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Username: Flynn_MacCallister
Who recruited you?: The Almighty Thread

Name: Amadeus Gualterro
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Height: 5'10"
Weight: ~130 lbs

Race: Southern European
Social Class: Middle.

Appearance: Amadeus stands on the taller side of average, and is of very slim build, tending almost toward the underweight end of the spectrum. This shows especially in his face, making his naturally well-defined cheekbones and jaw stand out with an almost harsh starkness. Softening the effect, however, are his deep brown eyes. His skin is a very dark tan, although many, many degrees short of being black. His hair is very nearly true black -- or, what you can see of it is, at least. Mostly it is obscured by the leather-copper-and-steel hair falls of which he is rather fond. Although these can be occasionally seen for purchase commercially, he made his set himself. Usually he ties these back with twine, but the way they sit when he doesn't has earned him the nickname of "Pharoah".

Otherwise, his dress is nothing unusual: a white shirt; trousers, waistcoat and coat in muted tones -- although he prefers to forgo the jacket whenever even moderately acceptable. He wears a plae grey silk or pleated white linen ascot tied plastron style over a high stock collar, and held in place with a plain pin. When forced to wear one, his hat of choice is a cloth cap, even though he is, really, too old now to still get away with it. If really pressed, he will take out the hair-falls and don a toppie.

Personality: Amadeus is generally quiet and soft-spoken, but not to the point of seeming shy. He is exceptionally studious, with his main interests lying in the fields of natural philosophy (i.e. chemistry and physics) and engineering. He doesn't expect much from his friends, and, although he is generally reliable, expects them not to ask much of him. He is very level and balanced most of the time, not particularly prone to emotional outbursts of any kind. He is also an obsessive tinkerer, collecting up mechanical bits and pieced from wherever possible, and trying very hard -- and often failing utterly -- to put them together in a working manner.

Character flaws: Although reliable, he does not generally go out of his way for his friends. He is something of a know-it-all, and will not accpet that he is incorrect until it can be conclusively proven so. He forgets that not everyone is interested in the same things as he, and of those who are, many are not quite so obsessed as he is. As a result, he can sometimes be rather boring to people. And in particular, to young women.

Background: Amadeus' father is an accountant for the Muskovy company, so his background is one of modest wealth, though certainly not of great riches. Certainly not of great enough riches to have been able to be tutored privately, but indeed enough so that his entire education prior to entering the university has been at public schools. He has chosen to attend the state-funded University over other private colleges because it allows him independence in his choice of his course of study, rather than having to follow his fee-paying father's will -- which does not involve science and engineering.

Skills: Logical thinking, scientific reasoning

Belongings: A small collection of well-thumbed scientific journals; great stacks of books and pocketbooks for his own use; a mismatched set of tools; a few bits and pieces; a half-finished Crawler; Hero's humble steam engine -- a homemade desktop version thereof; some clothes. A little-used comb; a much-used razor, and associated shaving kit.

Character secrets: Although he claims that his intention is to become a pure scientist, he actually aspires to the somewhat less gentlemanly position of engineer.

Anything else? Nothing, really. The only thing I may have neglected under any other category is the personalities of and conflict between Amadeus' parents, which is not even remotely important, really. You have been very thorough.

RP Sample:

Another day, another dawn... Another year at the University.

At long last Amadeus had reached the elaborate gates of the school, having opted to walk from the train station. He'd tell his father he'd caught a cab, but lost the reciept... he intended to put that money to far better use. Goodness, a cab fare could secure him the mechainism out of an old 961-B "Andersson" dumbwaiter system, which was exactly what he needed right now for the Crawler. Sure, the boiler-connection tubing would be shot -- that's why the things weren't in use anymore, but half the thing was pre-assembled exactly how he needed, for a replacement for the shoddy second-level control set he'd thrown together himself, and beside that there were a lot of parts he could strip and use; in some cases as more refined replacements for parts he already had, in others as pieces he was missing and needed...

If only he'd been able to carry his trunk as well, rather than use the porters. They were almost as expensive as a cab. But that was foolishness. He could scarcely lift the accursed thing, let alone carry it that far. Regardless, he attracted attention enough with his darker-toned skin, and even more so with the leather straps and fine, corroding steel interlock tubing spraying from their copper anchors -- his precious hair-falls. Oh, his father hated them! Truly, his father in his tidy bowler hat and neat-trimmed moustache hated anything out of the ordinary. Naturally, this had very little effect on Amadeus and his rather exotic-looking mother -- particularly his mother, whom he could not shake, even when he thundered about her wearing gaudy fabrics, and even called her a tuppeny whore. She had the sharper wit, and almost always won.

Amadeus sighed to himself. That was really the only point they disagreed upon. That, and his chosen course of study. He wished that their opinions differed on the idea of setting him up with some suitable young lady: he had spent a large part of his break being whisked from one dinner party to the next, with friends and colleagues of his father who had pretty young daughters of a suitable age, but they were all dull, dull, dull! He was glad to have escaped that. Now he was one costume ball away from being left to study in peace. Ugh, speaking of which, he would have to have a maid find him something, again.

With these more domestic matters in mind, he crossed the quadrangle, navigating the bustle of young people with the ease of practise, and headed toward the students' quarters. From his coat-pocket, he drew out the letter with his room number, and checked it again, even though he was sure he knew it quite well.

Within minutes, he was within the halls of that familiar building, and making his way toward an unfamiliar room. Having been expecting the worst, he was very pleasantly surprised when he pushed open the wooden door. Although of typical size, the shared room had a larger, nicer fireplace than that he had been housed in last year -- always very important -- and the window was small, but was of north-facing aspect, and overlooked the gardens. It was most irregular for someone such as he to be so fortunate: rooms such as this were usually reserved for -- and his heart sank at the thought -- the sons of politicians and foreign dignitaries. No doubt that was with whom he would be sharing. Wonderful.

His trunk was already there at the foot of his bed, and he opened it and began unpacking his belongings into the small closet and desk on his side of the room. The pewter-framed picture of his parents went on the night-stand, along with a pocketbook and a pencil.

Thus unpacked, he made his way to the common room.

My, my, my. I seem to have gone somewhat overboard! Do forgive me.

I find no faults with your design, and, in truth, find more that I can readily identify than many concepts I read through. The height and weight are fine for an ectomorph (in truth, subtract some three pounds and add a half inch and you would end up with a more Italian looking me o0).

I, too, am curious about these hair falls. Any tidbits you'd like to add on that count?

Do write a sample; with a character like that, I think we can expect your work to be very solid, and you should be able to start very soon after your acceptance.

One more thing, just to sate my curiosity, and that is how on earth did "Pharaoh" get to just outside of London? Is he of that general heritage and born in England, or is it otherwise?

Gotcha.

As far as I'm concerned, you're doing great.

I vote yes for entry.

Either Carice or Tori. Feel free to nudge them. biggrin

If I was going to go and wander away from it, I would not have written it, I daresay.

Thankyou.