James Thornton

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James Thornton
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Aug 02, 2019 8:50 am
Topics: 3
Race: Human
Character Sheet: Character Sheet
Plot Notes: Plot Notes
Writer: Goldenmochi
Post Templates: Thread Tracker
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Fri Aug 02, 2019 9:03 am

James Thornton

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Race: Human
Birthday: 16 Bethas, 2792
Age: 27
FC: Luke Newberry
Place of Origin: Vienda, Anaxas
Current Location: Vienda, Anaxas
Occupation: Journalist
Player Name: Goldenmochi

Physical Description

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James is a tall, lanky human who has a slightly malnourished appearance. He is pale, and his doe-eyes are wide and hazel-brown with a somewhat innocent appearance, which is only counter-acted by a rather large grin he often has plastered onto his face, and an eager intensity in his look. His hair is ginger and lightly curled and wavy and he has an air of ‘cheeky chappy’ about him. He holds himself in a way that suggests high regard, despite his slightly worn and cheap appearance. There is a shamelessness about him, though it can’t quite be placed as to where it comes from, perhaps the jaunty tilt of his head or the prideful way he strides up and down the street. He speaks speedily, often hopping from one topic to the next without a hesitation to breathe. This causes him to often have an air of irritability about him, that people can’t shake off, and sometimes they find his very presence annoying. James just smiles.
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Personality

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It is unknown if James is quite mad, or just plain eccentric. Whether he grew up ‘wrong’ or just got dropped as a child no-one quite knows. He has never let simple little things like rules, social etiquette or gravity to get in the way of his determination. Often, James doesn’t (or can’t) think of the consequences of his actions, and very much lives in the moment. This has obviously led to plenty of incidents where he has gotten in trouble – or broken a piece of himself or others. The oddest part is that this often doesn’t put him off trying something again – just in a different way, to see if the outcome is the same.

He is a great believer in morality and justice – which leads to issues with his attitudes to the galdori and general treatment of humans and other races. He is not a member of the resistance, but he thinks that as a prominent and modern society, there should be more equal value shared between them all. Perhaps he has gained this attitude from all the books he has gotten his hands on.

James holds great loyalty to his friends (and even those who don’t want to be his friend). He has a martyr streak but it is not outright obvious, as he will often give up things to support others with little care or consideration for himself. Once he gave a homeless man his shoes in the midst of winter because he felt bad for him – and James subsequently got treated for pneumonia and mild frostbite. He says it is never out of kindness, but just that it was the obvious thing to do. He never makes a fuss of such instances

Finally, James is keen. Exceedingly keen, to the point of madness, and takes the ‘If X can be done, why can’t I do it?’ attitude to the extreme. If there are people who doubt his, or their own, capabilities, James will seek to readdress this by proving them otherwise, no matter how absurd the alternative action might be. He gets bored easily, and so seeking out what he and people are capable of just makes the world that little more interesting.

Backstory

James is a local boy born and raised in the lower parts of Vienda, Anaxas. He has never left Anaxas, much to his dismay, and has grown up knowing almost anyone and everyone on his side of town. He is friendly, cheerful, bright-eyed and incredibly keen, and is sometimes known for regular eccentricities. (Between the ages of 7-9 he would fashion himself a pair of wings and throw himself off trees, balconies, buildings in an attempt to fly – all he ever succeeded in was a series of broken bones).

Despite his effort to try and mimic Daedelous, the boy’s main goal had always been to be a writer, ever since he was small. Although as a human reading and writing was something that needed permission, his father made the effort to get James to learn from a very young age, noting the boy’s smarts and tenacity and thinking it would be good to help him to get out of their state of squalor. It didn’t take long for James to learn to read, and subsequently write, taking in the mountains-worth of information out there. He has always expressed an interest in wanting to write a book (something he still says he is working on – though no one can claim they have ever seen any progress on the matter), James has instead decided to delve into the world of journalism.

Admittedly, this was not exactly a career his mother sought out for him, thinking it was more likely to get him in trouble than not, however, as her mental state deteriorated, and without another parental figure to offer advice (his father died when James was young, supposedly from a brain haemorrhage, though the rumour is his mother had something to do with it), James was unstoppable in his determination to write, encouraged by all the books and articles he would get his hands on (usually passed under the table), building a small library of his own in his little room.

He had a fairly ordinary life, save for the early passing of his father. He grew up to have lots of friends, knowing most of the locals and just had a genuine grasp of his home. His interest in journalism grew when he got himself a paper round, spending more time reading the newspapers every morning rather than delivering them. When he was fourteen, he was able to work in the post room at a local newspaper, sorting through letters for the various journalists, and occasionally assisting them in the office when required (even though technically he wasn’t supposed to). It gave him a leg up though, that when he was old enough, he applied for a professional position at the paper, supplied samples of his own writing work and sure enough, gained a junior journalist position at the paper. This was it! He was ready to take on the world and bring truth and light to the people of Anaxas!

In all honesty, James found the job utterly dull. Nothing happened locally save for a few odd incidents now and again – anything more juicy than that tended to be shushed or swept under the rug. A great storm or a traffic accident. The bakery caught fire once, but that was about as far as it went. His writings consisted of Sports Days and ceremonial holidays, and it was the absolute worst. Soon enough, James started to dream of opportunities elsewhere, where real news was happening. Undercover investigations into scandals, money laundering, articles suspecting criminals and celebrities of nefarious behaviour alike. Reports on housing crises and a call to arms of the lower classes to sort out their lives. Articles on vast vistas across the sea, political uprisings elsewhere, and discussions on stirrings in the North. Why couldn’t he report on anything interesting happening here?!

He would have lied if he said he didn’t find the prospect of the resistance and a possible political uprising at least a little bit exciting. Would he finally get his opportunity to write on something worthwhile? Write about something seeped in importance in truth? Write about something that people actually gave a shit about?

Well... the answer was a complicated one. It started off fine. Plenty of discussion pieces about politician’s speeches, reactions to political events and so on. James would be lying if he didn’t admit that he thought this would be the perfect opportunity for him, ready to write article after article of words to boost the morale of the people who needed their hearts boosted and to encourage them to stand up against an unfair life, to fight tooth and nail for a freedom that was rightfully theirs. Except, he never got the opportunity to, as he was promptly sacked for ‘attempting to incite mass mob mentality’ and ‘earning the company a fine for compiling illicit materials’.

Since then, James has been struggling to try and convince his new editor of a trashy tabloid that puff pieces simply won’t do for the paper. That they should try harder to work for the people of Anaxas, to take part in undercover psychological operations through newspaper articles, subtle digs using clever words and nuances that he doubted the galdori would understand, no matter how fluent they were. He believes people want and need to know that they are not abandoned in the midst of everything. But it is very much an uphill struggle, and James feels very much like he is on a wild one man crusade. After all, the Resistance actually achieving anything is just a myth, right?

“The papers are dead. The public has been made fat and lazy through fear and self-inflicted ignorance. If we cannot debate that which troubles our society, then what is the point of the press? It is a farce. Give me this opportunity, and I will prove it to you. You haven’t seen my best yet.”

Aptitude Skills

Mental
Good
Physical
Poor
Social
Good

Focus Skills

Combat

N/A. James’ skill is running away or taking a beating.

Linguistics

Language (Estuan): Fluent
Language (Tek): Conversational
Language (Mugrobi) Conversational

Magic

None.

Professional

Proficient:
Writing (Professional)
Handyman (Self-taught)

Beginner:
Actor
Engineer (building things from scratch)


Career and Income

Occupation

James is a journalist for a tabloid newspaper, though has bigger and better dreams. He wants to enact social change in the world, and knows that he has to earn a certain level of ‘respectability’ to do that, which is pretty hard in his current place of work.

Mostly, he does a lot of wandering the streets, and is friendly and chatty to most he meets. His unashamed and brash behaviour has landed him in plenty of trouble, usually sporting a black eye or a broken wrist after an unfavourable encounter, but he is always determined to get the story. More than once he has been caught trespassing to get a story which has led him to being in hot water. Despite the headache he gives his editors, James more often than not is able to get the job done.

Income: Poor


A journalist for a somewhat disreputable newspaper is not exactly the finest way to make cash. Having to fund both himself and his mother tends to be a strain on his finances. James makes do often with buying second hand things or pulling apart old items to make something new, and has become quite handy with fixing up typewriters. He has a franken-typewriter called Beatrice, made of multiple parts from ex-typewriters. She is his beloved.

James’ general somewhat shabbiness and skinniness comes from limited food – when dishing up dinner between himself and his mother he always makes sure she has the slightly bigger plate. Still, he is not ashamed to spend money on occasional treats (like nice tea he lets seep for three to four servings). His clothes are generally well-kept, neat and tidy, but have a vague worn-ness about them, as if they have been patched together multiple times. Any left over money, no matter how small, is stuffed in a sock under his mattress, saving up for a rainy day.


Housing and Inventory


Housing: Rented terrace house

Housing description, varies by Starting Package choice and region.

James still lives with his mother in the same house and bedroom for all of his life. Obviously over time the toys and games were replaced by books and typewriters, files, newspapers, magazines and so on. The room, small, pokey, sporting a squeaky single bed, a bedside lamp and table, a desk and chair and not much else save for the papers littered about everywhere looks more like a hermit hovel than any would care to admit. Though there is always a freshly made pot of tea and teacups of china and pink flowers set out for him every day.

The rest of the house is small and ramshackle. The furniture is old, creaky, broken, fixed and broken again over the years. There is a dull greyness about the house, with the wallpaper old and mottled with mould and water stains. That is not to say the rest of the house isn’t tidy. James’ mother, who by all accounts of the neighbours is “not all there”, keeps everything in tip-top shape. There is an overbearing sense of tidiness throughout the rest of the house, where things haven’t been moved for years.

There is a small back garden like all the others that are part of the ramshackle terrace. What grass there is, is overgrown and brown. There are remains of an old shed that was never finished piled up in the corner, and faded washing hangs on a washing line that crosses the garden, hanging there rain or shine.

Its not much, but its home.

Inventory


Clothing:
  • 1 x “nice” jacket that is two sizes too big
    1 x tweed jacket, beginning to get worn and threadbare – faded on the elbows
    3 x pairs of trousers, all slightly too big (held up with bracers)
    3 x Slightly faded white shirts, all with noticeable ink-stains on the left sleeve.
    1 x oversized winter coat – probably once a very fine garment from the upper crust, now at least a decade out of fashion
    1 x hat, brown, slightly misshapen from being sat on one too many times
Effects:
  • Beatrice – his franken-typewriter – his one true love. In a box making it “portable”. It is extremely heavy
    An old briefcase with documents
    Journal/Notebook, full of numerous scribbles, notes and doodles
    A chewed pencil
    The daily newspaper
    Whatever book he is reading that day
    Wristwatch


Goals

Long term:
  • Write a book
    Become a famous writer
    Fix the injustices of the world with his written word and inspire the people to rise up and change the world for the better
Short term:
  • Get a job at a respectable newspaper
    Get more money
    Treat mother to something special

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