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| Portrayed by Cody Fern |
| Name: | Calduin Bennett |
| (CAL-dwin BEN-et) | |
| AKA: | Cal, Mr. Bennett |
| Gender: | Male |
| Race: | Human |
| Class: | Warlock |
| Role: | Damage |
| Faction: | Slaughtered Lamb |
| Professions: | none |
| Homeland: | Lordaeron |
| Player: | Mishell |
RP Hooks
- The Slaughtered Lamb: Mr. Bennett has been an instructor of demonology in Stormwind for a few years now. If you frequent the Slaughtered Lamb or move in Stormwind warlock circles, you'll have crossed paths with him, most likely.
Appearance
Lank, untidy dishwater blond hair reaches his shoulders, framing a tranquil face and pale gray eyes. His face is pleasant but nondescript, his clothing usually in neutral to dark colors. He seems like a man who gives as little attention to his appearance as possible. His hands are uncallused and graceful, with neatly cut nails.
Personality
DIPLOMATIC - Calduin has an expansive vocabulary and is good at finding just the right words to navigate formal or potentially volatile situations without giving offense. He also frequently finds himself in the role of mediator between hostile parties. Best of all, he knows that the best time to stay entirely quiet is… most of the time.
RIGID - Despite his quiet demeanor and gentle words, there is a lack of flexibility at Calduin's core. His beliefs are unshakable, his mind made up. If he politely lets an argument go, you haven't convinced him; he has simply concluded that the conversation is futile. There is a certain stiffness in his demeanor as well - unnecessarily formal phrasing and occasional struggles with understanding/delivering humor.
CEREBRAL - Calduin is led by intellect and rationality rather than emotion. That isn't to say he disdains passion, but emotions are just more data for him to include in his analysis. He believes that with enough study, anything can make sense.
MAGNANIMOUS - Calduin endlessly patrols the high road. While he does have set ideas of right and wrong, he would sooner forgive than avenge, and is willing to "agree to disagree." Despite the things that make him seem cold, he has a deep generosity of spirit, and accepts that others must find their own paths to truth.
History
Cal's family was taken prisoner in the north by some orc warlocks doing sacrifices shortly before the plague hit. His father was killed, his sister… did not really come back the same. So when his family resettled in Stormwind, he started hanging around the library learning everything he could about demons. He became so well-versed in demonology that he ended up #wellactuallying a warlock instructor one day, and got himself a job as assistant instructor. This was still pretty Old Normal for him, as he'd always been focused on academia.
However, his job was simply to teach theory; he was always and continues to be repulsed by demons themselves. He is unambiguously Not a Fan of demons. His obsession with studying them was a way of managing his fear, and it actually helped. He became more confident the more he learned about their weaknesses and ways people could control them. But it was all just theory to him, until one day he made the mistake of correcting a student's summoning circle himself instead of instructing them how to do it. The imp being summoned used that as a loophole to choose between the two people involved in the summoning… and it chose Cal.
Once you've made a bond with a demon, that demon can't be unbound unless it is killed in the Twisting Nether, and if you don't exert control over it periodically it can begin, in theory, to use the bond to control you. This would have been Cal's worst nightmare, so he was forced to actually regularly summon and control the demon, which he attempted to do for Useful Purposes at least. He discovered that he was able to learn exponentially more about demons and their weaknesses by interacting with them regularly, and so in time that became his "new normal," but he also realized that interacting with warlocks was becoming his new normal, and that concerned him more.
You see, the imp was not an influence over him. He was in control over it. It wasn't a social relationship. But surrounding himself day in and day out with people whose main concern was increasing their power, or rebelling against societal norms; he began to be concerned that one day he, like they, would begin to see certain antisocial and deviant behaviors as "normal." That is why he reached out to Cobalt Company, and found yet another "new normal." Measured, well-thought out excursions to help others, using his imp as a tool, and otherwise having fairly normal social interactions with non-warlocks.
Then, one day, something unexpected happened. He attempted to summon his imp… and the spell fizzled in a particular way that could only mean one thing. The imp had somehow, in its own native domain, been killed. Calduin was free. As he'd been largely focusing on his administrative duties for Cobalt Company by this time anyway, it was only an internal disruption; no one around him even noticed that he wasn't going out into Westfall and commanding a demon anymore. But he's now adjusting to a new NEW normal, which is the fact that he now realizes, after the fact, that he was remarkably good at controlling demons, and might have been an excellent example as a warlock if he'd kept at it. Might have shown people a way they could use demons as tools without being corrupted by them.
But now he can't. Not unless he chooses, voluntarily, to make that bond again. And he can't bring himself to do that. All that allowed him to feel right about it in the first place was telling himself that the whole thing was an accident, and that he was coping as best he could. If he continues with the practical, concrete side of his his studies, it would now have to be entirely voluntary. And he isn't ready to make that commitment. The adjustment he now has to make is to his changed attitude. That small part of him that wishes he could have continued, learned more.
Is it the first signs of corruption, tempting him, causing him to invent justifcations? Or had he truly discovered a new approach that could help and protect people trying to follow in his footsteps, and now he'll never be able to help people in that exact way?
He doesn't know. And until he knows for sure, he can't risk it.
As of Year 26, he has returned to full-time duties as a demonology instructor in Stormwind, though he maintains a cordial relationship with Cobalt Company. His sister recently died in combat in the Plaguelands.
Relationships
| Mayellen His student. |
| Corduin His sister. |
Writings
| Title | Summary |
|---|---|
| (2023-02-14) An Apology Letter | In which May apologizes for caring either too much or too little, she's unsure. |
| (2022-08-01) Cold Comfort | Mayellen checks in on her instructor Mr. Bennett after hearing he's had a death in the family. It doesn't go great. |
| (2022-07-30) A Sealed Letter From the Argent Dawn | The Argent Dawn contacts Calduin with some grave news. |
| (2022-06-27) An Unlikely Picnic, Part 2 | Mayellen asks for permission to go on a picnic, and gets another question answered entirely. |
| (2022-06-24) Mayellen: An Unlikely Picnic (Prompt Response) | A response to the "Unlikely Picnic" prompt. Mayellen seeks advice from her teacher, Mr. Bennett. |