The White-Haired Gentleman
Mr. (a.k.a. The White-Haired Gentleman)
The White-Haired Gentleman was a (likely deceased) individual who now torments The Garbage Man as a hallucination.
Divine Domains
Law, Magic, Death; Craft, Retribution
Divine Goals & Aspirations
While The White-Haired Gentleman seems to take joy in toying with The Garbage Man through incisive philosophical rhetoric, he also regularly admonishes The Garbage Man to mend his ways while the opportunity lasts. The White-Haired Gentleman often talks about how the people of the Manifold are on a 'never-ending journey of self-improvement,' that sentient life can be redeemed for their temporal sins (a sentiment The Garbage Man vehemently disagrees with) with the proper application of effort. In this sense, if the White-Haired Gentleman truly were an avatar of the Creator, he would be most closely aligned with the Knappist conception of that deity. This fact is all the more curious because, as far as most records are concerned, The Garbage Man has never been deeply engrossed in the tenets of Rostran Esotericism (of which Knappism is a sect). However, as The Garbage Man does not discuss the White-Haired Gentleman with anyone, no one has been able to point out this unusual circumstance to him.
Physical Description
Facial Features
The White-Haired Gentleman possesses the strong jaw and weathered brow of a workman.
Apparel & Accessories
The Gentleman typically appears wearing the blue flannel shirt, carpenter pants, and steel-toed boots that Cyrus last saw the living version of the man wearing. Sometimes, however, the Gentleman's attire will change to fit the circumstances in which The Garbage Man sees him (i.e. a tuxedo when Cyrus is trying to blend in with socialites).
Mental characteristics
Personal history
The White-Haired Gentleman was most likely an average citizen of Tartagloam. At some point, however, this unassuming individual crossed the paths of Cyrus Vinge, the man who would eventually become the dimension-hopping terrorist known as The Garbage Man. At the time, Cyrus thought nothing of the man other than that he must have lived somewhere along Cyrus' pickup route (Cyrus was a garbage man at the time). Later, thought, the city was besieged - and ultimately destroyed - by the Grand Army of Voxelia, the trauma of which broke Cyrus and changed him into the omnicidal nihilist that he is in the year 10,000.
Now, long after the living person's likely demise, The Garbage Man sees the man, whom he calls the White-Haired Gentlemanm in dreams and daylight hallucinations. In these psychic manifestations, the presence of the White-Haired Gentleman drives The Garbage Man to greater feats of rebellion against all of the Creator's works, as the Gentleman ceaselessly needles The Garbage Man for his failures, his illogical pursuit of satisfaction for the crimes inflicted against him and his city, and his distorted religious ideals.
In this state, The Gentleman represents many things: the Forgist creator deity whom The Garbage Man rebels against, The Garbage Man's own self-doubts, and perhaps a ghastly echo of the Cyrus' deceased friends and neighbors. In a way, even though he wasn't influential enough in the grand story of the Manifold Sky to be remembered in modern day, the White-Haired Gentleman's influence can be felt throughout the Manifold through The Garbage Man's deeds.
Relationships
Divine Classification
Lawful Neutral
Alignment
Lawful Neutral
Species
Ethnicity
Life
9930
9970
40 years old
Circumstances of Death
Killed in the Siege of Tartagloam
Spouses
Siblings
Children
Gender
Male
Eyes
Dark Blue
Hair
Short, silvery white (formerly dark brown)
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Pale
Quotes & Catchphrases
I enacted a great culling of those I thought responsible for the death of my wife, a disproportionate bloodbath like none you can imagine. I come to you in this form to appeal to whatever kindred you might have left for humanity: don't make the same mistake. This existence is already more bloodstained than it needs to be. You have the power to make a more reasonable response - to get justice - but you're too full of rage to see it. And when you're done - all alone in the void where this beautiful Creation once stood - who will take your confession when the guilt for you sins finally takes hold?
This place isn't a prison. It's a penitentiary: a place you're sent to to reflect on your sins and, hopefully, achieve a reformation of spirit. 10,000 years and countless cycles in, I'm disappointed by your lack of contrition.
We've always been our own worst enemies. Even- no, especially in here. Maybe the next instance will get it right.
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