Welcome to Gaia! ::

Username: Carice Lauer
Who recruited you?: Dragostae, I suppose, though it was probably more everyone, since I didn't decide to join until I'd read everyone's character profiles. sweatdrop

Name: Lucian Osler Rix
Age: 16
Gender: Male
Height: Five feet, five and one-half inches
Weight: 124 pounds

Race: English
Social Class: Upper Working Class

Appearance: Lucian is a boy of no remarkable height, exceptionally lanky, and pale skinned. He has slightly effeminate facial features, held in check by a pair of tarnished brass-rimmed spectacles that seem just a few shades lighter than his eyes. His eyes seem to be the only really colorful thing about him; his hair is a short, black-hued concoction of follicles, topped off by a simple black hat (that is, where rules don't prohibit such). Lucian's clothing is plain, consisting of black shoes, gray trousers, a long-sleeved white shirt, and an old, worn-looking gray vest. This unremarkable quality of appearance is matched by equally dull posture and stride, hinting at his lack of self-confidence. His nervousness around other people has made him fidgety; his hands are rarely still when at rest, except when he intentionally wills them so (which he often forgets to do).

Personality: Soft spoken and self-disciplined, Lucian tries his best to simply blend in --to be a single cog in the machine of the crowd. He doesn't like to be noticed, and rarely draws attention to himself. His responses are stoic, "yes ma'am, no ma'am, yes sir, no sir," and his demeanor is quiet, and his posture is good. The easily ignored type, Lucian is, in short, a perfect student. Like all perfect students, however, Lucian changes when apart from the aegis of authority that rules a classroom.
When there are no teachers around, Lucian feels vulnerable, and goes from docile to skittish quickly. Lucian has never grown comfortable with strangers with any haste, and has a subconscious phobia that everyone knows he's nothing. Lucian finds speaking with others very difficult, as most people find speaking with him. His mental timidity has worked its way into his physical self, manifesting as a soft, shaky voice, and fidgeting hands. Easily frightened by other people, Lucian can be likened to a rabbit: even the slightest wrong move could send him diving for cover.
In truth, Lucian only really displays confidence when he talks about other people's machines; machines are all he understands, and he thinks his own machines to be inadequate and shoddy, even though they rarely are. Regardless, when he begins talking about the machines other people have designed, it is difficult to stop him. He describes what he sees as genius in every innovation, and loses himself in the clockwork of a device.

Character flaws: Aside from his obvious challenge interacting with other people, Rix is fidgety and unsure of himself. Because his first success was not wholly his (see character secrets), Lucian finds being truly confident in the abilities he has very difficult, thinking that they are all, somehow, just extensions of his childhood theft. He collapses quickly under pressure about his work, and prefers more to flee than to fight. Lucian's whole world is machines, and when one breaks those for him, he has nothing --literally no other redeeming skills. His father raised him to be an engineer, and should he fail to do that, Lucian would find out quickly just how difficult life really is.

Background: Lucian was the only child of his parents. His mother survived only long enough to name him, and Mr. Rix dared not defy his wife's dying wish. So, with no siblings and only a father, Lucian's early life was difficult. He was left with a neighbor woman for a weekly stipend so Mr. Rix could continue to work. Mr. Rix never remarried.
When he was six, it was discovered that Lucian was brilliant with machines. He designed a little gadget that he named a Babbitt Widget --for no apparent reason, as it contained to Babbitt metal --that worked flawlessly. From then on, Lucian's father did everything for Lucian --to help his "genius son make something of himself" --foregoing, often, his own needs to better Lucian's state. Lucian kept to himself, rarely ventured outside the safety of his own home, and continued to tinker throughout his youth.
Mr. Rix kept the house accounts out of Lucian's hands, but the tinkering genius had his doubts about how his father was getting on while Lucian held moderate comfort. As his worries grew, Mr. Rix announced to Lucian that he should attend school shortly after his sixteenth birthday. This astounded Lucian --even the least notable machine schools were extravagant in their cost, and he could not fathom how his father had managed to procure his tuition. Mr. Rix would hear none of Lucian's arguments, and had him on the train to [[wherever it is the University lies]] before he knew it, with only a few belongings, and a crash course in society and manners.

Skills: Although his early success was mostly deception, Lucian has become adept at dealing with the workings of machines of all types, and has reached an understanding that all mechanics share the same fundamentals. Many of his designs come together out of instinct, and despite his lack of self-confidence, he has the mental capacity to work out all the details after he has completed a machine. Beyond that, his only notable skill is his handwriting, which seems almost an art in itself.

Belongings: Caring little for trinkets, Lucian's belongings are few and simple. He has a number of coins that add up to a half-crown, and a few mechanical bits stowed in a little box. He has a small trunk with several changes of similar clothes, though he has only one hat, and only two vests. Lucian's only notable possession is a leather hardbound book that he uses as a store for design notes and personal thoughts. He considers this book so important, in fact, that he designed and installed a lock on it, for which the key is on his spectacles.

Character secrets: Rix lied about designing the Babbitt Widget; he constructed it from a design in his grandfather's notebook, and never let on that it was a stolen design when his father took it to be genius (granted, building something that works every time when one is six is no small feat).

Anything else? ((probably, but I'll think about that later))

RP Sample: ((Insert magnanimous comment here))

sweatdrop
Thanks for the compliment. I'm glad you like it; it took me forever to get it right.
A quick question, though: where is this "Rules Clarification" that the sticky speaks of? It has hidden itself, like the last LEGO --those things never show up in the bucket when you want them! XD

Works for me. Thanks.