Hidden Screams Haunted Attraction

Name: Mrs. Ravena Mayhem
Former Name: Ravena Crowhurst
Title: The Velvet Widow (later known)
Sister: Lady Verena Crowhurst
Husband: Dr. Michael Mayhem, aka Mad Hermy
Affliction: Infected by the Chaos of the Underworld

Ravena Crowhurst was once the pride of the noble Crowhurst lineage—a family known for its occult scholarship and political sway in the Veil Kingdoms. While her sister, Lady Verena, pursued the aristocratic path with poise and perfection, Ravena was always the more curious, the more compassionate, the more human of the two.

It was at a masked symposium of forbidden sciences, hosted in the ruins of a cathedral sunken into the moors, where she first met Dr. Michael Mayhem—a brilliant and idealistic scientist researching the metaphysical boundaries between life and death. Drawn to his passion and haunted tenderness, Ravena defied her family’s warnings and eloped with Michael. They disappeared from high society, settling in a secluded manor to pursue “harmless” research together.

But everything changed when Michael vanished into the Underworld after being killed by a creature known as "The Hidden". Before his passing, he heard about a mystical portal called "The Grin Gate", a portal meant to bridge souls with the living realm. He returned one year later—broken, twisted, and smiling far too wide. No longer a man of science, but a laughing oracle of entropy. He now calls himself Mad Hermy, channeling the Chaos that had fused with his mind, spirit, and flesh.

Despite her horror, Ravena couldn’t bring herself to leave him. She sought to cure him, to find the man she married beneath the smeared face paint and maniacal riddles. But the Chaos—a sentient, infectious madness—had other plans. It seeped into her through whispered lullabies, inked kisses, and every accidental nick of the skin left by her husband’s jagged grin.

Becoming the Velvet Widow

Now Ravena is changing.

Her once serene beauty is warping into theatrical elegance: eyes rimmed with bleeding mascara, her voice tinged with haunting laughter, and her shadows moving even when she’s still. One side of her face subtly mirrors the painted grotesquerie of Mad Hermy’s—like a tragic mime cursed to reflect his descent.

Worse still, her mind flickers: snippets of rhyme where there should be prose, dancing urges where there should be dignity. She feels the pull of the Chaos—not as madness, but as liberation. As if every scream repressed in her gilded life is now invited to play.

Conflict and Ties

To Mad Hermy, she is both salvation and temptation. He calls her his porcelain paradox, amused by her resistance and craving her final collapse into shared madness.

To Lady Verena Crowhurst, Ravena is a tragic scandal. Verena now seeks to exorcise or eliminate her sister to preserve the family legacy—and possibly save her soul.

To herself, Ravena is torn. Does she fight the infection, or embrace it and rewrite the rules of order and chaos herself?

Legacy in Motion

The world knows her now as The Velvet Widow—a masked and unpredictable figure walking the razor’s edge between heroine and villainess. Is she a healer with one hand in the abyss, or the herald of a second breach?

Only time—and the next laugh—will tell.

Nature of the Infection – The Blooming of Chaos

The Chaos that infected Ravena is not a disease, but a sentient force of anti-logic and aesthetic madness. It doesn't consume the body like a parasite; it reinterprets the host, rewriting emotion into ritual, trauma into performance, and turning sanity into a stage.

Whereas Mad Hermy surrendered willingly, Ravena resists — and so the Chaos spreads slower, manifesting in more poetic, symbolic, and elegantly horrific ways.

Name: Lady Verena Crowhurst
Affiliations: House of Crowhurst (Ancient bloodline of occultists and scholars)
Title: The Madame of Briar Rose Manor
Family: Lady Verena Crowhurst (Sister), Dr. Michael Mayhem (Brother-in-law), Victor Crowsby (Son)
Affliction: Torn between wanting to save her sister or having to become her enemy!

The Legacy of Duskmere

Lady Verena Crowhurst was born the eldest daughter of the Crowhurst dynasty, a family cloaked in secrets, responsibility, and cold magic. Raised in the ancestral seat of Duskmere Hold, within the Veil Kingdom, where knowledge was armor and emotion a liability. Verena was trained in the ancient rites of banishment, soul-binding, and ancestral memory weaving.

While her sister Ravena bloomed in innocence and empathy, Verena was sculpted into the perfect Crowhurst matriarch—measured, merciless, and brilliant.

But Verena was not heartless. She loved her sister more than anyone, though she showed it not with warmth, but through silent protection, subtle shielding, and years of silently dismantling curses Ravena never knew had reached her.

The Tragedy of the Wedding and the Breach

Verena warned Ravena against marrying Michael Mayhem, sensing something not evil, but untethered in the man. His obsession with life after death struck too close to the Crowhurst's taboo studies—those locked away even from family.

When Michael vanished into the Underworld, Verena led secret rites to retrieve his soul. But it was too late. He came back a Ring Master of entropy, laughing with a god’s madness, and worse—he brought Chaos with him.

Ravena stayed. Madness spread. And in a moment of terrifying clarity, Verena realized Ravena was turning too.

The Son She Could Not Save – Victor Crowsby

Lady Verena had a child who was born under a blood moon, a thing of patchwork flesh, straw marrow, and a heart that beat in riddles. Verena named him Victor Crowsby—her attempt to anchor him to their bloodline rather than to that of his father, whom she hid him from.

Upon the return of Mad Hermy from the Underworld, Victor followed in his beloved Uncle's footsteps, taking hold of the chaos that was infecting the world.

He didn’t steal Victor. He simply laughed—and Victor followed.

Victor became the Scarecrow’s Smile, Mad Hermy’s lure and harvester. A monstrous muse-child who beckons the lost to Briar Rose Manor, where Madness devours them like an audience devoured by a show.

Verena could not kill her own son. So she turned to her ancestral craft.

The War Within: Saving Ravena or Ending Her

Verena now walks a narrow blade:

She seeks ancient anti-Chaos rites, delving into forbidden sanctums of order magic, even making pacts with logic spirits who demand she cut all emotional ties.
She builds a reliquary of soul-cleansing artifacts, hoping one can purge Ravena’s infection without ending her life.

But time is thin.

Ravena is transforming. Victor is no longer a child, but a walking smile-stuffed nightmare who whispers to his mother in her dreams. And Mad Hermy... knows Verena still hesitates.

Worse still—there is an ancient prophecy sealed in the Crowhurst catacombs:

“When the Crow breaks into two,
and the Smile devours the Moon,
the Velvet shall burn, or bloom—
but never both. One sister must end the tune.”

Powers and Tools of Lady Verena

Thread of Final Will – An unbreakable cord laced with ancestral blood, capable of binding a soul to judgment, preventing Madness from spreading further.
The Thirteen Masks of Remembrance – Each mask holds a Crowhurst memory spell. When worn, Verena gains access to centuries of ritual knowledge at great emotional cost.
The Mirror of Quiet Truth – Shows a person not as they are, but as they could have been, used to sway the infected back toward sanity—if only briefly.

Her Inner Conflict

She trains every night to face her sister in battle, but weeps silently afterward.
She writes letters to Victor—never sent, filled with motherly sorrow and warnings.
She tells herself that if Ravena falls... she will be the one to end her.
But her heart hesitates.

Because once—just once—she saw Ravena look back at her and say,

“I remember you… I remember me. Don’t let me go.”

And Verena doesn’t know if she’s strong enough to let that voice disappear forever.

Former Name: Lucien Garret Mayhem (Now Lou Garou)
Alias: “The Howler in the Swamp”
Species: Human (possibly something more…)
Location: Deep Louisiana swamps (Bayou des Oubliés)
Mask: Worn constantly to hide a grotesquely disfigured face
Family: Dr. Michael Mayhem / Mad Hermy (Brother), Harlan “HamHawk” Mayhem (Half-Brother), Dr. Victor Von Mayhem (Father and Patriarch of the Mayhem Bloodline)

Status: Hidden, vengeful, preparing for war

The Firstborn, The Forgotten

Lucien was the firstborn son of Dr. Victor Mayhem—a brilliant but emotional man obsessed with perfection, legacy, and academic immortality. From the moment Lucien could speak, his father sought to mold him into a vessel for the Mayhem name.

But Lucien was not gifted like his younger brother Michael. He was strong, brooding, clever in his own way—but lacked the intellectual brilliance or charm that Dr. Mayhem prized. As soon as Michael was born, Lucien became invisible.

Worse still, when Harlan was born, even he received more attention, doted on by Michael and tolerated by their father as a "useful brute."

Lucien's hatred boiled quietly for years. He watched Michael rise in academic circles. He watched Harlan become the favorite’s favorite. And when he confronted their father, he was told:

“You were the blueprint. But the final draft was better.”

The Fire and the Flight

At 24, Lucien set fire to the Mayhem estate’s old lab, destroying years of Michael’s early research. He carved a line down his own cheek to “mark the moment” and disappeared into the American South, taking on a new name: Lou Garou.

In the swamp country, he found purpose—and darkness. He studied under old voodoo queens, swamp witches, and alchemists. He trafficked in flesh spirits, root curses, and blood moons. Something in the swamp answered his pain, giving him strength, visions, and one final gift:

A mask that would let him walk unseen by Chaos, but also locked his true face inside—a face now half-melted by spite and old magic.

He wears it always.

Vow of Blood: The Mayhem Must End

Lou Garou made a vow in front of the Black Tree of Bayou des Oubliés:

“I will return. I will strip Michael of his madness, HamHawk of his loyalty, and burn down whatever kingdom they think they’ve built in that Manor of rot.
I was the first son. I will be the last one standing.”

When Mad Hermy emerged from the Underworld, Lou Garou felt it.
When HamHawk butchered his first soul for Hermy, Lou tasted the blood on the wind.
When Ravena began to turn, Lou dreamed of her face cracking into porcelain.

And now, Lou is preparing to return—not as a hero, but as retribution incarnate.

Personality and Powers

Lou Garou is cold, calculating, and utterly unforgiving. He does not see himself as evil, but as necessary—the hammer to end the family’s curse.

He operates by guerrilla tactics, ambushes, and blood-bound sigils. He whispers through gators’ mouths. He feeds secrets to crows. He knows the swamps and shadows better than any map could hope to.

Abilities:

Swamp-mask – Renders him invisible to Mad Hermy’s Chaos unless Lou directly attacks him.
Blood Root Binding – Can pin a victim’s limbs by calling on cursed roots and swamp spirits.
Voice of the Forgotten – Can speak through any reflective surface or rotting wood near Briar Rose Manor.
Mask of the Flayed Son – When removed (rare), Lou channels all of his repressed rage into a terrifying burst of strength, enough to tear even HamHawk down in a frenzied assault. But it burns his life force each time.

Motivations and Weaknesses

Wants to destroy Mad Hermy, not out of justice—but because he always hated him.
Despises HamHawk, and will gladly kill him first, especially in front of Hermy.
He feels conflicted toward Ravena—the one person who once tried to defend him in his youth. If she is still “in there,” Lou may hesitate to kill her.
Hates their father’s memory most of all—but the madness of the Mayhem family is that legacy, now made flesh.

Name: Eloise Mayhem - “The Porcelain Heiress”
Family: Dr. Michael Mayhem - "Mad Hermy" (Father), Ravena Mayhem - "The Velvet Widow" (Mother), Lou Garou (Uncle), HamHawk (Uncle), Lady Verena Crowhurst (Aunt), Trixie Sweets (Adopted Sister), Victor Crowsby (Cousin)
Age: Ageless in appearance—looks like a girl of 16, though her true age is uncertain due to Chaos-warping
Base of Operations: The Broken Nursery, a sealed wing of Mayhem Manor filled with living dolls and warping clockwork
Alignment: Outwardly loyal to Mad Hermy; secretly plotting to seize the Chaos
Known For: Crafting an army of sentient dolls infused with Chaos essence

Born of Genius and Madness

Eloise Mayhem was born in the early days of her father’s descent—when he was just beginning to slip into his internal madness. Her mother, Ravena, had hoped a child might ground Michael in humanity. Instead, Eloise was touched by "madness" in the womb.

Born under a sky that split into confetti and wept blood for thirteen minutes, Eloise entered the world silent, wide-eyed, and smiling—already more doll than girl.

From her earliest moments, she displayed frightening intellect (much like her father), preternatural calm, and a fixation on control. She also has a love-hate relationship with her younger adopted sister, Trixie "Sweets" Mayhem.

The Maker’s Touch

At age four, she began to create dolls that moved on their own—not just mimicking life, but displaying will. These weren’t toys; they were extensions of her will, sewn from fabric, bone, and fragments of forgotten souls.

Her father adored her talent, crowning her “The Doll Maker”. Many years later, after returning from the Underworld as "Mad Hermy", he tasked her with creating a clockwork army - one that would do his bidding!

But Eloise had a different vision.

She believed Chaos should not be comedy. It should be orderly, eternal play. The world didn’t need to laugh—it needed to be still, perfect, posed—like her dolls.

Secret Rebellion in Satin and Stitch

In secret, Eloise began weaving her own army—not loyal to Mad Hermy, but to herself. Deep in The Broken Nursery, she builds:

Porcelain soldiers with music box hearts and razor-laced smiles.
Caretaker dolls that patrol the Manor, correcting “ugly things” by turning them into dolls.
The Grand Marionette, a still-incomplete human-like construct meant to house her Chaos-infused soul—her next form.

She whispers to her creations:

“Father plays too much. Mother breaks too easy. I’ll be the one who holds the strings.”

Her ultimate plan? Replace her father as the embodiment of Chaos. Not with laughter and insanity—but with stillness, beauty, and everlasting obedience.

Personality

Eloise appears sweet, delicate, eerily polite—often speaking in rhymes or lullaby tones. But behind her doll-like face is a ruthless mind.

She addresses everyone as “playmate” or “dollface.”
She shows no fear, even of Mad Hermy or HamHawk.
She sees emotions as inefficiencies, preferring her dolls because “they never disappoint or scream.”

She plays with real people like toys—sometimes literally transforming them into living dolls, their souls sealed in porcelain forever.

Powers & Abilities

1. Dollmancy

Can animate and control dolls of all sizes, from tiny trinkets to towering marionette monstrosities. Each has a sliver of her soul.

2. The Hollowing Whisper

Whispers lullabies that strip people of emotion and will, preparing them for transformation into dolls.

3. Stitch-flesh Surgery

Can replace human limbs, eyes, or organs with perfect puppet parts—functionally blending the living with her craft.

4. The Broken Nursery

Her workshop is a pocket realm, unstable in time and space, filled with uncountable dolls. She can call parts of it into the real world—a mobile battlefield of beauty and horror.

5. Chaos Rechanneling

Unlike her father, who broadcasts Chaos like a plague, Eloise channels it—refining it into stable, reusable forms.

Ultimate Goal

To build a new world of dolls—where no one feels, cries, lies, or leaves.
A world of eternal play, where she alone decides what “fun” is.
To seize the Chaos from her father and sculpt it into a perfect toy box—forever.

Her mantra:

“Laughter fades. Dolls remain.
Love betrays. Strings obey.”

Parentage: Son of Lady Verena Crowhurst
Family: Lady Verena Crowhurst (Mother), Dr. Michael Mayhem - "Mad Hermy" (Uncle), Ravena Mayhem (Aunt), Eloise Mayhem (Cousin), Trixie "Sweets" Mayhem (Adopted Cousin)
Bloodline: Crowhurst (maternal), infected by Chaos through proximity to Dr. Michael Mayhem (Mad Hermy)
Species: Half-man, half-scarecrow — corrupted by the Chaos from Mad Hermy
Allegiance: Fiercely loyal to Mad Hermy, sees him as a father figure
Lair: Crowsby’s Hideaway, a shifting patchwork of old halls, mold-ridden doors, and rotting scarecrow gardens hidden within Briar Rose Manor
Title: Mad Hermy's "Shadow Harvester"

Born of Guilt and Curses

Victor Crowsby was never meant to be.

Lady Verena Crowhurst, in a moment of heartbreak and uncertainty, sought power to protect her sister Ravena from the creeping madness of her husband, Michael. She made a pact with a spirit of containment and entropy, never knowing it would leave her with child.

When Victor was born, it was clear something had gone wrong—or very, very right.

His skin was pale and paper-thin, stitched with threadlike veins.
His eyes were black buttons. Not sewn in—grown that way.
His mouth split wide and crooked, too much smile for a child’s face.
And when he cried, he laughed instead.

Verena couldn’t bring herself to kill him. She tried to hide him away. But Michael came calling.

Mad Hermy didn't reject Victor. He embraced him. He named him:

“My little Crowsby. The smile the world forgot it needed.”

From that day on, Victor became Mad Hermy’s shadow harvester—a boy built of straw and soul-fragments, guiding the unworthy deeper into the Manor until they found Chaos... or it found them.

Crowsby’s Hideaway

Deep within Briar Rose Manor lies Crowsby’s Hideaway—a surreal, malformed dimension folded between forgotten hallways, accessible only through certain doors that seem to vanish after use.

Inside are:

Fields of rotting scarecrows, each one made from a trespasser who refused to laugh.
Playrooms filled with silent dolls whose eyes follow you.
Echo halls, where your footsteps lag behind you by a few seconds—until they stop completely.
And Victor, humming lullabies as he watches you from the rafters or crawls out of your shadow.

He invites you in with kindness, even scary charm. But if you don’t laugh at Mad Hermy's jokes... you will never leave.

Personality

Victor is not chaotic like his uncle. He is deliberate, soft-spoken, and falsely gentle—the quiet boy in a ghost story who tells you you’re already dead.

He barely speaks. More often he growls.
He refers to victims as “visitors” or “auditions.”
He sees loyalty as love, and betrayal as something to be planted, grown, and harvested.

“You stepped into the story, friend. That makes you mine, now.”

Powers and Traits

The Scarecrow's Frame

His body is unnaturally long and stitched—his limbs can detach and move independently, making him an unpredictable hunter.

Threaded Touch

Anyone touched by Victor begins to see him in mirrors, dreams, and shadows—a precursor to infection.

The Laughing Fog

He can release a pale fog that induces hallucinations and disorientation, making it easier to separate groups of trespassers and trap them one by one.

Murder of One

Crows follow Victor like pets. He can merge with them, disappearing into feathers, only to re-form behind his prey. They also whisper secrets to him.

Strawbound Resurrection

Even if killed, Victor rises again from the fields of his Hideaway. As long as one scarecrow remains standing, so does he.

Loyalty and Identity

Victor adores Mad Hermy, calling him “Uncle Hermy”.
He believes his existence was willed by Chaos, and that his purpose is to help infect the world with Joy Eternal—a twisted mimicry of delight that ends in madness.

He sees Ravena only from afar—yearning for continued attention he never had, but knowing she’d flinch at the sight of him.

He finds himself torn between his mother, Lady Verena, believing she would’ve destroyed him if she could have, and his Uncle, Mad Hermy, who uses him to fulfill his selfish purposes.

The Truth Beneath the Smile

Despite his devotion, Victor is not blind.

He knows Mad Hermy is unraveling. He knows Eloise is building something of her own. He knows the Chaos that birthed them is a story spinning out of control.

And in quiet moments, when the Manor sleeps and the fog recedes, Victor wonders if he is the final page... or just another footnote.

He longs to matter—not just as a servant, but as a legend of his own.
And someday, if Mad Hermy falters, Victor may take the stage himself.

“They all forget about the scarecrow—until it moves.”

Full Name: Harlan “HamHawk” Mayhem
Species: Half-man, half-pig monster butcher
Role: Enforcer, cook, body collector, and guardian of the “meat” in Briar Rose Manor
Family: Dr. Michael Mayhem (Half-Brother), Mrs. Ravena Mayhem (Sister-in-law), Lou Garou (Half-Brother)
Condition: Fully corrupted by Chaos, serving Mad Hermy with Blind Loyalty
Nickname by Mad Hermy: “My Snorting Shadow”

Before the Butchery – The Forgotten Brother

Harlan Mayhem was born the illegitimate half-brother of Michael Mayhem. The product of a scandalous affair between Dr. Mayhem’s father and a tavern cook from the Slop Docks of Gristleford, Harlan was always the “dirty secret” of the Mayhem family.

Where Michael was brilliant and beloved, Harlan was clumsy, big-boned, and often mocked. But he never resented his brother—in fact, he idolized him. Michael was the only one who treated Harlan like a person, not an accident. He called him “Hawk,” saying his wide-set eyes could see things no one else could.

They would sneak off into the woods, build contraptions, and dream of a world where no one judged a soul by their skin, but by their service.

But when Michael left for the Academy of Sciences, Harlan stayed behind, working as a butcher to feed himself and to send coins—every week—to his brother, in secret.

The Return and the Change

When Michael returned from the Underworld, no longer a man but Mad Hermy, most people fled in terror.

Harlan ran to him.

“You’re back! You’re back! I knew you’d come back with the answers!”

But what returned wasn’t his brother—it was a painted monstrosity trailing Chaos like a plague.

Yet Harlan did not flee. He bowed. And Mad Hermy, in a moment both affectionate and cruel, reached out and touched his forehead.

“You always were my favorite cut… Let’s marinate that loyalty, shall we?”

And the Chaos surged in.

The Butcher Awakens

Harlan’s body began to warp. His bones thickened, his skin took on a pinkish tone mottled with boils and brands. His snout grew. Tusks tore through his cheeks. His hands became cleaver-claws, perfect for chopping and dragging.

His mind twisted too. He retained all his memories, but they were now filtered through the lens of slaughter and servitude.

He prepares “feasts” of corrupted flesh for visitors that enter Briar Rose Manor.
He collects victims’ bodies, storing them for Mad Hermy’s “puppet shows.”
He protects the Manor’s heart, including Mad Hermy’s old laboratory and the Chaos Seed beneath it.

He is neither ashamed nor afraid.
He is HamHawk now—meat butcher, soul butcher, and brother forever.

Personality and Pathos

Despite being a monster, HamHawk is not cruel for cruelty’s sake. He sees his work as sacred, necessary, and loving. His loyalty to Hermy is absolute, even when the world mocks him. He believes:

“The world’s just meat. It needs cleaving before it can be cooked right.”

He speaks in short, poetic butcherisms:

“A mind is like a hog—bloat it too long, it splits.”
“Only fools fear the cleaver—it ends the squeal.”
“Blood tells truth better than mouths.”

But deep within the folds of his mutated flesh, there are shards of the boy who only wanted to be loved by the only person who ever saw him as more than a mistake.

Abilities and Traits

Butcher’s Grip: Can crush or split most organic material with his cleaver-hands.
Snout of Scent: Tracks emotional fear like a predator follows blood.
Boar Charge: A berserker rush that shatters walls and breaks bones.
Fleshcraft: Can “sculpt” corpses into grotesque decorations, puppets, or furniture in the Manor.
Loyal to the Laugh: Immune to fear or persuasion that would turn him against Mad Hermy. Even mind-control magic fails unless it erases his love for his brother.

Final Note: The One Thing He Fears

There’s only one voice that shakes HamHawk—Ravena’s.

When she says his name—“Harlan”, not “HamHawk”—he stops.

He trembles.

Because buried under the Chaos, he remembers the kind sister-in-law who once taught him to sew, who once told him he was more than meat.

If Ravena ever fully turns into her Velvet Widow persona, HamHawk will either follow her like a second master… or try to end her, to “spare” her from the pain of forgetting who she was.

True Name: Marik Varnis Drakos
Titles: The King Without Chains, Lord of the Embersong Caravan, The Flame-Tongue Tyrant
Race: Human (with extended life via blood-forged rites)
Affiliation: Leader of the Eternal Caravan – a massive, ever-moving conclave of seers, fire-dancers, shadow-walkers, and curse-singers
Ambition: To steal Mad Hermy’s Chaos and reforge the world in his own order of traveling thrones
Personality: Charismatic, volatile, brilliant, deeply proud, utterly ruthless

Born Beneath a Burning Tent

Marik was born during a cursed eclipse, when the skies bled red and a traveling tent caught fire during a ritual gone wrong. His mother—a powerful fire-seer—died birthing him, but the flames never touched the newborn. They say his first cry split the crystal eye of a crow, and his first step left coals where his feet touched the earth.

He grew up as a nomad prince, raised by many, claimed by none, always expected to lead one day. His people, scattered and hunted across kingdoms, called him the Promise of the Ash—a future ruler who would unite all wayward bloodlines and restore their ancient power.

And he believed it.

Warlord of the Wandering Throne

By his 30th year, Marik had forged the Eternal Caravan, a moving empire of mystics, warriors, and rebels. He united warring gypsy clans with blood-oaths and visions. Cities burned in his wake, and kings who mocked him were buried under towers that bled ink and screams.

He used fire-magic, smoke-chants, and soul-bound blades, tearing out curses from the land and reweaving them as tools of conquest. His personal guards, the Veilknives, are known to disappear from reality mid-duel, appearing behind enemies with their throats already cut.

But Marik’s empire remained mobile, always shifting—never resting, never ruling from a throne that could be found.

Because Marik wanted more than land. He wanted the world’s soul.

The Return of Mad Hermy: A Rival Rises

When Michael Mayhem returned from the Underworld as Mad Hermy, wielding Chaos like a divine jest, Marik watched the world tilt with fascination.

He recognized the power instantly. Not just corruption—not just madness—raw, primordial rewrite-energy.

“He plays with the brush. I will take the canvas.”

Marik’s ambition ignited. He offered Mad Hermy a truce at first—a pact between mad gods, with Chaos as the shared inheritance.

Hermy laughed in his face and called him “The King of Campfires and Card Tricks.”

Marik did not laugh. He declared war!

The War of Laughs and Fire

Marik’s war against Mad Hermy is strategic and ruthless:

He attacks the edges of Chaos-infected zones, liberating minds just enough to turn Hermy’s victims into spies.
He’s captured broken dolls from Eloise’s early army, repurposing them into Clockwork Couriers.
He sends gift caravans into afflicted towns, laced with magic mirrors that trap echoes of Hermy’s laughter, trying to dissect its frequency—to steal its essence.

He is one of the few beings alive who both fears and covets Hermy’s madness—not to destroy it, but to refine it into a new world order.

“I do not want to silence the laughter... I want to own it.”

Powers and Tools

1. The Emberbrand Staff

Carved from wood that never cools, this staff allows Marik to channel memories as flame—burning truth, joy, or trauma from others and using them as fuel.

2. Smoke-Walking

Allows Marik and his chosen to vanish into smoke or candlelight, reappearing elsewhere—used to infiltrate Hermy’s twisted Manor or escape battles.

3. Deck of Crowns

A set of magical tarot cards that grant limited reality-bending powers when drawn in combat. Each card is dangerous to both user and target.

4. Blade of Burning Names

A curved dagger that sears the true name of a victim into their soul when struck—binding them into servitude unless purified.

Weaknesses and Hubris

Marik underestimates Hermy’s irrationality. His strategies are precise, but Mad Hermy thrives in nonsense—and that terrifies him.
He fears the Chaos infecting his own people, as exposure to Hermy’s influence sometimes causes loyal soldiers to crack and turn into living punchlines.
His ego blinds him to the fact that, in trying to harness Hermy’s power, he may be becoming the very thing he sought to control.

Legacy and Endgame

Marik does not want to destroy Mad Hermy. He wants to take his place.

To build a world not of madness—but of mandated joy. Controlled play. Enforced laughter.
A world ruled by the eternal caravan, always moving, never questioned.

He believes:

“The world doesn’t need a clown. It needs a real Ringmaster and Hermy isn't it!”

And if he must burn Verena, Ravena, Eloise, Victor, or even the Manor itself to rip the Chaos from Hermy’s chest and bind it to his own, he will.

Because thrones burn, but kings without thrones are eternal!