TOPIC: Horror on the Orient Express (HOTOE) - Group 1

Hi Sarge,

My first character for horror on the Orient Express.

Briar Rose Detective Agency

Lettice Jane Rose Henderson. “Letty”

Daughter of Sir Alexander Henderson, 1st Baron Faringdon and Lady Jane Ellen of Buscot Park.

Letty is 5’ 7” has brown eyes and dark brown short cut hair. She tends to wear loose fitting clothes but always in fashion. Her physique is athletic bordering muscular with a dancers grace and poise.

Born 1894 at Buscot Park, Letty had private tutors from Oxford and has equivalent education to an honours degree.

During the Great War Letty worked as a nurse in France. It was there she met “Gentleman” Jim Boyle after he was wounded. Although they never became lovers they did become best friends and it was Jim who taught Letty to box, shoot a pistol ride a motorbike and fix engines. She taught him how to ride a horse, play piano and how to navigate a formal dining table.

After the War Letty could not go back to her old life. It was Jim who needed work, his old job had been as a strong arm man for a petty loan shark. He was about to return to that when Letty intervened and begged her father for a loan to set up a small business for herself and Jim. Instead of a loan her father gave her £5000 to get her started.

Letty and Jim share the work between them but due to Letty’s unique position amongst the aristocracy she specialises in cases working for the nobility that requires a certain discretion and knowledge of their rarefied world.

Briar Rose Detective agency is quietly successful mainly due to the discretion of its staff and work comes in at a steady rate, mostly wandering husbands or wayward wives. Every now and then a murder case and once something neither Letty or Jim will speak of...

Val wrote:
Brilliant background Val, thank you. Presuming Jim Boyle will be you second character?

Can the other players begin to think about their characters, and post their backgrounds up please

Yep he is. Background as follows.

Jim Boyle

Gentleman Jim is from the mean streets of London, greatest city there is.

His mother died young and he never knew who his father was. Jim was self educated on the streets, barely literate and numerate, testimony to his incredible intelligence and uncanny memory for details. A boy able to educate himself from stolen books.

Jim learned quickly how to look after himself. Hit hard, hit first is his unwritten motto. He grew big and yet not too mean, Jim has a heart. As a young man he was already over 6’ with muscles to match and a brain behind those light grey eyes, which made him stand out from all the other street toughs.

He was working the illegal boxing circuit, earning coin and a reputation for fast fists and a cool head. It was then he was noticed by Henry Finch, small time petty crook with a stash of £5 notes and ambition to make a lot more.

Henry wanted in on the banking business and needed a man to watch his back and make sure his customers paid on time, every time. Jim fitted the bill, capable, cool and with intelligence, a rare combination on these streets.

So Jim went into the street banking business and for over 2 years he worked for Henry. Collecting payment when due but Jim didn’t like it. Henry knew it and paid Jim well for his services making it very hard for Jim to walk away and then came the best thing that ever happened for Jim, the Great War.

Jim was one of the first to volunteer much to Henry’s dismay but Jim had the perfect, patriotic excuse he needed to escape his life. Some men are born to soldier and the army fitted him like a Saville Row suit.

They taught him knives, guns, motorbikes, grenades and gas masks. More than that they gave him belonging a camaraderie of brotherhood under fire. Jim became a Sargent which was no surprise to any man who fought with him. Of course they had to follow officers who were mostly average, some were great and a few were downright dangerous. It was one of these dangerous ones that almost got Jim killed.

The officer was young and filled up on boys own heroics. Seemed to have no care for the safety of his men. He ordered a bayonet charge against a machine gun emplacement. Jim couldn’t think of anything more stupid but couldn’t say it out loud. Jim tried to offer a sane approach to the problem at hand but this kid wasn’t listening. Before another order could be spoken Jim charged the machine gun with grenades and blew it up but not before being shot several times and finally falling in no mans land.

The officer was outraged and left no doubt to his men that the Sargent had better be dead or he would have him up on charges. This was the last stupid thing he ever said. War is both messy and confusing and it could never be confirmed or denied if the Hun or his own men shot him first. The men then rescued Jim, losing 2 of their own in the process and got him to a field hospital.

When Jim came to, the first face he saw was Letty. Jim had never seen anything so beautiful, it was love at first sight. As he recovered he discovered a kindred spirit in Letty, a young woman, capable, smart and understanding lacking any judgement of him or his background.

Of course Jim is madly in love and Letty thinks of him as a best friend, a brother but not a lover. Still Jim will take what he can get. He’s happy simply to be in her life.

Another great background, thanks Val

My first character below:

Name: Father Donald Murtagh

Concept: Catholic Priest

Nationality: Irish

Age: 35

Description: medium height, red hair, neatly trimmed beard and moustache, warm brown eyes, wears reading glasses.

Background: Donald Murtagh was born in Ireland but emigrated to the USA when less than 3 years old. He attended Miskatonic University and graduated with an MA in Religious Studies. Upon graduation he entered the priesthood, initially as a parish priest where his career was undistinguished but adequate. He struggled with both the accounts side and with the boredom so, in 1915, enlisted as an Army Chaplain and served as a religious and spiritual advisor to the troops. Somehow, he managed to survive the carnage and death, until 3rd July 1916 when he was involved in the incident of the Lochnager Mine on the Somme battlefield in France, later attributed as a bomb and the largest man-made crater created in WW1 on the Western Front.
Of course, the actual events behind the creation of this crater were much more eldritch and sinister. Father Murtagh’s admirable performance brought him to the attention of the Vatican, and more specifically the Papal Investigation Office. Since 1916 he has been working for this Office, investigating strange phenomena – mostly fakery like mediums and hypnotists but occasionally the real deal.

Nicolas Cartwright. Magician/Actor/Animal handler.

Personal Description
A tall, lithe man with a commanding presence.
His eyes are beguiling and seductive.
His voice resonant and powerful. Often wears a cape, top hat and a cane.
As a stage magician, Nicholas looks the part.

Ideology/Beliefs
Perception is THE reality. These physicists know what they're talking about. If someone thinks you are powerful. YOU ARE!

Significant People
Irene is my wife. A former assistant and mother to our three children.
Peter, my agent know all my secrets.
Lady Sandhaven. An elderly, wealthy lover often comes to my aid.

Treasured Possessions
My sword cane: It was my grandfathers and was my introduction to the world of stagecraft. A pack of tarot cards once owned by Rasputin.

Traits
Suave, seducer of beautiful and/or wealthy women.

Cartwright's show is famous. Occult themed with some startling effects. Often young women feint and awaken only to fall under his spell.
As well as seances, devil summoning and tarot cards, Cartwright's show also features his trained animal companions, Mr Bennet the monkey
and a tiny owl called Crispin.

Irene Cartwright ne. Benoit. Burglar

Personal Description
Tough and brawny. Knows how to soften her looks with a spot of makeup.

Ideology/Beliefs
The world is a dangerous place. Find someone you can trust and never let them go.

Significant People
Nicolas her husband.
Elaine her sister.

Meaningful Locations
Drury Lane, where she first saw Nicolas performing.

Treasured Possessions
Her mothers locket with a picture of her and Elaine.

Irene is nothing if not resourceful. Born to a very poor immigrant family she grew up on the wrong side of the tracks.