jhey (she/her)
age: 18+
contact: pm / horreur @ plurk / hagfishs @ discord

⏵ character information
name: Peter Graham
canon: Hereditary
age: 17
canon point: After jumping through his attic window: specifically, just after the demon King Paimon's spirit was permanently "locked into" Peter's fully vulnerable body (+ half a year crau at The City)
history:

canon history | note: while nothing is super descriptive here, this canon comes with several severe content warnings including: generational trauma, severe mental illness, familial (including child) death, anaphylaxis, fatal car accident, cult grooming / manipulation, demonic possession, attempted filicide / child murder, & much decapitation
crau history | Peter spent about half a year in a simulated experimental world known as "The City." Most of his existence there was a continued feverdream nightmare from his canon circumstances, as he was never sure what was real or in his head, and he was perpetually haunted by the deaths of his family and his own personal demons (...the literal ones as much as the metaphorical.) Over time, he was able to slowly and cautiously take part in some normal teenager activities, such as getting his first job helping out at a diner, and making a few extremely good friends. But then there were also things such as making contact with an exorcist and being unofficially adopted by the Mother of All Evil, whose presence helped coax out his own darknesses. He was just beginning to learn more truths about himself when The City began to end, and he woke up in an underground tunnel in Etraya.

abilities:

Peter himself has no abilities (except for an extremely unhealthy ability to Keep The Peace by Avoiding Confrontation, and his ability to Bleed Empathy For Others), though he is possessed by an ancient, goetic demon king of Hell. The demon is not a playable character on its own, due to canonically having no communicable form outside of a host (he can't exist longterm on a plane that isn't Hell, unless he is within a vessel), and not being able to be removed from Peter without a very specific ritual that involves Peter permanently dying. The demon has also been "watered down" and essentially mutilated over years and years by the cult responsible for conjuring it, and is very confused as to its own identity. While I would love to utilise the game setting to explore and expand upon Paimon further over time, he's more a part of Peter's existence, rather than his own thing.

As far as abilities that Paimon himself possesses, there is a vast range. I've detailed them here since they get lengthy, and since they aren't really accessible to Peter. Not all of these would be things that the demon's able to reach fully or access to begin with, given how confused and strange he currently is, though I would love to potentially explore those types of abilities more over time (being mindful to nerf down anything that could be considered "world-breaking" or fourth-walled information!)

While not "abilities" necessarily, Peter also comes with many symptoms of his demonic possession, and a few may touch on "inhuman capability" — for example, among the fatigue, feverlike symptoms, contortions, convulsions, memory lapses, identity confusions, and dissociative fugue states, Peter may also be seen.... crawling on walls, ceilings, or levitating / flying in an extremely cursed manner. When Peter is weakened, he is especially vulnerable to these effects and Paimon's presence becomes stronger, which may lead Peter to "attack himself" as the disoriented demon inside of him flares up and freaks out. There are also times that Peter briefly displays the persona and quirks of his little sister Charlie's outright, due to the fact that Paimon's identity was Charlie for thirteen years. He's a jumbled, confused, lost demon king trapped in a traumatised, confused, lost human boy. They're fine....

personality:

Stressed, Depressed, and Demon-Possessed.

Worth mentioning is that everything about Peter's existence — his personality, mannerisms, perceptions, sense of self — is the result of someone else's influence. Unknowingly to him, a cult (dedicated to conjuring the powerful demon king Paimon to be utilised for gain, and headed by Peter's own grandmother) has been pulling the strings and influencing Peter's entire family since long before his birth. As the designated vessel for this demon, his existence was only ever meant to be one thing: a sacrifice.

On the surface, Peter can seem much like any morose, moody teenager, showing what only barely passes as an interest in life when weed is involved. His way to cope with so much familial dysfunction over so many years was to numb himself over and detach from the world and its horrors as much as possible. But it's evident pretty quickly that there's much more going on under the surface, especially at his current canon point — he's severely mentally ill, he's raw nerves and a wide-open bleeding wound, too quick to lose himself to panic, too sensitive, too afraid, too affected. The slightest thing can set him off, or trigger a variety-pack of trauma responses, and he often regresses to a child-like state, something too young and too small.

Guilt is certainly the driving force in Peter, a thing that affects the way he interacts with the entire world, and himself. Not knowing that the cult actually facilitated everything, he blames himself for the horrific death of his little sister, which was the catalyst to push Peter into vulnerability to be possessed. He blames himself for the gruesome deaths of his father and mother, which he witnessed just before waking up in the City. He blames himself for everything that went wrong, every inaction, every shortcoming, every empty space, every lacking part that (he thinks) led to his mother's hatred of him. It in turns has bred a particular self-hatred for Peter, who feels absolutely no love towards himself and whole-heartedly feels he deserves whatever happens to him. He won't fight to defend himself, won't fight for much of anything at all. To avoid confrontation, he'll lie down and take whatever comes, which could make him an easy target for things like bullying and manipulation.

All of this has also shaped how he sees others — Peter's extremely slow to trust, nervous and alien around other human beings. None of this is made easier with the possession factor, which keeps him strange and lost within himself, affecting his thoughts, memory, responses, and behaviours so often. He's prone to losing himself to various degrees — sometimes fully, sometimes only a little. Sometimes he seems like the absence of anything at all; other times he's too much, filled up with a thing that was never meant to be contained in human skin for so long. Yet other times he's someone else — possessed by the soft echoes of a lost little girl. Between the cluck of his tongue, he might even answer to her name: Charlie.

Yet there are little parts to Peter that show his true self, that have revealed themselves in small moments. He's shy and prefers to observe more than actively participate, but he enjoys people-watching. He has hobbies and interests, or did once, things he might be able to slowly pursue again — music, astronomy. He likes silly things; he has a sense of humour that might peek out here and there, making him actually sound like a Young Person doing Young Person Things. He's soft and gentle and his deep sense of empathy makes him an incredibly good listener and support system. When he's comfortable around somebody, these things blossom slowly open, revealing a boy who still longs for connection with others beneath so many layers of trauma, grief, loss, and demons.

samples:
unus — last thread done at The City, where he was prior to this game / discussion of spooky things
duo — a bit of Peter when he's Fully Lucid and aware of / reflecting on himself
tres — etraya tdm; I joined the party late so my threads here are still very short, but I thought they were good little examples of how Peter reacts to different situations / people!