Enfants Household

## The Household

This household structure came to full size in the Venice period, and has been running according to Eugène Beaucourt's 'gold standards' paradigm. This means that wages are very high, compared to other households, but standards are also highly elevated and those unwilling or unable to conform to Beaucourt's vision will be swiftly dismissed and replaced. This 'gold standard paradigm' has three immediate consequences :

* **Ever elite** : servants are required to function as if at any time they could face a high ranking culinary inspection. Beaucourt is known to (seemingly) randomly impose such tests and consistent underperformance will lead to dismissal. Even if there is no one in the room, the servants are required to follow 'proper form' as a matter of principle.

* **Universal service** : this means that it does not matter where the household resides , be it in a palace or in a hunting tent, no corners will be cut, ever. Where there is a will, there is a way, and proper service will always be offered, regardless of circumstances.

* **Unquestioning dedication** : Though well designed rosters determine the amount of work due every day, servants are never expected to complain when duties are suddenly extended or when they have to run double shifts. It is to be trusted that compensations will be made (for example , more time off on following days) , so if duties get doubled it will be for good reasons, and any and all complaints (barring those perhaps of a serious medical nature) are considered an act of disloyalty to the excellence of the household.

In short, service in this household is not for those seeking a calm and quiet life, but actively seeks those who, like the household's demanding butler, seek to improve themselves to the pinnacle of household excellence. There is one other a-typical aspect about the Enfants household that is worth mentioning, and that is the 'Excelsior' principle, as ordained by Louis Philippe de St Cyr :

* **Excelsior** : each and every servant in employ is selected to be among the best of the best within their craft. It is this excellence the household seeks, regardless of which 'form' the servant takes. Consequently : all wages are according to status and function, not race or gender. In this household black servants get equal pay to white ones of equal status, and females to males. In addition, *Lex Jacobinis* is not in function when it comes to determining Jacobite remunerations. While many consider this a wasteful principle, it does contribute much to servant loyalty, especially among those who would in other circumstances only receive half-wages.

### Senior management

**Eugène Beaucourt (Butler)** : Household's CEO and strict perfectionist. Coordinates the *maitres,* who in turn pass his directions further on down the line.

**Mme Armina (Senior Housekeeper)** : Usually remains in the background of operations, has no direct servant function in plain view. Coordinates maids & female servants on those situations where it would be 'improper' for Beaucourt to do so, but above all runs daily bookkeeping, secures suppliers, deals with local small merchants and manages the household's necessary logistics.

### Lead servants (maitres)

**Maître Antoine (head chef)** : Coordinates the kitchens, but more importantly, designs the menus, experiments with *haute cuisine* and attempts to stay at the vanguard of the culinary arts. Maître Antoine insists his own kitchen constantly operates on a 'three star guide' level, and takes every unfinished Pantagruel mini-plate as a serious matter.

**Alphonse (1st valet)** : Dignified, graceful and well-versed in etiquette, Alphonse is usually the highest servant authority on the floor, and -barring direct Beaucourt interventions- always in charge of the servants in the room where the seigneur happens to be. Is a patient teacher to aspiring valets, provided they are willing to learn.

**Irène (1st maid)** : Divides the maid tasks and makes the rosters. Irène, like monsieur Beaucourt himself, takes great pride in being in the middle of upper class life. Feared by other maids, as she rarely let things go. Demure and graceful in public, but can be vicious and highly demanding behind the scenes.

**Gérard (Stable Master )** : Coordinates and manages the household's 30+ horses and attending personel. Functions as maître de chasse in the absence of Nin'Galendir.

**Maurice (Maitre in training)** : One of the household's exotic black servants. Maurice has a unique talent for pragmatism, and is utterly single-minded in attaining succes. As such, he sometimes functions as 'maitre d'exterieur' , meaning he functions at the maitre rank during the Households sojourns into difficult outdoors settings. (like during a hunt etc). In other circumstances, he functions as a Valet (see below). Regardless, even if there is no 'chasse' he retains his higher salary (which is currently in between a valet and a junior maître, as in the feudal mindset, rewards are given according to status and position, not according to 'hourly wages')

### Valets & Footmen

These servants run the mainstay of front-of-house operations, in visible positions. Consequently, personal style and dignity are trained as much as task efficiency. All new servants are required to start at the footman position, to first prove their ability to quickly and efficiently get a multitude of tasks done. Only those with perfect service records are able to advance to the 'valet' rank. Before they can do so, however, they have to attain maximum scores at Beaucourt's highly complicated in-house etiquette exams, which take place once per year.

Seeing the Household contains several nobles (eg. Dandric Rovinav), duty rosters always provide for personal service, meaning that those of sufficient rank will always have a dedicated Valet following them around. Which one this is, may vary on a daily basis, but proper service will always be assured. Descending through the noble ranks, footmen can also be deployed in personal service of lower nobility (eg. chevalier Schultz) or honored guests. How the footmen perform on such duties in known to play a crucial role in Beaucourt's quality assessments.

**Maurice (Valet)** : As described above, when not in strange outdoors settings, Maurice functions as a full valet. He is currently studying for Beaucourt's elite level 'maitre exams' of which he has completed about half of the modules already. When employed as valet, Maurice is extra careful to perform to maximum form, as to show Beaucourt that he is already 'better' than your average valet. (and as such deserves his future promotion).

**Hector (Valet)** : While a fully trained and graceful Valet, Hector -through a simple coincidence- also fills an important function to the Household : he is a very attractive young man with model-like measurements who functions as Louis Philippe's body double for fashion purposes. Though this often places him in a more 'luxurious' position than other servants (at times inspiring envy) it also comes with pretty harsh extra demands : Hector is constantly on some form of diet, to either gain or lose weight, depending on the master's current situation.

**Giancarlo (Valet)** : Started in the household as a footman, recruited in Venice, he has since worked himself up, passed Beaucourt's grueling valet-exams , and ascended to this new position. His current point of attention -according to Beaucourt- is accent and pronunciation, as his Italian accent still echoes through his French. (at least it is not Spanish, which is marked as an 'undesireable accent' within the household, as it is sure to annoy the master of the house).

**Dieudonné (Jr. Valet)** : Also hails from distant Africa, originally. While not as shrewd as Maurice, or as strong as Patrice (below), Dieudonné has managed to pick up on style and grace. His french is proper and clean by now, and he has recently flawlessly passed Beaucourt's latest round of Valet examinations. Consequently, he is currently starting to pick up valet duties, in addition to his more regular footman duties.

**Hoël (Footman)** : Has worked for the household for quite some time now, and is the most experienced footman in service. Though quite refined, Hoël is reluctant to take the Valet exams as he much prefers his current duties which rely more on good honest labor than on the more etiquette-based Valet duties. Hoël is also a very capable carriage driver and actually takes pleasure from being 'on the road'.

**Patrice (Footman)** : Another one of the households black servants, Patrice has great physical strenght and stamina and is a dedicated and hard worker. He is not as quick a learner (or shrewd a thinker) as Maurice and subsequently still struggles with the Valet courses. Patrice, however, makes up by dedication and hard work and is improving every day. Patrice often functions as a personal servant to Chevalier Schultz, perhaps due to the fact that he is physically large and strong and can easily lug around whatever it is the excentric chevalier requires him to. (which at one point was half a Venetian gondola)

**Laurent (Footman)** : Laurent started his service carreer in the stables and worked his way up from there. Recently promoted to full footman after passing the examination sequence, Laurent is keen to engage with his new duties. That being said, he still enjoys handling the horses from time to time, as he is also a compentent carriage driver.

**Luigi (Jr Footman)** : Another italian, recruited in Venice. Luigi was born from a family of laborers, and is quite happy to escape the mud and ugliness of lower-class life and walk around in a fine suit. Currently working to lose his spontaneous movements and habits which Beaucourt and Alphonse typify as 'lower class'. Until he does so, it is deemed pointless for him to start valet training. Seeing he is still a very young man, the maîtres are confident that he can still adapt and offer him constant pointers along the way.

**Domenico (Jr Footman)** : Dominco trained as a woodworker and craftsman before entering into service. While by now fully trained as capable footman, he often functions behind the scenes as the household's 'handyman' , as in the rough reality of a full household in operation, things sometimes break and instant solutions are needed.

### Maids

All households contain maids, and the Enfants household is no difference in this regard. What is different is that, according to the 'Excelsior' principle, they receive footman-or-valet-equivalent wages (depending on their own status). A side effect of this rule, however, is that maid positions here are highly competitive and demanding, as there are plenty of candidates out there to instantly fill their positions.

**Eline (Maid)** : It is actually quite uncommon for a bachelor gentleman's houshold to include high-skilled maids like Eline (and of course Irène, the first maid) as quite a bit of their exented training has little practical purpose in daily operations. They are fully trained in attending to noble ladies (in the manner that valets attend to the gentlemen) and always held 'in reserve' in the case of unaccompanied noble lady visitors. While their services could be useful in attending to Soeur Innocence, the sister usually declines this option, relying on her own novices instead. Consequenly, for most of the time they function like 'regular' cleaning or laundry maids, but -according to household principle- at a slightly elevated pay.

**Marie (Maid)** : Marie is a high-performing maid, getting a lot of work done in a short time. This is much to her benefit as she has other 'issues'. Marie is an incorrigable gossip, something much frowned upon by Mr. Beaucourt and Mme. Armina, who consider this a liability to household 'discretion'.

**Clara (Jr Maid)** : Has not yet received her full etiquette training and would consequently never be let near a noble lady, but is currently employed most often in a cleaning capacity. As she is still quite young (about debutante age, were she a noble), the household is confident that there is more than enough time for her to pick up on the more refined maid skills later in her carreer. Clara, born of the lower classes, is much aware of her situation and terrified to lose her position to other aspirants. Consequently she will never complain about double shifts and almost always volunteers for extra duties.

**Nanette (Maid-in-training)** : Child labour is a staple of the Ancient régime, and of course this household is no different. Nanette was given into service by a poor peasant family and is now learning the basics of household service. The Excelsior principle plays a double function here. It means that her workload is quite hard for one so young, but also that she already receives starter wages, which is highly uncommon (in most other households they have to settle for food and boarding). This money, however, unlike with other servants, is not directly paid out, but is set aside on a personal account for when she is older.

**Semiramis (Maid-in-training)** : the second very young scullery maid of the household has been brought in from distant Africa. Freed from misery by Innocence missionary sisters, given basic training in household duties, she is sent on for employ in Europe. As she is still learning to fluently speak French and still quite uncertain, she is kept aways from the eyes of the masters of the household. When it comes to compensation, however, she receives the same benefits as her friend Nanette (above), meaning money is set aside on a savings account, to be made available when she comes of age. (And must decide whether to remain with the household, or seek her fortune elsewhere).

### Kitchen Staff

**Chef Salim - Sous Chef (Deputy Chef)** : Salim was already a master chef in Caïro when he entered into Enfants service. His original style is Levantine and North African cuisine, but he has since started to master traditional French cuisine as well. This does not mean, however, that he has left his original training behind. Instead, he loves to blend different styles, and is often allowed to experiment, one thing that makes Enfants employ so attractive to him. When maître Francois is otherwise engaged, Salim runs the kitchen with confidence and easy, and even when François stands at the executive chef position, there is enough mutual respect between the experts to -in practice- run the kitchen together.

Carlo - Chef de Partie (Station Chef)

Giuseppe - Chef de Partie (Station Chef)

Luca - Commis Chef (Junior Chef)

Mario - Commis Chef (Junior Chef)

Lucio - Escuelerie (Dishwasher)

Laura (Kitchen Porter)

### Stables & Gardens

Achmed Footman (stable)

Gilbert Jr Footman (stable)

Paulo Jr Footman (stable)

Alfredo Footman (gardener)

Roberto Jr Footman (gardener)

Polet Stable boy

Prospère Stable boy

## Court Music Chapel

Aicha Soprano / Violinist

Angelo Violin/Viola

Emilia Flute / Oboe

Gerault Harpsichord/continuo

Loretta Cello

Grignol Tenor Buffo/Jester

## The Cairo Operation

### Cairo Household

Monsieur Nasser Butler

"Maman" Arlette Maid

Desiré Jr Footman

Latifa Maid-in-training

### Cairo Hotel

Bagoah First Maid

Layla First Maid

Benoit Cook

Gertrude Cook

Jules Footman

Barbara Maid-in-training

Meyrem Maid-in-training