Barthélémy Stuart

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## Appearance

Blonde, with slightly thinning hair and the beginnings of a bald spot. Looks something like David Sullivan but a bit more plain, and has a larger build. He would be described as strong more often if not for a bit of chubbiness that conceals his muscles.

## History

Bart grew up as the child of a somewhat successful newspaper editor, the second child of three and by all accounts a very normal boy. After finishing his education, he insisted on striking it out on his own despite his father's ability to continue supporting him in their modestly comfortable urban home. Instead, he chose to rent out a less-than-modest apartment and go to work for an advertising firm that wrote for several newspapers in the area, including his father's. Despite being a conscientious worker his writing was never well received, and after two years his boss recommended that he try to get a job back at his father's paper. Reluctantly, he did so while taking freelance writing jobs on the side to improve the quality of his work.

Eventually, after writing for almost every periodical and journal that would accept his work, the freelance jobs trickled to almost nothing. One comfort was that his columns were never panned, as some of his colleagues' were, and he even received occasional praise from one of his consistent freelance journals. But, for the most part, feedback on his work was completely neutral. His controversy-free lifestyle continued for 7 years until his father was invited to become the editor of a prominent newspaper in the capital. As his family moved with his father, Bart stayed behind, at once glad to be out of his father's shadow and uneasy at the prospect of losing his family influence in the newspaper. Then, surely, would be the time for the gates of criticism to be unleashed against his work, now that he was on his own in the world.

But no such gates opened from the patch of wall next to his desk, instead only a mountain of new work from the vacancies left by the numerous columnists that left to work at the capital given their new connection. It was at this point that he reflected on his achievements of the past 9 years. His self-evaluation held no illusions. He had been educated enough to satisfy his parents and society, he had a steady job that did not involve bending his back, and he had successfully avoided being imprisoned or bankrupted. But everywhere he turned, he was passed up in favor of similar but ever so slightly more advantaged people. He was smart but not clever, pleasant but not charming, fortunate but not lucky.

It was at this point in his life that he decided he needed to change. At around that same time, he was doing research for a story on a local war hero who had recently passed away. While interviewing family members and comrades of the soldier, he got a strange feeling about the person he was writing about. They didn't seem to be an extraordinary individual by any means, much like himself. They weren't a high-ranking officer or military genius, but they had performed admirably in their own capacity, culminating in a heroic effort that earned them the nation's recognition for their service.

Despite his desire to get the story in before reporters from the capital got to it, he found himself distracted by thinking about the soldier and their impact on not only their family and friends, but the whole nation. They didn't seem to have any advantage that he himself didn't have, yet they came so far in life. Moreover, they did so without any thought of advancing themselves or of becoming a hero, without trying to become anything more than what they were.

Barthélémy never submitted his story. 3 days after the reporters from the capital arrived, he had already quit his job. After enlisting in the military, perhaps the first exceptional thing in his life happened to him. He was enlisted into Bastion.

He was going to fight monsters.

## Ability

### Le Survivant

* Able to manifest conceptual armor to mitigate physical attacks
* Able to target only himself, as a reaction to incoming danger
* Almost useless to a team

## Relationships

* Father: James Stuart. Now-prominent newspaper editor. Once had a close relationship that drifted apart over the years. The exact beginning and reason for the drift varies from account to account.
* Mother: Lisette Stuart. Devoted wife and mother of three. A published author, but her latest book has been taking a while to get out. Barthélémy and she consistently write each other now that she lives in the capital with the rest of the Stuarts.
* Older brother: Fernand Stuart. Went into science. Barthélémy always looked up to him, but the intelligence of his brother grates on him occasionally.
* Younger brother: Barnabé "Barny" Stuart. Went into business. Amongst the two of them, Bart and he get along quite well, but in groups their relationship takes on a competitive edge.

## Trivia

* He detests coffee but once convinced a girl he loved it to get a date, and was entrenched in a web of lies from which he could not escape
* Tends to peel or scrape off labels from food packaging while he eats
* Played by what is a dumble