Tobias Fenwick

**Player** | Ludo

Blurb Goes here

## History

### Background

 In the high-society world of Old Town, tradition and lineage are everything, and in Tobias Fenwick has been upsetting both standards from day one. Born out of wedlock to a woman who wasn’t quite Seven Thrones material and a teenage August Fenwick, Tobias’ birth was quite the scandal among the socialites of Ocean City. The patriarch of the Seven Thrones, Arthur Fenwick, did as much damage control as he could, but the sheer gossip-worthiness of the situation was too juicy for the rest of Old Town to ignore. The sixteen-year-old son of the esteemed Fenwick family slumming around with and knocking up some commoner? Oh, the drama of it all!

Under normal circumstances the pregnancy would have been swept under the rug, the girl’s family paid off and the Fenwick’s history left unmarred by such unpleasant business, but enough of a stink had been raised by loose-lipped chit chat around the proverbial water cooler that the Fenwick’s had little choice but to deal with the issue head on. Arthur did his best to chalk the whole thing up to foolish teenage wiles, tried countless ways to put a positive spin on the scandal, but by the time Tobias was born there was a great deal of resentment from his grandfather that seemed to trickle down to the other members of the family.

It didn’t help matters any that Tobias had a bit of a rebellious streak in him that started to show at a very young age. The elite population of Old Town achieved their lot in life by keeping a haughty, composed air about themselves, and a stubborn, outspoken illegitimate didn’t have a place among their ranks. August eventually married a more suitable prospect for a wife and fathered several other children, all of whom were easily more accepted by the conservative old crows of Old Town, and Tobias quickly found himself labeled as the black sheep of the Fenwick family.

It was no secret among the population of Ocean City that the Seven Thrones was run by a modern-day monarchy; the Fenwicks had been in charge of the institution since its inception, and there was no doubt on anyone’s mind that once old Arthur passed away, his eldest son August would be the one to step up and take control, which in turn would one day leave Tobias as the heir apparent. Thus began an ill-fated campaign to mold the boy into the ideal candidate for a leadership position in the glorified old boy’s club. The attempts to force Tobias to be prim, proper, and play by the rules he found so detestable did little more than breed contempt in the man, and by the time Arthur’s health began to wane, Tobias was already looking for an out.

Despite the uneasy relationship he had forged with his immediate family, Tobias had grown accustomed to a life of privilege, and had no illusions that running off to live in the slums of Ocean City or joining up with one of the Boardwalk gangs was going to pan out well for someone who didn’t have a sense of how to survive on his own, and instead began to look for an alternate means of self-liberation. He had always been a bit of a recluse, finding solace in books and other academic pursuits while his father and brothers had busied themselves with catering to the demands of an upper crust lifestyle. From a young age—and especially during his attempted ‘familial reimaging’—Tobias had heard time and time again that the Fenwick’s tolerated rivals, the Coffin family, consisted of nothing more than harebrained occultists who put on airs of being intellectuals but cared little for the well being of Old Town and its inhabitants, always more invested in those savage Boardwalkers. Of course, Tobias wasn’t about to adhere to ancient prejudices just because his father said so, in fact if anything was going to pique his curiosity such a biased hatred from the stuff-shirts of Old Town would surely fit the bill.

To say he chose to join ranks with the Watchtowers solely to spite his kin would be a gross over-exaggeration, but he’d be lying if he said there wasn’t at least *some*truth to that notion. Shortly after August stepped up to take control of the Seven Thrones, Tobias left the Fenwicks with another scandal to try and smooth over, throwing his hat in with the Coffin family’s little group of illuminati. His absence has proven to be both a relief and constant headache for August; on one hand having his estranged son out of the picture opens up room for a more polished heir to take the reins some day, but on the other, if the newest head of the Seven Thrones can’t manage keep his unruly love child under control, how is he supposed to gain the respect of his followers?

It’s a conundrum Tobias will happily watch play out from a distance

## Personality

Raised by the crème de la crème of Old Town, Tobias is well-mannered, polite, and gentlemanly in nature, though that’s as far in as the aristocratic fangs of his Seven Thrones brethren sink. The self-important, over-inflated, holier-than-thou attitude of his father and brothers simply never took hold on him, and as such Tobias was an outsider among the Fenwick ranks. It didn’t help any that he was an unplanned bastard child—truly a sin among the socialites of Old Town—a stigma which followed him around until he joined ranks with the Watchtowers and generally left him on the outs with his family. It’s not something he’s particularly bitter about, however; he’d rather be estranged from his father than have to play nice with the pompous asses that made up the Seven Thrones and, by extension, the inhabitants of Old Town.

Intellectually minded but never one to flaunt it, Tobias has a love of Pre-War literature. There was an escape from the inane expectations of high society in books, and none so vivid as the works of authors such as Lovecraft, Poe, and Blackwood; he could relate to the isolated nature of Lovecraftian heroes, who oftentimes had abnormal lineages and felt trapped in a world they didn’t understand. As he grew older he became more enamored with the unanswered questions of such stories, a fascination that leant itself well to his future dealings with the Coffin clan.

A macabre sense of humor compliments a tendency to be anti-authoritative, a trait he picked up at a young age and never truly let die, though these days he’s calmed down some on the urge to fight the man. Still, get him on a good tear about the privileged bores of Old Town or appeal to his anti-oppression ideology and those old flames just might flicker back to life. Given his views on the world from whence he was sprung, Tobias is not a rare sight on the Boardwalk, more than willing to go slumming amongst the commoners who he tends to find exponentially more interesting than a good deal of his fellow Watchtowers. Still, he knows where he hails from, and as such, errs on the side of caution when strolling the Boardwalk. Not everyone appreciates the upper crust poking around, and even though it’s been years since Tobias had been amongst said crust, he’s aware his reputation precedes him; once the son of a Fenwick, always the son of a Fenwick.

## Appearance

Tall, lean, and carrying himself with the sort of poise and confidence that comes from a *beau monde* upbringing, Tobias has old world good-looks with an astringent edge. Tired hazel eyes sit under angular, arched eyebrows, causing him to look like he’s either constantly in deep thought or quite cross over one thing or another. He wears his black hair neatly styled, parted down the center with a poliosis-generated Mallen Streak framing the right side of his face. His style of dress can be described as “sharp” and falls in line with the general dress code of the Watchtowers; suit jackets, ties, and well-polished shoes are all common when he’s out and about, while the usual dark robes of his occult-friendly peers are a staple behind closed doors.