Jebediah O'Rourke is a wraith of the Grim Legion who serves as the Magistrate of the Hierarchy.
History[]
Born in 1810 in Ireland, Jebediah O'Rourke, the son of a prominent city official in Dublin, moved to the newly free Colony of Georgia when he was 22 years old. Getting work as a lawyer, Jebediah moved to the railroad town of Terminus five years later, moving his offices to t he sleepy new town of Decatur once his practice was established. There he built his reputation as a smart, fair lawyer and, when it came time for court officials to be appointed, Jebediah was the first on people's lips. Jebediah was a stubborn man, however, as was discovered when he took the bench for the first time. He was known for ruling the way he thought was best, despite how others tried to sway his decision. He soon grew to be an extremely stern, somber judge whose presence alone was a deterrent to crime and swindling in Decatur. As Magistrate O'Rourke aged, it was quite clear that some unseen force was taking its toll on him. To his closest friends, Jebediah admitted that he was staying alive "out of sheer cussedness" as he called it, and that he feared what waited for him beyond the veil of death because of what he said was an ancient family curse.
Jebediah stayed alive through the Civil War, becoming well known for his longevity, tenacity and because of his fair reputation (and lack of open sympathy for the Confederate government, with whom O'Rourke had never really agreed). To the surprise of few, Jebediah was re-appointed Magistrate by the Union government that moved through after Atlanta fell.
Still, Jebediah lingered on until the Reconstruction claimed him. One night a band of hooligans that Jebediah had punished with a sharp fine and several years at a prison camp came upon Jebediah as he studied the law in his chambers at the Decatur Courthouse. Thirty-seven knife wounds finished him off in short order, and the city's press firmly believed that the slaying was a result of his ruling against the KKK. His friends worried that his "family curse" had caught up with him. Of the two, both were right.
Jebediah was slain by his grandfather, Kieran Riorche, a wraith skilled in Puppetry and vindictive as all hell. The family curse that Jebediah spoke of in life was the habit of his ancestors to use the Monitor's art of Soul Pact to bind themselves to them, thus creating a Guardian Wraith of the bloodline that followed the family wherever it went. Riorche's grandfather had made him a wraith by tormenting him in dreams using Keening. Jebediah's grandfather had given Jebediah "the treatment" as well, making him dread death so much that in the end, he was trapped in it.
Kieran was soon lost in the Fourth Great Maelstrom, and Jebediah used his notoriety to gain prestige and position in the Hierarchy. Soon, he was appointed to the post of Magistrate, one of three in the Necropolis, and he has served this post ever since. Jebediah swore that he would never cause his grandson to become a wraith like h is grandfather had done him. This still did not prevent, James Rourke, his grandson, from also becoming a wraith.
Image[]
Jebediah O'Rourke is a stout man, tall and heavy-set, with brown hair frosted with white, and a mustache, goatee and eyebrows that are as white as cotton. He is almost always seen in full Magistrate's regalia: blood red robes, Stygian chains of office and a dark cowl that hides his face.
Character Sheet[]
References[]
- WTO: The Face of Death
- WTO: Sins of the Fathers
- WTO: Necropolis: Atlanta, p. 44-45
