London Chronicles - Charnel Society

The Charnel Society is a secretive and radical splinter of the Blackthorn Necromantic Society, convinced that the convergence of Rift energy and Charnel current represents not a danger but an evolutionary threshold. They operate in absolute secrecy, funded by sources that include — though the heroes don't yet know it — the Moriarty Network.

THE OPPOSITION 

Cornelia Ash

Collector of secrets, mistress of duplicates, allergic to being touched 

Daughter of Cornelius Ash, the unconventional scientist, aka Construct. She was a famous stage star, famed for her Shakespearean roles and well known to London's Bohemian community. She is also the mistress and lover of Lord Grey, and it is rumoured that it was he who exposed her to the rift energies that have changed her both physically and mentally.

Now a cold, precise woman who moves through Rift micro-tears with unsettling ease. Her primary abilities are self-duplication and teleportation— she can generate up to three copies of herself from Rift-folded space, each fully capable and independent. Distinguishing the original from the duplicates is the key to defeating her. She serves as Grey's field commander in his absence and runs the Cable Street operation.

The Resurrected Man 

A construct that does not tire, does not doubt, does not stop.

The Society's most disturbing creation, and in some ways its proof of concept. A living man who died during Babbage's Folly and was subsequently reanimated by a simultaneous application of Rift energy and Charnel current. He is not a Shambler — he thinks, reasons, and feels. He is also not entirely human. His touch can temporarily suppress the life force of living beings, and he heals damage that would kill ordinary men. He is fiercely loyal to Lord Grey, who gave him his second existence, and Cornelia Ash, whom he sees as an angel, the herald of the new beginning.

Tobias & Emerson 

The muscle, not terribly bright and a coward with very good aim. 

Two bonded men. Brothers — or close enough as makes no difference, raised together in one of London's charity orphanages after both lost their families within the same terrible year. Where one grew canny and careful, the other grew reckless and brutal. 

Their linked origin pulled them into the Rift underworld young, firstly undertaking petty work, running messages, standing lookout, doing the small, unglamorous jobs. Finally. Resurrectionists, stealing bodies and killing some innocents to meet the demand for Shamblers. One night a botched job exposed them raw Rift power when a grave held an alien body. Now, with some powers, their fates are permanently bound together.

More to Come

Further members of the Charnel Society, including Lord Morbius Grey, will be introduced as our story unfolds. Cornelia and her allies will make their debut in What the Ashes Conceal.