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The Ace of Spades Joined: 7 May 2006 Posts: 398 | Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:31 pm Name: Philip Everett Winchester Griffin
Age 36 Rank & Alliance: Admiral in Her Majesty’s Royal Navy Description: Philip’s most striking trait is his fierce loyalty; it one of the only things that will cause him to take any course of action other than the most logical one—usually, he analyzes situations with the practiced eye of one trained from young to be observant, prepared, and efficient. If someone he feels protective toward is in any kind of danger, however, he will usually go against this training in order to help them; fortunately, there are few who inspire this loyalty. His father is the most notable example, but he will occasionally feel these protective instincts toward those under his command. Propriety, as well, has been an important factor all his life. He was raised in relative luxury, and although he has adapted well to warfare and such, he has not lost his tendencies to address others politely, stand up when a lady leaves the table, and avoid causing commotion. He has no qualms about standing by as female pirates (few as they are) are hanged, and justifies this through his belief that ladies and gentlemen are raised to be productive and functioning members of a polite society; therefore, pirates, thieves, prostitutes, and the like do not require the same delicacy or politeness. However, despite his straitlaced morals, Philip comes off as being extremely approachable. He believes that the best respect is earned through camaraderie, not fear. Physically, Philip cuts an impressive figure in his uniform, and most of the women who’ve seen him consider him to be quite handsome. His face is angular but not unpleasant, framed by dark auburn hair kept in a short ponytail at the nape of his neck. His green eyes are easily his most striking feature—they are sharp and bright, and seem to be constantly taking things in. Though he is not easily angered, his glare is piercing, intense, and extremely intimidating, and he usually gets what he wants just because nobody’s willing to risk being on its receiving end. Philip is a fairly easygoing person, and is willing to let very small mishaps slide with only a reprimand, but he considers certain rules far too important to make exceptions. The men he commands have learned never to show up to a lookout shift intoxicated, for instance—the last time that happened, he had the man ocked up until they returned to England, where he was faced with a court martial during which Philip made such an impassioned case that it, combined with the sway his rank held, resulted in the effective end of the man’s military career. In fact, Philip’s biggest flaw is perhaps his inability to empathize with others. He doesn’t bother to take the time to understand why others do the things they do, unless he knows them and their situation extremely well. This often leads to judgmental behavior on his part, although he considers himself to be very fair. History: Philip was the first and only child of Lord Everett Griffin, a kindly and well-known Baron who had served in the Royal Navy for years. The Lady Griffin died in childbirth, and although Lord Griffin was heartbroken at the loss, he vowed to do all he could to raise his son the way his wife would have wanted. Philip was given strong principles and a solid sense of right and wrong, in addition to a thorough and rigorous education, and he was sheltered from many of the uglier aspects of life for his entire childhood. He was raised to be optimistic but practical, understanding the reality of things but determined to work toward his ideals despite this. His father had been renowned for his superior tactical skill; he made every effort to pass these along to his son. Evenings were spent playing games of chess or simulating naval battles with marble figurines. Philip quickly picked up all the well-known strategies—divide and conquer, two-pronged attacks, the various methods of surrounding an enemy—but he had difficulty with the less concrete part. His father continuously told him that the most important thing was to be able to step into the shoes of the enemy, to understand not only what he was going to do next, but why. What did he hope to gain? What other factors were affecting him, besides logic—outside pressures? Anger? Panic? Without this knack, Philip was never able to beat his father at their games, no matter how hard he tried, but he still managed to excel far beyond most of his peers. He applied to the Naval Academy and performed exceptionally well; he graduated at the top of his class, and it didn’t take him long to work his way up the ranks. He was never particularly ambitious; that is, he would have been happy to stop at some lower, but still respectable, rank, if that had been the extent of his ability—however, his father had taught him never to give less than his best, because to do so would be an insult to his superiors and to himself. The higher-ups were so impressed by Philip’s tactical abilities that his promotions came startlingly fast; it helped that he’d managed to win several pivotal naval battles, though the chances had looked bleak. Shortly after he became an Admiral, Philip was met with the woman who would turn out to be his most trying adversary yet. Her name was Valerie Heckett, and he had previously paid her very little notice; however, she managed to catch his attention when she hijacked his entire fleet. To this day, he isn’t certain how she did it—his father would have known, he was sure, and probably in time to prevent it, which only deepened his own sense of disappointment and shame. Valerie paid him a visit that same evening, listing her demands—a full pardon, a job as a pirate hunter (for an extravagant fee, although Griffin wasn’t entirely concerned with the money.) He agreed, but he wasn’t about to let her get away that easily; his own demands were that she give up her title as Captain of her ship, and hand her entire crew over to the Royal Navy. She agreed, and in an effort to “step into her shoes,” as his father would have put it, he asked her why she’d done it. He couldn’t understand why she would trade all the riches she could have earned, as well as the fleet she’d just stolen, for a job that would tie her down and put her at the bidding of a superior (and he did intend to keep on a short leash.) It was hardly the logical thing to do. Her answer—“I was bored”—forced him to try, once again, to consider the non-logical reasons a person might have for making any given decision, though still too late. When that situation blew over, he paid a visit to Lord Griffin, hoping to get a grasp of that elusive ability that his father seemed to have. With it, he reasoned, he could do so much more, and prevent such a situation from ever arising in the future. When he saw his father, however, he saw that he wasn’t likely to get any such training; his father was obsessed with a woman named Rose Kearney, who appeared to be a pretty but extremely common, poor sort of woman (and he made it a point to avoid asking his father where, exactly, he’d found her.) However, despite the woman’s obvious lower-class situation and his own observation that she was less enamored with Lord Griffin than he was with her, Philip didn’t protest—his father was happier than he’d had ever seen him. Rose was in poor health, however, and soon fell ill. After her death, Lord Griffin was inconsolable, and Philip worried that he was teetering on the brink of insanity. The only thing keeping him relatively stable was his vow to find Rose’s daughter, whom she’d apparently spoken of often, and keep her safe; he felt it was the least he could do for Rose. Philip considered this a fool’s errand. He hadn’t been terribly fond of Rose, after all, and he was sure her daughter was in a situation similar to the one she’d been in—thievery, prostitution—if she was even still alive. However, he promised his father that if he ever heard word of the Kearney girl, he would do all he could to find her, believing that this mission was his father’s only hope for continued sanity. Even despite this, however, he has been forced to watch Lord Griffin’s mental health deteriorate for the past several months, and there appears to be nothing he can do to stop it. OOC:This is more for myself than anything-- I figured I probably ought to solidify his character, so... here he is.
Also, I don't know if anyone remembers that old "Tektek your characters" thread... I have been having WAY too much fun with that. >< |
Melia Stahlflugel Joined: 4 Aug 2005 Posts: 613 | Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 12:28 am Wow, Griffin's a lot younger than I thought he was! And also I didn't know about his inability to step into others' shoes... makes sense though. No wonder he lets Aiden give him advice on the pirates even though he hates him! xD |
spy_4_hire Joined: 14 Feb 2004 Posts: 568 | Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 12:37 am Oh Valerie.... I do miss that woman. I should get on that.
OOC:Dude!!! They came out with that 1920's stuff! And they have an Armadillo!! I have to revamp like ALL of my characters! Bwa ha ha ha!!! |
| The Ace of Spades Joined: 7 May 2006 Posts: 398 | Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 1:42 am Haha, yeah-- he's a little young to be an Admiral, but whatever. And, yeah, he sucks at thinking like other people would. XD
I miss Valerie too! Bring her back! OOC:I know, I saw it! Kind of amazing. Have fun with the makeovers! It's addictive... >< |
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