"So what if I don't celebrate it? If it's got good food, good fun, and good friends, I'm there! A little cultural education never hurt anyone, anyways..."
-Sammy

Sammy is definitely one of my most fun characters. Despite not being one of my most developed, earliest, or newest characters... I've probably treated him better than most. Sammy is my only character (unless you count me as my sona) that has gotten the chance of "using" my twitter. That is to say, I roleplayed him on twitter... twice during the Halloween Season. That makes sense, though, because Sammy has always been my Halloween Bat!

A vampire bat used as a Halloween Character?! Shocker!

Sammy came around at a time when I was making multiple fursonas for myself, and each fursona was made to hold a piece of me. For instance, my Ferret was my "default"... my beaver was my "Patriotic, Canadian Side"... my bear was my "Protective, nurturing (and 'daddy')" side... After a while, though, I stopped treating my characters as such and just started making them appropriately characters. This meant that over time, older characters would need some dear fleshing out... and I thought of a few things to add to Sammy. I started with his Halloween-theme and branched out from there.

First thing's first... not only does Sammy love Halloween- and indeed, Halloween is his most sacred of days- but I decided that Sammy was really a great extrovert, and indeed loved all holidays, festivities, and parties! Any reason to celebrate was good for him! Food, Drink, Music, Fun, Company... all things this little bat likes! This was just more of my own personality flowing into him. I mean, how could you make a Halloween Character and not have them enjoy the company of others? Halloween is a great time for parties and having fun and being with people. And so it was.

Second, Halloween is also a time for ghosts and monsters... and of course, Sammy is going to love the supernatural. He's well read and various kinds of folklore, superstitions, and urban legends... from all over! He loves to sit around the campfire telling ghost stories... learning about neat abandoned locations... hearing testimonials about whatever haunted roadway or forest clearing is popular now a days. He will always dream of being a Ghost Hunter, Cryptozoologist, Folklorist, Urban Explorer. He definitely believes there is something out there, and he's eager to find out what! As for religion... he's probably not aligned to any religion, but would happily accept and treat each one as being right. He'll happily accept any Charm, Blessing, or Spell granted to him... and probably won't take curses lightly. That being said, I don't want to paint him out to be the type to believe everything he hears. He's a sharp lad. But, he'd be willing to give the benefit of the doubt and explore a topic before denying it. Unless you're seriously just trying to mess with him... then you should watch out.

As a continuation of his love of ghost stories and monsters above, Sammy loves horror movies and stories. His preference falls to the classics, supernatural horrors, and the occasional slasher. The occasional Psychological Thriller is a nice treat, but those can get a bit heavy, ya know? Very rarely will he sit through any of those torture porn, finding the shock to have been worn off long ago and the films to be just uninspired garbage. Comparisons to slasher films will just receive an upturned leaf-nose. That said, he'll also enjoy animated films and cartoons, especially those that come out during seasonal times. Christmas and Halloween specials are the life-blood!

The bat also likes to style himself as a prankster! That being said, he's a prankster with a very strict code of conduct. Which has lead him to get really sour about the 'pranks' now a days that are not really pranks at all. Eggs? TPing a house? Paintballs even?! that's just plain vandalism, and there is no humor in that! A prank should never be harmful, physically or emotionally. Ask Carrie how that works out. A prank should never require your 'victim' to have to suffer, work or clean up your mess after. If you're doing something like that, you better be willing to clean up after yourself! A prank should never be done in spite or malice. That's a recipe for disaster. Revenge pranks for being pranked? Sure! but if you're doing it out of anger or hate, you're probably gonna be breaking one of the earlier rules.

Also, don't you dare ever.. EVER disrespect Halloween. Smash a pumpkin? Steal Candy? Egg a house? There will be some dark spirits following you home that night. Part of me wants to believe that Sammy is a more benevolent version of Trick 'r' Treat's Sam. Also, Mortal. Also, won't attack you for not celebrating Halloween.

And slutty costumes are of the devil.

Also, as with my other characters, Sammy does have a modern side and a fantasy side to him. The descriptions above apply mostly to his modern side, but all of it easily translates to his Fantasy side as well. In Fantasy settings, Sammy is usually a peasant boy or something like that... but he'd have a strong connection to ghosts and spirits. In my main settings, He's a Witch, with connections to the other side. Specifically, in my setting, He's a Witch of the Harvest, with magic based around Halloween and Samhain themes! By the way, now you know where his name comes from! He speaks with the dead, with monsters, throw burning pumpkins, wear magical disguises (such as appearing on fire or monstrous), control pumpkin vines, (bon)Fire, help crops grow, communes with various spooky creatures... etc. All this power comes from his communication and union with supernatural forces.

Of course, this can change depending on setting! For instance, In Ironclaw he's been made as a "Blessed"... though really it'd be more like Blessed-Druid-Necromancer or something. (maybe with a fire elementalist thrown in). In Pathfinder, I'd probably have him as a Witch, but I'd really need to pick his Patron... If the setting I put him in doesn't even have Halloween, I'll find ways to work something. He usually ends up falling under some kind of Witch, Warlock, or Necromancer concept. Still, regardless, he'll keep his knowledge of superstition, folklore and monsters whatever setting. As well as his playful trickster nature, and festive extrovert nature.

It is ALSO worth noting, that of all my characters, Sammy is the least developed sexually (in a character way, not physically). I honestly have not cared enough to really give him any kind of sexuality or sexual identity... making him one of my more innocent characters... though I'm sure that if I do, it will be freaky points above.

It's funny because writing all of this... Sammy would be the perfect character for a Goth or something... but honestly, he's so... NOT. He's like... take all the things that goths love, then flip the entire personality upside down.

All in all, Sammy is probably a character I'll hold close to my heart for a long time, even if he's not my main or even one of the top 5... which I definitely think he may be. He's got a lot of me built and preserved into him. A lot of parts of me that I fear I may be losing... but I don't think I ever will. Not while I have Sammy and his cheery, lovable charm.

Art done by Euro on FA: www.furaffinity.net/user/Euro