Post by Édouard Martel on Sept 27, 2011 23:23:31 GMT -5
Name: Édouard Martel
Age: 27
Origin/Lineage: Siovale
Title: Vicomte de Mars
Played by Alan Rickman
Appearance:
Édouard is a tall and slightly stocky man with the stern kind of appearance one acquires in the most disciplined orders of Terre d'Ange. His shoulders are broad but his body is otherwise stringy – however he hides this in long overcoats which are unfailingly in dark colors. His face is generally inexpressive, and his voice has been rightfully joked to have only two tones: bored and dour. One could say the same thing of his eyes, which are an unremarkable hazel.
He doesn't take much care of his appearance. His dull brown hair is perpetually mussed and his clothes are generally rumpled as he sees no point in wasting time with pressing clothes and doing other such crazy things. In other words: grooming, as Édouard sees it, is a waste of time and a frivolity. His nose is authoritative and his lips are thin and usually unsmiling. The only thing on his face which suggests some kind of tenderness are the freckles on his cheeks, but don't let them mislead you.
Édouard has two smiles. One of them is sinister and has to do with fulfilling his obsession. The other is intended to hide his boredom, his contempt, or generally to be polite. He doesn't look as intelligent as he is – and might seem generally uninterested in what is being said around him.
Personality:
Despite having the general demeanor of a very distracted and uninterested scholar, slightly impractical by his looks, Édouard Martel is in fact a very cunning individual who cultivates his apparent social ineptitude so as to appear harmless to those he wishes to catch. As detailed in his history, however, Édouard is not a criminal, even if he could well be classified as sociopathic. He has, in fact, no interest in human interactions, sex, affections, and other such trivialities. If he has had any kind of dalliance in the past, it was likely something he tired of quickly.
One might consider him a rather apathetic individual emotionally – that is because everything has to be a game in his eyes, and first and foremost, the cat and mouse game he and Vautier have been playing for the past years. That also supposes that anything and anyone that will not tickle his intellect will be discarded as uninteresting and irrelevant and duly ignored.
We could suppose that Édouard has a wide view of the world – he looks at patterns and then zooms in on the details when they become interesting in relationship to the pattern. He has a wide variety of intellectual interests but is hardly specialized in anything. In fact, Édouard's interest lies more in the intellectual game of learning and problem solving than in knowledge itself. However, despite his intelligence, he is a rather disorganized fellow, and would not sustain his activities without the services of his faithful assistant.
History:
Had he not been destined to inherit his father's title, he would have likely pledged himself to the service of Shemhazai. Orphaned very early in his life, he was brought up by a strict priest by the name of Andre. His upbringing gave him a strict belief in Law and Order. Raised as a little lord, Édouard has very little tolerance for disagreements and must have his own way at all costs. However, he is unable to break out of the strict rules of his society, which makes him, by many ways, perfectly suited for the pursuit of his intellectual hobby.
When the war with Kebbel-im-Akkad broke, he signed up with many others, mostly to test himself out. He did well enough, and made one of his very rare friends when he fought along side Jaime Valois. Ultimately, however, he did not find fulfillment in his military career and retired when the war was over. Édouard stumbled onto his interest in policing society by accident – while going to the Academy to retrieve a rare tome, he witnessed a mugging. He intervened and rescued the victim, but was led to believe that there was more to it than a drunken brawl.
Some weeks later, he traced a long series of clues to a shadow figure referred to as the Master of Favors on Night's Doorstep. Édouard made it his purpose to unmask this occult master of evil, and has been on Vautier's tail ever since. Having unmasked and arrested him once, he almost claimed victory, but Vautier somehow found a way out. During the last war with the Skaldi, he joined in the war effort mostly as a favor to his friend Jaime, but perhaps – and he would not admit this to anyone – to make sure one of the rare people he actually likes survives.
However, Édouard's life since can be summarized with only one obsession: putting the infamous V behind bars.