The pacifist engineer // J.J. Kenward

Subject: The pacifist engineer // J.J. Kenward Tue Sep 27, 2011 6:07 am

Jasper Jeremy Kenward is the heir to the Kenward House, one of the lesser houses around. He is an aspiring engineer who is meant for great things. While some may think his objective may be to create great inventions, his objective in life lays in a different direction; he longs for a wife and a family which he can give everything they could ever wish for.

Jasper's father disappeared when he was five years old, leaving his mother and him alone in the huge Kenward mansion. Unknown is how, but his mother managed to repair the fortunes his father had taken, and the house prospered for a while. Jasper studied hard to satisfy his mother, and he succeeded. He was his mother's treasure. She would read him stories of Greek and Roman heroes and other great stories until late in the night. She was everything he had.

But his mother has always sheltered him from the dangerous, sad side of life. Jasper does not know of wars, of murder, or people who would want to hurt each other beside from his stories. When he does come in public, he usually is accompanied by servants who shelter him. He used to think that life is a fairy tale, and to this day this sweet innocence remains in him.

Jasper is usually very polite and does not initiate deep or intimate conversations of his own, leaving many people to consider him a little thick while he is anything but. He can heatedly debate for hours if provoked. He is a bit of a coward; he does not like violence and will try to solve problems with his brain instead of his heart. He can be a bit obsessed with things sometimes, annoying his few friends. He gets very rarely angry.

The aspiring engineer is not really competitive and he is respectful to his colleagues and elders. Sometimes, a bit too respectful and timid, as his elders tend to see him as a lazy, thick fool and his colleagues often mock him. He tries not to care but sometimes they find cracks in his carefully constructed mask.

Jasper likes the colour magenta as it is the colour of the Kenward house. He enjoys huge meals and tinkering with gears. He has little to do with nature, often finding it a bother instead of a joy. He usually spends his time is office or his little lab. His room is often very messily, as he dumps a lot of his stuff there instead of his office or his lab. The colour magenta is clear between all the mess, as is -usually- the way to his clean bed. There is a spare desk with blueprints there, and a small sketchbook for midnight ideas.

His mother died four years ago after a short period of illness, leaving Jasper prone to the world and people out for a little bit of money. The whereabouts of his father is unclear, but it is suspected that he left his mother for some French mistress. He has an uncle somewhere up North and a few relatives in the warmer South, but that's it. His mother used to have some influence, but if this is the same for her son is still uncertain.

He has a fairly round face framed by unruly auburn curls. He has a few freckles over the bridge of his nose and honey coloured eyes. He is very tall and very skinny and people who don't know him may think he has a serious case of anorexia. A polite smile is plastered on his face, reinstating his thick persona. Only a few know that this archaic smile is merely a ruse and that he rarely really smiles. Jasper always tries to slick his curls back but they always spring back in form, to his dismay.

The young Kenward dislikes violence and can easily be called a pacifist. He is against cruelty and does not like to make war machines. He believes that everyone should work hard to earn their keep and that cruelty and violence are not necessary, again only making him look thick.

As aspiring engineer he is of course good with mechanical stuff and rumours have it that very mighty patrons may be on their way. He is not strong and rather run from a fight. Jasper has a very strong sense of self-preservation though he will make half-hearted attempts to save those who he holds dear. He is a very bad cook due to the fact that he has know knowledge about how to combine tastes. While his skill at drawing humans or other organisms severely lack, he is very good at drawing blueprints for machine, due to years of practice.

But do not touch his inventions or machines. He holds them very dear and some of them are irreplaceable. Sometimes he will tinker through the night, only falling asleep when exhausted. It happened often enough that his mother found him between the machines in his room, and this might be getting worse in the years to come.

His only true companion beside his mother is Henry, a beige rabbit with white spots and long ears. He is Jasper's daemon and often very sarcastic. He likes to be perched upon Jasper's shoulder or close by. He has a very cynic view, almost polar opposite of his owner. But that is what probably forged the bond between them, as Henry has saved him countless times.

Subject: Re: The pacifist engineer // J.J. Kenward Tue Sep 27, 2011 9:46 am

A few questions to help me to work on Jasper, getting the hang of him. They come from the guide.

From your character’s point of view, in relations with family, is it better to be loved than feared? Or better feared than loved? Would the answer be any different with any other group of people? If so, who?

For Jasper, it was always better to be loved. His loved ones were few and scarce, as he never ventured into the world. Growing up without his father deprived him from a male role model, but his mother made up with all her love. It was better to be loved by family than to be feared. Just as it would be with anyone.

Describe your character’s personal bedroom, suite or home. Where is it located? Describe the contents and the various rooms. What is the style of the furniture? Describe your character’s favorite reading spot, and their favorite chair.

The Kenward House used to be a very big house when the trees were younger, but those times were over. The Kenward Manor is small compared to other manors and mansions close by, but far more cosy. The south wing has been renovated for Jasper's working space and bedroom, while the North wing harboured his mother's room, and on the lower floors the servant bedrooms. The white plastered house felt safe for Jasper, as it would always be. His bedroom was messy, and there was often little space that wasn't occupied by gears and cogs, or blueprints. He made sure to keep a path to his bed, which he kept clean. Jasper simply loved to read in the library, by the hearth, curled up in his favourite chair. His mother would often chase him to his room to read him one more story.

The character’s first battle, first hunt, or fist killing of another person. Try to make it as vivid as possible, including the character’s age, training and inexperience, plus details on the surroundings (weather, terrain, uniforms or clothing of self and others).
Jasper hated hunting. His first and only hunt happened one year prior to our story. He was barely sixteen, officially adult now, and it was a humid day. He had been looking up to this day, but his mother forced him to go. "This man" she had told him, "is one of the few relatives from your father's side that still supports us. We need this." And so he made sure that his mechanical steed was well-oiled and silent and gotten himself a weapon. This man, an uncle that had married into the family, was richer than him and was visiting the city. He did not really speak about the places he had visited, but about his trophies at home and the women he had bedded, much to Jasper's disgust. Henry sat upon his steed, getting more disgusted by the minute as they left the Outercircle and entered the woods. It had been quickly after the winter, and everything was still damp. Jasper was dressed in warm winter clothes and Henry was still in his own, white wintercoat. Jasper shivered upon the cold iron saddle and rubbed his hands, absent-minded listening to his uncle who was still bragging, often just nodding or humming in agreement. The bloodhound daemon by his uncle's side glared at the rabbit, and Henry pressed himself closer to Jasper. The snow had not quite disappeared, and Jasper, who could not be bothered to see nature's beauty, saw it as an inconvenience. The warm furs did not completely block out the cold and he watched his breath dissolve in a cloud of mist.
"How far?" he said.
"Not long before we can release the hounds." There were mechanical hounds with them, trodding behind his steed and Henry was getting nervous. Jasper wrapped him in spare furs he had taken with him. Henry sighed in relief.
"Here seems like a good spot" his uncle said and he nodded. He clicked a few buttons on some device and the bloodhounds, lead by the daemon, started sniffing around. It didn't take long for them to catch smell. Their paws left trails in the snow as they barked, a strange and twisted mechanic sound, before they sped away, followed by the two man. They quickly found their prey; a young fox that had left his burrow too early. It yelped and tried to scramble away.
"Shoot it!" his uncle cried out. Jasper shrieked and tried to aim, but his hands were shaking frantically. "Do it!" But he hesitated, and the hounds grabbed the young fox and ripped it apart. Jasper gasped and slid of his steed, shooing away the dogs. There wasn't much left and he stared at his bloody hands with unseeing eyes. He started shivering and Henry sat down next to him, comforting him by a mere touch as he started shaking violently and threw up. He returned home quite early and strode past his concerned mother, throwing his bloodied gloves and the dirty furs in the fire, watching them burn before burying his face in his hands and crying.