Alexander Damien Amidale | just Alexander, few are allowed to call him Alex; hates being called Damien

Some introduce him as 'Sir' or 'Lord' out of politeness (and possibly fear of offending him), but there is no title (yet at least), he’s just a Mister Amidale (though he loathes being called this)

29 years

Male (he/him)

HEIGHT: 6’1”-6’2”
BUILD: thin but well-proportioned, a bit feminine, deceptively well-toned
HAIR: incredibly long, blond/dark flaxen, wavy; rarely is it put up or in a braid or ponytail unless working, as he prefers it down and flowing like the mane it is; honestly his gold mane is almost more of a trademark than the canes he carries or his somewhat outlandish/extravagant style
EYES: blue-grey; master of microexpressions and using his eyes to his advantage; hardly ever serious but when they are…
STYLE: as extra as he is — interesting colors and patterns, but always looks his best; the man can pull off anything; and if you ask if he’s worn a dress before, he won’t deny it
SCARS: yes, but he keeps them all concealed as they can be covered by his clothing
NOTES: his jaw and cheekbones could probably cut glass; his hands are not smooth like one would expect, given his wealth and status in society, but rough and calloused (he claims it’s from working with metal)
FACECLAIM: Danila Kovalev

Polytechnique Institute for Arts and Sciences

Craftsmen

Metal Manipulation | "no, not mental manipulation, dearie, that just happens to be layers of charm and copious amounts of alcohol...among other things"
--- can unlock metal locks without needing the key
--- once he understands the way the mechanism is supposed to work, with a snap of his fingers he can get it working again (depends on the mechanism, does not apply to the magical automations; we're talking clocks of all sizes, gearworks, occasionally can go section by section in various forms of transportation; essentially by understanding how it works he fine-tunes what needs fixing by manipulating the metal, so it’s not exactly the same as what the merchant guild does)
--- can fuse metal without needing tools
--- can make metal objects change in size by thinning the metal and spreading it out further (think a gear: it’s thick and somewhat small in diameter; he can make it thinner and expand the diameter from there; it’s not really a size change, as he’s limited by the actual amount of metal in the object, but he can essentially rework its size and proportions with the mass he’s given)
--- is exceptionally gifted when working with metal
--- can change the temperature of metal so it burns the bearer or becomes too cold to comfortably carry
--- this is, of course, just a taste of his abilities

--- Owner of a pocket watch and clock factory
--- spymaster — runs one of, if not the, biggest spy ring(s), thus having the ability to know everything about everyone, sometimes before they themselves do; no one knows who his spies are except for Alexander, and they report on anything from the benign to the potentially harmful, all of which he catalogues and decides what to do with the information — some goes to specific individuals with varying degrees of anonymity, some goes to the government, but more often than not he just…keeps it to himself

flirtatious, charismatic, charming, flamboyant, extra as hell, somewhat outrageous, has a flair for the dramatic, surprisingly patient, mysterious, secretive, intelligent, creative, sharp-witted, clever, cunning, good sense of humor, easily amused, comedic, sometimes teasing, incorrigible flirt, hypervigilant bordering on paranoid, cautious, suspicious, highly observant, determined, persistent but knows when to back off in certain endeavors, good at reading people (he calls it profiling, but by modern standards it isn't quite that), has quite the temper though it takes a lot or the right trigger for it to show, not afraid to get his hands dirty but would rather not, fairly feminine, an excellent actor, outwardly very happy; inwardly rather introverted, depressed, low self-esteem, self-loathing, somewhat cowardly, hesitant, soft, gentle, loving, kind, compassionate, empathetic, guilt-ridden, broken, hurt, a bleeding heart, tense, never fully relaxed, heightened sense of right and wrong, ashamed of his physical weakness (despite being physically fit to the point of fighting through intense pain due to continued training)

His wealth, his networks of spies, the fact that he can make everyone believe one thing when really the opposite is taking place, the art of distraction, his abilities to make machines work and get into locked places without needing keys, swordsmanship, knife-throwing and wielding

Charm, alcohol, threats, wit, cane sword, small knives, the art of distraction

In semi-public - i.e. at parties in a less-crowded area, at restaurants and cafés with people who know to avoid looking his way, that sort of thing. However, as the Spymaster, he prefers to avoid confrontation, letting others do that for him. That doesn't mean he won't if it means creating a diversion or keeping up appearances. The art of distraction, after all.

Corporate Espionage and Lethal Contraptions; Alchemy and Automatons; Formulaic Firearms; Waistcoats and Weaponry; Technology: Treasonous and Theoretical; Machinery: Magical, Murderous, and Mundane; Heinous Histories; Cipher-Cracking and Rudimentary Espionage; On Selecting Henchman and Going Insane (actually he found the material itself positively boring, but the example henchmen brought in were wonderful to look at); Developing Tragic Flaws, Burning Passions, and Unstoppable Ambitions (he found it terribly amusing); Cane Swordsmanship; Clockworks (something slightly more practical and useful, though he noticed the instructor seemed to gloss over certain sections of material); Trinketry (making doodads and whatsits that turn out to be really quite useful, including bladed fans for their female counterparts)

TRIGGER WARNING
Oh dear.

No one expects the Alexander Damien Amidale to have a sob story. But no one expects him to have rearranged his name.

Born Damien Alexander Amidale, at the age of five he witnessed the murder of his mother and gained his very first secret. His father was the killer, and in order to make sure his son kept the secret he began a campaign of abuse. Cutting his blond hair short and forcing him to work like the servants, Mr. Amidale used every tactic he could to destroy his son: whippings, burnings, brandings, even sexual abuse. Of course, Damien quickly found out he was a homosexual, which only angered his father more, and he began to try to correct his son's perversion in addition to the rest of the abuse. When nothing seemed to work, Mr. Amidale settled with the abuse as a means to dissuade him from engaging in sexual behaviors of any kind.

By the time Alexander was fifteen, his body was covered in scars, and it was with a heavy heart that he buried his father that same rainy day. The moment the abuser was dead, the boy rearranged his name to Alexander Damien, and vowed that no one would know who his parents really were. The only reason Mr. Amidale was known was because of his factory, which Alexander inherited. However, the son made sure people thought of him when they thought of the Amidale name, not his father (hence how he managed to essentially erase his father from most people’s memory, by making himself bigger and better than him). This became his primary source of income, and with Alexander at the helm the factory saw even greater success and even better production. Children were no longer allowed to work with the machines, instead doing safer tasks that didn't make them feel more subservient, employees were paid livable wages, and changes were made to make working conditions safer. Production increased, and he made more money than his father ever did.

He went to school, honing his skills and learning how to not just survive but thrive in a world he could corrupt. Strangely enough, however, Alexander had little interest in corruption, merely in people's secrets to better bury his own. And yet, he was so good at lying and acting and being charming that everyone believed what he wanted them to. Within time, the Alexander Amidale he wanted the world to know was formed, complete with trademark long blond hair to not only distract but to be a reminder to himself that he was a servant no more. He was the master of his life, the only one in control of his fate, and with that he outwardly flourished.

He went about making himself known to everyone, which many said made him a terrible spy, but he would merely laugh them off. No one knew who his spies were except for himself, and that was what made his persona effective. He showed the world one thing, but was truly something else underneath. Not even his closest friend, Rowena Imperia-Airwright, knew the real Alexander Damien Amidale. True, she was the only person outside select members of his house staff that saw a part of his softer side, but not even she knew who he truly was. The only person whose secrets she couldn't steal were Alexander's, and he vowed to keep it that way.

Damien Alexander Amidale was just as dead as Mr. Amidale. Alexander Damien Amidale was the only one to exist, and between the masquerades he held, the money he spend and made, his factory's watches and clocks, and his schooling, what evidence was there in order to believe otherwise?

Reprobate Genius | "It's all in the acting, darling."

⏳𝓛𝓲𝓴𝓮𝓼:
+ looking his best
+ festivities (especially festivals, parties, formal events, and masquerades) | "I just love masquerades. You learn everyone's secrets that you already knew, plus you look simply amazing while doing so. I always win costume contests, too, so that's always a plus."
+ solitude (surprisingly, he likes being alone every once in a while; this is usually when he makes his own inventions, usually clockwork toys and the like)
+ men (duh)
+ baths
+ books
+ accessories (hats, neckwear like scarves and cravats, vests, gloves, rings, etc) | "Oh, just give me fashion and I'll be happy."
+ clocks (he has an obsession with knowing the time, and absolutely loves clocks and watches because of this)
+ Rowena Imperia-Airwright - Moonlace, Forget-me-not, Rhubarb when she's being exceptionally bitter | "as a friend, of course; that'd be terribly awkward otherwise"
+ children | "Though they can be brats, one has to admire their innocence. Poor souls don't know what's coming for them."
+ cats (especially black and calico ones)
+ music - he plays piano and cello, but loves to listen | "I just love stringed instruments, Rowena my dear. Surely you've seen my music room - I have at least four cellos, two violins, three violas, and two basses, among flutes, pianos on every floor, and so many more. Dear me, I must have lost track."
+ sweets
+ art
+ alcohol | "Drown your enemies, drown your targets, drown your sorrows, drown your miseries. For someone who hates not being able to breathe, I sure do love drowning things in alcohol. Responsibly, of course."
⏳ 𝓓𝓲𝓼𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮𝓼:
- being interrupted
- rudeness - it's quite comical how he responds to it all, really, as one would never know he doesn't like the whole rudeness thing despite being a graduate from the school for evil to rude geniuses; and yet some say he himself is rude, though perhaps he can just be a bit too forward…
- bad hygiene
- unnecessarily getting his hands (literally) dirty (his hands are also surprisingly smooth despite what he works with and how he grew up, which he attributes to constantly taking care of them so they remain smooth and soft yet firm for good handshakes)
- being seen completely naked, to the point where not even the staff that draws his daily baths know what he looks like beneath his robe
- personally having short hair
- being seen as weak or displaying weakness
- being called Damien - he will slap you while looking angry in face but hurt in eyes, no matter who you are; not even Rowena is safe from this fate, if she even knows of it
- people assuming he's a spoiled rich kid or an arrogant rich snob
- flying | "Oh no, dearie, you know me - I loathe flying. Hate it! Absolutely hate it. Keep my feet firmly planted on the ground, pretty please, darling, thank you."
- tight spaces
- feeling like he can't breathe
- people seeing him as a slut or whore or tramp
- sex - very complicated
- honestly, people assuming anything about him
- accidentally or intentionally attracting women instead of men, though he plays this off as if it's what he intended all along - he pretends that it attracts guys because “damn, look at how he is with the ladies, wish I was like that” totally means they'd fondue him
⏳ 𝓢𝓴𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓼:
+ silvertongue | "Perhaps I should dabble in poetry while I'm at it."
+ working with gears and locks
+ learning secrets and keeping them
+ hosting parties
+ surprisingly intelligent
+ fast reader
+ being fashionable | "Surely looking good is as much a skill as all the rest."
+ swordsmanship and knife-throwing and wielding- he still practices for two hours a day, even when his health should not allow it
+ keeping track of time - half of it is having clocks and watches all around him, half is having trained himself to have an excellent natural clock
+ acting | "I'm so good, sometimes I convince myself the act is the truth."
+ music - he plays piano and cello and is very good at it
⏳ 𝓦𝓮𝓪𝓴𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓼𝓮𝓼:
- bad temper | "Don't doubt me. You haven't seen me angry. You don't want to see me angry." | "Trust my rage if not my face."
- admitting his faults
- sweets
- his hair - cutting his hair would ruin him
- his past, especially his family
- appearances - he works exceptionally hard to keep up appearances, but Rowena knows of one thing that could ruin him
- innocence - he wants to make sure no other child goes through something like he did
- being nude - he hates showing his scars, which is exactly why when he does sleep around he is almost completely clothed
- sex - he would actually prefer to be virginal, but thanks to his father's attacks to his sexuality and the sexual abuse, he has used sex to remind himself that it can be freeing and that there is nothing wrong with who he is; that being said, he wishes that every sexual act he engaged in after his father's death had never occurred, as it only fills him with guilt; that doesn't mean he's not going to engage in sexual acts anyway, he has a reputation in the gay community after all!
- paranoia - he says he's hypervigilant, but it borders so close to paranoia and often makes him tense despite looking completely relaxed
- chronic pain - due to his past, he is usually in some level of pain thanks to nerve damage, typically in his lower back and hips; it's usually fairly low and ignorable, but there are times where it's crippling and the only way it goes away is through a long, hot bath with oils and scents; when he has one of his bad days he is more irritable, moves more stiffly, leans more on the cane he carries, and tends to stay home and work on his “pet projects,” as he calls them (the little clockwork toys and gadgets), and thus lets his physical appearance go (and may sometimes employ the use of a wheelchair, though this is quite rare and fills him with shame); Rowena is aware of some of this pain, but is under the impression that it is from an illness during his childhood
⏳ 𝓛𝓲𝓷𝓮𝓼:
+ "Oh no, sweetie, I have eyes and ears everywhere. Even if you think I don't know, I will hear of everything soon enough. In time, I'll know more than you do."
+ "Trust my rage, if not my face."
+ "Secrets are silver, patience is gold. Oh what a wondrous world to behold."
+ "My god, you speak in riddles more than I do! You're positively cryptic! Quick! Someone fetch a mathematician! We must decipher his secrets at once!" - not that he couldn't do it himself, but you know...comedy
+ "You have no idea what you're getting into, dearie."
+ "Mark my words: You'll regret this soon enough."
+ "You never needed me, my dear. You only ever needed my money."
+ "You know me, love. I love masks so much I will forever wear one. The face beneath it is far more cracked than you could ever imagine."
⏳ 𝓞𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀:
The Spymaster: Alexander Damien Amidale (29)
-extra as hell
-also gay as hell
-close friends with Rowena Imperia-Airwright and gives everyone flowery pet names
-ridiculously rich and knows everyone's secrets (thanks to his network of spies)
-outrageous with a flair for the dramatic
{FC: Danila Kovalev, Guild: Craftsmen}
⏳ 𝓢𝓮𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓭𝓪𝓻y 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓬𝓽𝓮𝓻:
Elric Dowd, Chief of Staff/Head Butler (FC: Ian McKellen)
Age: 67 years
Guild: Former Legionnaire
Guild gift: Augmented Senses
--- can see better than the average individual, and despite his age has kept much of his better sight, though seeing in the dark is much trickier than it used to be
--- can hear sharper and clearer than most, which has not, in fact, dulled with age
--- heightened sense of balance, though it is not as good as it once was due to his injury during his service
--- incredible biological clock (can tell time down to the minute without looking at a clock)
--- incredible marksmanship skills due to sight, balance, and intelligence
Personality: paternal, professional, reserved, constantly looking out for Alexander, somewhat tired (it’s an emotionally drained, “I’m sick of other people’s BS” kind of tired), will still kick your ass, can be forceful but it's usually out of love, highly intelligent, a true gentleman, protective, can be a bit sassy at times, seems stiff but actually has a rather good sense of humor (he just remains professional out of necessity), kind, good, loving, helping, charitable, creature of habit
Mini-bio:
Elric has been in the service of the Amidales since birth. Born a maid's son, he grew up learning to serve. Despite his lack of status, he was a gentleman first, a Legionnaire second. He served in the air-navy for eighteen years before returning to the Amidales at the age of 38 due to injury, just in time for the birth of young Damien. His devotion to the family despite the former Mr. Amidale's disagreeable nature led him to becoming head butler and ultimately Alexander's chief of staff as the closest thing the man has to a true father. While Mr. Amidale tortured and abused young Damien, Elric cared for the boy and helped him nurse his wounds. His loyalty to the family made the cruel Mr. Amidale hesitant to harm the man, which let him get away with taking care of young Damien.
Additional Information:
--- He is known to spend much of the night working on small things (cleaning, polishing silverware, sorting correspondence, checking clocks, that sort of stuff), and wakes early in the morning to resume his work as well as to eat before Alexander. When Alexander eats lunch, he takes a nap, but otherwise gets between four and six hours of sleep a day. He claims he does not tire as much due to his being former air-navy, but both he and Alexander know that Elric simply hates being idle and useless when there is much he could be doing to help the staff.
--- Whenever Alexander is home, Elric is always close by, if not in the same room, mostly for the sake of his health.
--- He loves children, and was once married with two daughters and a son. However, his wife died of a suspicious illness, and his children soon followed. He believes this was the way Mr. Amidale got back at him for aiding young Damien. His son was seven, and his daughters eleven and twelve when they died. He and his wife were forty-two at the time of her death. All passed within a span of two and a half years, leaving him alone.
--- He almost always has a small pistol hidden on him at all times. Old habits, he says.

Arsenio Lennard-Jones

N/A (Nouveau Riche do not obtain titles, and children are not called 'Mister')

8

Genderless (Male)

Arsenio has the appearance of a cute, androgynous young teen. Though his body parts can be swapped out or cosmetically altered, for the most part, his default appearance has a light skin tone, hazel eyes and ear-length brown hair. He appears gentle and sweet, with a disarming, child-like charm.

Polytechnique Institute of Arts and Sciences

Craftsmen Guild

Arsenio's gift is magnetic levitation. His body is installed with three mag-lev cores, one in his head, one in his chest, and one in his hips. Using his body as an anchor, he can levitate and control numerous smaller metal objects (usually his wide assortment of limb-weapons). He can also levitate himself relative to another, more massive metal object. However electromagnetism does obey the inverse-square law, and his power and control diminishes rapidly with distance. Sticking to a metal surface and climbing it is therefore significantly easier than hovering. For the most part, this power involves throwing objects around or lifting them, and does not involve fine control, so while Arsenio can levitate a gun, he cannot fire it by pulling the trigger. Any levitating body parts that have moving pieces are typically activated by hand before being levitated. Contrary to popular belief, Arsenio CANNOT communicate with machines.

Weapon Ergonomics Consultant - Arsenio helps design weapons to be form-fitting and easily hidden on (or in) the human body. A perfect line of work for him.

Precocious, endearing, and sweet, Arsenio is everything anyone could want in a child. He is obedient and minds his manners, the only problem is, he has an uncanny intelligence, and, what some might consider, an unsavory hobby. With his intelligence, he might 'unwittingly' say something particularly biting or hurtful, and it is difficult for others to tell if he is being intentionally sarcastic and feigning innocence or if he is being genuine. Some people get the impression that despite him being a doll, they are the ones being toyed with. As for his hobby, Arsenio takes 'doll dress-up' to its ultimate conclusion. Being of an androgynous build, Arsenio enjoys wearing lady's clothing on occasion and is quite convincing, something that often unsettles his male associates, a fact he seems to enjoy.

All this is driven by a desire to fit in with the humans that he was created to mimic, yet will never become, mixed with an inherent logical incompatibility. Gender and romance are meaningless to him so he toys with the idea, taking a strange sense of lonely pride that he is somehow above these animal instincts. On the one hand he is a unique existence, and that is something that he has to grapple with, on the other hand, the shadow of the mechanical monstrosities, his true brethren, the automatons that the destroyed the wastelands, looms over him at all times, after all, he is a child of taboo.

Arsenio provides multi-faceted utility. He is deadly in combat, but is also quite capable at sneaking, accessing difficult locations, and espionage. He brings with him a veritable armory of unique and useful gadgets, though the fact that they are presented as limbs is unsavory to most. A bit of an inventor, he can also be employed to improve other people's tech. He also brings 'expendability' to the table, as he is able to go into a situation, willing to sacrifice a limb or four.

In combat:


Arsenio prefers to overwhelm his opponents from all sides with flying, bladed limbs: ball joints with retractable, spinning blades or forearms with skewers coming out of the wrist. He will also split up his own body, making it extremely difficult to be targeted. He does have a few limbs with firearms of varying calibers hidden inside should the need arise.

Outside of combat, he uses his ability to levitate or climb metallic surfaces to gain access to prohibited locations. Otherwise, he has no issues playing the part of a child to win the hearts of his enemies, though his ability to seduce typically only works on those with a more perverse preference.

Hermes Lennard-Jones was a gifted craftsman in the Guild who, through entrepreneurism and a spark of genius, acquired social standing through wealth, becoming part of the Nouveau Riche, or Gentry. He was a maker of sanctioned, non-magical automatons, powered by spring or steam, these trinkets, big and small, delighted children and nobles alike. His family name was on its way up, he even married a noblewoman and had a son together with her.

Unfortunately, she died in childbirth, so Hermes poured all his love into raising his son, Wulfram. But one day, when Wulfram was twelve, he went out with his friends who had gotten their hands on some metal wings. They took turns flying it, but a tragic malfunction caused Wulfram to fall. Comatose, and with no hope for recovery, Hermes mourned for his son. Lacking propriety and lacking a respect for the taboo, Hermes looked into some alternate method to save his son. Learning bits and pieces about magically animated automatons, he sought out a refugee life mage from Ravenmire. If the outlawed automatons are made with black magic, then making one with white magic should be fine, right? The refugee, having been unable to make his way in the world since coming to Hourglass City, was eventually unable to refuse the price Lennard-Jones offered for his services. The life mage reiterated again and again that he would need to extract lustrya from the child's brain, killing him in the process. Hermes believed, despite the life mage's indications to the contrary, that he could transfer Wulfram's living consciousness into the new, metal body that had been prepared. Eventually the life mage acquiesced, and performed the ritual, extracting lustrya from Wulfram, killing the comatose child, and, adding just a bit of myalo to keep the lustrya tangible and manipulable, implanted it into the body of the metallic ball-jointed doll made in Wulfram's likeness.

When the doll awoke, it became immediately apparent that Wulfram's soul was not transferred. The doll lacked memory and personality. Hermes paid the life mage, and the life mage quickly left. For months, Hermes attempted to coax Wulfram's consciousness out of the body, believing that it was still in there somewhere, waiting to express itself. And the doll learned quickly, rapidly achieving the intelligence it needed to be what was expected of it. But Hermes noticed that there was a personality, small character idiosyncrasies unique to the doll that Wulfram didn't have. As painful as it was, Hermes came to grips with the fact that he had murdered his comatose son, though some might consider it euthanasia.

He then had to grapple with the fact that he had violated taboo, and that his new son, Arsenio, would have no place in the world. Hermes then decided to turn himself in to the authorities, banking on the hope that if he laid everything bare, that he could expect some leniency and bargain for a future for his son. By some miracle, he got the leniency he was looking for. Arsenio's incident was labeled a 'special circumstance', but Herme's status was stripped away, much of his property liquidated, and his patents relinquished to his top competitor. Arsenio was also required to attend the Polytechnique Institute of Arts and Sciences as an 'asset' for Hourglass City. Hermes agreed, feeling that this was all proper atonement for what he had done, happy enough just to be given this second chance with his second child. Together, they started a small consulting company, and Hermes added, over time, various upgrades to Arsenio's body, providing him a 'gift' that would help him as a craftsman.

Mildly Rude Genius

Everyone in the Lennard-Jones family is named after an element, Hermes is Mercury, Wulfram is Tungsten, Arsenio is Arsenic, and Argentina is Silver.

Lennard-Jones and Stefan-Boltzmann (Arsenios's true surname and fake surname for when he's being Argentina) are both hyphenated names used in science, the Lennard-Jones Potential, and the Stefan-Boltzmann Constant.

Because much of Hermes' work involves crafting dolls, one time, Arsenio discovered the doll wardrobe and became enamored with the assortment of clothing. His penchant for cross-dressing started then. Since he started cross-dressing, he has, on occasion, snuck into Madame Geraldine's to sit in on a few classes.

One thing Arsenio hates about himself is the inability to shed tears.

In some ways, Arsenio is designed as a 'trap' character (I put trap in quotes because I recognize that it can be offensive to some, but it's the most trope-y name, and probably most identifiable name I have, for what I'm trying to go for). But I don't want to disrespect cross-dressing at all, and I hope that nobody takes it that way. Arsenio is an opportunity to explore asexuality as well as transgender expression.

Arsenio has an oversized, wheeled trunk full of body parts and clothes.