Killer Concept: "The Incubator"

dyadicnull

Disclaimer: I've mainly written out lore and thought up a power for this killer that I'm not completely sure would be well received or plausible, but figured I would post what I've got anyway after sharing the lore with others that really liked it. Criticism is welcome!

General themes: The dark side of empathy; the darkness of sensitivity; traumas that build passively, engorging themselves when ignored.

Lore:

Patience, perseverance, perception; These three “Crucial P’s” were the backbone for the work of acclaimed psychotherapist Dr. Vamiro Black. When working with patients that endured severe trauma these nurturing guidelines have garnered him much success on the road toward rehabilitation. And he’d heard it all: a patient that witnessed his entire family gunned down in front of him, an army veteran that suffered from PTSD after mercy killing her squadmate, countless victims of sexual abuse, and the list goes on. He handled these heavy matters with a distinct poise and grace, never so much as flinching from the pressures of these pains, netting him much praise from his peers. It was restless albeit extremely gratifying work for Vamiro, for he drew no greater pride than from the knowledge that each patient left his care undoubtedly healthier, and with each, he’d attribute his success to that one simple doctrine. However, he knew the truth of his success was not something that could be emulated by merely following such by-the-book instructions.

As an orphaned child, Vamiro encountered many different types of people as he moved from foster home to foster home, family to family, seeing his fair share of personas and how they interacted with one another, for better or worse. Even as a young boy he found that others confided in him. Growing up he thought it was due to having a reserved, quiet demeanor. With time he came to realize there was something uncanny at work. He felt as if he were absorbing pieces of people, their words like vehicles relieving them of their emotional baggage and bestowing it upon him. He felt needles jabbing into his arms as his brother Armand desperately pleaded to be freed from rehab. He saw his guts spill from his body as he watched his first foster mother threaten her husband at gunpoint after discovering his infidelity. Denial only intensified the surreal experiences. His adolescent years were torturous, and he resorted to self-isolation to escape the torment.

These years were stained with intense depressive episodes, exacerbated by questions that seemed impossible to answer: Why him? Why did no one else seem to ever have this curse of his? And in a moment of epiphany he found his answer--a remedy to his suffering, ironically inspired by the closed-off individuals he’d been observing his entire life. He learned to take all the suffering he absorbed and compartmentalize it; stashing the pain away behind an imagined doorway in his mind. He’d go on like this for 12 years and has effectively been how he’s functioned ever since. That was until he encountered his next and final patient.

Upon going into his office one day he saw a young man sitting in the chair across from his desk. Vamiro’s brow scrunched with confusion as he opened his mouth to tell the boy he had the wrong office until he saw a file with his signature confirming the appointment on his desk. This furthered his confusion as he had no recollection of signing off on this patient. The boy appeared to be no older than a teenager, wearing a black hoodie and black pants where his hands were tucked away; his head tilted down, obscuring his face. The file stated the boy, Ivan, as having a troubled history related to abuse. When Vamiro greeted Ivan the young man began chanting the words “Mirror, mirror monsters inside”, like a haunting, raspy whisper. As the words registered, a sharp stinging sensation shot through Vamiro’s skull, causing him to cry out in agony as he collapsed next to the ground. Images of an old dilapidated cellar entered his mind’s eye. What was this place? Why was he being struck with the faint feeling of familiarity? When he came to, the boy was gone. More and more images sprouted in his mind; he could see a swinging overhead light, the way the wallpaper was chipped near the edges, an old wooden chair chained to stone flooring with large dark stains. As the images poured in, so did the inexplicable knowledge of where this place was and his need to see it with his own eyes.

With blind focus, he got in his car and followed the breadcrumbs manifesting in his mind. He arrived at the old remains of a burnt-down home deep within the woods. The hairs of his neck were electrified when he noticed a cellar door amidst the rubble. He approached the cellar door and walked down the steps, feeling his stomach contort when he saw the scene of the images that had appeared in his mind. He walked over to the words “mirror… mirror…. monsters inside” written on the walls in blaring red letters, repeating over and overextending down to the long, broken mirror standing next to a camcorder. He heard faint voices coming from the video camera, instinctually investigating as the true horror set in. He saw a man, blindfolded and bloody, tied to the chair facing the mirror. The figure holding the camcorder slowly walked behind the whimpering man, revealing a familiar face in the mirror--his own.

All went silent at his realization, his body drained and limp; his vision still fixated on the recording began to blur in disorienting waves. He started to recognize faces: an old bully from his high school days, colleagues he’d thought moved away, an ex-lover, even an old patient of his. Victims subjected to beatings, suffocation, and bodily mutilation. He watched himself start the fire that burned this house down with the family still inside, recognizing the presumed father figure to be his old foster father who abused him as a child. The camera then points to his face asking “did you think we would stay put behind that door?” A stunned Vamiro fell down next to the mirror, seeing Ivan in his reflection press his hand to the surface, he could hear the words “you ignored us….but you can never escape us” ringing in his ears as the mysterious fog swirled to embrace him. 

Visuals: The appearance of a human but with flayed skin attempting to hold together its form. Periodically the darker skin tone and eyes are drained of color, appearing like reflective glass. The shard or pieces of skin have gaps in between that reveal a grotesque black-figure beneath the skin.

 Power Idea, Empathy: Mirrorface channels a tether of darkness between him and a targeted survivor that can be broken by escaping line of sight. The channel slows survivors and causes them to experience excruciating visions as the Mirrorface draws essence from them that builds meter. When full, he can release the "monster inside" transforming and generating an AoE field of darkness that has a ramping slow-to-pull effect for any survivors in range. Also thought about generating different monsters (at most 2) with differing effects.