.gif)
Houmas McRaven
Name: Houmas McRaven
Name Pronunciation: [HUGH-muss Mack-RAY-ven]
Middle Name: Maenad [May-ned]
Rhymes: Houmas rhymes with you must, huge fuss, pee-yewmusk, and few trust.
Title: Sanguinati Apprentice of Magic
Magic Affiliation: Sanguinati
Sanguinati Coven: Warlocks’ Bane
Address: Apprentice apartment 3062+ on the eighth floor over Toadflax Hall in the southwestern side of Mystic Steeples. After Mystic Ministry arrested the McRaven family, Houmas’s new address became Grossatete Sanatorium, located a mile from Mystic Steeples in the city of Severance, Hoopenfangia.
Education: Mystic Steeples
Houmas finished grade school (grades 1-7). Like Lithium, he too became an apprentice of magic at Mystic Steeples late in life. Even though it has taken them a very long time, both Houmas and Lithium are in their 9th and final Magister levels at Mystic Steeples at the start of Book One, Curse of the McRavens. He feels Mystic Steeples overlooked him to be a high priest or a vespercestor. To Houmas, everyone is a student in need of his life lessons. Houmas Quotes: “I would of liked to hada chance to have been a vespercestor — lead the Sanguinati in the right path, but there’s a certain shady politic involved at Mystic Steeples. They all know how I felt about it.” “Look at all I’ve had ta put up with. Valor and Doomsy thinkin’ they was Sorcerers . . . all the hardships I had ta endure. My father always told mecommon sense was more desirable than book learning.” Date & Place of Birth: July 19, 1951. Houmas is 59 yrs. old at the start of Book One. He was born in the foothills of Eastport, Hoopenfangia. His birth sign is Cancer. His family moved to Mystic Steeples 12 years later under the long reign of Urbanne LaRock. Height/Weight/Physical Description: At 5' 9’’, Houmas has Wee Wizard Syndrome, though, outwardly, he appears formidable. He is hunchbacked and has short legs in comparison to his labor-worn, stocky body. His wild gray eyes often squint under his bushy eyebrows, which look like horns that match the two pointy curls on his receded brown hair. His thick droopy mustache accentuates his grimacing jowls. His prominent forehead overhangs his short nose, and his full-face often hardens into a gargoyle expression. Houmas Quote: “Well, I’d hope they’d see what sorta fellah I am. I might look short to you, but the Ancients have given me some mighty tall shoes to fill bein’ an example to my family and country.” Habits/Mannerisms: He seems to maintain his high energy level from an internal rage. He makes fists, grimaces, rolls his eyes, never smiles, stiff, pained mannerisms, plays with mustache. Drinks potions, coffee, closes eyes, or no eye contact when talking. Obstinate and tenacious. (Lithium McRaven, however, sees a different side of Houmas: one with a sympathetic and kindly sensitivity to other people, especially those he claims to love. Citizenship/Ethnic Origin: Hoopenfangia / Caucasian. The ancestors of the McRavens were Scottish immigrants to the early American colonies. Parents' Names & Occupations: Ellavyn McRaven (mother). Erastus McRaven (father) born in 1902. Erastus died when Houmas was a young teen. Houmas Quote: “I was raised to respect authority. My parents worked hard to provide for me and that there nutty brother of mine. My father ain’t never told me he loved me, but I knew it by the glint in his eye jus’ before he died. My mom now, she’s got some misguided ideas about the Sanguinati.” Spouse: Lithium DaDovie McRaven. Other Family Members:
Houmas finished grade school (grades 1-7). Like Lithium, he too became an apprentice of magic at Mystic Steeples late in life. Even though it has taken them a very long time, both Houmas and Lithium are in their 9th and final Magister levels at Mystic Steeples at the start of Book One, Curse of the McRavens. He feels Mystic Steeples overlooked him to be a high priest or a vespercestor. To Houmas, everyone is a student in need of his life lessons. Houmas Quotes: “I would of liked to hada chance to have been a vespercestor — lead the Sanguinati in the right path, but there’s a certain shady politic involved at Mystic Steeples. They all know how I felt about it.” “Look at all I’ve had ta put up with. Valor and Doomsy thinkin’ they was Sorcerers . . . all the hardships I had ta endure. My father always told mecommon sense was more desirable than book learning.” Date & Place of Birth: July 19, 1951. Houmas is 59 yrs. old at the start of Book One. He was born in the foothills of Eastport, Hoopenfangia. His birth sign is Cancer. His family moved to Mystic Steeples 12 years later under the long reign of Urbanne LaRock. Height/Weight/Physical Description: At 5' 9’’, Houmas has Wee Wizard Syndrome, though, outwardly, he appears formidable. He is hunchbacked and has short legs in comparison to his labor-worn, stocky body. His wild gray eyes often squint under his bushy eyebrows, which look like horns that match the two pointy curls on his receded brown hair. His thick droopy mustache accentuates his grimacing jowls. His prominent forehead overhangs his short nose, and his full-face often hardens into a gargoyle expression. Houmas Quote: “Well, I’d hope they’d see what sorta fellah I am. I might look short to you, but the Ancients have given me some mighty tall shoes to fill bein’ an example to my family and country.” Habits/Mannerisms: He seems to maintain his high energy level from an internal rage. He makes fists, grimaces, rolls his eyes, never smiles, stiff, pained mannerisms, plays with mustache. Drinks potions, coffee, closes eyes, or no eye contact when talking. Obstinate and tenacious. (Lithium McRaven, however, sees a different side of Houmas: one with a sympathetic and kindly sensitivity to other people, especially those he claims to love. Citizenship/Ethnic Origin: Hoopenfangia / Caucasian. The ancestors of the McRavens were Scottish immigrants to the early American colonies. Parents' Names & Occupations: Ellavyn McRaven (mother). Erastus McRaven (father) born in 1902. Erastus died when Houmas was a young teen. Houmas Quote: “I was raised to respect authority. My parents worked hard to provide for me and that there nutty brother of mine. My father ain’t never told me he loved me, but I knew it by the glint in his eye jus’ before he died. My mom now, she’s got some misguided ideas about the Sanguinati.” Spouse: Lithium DaDovie McRaven. Other Family Members:
- Houmas has a one-year-older brother named Grady McRaven.
- Doomsy Gloomsy is his adopted daughter.
- Valor McRaven is his son.
- Lavon McRaven is his dead son.
Familiar: Houmas did have a pet pig named Hamlet until Houmas got a “hankering for bacon,” as he remembers it.
Social Class: Lower middle
Occupation/Employer: Mystic Menagerie dung disposal
Magic Specialties: Many have said Houmas has no natural gifts at magic. When Houmas was a teen, he claimed he conjured up some glue and a few animals. He also claimed to have Monkey Paw — the power to climb trees. Once he started grasping a little bit of the Controssua, Houmas touted that he had developed the power of Oracle Discernment. His imagined sense of having a gifted calling to conjure oracles has sometimes brought Houmas attention in small circles, but hisuncomfortable emotional spring causes him to overact physically.
Houmas Quotes:
“A feller hasta prove himself by the sweat of his brow.”
“I rely on the sixth sense. I’m of the upbringin’ that we should be gracious with what we already got.” Unless it was a sense of humor — Houmas doesn’t have time for frivolous “clownin’ around.”
Magic Wand: Houmas had a 12plus-inch hackberry wand that Headmistress Tilta Crumpecker confiscated when Mystic Ministry put him in Grossatete Sanatorium.
Community Status: Many avoid him. Houmas McRaven cannot receive affection gracefully. He’s down-to-earth, tough, and tight, never apologizes, and has an active temper. Houmas isn’t entirely unsociable.
He says, “Now there’s a time to do that mingling stuff and a time to avoid them chatty turkeys.” This is the contradiction in his nature. He craves respect amid his social insecurities, so he feels that if he can teach everyone a moral or a life lesson, this will make up for his lacking, but he doesn’t realize he’s doing this with every communication.
Houmas Quote: “I’m not the sort to push myself on folks that ain’t receptive to the truth.”
Job-Related Skills: Manual labor obsessed, hunting. “My knowledge of the Controssua—my integrity—that’s all a man needs. If I need something done, I do it. I’ve got some strength in these here arms.”
Political Beliefs/Affiliations: Houmas thinks he’s among the Sanguinati Elitist, but the elite doesn’t claim him. He believes in human rights — only for himself.
Hobbies/Recreations: Hunting, sweating, hard labor, nature.
Likes: Houmas likes everything primitive, plain, and in camouflage colors. Scrolls of judgment and doom. Houmas likes to chew tangaweed, snarl, grunt, and sneak puffs from Lithium’s herbalhookah. He drinks beer and mood potions, fills a harmonica with spit, and tries to play the banjo with his toes.
Dislikes: Aggravating situations, failure, opposition, being told what to do, advice (good or bad), people, liars, cheats, Sorcerers, Wiggiwamis, and Nizzertits.
Houmas Quote: “When I walk into a stranger’s home, I look for any signs that they’re doing forbidden magic. I get a feel of their integrity purty quick.”
Houmas’s in-laws are the LaRocks.(The Lineage of LaRock) * See chart below
