𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
Name: Patrick Marchbanks Ryland
Title(s): The Honorable Patrick Ryland
Referred to as: Mister Patrick (* As the sole heir, Patrick has not taken any of his father's subsidiary or courtesy titles, and chooses to style himself mister)
Nickname(s): Giles, for ‘Argyll’ (The family nickname came about from some holiday to Scotland and Patrick’s subsequent obsession with the place, but no one can remember the details)
Age: 26 (19 February 1897)
Gender: Cisgender male
Sexual orientation: Homosexual
Occupation: Heir to Montmere Estate and the Earldom (current); Lieutenant, Manchester Regiment, British Army (former)
Nationality: English
Religion: Catholic (though not a very good one)
Class: Upper
Place of birth: Montmere House, Yorkshire
Hometown: As above
Faceclaim: Tom Glynn Carney (in The Last Post and Dunkirk)
𝐏𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
Height: 6′0 (182 cm)
Weight: Slightly below average, healthy
Build: Patrick is built for sport: racing, riding, running. He is tall and slender, taut with muscle, with a tapered waist. A sailor's body: long-legged.
Distinguishing marks: Patrick has a nasty half-moon scar on his upper left thigh: it is the remnant of a shrapnel wound that might have been a blighty were it not for the quick action of his batman and the medic on hand. The scar itself is raised, ugly, red. It does not often impact his gait, though it does ache when rain is on the way.
Hair colour: Thick golden blonde with darker roots.
Hair style: Naturally wavy and styled with a side-parting to permit a heavy lock of hair to fall over one eye.
Eye colour: Bright blue. Most people first notice Patrick's eyes, for they are striking and seem to pierce you in place.
Clothing: Patrick cares little for clothes: his tailor has styled him for years, and his valet has dressed him. Patrick wears what he is told, and through the care of others always looks well-dressed. If left to his own devices, Patrick dresses simply: dusty blue woollen jumpers, navy trousers, wingtips.
Scent(s): Warm wool, Ivory soap, a faint trace of hay warmed by sunshine.
Accent: Received Pronunciation (RP)
𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲
Summary As the only son among two sisters, Patrick never wanted for affection. Indeed, there was something of an exhalation of relief when he was born, for the Earldom and the estate were secure at last. In fact, he was so doted upon as a child that now, as an adult, he rather rues his upbringing: it instilled in him a deep sensitivity and compassion for others that, he believes, may be to blame for his overall softness. For Patrick is a gentle, kind soul. Naturally charismatic and friendly, he has a preternatural ability to get along with almost everyone. No conversation topic is too far, no smile too wide: Patrick is easy-going, genial, mellow. He is warm laughter and a clasped shoulder. At times his charm can seem facile; because it comes easily to him, Patrick will occasionally tread the path of least resistance and oblige his friendliness. It is far simpler to put on an act as a curious magpie than it is to face the truth: that he is a deeply melancholy, lonely, and frightened person, who wakes near nightly, heart racing, from a memory of the trenches and the sounds of a thousand men screaming.
Virtues: Friendly, collegial, warm-hearted, morally-upright, loyal, passionate.
Vices: Private, sensitive, self-indulgent, permissive, careless.
Moral alignment: Presents as Lawful Good, but in reality Chaotic Good.
Natal chart: Pisces (Sun), Libra (Moon), Gemini (Rising).
Habits: Smoking, horse riding, napping (how can one person sleep so much?), trying and failing to read Great Works of Literature.
Character tropes: Charles Bingley (Pride and Prejudice); Clive Durham (Maurice); David Barton (Strange Meeting); Charles Macaulay (The Secret History); Daisy Buchanon (The Great Gatsby); Jeremy Usborne (Peep Show).
𝐅𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬
Parent(s):
Sibling(s):
Spouse:
Child/ren:
𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞
19 February 1897: Birth.
1907-14: Boarding school, graduating with no distinction.
1914-15: Hertford College, Oxford, reading History. Patrick drops out at the end of Michaelmas (December) to seek a commission in the Army.
February 1916: Joins the British Army as a Lieutenant in the Manchester Rifles. The Division is promptly sent out to Shallufa, Egypt until the conclusion of the Sinai campaign in January 1917.
February 1917: Departed from Egypt and arrived on the Western Front. War, bloody war. Participated in the Battle of Passchendaele/Third Ypres Offensive in July-November 1917; the third Battle of Albert from August-September 1918; and the Battle of the Selle in October 1918.
10 April 1918: Demobilised and discharged. Returned to Montmere House before the end of the month.
October 1918: Returned to Oxford for Michaelmas. Before December that year Patrick dropped out of Oxford again and does not return.
June - August 1923: CURRENT DATE.
𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬
For one year Patrick went to Oxford, where he read History and learned many useful things, like how to play croquet and how to resist the temptation of the same sex. Only one of these came easily. He dropped out twice and wistfully contemplates going back to finish his studies.
He has many fond memories of Oxford; it has become, in many ways, his happiest place, a sacred dream-world where there was no war, there is no pain, and he can forever lay on the banks of the river, supine in the dappled sunlight, with a cocktail in one hand and no cares in the world.
Patrick owns three horses and he is devoted to them. If he is not wandering around the estate (he enjoys long country walks, picking through the heather like some wading bird) or napping in a drawing room somewhere, he is astride a horse. There is Rob Roy, a muscular black gelding used for the hunt; Duchess, the dam of Rob Roy who is getting on but still a pleasure to ride into the village or other light outings; and Whistlejacket, or Jack, a chestnut gelding with a striking likeness to the eponymous Stubbs painting. Though it is quite improper, Patrick insists on brushing his horses down after rides, and he often gets into technical conversations with the ostlers about their care.
There are few occupations a gentleman, let alone an heir, can pursue, but horse breeding and racing is perfectly acceptable. While Patrick has reservations about the racing - any bloodsport makes him uneasy, these days - he delights in breeding, and indeed, breeding Duchess was one of his first ventures before he trotted off to Oxford.
Patrick does, in fact, own a minor Stubbs painting. It is nothing grand, but is hangs in his dressing room and he gazes upon it every day as the valet buzzes around him.
Patrick is no reader. He cannot even particularly write very well. During the war he wrote long letters to the family, describing their billets and food, the gunfire and trenches, but he has never wrote as much since. It was as if all of these emotions that Patrick had bottled up were upended during the war, and the only outlet he had for them was to write. Patrick is far more interested in doing things than thinking about them. The only exception to this is his favourite book: Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. Patrick has read this book a thousand thousand times; it even came with him to the Front. Although he makes a weak effort to read other books (he is determined, for example, to finally finish The Iliad), it is more likely to find that the dustjacket is hiding a copy of Black Beauty over Thomas Browne. Patrick has vague notion that all gentleman should read the Great Works of Literature - though he cannot summon the energy to pursue this noble goal with any great enthusiasm.
𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐬
TBD
