Charlene Hines is a character created by Canadian author Troy Young for his Nyarlathotep Cycle series of Cthulhu Mythos stories.
Description[]
A twenty-eight year old woman with an extensive criminal record, at the time of her introduction Charlene is serving a lengthy jail sentence for murder. Her only distinguishing feature is a mole on her chin, which she rubs when she is anxious.
History[]
Once a promising student from a wealthy family, Charlene's life was destroyed after she was abducted by a clan of inbred cultists who promised her as a bride to the Great Old One Hastur. Despite making an escape, she ran away from home, falling into a life of drugs and prostitution on the streets. After her pimp mistreated her once too often, she killed him, and was sentenced to prison time.
After five years in jail, Charlene was approached by Harjit Singh of the Department of Extraordinary Phenomena at the suggestion of Adele Kramer. Singh recruited her into the organisation and partnered her with senior investigator Malcolm Mayweather.
On one mission, Charlene encountered the spirit of long-dead sorcerer Pierre Girault, which briefly possessed her. Although she believed it to have left her completely, it was later revealed that a small part of it remained locked within her mind.
In 2019, Charlene, in company with Kramer, Mayweather, and Singh, embarked on a mission to the South Pacific to prevent Great Cthulhu from awakening. Although the mission was a success, the psychic emanations emitted by the Great Old One were sufficient to shatter Charlene's psyche and destroy her body, allowing Girault to reclaim and reconstitute what remained, claiming it as his own.
Missions[]
The following is a list of Charlene's missions by in-universe chronology.
- Montreal, Canada: her first mission. Was briefly possessed by an ancient spirit, but ultimately came through apparently unscathed (EXP: "The Shade of Pierre Girault").
- Cambridge, Canada: she and Malcolm Mayweather investigated the appearance of a long-lost painting by Richard Upton Pickman (EXP: "The Misplaced Masterpiece of Richard Upton Pickman").
- Windsor, Canada: she and Mayweather tracked down an immortal spirit murdering those who had wronged her in the past (EXP: "The Curse of the Windsor Witch").
- Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada: embarked solo on a previously-aborted mission to destroy a cell of Hastur cultists, in an effort to free herself of the psychological legacy of her own abduction (EXP: "The Bride of the Yellow King").
- South Pacific Ocean: along with Mayweather, Harjit Singh, and Adele Kramer, Charlene traveled to R'lyeh in an attempt to prevent the awakening of the Great Old One Cthulhu (EXP: "In the Depths of R'lyeh).
Appearances[]
- "The Shade of Pierre Girault" (2021, first appearance)
- "The Misplaced Masterpiece of Richard Upton Pickman" (2021)
- "The Curse of the Windsor Witch" (2021)
- "The Bride of the Yellow King" (2021)
- "In the Depths of R'lyeh" (2021, final appearance)