Name: Gemma Haddock

Age: 16

Gender: Female

Class: Courtier

Physical Description (5 sentence minimum):

Gemma is of average height, perhaps more on the short side than the tall side of the vertical spectrum. Her hair as a deep auburn, ornamented with curls that fall in thick spirals down to the middle of her back, at which point the mass of hair refuses to grow any more and cuts off in an abrupt inverted pyramid, the central spirals stopping an inch above the outlying ones, at which point each bulky tendril cuts off at quarter-inch increments until the shortest, slimmest ones taper off at her shoulder blades. Hey eyes are a seaweed-green, alluding to some Celt blood in her from some unknown generation. Her skin is pallid but not grotesque or blue with protuberant veins, just a gentle paleness that never significantly changes despite time inside or time in the sun.

For the most part Gemma is slim, generally due to the fact that she’s never taken to eating heartily. Food is of little interest to her, other than the fact that she doesn’t much enjoy being hungry. Table manners, which have been painstakingly subjected to her over the course of many years (particularly as her mother learned and served herself) are now a part of her eating ritual, and she’d precautious when in particularly noteworthy company. She is relatively average in the bust department, but it is easy for any woman to appear as though they were endowed with substantial bosom provided that they wore the proper clothing to accentuate it.


History (8 sentence minimum):

The young Lady Gemma Haddock was born to parents Lady Lydia Doyle and Lord William Haddock, successful merchant and breeder of hunting dogs. Lydia gave birth to Gemma during a period with which wealth was abundant for them—one of the more favorable eras of the Doyle-Haddock marriage as far as entrepreneurship went. She was born into a time of contentment and relatively great expenditure, on her parent’s part, around the same time when the merchant business tapered off into a moderately popular sect of breeding hounds for the hunt.

She was educated little but doted on moreso than her younger few siblings had been. The basics of her education revolved not around mathematics-although she suspected that she would have been terrible at them anyway, and didn’t care to learn them for fear that it would brand her with a more masculine reputation that she wouldn’t be able to shed- but around rudimentary literacy and, particularly, an ability to stitch well.

Stitching, embroidery, and the aesthetically pleasing art of putting a fine piece of clothing together were her forte, as were they her mother’s. For the most part she was taught, from a young age, by her mother. Once the basics were instilled her mother paid her work less attention, only occasionally correcting her or making what Gemma found to be irritating suggestions toward alternative ways for her to waste less, create more, and perfect the techniques that, in Gemma’s own opinion, were already perfected.
When Gemma turned four her younger brother was born, totaling the child count to three. Before her came an older brother, whose age was five years greater than her own and birthed when her parents were newly wed, and was subsequently such a bothersome and needy child that they abstained from sexual endeavors until their time of relative prosperity.

At any rate, more siblings followed her and her brother. The firstborn’s name was William, the first of the younger’s Nicholas, and then came her younger sister, Philippa (Pippa for short.) After Pippa came the last of the children, Henry, five year’s Gemma’s junior, and one year younger than Pippa.

Two of the brothers looked very similar despite age differences—William and Nicolas are both tallish and broad-shouldered, both having green eyes and similar complexions. William was almost a carbon copy of his father at his age, with mousey brown hair and freckles. Nicolas ranged more into Gemma’s hair color, auburn-red, but was the same texture as his elder brother’s.

The youngest brother and Pippa were the most startlingly different children in the family. Pippa has raven black hair and pallid skin, her eyes a strange, deep blue. Her face, unlike the faces of each of her other siblings, bore no freckles. In addition, Pippa is noticeably shorter than her younger brother, and had been since birth. Both Pippa and Henry were scrawny little things, but Henry was the only child of noticeably failing health.

Henry, the child whose complexion was a stark contrast to Pippa’s but also dissimilar from the rest of his family. Far back down the line there had been a blonde haired, blue eyed family member, but said family member had been lost to history, or else had died young.

The differentiation of appearances in the youngest two of the Haddock spawn sparked rumors of infidelity on her mother’s side, all of which were false, but damaging nonetheless. At nine years of age Gemma was exposed to the whispers, glances, and a menagerie of other eclectic looks endowed to her when she held hands with her sister, leading her into a faire or market place or even just around the moderately sized court. It worsened when she brought Henry out with the two girls, though, because the variation of appearances between them were so vivid that many people took advantage of the situation, thinking it an opportune time to comment on the “variety of beauty” that the family spawned.

This, of course, was a thinly veiled way of saying “so that we can get a better look at the bastard children of Lady Doyle’s indulgencies.”

At any rate, Gemma has grown to love her siblings, although they irritate her in their own ways—William was snobbish, handsome, and irksome in his self-enjoyment. Nicolas was the loudest and most vivacious of the bunch, taking great joy in jests and dances, and in particular spending time with the ladies. He is the most outgoing member of the family, and quite possibly Gemma’s favorite sibling. It is in him that she has placed most of her trust, affections and friendship, although the arrival of her Pippa spoiled the more fun times that she enjoyed with her brother.

Pippa is easily the most obnoxious of the Haddock clan. Her voice comes out in soft tremors, tremors that eventually extrapolate into long, detailed fantasies about nothing in particular. She says them with such dire importance, though, that one cannot help but listen. In addition, Pippa says everything very slowly, very brutally, incessantly, and the conversation never, ever ends.

It has always irritated Gemma whenever Pippa opens her mouth, but it occurred to her only later in her young life that Pippa may have babbled on because she was afraid that she would not otherwise be heard. At any rate, Gemma did not welcome the arrival of her younger sister as graciously as she had hoped.

And then there is poor Henry, who is neglected and doted on at the same time. He wears the family out with his constant array of illnesses and allergies that are incurable and unstoppable. Most times Gemma leaves him in his sister’s care, but always feels guilty about subjecting the ill lad to Pippa’s incessant chatter. It never last long, though, particularly because the reprieve from her sister allowed her to do things she enjoyed- stitch, lie in the grass, read poetry.

In particular Gemma liked to spend time with the hunting dogs, the puppies especially. None of them were kept as her pets, though, because they were loud post-puppyhood and not particularly good lap dogs.

Parents: Lydia Doyle and William Haddock

Siblings: William, Nicolas, Pippa and Henry

Personality:

Gemma’s entire being can be captured in two words: sardonic lady. In her mind she’d witty, but externally the constraints of language, articulation and manners constantly get in her way and befuddle her boundless amounts of inspiration. It never occurred to her to write them down, generally due to a lack of material and time, in addition to a lack of sufficient vocabulary.

When allowed, though, she can be quite crass and even so much as self-absorbed. She cares deeply for the people that she cares about but is not always keen on strangers, or even on finding a husband. Her parents have been on an avid search, but somehow she’s turned off every male potentially in search of her hand.

[More elaboration will come with playing.]

Items:

- 1 sewing kit, for embroidery work
- 2 sets of clothing: A crimson dress, a green dress, and a supple auburn-colored cloaked hood to wear over both. Her shoes are small and brown as well, her fan crimson and gold.
- One nightdress; blue, silk, light embroidery
- One light gold or silver chain – silver chain
- One personal item: A silver looking-glass.
- A book of parchment, ink, and quill, with a little bit of sealing wax
- Hygienic effects: hair brush, pins (to hold the hair in place), a little bit of scent (perfume), etc.
- The ability to sew well.
- The ability to dance (being taught by her brother, who constantly sought practice.) If this goes here, the ability to read.
- One maid
- One pet: A small lap dog, French, brought from an expedition of her father’s. (Papillion.)
Roleplay Sample (Two paragraph minimum - Ten sentences): [From a modern RP]

Grody, cramped and inadequate were all ways to describe the Astronomy Tower as Allena saw them, standing in the enterance way with her hands full. In her left hand there was a small musical box with abnormally equipped speakers, and in the right her ballet bag containing her shoes, a spare pair of tights, deoderant, water, another leotard and a long shirt in case she ever forgot to put something on over her leotard.

She sighed heavily--this would have to do. Dancing was becoming an increasingly difficult thing to do within the boundaries of the school. The floors were grimy and uneven, which was bad for her shoes and her personal comfort level when it came to hygine and cleanliness. The walls were drab, the air musty and damp. The curtains often looked moldy, but that may have just been the trick that her eyes played on her.

Allena dropped her bag to the ground, glad that it was dark in color so that it would hide dirt and other grime that was collected on it, and had a sleek, shiny, synthetic outside that repelled deep stains. This room was foul.

She took her wand from the sleeve of her robes, where it had been conveniently housed. A few quick cleansing spells were cast and the floor looked cleaner, but still a bit rough. In the small clean area she set the music box down, then set to work on the rest of the floor.

It wasn't long before she'd finished there as well, and now she was ready to begin her warmup. She shrugged off her robe and took off her Birkenstyle clogs, which she wore only prior to dancing, and replaced the shoes with her ballet slippers.

She sat on her cleared area and stretched, putting her nose to her knee and, while staring down at the floor, speculated whether or not the floor would do damage to her shoes. The answer to that question was probably yes, but she tried to convince herself otherwise.

Her feet were wrapped with durable medical tape under her tights and her slippers, preventing some major foot damage that was bound to occur anyway. Small, manicured fingers clutched her left foot in the stretch, her fingertips massaging the area around the invisible delineations of the tape under the satin and what felt like cardboard.

And finally she was ready to go. She sat up straight and brought her legs in, leaning over a bit to help herself up. Once standing she walked to the player and rolled her shoulders, then bent down and turned the music player on. It was time to begin.

Walking a few paces out, towards the center of an area that was temporarily cleared of desks, books and telescopes, she entered first position and waited a few additional seconds for the song to begin. Once the familiar tune was under way she began fluid movements--pliets, a position known as the Battement Tendu, then a swivel into developpes and then she lost track of what everything was called and just rehearsed, perfecting her every last mistake as she recalled them. She did not expect to be interrupted, but there was always a chance.

Other: Gemma tends to her sister’s songbird because her sister is inept at keeping things alive.