Eddie Yrnes

Name: Edward Derek Yrnes
Alias:
None
AKAs: Eddie Yrnes, various conning identities


Physical Description

Hair:
Short, dark
Eyes: Brown
Ethnicity: White American, Boston
Age: 32
Build: Average build, 5' 10''
Uniform:
None
Personal Style: Eddie tends to wear loud short-sleeved shirts over t-shirts or vests/tanks and dress pants with loafers or boat shoes. He always wears a pork pie hat.



Psychological Description

Personality: Eddie Yrnes is a fun-loving, self-serving con-man with little concern for others sakes over his own. He's not a bad guy, he does have a heart, but he's quite selfish.
Relationships:
Eddie's only 'significant' relationships are with the dead that haunt him. There are a few that hang around a lot more than others, one or two he even considers friends, though most of them are hanging around for their own selfish needs or just to pester him to be a better person (it depends on their reason for sticking around). In particular, there is a psychiatrist who died in the 60s, but has kept apprised of new developments in his field while haunting the pyschiatric hospital he had worked and died in; there's a gentleman in his early 30s, who had been a gambler in the 70s and 80s and been killed after he won a game of poker against some un-reputable sorts; a middle-aged woman who had been a former teacher of his before he was sectioned; and a few others.


Powers & Abilities:
Eddie Yrnes is a medium. He can see, hear and speak with the dead that are still present. The effectiveness of this ability depends on the state of the spirit in question; his own ability is relatively stable. With concentration and effort, he is able to channel the dead that aren't otherwise significantly still present, but he rarely does this.
Weaknesses: Eddie rarely channels the un-present dead because of the side-effects. To do so, he has to pierce beyond our plane which can catch the attention of malevolent spirits.
Skills:
Eddie is quite the accomplished, if small-time, con-man. He has the gift of the gab, able to lie freely and easily, and the skills and contacts to be able to reasonably support his machinations.
Equipment:
Eddie has a collection of IDs and other paperwork to support his cons. He does also tend to carry a snub-nosed .22 strapped to his ankle.


Background: Eddie was born with the sight. He didn't realise what it was until he was a little older, however. In his first few years, it was assumed by his single mother (his father was a good-for-nothing that went out for cigarettes one evening and never came back) that he just had very strange imaginary friends. As he approached 10, the spirits he saw started to become more... traumatic. In his youth, it seemed the really troubled ones didn't bother with him, because he couldn't do anything. But as he got older, they became more desperate and thought he'd soon be old enough to help them.

He was sectioned as a teenager, over concerns his behaviour was symptomatic of schizophrenic dissociation and manic depression affecting hallucinations and psychosis. For a while there, he believed it too. But the longer he was under treatment, the more confused doctors became. It was so unusual for a patient to accept and agree exactly what was wrong with them, yet still experience such vivid hallucinations and episodes. The concern became that his condition was so severe that despite part of him wanting to accept he was ill, there was a part of his brain so affected by delusion that that in fact became a part of it.

Over time, however, Eddie began to see and hear things that started to convince him he wasn't ill; not in the way he was being told he was at least. His hallucinations started telling him things they couldn't possibly know if they were just in his mind. One in particular was a former doctor of the facility, who'd died in the 60s and had been trapped there since, who was of especial help. It took time for them to convince Eddie, but eventually, they did. And so, with the help of a few of the spirits he'd come to see more and more often, the 60s psychiatrist in particular, he began to correct his behaviour slowly but surely, and was eventually discharged.

He had already become disillusioned with his abilities. Despite the help they'd been ultimately, it was the spirits and his ability to commune with them that had put him in hospital in the first place. Eddie learned to ignore them as much as possible, but that only went so far, so eventually he started to learn how to take advantage of them. If they wanted his help, he was going to get something out of it too.

For the last 15 years Eddie has made a reasonable living as, essentially, a con-man. Even if his pursuits are legitimate and legal, he goes about them with a distinctly unfair advantage.

Character Links



NPCs

Beverley Prendergast - Eddie's teacher at 13, the year he was sectioned. She played a part in the decision to have him sectioned, having witnessed his behaviour and growing concerned for his wellbeing, but always regretted the extreme actions that were taken. Died a year later from an allergic reaction and soon started to 'haunt' Eddie. Her purpose seems to be helping Eddie find his way, rather than the other way around.


Marshall Stanten - A gambler in the '70s and '80s that won a card game against the wrong person, and was the victim of a subsequent spate of mob revenge hits. One of the spirits already haunting Eddie when he was sectioned, never apologised. They still haven't figured out what he needs to move on; he's a bit of a selfish, lecherous, greedy asshole.



Dr Herman Sandquist - A psychiatrist that had worked in the hospital Eddie was sectioned in back in the '60s. He was the main driving force in helping Eddie convince the hospital he wasn't in fact insane, by hiding the idiosyncrasies caused by his "sight". Dr Sandquist seems to be of the mind he is also here for Eddie's benefit (like Beverley) rather than the other way round, after having spent decades keeping up with progress in his field by haunting the hospital to suddenly be presented with this child. Beverley, though she has never outwardly said so, is not so convinced and Eddie tends to agree with her. Dr Sandquist only ever seems to pop up and haunt Eddie in situations where he feels his expertise is needed, whether it actually is or not. Generally very kind and very intelligent, but perhaps a little deluded about his purpose and as such his "station", in a sense.



Alison Maitland - A young girl, 8 or 9 (she can't remember, and isn't sure why she can't remember) abducted in the '90s. Her body was never found; we're pretty sure at this point that Eddie's supposed to help Alison remember what happened to her, and where her remains are, to give her parents closure, and hopefully, peace. Friendly, playful, often mischievous, but also very insecure and fearful, with little to memory of her final days before dying.



Homer Gatys - An African-American activist killed in the '70s during a peaceful protest. He was struck over the back of the head while taking a rest-room break, and his skull cracked open between a toilet bowl and its hinged seat. He subsequently drowned while unconscious as the cistern took damage and overfilled the bowl. Homer remembers that all very vividly, but never got a look at his killer. No one was ever identified as a suspect. Homer is very certain of the fact that all Eddie has to do is help Homer figure out who killed him, so that if nothing else, he can look him in the eye and know, even if he can't do anything else. Homer is a strong and confident character, conscientious but with no time for bullshit. There have been many hints to show Homer may soon graduate from a lost spirit, to a tortured spirit, a ghoul or a poltergeist or similar; this typically happens when it becomes impossible for their unfinished business to ever be finished. In Homer's case, his killer may be on his death-bed, and Homer will never be able to 'confront' him.