Name: Gaspar Teixeira Albernaz

Age: 17

Gender: Male

Birthplace: Almoçageme, Portugal

Religious Affiliation: Catholic

Secular Affiliation:

Level of education: Better than the average for boys in his area, due in no small part to his own academic endeavors.

Social status: Low, though not entirely poor thanks to his late father's station.

Occupation: Historian's Apprentice

Appearance: As a rather wiry lad with a frock of curly black hair and a mousey countenance, Gaspar would look not look out of place in a humble congregation of monks. His grey eyes are wide and often staring. He has thin lips and a disproportionately wide nose, set atop an angular jaw and cheeks that perhaps appear a little more sunken than is healthy. Though the color of his skin had been dark through his youth, recent years of indoor hobby have allowed for a slight pallor.

Personality: Gaspar is a gentle soul; spirited and intelligent but faint of heart. His love of learning has bred the beginnings of an adventurous longing, one that is tempered by practicality and no small amount of timidity. In social interactions he is shy, but honest to a fault and willing to help if there is a need.

Skill set: Gaspar is skilled in reading and writing for the most part, as well as arithmetic and some small cartography. He is an amateur astronomer, and is familiar with horseback riding. Though he did at some point in his childhood cherish the romantic notion of being a noble warrior, he has no violent inclinations and possesses no fighting skill to speak of.

Languages: Portugese (native), Spanish (fluent), some English, some French, and a purely academic understanding of Latin.

Bio: Gaspar was born in Almoçageme, a small seaside village near Sintra, to Jorge and Eduarda Albernaz, in 1649. His family was not rich, but they made a stable life for themselves through Jorge’s work and the help of relatives. Gaspar and his four siblings grew up happy, for the most part, enjoying long afternoons on the beach and frequent trips to the Sintra markets. They spent much of their time outside in the woods and fields, and Gaspar in particular was interested in discovering the lay of the land.

Jorge Albernaz worked as a bookkeeper in Lisbon for Ciríaco Moreno’s trade business. He was a practical man with a shrewd mind, and always stressed the importance of knowledge to his children. He took his own time to teach them all to read and write, and to count money. Of his knowledge of the world he bestowed upon them as much as he was able.

In 1657 Jorge died, under unclear circumstances, in Lisbon. Uncouth rumors circulated about Don Moreno, but the wealthy merchant’s company paid the Albernaz family a stipend and so they did not push the matter. They still had the money Jorge had saved, and the support of their close relatives. Unfortunately, only a year later both of Gaspar’s older brothers were killed in the Siege of Badajoz.Gaspar was only nine at the time.

Stricken with grief, Eduarda forbade him from joining the war effort, though pressure from his peers would grow strong in the waning years of The Restoration. Instead she fostered his interests in the literary arts, and around the age of 11 began allowing him to stay many days in Sintra with Adalberto Silva, a resident scholar and teacher. Under the old man’s tutelage Gaspar learned the finer points of authoring and publishing. He wrote a short set of books himself as soon as he was able, mostly on the subject of culture and history in the area he grew up. An interest in history eventually grew into a love of records; particularly journals, of which he kept many.

1665 was a year of luck for Gaspar. Firmin Leclair, a french historian from Rome sojourning in Portugal due to the war, came on holiday to Sintra. Young Gaspar wasted no time in making Leclair’s acquaintance, and the two soon became friends. In July of 1666 Leclair accepted the boyas his apprentice. This came with the news that, as the Restoration War was nearing a foregone conclusion, he would be returning to Rome at the end of September. Gaspar could not be more thrilled at the prospect.

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