Your Nickname: Ruddy
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If you have written other characters here: Yes
If Yes, list them all: Rémy Sharp
Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary

Full Character Name: Mordecai Hastings
Character Birthday & Age: Born August 11, 1967; 42 years old
City & Country of Birth: Kilmarnock, Scotland
Blood Purity: Muggleborn
Alma Mater: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Cover Job (If any): Lawyer
Type of Criminal: Dark Artist & Black Market Trader
Allegiances / Loyalties / Political Faction: Mordecai's allegiance is to himself, first and foremost; any other allies are purely for expediency.

Have they committed any previous crimes?: As a longtime "businessman" in the black market and a practitioner of the dark arts, Mordecai has more than a few offenses under his belt.

If yes, what were they and were they convicted?: Crimes include embezzlement, identity theft, smuggling and trading of various illegal goods, practicing and studying the dark arts, and probably murder somewhere in there. However, he's not one to make stupid mistakes, so he has yet to be caught.

What crimes might you commit in the future?  Discuss all possible: As long as he is not caught, Mordecai will continue in the activities currently listed, and will take any new opportunities to gain money and influence if presented with them. However, while he is willing to ally himself with other criminals or criminal organizations when it is expedient toward these goals, he serves only himself, and will not champion any radical or terrorist causes.

Are you currently under pursuit by the Ministry of Magic?: With more aliases than family members and a careful attention to details in covering his tracks, Mordecai has managed to keep an innocent public face, and is not currently suspect by the Ministry, even if several of his aliases are on the wanted list. If, for some reason, this were to change in the future, he would probably already have a safe retreat lined up to keep out of reach of the Ministry.

Wand: 13 inches, Cherry, Dragon Heartstring, Unyielding

"This very rare wand wood [Cherry] creates a wand of strange power, most highly prized by the wizarding students of the school of Mahoutokoro in Japan, where those who own cherry wands have special prestige. The Western wand-purchaser should dispel from their minds any notion that the pink blossom of the living tree makes for a frivolous or merely ornamental wand, for cherry wood often makes a wand that possesses truly lethal power, whatever the core, but if teamed with dragon heartstring, the wand ought never to be teamed with a wizard without exceptional self-control and strength of mind.

As a rule, dragon heartstrings produce wands with the most power, and which are capable of the most flamboyant spells. Dragon wands tend to learn more quickly than other types. While they can change allegiance if won from their original master, they always bond strongly with the current owner.

The dragon wand tends to be easiest to turn to the Dark Arts, though it will not incline that way of its own accord. It is also the most prone of the three cores to accidents, being somewhat temperamental."

- Garrick Ollivander

Physical Description: At a glance, Mordecai gives the impression of a distinguished, well-to-do wizarding gentleman, carrying himself with pride, though not arrogance. At 6'4 and powerfully built, he might seem to strike an intimidating silhouette, but a disarming grin and  warm mannerisms quickly lay to rest any initial doubts anyone might have about him. He moves confidently, speaks articulately, and looks people in the eye in a way that says he has nothing to hide. While he looks as though he could be a dangerous man in the right circumstances, rarely does anyone actually think it of him, at least not anyone he meets in public.

Though not possessed of traditionally sultry, youthful good-looks, he still holds a sort of dignified handsomeness that more than one witch (and even a wizard or two) has commented on in his lifetime. Unlike many of his fellow wizards, he also chooses to shave, rather than grow a beard out. Dark, clean-cut hair and sharp, defined facial features - an angular jaw, a narrow nose, a strong brow - give him a stately look. Meanwhile, bright blue eyes, full of vigor and intelligence and all too easily associated with innocence and an upright character, erase any lingering doubts anyone might have in the back of their mind upon meeting him. His Scottish accent is not the typical, powerful brogue of many of his countrymen, but rather the soft, warm cadence of a voice that could be strong, but chooses quiet instead.

At work, he dresses sharply, though not lavishly, in tailored coats, pressed shirts and modest ties, with a motto of "dress for success, but not to impress." He dresses with class, but the gilded robes of more showy wizards are noticeably absent from his wardrobe, making him seem like a people's man - one who knows how to look professional without looking self-important.

Personality Description: First and foremost, Mordecai is a ruthless, top-notch chess player. While this may seem like trivia at first, upon closer examination, it tells you everything you need to know about him.

He enjoys classical literature, fine wine, and challenging puzzles, but these are barely more than passing interests.

Though he may intimidate at first, a few minutes in the presence of Mordecai's soft-spoken, charming attitude relaxes even the most timid of clients. He's certainly a social adept, never missing a beat in a conversation and always knowing the right thing to say, seemingly without even trying. Anyone meeting him for the first time remarks that he is a likeable fellow...as long as they've only met him at his day job as a wizarding lawyer.

The darker truth behind his impressive social skills and good reputation is that he's very good at manipulating people, and he's not only good at it, he enjoys it. It has always fascinated him that, with a simple, well-placed word or movement, he can alter someone else's perceptions and behavior, so much so that he collects muggle books on psychology and human behavior, and has even earned a degree in the subject from a Muggle university. It's certainly helped his career as a lawyer; he knows just how to win over a jury or cause the prosecution to fly off the handle. To him, it's like a game, one in which he is an expert player with all the cards. It's also important to note that, hand-in-hand with his manipulative abilities, he has a great deal of self-control, and is a talented liar who knows just how to sound most convincing as he tells a bold-faced lie.

His practice of manipulating others has given him a bit of a superiority complex, if not a god complex. Because he can so easily control and fool people without their realizing it, he comes to view them as things rather than individuals. As an intellectual and a scholar, he looks down on those who are "simple-minded" or easy to manipulate; to him, those who are smart enough to get what they want are the ones who truly deserve it. He is a criminal because he can be, because it gives him money and power and the rest of the world is too stupid to stop him. He cares little for those he views as "useless" - the poor, the mundane, the purebloods with their upper-class rules, the pariahs trying to change society - because none of them are ambitious or open-minded enough to really accomplish anything. Or maybe he just doesn't comprehend their ideals, because in short, Mordecai is a selfish man.

But while he's selfish, he's also practical. Everything he does is for a purpose - if he is kind, it's because he wants something from you, if he is cruel, it's because he needs to be to make a point. His emotions do not control him, probably why he is so good at manipulating but so difficult to manipulate himself. This is a man who is detail-oriented, always ready with a back-up plan or maybe three, always covering his trail with the utmost care. In a duel, he is frightfully composed and wickedly dangerous, because he knows no rules and responds to no taunts, doing whatever it takes to win and always appearing to be three steps ahead of his opponent.

In short, Mordecai is not a criminal you overcome with luck. He simply does not get caught off-guard, and does not make stupid mistakes. To catch him, you have to outsmart him - and that is a difficult thing to do.

History: Mordecai's parents, Tavish and Addison Hastings, were poor Muggles, factory workers in Kilmarnock, Scotland. Though they were simple, kind parents who always tried to do the best they could for their three children, they were sometimes a little too friendly with the local pubs. To them, it was a way of spending warm, jolly evenings with friends and strong drink, escaping for a little while the troubles of their poor lives. Mordecai always resented their pub crawls, however, seeing such trivial pursuits as empty and ultimately a waste of time better spent on more....economic activities. He always despised the poverty of his surroundings, despite being urged to make the best of it by his siblings, and grew up knowing their were children better off than him. His malcontent was not without reason, either - too many cold winters, empty tables, and threadbare jackets, while other boys were better provided for by harder-working parents, wore thin on the mind of a child. Jealousy was common in the slums of Kilmarnock; crime even more so.

While his older brother and sister would eventually go on to work in the textile factories as well, it was magic - his magic - that would change the course of young Mordecai's life. Though skeptical at first, the reality of the wizarding world eventually opened up new possibilities in his imagination, and so he took to his studies at Hogwarts with abandon. It was to no one's surprise that the boy was a Ravenclaw, eating through the books in the library at a rapid pace and always turning in his homework two days too early. He grew increasingly distant from his family at home, feeling a smug sense of superiority now that he had magic and they didn't, but they, too, treated him oddly, not sure whether to believe he was really a "wizard" as they called it. But Mordecai didn't care. He had ambition, he had magic, and he would make himself a great wizard, far greater than anything the Muggle world had to offer for him.

But there was another kind of struggle between classes he had to deal with, even in the wizarding world. Among Muggles, he was a poor boy; among wizards, he was a Mudblood. And this did not sit well with him, because he didn't see what blood purity had to do with anything, or why pureblooded families were so dead set on stopping Muggleborns from getting anywhere in the wizarding world. As a young man of seventeen, fueled by the fire of youth, he signed petitions, joined campaigns, and participated in protests against the Ministry's pro-pureblood laws and the general attitude of discrimination against Muggleborns. Several times, he and others were thrown in holding cells overnight for the more rowdy of these protests, though they never received any serious charges and were always released in the morning. His career as a wizard lawyer was initially meant as a path to change laws in the Ministry discriminating against Muggleborns. But youthful optimism eventually died down into a dangerous undercurrent of cynicism, and any ideas about "changing the wizarding world" were abandoned by young Mordecai Hastings. His job offered modest pay, but it was never enough for him, and eventually he decided there was simply nothing for it but to take what he wanted if it wouldn't be given to him.

Now, Mordecai had always been a fast-talking charmer, always good at manipulating people into giving him what he wanted, from dewy-eyed girls to doting professors. And he liked it. He liked the sense of power it gave him, to understand the way another person thought and use that to control their behavior. He wanted to know more about the subject, so even while working his job as a lawyer in the wizarding world, he gathered Muggle books on psychology and sociology to teach himself about the subject. Wizards had no use or understanding of the science of human behavior, but Mordecai knew better. He studied this as fervently as he had studied magic, until he could glance at a person and tell them more about themselves based on body language and nervous tics than perhaps they even knew.

And in the meantime, he fell into criminal pursuits. Little things at first - taking a job as a hired hand here, stealing some petty object there, anything that would give him a few extra galleons. He proved to be a marvelous criminal, too, probably a better thief than a lawyer. And best of all, he knew all the legal loopholes, a walking encyclopedia of law for his criminal friends. He concocted multiple aliases to keep Magical Law Enforcement off his trail - everything from false identities and polyjuice potions to good old-fashioned home-made disguises, which wizards wouldn't ordinarily use (or think to look for). He gradually gained power and influence in the criminal underworld, until little things turned into big things, smuggling rings and dark arts, and his underworld activities accounted for more of his income than his overworld activities. With no scruples about ethics or allies, Mordecai had made himself into a wealthy Muggleborn wizard.

He also invented, for his own personal use, a spell that combines elements of both the Confundus charm and the Bedazzling Hex, which when bound to an item - such as a bolo tie, a pin, or a necklace - effectively prevents the wearer's facial features from being recalled by people who meet him in passing. Of course, this is a fleeting sort of spell, and does not work on anyone who is aware of the spell, purposely trying to memorize the wearer's face, or spends an extended amount of time in the wearer's presence.

Mordecai is wholly corrupt as a wizard and does anything necessary to keep on top of his criminal activities, while still maintaining such a degree of level-headed self control that makes him all the more dangerous. He may employ underlings to do his dirty work, but he is as willing to get his own hands dirty if he needs to. He has no reservations about stealing, no qualms about killing, and the most frightening thing about him is that he remains coolly detached from everything he does, as though it matters little more than making business transactions or squashing bugs.

Sum up your character in one paragraph: Mordecai Hastings is a friendly, classy gentleman, brilliant tactician, and rather skilled lawyer on the surface, the kind of fellow you'd want at a nice dinner party. In truth, though, he's steeped in dark arts and underworld smuggling, with a criminal career twenty years in the making. Cunning, detailed, manipulative, ruthless, and well-versed in the subject of psychology and human behavior, he is always two or three steps ahead of Magical Law Enforcement and all the more dangerous because he will do whatever it takes to stay there.