Stephen Olsen

Stephen Olsen is a human exorcist living in the world of Blackwood. He was born from a moderately prestigious mage family. As of the time of writing, Stephen has no explicit affiliations with any group.

Background
Stephen's life as a child and adolescent was characterized by a repeated and consistent failure in studies of sorcery. These failures and shortcomings culminated in a tragedy soon after Stephen's 18th birthday passed. Gretel Olsen, Stephen's older sister, interrupted one of Stephen's many summoning circle practices - one that happened to be the first to be successful. Stephen, in a moment of cowardice, hid behind his sister to shield himself from the awful fable called into the world. Gretel's leg was horribly mutilated before the more experienced magicians of the house, Stephen's parents, managed to dispel the monstrosity. Stricken with heavy grief and sorrow, Stephen packed up and left the family a few weeks later. Since this incident, Gretel has resented Stephen for his lack of ability, his desertion of the family, and her permanently disabled leg.

Characteristics
During the events of Blackwood, Stephen's age is in the mid-30s. Since his self-imposed exile from his family, he has trained himself has a skilled fistfighting exorcist. Since most fables are impervious to conventional combat techniques, he uses cold forged iron knuckle plates to augment his chances against these creatures. The path of an exorcist has shaped his fighting style and his personality - he is a devoutly moral person with a strong aversion to causing pain in others, fighting only in self defense. However, he is no stoic - he is quick to laugh and is very trusting. Regardless, his trusting tendencies wither in the company of mages. The events of his adolescence pushed him into a deep-seated mistrust of mages.