Alexandre Tyrell
And thus I clothe my naked villany
With odd old ends stol'n out of holy writ,
And seem a saint, when most I play the devil
QUICK FACTSPOWERSPERSONALITYHISTORYOOCTHREADS
QUICK FACTS.
NAME: Alexandre Tyrell
NICKNAMES: Alex, Lex, Xandre - really, you can call him anything if he likes you. (Hint: he probably doesn't. But plays off insisting on his full name as a personal preference)
NATIONALITY: Clovennian
SPECIES: Gifted Human
CURRENTLY LIVING: Belailles, soon to be Belmont Manor
POLITICAL AFFILIATION: Staunchly pro-Clovenne
OCCUPATION: Research & Development at Belmont Pharmaceuticals
TITLE: The Libertine -
noun
a person who is morally unrestrained, a profligate.
a freethinker in religious matters. WANTED ROLE: Tuck's BFF from university
AGE: 30
SEXUALITY: Heterosexual
MARITAL STATUS: Married to Science bb… ...and engaged to Portia Marais
HEIGHT: 5'10"
BUILD: Fit, slim build
HAIR: Golden blond
EYES: Dark blue
TATTOOS: None, the only needles that touch his skin are for vaccinations
PB: Ryan Phillippe circa Cruel Intentions
POWERS.
POWER: Cryokinesis
POWERS AT NORMAL RANGE: People might assume that Alexandre's skin would feel cold to the touch because of his Gift, but this is only the case when he means it to be. Not that it happens often, but on the rare times he has been manhandled, he can make it unbearable for someone to hold him. If the other person was fool enough not to let go immediately, they would be in danger of severe frostbite.
Beyond that, he can reduce the temperature of the air in his immediate vicinity, but that has never proven to be much of a useful Gift in Clovenne, even in the midst of their so called summer. On a particularly hot (for Clovenne) day, it at least saves him from something as unsightly as sweating, and those that are around him when the wind picks up would enjoy the benefits of a cool breeze, though he has no control over where it goes.
Cryokinesis does make Alexandre impervious to the cold, but again this has never been too useful in his homeland - his family is well off, and he has always worn the fashions that the season dictated. Without ever having to worry about a poorly heated home or a threadbare coat, his power has rarely benefited him, beyond establishing him as a Gifted human and therefore better than those without a special ability.
POWERS WHEN ENHANCED: If his Gift got a boost, Alexandre would be able to immediately reduce the temperature of a room at a click of his fingers, as opposed to having to remain there for a time with all doors and windows closed. He can already freeze objects at a touch, but the size of said object would increase from something around the size of a suitcase to something closer to the size of a car.
POWERS LIMITATIONS / DRAWBACKS: Although he can lower the temperature of the air around him to the point where his breath is visible hanging in the air, he cannot alter the weather. He can turn rain to sleet, but he cannot conjure it from thin air, nor can he make it spontaneously snow - no matter how much he tried that particular feat when he was younger.
At close range, Alexandre can freeze things without touching them. A glass of water would ice over quickly, but the length of time it takes to freeze something is dependent on the temperature and moisture content of the object. If something was of fire, he could not extinguish the flame by trying to chill the fuel source. So he cannot put out a lit candle, but he could shut off electric lights by freezing up the wiring.
Alexandre has little appreciation for his Gift. He was born into an easy life, and having never struggled for any comfort, he has never known how fortunate he is to not to have to battle the elements just to survive. Having always lived in a cold climate, he is unaware of his heat sensitivity - if food was too hot he just blew on it to cool it. If a bath was too hot he just had to stir a finger over the water’s surface to lower it to an acceptable temperature. Summers in Clovenne were never scorching, and the strength of his Gift meant he never had to pay mind to the heat because he automatically adjusted the air around him to his particular liking.
The problem with this is that he has no concept of true heat, and therefore no awareness of how susceptible he is to it. His Gift gives him an advantage over others to a extent, but if he was in an environment of unrelenting heat, it would eventually wear him out, sapping the strength of his Gift and leading to rapid onset heat stroke. An ice cube will last for a time even in direct sunlight, but if tossed into flames it vanishes in a hiss of steam, and Alexandre is much the same as that ice.
PERSONALITY.
People describe Alexandre as a Good Man, and for all the world he acts like one. Dedicating his life to staving off plague, what could be more noble than that? Intentions count for something though, and although Alexandre does want to develop ways to prevent disease, it isn’t an altruistic pursuit. The love of his life would still be by his side if there had been the right medicine to fight the disease that took her life, he sees sickness like an enemy, and really does not care about the people he saves with his work.
It isn’t exactly accurate to say that he struggles with feelings of inadequacy. He comes from old money, he’s part of the Clovennian gentry, with a family line littered with prominent physicians, and he’s Gifted.
Alexandre knows he has a life that many would kill for, but it is not enough.
He is fascinated by Gifted people, both shifters and powered alike. But fascinated in the way that someone is fascinated by something they want to take apart in order to see how it works, and only maybe put it back together again when they’re done. Whilst his interest is not precisely a secret, no one really knows the full story. He has painted a very convincing picture of an ethical man who does everything For The Greater Good. But behind closed doors, Alexandre’s ultimate goal is to learn all there is to learn about Gifts, and if he could strip someone of their power for his own benefit, he wouldn’t hesitate to do so. This is part of the reason why he is especially interested in protean shifters and those with dual Gifts - they possess more talent than the average, and he wants to figure out why.
STRENGTHS: Alexandre feels as though his aptitude for science is far more useful than his Gift. He can skim through a complicated textbook as if it were written in the kind of plain-Clovennian style language of a children’s story. Science is pure reason, and he just gets it. Not only does Alexandre have a sound knowledge of various scientific fields, he is able to transfer that to real world applications instead of just parroting information with no ability to really use it.
Blessed not only with intelligence but also with the kind of good looks that only come from good breeding, Alexandre uses his appearance to his advantage and is very charming. He has a great many acquaintances who consider themselves to be good friends of his, even though very few ever make it to the point where he genuinely enjoys their company too. Those few in his inner circle are aware of their privilege.
WEAKNESSES: The natural talent that saw Alexandre excel in his classes does not translate to an ability to teach. He can write compelling research papers that are widely well received, but he is completely unable to explain a concept to someone who has difficulty grasping it. It just Makes Sense to him, he can’t look at it from a more simple perspective, and therefore disappointed many a teacher who had hoped he could do their job for them assist fellow students.
When a particular thought takes hold in Alexandre’s mind, he can become obsessive to the point where he will shut out anyone and anything that distracts him from his goal. This is perhaps the only time his charming veneer slips, and he can be quite short and dismissive if the person he is speaking to does not take the hint and leave him alone right away.
QUIRKS: Alexandre is a devout atheist. Whilst he normally is very adept at masking his true opinion - he will put up with suffragette talk with a a look of genuine interest - he cannot hold his tongue when the topic of religion comes up. Particularly when the person raising the subject believes in what they are talking about. On this, there is no ‘agree to disagree’, and he will debate a point well into the night. Having said this, he actually doesn't have an issue with Aurellians so long as they are Faithless or at least quiet about believing in filthy fairytales.
As well as the journal he carries to communicate with others, he also never without a notebook he uses to jot down any thoughts that might come to him when he isn’t in the lab. Due to the…ethically shakey…nature of many of these thoughts, his writing is in a messy shorthand code legible only to him.
Alexandre is farsighted, and requires glasses whenever he must read or write. His long distance vision is quite sharp and he is a good huntsman, but finds the sport boring. He much prefers fencing, the steps to victory read like a mathematical equation.
GREATEST FEAR: Losing his mind. Without his scientific talent, he would be just another nobody. Rich maybe, and gifted, but entirely forgettable. Bonus answer: as a child, the story of King Midas terrified him as he imagined himself in the same situation, but turning everything to ice instead of gold.
LIKES: Attention and validation, but only from those who have (what he considers to be) a worthwhile opinion
Expensive, high quality clothes.
Expensive, high quality liquor - no ice cubes for him kthnx, he can chill his drink just fine without diluting it with melting ice.
The challenge that comes with fighting sickness. He is also “theoretically” interested in the concept of germ warfare.
DISLIKES: Untidy spaces - his laboratory in Belailles is meticulously clean, and he is judgy as all hell if someone has a messy home. The actual wealth of the household does not factor into his comfort level - a manor would look like a hovel to him if everything was not not kept in order.
Alexandre won't outwardly express it unless in close company, but he has a strong disdain for unGifted humans, even more so than the average Clovennian. His opinion on this is influenced deep down by the feeling that his own Gift barely counts for anything in Clovenne, and he only reconsiders his opinion if the other person is truly remarkable in some other way.
HISTORY.
BIRTHDATE: December 1896
BIRTHPLACE: Belailles
PARENTS: Sebastian & Celeste Tyrell
SIBLINGS: Older sisters Charlotte & Margaux
SOCIAL CLASS: Upper class
1896: Alexandre Tyrell is born, the third child and only son to Doctor Sebastian and Celeste Tyrell.
1904: At the age of eight, Alexandre’s Gift fully manifests for the first time. As a younger child he seemed impervious to the cold, but was always scolded into putting on gloves when playing in the snow before it ever became apparent that he did not need them. His sisters had far more impressive Gifts - telekinesis and teleportation - which only served to inspire Alexandre’s inquiring mind. What exactly was it that gave them those abilities that he would have so readily traded his own for?
1910: The Dumont family move into the grand home beside the Tyrells, and fourteen year old Alexandre meets Adeline Dumont. She is quite literally the girl next door, and there was great truth in the saying that opposites attract - Adeline was pyrokinetic. At first Alex did not see far beyond her good looks, and was only interested in her in the base way that teenage boys are interested in teenage girls. Whilst the attraction was mutual, Adeline was not one of those girls. She kept Alex at a distance for the first year of knowing each other, but the distance slowly gets shorter and shorter as they go from being acquaintances to close friends.
1911: Their friendship develops into something more. Alexandre has kissed a few girls by this point, but from the moment Adeline presses her lips to his, she might as well have been the only girl in the world.
1913: Alexandre graduates from Creche with good marks, and goes on to study chemistry and microbiology at university, with the aim of getting into the field of vaccine research.
1918: The clever, funny, beautiful Adeline Dumont falls ill with a fever. Given her high tolerance to heat, she is unaware of how seriously ill she is until it is too late. Alexandre’s doctor father keeps the grave nature of her condition from Alex, not wanting to risk his only son falling ill too. Adeline succumbs to the sickness before Alex can get away to go see her. Her tragic fate breaks something in him, and he no longer has the drive to create vaccines to protect people because he no longer cares enough about them. His scientific fascination never goes away though, and his interest in how medicines interact with Gifted people grows ever stronger.
After graduating from university, Alexandre secures a highly sought after position at Belmont Pharmaceuticals. Given his friendship with son of the company’s owner operator, there are those that doubt he deserves the job. Hard work (though he considers it just sheer brilliance) proves these suspicions to be unfounded, and he advances steadily to more complex projects over the years. His proudest achievement to date - not that he can breathe a word of it to anyone but Charles Belmont - is assisting in the development of Faidoux’s addictive formulation.
1925: In the years following Alexandre’ graduation from university, many women pass through his life. Most are meaningless flings, with the occasional dalliance that goes for longer when the woman is particularly remarkable. But in the end, Alexandre cannot get over the fact that they are not Adeline and could never hope to shine a candle to her, and he discards them like all the others. Having never particularly liked or wanted children after losing his Creche sweetheart, he has not felt any urge to settle down and start a family.
So when Portia Marais proposed to him, he very nearly said no. It was only the way she presented things so plainly that stopped him. It was not to be a marriage of love, fortunate given that he doubted its continued existence in the world. But Portia was very pretty, softly spoken and undemanding. The scandal that had plagued her did not matter much to Alexandre when he considered the vast fortune he stood to come into if he wed the only daughter of a prominent Clovennian steel magnate, and so he accepted her proposal. There is a brief, vehement argument between Alexandre and his parents (which he loses) when they give him a family heirloom to present to his future. The ring was meant for Adeline, but that matters not to a family of old money who were always on the lookout for more.
1926: Having completed seven years of service at his job, Alexandre takes a sabbatical to travel to Glynn with his fiancee. The story is that he is taking a break from work, and she is going to the countryside for her health. The truth is that Tucker Belmont requested his assistance on certain side projects he has running at the manor, and Charles Belmont wants his protege to keep an eye on the son he does not trust.
OOC.
Contact details are at the bottom of the character sheet :)
And this gif is OUT OF CHARACTER but too good to leave out: