Shade

aka Caleb "Cal" Smith

Shade is the manager of the Port Salem Horror Shop, a position he earned through his loyalty, creativity, and inability to keep his mouth shut in the face of injustice. This last trait leads to the elders of his house to send him somewhere where he could do the least amount of harm: rural Canada. Never one to let an opportunity pass him by, and always guided by an abnormally strong moral compass for a closet monster, Shade has a tendency to stick his nose into things that would best be left alone. With his peculiar world-view, Shade often finds himself at loggerheads with both his house and his species, leaving him with few ties and fewer friends back in the Netherworld. A natural and gifted artist, Shade has the ability to craft raw shadow into physical objects.

Age: 22

House: The Nightmare Lantern
Powers: Shadowcraft
Ethnicity: African Canadian
Random Facts: Shade is a huge fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and is absolutely certain they're going to win the cup this year. Yep, it's definitely going to be this year. Just you wait and see...

Gloom

aka Diane Li

Gloom is the fifteenth child of the seventh spawn of Grandmother Gryla, the ruling bogeyman of the Hungering Cold, making her a member of  Shadow's nobility. She is immensely proud of this fact, even if the rest of her family would really rather she stop broadcasting it to the rest world. Especially since Gloom has yet to learn the key horror virtues of subtly, patience, and cooperation. Blunt and bombastic, Gloom is driven by two hungers: a gnawing physical hunger for food, and an equally forceful desire for attention and appreciation. By tapping into her supernatural hunger, Gloom can consume warmth around her, chilling blood in veins and freezing shadows solid.

Age: 26

House: The Hungering Cold
Powers: Frozen Darkness
Ethnicity: Chinese Canadian
Random Facts: Gloom is actually an incredibly talented cook, though she has the annoying tendency to eat most of her dishes while in the process of making them.

Grey

aka Edward Gary Baneson

When Grey's father Bane founded the Horror Shop franchise forty years ago to serve as a new, modernized training ground for young horrors, it was safe to say he didn't expect his eldest son and heir to eventually require its services. Grey is everything a good closet monster should be: cunning, devious, intuitive, creative, and able to read humans like a book. He would be a model for his peers if he wasn't crippled by plagues of minor neurosis that some days lead him afraid of his own shadow. Being brought so low, at least in Grey's mind, has been a blow to his not-inconsiderable ego, and has left his wit even more acerbic than usual. A masterful manipulator, Grey is able to forge the lies and hidden shames of those around him into shadowy bars and chains.

Age: 28

House: The Twisted Manor
Powers: Lies that Bind
Ethnicity: British American
Random Facts: Grey loves musicals, and he can often be found humming songs from the latest Broadway hit under his breath. He's actually got a pretty good singing voice, though getting him to sing is the problem.

Spike

aka Ricardo "Spike" Vargas

Despite being relatively immature for a closet monster, Spike has been placed in the Horror Shop program because nothing else has worked. Having developed a reputation as a headstrong, cocksure loose cannon who will openly defy the dictates of his elders, Spike is personally convinced he doesn't need anyone there to hold him up - or hold him back. Due to his unruly nature, Spike was on the verge of being exiled before the Horror Shop's founder, Bane, offered to take the rebellious young horror on as an trainee just to prove how effective the Horror Shop's methods were. If he releases his simmering rage and resentment, Spike has the ability to twist the boundary between light and darkness into a vicious edge.

Age: 19

House: The Bloodied Horns
Powers: Cutting Shadows
Ethnicity: Mexican
Random Facts: Spike loves any competitive sport. While his favourite sport remains soccer, and his team C.F. Monterrey, he can talk your ear off about NFL football, mixed martial arts, boxing, MLB baseball, NBA basketball, and, since coming to Canada, hockey and rugby.

Hex

aka Morgan Le Duff

An analytical genius, Hex prides herself with her extensive knowledge across dozens of arcane, pseudo-scientific, and metaphysical fields. However, she willfully overlooked areas of her training that did not come naturally, believing her brilliance would allow her to compensate for any potential gaps in experience. Much to her dismay, however, she found that a horror did indeed require the basest knowledge of those "mouth-breathing primitives" known as humans, and thus despite her fervent protests, she was sent to the Horror Shop for an intensive period of study in a subject she despises. In addition to her considerable magical talents, Hex can also place a jinx on others, sabotaging the forces of causality and probability in those she touches.

Age: 23

House: The Ritual Macabre

Powers: Umbral Jinx
Ethnicity: Breton
Random Facts: Hex has always preferred books to people. She is particularly fond of the old chivalric romances and chansons de geste. Good luck getting her to admit it, though.

Melissa "Mel" Dubois

A descendant of one of the first families to settle Port Salem, the kind and klutzy Mel is a frequent visitor to the Horror Shop, if only so she can have an excuse to be near Shade.

Burattinaio

aka Benedetto Garribaldi

A long-suffering instructor of closet monsters, Burattinaio deals with the most incompetent of horror-kind on a daily basis, and his tolerance for fools has long been worn thin.

Bane

aka Clifford Baneson

Owner of Spirit Brands Ltd., founder of the Horror Shop, member of the Parliament of Shadows, and father to Grey. An ambitious and talented politician and business-monster whose largest blind spots are his sons.

Mayor Glenda Friday

An overly-folksy populist politician who cannot possibly string two sentences together without pandering, Mayor Friday seems to have a sixth-sense regarding the media. Wherever cameras are rolling or photos are being taken, Mayor Friday will be there.