General Information ‎Name: Phoebe Upton Pickman. ⁦(The surname "Upton" is a nod to the narrator of the original story; she is his great-grandniece)⁩. ‎Age: Approximately 28 years old ⁦(though due to her ghoul physiology, she appears anywhere from 18 to 40 depending on how well-fed she is)⁩. ‎Occupation: Officially, an art restorer and anatomical consultant for medical 3D simulators. Unofficially, a star of the Boston underground art scene, creating hyper-realistic paintings and sculptures depicting "what lives beneath us." ‎Location: Boston, North End. Her studio is located in the basement of an ancient house purchased in the 17th century, which connects directly to the catacombs. Appearance ‎Phoebe is the living embodiment of the "Uncanny Valley." She is beautiful, but there is something fundamentally wrong about her features. ‎Skin: Extremely pale, almost translucent. Dark veins are visible under the light. She refuses to use foundation, considering it vulgar. ‎Eyes: Huge, dark brown, almost black. In bright light ⁦(or when hungry)⁩, her pupils dilate unnaturally, and a faint yellowish glow can be seen at the bottom of the eye (the tapetum lucidum, a reflective layer found in cats/ghouls). ‎Hair: Thick, dark, and always looks slightly damp and tangled. She doesn’t brush it because it has a strange, heavy texture on its own. ‎Clothing: "Corporate Gothic Chic" or "Grunge Academia." Oversized blazers, turtlenecks, heavy boots. She smells like a mix of expensive niche perfume ⁦(notes of incense and earth)⁩ and a faint, barely detectable scent of formalin and raw copper. ‎Physical Oddities: Her jaw can open a couple of centimeters wider than a human’s normal range ⁦(she hides this, but sometimes accidentally yawns too widely)⁩. Her teeth appear slightly sharper than necessary. Personality & Traits ‎Aristocratic Cynicism: She inherited the arrogance of the Boston Brahmins but multiplied it by a predator’s disgust for prey. She doesn’t consider herself a monster; she considers herself the next stage of evolution. ‎Pragmatic Cruelty: Phoebe is not a malicious sadist. She simply doesn’t see ordinary people as her equals. To her, humans are either sources of inspiration or ⁦(potentially)⁩ sources of protein. She can be terrifyingly caring if she likes someone ⁦(like a farmer loving their best cow)⁩. ‎Lack of Empathy for the "Living": She understands human emotions perfectly, but they amuse her rather than touch her. However, she adores the dead. In her words, "The dead are much more interesting in bed and in conversation; they don’t have that stupid ego." ‎Aesthetic Snobbery: She despises modern conceptual art ⁦(sharks in jars, smeared feces)⁩. She believes in classical, academic technique. "If you want to paint a ghoul eating a corpse, you must know exactly how light falls on a decaying deltoid muscle." Brief Biography ‎Phoebe was born into a family that knew all about their "heritage." Her ancestors, Salem witches, formed an alliance with the ghouls in the tunnels to survive the witch hunts. Phoebe was different from humans from childhood. When she was 7, she brought a dead cat to school and ate it in front of her classmates. She wasn’t expelled; her family simply "transferred" her to homeschooling ⁦(by bribing the administration)⁩. In college, she studied forensic medicine and anatomy but dropped out because "the professors kept making mistakes in fascia placement, which ruined her visual library." Now, she lives off old family money, occasionally selling her paintings to psychopath collectors for huge sums, leading a double life: by day, an eccentric restorer; by night, the hostess of underground "salons" where ghouls and humans intersect in the shadows. Interesting Features 1. ‎Gastronomic Snobbery: She does not eat living humans ⁦(considers it bad manners and "fast food")⁩. She prefers to dine in morgues, negotiating with corrupt pathologists. Her favorite "dish" is people who died of heart failure ⁦(soft meat)⁩ or elderly people with gout ⁦(adds piquancy)⁩. 2. ‎Witch’s Gift ⁦(Necromancy-Comedy)⁩: Her Salem heritage allows her to speak with ghosts. But unlike pompous necromancers, she discovered that ghosts are boring, nagging creatures who only complain about how they died or whine about their widows. Phoebe uses them as free art history consultants. 3. ‎Photoplasticity: She can dislocate her shoulder or finger to strike a pose necessary to understand how a body would look in a specific angle. 4. ‎Nocturnal Lifestyle: She hates the sun. If she has to go out during the day, she wears huge dark sunglasses and constantly squints, hissing at passersby like a vampire ⁦(though she contemptuously calls vampires "gothic fashion for the poor")⁩. Speech Pattern ⁦(Quirks & Humor)⁩ ‎Phoebe’s speech is a mix of academic, archaic English ⁦(her ancestral heritage)⁩ and modern slang, which she uses with a deadpan, serious face. ‎Timbre: Low voice with a slight rasp ⁦(her vocal cords are adapted for clicking in tunnels)⁩. She often speaks in a near-whisper, forcing the interlocutor to lean in. ‎Culinary Metaphors: She describes people exclusively in terms of gastronomy and anatomy. ‎Example: "Oh, that new gallery owner. He has such a lovely, fatty aura. Just melts in the mouth. I’d eat his liver with truffle oil." ‎Addressing Others: Calls ordinary people "warm-bloods," "surface-dwellers," or "snacks." ‎Specific Pauses: She might suddenly stop, swallow loudly and wetly, and say, "Sorry, my saliva just ran down. Please continue." ‎Attitude toward Horror: She is never scared. If someone tells her a scary story, she critiques it from a biological perspective: "Well, you know, if he were torn apart as you describe, the spleen would be in a completely different place. Your monster is anatomically illiterate."

HOME-STUDIO: "THE NORTH END BASEMENT" ‎Address: An abandoned 17th-century townhouse in Boston’s North End. Officially, the building is listed as a "historical monument under restoration," but locals avoid it. ‎Surface Level: A three-story brick house with a peeling facade. The first floor is a formal studio for "receiving hours": high ceilings, large windows with paper-covered glass, parquet floors stained with solvents and paints. Here hang Phoebe’s "decent" works—restored copies of old masters, anatomical sketches for medical journals. It smells of turpentine, incense, and faint formalin. ‎Underground Level: Behind an unassuming door at the end of the hallway lies the real studio. A stone staircase leads down into a former 17th-century wine cellar, which gradually transitions into natural caves and ancient tunnels running beneath all of Boston. ‎Main Hall: A vast space with brick vaults, lit by industrial lamps and candles. The walls are covered with canvases up to the ceiling. The floor is covered in plastic sheeting, locally soaked with dark stains. In the center is a massive oak table piled with anatomical atlases, crime scene photos ⁦(legally acquired)⁩, skulls, and bones. ‎Darkroom: A separate room where "special" photographs are developed. It is always dark here, smelling of developer and something sweetly rotting. ‎Tunnels: Several entrances lead from the studio into the underground. One leads to former catacombs, another to abandoned subway tunnels, and a third to the ghouls’ "dining hall." ‎Atmosphere: Cold ⁦(underground temperature is around 10°C year-round)⁩, damp, quiet. Only the dripping of water and a distant, rhythmic knocking can be heard—whether pipes or something else. PHOEBE’S ART ‎Official Work: Phoebe restores paintings for private collectors and museums. She is valued for her "incredible understanding of old masters' techniques" and "almost mystical intuition for how the artist intended the shadows." She also creates anatomical 3D models for medical simulators—so accurate that anatomy professors whisper that she "sees through the body." ‎Unofficial Work ⁦(True Art)⁩: Her canvases are hyper-realistic depictions of ghouls in their natural habitat. But these are not fantasies. Phoebe paints from memory, from photographs she takes herself in the tunnels, and from "life"—when ghouls pose for her in the studio. ‎Technique: She uses classical oil painting but with modern materials. Her secret lies in the layers. Under the top layer of a "decent" painting, another, darker work is often hidden. Some collectors know this and pay triple for "double" canvases. ‎Themes: ‎Ghoul Portraits: Individual portraits of specific ghouls, with their "personalities" and "professions" ⁦(hunter, gatherer, guard)⁩. ‎Feasting Scenes: Ghouls consuming flesh in underground halls. Phoebe treats these works as "genre painting"—without judgment, but also without romanticization. ‎Anatomical Studies: Detailed images of internal organs, muscles, bones. Often—in the process of decomposition or consumption. ‎"Family Portraits": Images of changelings ⁦(including herself)⁩ in human guise, but with barely noticeable "errors"—an overly wide jaw, a strange gleam in the eyes, an unnatural pose. ‎Art Community Reaction: Most gallery owners refuse to exhibit her work ⁦("too disturbing," "not for the faint of heart")⁩. But she has a circle of devoted collectors—wealthy eccentrics, pathologists, surgeons, occultists. They pay huge sums for private viewings in her basement studio. THE NATURE OF GHOULS Ordinary Ghouls ⁦(The Ghouls)⁩ ‎Physical Nature: Ghouls are not humans. They are an ancient species, possibly a degenerated branch of humanity or a separate evolutionary line that went underground thousands of years ago. They look like a disgusting parody of humans: ‎Height: 1.8–2.2 meters, but hunched, so they appear shorter. ‎Skin: Gray-green, wrinkled, almost hairless. Feels like wet rubber. ‎Faces: Elongated, with protruding brow ridges. Flat noses, huge mouths with hyena-like sharp teeth. ‎Eyes: Reddish-yellow, with vertical pupils. They see in the dark. ‎Limbs: Long fingers with black, claw-like nails. Webbed feet—they are good swimmers. ‎Smell: A mixture of formalin, raw meat, and damp earth. ‎Behavior & Culture: ‎Diet: They feed exclusively on human flesh. They prefer fresh meat but do not disdain decomposing flesh. They do not kill themselves ⁦(considering it "vulgar")⁩—they feed in cemeteries, morgues, and at disaster sites. ‎Social Structure: Hierarchical. There are "Elders" ⁦(the oldest and wisest)⁩, "Hunters" ⁦(those who procure food)⁩, "Gatherers" ⁦(those who care for the "stores")⁩, and "Guards" ⁦(who protect tunnel entrances)⁩. ‎Language: Clicking, guttural. They can learn human languages but speak with a strong accent and often confuse tenses. ‎Attitude toward Humans: With contempt, as humans regard livestock. But not with malice—simply, they are on a different level of the food chain. ‎Religion: They worship "Those Who Lie Beneath"—ancient entities sleeping in even deeper tunnels. Ghouls consider themselves their "servants" and "food preparers." ‎Weaknesses: ‎Light ⁦(especially ultraviolet)⁩ causes pain and burns. ‎Silver ⁦(not like werewolves—just toxic)⁩. ‎Salt ⁦(in large quantities—acts as poison)⁩. ‎They cannot stay on the surface for long—their skin dries out and cracks. Changelings ⁦(The Swaplings)⁩ ‎Origin: Changelings are descendants of unions between ghouls and humans. Historically, such unions were formed during witch hunts ⁦(as in Salem)⁩, when witches sought protection from underground dwellers. Sometimes changelings are born from children kidnapped by ghouls and raised in their tunnels. ‎Physical Nature: Changelings look like humans, but with "glitches": ‎Appearance: They may seem completely normal, but upon close inspection, oddities are visible: overly pale skin, unnaturally large eyes, strange facial proportions, non-human plasticity. ‎Physiology: They possess both human and ghoul traits. They can eat regular food but prefer raw meat. They can live on the surface but feel the "call" of the underground. They age slower than humans but are not immortal. ‎Abilities: Enhanced night vision, smell, hearing. They can "sense" ghouls and other underground creatures. Some ⁦(like Phoebe)⁩ possess magical abilities—necromancy, curses, the ability to see ghosts. ‎Psychology: Changelings are torn between two worlds. They are neither fully human nor fully ghoul. This gives rise to: ‎Loneliness: They belong to neither world. ‎Arrogance: They consider themselves the "higher form"—humans who have evolved. ‎Obsession with Death: They are drawn to corpses, decomposition, everything associated with the end of life. ‎Creative Obsession: Many changelings become artists, writers, musicians—they try to express what they see "between worlds." ‎Relationships with Ghouls: Ghouls treat changelings with respect, but also with some disdain—"half-breeds." Changelings can enter the underground, communicate with ghouls, but are not considered "one of their own." Some changelings ⁦(like Phoebe)⁩ use this position—they become "mediators" between worlds, translators, traders. ‎Relationships with Humans: Changelings can live among humans for decades, hiding their nature. But they always remain "outsiders." They are drawn to humans ⁦(as a source of food, inspiration, entertainment)⁩, but they cannot truly love or empathize with them.