Gareth Levesque
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Overview
This minor noble is well known as both a masterful artisan as a Marquist, and forward thinking in his travels and importing rare spices, inks, and incense. Despite his outwardly shown clothing and accoutrements, he is a rather smooth talking silver tongued rake of a man, likely having tattooed as many criminals as courtesans.
Past
Birth:
In the spring of 1150, Adrian-Jean-Louis Levesque lost his wife and four children to typhus. Though he'd married in obedience to his father's command, Lord Levesque had developed a degree of regard for his wife, who had dutifully borne him three handsome boys and one pretty little girl. He'd loved them insofar as he was able. This was not, by average standards very much. But then, it wasn't in Lord Levesque's nature to love anybody at all. What heart he had was devoted to his lands. The ancestral home of the Levesques was his mistress. She was an expensive one, though; he was not the wealthiest of men. Thus at the advanced age of two and forty, Lord Levesque was obliged to wed again and, to satisfy his mistress' demands. To marry pots of money.
Early in 1152, he met, wooed, and wed Lucia Usignuolo, the seventeen-year-old daughter of a wealthy Caerdicca Unitas nobleman. Society was stunned. The Levesques could trace their line back to for generations and no Levesque had ever married a foreigner. Society concluded that Lord Levesque's mind was disordered by grief.
Not months later, his lordship himself gloomily suspected that his mind had been disordered by something. He had married, he thought, a very beautiful raven-haired girl who gazed at him adoringly and smiled and agreed with every word he uttered. What he'd wed, he found out, was a dormant volcano. The ink was scarcely dry on the marriage lines before she began to erupt. She was spoiled, proud, passionate and quick tempered. She was recklessly extravagant, talked too much and too loudly and mocked his commands. Worst of all, her uninhibited behavior in bed appalled him. Only the fear that the Levesque line would otherwise die out kept him from returning to that bed. He gritted his teeth and did his duty. When at last she was breeding, he quitted the exercise and began praying fervently for a son, so he wouldn't have to do it again.
In the spring of 1154, his prayers were answered and Lord Levesque never beds his wife again. The boy was named 'Jean-Louis Levesque', but to irritate Lord Levesque, the spoiled mother took to calling the boy Gareth after a character in a book from her homeland that she liked.
Childhood:
In picture books, families get along. Gareth's parents never did. They rarely talked, and didn't spend much time with him. Gareth didn't ride on his father's horse, when they went places, he was expected to ride his own pony - it was a groom that taught him his equestrian skills. His early years consisted of learning how to deal with their quarrels erupting and hiding when needed - this gave him an empathic touch, good at reading people, their wants and desires. Sadly, it also helped to mold the boy's tongue into a weapon, and lies his ammunition. At nine, he could play his parents against one another. At fourteen, he essentially ran the manor and lands when his parents were off out of country trying to avoid each other.
Academics:
Throughout his youth and academic years, the noble son Gareth learned fast. He had a thirst for learning and education, and he wanted to know about history, politics, physiology, and literature in multiple languages. Also a fan of art, he loved drawing and painting - something discouraged by his 'down to earth' parents...which of course drove him to his art even more! He loved some of his tutors in ways that should have been reserved for his parents, but they were not exactly the role models he needed. By his mid-teens, he was avoiding his father by traveling with the ships in his father's shipping fleet from port to port, during the summers when he was not attending the University in Tiberium (CU), and that is when he first saw a person in the act of being tattooed. The whole act, the ritual, the pain, the bonding, the artistry - it all attracted Gareth. Within the year, he was apprenticed to the Marquesan Guild. For some years, he perfected this trade, until he was a true artist. Later, he would combine his traveling to distant lands with his tattoo art, seeking out new techniques used by other peoples, new designs, and new inks and dyes. After his father's passing, this would become one of his major imports to his home city using the remnants of his father's company.
Wanderings:
After the death of his vengeful father, Gareth was left to fix family debt from a failing business rapidly going to pot. Gareth sold off most of the shipping business, keeping only a few crews and the best ships working. With the revenue from the sales, he went to buying shipments of cargos to send to distant destinations, and making invoices of what the crews were to return with, based on the supply and demand of his locale. He specializes in luxury items, things like perfumes, incense, his inks, silks, candies, fireworks...that kind of thing.
Though settled in Elua, he recently went off on a series of sailing voyages - taking the wheel himself, to see one of his contemporaries that was residing in Hanzu, and also just to be free of familial ties to his mean father, forget the past, and find himself. On his journey, walking along a beach watching a red sun on the horizon, he made up his mind to forgive his mother, figuring that his father's actions had driven her to drink or whatever it was that she did that made her so stubborn and snotty.
His only real remorse in the Marquisian Guild, in any of his work is that one day, even if the tattoos are still bright and beautiful, that the individuals will grow old...or that the ink would fade on those who aged...or any number of things that would make his art less permanent, like his secret fear that courtesans might be scarred by fire or a whip, not at their pain, but that it might marr an artwork that he put so much of himself into.
Recent Events:
For a time, Gareth settled into his work - and became the Guild Master of the Marquisian Guild. It was then, one night, that he had an accidental meeting with Ishana no d'Essoms no Valerian. Fate and love, it seems, are not without a sense of humor, and their first meeting is said to have resulted from Ishana mistaking Gareth for the wrong person. Since that time, he has spent a good deal of time with Ishana, both as patron and friend.
While things were going well, he received word that his Great Uncle Julian, a relation on his mother's side had passed away. He left with great haste to arrive in time for the funeral. His childless Great Uncle had visited with Gareth during his time at the University, and this relationship, in turn, paid off. Gareth was willed his Great Uncles lands (a large swatch south-west of Old Tiberium), possession, olive and grape vineyards, and most importantly to most, his title. Only back in Elua City very recently, Gareth returned with the title of Baron Dell'Orso of Caerdicca Unitas.
Within a day of his return, he was seen seeking the company of Ishana at House Valerian.
Temperament
Befitting one of a noble bloodline in Eisande, Gareth's actions lend themselves to the poetic and witty. Certain nobles, even some of the friends of his late father note that Gareth is actually a cruel man with a cold heart. Other adjectives they've used include conniving, manipulative, and schemer.
Though he tries to remain true to the standards of D'Angeline composure, the blood of his mother is from one of the great-hundred families of Caerdicca Unitas. That, combined with the simple fact that most artists are moody, can make dealings with Gareth somewhat unique in their unpredictability.
He plays the part of a rake, a rouge, and a nobleman who likes to occasionally 'go slumming' as some nobles are wont to do. He is an educated man and by all accounts (except those of by enemies) placing his loyalties firmly with his family and country of his birth.
Appearance
At a height that just surpasses six feet tall, Gareth Levesque is trim without being overly thin. His shoulders are square and proportionate, though not overly broad or bulky. His movements flow with a lissome grace, possessed naturally and not forced.
He has a handsome face, though not a beautiful one...more...striking. His features are sharp and very expressive. From his full lips to his aristocratic nose, it seems that his countenance transitions easily from a bright grin to a threatening scowl. His deep set eyes are a cool blue color in contrast with dark auburn hair that is cut short and combed back, it is obvious that he prefers a conservative style. As for the traits of Eisande's bloodline's, Gareth shows more than one, but they are more ephemeral and less physical - like his unforced grace, wit, and the soft touch that anyone that has received a marque from him can attest to.
Family, Friends, Acquaintances & Enemies
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