Wolfe, Gavin

        FULL NAME:
        → Gavin Wolfe

        AGE:
        → 38

      SEX:
        → Male

        BIRTH PLACE:
        → London, Creta

        RACE:
        → Cretan/Drachman

        DATE OF BIRTH:
        → June 4, 1974




        HEIGHT:
        → 5'10”

        WEIGHT:
        → 160 pounds

        PICTURE:
        →

Spoiler:

      DESCRIPTION:
        → Like any person, what you notice first is this man's face. Dashingly handsome? Check. Confident look on his face? Check. Battle scar on his left cheek? Triple check. Mmm, now that's a gorgeous fellow right there.

His face is accented by carefully trimmed facial hair, and his head topped with well-groomed hair. Of not is the color disparity: his beard and eyebrows are brown, while his hair has already grayed, the subject of which he does not like to discuss. A color disparity he loves drawing attention to in response, however, is his eyes: his left a deep green and his right a gray-blue. While he might go on about how lovely his eyes are to a pretty woman, you can notice that although he's focused, they also seem distant and impersonal.

While not that much taller than average height for a man, his stature is modified by how he stands and carries himself. He always stands straight as an arrow, rarely slouching, and acts with decisiveness. He doesn't care for fiddling around when he's idle, so he often ends up looming over whatever unlucky soul that happens to be nearby.

He's surprisingly fit for a man his age, a result of his time in the Cretan armed forces. His hands are constantly scuffed and covered in scratches, and the rest of his body hasn't fared terribly well either. Scar tissue marks several wounds he's suffered over the course of his life, and will probably regale you with the stories involved with each and every one of them.

Gavin's manner of dress has little middleground: he is either dressed up in a suit and tie (forgoing the jacket for informal occasions, of course) or in his military garb. The former is simply a remnant from how he was brought up, and the latter is tied to his job. When he acts, he acts decisively. When he moves, he moves with purpose. He acts like he's wound-up, but talks in a relaxed manner.



        PERSONALITY:
        → Gavin, in many ways, fulfills the stereotype of Cretan nobility: prudish and lacking tact. While he doesn't consider himself all-important, he is certainly full of himself. Talking loud, pushing through crowds, and a deficit of apologies has allowed him to rub people the wrong way. Unfortunately, he rarely cares.

Countering how he often acts with his movements and posture, Gavin is quite a relaxed fellow. Oftentimes too relaxed for the situation. Brash, overconfident, and often lacking subtlety, it's often surprising when one finds out he comes from a (lower) noble house. With little patience for a game of shadows, he cares little for stature once amongst the Boston Brahman, and he shows a similar lack of patience for those he considers beneath him. This, ironically, has augmented his teaching abilities, earning him a reputation for an effective, if verbally abusive, teacher.

His stories are often exaggerated. One opponent on a nice day turns into three in the rain, and then ten on a muddy slope in the middle of a hurricane. Like his stories, he often considers his options in terms of what best benefits himself. While he does have personal code of conduct, they are severely lacking in anything empathetic or even simply sympathetic to other people.

Generally speaking, he's a very straight-forward thinker. While this would allow him to solve some problems, he's usually too focused on himself to actually get ahead with life. He does, however, enjoy poking fun at people in general, himself included. While most people don't take it too kindly, it is his way of showing an interest in someone and relaxing. While he's not too font of off-color humor, he isn't exactly refined either.

When it comes to him and authority, he, oddly enough, does know his place in an established chain of command. This is why he's (sometimes barely) held onto job positions in the past, and why he functions well enough in the Cretan military. Not a complete barbarian, he does know his manners, but shows them to people that can most easily turn his life into a living hell.

        LOVE:
        → College campuses
        → Reading
        → Box socials
        → Teaching
        → Boasting

        HATE:
        → Stupid people. The whole lot of 'em.
        → Grading papers
        → Commoners
        → eBooks
        → College seniors

        DEEPEST SECRET:
        → Abandoned his first wife and son in Xing over twenty years ago.



        HISTORY:
        → Gavin's life began in London, born into a long line of Drachman-Cretan nobility. The House of Wolfe, taken from its coat of arms, is almost as old as the country of Creta itself, and joined with Drachman house in the early twentieth century. While neither were major houses, they were respected nonetheless, and dominates much of Gavin's early life.

Being the only son of his generation in the house, he was coddled on top of the silver spoon he inherited. His youth was spent in quality private schools, private tutors, and paraded around to other nobles like a trophy. After all, some of the lower houses would certainly be clamoring to raise their stature, and sizable dowries would be offered. This, unfortunately, led him to grow up with an inflated self-worth, setting him up for events yet to come.

High school was when he first generated an interest in alchemy in general, and he began to dabble in it where he could. His parents were mixed on this development, as while he showed some skill at it – a fact that would increase his “value” – they also looked down upon its practice. They viewed it as something necessary but ultimately left to the commoners, like carpentry and such. By the time he entered college, he was much more practiced in alchemic history and theory rather than the art itself, not being able to make more than crude statues at best. Luck would have it, though, that he looked into Alkahestry classes, and proved to be much more proficient in the Dragon's Pulse.

His time in college is something he looks back upon fondly. His major, Foreign Alchemies, was a topic he thoroughly enjoyed, and led him to look into Physiology and Biology classes. Ultimately, with the help of an initially reluctant Esparian biology major, he graduated with a degree in his chosen major. Maria, as her name was, had taken to Gavin, and he to her. So, when he was accepted into a research program, he took Maria to Xing with him, and had a simple wedding.

Gavin's time in Xing was mostly spent researching practical applications of biology to Alkahestry. Looking for an outside-the-box approach, he delved into books and newspapers. One case, in particular, caught his interest: Shou Tucker, a man that created a talking chimera. The story intrigued him, but he found very little going into the details on how he accomplished such a feat. Still, he decided he would look into chimeras in general. Quickly, hybrid animals became the focus of his research. After all, any country could use some sort of super animal that had plenty to offer, like the Shmoo. While he made progress here-and-there, he ultimately wasn't successful in his goal, partially because he kept distracting himself with Tucker.

Soon, his research delved into the hypotheticals behind human-based chimeras, which quickly turned into succeeding at it. He only attempted it once, however. Maria, by then his wife, was pregnant with their child, and Gavin used the opportunity to test out his theory. Against her will, Gavin performed his experiment and... was largely unsure of the result. Maria, furious, cursed him out and became violent towards him. While frustrated, he was understanding and ultimately left her and his unborn son in Xing, returning to Creta and speaking very little of his time there.

Returning to college, he gained a Masters in the field of education, and was confronted with his duty to his family: a house had made a good enough dowry offer, and his parents accepted an arranged marriage. Gavin, although not entirely thrilled about their choice, did not skimp on his duties to the family, and married the woman known called Lilith Duval. As such was the tradition, the two soon had a child of their own – a son – and they were moving place-to-place. While family connections kept them afloat, Gavin chose to work to keep him both occupied and away from the house when possible. Given his chosen fields of study, he was often teaching History of Alchemy and Foreign Alchemy courses. His hot temper and severe lack of tenure caused some employments to be short, but found a secure position in an Amestrian university.

His time in Amestris was simple. His time was filled with classes, research, and, in one instance, handling an alchemy apprenticeship. However, the news from home hit him and Lilith hard. With tensions rising between Creta and Amestris, they packed up and returned to London, where Gavin decided to join the Cretan military.

For the past four years, that's where Gavin's been. Occasionally he returns home to check up on his family, but he's happy that the RTF keeps him occupied. His fellow soldiers, although not always thrilled with his company, see his alkahestry as an asset to the company, and let his brashness slide just a little bit. Just recently, his service record has caught the attention of the Royal Guard, and he was offered a position in their ranks. Although surprised, he did accept the job, and is currently awaiting the official transfer into the service of the new Queen.




      TRIVIA:
        → Plays the guitar. For the ladies, of course.
        → Is left-handed, but was raised to be right-handed.
        → Has no idea on the ultimate fate of his first wife and subsequent son, and ultimately tries not to concern himself with looking into it.
        → Repeated use of his militarized alkahestry has resulted in him aging prematurely. This is causing him to rely on it more and more which, in turn, is worsening his condition.
        → Despises barrels. Doesn't like to talk about why, though.
      → Speaks Cretan, Amestrian and Xingese.




        ALIAS:
        → Gavin, I presume.

        OTHER CHARACTERS:
        → None currently

      CREATOR'S COMMENTS:
        → I'm trying something a little different than I normally do with characters, so forgive me if things aren't quite in order.

        FACE CLAIM:

Code:

[b]Advance Wars: Days of Ruin[/b]/[i]Captain Brenner[/i]

      CUSTOM RANK:
        → Son of a Barrel

      OFFICIAL TITLE:
        → Youthful

Word counts should add up, good sir/madam. I hope you enjoy!

APPROVED

Great app <3 I see no revisions needed here ^-^