Alice Hoffenstien
(a.k.a. Corpse Daughter / Legion)
"I couldn't win at the end. I thought maybe people would be willing to accept the inner truths of the soul - the truths that could have set them free. I thought our folks were strong enough to brave past the pushback of Compact leaders and their dogs. I was wrong. The Compact will always live in cowardice until the night takes over, and everyone will always run to comforting truths. But now, we have the choice to live a life, where we can be happy and grow up together. It's not enlightement, but it's happiness. Bridgid, this is the best choice for the both of us. Don't make me stop you."Alice was left with a rather tough childhood when her father was killed under mysterious circumstances, and her mother was possessed when she ventured too close to the settlement gates leading to the surface world. She was later adopted by her godfather, Reverend Aldrin when there was no one left to take care of her. The two grew a tight bond until they were like father and daughter. But regardless of their closeness, Alice kept a double life.
Falling into the Rabbit Hole
Following her father's death, she found manuscripts and journal entries written by him disclosing several conspiracies tied to the Settlement Compact Government, revealing several agencies within Compact Leadership that remain unknown to the public along with scientific and supernatural research done on the human soul, the subconscious mind, and the spiritual realm, to which her deceased father boldly claimed in his papers was a place everyone could access at any time if they just knew how to.Rise to Popularity
This is where her obsession with spiritualism and her distrust for the Compact government began. While her adopted father was away in distant church meetings, she kept in her study, learning from her father's research. In receiving a vision from an "angel" (revealing to her the bright future of America), and gaining metaphysical powers from her experiments that had roots in the occultic and esoteric, (powers include creating visions, illusions, controlling objects with her mind, reading thoughts, lucid dreaming, predicting the future, and seeing into an object's past) she wooed her friends, her classmates, then onto children from all across the Compact into joining her cause of enlightenment and revolution. However, this movement only went so far when Compact Elites (who were 33-degree Freemasons) found out about Alice and her movement and captured her.Shot from heaven
Charged to carry out her punishment, an enigmatic foreigner so-called "I AM THE MAN WHO DID IT", a long-time accomplice of Alice to help her fulfill her desires for enlightenment, put a stop to her once he realized she proved to be a danger to the status quo. Having sympathy for her since he too was misled by personal ambitions and a hunger for knowledge, and the fact he was convicted of a greater offense (he betrayed his brotherhood in the hopes of sharing their esoteric research with the world), he decided to make a deal with the elites to keep her alive, but in turn, use her as their personal trump card - Legion, a supernatural terror consisting of hundreds of children capable of taking the form of one singular child, possessed by an uncalculatable number of demons. This demonic force insures the protection of the "Kingdom Project", which aims to exploit the powers of children's life force for breakthroughs in technological and spiritual science to be used for G.O.T.H, and sets the scene for the first half of the Heartwell Chronicles.Extras
Dialogue between Alice and her father (simply called "Hoffenstien")
Alice: "Mother thinks you're pretentious" Hoffenstien: "That's a sign she's still head over heels for me. She thought I was pretentious when I first took her out. Now look where we are. Arguing, but now in the presence of a child. A step up, is it not?"
Alice: "Dad... Do you think we could ever see the surface world?" Hoffenstien: "Well... Build yourself a time machine, and prevent a little girl from getting her knee scraped, and you could probably live life spared of the whole subterranean tragicomedy." Alice: "I...don't get you." Hoffenstien: "Nevermind, Ally. Actually no, bound the doctor who fixed up her knee, and ship him off to Easter island. That'd be best."
Hoffenstien: "Anything new today, Ally?" Alice: "Hmm... Well, Mona and Bridgid are fighting over Miroshi again." Hoffenstien: "Hmm, poor boy. His family immigrated from Japan only for their heir to be harassed by a pair of Irish twins." Alice: "What do you think he should do?" Hoffenstien: "What he should do? No, I'll tell you what the sisters should do. Fight for dominance and let nature decide who gets the mate. I for one want to see how that turns out."
Alice: "Hey, dad, you're the one who chose my name right? Why Alice?" *Father turns to her with a mischievous smile and a glint in his eye* Hoffenstien: "May you fall into the deepest of rabbit holes, all of which lead into enlightenment." Alice: "That doesn't tell me anything-" Hoffenstien: "Do your homework, Ally."
Dialogue between Alice and "I AM THE MAN WHO DID IT"
It's been four months. Four months without his eccentricities, and his snarky side comments. Four months since she played her lute along with his woodwind that's now sitting on top of a wardrobe collecting dust. Perhaps she subconsciously thought that this world depended on him, That without him, everything would cease to exist, for the possibility of him being gone didn't even cross her mind. Now, he's no longer keeping her mom up at night with his theories. He's no longer out on the patio blowing his woodwind. He's no longer planting her with sneaky ways to cause the teacher to make a fool out of herself. Nothing. He's just buried six feet under, laying there, not doing a damn thing. This world lost a legend. But everyone goes on by as if nothing changed, as he lies with a bunch of other forgotten folks. The only service left by the living was the gift of saving him a spot underneath one of the graveyard willows. The thing was bioluminescent, so at least his name would get some recognition. And it looks like it did. It was hard to make out who it was who stood before her father's gravestone some yards away. The settlement lanterns and the artificial sun began to dim signaling "Sundown", leaving the graveyard in a dreary form of grey and death. It was those times when the willows glowed the most. Quite a few ilks came by during the funeral service, but oddly enough, none with this man's physique. Although he was a blob in the distance, she could make out a plump form, or what could have been loose but formal clothing, hunched over as if the man used a cane. His scalp was bald, almost reflecting off the willow's glow. He was a stranger. After a minute of hesitation, she approached him. She was only a few feet behind the odd-looking man when she broke the silence with a pessimistic, almost cynical tone. "I'm guessing you couldn't make it to the funeral service." The man didn't break contact. However, he spoke as if he were in some trance, deeply contemplating the mysteries of life. He hardly seemed attached to the physical world around him. "No... I'm quite a busy individual, but... he was a good man. Very intellectual. A true scholar, indeed." He must have been a world accomplice. A fellow scientist, perhaps. Surely, when a family member visit's a loved one's grave, their intellect isn't likely to be the first thing they mention asides from love and friendship. The girl spoke again, but now slightly curious, "Did you know each other at work, right? Were you both scientists at the University of Metaphysics?" "Hmm." He hummed, but she could have easily mistaken it for amusement. Was it? "From there as well. I do appreciate a starving mind and a flaming curiosity. It's those two attributes that elevate humanity, wouldn't you agree, Miss Alice?" "Going straight to names, are we?!" She scoffed. Though she was terribly caught off guard when this mystery man knew her name, she instantly regretted opening her mouth when she found she still sounded as if her right mind was hanging by a string. The stranger, however, took this gently, turning his head just a bit so his right eye was just barely visible, looking back at her features. "Oh, my apologies. But your father talked a lot about you. I'm surprised how a man can hold a child to such a high place." He turned around completely, revealing his face. It was one of age, wrinkled stretching across his appearance, but his eyes seemed contrarily lively as if a young man was stuck inside an old man's body. But the oddest thing about him must have been his forehead which was impressively large to the point where it almost looked to be a deformation. A chill ran down her back. He seemed safe enough, but something about him struck her differently. He spoke softly as if he knew her apprehension, "He wanted you to be his successor, did you know that?" Her father's successor? How? He was an elite scientist. If anything, she was into history, music, and choir. Their interests, although matching well for the sake of curiosity and conversation, didn't pair well with practice. They both knew that. "Huh!" She chuckled. "The successor of what, exactly?" "His research. What else could it be?" Alice swallowed the lump in her throat, hoping she could force his words back into his throat. There was indeed research she discovered hidden underneath the floorboards. Although she was never into metaphysics and... stranger fields of science, she found it intensely interesting and studied it behind her family and friends backs. "But... I'm not in the same field as him." "Then why have you been engrossing yourself in his work?" Cold sweat began to form underneath her church dress, as she fidgeted her hands which felt like they were covered with frost. "W-what are you talking about?" "Underneath the floorboards. I believe he left it there for you. He knew something was to happen to him, and he wanted insurance. And you were that insurance since your mother is no longer an option." "But... I was so careful! I... I was sure-" "Nobody knew?" He finished for her. "Alice, don't fret about how I know. That doesn't matter, nor will it ever matter. What matters is that you're on the right path." "No, don't talk about my career path! I don't even know you! Where did you come from? How do you know my father really?! What's even your name?" The stranger dipped his chin, giggling under his breath. He looked up at her, unfazed. "My name is unimportant, Miss Alice. What is important is that you keep on with your studies. It's what your father would have wanted, which is why he assigned me to you. Once you've gained enough intel to have a faint understanding of how the universe and the human soul function, you'll be more open-minded to accept my demonstrations of the powers within us" "The powers within us?" "The metaphysical wonders stored within the subconscious mind that tie us to all things. Your father tried to fully realize it, but fate didn't seem to favor him. But you're curious. You're ambitious too." "You're acting like you've known me for some time." "And I have. And I know how you want to reform the Compact. You believe the whole concept of keeping underground is a cowardly one, and you seek to bring back America to its former glory. Now don't ask me how I know. Just tell me: Am I wrong?" "...No, you're not, but-" "Shut up now. That's all you had to say. Good, now, I have much to tend to. I'll leave you here and I will come back in exactly 3 months during the same hour, and during the same day of the month, when I'll meet you at Lost Saint's Bridge. I expect you to study your father's research and begin taking it to practice. I suggest first attempting astral projection, as it's the beginner's step to enlightenment. But what matters is that you experience some breakthrough. You've been sitting on the sidelines for too long." For a stranger, he sure talked a lot. In any other circumstance, she would have either fled, or ignored him, but something told her she was safe. He, after all, only asked that she carry on with her usual life. That is, terribly obsessed. And by all means, that's what she was planning to do. The stranger smiled and gave her one final word of advice. "And when you carry on with your life, whether you be at church, school, or in any institution always remember to question authority, and always seek the deep truths of the world. The truths that are kept hidden. The truths-" "Behind the lies." Alice found a bit of satisfaction in finally being a step ahead of him. If he wore a familiar face, she would have smiled, "Those are my father's words." "I know." The stranger looked back at the gravestone, sighing deeply. "I'll be leaving you both now." He turned around and walked behind the tree, leaving her with only questions that resurfaced in her mind. What happened to her father? How does this man know Alice and her family? What will happen three months from now? "Wait!" Alice cried after him, but when she scurried behind the tree, she found that no one was there.Tenets of Faith
Although she identifies as Christian, she doesn't confine herself to only the teachings of the bible. Alice believes wholeheartedly that there's some truth, or a form of truth, within almost every faith, cult, and sect in the world, hence why she delves into esoteric and mystic manuscripts to "Unlock the secrets of the subconscious mind and the soul", in order to "Surpass the demons".
Conditions
Age
16
Date of Birth
23rd of April
Date of Death
13th of March
Life
2008
2025
Circumstances of Death
Killed when Bridgid exorcised the demons and conjoined children out of her body.
Birthplace
Settlement 5018 (Firefly Settlement)
Place of Death
Nebraska (surface world)
Children
Sex
Female
Eyes
Blue
Hair
sleek, blonde
Height
5'5
Quotes & Catchphrases
"Forget all past paradigms. Trust me."
"I'm doing all this so I could someday sit outside and watch the sunrise as I sip some hot chocolate."
Belief/Deity
Christianity/esotericism/mysticism
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