Approved! - Nuri


Your Nickname: Statari
Have you read and do you agree to the Code of Conduct?: Yes
Are you over thirteen? Yes
How did you find us and decide to write with us? Friend
If you have written other characters here: No
If Yes, list them all: Katy Bevans
Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary

Full Character Name: Chaz Lawrence
Character Birthday & Age: August 11, 1981   Age: 28
City & Country of Birth: Rothenburg, Germany
Blood Purity: Halfblood
Alma Mater: Beauxbaton Academy
Job/Position: Wizarding Architect

Wand: Hawthorn indicates a search for power and strength and is good for protection and defensive work.  This wood can harness the power of lightning and use it to spark creativity and self development.  It has Ashwinder Ash core, which is good for protection spells.  Rigid wood because he's headstrong with a decorated shaft because he's ambitious and image-driven.

Physical Description:
Height: 5' 7"
Weight: 150lb
Hair Color:  Black
Eye Color: Blue
Chaz is not classically handsome but he has a pleasing face.  The structure of his face is elongated, and hints at a certain sharpness but is a bit round for his taste.  He dislikes the lingering roundness in his cheeks and around his jaw because it makes him appear younger than he actually is.  Chaz prefers to look older and more mature, which is was he usually allows for lingering facial hair, like a five o'clock shadow.  It defines his chin and jaw, which Chaz likes to think makes him more respectable. 

Appearances are very important to Chaz, which is why he makes sure that his hair is always cut and styled to perfection.  The styles are chosen to give him a modern and roguish look.  His clothes are always sharp and flattering.  He usually overdresses for informal occasions but bears the good natured ribbing from his friends with aplomb. The time and effort he puts into his look are well worth it.  His clean, professional, and sexy appearance gives him confidence.

This confidence is apparent in the way Chaz carries himself.  He keeps his head up and shoulders back, meeting people's eyes square.  He maintains during arguments in which he feels secure but when he is uncomfortable or uncertain, his posture falters.  His shoulders hunch and his head goes down.  As a result, Chaz seems taller than he actually is when he is confident and shorter when he is not.


Personality Description: Chaz is outgoing and charming.  He likes being around people quite a bit, mostly because it's evidence of his influence over them.  He likes being able to surprise people, make them smile, or question their beliefs.  It holds a lot of personal value.  On top of that, he usually quite good at it.  People are drawn to him because of his personality.  He always takes care of his appearance, but that's not what draws people to him.  In actuality, they are drawn to the good natured self-confidence and his genuine desire to make the people around him feel good.

On the whole, despite his self-confidence, Chaz is humble.  But when he is put in a position where his beliefs and ideas are called into question, he turns into an arrogant bastard.  This is a result, not of any particular superiority, but of the tension and anxiety associated with being wrong or ineffectual.  He will stubbornly defend his opinions, no matter what is said in opposition because failure not an option.  This tenacity has the potential to be a very beneficial trait when he uses his creative mind to come up with new ways around an obstacle in order to reach his goal.

Last but not least, Chaz is a sucker for radical ideas and lost causes and often in his case there is little difference between the two.  This is the result of longstanding need to prove himself independently from his family.  His family is not pure, but they have a long standing history with the wizarding world and value its traditions highly.  It is this that he is ultimately rebelling against.  This conflict between his need to accomplish himself as an individual and his need to prove himself worthy of acceptance will ultimately cause drama in Chaz's life as he tries to navigate what he wants out of life.


History: Chaz was born in Rothenburg, Germany.  Rothenburg is a walled city where automobile traffic occurs only for deliveries.  In this city, wizards and muggles live side by side.  In his neighborhood growing up there was hardly any notice of the differences between them because both wizards and muggles alike lived with traditional values.  Chaz's mother came from a long standing family in Germany.  She had many connections with the elite culture of the area.  On the other hand, Chaz's father is from a much younger family in London and it's not as thoroughly involved with extended family members.  This is why Chaz's father moved to Germany to get married.

Chaz is the third child in a family with four children.  The oldest is his brother Abel, who went to school and left to become a very successful business owner refurbishing second-hand furniture, spells, and other miscellanies.  The second oldest is his sister Karla, who finished school and immediately got married to her long-term sweetheart.  She stays at home teaching her 7 year old, 4 year old, and is pregnant with her third.  The youngest of the family was Eva, a real sweetheart in her final year at Beauxbaton.  She's a brilliant flier with a fair hand for Charms. 

All of Mathilda's children attended Beauxbaton because that was her alma mater.  It was unusual for a German to attend the French school but Mathilda had such a positive experience that she insisted her children apply.  They were taught French and English practically from infancy to ensure that language would be no problem.  Chaz's older siblings spoke both with heavy German accents but Chaz was good with languages because he was a people person with a strong desire to please so he learned to speak both with a nearly indistinguishable accent. 

Family is a very important factor in Chaz's life, mostly because he focuses so much of his time and effort on trying to escape it while at the same time trying to prove himself to them.  The traditions and expectations of his family and his school provided a firm foundation but one Chaz graduated from Beauxbaton and went to Paris with his best friend, Malcom, for the summer, he realized just how stifling it all was.  The taste of freedom was intoxicating and addictive.  He tried to share his newfound passion for the modern world with his traditionalist family but they responded with skepticism and doubt.  With his choices called in to question, Chaz dug in his heels and went back to Paris, convinced he was on the right path, the path to the future of the wizarding world. 

He spent several years training under a few different wizarding architects but disliked all of them because they focused on the restoration of old structures.  Chaz wanted to break free of the past and build a new world but he was challenged at every turn.

Early on in Chaz's time in Paris, he and Malcom formed an intimate relationship of sorts.  It began as a desire for mutual experimentation but developed into something steady but uncommitted.  Chaz fell in love with his best friend with benefits and prompted a conversation about a serious, monogamous relationship after getting drunk on his 25th birthday (coupled with a minor crisis of being a quarter of a century old).  Malcom consented to the idea and they lived quite happily together for some time.  Chaz was so happy, in fact, that when Malcom was offered a job as an apprentice in London's fashion industry, Chaz went along gladly.  They worked and lived in London together, happy.  But after seven months of bliss, Malcolm left him for a pretty blonde witch who modeled clothes for Witch Weekly.  It was his first major love and his first major heartbreak.

Since being left, and having spent all his resources on his move to London, Chaz took many odd jobs in order to keep busy.  He did anything that kept his mind off his heartache and pursued his own architecture in his free time.  Now, more than a year later, he has convinced himself that he has moved on and happy with his life, but he has not had a serious relationship since Malcom and he is extremely unhappy in his work.

Chaz writes to his younger sister, Eva, all the time.  She was too young to really understand the arguments going on between he and his parents at the time and never held it against him once she grew up enough to know.  She's so vibrant and fun that he truly loves connecting with her and being a part of her life.  He writes to his parents every couple of weeks and visits on Christmas but he strongly dislikes doing both because he constantly barraged with well meaning but annoying cautions and corrections.  Not to mention the fact that his mother guilts him about the fact he never writes them, every time he does.

Chaz has one pet, a female cat with long grey hair and blue eyes.  She is the light of his life because she listens to his ideas without judging him.


Describe your job duties and how you go about them: Chaz specialized in Architecture at Beauxbaton and continued on afterwards by apprenticing with others.  Unfortunately, Chaz strongly dislikes how wizards cling to tradition and antiquity. He thinks that the wizarding world should move forward, not backward.  This has not made him any friends and his work is decidedly unpopular.  But Chaz is bold about his ideas and pursues them regardless.

He is currently unemployed, not interested in finding yet another meaningless busy job.  He's focusing instead on finding a client to design for.  He has a bit of money saved up but it won't last forever.  Eventually he'll have to find a job to sustain his living and his clothing or ask his parents for help.

In addition to his training as an architect, Chaz is exceptional with protection spells.  He was useless at every other type of defense because he lacked the fighter's instinct, but he excelled there.  Protection spells, both personal and structural, are always an option for future freelance work.


Elaborate on your expertise in your field: Chaz had the personality and family connections to be accepted into Beauxbaton but was only slightly better than average in his schoolwork.  He simply didn't have the attention for the details of book learning.  However, once he entered lycee, and started learning the theory and practice of wizarding architecture, his grades shot up.  He loved talking and debating it, especially since it gave him the opportunity to distinguish and prove his individual ideas.  That combined with the apprenticeships he's served have given him the practical experience to design and build, if only he could bring himself to design and build in the old fashioned styles.


Writing Sample: RP Sample posted with Katy Bevans.

Sum up your character in one paragraph: Chaz is an attractive, thoughtful, and charming man with a stubborn streak a mile wide when it comes to defending his criticized and unpopular ideas.