Baylor Rutherford

Baylor was born as the oldest child to Theodore and Caroline Rutherford, the earl and countess of Eastleigh. A family very much know for their exquisite breeding of the finest horses. From his early years, Baylor could be found helping his parent in the stables, and his fascination with the majestic animal had been established. At the age of six, Baylor were introduced to his baby sister, Maisie. After Having been the sole child and pride of his parents for the first six years of his life, this adjustment was  not without its predicaments for Baylor. It required a lot of assistance and guidance from his parents throughout the first months, but once he fully embraced the arrival of his sister, he protected her like the world depended on it. They became a close-knit and tight family of four.However, it would not take long before Baylor was faced with even more hardship, with the passing of his darling mother. While Baylor had always been introverted, this tragic event was the reason he even more so turned into himself. He only found himself at peace in nature surrounded by his horse. This change in his demeanor affected his ability to get along with most of his classmates, his quietness made him an easy target for teasing and bullying  by his classmates. He was not standing up for himself, as he had other things to worry about, but fortunate he had a small group of friends who did just that for him. It did not stop the teasing and bullying however. Until he reached puberty that is, in which he quickly grew centimeter after centimeter. Slowly he blossomed into a guy that were to be respected.

By 16, he left his sister and father behind to study in the north of Scotland. It was his fascination for horses, and in this case specifically the Clydesdale horses, that had brought him there. The Clydesdale horse were a new breed of horses which had been originated from local horses mating with the recently introduced Flemish stallions. Due to his family’s reputation as excellent horse breeders for the upper classes, he had earn a space to study  and experience this phenomenon which was the creation of a new breed from up close, alongside receiving higher education at the Glasgow university. Upon returning to London, he struggled adapting to the city lifestyle. In that stage of his life, he regularly found his comfort in hanging out at the gentleman's club and consuming one too many alcoholic beverages. Not too worry however, once he found his feet again in the city, he realised his responsibility to his family was important above all else. He could not damage his family's reputation by continuing with this behaviour that might be mistaken for that of a rake. He settled into a life of relieving his father of a burden by taking on most of the daily responsibilities leading the family business, something his father had neglected after the death of his wife. For Baylor, this was a  position he very much enjoyed, it allowed him to work with horses, take care of his little sister and give back to his family name. Time passed by, until tragedy once again hit the Rutherfords, and Theodore Rutherford passed away. While Baylor had not been extremely  close to his father in recent years, it still was the loss of his sole father figure in life, and it also meant he had now become head of the house as well as the new earl of Eastleigh. Suddenly a heavy responsibility lay on his shoulders. As the new earl of Eastleigh, he knew that if he wanted to provide a good life for his sister, now was the time to take the season more seriously than ever. Not that he had not taking it seriously in his previous seasons, he just had been too focussed on running the company, that he had not felt ready to be wed yet. This year, with the passing of his death, that outlook had changed.

## Personality

If you were to describe Baylor in one sentence, it would be that he is a serious and somewhat introverted person. He mostly prefers to spent his time on his own, or with those who are closest to him. Due to his traumatic childhood, having been bullied, and losing his mother at a young age and never having been the closest with his father ever since, Baylor finds it quite hard to open up, especially to new people in his life. He does go out of his comfort zone socially from time to time, such as participating in the season or paying a visit to a gentleman's club. Even in those case however, he does so mostly out of obligations and as responsibility to his family to socialise among the upper classes of society. If you were to find Baylor enjoying your company however, you can be sure of him becoming a committed and loyal friend to you. Someone who always will be there, and who you can rely on.

There is always some thought process going through Baylor’s mind, he is a very logical and analytical person. This however, can also make him overthink any decisions he needs to make and to those who might not know him well, he might be seen as indecisive at times. He is extremely rational in his decision making process, and solely wants to be able to thoroughly work through any possible outcome of his decisions and weigh the positives against the negatives in his mind in the most objective and unbiased way. This comes from his fear of not wanting to disappoint his sister, but more importantly living up to his family’s legacy.This ties in to him being very responsible generally, he will do whatever he has to do to provide. Careful to not not make any mishaps that might impact his family’s name, and thereby his sister’s future, in the process. This shows through in him being a hard worker, he pushes himself to the maximum of his capabilities and always gives everything he does his all. Using his academic knowledge as well as field experience to grow his family company. In this, he is not afraid to chose innovations over holding on to nostalgia, as long as he feelsthat is what is required to achieve the best outcome.

He does not allow himself to truly freely feel very often, he has a tendency to keep his emotions to himself, even with those he cares about. Therefore he can often be found having a calm and collected demeanor, but there is only so much one person can deal with bythemselves. Especially since the passing of his father, and now having full authority of the company, he has been often putting the needs of his sister as well as that of the company above his own. This all in a very turbulent time. He is trying to keep everything together, while in reality, he is struggling with now being the head of house. Being the newest earl, it had put a spotlight on Baylor. Where Baylor loved being in charge of the family company behind the scenes, his current situation forces him to be in the foreground where he is not yet comfortable, not the most confident. When it comes to love, that is another thing in which Baylor is not the more comfortable not romantic guy, as expressing his feelings and emotions is something he struggles with. Especially after seeing his father suffer after the loss of their mom, pure romance is not something he truly believes in anymore. With his logic mind at moments he sees marriage as more of a responsibility than a desire. That is not to say Baylor is incapable of loving and being loved, there simply are barriers that have to be overcome.