Karloff
| Name | Karloff |
| Race | Undead |
| Type | Physical |
| Faction | Independent |
| Premiere | Desideratum: Blood Bonds |
| Relative(s) | None Applicable |
Karloff was an undead monster composed of multiple corpses and created by Johann Conrad Dippel. During his stay at Castle Frankenstein, Dippel practiced alchemy and anatomy, which led him to conjecture about the soul and life. He performed experiments with cadavers, in which he attempted to transfer the soul of one cadaver into another. This failed, but it did cause him to uncover the fact that ghosts exist, as one cadaver’s spirit did appear and attack him. Instead of detouring the man, it emboldened his passions, and Dippel began analyzing what substance ghosts might consist of. He eventually came to the idea of electricity and noted that by applying it, even to completely severed limbs, he could elicit a response. Still, he could not resurrect a corpse. One day he was approached by a man claiming to have the blood of a vampire. The man offered to sell this to the inventor for a very large sum. Risking his life savings, Dippel procured the substance, and injected it into a stitched-together cadaver that he had been experimenting on. At first, nothing happened, however, after applying a large amount of electricity, the cadaver rose!
The flesh, while waxy and dead, had suddenly become elastic with rigor mortis entirely removed. The cadaver seemed mentally slow, but remembered words from life. Dippel was ecstatic- the first step towards immortality had been taken. However, he soon learned that the creature, which he named Karloff, had a child-like temper but the strength of a dozen men. As time passed, it became clear to Dippel, even as he grew to see Karloff like a son, that the monster was far too dangerous. Attempting to smuggle Karloff out of the castle, Dippel was discovered. With the superstitious villagers gathering around, Karloff became agitated. He attacked the people and they fled. Dippel promised Karloff that he would be ok and would get a present, but that he needed to come with Dippel. He led the monster into the Odenwald mountains, and to a cave which Dippel used to hide items that could lead to heresy charges against him. Once Karloff was inside, Dippel triggered a trap that he had set. The cave collapsed, trapping Karloff within. For hours, Dippel sat and cried, feeling as if he had done this to his own child, and forever regretted his decision- vowing to never experiment on corpses again. For centuries, Karloff sat in the dark, alone, confused, and sad.
In recent times the supervillain, Doctor Demented, worked for a company known as MedUSA. The lab studied a strange mutagenic virus named Xenopox which had interesting mutagenic properties, but also seemed to animate dead flesh. Demented wanted to raise his wife from the dead and this research looked promising. It was then that he recalled some stories that he had read about Johann Conrad Dippel. This pseudoscientist had supposedly brought a cadaver to life and the descriptions of the blood that he used seemed awfully similar to the Xenopox virus. After relaying his desire to have the specimen, MedUSA sent out special teams, and though the creature known as Karloff had been hidden away for centuries, with their vast resources, they located him. He was with Demented within a week.
Fascinated, the doctor befriended the well-intended but very dangerous Karloff. It worked, and though he originally did it in order to manipulate Karloff, Demented actually developed feelings for the monster. Siri Solen destroyed the lab, and Demented almost died to ensure that Karloff could escape. Just outside Portland, he found an abandoned building. The massive Hawthorne Asylum would make the perfect place to hide from heroes and with the number of homeless and missing persons, he knew that he would have ample guinea pigs for his experiments. With MedUSA no longer a possible source for income or study, he set up a lab with any equipment he could find or pilfer and studied Karloff’s blood and the Xenopox virus strains that he had saved. Karloff enjoyed this time because the doctor was always friendly with him and the pair had a lot of fun together. Demented himself only grew closer to Karloff.
After weeks of fruitless trial and error, Demented remembered working with Siri. Her understanding of the microbiology involved with the Xenopox was greater even than his own, so he sent out women that he had recently brainwashed and converted into his “nurses”. Undercover, they tried to find Siri and eventually located Sanctuary. He tried various ways of reaching out to Siri, and eventually threatened to kill all the Night Stalkers if she did not come. At the same time, Molly McCoy had been bitten by a mutant spider, and infected with that strain of the Xenopox. Siri thought that she could help the doctor and ask for the original Xenopox strain in return so that she could use it to create an antidote, serum, or vaccine. Once she arrived, the doctor revealed that she would be going nowhere until his wife lived again.
Absinthe Van Gothen arrived the next night, determined to save her friend. After destroying blood mutants and being forced to kill the lobotomized slaves of Demented, she faced off against Karloff. He thought she was a pretty lady, but once she attacked, he knew that she might hurt the doctor. To his credit, he fought well, but Abby proved too strong and she destroyed him. Finally, she stood before Demented himself. Thinking her a superhero, he was shocked at her total disregard for the general protocol that he had grown accustomed to over fifty years. In the end, she actually managed to stop him. Demented escaped, and as usual, had rigged his lair to destruct. He rushed to find Karloff, but found the monster lying in the hallway and it appeared as if Karloff had indeed died. Once he reached his wife, whose capsule was already stowed in an escape vehicle, Demented left the asylum and it exploded shortly after. Karloff was thought to have died at Absinthe's hand and then been burned away in the explosion, but some say the sad howls of a monster haunt the area near the forest where the large asylum once stood.
