After a decorated career as an army medic, he set out for America to found his business of mortuary services. His closeness with death gave him an unusual obsession with honoring the dead by way of display. On his way west, tragedy struck and he lost his wife and daughters to consumption. Mourning their death, his journey came to a rest in Lockport Illinois where he earned the state burial contracts for what was deemed “unclaimed/unwanted” wards of the state. Notwithstanding his deep depression over his loss, he rose in status as his relationship to the Governor grew. There was a place at the top for a man who could remove something unwanted. However, his pain was something of a hand that pushed him deeper into the need to honor the dead. What began with constructing a home that was built as a representation of what life was meant to be with his wife and children, developed into building elaborate tombs for the unwanted wards of the state. All of his efforts and money went toward their memory. So much so that the Captain began digging into the world of the afterlife. His efforts to raise the spirits of the dead were fruit full. His home became known for his eccentric parties. The nights were known for hosting fortune tellers, seers, psychics, Ouija boards and the fringe of society. Truly believing that he had made contact with the dead by way of summoning, the captain aimed his sights on reanimating the dead. The desire to make contact with his family on the other side created a student of all dark affairs. Retreating from the public, and the eyes of his servants and adopted children, he moved his efforts underneath the foundation of his living family tomb. Unfortunately, he was never able to animate a human body that retained any sign of the soul. This caused both a reasonably dangerous amount of walking soulless corpses, and confirmation that his efforts were making progress. He was certain that if he ever hoped to summon a spirit into a reanimated corpse, all he needed was to commit himself deeper to the pursuit of the dark arts of necromancy. A man so consumed by the loss of love, possessed by his search for their spirits, did not see the dangers of opening a gate to the other side. He hadn’t seen the darkness of the creatures that climbed through. So focused on looking in, he would not see what crept out.
Which leads us here, in a house on a cemetery, where the dead walk, the orphans hide behind the walls, the walls breath with an energy that comes from below, and below is where the Captain has opened a gate, and through the gate comes Hell.