Killer Idea: The Custodian

>The Custodian

>APPEARANCE: Medium height man in a torn, dirtied turn-of the-century military police uniform, armed with a bayonet.

>STATS: 110% Movement Speed

36m terror radius

>POWER:

Long Patrol:

The Custodian leaves a dark trail behind him as he walks, which disappears after 15 seconds. At any time, The Custodian may use his power to retrace his path (facing backwards) at a high (4.5x base, or 517.5%) speed, after a short (0.5 second) charge time. Once the trail is travelled along, it disappears. The Custodian is fully visible to survivors during the use of his power, but he suffers the blinded status effect (cannot see auras/notifications) for the duration.

Survivors who come into contact with the trail trigger a sound notification for the custodian that becomes sharper the more recent the contact point of the trail was made.

>BIO:

James McGrath always had a penchant for breaking things. From machinery to cliques - little escaped his curiosity for disassembly and examination. Having learned early on to conceal this strange drive, he kept his head down, and seemed destined for the life of a loner, until his parents, eager to preserve some semblance of respectability, pushed him into the ranks of the police.

Despite a reputation for sowing discord amongst his colleagues, McGrath made a name for himself on the streets of the city with years of disrupting rampant organised crime, becoming infamous for his ability to turn even hardened gangsters against their former partners. Such exploits rarely go unnoticed however, and McGrath's department soon became a target for some particularly vicious attacks. After narrowly surviving a drive-by that left half of his team bleeding out on the pavement, the city's bureaucrats saw fit to save face and disband the unit before losing any more officers.

James found himself stationed on the edges of a reservation, and with little of the challenge of cracking criminal operations, he resolved to employ his talents to break the spirit of the native communities that opposed state rule. Heralded with even more success than in the city, McGrath's iron grasp over the province led as quickly to promotion as it did subservience from his subjects. Driven as ever to dissect these groups, campaigns of suspicion and subterfuge marked his career, dividing once-steadfast communities into paranoid factions, easily dominated by the scant forces at his disposal.

Soon enough, change came in the form of liberationary movements. Hope and unity flooded the once-oppressed native enclaves and McGrath once again found himself the target of an insurrectionary force. A challenge had been made, and he knew better than to let a challenge go unanswered.

Calling upon the full force of the National Guard, he styled himself an expert on policing the tribes, and struck out deep into the native heartlands with a hitherto unseen brutality. Communities were uprooted, sympathisers interred, and any resistance was crushed. Making public his shows of power, McGrath's executions were gratuitously intimidating, frequently accompanied by the desecration of spiritual sites. A man determined to rip the heart out of the land had been unleashed, but history would soon repeat itself. As the movement he exploited for power spread, so too did news of McGrath's actions. Once more at the mercy of higher powers concerned only with optics, McGrath was transferred to the management of the internment camps he championed the use of.

Under watchful eyes, his reign was more subtle, drawing hope out only to crush it, coercing betrayals and distributing swift reprimands to saboteurs - many of whom disappeared, their fate nonetheless clear. Those who had hoped that confining his authority would lessen his vicious manipulation grew terrified at it’s magnification, realising the extent of his obsession. 

Retribution found McGrath here, on a nocturnal patrol. A lone bullet tore through the midriff of the custodian, followed by a volley felling his watchmen. Realising his impending downfall, he resolved to flee, leaving his men unaware and helpless as the insurgents took their revenge. Limping off into the wilderness and stranger lands still, McGrath looked only forward. 

His hands steadied. He would find a new master. 

He reached out to the fog, discarded his gun, and stepped forward. 

For where there are masters, so too must there be acolytes.

>PERKS

Quiet Deterrent: Survivors outside of your terror radius cannot see the aura of other survivors being hooked.

Hooking a survivor gives a single stack of Bloodlust that persists for 6/8/10 seconds

“Whilst it is tempting to make a show of breaking prominent individuals, martyrs are significantly harder to rid yourself of than the living.” - J McGrath: On policing the Natives of Sandwith

Tormentor: Survivors are put in the injured state upon cleansing a totem.

“Hope burns fiercely, but levers work best when smouldering,” - Memo on Noticeboard of North Sandwith Constabulary

Disciplinarian: Kicking a generator reveals the aura of any survivors who repaired it in the last 30/45/60 seconds.

The Aura persists for 2/2.5/3 seconds after kicking.

“When distributing punishment, direction matters far less than intent - nonetheless, selecting perpetrators is essential, even in the absence of evidence. Effigies burn brighter than loose kindling.” - Found in the journal of J McGrath two weeks after the sacking of Camp Iringham

>ADDONS:

Rarity debatable:

Increasing Length of trail by increments of 3 secs, Increasing Speed of travel when using power, Applying effects (Slows, broken exhaustion, etc), variable speed of power along length, reduced charge time, revealing auras of survivors crossing the trail,

Ultra Rare: Can no longer use power, however attacking will also damage any survivors along the trail, massively increased range however no longer get notifications for survivor contact.

THOUGHTS:

Hey so sorry for the wall of text, but the gist of the idea was to make something that fit somewhere between loop shutdown of the clown and an analogue hag, Base movement speed may be a little high, perhaps 110 would be more appropriate, but I feel that he could definitely still be mindgamed on longer loops. I thought this idea was interesting for some soft map control around survivors avoiding the trail, and potentially some more BRAINY fast movement allowing you to fork multiple survivors a bit more effectively than hag. Feedback much appreciated!