Arthur Gaelian (Completed!)

[Arthur Gaelian]

E L S E W H E R E   A D U L T

CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character Name: Arthur Gaelian
Gender: Male
Age: 42

Education: 
Hogwarts Graduate, 1932. Slytherin House

Residence:
Gaelian Estate, England

Occupation:
I intend for him to be a Ministry Employee, but if not, he’s an investor who’s not making very good money nowadays.

Do you plan to have a connection to a particular existing place (for example: the Ministry, Shrieking Shack) or to take over an existing shop in need of new management?
The Ministry

Requested Magic Levels: (see here on how to do this)
If you want levels above the usual 32 total, please read the roleplay instructions carefully upon scrolling down.

• Charms: 10
• Transfiguration: 12
• Divination: 2
• Summoning: 8

On his levels: Arthur is excellent at any type of magic that can be practiced or memorized, but he is terrible at anticipating the future. His luck is bad, and his inner eye (if he even has one) has been cemented shut. He doesn’t want to see the world around him, and so he’s willingly blind. He even forgot his siblings and the love he had for them in order to avoid embarrassment and despair. This is a man who turns off his senses to avoid feeling, a modern hairy-hearted Warlock. As such, it makes sense that his divination should be so poor.

Please list any other characters you already have at the site:
Helena Gaelian, Holly Priest, Lancelot Upright

Biography: (300 words minimum.)
Arthur was born (post-warp) in 1895, although he has no memories from early childhood that are period specific because he never actually lived during the 1800’s. He was the eldest in a family of two boys and a girl, raised as a proud pureblood heir to the Gaelian fortune. Totally unthreatened by his brother Vincent, Arthur took for granted his superiority and never questioned the family pecking order. He spent most of his youth competing with his brother (toward whom he had a grudging affection) and protecting his baby sister Carolyn from physical harm. He was particularly distressed when he discovered that Carolyn was a hemophiliac, but because of blood replenishing potions and clotting stimulants, her life was never in real danger. Still, Arthur took it upon himself (with the help of Vincent) to shield Carolyn from any possible mishap.

This was perhaps the most gallant period of Arthur’s life, and it ended around the age of seven.

His father Billius Gaelian began grooming Arthur to take over as head of the family, and Arthur quickly lost interest in his brother and sister. He learned that it was Vincent’s responsibility to care for family members and minor details, while his responsibility involved keeping up appearances and forging important connections with the wealthy. Arthur learned about the family streak of Slytherins as well, and earned praise from Billius when he too became Slytherin. It hardly mattered to him that Vincent was a Ravenclaw, even though their father showed displeasure. As long as Arthur succeeded, nobody would look at Vincent’s failures. This was the way he conducted himself around family, friends, and strangers. He was the eldest, and therefore the face of the family. As long as his siblings behaved themselves, Arthur could do all the rest.

He discovered that the Gaelians were hemorrhaging money halfway through his schooling, overhearing a conversation between his parents that ended in tears. Paintings began disappearing around the house, then priceless vases and rugs. Even the silverware was exchanged, and Arthur began comprehending the extent of the situation. His father had failed to invest their money wisely, and as a result, they were crumbling from the inside out. Money was power, and without it, they were nothing. Now more than ever, appearances mattered to the survival of their bloodline. Arthur became colder towards his brother, whose house shamed their family, and he focused all of his attention on Carolyn.

Things fell apart for the family in the first year after his graduation. He married Kendral Black in 1913, a second cousin to the main Black line, and had high hopes for their future.  They tried and failed to get pregnant. His brother ran off with a Muggle and abandoned the family, a huge betrayal that left Arthur colder than ever. Carolyn committed suicide in 1916, a funeral that Vincent was banned from attending. Arthur discovered from his mother after the fact that Carolyn had been in love with another girl named Ivy, who spurned her advances. Disgusted by the thought that anyone would deny his sister, and further disturbed that Carolyn was a lesbian, Arthur declared that he had no siblings. He burned all the pictures of Vincent and Carolyn that he owned, siphoning away his memories of them as children into Billius’ pensieve. In the winter of 1917, Billius Gaelian died of natural causes. Arthur became head of the family at age 23, and the extent of their financial problems became his sole responsibility.

With his mother losing her mind slowly, he assigned the family’s three remaining house elves to attend to her. He and Kendral stripped the estate of any unnecessary luxuries, making sure to allow three main rooms and two guest chambers all of the trappings of wealth. In this way, the pureblood community would never know how dangerously poor they had become. To the random visitor, the estate seemed just as grand as ever. This veneer saved them some vestigial dignity, although the Gaelian name had become a joke. With an unstable lesbian daughter, a muggle-loving son, and a harsh heir to the estate, Billius’ brood had been nothing short of an embarrassment. Now only one child remained, the mother was dying, and Arthur was determined to fix the damage his disinherited siblings had done.

Arthur managed to get Kendral with child in 1920, and their daughter was born the following year. He named her Helena, after the woman who had started a war between nations. As she grew, Arthur thought she looked remarkably like Carolyn, and this disturbed him. Thankful that she did not suffer from the same hemophilia, once Helena showed signs of magic, he began to prepare her for the rough life ahead. He never knew how to love his only child, though he tried to give her the best he could afford. She lacked for nothing, save emotional connection, but he relied on Kendral to give that to her, just as he had once relied on Vincent.

The family is in even worse peril as the years have worn on, especially after the time shift. As he feared, Helena has become more like his sister with every passing year. She has a clear attraction towards women, a fact he angrily denies to himself and others. Counteracting her sexual orientation, he has arranged for a marriage between Helena and Augustus Upright, a better match than they could have ever hoped for. Vincent has begun contacting him again after years of silence, and Arthur is considering saving his brother now that his Muggle wife is gone. Arthur will do whatever it takes to restore his bloodline, no matter the cost. Even if it means taking in his halfblood Niece and Nephew.

Roleplay:
Reply as your character to the following:

Mr. Grunch smirked as stepped into the shadows beneath the overhanging eaves at the side of the street. There was a sort of alcove here, where two buildings came together, and the wall was set back just a couple of feet to make space for a drain from the battered lead guttering. It made it difficult to see if anyone was standing there until you were almost on top of it, and the shape of the roof up above cast an almost permanent shadow even then.

There were a number of such places along Knockturn Alley and Mr. Grunch knew them all.

Seeing nobody was nearby, he quickly cast the concealment spell that would obscure his features, making him unrecognisable, just a blur beneath the cowl of his thick, but worn, robes. He knew his target, had identified them some time before, as they entered the Alley. He had shadowed them, discretely, and now, he knew, they were heading back out again, towards the safety of the better lit Diagon Alley.

He heard the footsteps approaching. This was it, then. Just before they reached the alcove, he stepped out suddenly in front of his target, wand raised and ready.

"Give me all yer galleons, and any jewellery yer got! Don't try to hide nothin', 'cos I'll know, right? Do it now!"

Roleplay Response:

"Give me all yer galleons, and any jewellery yer got! Don't try to hide nothin', 'cos I'll know, right? Do it now!"

Arthur Gaelian froze, hand resting almost casually on the hilt of his wand. His pulse was steady, and his hard eyes stared straight ahead. He'd become aware of his tail quite a while ago, but he paid the cretin no mind. It wasn't often that someone had ill luck of picking him for a target, but it had happened before, twice in fact. One of the thieves had escaped with nothing more than a first degree burn and a nasty outburst of boils, but the other lost an ear.

When would these muggleborn filth learn?

"I only have sickles left. Take them, they're yours."

Reaching into his left pocket, he grabbed a handful of loose change and threw it on the ground before them. The silver and bronze coins scattered everywhere, and in his haste to gather them up before somebody else came along to steal his bounty, the thief darted forward, exposing his back. Immediately, Arthur cast petrificus totalus, and the man fell face-forward onto the cobblestone street, stiff as a board.

"You're lucky," he sneered as he loomed overhead. "I'm feeling generous today."

Kicking the man square in the jaw, a sickening crack echoed in the alley as Arthur delivered another sharp-toed jab in the ribs, and again in the stomach for good measure.

"Keep the change," Arthur spat, and he stalked back into Diagon Alley, leaving a trail of blood and sickles behind him.

[Alastair Grimm]

Hi Arthur!

We're asking that every adult Elsewhere character start with their lowest level being half of their highest. With our new leveling opportunities in Elsewhere, levels Arthur earns in the future may be placed in any magical area you would like with no limits.

In your RP sample, successfully casting petrificus totalus and then kicking the mugger repeatedly would be considered a powerplay. Could you please edit that a bit so that the other player would have a chance to choose whether or not they dodged the attack?

Please make those edits here in this thread and we'll be happy to take another look!

Thank You!
Alastair Grimm

[Helena F. Upright]

Alistair:

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you.

I tried to justify his lowered levels, but if need be, I'd be willing to submit a special request. I'm not trying to give my character any sort of advantage, and feel as though lowering his levels is (in this case) reasonable based on his character.

Furthermore, I can rewrite my response, but given that I'm roleplaying against an inanimate person who can't possibly reply in turn, I don't see the issue with powerplaying. My reply shows Arthur's characteristics perfectly, and were this an actual rp, I would have discussed a powerplay with the OOC player before posting. I have three other characters on this site, and I very rarely have an issue with powerplay. I'm honestly not trying to give you a hard time, but in this circumstance, I don't think it's a big deal that I took a couple of liberties with the opposing character. I'd need to totally rewrite the entire response to satisfy the "no powerplay" rule for this application. Are you certain that you need me to do that?

Again, sorry to protest, but the logic bothers me more than the work required to comply with the changes you asked for. Let me know where you stand. If after hearing my objections, you still see fit for me to make both changes, I will do so. I just wanted to understand where you're coming from.

Thanks!

[Elizabeth Birch-Hurst]

Yes, they are the site rules and we ask that you comply with them, just as we'd ask the same of all our members. Please rewrite the roleplay and either adjust the levels or turn in a special request.

Thanks!

[Helena F. Upright]

I didn't mean to make it sound like I wanted to be treated differently from other members, and I'm sorry if it came off that way. I just wanted to understand why the objections were being made, and appreciate that this is a site where members are allowed to raise issues like this with the administration team. Thank you for responding to me so quickly. I'll make the necessary changes.

[Helena F. Upright]

Revised Roleplay Response:

"Give me all yer galleons, and any jewellery yer got! Don't try to hide nothin', 'cos I'll know, right? Do it now!"

Arthur Gaelian froze, hand resting almost casually on the hilt of his wand. His pulse was steady, and his hard eyes stared straight ahead. He'd become aware of his tail quite a while ago, but he paid the cretin no mind. It wasn't often that someone had ill luck of picking him for a target, but it had happened before, twice in fact. One of the thieves had escaped with nothing more than a first degree burn and a nasty outburst of boils, but the other lost an ear.

Exhaling heavily through his nose, he turned around slowly, fixing his hard gaze on the dirty man.

He didn't usually make it a habit of shopping in Knockturn Alley unattended. If he needed something done, he sent the family elf Millie to do his bidding. Her unsettling red eyes and albino skin warded off ne'er-do-wells more effectively than a disease, but today, Arthur had fancied a walk about.

What a mistake that was turning out to be.

"I only have knuts," he lied, for Arthur carried no more gold on him...he'd spent the lot already, and had the brand new pocketwatch to prove it. "What do you really want from me?"

Without attempting to conceal what he was doing, Arthur drew his wand and pointed it at the man.

"This isn't a game you're going to win," he warned the thief in his gravelly voice. "I can make your entire existence a nightmare...or I can let you walk away, and be done with the thing. Your choice, sir."


~*~

New levels are as follows, until I submit a special application for consideration:

Charms: 10
Transfiguration: 8
Divination: 6
Summoning: 8

[Alastair Grimm]

Accepted!