Abracadaver

Mortimer Coffin (a.k.a. formerly Martin Achery)

As a fledgling magician, Martin Achery, calling himself the Amazing Achery, struggled to make ends meet. Somehow neither his name nor his show won over audiences the way he had hoped. He desperately wanted to become rich and famous, and, more importantly, he wanted to become known as the greatest magician since Harry Houdini. Sadly, it never really worked out for him.
As he descended into depression, his show became increasingly gimmicky, eventually focusing on a death motif that appeared lame and desperate as opposed to hip and edgy. This prompted him to adopt the stage name of Mortimer Coffin, better known as the Magnificent Mortimer. As success continued to elude him, he became increasingly withdrawn and spent an unhealthy amount of time locked behind closed doors perusing old musty tomes in search of something, anything, that would grant him real power. Spending most of his waking hours poring through dusty books in dimly-lit rooms, his health began to fail. Still he searched, consumed by despair and gloom, but determined to find something to improve his act and make him famous.
Then, at last, he found what he was looking for in a black book, ancient and written in a strange mix of utterly alien symbols and glyphs. Neatly tucked into its pages, written in old-fashioned script, he found meticulously scribed notes, as if the previous possessor had attempted to decipher its writings. But the work was incomplete.
Mortimer Coffin studied the book night and day, seeking to unlock its secrets before his failing body finally gave out. It was a spell book of some sort, that much was apparent. It spoke of dark dimensions and the preternatural entities inhabiting them. It also hinted at the power wielded by those able to tap into these dimensions. Finally, the real power that he had long desired was within his reach. He devoted himself to its study, forgoing food and sleep; the end was now in sight. However, he didn’t realize just how true that was until it was too late.
Wracked by terrible fits of coughing and nearly crippled due to his infirmity, he drove himself beyond the point of exhaustion. He was so close, and he felt the grim shadow of death overtaking him. It was a race to the very end... a race he both won and lost. He did indeed achieve his goal of unlocking the dark magicks of the black book. And as his life ebbed away, he realized the dread secret of the black book—only the dead could wield the dark powers it held.
So Mortimer Coffin died, but in dying he gained access to the real power that he hungered for. He is not merely dead—he is undead, effectively immortal, and he has the means to achieve the fame, fortune, and power he’s always wanted, but under a new name—the nefarious necromancer, Abracadaver!

Physical Description

Special abilities

Over time, as Abracadaver has delved deeper into the black book, unlocking its darkest secrets, he has become increasingly powerful. He wields potent magicks that enable him to control darkness, which he uses in a variety of ways. He can also sense living beings, which he uses to locate victims in order to drain their life. Finally, being undead has given Abracadaver inhuman strength and made him resistant to pain. His body still suffers harm—his pale, dead flesh comes apart in meaty chunks when struck hard enough, reflected by the Fades flaw on his Protection—and he must occasionally procure body parts from other corpses, which he can then stitch in place of his own missing pieces.

Mental characteristics

Intellectual Characteristics

For a dead man, Abracadaver is quite animated. He is still something of a showman because of his days as a stage magician. He can’t help but act with a certain flair when confronted with a potential audience, even if that audience is costumed and is trying to thwart his latest plot. He is particularly fond of deathtraps and dramatic monologues. When he’s alone, Abracadaver tends to be more withdrawn and brooding. He does, however, possess a rather morbid sense of humor, even in his darkest hours.

Social

Contacts & Relations

There are few people willing to work with someone as morose and, well, dead as Abracadaver. He makes a powerful ally, but few can stand being around him for very long, so most of his associations are strickly short term. As far as other villains go, Madame Macabre is the only one who seems to enjoy his company at all. When he needs a helping hand, he usually just animates a small army of zombies to do his bidding—not only are they tireless workers, but they follow orders without question and never complain about anything!
Abracadaver seems to evoke a sense of loathing from almost everyone. However, he maintains a special animosity for other magicians, both normal and superpowered alike. His fierce desire to be known as the greatest magician of all drives him to seek out others of his kind in order to “borrow” their ideas, drain their life force, and “unburden” them of any magical items or weapons they may possess.