William Finnigan (Ascetic)

I'm putting this one up for ascetic level.

Name:
William Finnigan

Age:
27

Gender:
Male

Race:
Hylian

Place of Origin:
Northern Civilian

Residence:
His home in a more well-off part of castle town. It's a quite stately house with three floors plus an attic and basement, a staff of five: a cook, butler, housemaid, scullerymaid and a footman.

Pet:
William keeps two greyhounds in his mansion, named Edward and Randall, and a few cages with exotic birds to show off to guests.

PWC:
2/2/2

Treasures:
-Magic Proficiency
-Rupee Riches

(but nullified by ascetic HH)

Equipment:
William has no equipment in the way of weaponry or armour. He carries a cane around, topped with a large gemstone, with which he can give a mean smack to any peasant that gets in his way, but other than that he carries no weapons, as he has little reason to. He also isn't very skilled in any combat other than fistfighting and smacking things with his cane, preferring to keep things civilised or let others do the dirty, bloody woork.

His weapons are other people's secrets and careful manipulation, putting his many sources in town to work to uncover every detail about its important citizens.

Rupees:
50

Rupee History (open) Rupee History (close)

+ 50 for registering subaccount

Height:
1,80 metres

Weight:
75 kilos

Appearance:
Always dressed in the latest fashions, William is quite a sight. He makes sure to keep a pale complexion, ridding it of any freckle, spot or other "ugly thing", even going so far as to use makeup to achieve perfect paleness. He keeps his hair neatly parted on the side, with the longest part swept up to give it some flair.

When outside, he wears a top hat, cream white coat with a dark fur collar, shiny black boots and grey breeches, accompanied by some fashionable shiny brooch and his walking cane.

Personality:
William is a prime example of a hedonist, (although sociopath would also be a good word) putting his own pleasure before anything or anyone else, using the money he's gained to achieve it. His hedonism stems from him believing other people are just not worth his time or effort, having been betrayed by the love of his life as a young man. Others simply exist to serve his own pleasure or his own gain. Some might call him a womanizer, that is, if women were the only thing he'd hit on. He gained infamy in Castle Town's many inns and pubs by hitting on and chatting up everything that visits, no matter what race, gender, amount of eyes or age.
He lives purely for himself, everything he does, he does for his own gain or pleasure, not taking other people's feelings into consideration and not caring if his actions wreck other people's lives or reputations. They don't matter anyway, they'll only betray him if het gets too close.

To the outside world, William is known as a stuck-up, vain and arrogant self-made man. Nobles despise him yet want to stay on his friendly side, fearing what he might uncover about them. His clientele ranges from nosy neighbours and high officials to thieves, burglars and even the occasional assassin, all looking for information, the latest gossip, or a secret way into a mansion or manor. He is the type of man parents warn their children against, don't interact with him if what you have is dear to you. Yet the warning is often forgotten when they meet with his seductive and magnetic personality, and once you're in, escape from him is hard without getting damaged.

Despite his pleasure-seeking and abusive, vain and arrogant personality, he is constantly plagued by a hollow feeling. Having lost the only love of his life, partially by his fault, and having no other people close to him, he is in fact quite alone. He pushes this feeling away most of the time though, getting incredibly angry at anyone who tries to bring it up to the point of seriously hurting or threatening them. Only when he knows he is utterly and completely alone, he sometimes gives in to the hollowness, although it mostly ends up with him trying to drown in with alcohol or other pleasures. Of course, he keeps his personal feelings hidden from anyone, keeping up a mask of a smooth talker and -albeit very cruel- jollyness.

The closest thing he has to a friend is his butler, but even he gets the cruel, cold and abusive treatment. Despite all this, his butler remains loyal to William and only him, serving as his right-hand man and the one to clean up the mess if something goes wrong.

In conversation he tends to be eloquent and tends to use a lot of double entendres and snarky remarks.

Backstory:
Born into a middle-class family as only son to a jeweller and his wife, William had an easy youth.

As a child, William was like any other growing up safely in Castle Town. He helped his father out in his shop, adored his mother and was happy to play with other children. Then one day, he met a girl that would change him for life. She was the daughter of a baron, a sweet, pretty blonde little thing. Her father often came into William's father's shop to discuss the latest fashion on jewels, and often brought his daughter along. William and the girl grew up to be close friends, close to the point where they -as kids- promised to marry one another when they were old enough.
But as things go, the baron started visiting less and less frenquently and stopped bringing his daughter along, finding her old enough to enter polite society and stop interacting with lowly middle-class children. The girl slowly forgot her promise made with William, but he never did. Instead, it had started to become an obsession for him. His father noticed the young boy's infatuation with the baron's daughter, an told him "He'd never have a chance of being with her if he wasn't a rich noble with a big estate." He meant it as a way to stop William wishing for something he would never be able to get, but William interpreted his comment differently, thinking being reunited with his beloved would be possible if he became rich.
At age 16 he got his chance. His father passed away, not much later followed by his heartbroken wife, and William inherited the jewelry business. He sold the shop, used part of the money to gamble and gain himself a small fortune, and invested the rest in the latest fashion, an estate and started making name for himself.

Finally he had worked himself up in society to be invited to the important balls and events, finally he'd be able to meet the girl he loved so dearly again. Only to be dumped in front of everyone.
Having finally found the baron's daughter, he introduced himself to her as the boy from her youth, telling her he had made a name for himself and wanted to ask for her hand in marriage. She told William their promise had been just a kid's thing, that she never intended to keep it and that she was promised to another man already, a man who could offer her wealth, a good name and a good standing in society. It crushed William, twisted his mind, and he vowed to take revenge. He developed an "If I can't have her, nobody will"-attitude, intent on bringing her down, after all, he felt like she had been decieving him his whole life. Everything he had lived for up to this point had been in vain.

During his days at the casino and in the inns and bars throughout Castle Town, he had found information to be a valuable thing to have and a powerful weapon. With the right words or methods people spilled the beans easily, and others were eager to pay or trade for the valuable knowledge. William had more than once seen a noble family brought down by some petty rumours about cheating wives or connections with more shady characters.
William had found his way of revenge, and set out to work. he sought out the family's servants on their breaks, chatting up to them, buying them drinks and getting close to them, close enough to hear their opinions about their employer's dirty secrets. That's how he came to know of his former love's affair with the stable boy, right before her marriage. He went the same way with the stable boy, all the way developing his perfect revenge. He convinced the stable boy to stay true to his love, as she loved him as well. In the end he had carefully manipulated him into disrupting the marriage ceremony, having the stable boy rush in right before the vows and confess his affair with and love for the baron's daughter, William staying carefully on the background all the time.
And so he got his revenge. The shame became too big for the family and they disappeared from Castle Town's social scene, ruined.

But now William was without goal. The woman who had betrayed him had been ruined, he had gotten his revenge but gained nothing in the end, except a hollow feeling. He tried to fill up the hollowness he felt with various means; women, drink, food, men, gambling. He became a pleasure seeker purely for the thrill, never taking other people's feelings into consideration, but he never felt truly statisfied, somewhere, something was always missing.

But wherever he went, people flocked to him for rumours, gossip and news about their neighbours, friends and foes. A new idea started to grow in William's mind. He had dabbled in secret-trading before, in exchange for a drink he would tell people rumours about whoever they wanted to hear some of. It started out innocently, but, as he had seen with his former love, it could have a devastating effect. An effect some people would pay tons for. He found meaning in his life again as a dealer in secrets and information.

From there he build up his secret and information network, employing spies, blackmailing and exchanging secrets and information. People would come to him for information on certain buildings, people or current events in town, handing over money or other secrets in exchange. William had a few people to make sure the information he was given was true, if not, he would make sure to send someone after the liar and get the truth out of them through various means. William himself actually does very little of the gathering of secrets himself, having seen how dangerous it can be after a few spies were killed off by guards after snooping around too long near a mansion. The only gathering he does, he does in rather unorthodox ways, often becoming part of the secret himself by seducing noblewomen or their daughters. In exchange for his silence about their affair, however short, they'd tell him whatever he wanted to know about their family or estate. Sometimes he'd just ask for a certain amount of money to be sent to him each month. If they failed him, he would expose their affair or find another way to damage their reputation.