Samedi's Envoy (Demosthene Savoy)

''"This is not very good. You just said you'll abuse the sacred powers of Voodoo...in my face. Do you know how much this complicates things, now? It means I have to stop you. The hard way." - Samedi's Envoy''

Origins
Demosthene Savoy is the son of jazz musician and restaurant owner Nicodeme Savoy, and Margerite Savoy, a New Orleans nurse and Voodoo priestess, known for her compassion and ability to ease the pain of those sick and ailing, and distant relative of legendary voodoo queen, Marie Laveau. Born and raised 'a stone's throw' from the famed French Quarter, Demosthene was the last of 6 children and a genuine Cajun, descendant of Creoles.

Demos lived a normal life, going to school and helping around his father's restaurant, growing up to the sound of jazz, the scent of southern cooking and the extravagance of Mardi Gras. He and his family all survived hurricane Katrina but had to build the restaurant from the ground up again.

Around the time that the restaurant was re-opened, Demos, 15 at the time, quarreled with and offended the son of a Voodoo witch-doctor, Edouard Marchelois, a powerful local politician, business mogul and practitioner of the darker side of Voodoo, using it to promote his political career, advance his fortunes and get rid of his enemies. Annoyed at the offence to his son and already seeking to blackmail Margerite into joining his faction, Marchelois set a curse upon Demos that would claim his life the moment a black candle with his name on it guttered out.

Warned in a dream by her ancestor Marie Laveau, Margerite discovered the curse on her youngest child and resolved to save him. Using her capacity and knowledge as a Voodoo priestess and the guidance of Marie Laveau, she set up a complex ritual to call upon the powerful loa of the dead, Baron Samedi. She pleased with him to spare her son who was unjustly to die and offered her life in exchange for his.

The usually outrageous and obscene loa was appeased by her selfless request and granted it, on the condition that Demos would be become Samedi's Envoy, the avatar and representative of the loa in the physical realm and responsible for safeguarding Voodoo's secrets and preventing people from abusing its powers, and to protect the dead from the living and the living from the dead.

Margerite accepted and shortly after fell dead as the candle in Marchelois' office guttered out. Demos was asleep the whole time of the ritual and when he woke up and found his mother dead he had a panic attack and couldn't move. Baron Samedi began to speak to him (an event that terrified him at first and that he still finds unnerving) and told him that he was now Samedi's Hand on earth.

Bewildered, Demos tried to deny the whole thing but as Samedi explained the circumstances to him, he relented and began to accept his fate--as long as he could get back at Marchelois first. Using the newly acquired powers of Baron Samedi he got himself in Marchelois' office and confronted him about his behavior and his manipulations. When Marchelois began to use Voodoo to take him down, Samedi allowed Demos to manifest the full regalia of Samedi's Envoy and guided the boy into countering Marchelois, forcing him to confess many of his deeds and stripped him of all his powers over Voodoo. Samedi tried to tempt Demos into killing Marchelois but Demos refused and preferred to hex him into turning himself in to the police.

Returning to his normal life, Demos and his family set about burying and mourning Demos' mother. He did not reveal to them his mother's sacrifice, or his becoming Samedi's Envoy. Demos was having second thoughts and getting worried about what was expected of him and made an attempt to leave the identity of Samedi's Envoy. Samedi allowed Margerite and Laveau's ghosts to appear to him and persuade him to follow the path laid for him. Margerite was set to pass over and rest in the afterlife, but Laveau would become Demos' constant guidance, appearing to him often to guide him, deter him from wrong and teach him the ways of Voodoo.

From New Orleans To Miami
Demos grew into his role as Samedi's Envoy over the years; Marie Laveau's spirit was constantly by his side, teaching him and guiding him to detect and prevent gross misuse of Voodoo and how to repair damage it did. He made several enemies, including powerful witch-doctors and priestesses, dark loas themselves and their own avatars, including the avatar of Grand Bois, the nature-oriented loa of trees, herbs and plant life. Although the loa itself is merely unpredictable, its avatar, a man named Enrico Valtez, is more of a criminal turned obsessive naturalist and eco-terrorist under the influence of Grand Bois.

All the while, Demos thought it selfish to use his powers to bring order only in the world of Voodoo; he began functioning as something of a law-bringer and general crime fighter in New Orleans, quickly attracting the attention of locals. Local Voodoo priests saw him as a representation of Samedi himself and revered him, much to Demos' annoyance.

As he finished high-school and turned 17, he decided to pursue a college degree in business administration. Urged by Laveau to leave New Orleans and venture into the world more, he decided to go to college elsewhere. Laveau kept urging him to go to Miami, Florida, where his destiny's 'next great step awaited him'. She did not specify why exactly he had to be there, but she did tell him that he would be greatly needed there and would learn what she could not teach him.

Soon afterwards, Laveau's presence inexplicably disappeared. Demos has sensed that his beloved teacher is being forced to stay away from him and ever since has been trying to find her and the reasons she is being forced away.

Demos traveled to Miami, enrolled in a local college and began dealing with the local voodoo and crime scenes. He had heard rumors of a local group of crime-fighting heroes and on a whim decided to find and join them. He crashed one of their patrols, introducing himself to them and proceeded to bother them for the rest of the night. Feral didn't seem to mind him, amused at his antics, but Abaddon and Uriel did not appreciate him much, as neither of them particularly believed in Voodoo, and Abaddon found his overly friendly attitude annoying.

As he kept coming back to bother them and they could do little to stop him, they eventually agreed to let him officially join them as part of Nightwatch. He was quite secretive at first; until Feral caught him in his part-time job and her senses let her know Demos and Samedi's Envoy were one and the same. When they confronted him with the knowledge, Demos was baffled but to their surprise handled it in an amused matter. Following this, he decided to reveal to them Laveau's words and mentioned that he felt this was what she had meant. He expanded their views of wrongdoing in Miami by pointing out how much Voodoo and other forms of magic were misused in the area and how the crimes they fought were sometimes affected by the power of Voodoo or Santeria.

This resulted in their relationship as a team to stabilize, work better together and allowed them to deal with threats that would otherwise be beyond them, such as stopping a local satanic cult from unleashing demons in the city. They were given a proper base of operations by Dr. Evan Kelly, a doctor and metahuman owning a clinic in Miami--and also, a close family friend of the Rivvens, Uriel's family. Soon they would recruit (formally, this time) The Weatherman.

In the meantime, Demos' capacity as guardian of the secrets of Voodoo meant that he had to travel about major Voodoo hotspots about the country, often dragging the rest with him for backup and assistance. He frequently returned to New Orleans to help his father and brothers.

Master of Voodoo
In the first few years of Nightwatch, expanding to include Troll, Razorspark, Belladona and the alien Glitch, Samedi's Envoy thrived. He is considered the most powerful member of Nightwatch but preferred to follow the lead of Abaddon and Uriel in what he calls 'casual' crime fighting, assuming a more active leadership role when their problems turned mystical. He had to protect his associates from mystical threats several times and actually gets very angry whenever he discovers another voodoo master or other wizard trying to harm his team.

He continued to work at the video rental and studying, although his studies were constantly interrupted by requests for help from the dead and Voodoo practitioners who detected misuse of Voodoo, as well as his personal, ongoing self-discovery.

The team became better known to the elder generation of superheroes, not always favorably because of their cheekiness, young age and methods--particularly due to their leader, Abaddon. His attitude and methods weren’t always met with approval and Demos often interfered to stop him from going too far. However, at least once he was so indignant with the perpetrator that he allowed Abaddon to cripple him, feeling no inclination to stop his partner, and did not discuss the incident with his associates.

The return of criminal master-mind and serial killer Russell Richards from his imprisonment in Alaska brought dramatic changes in the team; Ryan finally confessed to the fact that Russell was his maternal grandfather and they were all being targeted because of it. Russell had maintained control over his old group, The Syndicate, now counting new 'students' in its ranks, including foes like Tauro, Cottonmouth and Drama Queen, as well as older enemies of Nightwatch, Rozencranz and his brother Guildernstern.

This crisis almost broke the team apart but Uriel, Samedi's Envoy and Troll manage to keep them together and prevent Nightwatch from disbanding. Demos was the first to notice Ryan's inner torment and played a key part in protecting the team as Russell dominated and murdered his way back into the center of Miami's criminal underworld.

Unfortunately, their lack of experience and Abaddon's personal crisis caused problems with their efforts to stop him. During a large face off with the Syndicate, they came to a painful stalemate in which Abaddon was badly hurt by Russell and Uriel was also injured trying to protect him. Samedi's Envoy eventually was forced to abuse his own powers of Voodoo (against his deal with Baron Samedi) in order to force the Syndicate into a retreat, which cost him a temporary loss of his powers as a form of punishment. The team was shaken and doubted their skills after the incident. To make things worse, Ryan was left in a bad psychological state and considered quitting.

Back In Action
While Demos was lamenting the loss of his powers and was restricted to helping Glitch and Dr. Kelly in the base, word came to them that Ryan was targeted and kidnapped by an alien parasite, XSTNC. The blow came too soon after their last face off with Russell and caught everyone un-prepared and the team missing two people, Demos with a lack of powers and The Weatherman still recovering from injuries sustained in the last big confrontation.

With very little information on the nature of this predator, the Nightwatch had to use all their resources to try and track him down. They eventually learned from the Green Lanterns that XSTNC was a mental parasite that took over other sentient creatures, using them as puppets to infiltrate and destroy entire worlds--and the worst part was that once the parasite had taken root, it was almost impossible to tell the difference, as even the host was unaware of being used and believed to be perfectly normal. Thus the parasite built up dependence between the host and itself, meaning any attempt to remove it from the host would result in their death.

Demos was furious at the news and leaving the action to the rest, retreated to a personal haven of his to meditate and attempt to communicate with Baron Samedi. Conducting the same ritual his mother had, Demos forced Baron Samedi to speak to him again and pleaded with him about returning his powers. Baron Samedi just taunted him and reminded him of what he had done before, the breach in their 'deal', and Demos argued his case: He might be Samedi's puppet and errand boy in the physical realm but he still was human and had sworn to use Voodoo for good--and that included stopping Russell and the Syndicate's onslaught any means necessary. Samedi was amused at his tenacity and sent Demos on a journey to the land of the dead to recover his powers by himself.

Forcibly thrust into the realm of the dead, Demos had to overcome several trials and dangers before he could restore his powers to their proper owner and had the chance to speak with several spirits of the dead, including his mother and grandmother, Nanna Jo. They could tell him nothing about Laveau's disappearance and he searched for her in vain.

Emerging back in Miami with his powers restored, he found out that the rest had found Ryan and rescued him from XSTNC barely alive and bearing serious trauma. Demos was deeply depressed at the state of his friend and with the rest, kept vigil by his side while he underwent physical and mental healing and stayed comatose for approximately three weeks. All the while, he helped Gabriel step up into leadership of the team and keep their crime fighting activities up, on the lookout for Russell or any of their usual enemies.

His experiences with the loss of his powers and his journey to the land of the dead had changed his outlook somewhat. He was less of a clown, lost part of his optimism but became more radical in using his powers and more protective of the team's well-being. He scolded everyone when the idea to disband came up, because they realized that there were threas out there that they could not handle by themselves. They came to terms with the fact that they were going to need help and when each was given a choice to resign from the team if they felt it was too much for them, Demos stated immediately that he was not leaving the team for anything.

During this time, he and Ryan were recruited by Gold Mask to join the Dante Society and receive proper training in hunting demons. Demos wasn't very happy with this development, nor did he particularly like Gold Mask, but decided to stick with it out of a sense of duty to take out demons and to provide some moral and emotional support to Ryan, who was still in relative shambles after Russell and XSTNC.

Personality
Overall, there is only one way to describe Demos: Typical New Orleans Cajun. He had an upbringing that was rough-and-tumble enough to give him his eccentricities but not so harsh to take away his classiness while 'doing his thing'.

A perpetually optimistic and bright personality, something of a clown and extravagant person, Demos doesn't always know when to draw the line. Extremely loud, spontaneous and talkative to the point of being a little unstable, but 'there is a method in his madness'. He may talk a lot but he is careful about what he says. In a paradoxical contrast to his talkative attitude, he is very well-versed in keeping secrets, both his own and those of others.

Nevertheless, sometimes he is described as a 10-year-old in a grownup's body. He is very prone to a rather theatrical and exaggerated behavior, especially when using his sorcery. One of his favorite tricks is manipulating a voodoo doll of someone in their face and jabbering profanities and insulting them while using his powers on them. He says it comes naturally to him.

Demos is relatively innocent and naive in his morality and attitude to the world and in his motives for helping people, which he thinks sometimes gets him in trouble. He once told Ryan that he wished he could be as ruthless as he was. He abhors using magic for immoral purposes and gets angry when he sees magic misused.

Demos does not get mad very easily and is very forgiving but if he does get really mad, he acts very hectically and has been described as a hysterical maniac. Sometimes it is Baron Samedi that prods him into his worst moments. What gets him angry the easiest is witnessing his partners in imminent danger. Possibly affected by his mother's sacrifice for him, Demos gets easily attached to people around him, especially the Nightwatch team, whom he considers both friends and family away from home. He has stated that if anyone ever threatens them, he’ll ‘destroy them’. He is also very close to his remaining family, especially with his father.

Demos' apparent immaturity and his outrageous behavior seem to give him bad luck with ladies but he has had a few one night stands--and he doesn't talk about them because he enjoys his privacy. He seems to have a crush on Belladonna (Izzy Marinou).

Allies
Abaddon (Ryan Gaven)

Uriel (Gabe Rivven)

Feral (Ashley Caradyne)

Troll (Troy Svetrowski)

The Weatherman (Jibran Haytham)

Razorspark (Jin Young)

Belladona (Izzy Marinou)

Glitch

Dr. Evan Kelly

Abby Strandford

Nathan Scott

Archangel (Michael Rivven)

Smoke (Mark Caradyne)

Gold Mask

The Dante Society

Powers
Channeling


 * Demos' powers are based upon Baron Samedi's authority that allows him to draw power from both the land of the dead and the land of the living, which makes him able to cast spells in both realms. Sometimes he has allowed himself to become a medium for a different loa temporarily, which may alter his powers for that time. His connection with Samedi gives him permission to strip a voodoo practitioner of their powers and influence, temporarily or permanently.

Sorcery


 * Demos is able to use both the magic he draws from his connection to Baron Samedi, as well as magic that he learns. He doesn't always need to speak to focus his magic, but he needs to have eye contact with his targets, or have something that has a connection with them, such as hair, blood, a personal item or, if a place rather than person, a clear image of it or part of it, like dust. Some of his sorcery is tied to the use of powders, sigils, potions or artifacts (dolls, gris-gris, fetishes), used to amplify the effect or render something permanent or even to hide the source of a spell. To affect a target that he doesn't have eye-contact with or a link to them, Demos requires direct intervention from Baron Samedi and that is not always easy to get. He is considered a very powerful (if a bit specialized and unorganized) magic-user and one of the strongest Voodoo masters alive.

Elemental Sorcery


 * Demos' magic isn't ideal to control the natural elements and he rarely does so, but he has shown ability in minimally controlling the basic elements of fire, air, water and earth. He has a better affinity for fire and although he cannot control the weather like Weatherman, he can create limited rain from existing clouds and start powerful winds.

Body Manipulation
 * A part of his magic considered his 'calling card'. He is able to control people's bodies and movements by maintaining eye-contact, as though they were puppets or even individual body parts, such as forcing one's jaw to clamp shut. He does not control their consciousness, so they are aware of being controlled and what he's making them do. Besides eye-contact, he needs a relative close proximity to his target, about 100 feet. He cannot control any powers they have, unless they are directly related to movement, only their physical bodies. Although he does not need to move to control others, he is fond of using a voodoo doll to pretend he's controlling them with, or act out a kind of drunken-looking dance.

Hypnosis


 * Demos can hypnotize anyone he comes in direct eye-contact with, bringing them under his control (including animals and non-human species). Beings with extremely powerful willpower are known to resist his hypnosis, such as his partner Abaddon. Some supernatural beings like demons and other powerful wizards are known to be resistant as well.


 * Memory Manipulation: The first of his many powers that he finds himself not liking, Demos can manipulate the memories of people and erase or alter certain memories. He is extremely fickle about using this only as a last result, out of principal.
 * Mind Control: He can influence a person's actions and decisions, as long as they are susceptible to his hypnosis. He cannot easily force them to do something they would not normally (out of morality or choice) do.

Superhuman Strength


 * Has used his sorcery to grant himself (and others) temporary superhuman strength.

Superhuman Durability


 * Has used his sorcery to grant himself (and others) temporary superhuman durability.

Flight


 * Can achieve levitation and propulsion but he isn't very fast or agile.

Force Field


 * A part of his sorcery that he has cultivated a lot, he can erect protective or restraining fields of power around him and/or others that can endure energy blasts and physical blows very well.

Teleportation


 * Able to teleport himself and/or others anywhere he needs to, but to do so he needs to know the area or teleport to a specially prepared voodoo ground. He has 'hijacked' the grounds of other voodoo practitioners to sabotage or surprise them.

Limited Dimensional Travel


 * Demos can travel freely between the realm of the living and the realm of the dead, only. He is reluctant to bring others with him from either side to the other.

Magical Awareness


 * He has supernatural sensitivity to occult (especially Voodoo) activities and magical phenomena. He is also able to see and hear supernatural entities that others cannot, and is able to make others see and hear them as well.

Dispel


 * Able to remove illusions, holographic images and most magical effects applied by others, the latter depending on their power.

Telekinesis


 * Not power of mind per se, but Demos can manipulate people or objects without physically touching them.

Limited Conjuring


 * Demos can spontaneously conjure certain items (pulling them out of his hat usually) but he requires absolute concentration to do so. So far he has conjured water, rope, a bolt-cutter, paper, an apple and a lot of voodoo dolls which seem to be easiest for him to conjure.

Summoning


 * Demos is capable of two types of summoning.

The first enables him to summon entities from the spiritual world of voodoo, either physical entities (such as living Voodoo dolls) or spiritual ones (he frequently summons some loa or other to seek knowledge and assistance). He is also able to summon the ghost of a deceased person from the land of the dead. This type of summoning usually works only if the summoned is willing to come. He can force them to show up but he hates doing so. The second type of summoning allows him to summon a physical object from one place to another, although he needs to know its exact shape, size, location and name. This often fails.

Possession


 * Through a ritual he is able to summon an entity from the spiritual world into the body of someone else. Once he summoned Voodoo spirit Comte de Sangue into Ryan to fight off a demon. Sometimes he has summoned loas (by drawing their veve on the body) or ghosts into others when he wants to talk face-to-face with them. He can also become possessed by Baron Samedi at the loa's whim or another loa (as long as they have his permission). Being possessed by Baron Samedi is not very pleasant for him.

Size Alteration


 * He can spontaneously increase or decrease his overall volume and size.

Intangibility


 * Spontaneously makes himself intangible to avoid damage, dodge an attack or peek through a wall.

Invisibility


 * Can make himself and/or others invisible.

Communication with the Dead


 * Besides summoning them to the land of the living temporarily, Demos can communicate with the dead through rituals or freely converse with existing ghosts. This ability also allows him to banish them or send them on the Deadside.

Extraction of Souls


 * Demos can extract the soul of someone, leaving them in a comatose state. This requires physical contact. He can kill them by severing the tie between soul and body.

Astral Projection


 * Able to project his consciousness somewhere else, leaving his sleeping body behind. Very risky to use against other Voodoo users.

Necromancy


 * By either inserting an amount of his power into a body, or summoning back their soul into it, Demos can raise zombies. He hates doing this, especially with humans. He has complete command over the zombies he raises and can order them to do anything he pleases, including acting as remote eyes for him. His zombies can bear next to no resemblance to being dead (if the body is fresh enough) other than being unintelligent, unable to speak properly and only following orders. They do not feel pain or need to drink or eat. He always tries to lay them to rest as quick as he possibly can.

Golemancy


 * Demos is able to temporarily animate fetishes and voodoo dolls and command them like a golems.

Mystical Resistance


 * As he is under the influence of one of the greatest loas of Voodoo, Demos is under the direct protection of Baron Samedi, which safe-guards him from many magical assaults and effects. He may not be immune to every kind of magical assault, but he can shrug off the magic of lesser sorcerors. The veve (sigil) of Baron Samedi on his chest acts as a protective talisman.

Divination


 * Through the use of tarot cards he can determine the nature of a problem in the near future and by use of trance can find the location of a problem, person or object.

Cursing


 * He can place curses on people that have varying effects, such as causing them to turn themselves over to the police and admitting everything, being unable to lie, getting ill and/or wasting away, opening wounds on their body, dying (rarely), being forced to obey any command given to them, even unintentionally, having constant nightmares, being followed by ghosts of people they killed, seeing zombies and demons and other effects that he determines. He can also remove curses he has placed and reverse their ill effects. Sometimes this ability gets out of control, such as when he accidentally cursed someone with talking gibberish, without realizing while angry.

Transformation


 * Can temporarily transform someone into an animal or object. Uses it to alter his appearance to that of the regalia of Samedi's Envoy and disguise his appearance.

Illusion


 * Demos can use illusions to disguise himself and others or scare susceptible opponents.

Abilities
Arcane Knowledge


 * He has a vast knowledge of the occult, especially Voodoo and Santeria-related matters. As he is able to contact the loa and especially Baron Samedi as he pleases, he has access to their knowledge as well--provided they're willing to tell him.

Sleight-Of-Hand Expert

Good Combatant


 * Demos practiced boxing since he was young with his older brothers.

Improvisation


 * Very adept at coming up with spells and rituals on the go, as well as substituting unavailable materials.

Stage Magician


 * His personal flare for the flamboyant and theatrical makes him able to perform simple and more elaborate tricks and illusions.

Bi-lingual


 * Besides English, Demos also speaks French.

Strength Level
Demos has the strength and physical capabilities of an young man his age who engages in minimal regular exercise.

As a sorcerer, Demos ranks among the most powerful and knowledgeable ones alive and has worked alongside powerful entities like Gold Mask. The full extent of his powers is still a matter of question and he is very easily the most powerful member of Nightwatch.

Weaknesses
Demos is vulnerable to most normal human weaknesses.

Eye-contact or sympathetic link is needed for most of his magic.

Not very good at physical confrontations, prefers magic.

High-Level Magics


 * If the magic of an opponent is greater than his, it becomes very difficult for him to win a battle. It's almost impossible to interrupt a spell set in motion higher-level magics.

Dependency on Baron Samedi


 * Demos' powers are directly coming from Baron Samedi and should he choose to do so, the loa can render Demos' magic ineffectual and even strip him of his powers temporarily. And Samedi is a very fickle loa and loves to bother and test him.

Anti-Voodoo Protection


 * Demos' magic can be interrupted by the use of sigils and talismans designed to repel and defend against Voodoo. Sometimes Demos can overpower them, but not always.

Miscellaneous
Demos creates the body-paint, trousers, top hat and cane he wears by his own magic, transforming his own clothes into his 'costume' and conjuring the paint. He doesn't alter his shoes though because--as he claims--can't really get them to be comfortable.

Equipment
Cane


 * Demos is almost always seen with a skull-tipped cane. It appears to be used as a focus for his magic and as a crude club although he doesn't necessarily need it. It is deceptively strong as he has used it to wedge a massive steel door ajar without it showing any signs of strain.

Top Hat


 * Mostly a prop, but Demos usually conjures things out of it, most notably his numerous voodoo dolls.

Powders and Dolls


 * As any good Voodoo priest, Demos carries with him the necessary powders, herbs and dolls that facilitate the use of his magic. Among others he carries powders that induce sleep, poison, hallucinations and paralysis. He also carries the infamous 'zombie powder' mixture, a potent powder that can render any human who ingests it paralyzed and in a state of catatonia for a short amount of time. Demos has altered its chemistry a bit to make it non-lethal and simply paralytic and he always carries the antidote with him.

Transportation
Teleportation, Portals, Flight

He also owns a dingy little scooter.

Weapons
None

Trivia

 * Lactose intolerant.
 * Appears to be unaffected by even the hottest spicy foods. He's even chewed on a naga chili pepper (hottest chili pepper in the world) and stated that he found it "a bit of a kick but alright".
 * Quite afraid of needles.
 * Whenever Baron Samedi directly possesses him, he will invariably indulge in cigars and a large intake of rum, both of which Demos hates.
 * Occasionally has nightmares from hurricane Katrina sweeping through New Orleans, or his mother's death.

Recommended Reading
Nightwatch: The Long Road

Samedi's Envoy: Shadow Man

Nightwatch: One Path

Nightwatch: Sins of Our Fathers

Abaddon: Nightmare Day

Nightwatch: One of Our Own

Nightwatch: Hellraiser

Nightwatch: Price of Pain

Nightwatch: Of Blood and Graveyards

Samedi's Envoy: Deadside