John Childermass

The Magicians' House - Djävulenstad

2023-07-23T19:14:50Z

Afton Height

There's a great view of the city from the top of Afton Height - the hill is steep enough to be called the highest point in Djävulenstad. And it's a nice hike to the top, breezy even on the hottest days. There are, however, blackout curtains on most of the windows in the house, barring a few on the top floor. Anyone who comes calling during the day will be greeted politely by one of the house's three human employees, and, depending on which master of the house is sought, either be invited in, told to wait until evening, or to come back at some more convenient time. If they say that they have come to use the salon, they'll be admitted in and offered a nice cup of tea, with the hosts' compliments, whether they're to home or not.

Residents & Staff

John Childermass

pageofstaves Played by Hazel. Arrived in Ryslig in March of 2023. Undisputed king of the eyeroll, social chameleon, true and loyal friend. Vampire. Also reads tarot cards on request, and teaches night classes in personal finance and house management at the Strickler School. He can also sometimes be found at the Faros Academy assisting Saint-Germain in her studies, or at the Lottablog College working on historical research.

Jonathan Strange

madforaspell Played by Lore. Arrived in Ryslig in July of 2023. Magical genius, a gentleman's gentleman, absolute wife guy. Werewolf. He's been in the peninsula, you know. Not this one - Portugal, you see. He's still recovering from a long stint of self-imposed mental and physical illness after fighting to get his wife back from fairies. A professional scholar, he spends most of his time around the libraries and museums of Bavan, since books are familiar and adjusting is a long process.

Helena (NPC)

From a lower-middle class family in Bavan. Helena is a big fan of Rystrology, monsters in general, magic, and generally everything her straight-laced steel industry family turns their noses up at. She's not staring at you, she swears. ... Okay, maybe she is. She's usually flitting around the salons when there's company, and will dust the same shelves multiple times. Just to be sure.

Henrik (NPC)

Jonathan's personal servant, Henrik is from South Vandare. His mother is a seamstress and his father is a tinker who specializes in fixing medical tools and equipment. He is quiet, and only speaks when spoken to, but is happy to offer a human perspective on things if asked. Patient but no-nonsense. Loves cats.

Neena (NPC)

Queen of the kitchen, Neena is a widow whose husband died in the attacks the Tågevalgten made on Bavan in the summer of 2022 in their search to recover the Monsters' Pearl. She collected his insurance money - both on his life and his cobbling business - and is well off, but took the job at Afton House because she didn't want to "just lay about" for the rest of her life. Sweet, but a good aim with a wooden spoon.

The Salons

The first floor of Afton Height is clearly meant for entertaining company in the Regency-era sense of the word. The kitchen, pantry, and dining room are at the back: the front of the house is reserved for the foyer, a coat closet, and a succession of sitting rooms. These are laid out so that small groups of people can converse or spend their time in study: above all else, Afton Height is a place of comfort and knowledge. There is a sidebar with bottles of liquor and mixers, and a bell which can be rung if non-alcoholic beverages or snacks from the kitchen are desired. Seating is arranged so that monsters of any size or type can be comfortable, and one sitting room has the blackout curtains removable in case of any nephilim visitors.

The Library

The library of Hurtfew Abbey has been brought to Afton Height via a wish Childermass made to Mana for "some of the books from Norrell's library". Given that he paid her enough coin for a two-bedroom apartment, she decided she might as well just send him the whole thing. Some of the books are over four hundred years old, and they all pertain to the English Magic of Childermass and Jonathan's world. You can see the titles of several of them - along with where they can be found in the novel - here, because Hazel loves doing that kind of stuff.

The Garrett

Childermass & Jonathan's respective private quarters. One side of the third floor is likely to be far more controlled in terms of its chaos than the other. Henrik and Helena do their best ... but Jonathan Strange is, was, and always will be a force of nature unto himself when he's struck with inspiration. It's probably best not to touch anything left unattended in either magician's quarters, when you get right down to it.

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Ryslig IC Inbox

2023-07-05T17:16:25Z

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, JOHN CHILDERMASS. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 181.225.14.0 * TheRavensMan has joined 181.225.14.0. <TheRavensMan>** This is the network mail of John Childermass. I am currently following a nocturnal schedule, but will respond to you in as timely a fashion as I can.

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HMD & Opt Out

2023-03-02T04:14:37Z

HMD Feedback may be left here: anon is enabled.

CONTENT WARNINGS:
JS&MN does not have much in the way of triggering content where Childermass is concerned! The only real things that may come up are ...

- Death by hanging (not his)
- Disorientation/unreality
- Regency-era mental health attitudes (particularly regarding women)
- Facial injury (he has a faint scar on his right cheek from his eye down to the corner of his mouth, and will tell the truth if asked how it got there).
- For the Mun: please avoid mentions of tooth horror, pregnancy, or graphic cancer depictions. Thank you!

PERMISSIONS & NSFW NOTES:
- Hugging, kissing, touching, and fist fights are all totally fine!

- Serious injuries (broken limbs, etc) should be discussed before hand but I'll consider them on a case by case basis.

- In regards to Ryslig, death may also be on the table depending upon the plot.

- Please do not mind control/possess him unless I extend permission specifically.

I am comfortable with both FTB and smut threads (in the appropriate locked posts and/or communities)! Here are Childermass' preferences:

- Sexuality: Bi
- Gender Identity: Cismale
- Hard No: Scat or bodily fluid play, sex on surfaces where food is prepared, non- or dub-con, vore, extreme sizeplay, infantilization, torture/gore sex, slave/servant scenarios
- Favorites: Against the wall, giving & receiving oral, strip teases/games, giving praise, biting, bloodplay (ryslig only, where he's a sexy sexy vampire, rawr.)
- He's open to many things not on this list - eventually I'll do that great big list and link it here.

If you have a question about something I've forgotten, please leave it here or send me a message!

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pageofstaves @ 2023-03-01T22:53:00

2023-03-02T03:55:40Z

( ... )

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Application for Ryslig

2023-02-26T17:53:53Z

OOC INFORMATION
Name: Hazel
Contact: hopepunk, or holler "hey, I have cute birds here" into the void.
Age: 40
Other Characters: Number Five youngtimer & Dr. Norman Osborn certaininequities

CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character Name: John Childermass
Age: Unknown, but estimated somewhere in his late forties given the timeline of the novel.
Canon: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Canon Point: End of canon, as he is entering the Learned Society of York Magicians.
Character Information:
Childermass had had several careers before he became Mr. Norrell's servant and adviser. His first was as a highly talented child pock-pocket. His mother, Black Joan, had once managed a small pack of dirty, ragged child-thieves that had worked the towns of East Riding in the late 1770s.
The fandom wiki is extremely pathetic and only uses the mini-series as a source ... so we're going to do this the hard way. Though Childermass' life is never explicitly laid out in the novel, there are enough breadcrumbs to piece together a timeline, especially when using the tarot reading he receives from the street magician Vinculus as a guide. When Vinculus performs this reading, the cards are not explained, but Childermass tells him: "That is my life, there on the table. But you are unable to read it." The mun, however, has been studying tarot for over 20 years, so allow me to take a crack at it:

The reading begins with The Moon. It is a symbol of past anguish and high intuition, along with the insinuation that not everything is as it seems: a perfect card for a man raised to be a thief! As a card of illusion, it also hints at his future ability to practice magic. Right behind it is The Tower, Reversed: a rebirth following pain and suffering. Given that the upright Tower means things fall apart, I take this to mean that his mother was arrested, which threw the ring into disarray but provided Childermass with the opportunity to break free and live his own life. Once he is on his own, the Nine of Swords speaks of releasing old ideologies or beliefs: Childermass rejects the thieves' creeds and begins to make an effort to be an honest man. It also may be the time in which he began to learn about the mythology of the Raven King: a legendary figure who ruled Northern England in the 1400s and was one of the most powerful magicians in history. People of the north, as a culture, have built a lot of their folklore and expressions around the Raven King, so he would be well aware of the myths and stories. At this point in time he'd become interested in sorting out the truth, The Nine of Swords is also tied to the Hermit card, which makes sense, as Childermass would have spent some time hiding from the law while he tried to leave his past behind.

As he begins to sort out what he wants from his life, the Page of Wands card appears. The page is an ambassador - in this case, Childermass' desire to make some change or shift in the world toward English Magic so that the Raven King might return. He begins to choose his occupations with this in mind. As he copied his tarot deck from one belonging to a sailor he met in Whitby, it's very possible that going to sea was his first choice for how easy it would be to apply and the distance it would take him from Yorkshire. (And, yes, this is where his journal name came from. 'Wands' was taken.) With the Cards of Marseilles in his possession at this point, Childermass starts to use them as a guide for his path, his great intuition and intelligence making him a natural at reading them with startling accuracy - a point represented by a Reversed Ten of Wands.

After several more career changes, Childermass encounters his High Priestess: a person who has the power to help reach higher knowledge and conscioiusness. Despite the feminine imagery, it's very clearly indicative of Mr. Norrell, and Childermass entering employment as his 'man of business' and head servant at Hurtfew Abbey. But the Wheel of Fortune must keep turning, with all its unpredictability and the caprices of fate. Norrell desires to be the only practitioner of English Magic in the modern age, so that he can dictate its best practices and uses. He commands Childermass to help him hunt out any budding magicians and discourage them from their studies by any means possible: from buying out the books they would otherwise use to study, or surreptitiously ruining their businesses or reputations. In this way, Childermass not only acts as a force of fate to other magicians, but realizes that he cannot practice as openly as he would like, and will have to adjust his strategies regarding his support of the Raven King. This does bring immense luck, however - a profit represented by the Two of Coins. Over time,, Childermass becomes his master's most trusted confidante and advisor, which means he gains access to Norrell's expansive library of books of magic. Not only does Childermass surreptitiously study as much as he can, but Norrell himself entrusts a few spells to Childermass for use in his work - though he is conceited enough to believe that since Childermass never says anything about their uses or outcome, he must not be capable of magic. Finally, the King of Cups denotes great responsibility and a significant assignment: Childermass' position at the time of the reading as the extension of Norrell's will, the one who not only conducts his business, but sees to removing his obstacles - particularly Vinculus, in this case, as he is a street magician who has led the London populace to not take the concept of English Magic seriously.

In London, however, Childermass soon finds that two of Norrell's new friends - Lescelles and Drawlight - are social climbers and schemers of the worst degree who are hell-bent on making Norrell their puppet and instrument of advance and fame. Through their connections to political and social figures, they help Norrell rise in power, but also start to influence his decisions, steadily pushing Childermass out of his spot at Norrell's right hand. Eventually, Norrell takes a pupil, Jonathan Strange, and the two become rivals.

After a few years, the rivalry becomes so strong that Norrell feels threatened enough by Strange to leave London and return to Hurtfew Abbey. There, in the North, the consequences of both magicians' actions come to a head, as does a feud between Childermass and Lescelles. Norrell fires Childermass, and he leaves the Abbey only to find the street magician Vinculus, killed by a malevolent fairy known only as The Gentleman With The Thistledown Hair. In taking Vinculus' body down from the tree where it was hanged, Childermass finds it is covered in strange markings. The Raven King appears, restores Vinculus to life, changes the marks on his body, and leaves, removing Childermass' memory when he does so. Vinculus tells Childermass that the marks had always been there: they are the last remnants of a book the Raven King wrote: the definitive resource of English Magic. It had previously been a prophecy, but his death and Strange and Norrell's rivalry had seen it completed, and Vinculus imagines that his markings have been changed to a new prophecy. The two help dispel one of the malevolent fairy's curses - which Norrell had inadvertently begun - and then try to return to Hurtfew Abbey. However, they find that Norrell and Strange have been trapped in another realm or pocket dimension together, as a result of undoing all of the fairy Gentleman's magic. This leaves Childermass as the man with the most magical knowledge in England, and he and Vinculus set out to visit societies of aspiring magicians in the hopes of encouraging and educating them.

TL;DR: Former child thief works a bajillion blue-collar jobs before lucking out as the head servant to an asshole magician, studies magic, helps bring about return of legendary magician-king, becomes magic guru with a pet crazy hobo who is also somehow a book.

Personality:

A magician's house is expected to have certain peculiarities, but the most peculiar feature of Mr. Norrell's house was, without a doubt, Childermass. In no other household in London was there any servant like him. One day he might be observed removing a dirty cup and wiping crumbs from a table like a common footman. The next day he would interrupt a room full of admirals, generals and noblemen to tell them in what particulars he considered them mistaken. Mr. Norrell had once publicly reprimanded the Duke of Devonshire for speaking at the same time as Childermass.
People may say many things about John Childermass, but never that he is slow or dim-witted. As Norrell's man of business, he seems to handle every aspect of running an estate and a household: from hiring, scheduling and payroll to acquiring any resources, foodstuffs, or repairs necessary. He screens Norrell's letters and acts as his advisor in all matters, up until the point where Norrell begins to listen to Lescelles and Drawlight more in that particular arena. In addition to this, he is able to understand and learn the spells that Norrell entrusts to him for use in his duties. Childermass speaks at least one other language - when visiting an engravers' office with Mr. Strange, he speaks French to the refugees living there as artists.

Childermass knew what games the children on street-corners are playing - games that all other grown-ups have long since forgotten. Childermass knew what old people by firesides are thinking of, though no one has asked them in years. Childermass knew what young men hear in the rattling of the drums and the tooting of the pipes that makes them leave their homes and go to be soldiers - and he knew the half-eggcupful of glory and the barrelful of misery that await them. Childermass could look at a smart attorney in the street and tell you what he had in his coat-tail pockets. And all that Childermass knew made him smile; and some of what he knew made him laugh out loud; and none of what he knew wrung from him so much as a ha'pennyworth of pity.
Due to his upbringing and subsequent Jack-of-All-Trades career path, Childermass has seen just about every angle of life on offer, and as such his street smarts and wisdom are phenomenal. Very little outwardly astonishes or frightens him, and he takes everything around him in stride unless his temper is expressly provoked. The spells that Norrell and Strange work - raising the dead, creating ship fleets from rain, making statues come to life and speak what they have seen - do not trouble him in the least, and are just Tuesday as far as he's concerned. As such, he is very easily lost in the background of a room, where he can quietly observe and make his own judgements about a situation. If those judgements are particularly important, Childermass will not hesitate to voice them - as seen in one of the above quotes. He does not care for status or birthright, as he knows that at the heart of it, all men and women are equal: so he reserves a particularly acrid judgement for anyone who puts on airs that they are above others. Lescelles and Drawlight are frequently the cause of Childermass' disgust and open disapproval: he does not try to hide the way he feels about Norrell's new advisors. Constantly, Childermass will roll his eyes or glare at them, or tell Norrell outright that he does not agree with their opinions.

Because of his lower social standing, Childermass is very aware that even though Mr. Norrell allows him to "get away with" a lot more than most servants, he still has to mind himself in public. As such, every action he takes is calculated and deliberate. Even when he speaks, he makes sure that it's something he needs or wants to do that will further a situation, be it in Norrell's favor or his own. His intelligence comes not only in the form of what he knows, but how he uses it: on most occasions he is simply the quiet figure sitting at a desk or leaning in a corner at the back of a room, while everyone else voices their opinions and carries on as though he weren't even there. He consults his tarot deck often, using his gift to read the cards as a sort of road map for his actions or a silent advisor when he is not certain what to do. When the opening to a fairy road appears during his travels with Norrell, he passes through the archway and scouts ahead, returning not long after to tell them it is not worth taking: revealing that he has entered the other realm without pretense, faced the trial of will and spirit within, and returned to dissuade Norrell from it: not because he thought Norrell needed to know, but because he could goad Lescelles into showing his true colors in regards to magic as "the first and last resort of vulgar minds". As the novel reaches its conclusion, it becomes more and more apparent Childermass' goal is not to support one magician over the other, but to simply get English Magic back in widespread use. He almost says as much to Strange, when he is asked to leave Norrell's employ: "If you fail and Mr. Norrell wins, then I will indeed leave his service. I will take up your cause ... and then there shall still be two magicians in England and two opinions on magic. But if he should fail and you win, I will do the same for you." Strange thanks him for his candor.

As a part of this deliberation and careful consideration, any question put to him is answered without hesitation or guile. He may only tell part of the truth unless the full picture is demanded of him, but he will not lie. He tells Strange that he has had spells from Norrell all along, but rarely uses them. His counsel to his master is always sound, and never sly or sneaking as Drawlight and Lescelles' is. Even when he has to perform some sort of deception at Norrell's insistence - say, dressing in disguise to try and chase Vinculus out of London - his attempts at lying are painfully thin for someone with his intelligence, suggesting that he wants to be found out so that he can be plain and forthright, getting the pretenses over with. Even so, he does keep the spells secret, and also does not share his own opinions on the Raven King despite how often Norrell speaks out against him. He owns a few magic books of his own, which are no doubt secretly kept from Norrell due to his dislike for the presence of other magicians ... and when he discovers Vinculus by the hanging tree, Childermass is quick to think that he must keep him to himself, so that no one else will be able to unravel the secrets of the prophecies he holds.

Childermass may look as though he is simply a small player on the sidelines, waiting to see what happens, but throughout the book, he is quietly pulling strings behind the scenes of the two magicians to make things easier for them: or for those affected by their feuding. Before Norrell leaves for London, Childermass has a conversation with one of the aspiring magicians, Segundus, and asks him "what sort of things one would find in a London newspaper". Through a careful steering of the conversation, he convinces Segundus to write to the paper about the magic that Norrell had just performed, which begins his employer's rise to fame. Then, after Norrell raises the young Lady Pole from death, and she subsequently appears to have gone insane due to the fairy spell placed upon her during her resurrection, Childermass approaches Segundus again. By this time, the aspiring magician is trying to open a magical academy, but Norrell forbids it. Childermass encourages him to give the building a different purpose - an insane asylum, where Lady Pole becomes the only patient, and can be looked after. Later, when Strange delivers him the cure to her curse, he is able to bring it to her swiftly. Along with these subtler manipulations, as mentioned earlier, he is Norrell's advisor in sociopolitical matters.

"I am a North Englishman, Mr. Lescelles," said Childermass. "Nothing would please me better than that my King should come home. It is what I have wished for all my life."
Most people are quick to assume that Childermass' loyalty lies strongly with Mr. Norrell. In truth, Childermass is fiercely loyal... but not to his master. His true loyalty lies with John Uskglass, the Raven King, and he says as much to Lescelles when they return from London to Hurtfew Abbey (in the quote above). After Norrell and Strange disappear into another realm at the end of the novel, he is the one who takes up the mantle - not out of any sense of ego, but because he knows that the true nature and use of magic needs to be shared with the rest of the country. In this way, his loyalty is more to his values and beliefs than with any person or place. Magic in his world is tied to the land itself, to nature, and to all living things. In a way, Childermass is loyal to the world he inhabits, because he knows how connected he is to everything at the end of it all. His observations, his quiet listening, and his consideration of all things are acts of service: by knowing the world around him as best he can, he is discovering how best to act in its best interest, and toward the strengthening of the magic he cherishes.

5-10 Key Character Traits:
Intelligent
Worldly
Judgemental
Deliberate
Honest
Secretive
Manipulative
Loyal

Would you prefer a monster that FITS your character’s personality, CONFLICTS with it, EITHER, or opt for 100% RANDOMIZATION? Let's go with EITHER this time, for funsies.
Opt-Outs: Fairy, Arachne, Lich, Kelpie
Roleplay Sample: Test Drive! Additional threads here and here.

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2023-02-24T04:23:09Z

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