Nicomedes Shireford-Sarantos
Race: Galdor
Birthday: Hamis 14, 2684
Age: 35
FC: Ben Barnes
Birthday: Hamis 14, 2684
Age: 35
FC: Ben Barnes
Place of Origin: Brunnhold, Anaxas
Current Location: Vienda, Anaxas
Occupation: Constable Inspector for the Seventen
Player Name: Aconite
Current Location: Vienda, Anaxas
Occupation: Constable Inspector for the Seventen
Player Name: Aconite
Physical Description
Nicomedes possesses a slender build, even when relatively fit, so he makes good use of layers and thick coats to pad out his silhouette. He is at least, in his opinion, tall enough. Even taller when donning a tasteful tophat and heeled boots.
He appears as an even mix of his Anaxi and Bastian heritage, sporting the dark hair and eyes of his mother's homeland, and unfortunately the fair skintone of his father's. Such a complexion makes him look gaunt in some lights, which he compensates for by dressing in black whenever possible.
Personality
"He was the quiet sort. Kept to himself. (laugh) That's what they'll say about me when they roll a body out of the gutter and find that it's mine."
Nicomedes is the quiet sort who keeps to himself. He takes his work very seriously and suffers no fools. Although not always able to suss out the truth when he likes, he is extraordinarily keen at sniffing out lies and deception, to which he takes pronounced umbrage. He is honest to a fault, and does not stop short of speaking his mind, unless polite courtesy is the more expedient route. In which case, he happily plays a perfect gentleman.
He frequently comes off as dismissive and cynical, but it's mostly to obscure the fact that Nicomedes tends to care too much about the welfare of others. The law requires him to temper his sense of empathy in favor of enforcing order, and duty must always come before trivial, personal feelings.
His compassion extends to even the lower races, such as wicks and humans, for which he feels the same affection as he might dogs and horses. They can be noble animals and are capable of suffering, but more importantly they are animals that require the discipline and care of their benevolent galdori masters. Without the galdori keeping society upright, the world would collapse into unthinkable anarchy and strife.
Backstory
"Like most galdori I was born into wealth and privilege. My father, Liam Shireford, held an esteemed position within the University of Brunnhold, which created many advantages for me. He's a sincere sort of man who tends to leave little unsaid, for better or worse. My mother was a transplant from Bastia but served—and still serves—as a judge at the Court Arcane in Araxas. Ariellone Sarantos. Clever woman, self sufficient."
He paused to chew on his tongue thoughtfully.
"She was Father's second wife after his first tragically died from some vicious malady. So it passes that I also once had a half-sister from the first marriage, Liliana. I liked her. She was warm and idealistic, liked to write poetry and fold paper into little animal shapes. I enjoyed her more than my younger, full-blooded siblings, Selene and Alesander, who like me were haughty, willful, and competitive to the extreme.
"I achieved high marks at University, of course. It was my place to set an example for my younger siblings." He smirked privately. "And it was my pleasure to watch them fall short of my accomplishments. I'm still taller than both of them, too."
Nicodemus flicked a proud eyebrow and smiled, but then waved a gloved hand in dismissal as he moved on.
"Sorcery never interested me very much, but it was required for my curriculum. It is our birthright, isn't it? It is also the most practical way we as galdori may show reverence to the divine, naturally, so I applied myself despite some youthful reluctance. Out of respect to my mother's homeland, I studied Perceptive Conversations of magic as she did in her youth. It's an insightful field, but I didn't touch it much after graduation. At least not until I joined the Seventen.
"I took my oaths and was officially commissioned into the Seventen before my arrival in Numbrey—
"Beg your pardon? Why did I leave Brunnhold?"
Nicomedes squared his shoulders, but shifted uncomfortably in his seat. A shadow seemed to gather under his brow. He laced his fingers and set his hands neatly into his lap.
"Right. This is about Ariellone, isn't it? I thought it might be."
He sighed.
"For the record, I wanted nothing to do with it. I had nothing but love for LIliana.
"I was nineteen when I found my half-sister dead in her room. I'll spare the details, but from all appearances, it seemed as though she had poisoned herself. Like everyone else I assumed it was about the bastard child she had been forced to give away, a tawdry affair that's neither here nor there. Lily was a dear, but more than once fell victim to her own foolish decisions. She'd written one final letter to the world as her farewell. A suicide note in iambic pentameter. Flowery and saccharine, but it made sense for her.
"If all had gone to plan, that was the story I would have believed for the rest of my life. I should have just chosen ignorance, and not given another thought to the suddenness of her death in spite of stories she had told me about her dreamy future. Looked the other way when I found suspicious bottles among Ariellone's things, not asked questions when I found crumpled notes upon which she had practiced Liliana's handwriting.
"She tearfully confessed to me, a boy of nineteen, in front of a burning hearth. I remember watching the lightning arc outside as I struggled to listen to her fevered reasoning. It was an act of mercy, she called it. Liliana's worsening instability and irrationality had been destroying Liam, my father, and pulling them both into a destructive, downward spiral. I was hard pressed to disagree, but to think my mother could do this to another galdor?"
Nicomedes chuckled without smiling.
"I couldn't get out of Brunnhold fast enough. Since that day, I've refused to look Ariellone in the eye. I won't turn in my own mother, even if I could prove she did it. But my kindness ends there. She still tries to make amends with me, sometimes. I did accept her professional assistance breaking into the ranks of the Seventen, but only so I could seek out and punish evils like that vile thing she had done. Maybe I feel complicit, somehow. If I can right enough wrongs, perhaps..."
Shaking his head, he laughed as if he had told a fat, ridiculous joke. He leaned forward and pinched the bridge of his nose, and it was several moments before he resumed speaking.
"Oh, but that's ancient history.
"After I graduated and left Brunnhold, I spent time in Numbrey in training, as you do. Enrolled in the Seventen's Investigative Services Division. After that I had the option of returning home, but I chose a station in Vienda. I'm most comfortable in large cities with all the amenities. More importantly, it's prohibitively far from Brunnhold so I rarely get the chance to visit home. I write letters seasonally to my father and siblings apprising them of my well-being, assuring them I'm not dead and all that. Try to be a good son.
"Serving the Seventen is rewarding work. It requires all of me. Recently earned a third snap and made Constable. I've acquired my fair share of stories but I presume that isn't what you've come to hear.
"Speaking of, I think I've wasted enough time with this. Do you have enough? Yes? Good." Nicomedes stood and donned his hat in one smooth motion. "Good evening, then."
Aptitude Skills
Mental
Good
Good
Physical
Average
Average
Social
Average
Average
Focus Skills
Career and Income
Housing and Inventory
Goals
- Meet and contend with one of the skeletons in his family's closet: his wick nephew, Meraki.
- Solve a winding mystery involving murder, politics, or some titillating mix of the two. Preferably with another character, and over the course of several threads.
- Become a proficient horse rider. Perhaps get involved in racing as a new pastime.
- Be brought low and forced to reckon with his values and question his perception of the lower races.
- Make friends and enemies in the line of duty.
- Accept a bribe from a PC.
- Be sent back home to Brunnhold despite his protests to assist in an investigation there, perhaps one that makes his mother look like the culprit.
