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Tamis Raynor



Full Character Name: Joel Andrew Radley
Character Birthday & Age: 31, born 01 April 1977
City & Country of Birth: Piddlehinton, West Dorset, England
Pureblood, Halfblood or Muggleborn?: Halfblood
Alma Mater: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft of Wizardry, Gryffindor Alumni
Job: Dragon Researcher

Wand: 11 and 1/2 inches, Rowan Wood, Dragon Heartstring, Pliable. Ollivanders 1988.

Physical Description:

The Radley men tend to be big, stocky, and have incredible hair. Joel Radley likes to consider himself no exception. Standing at six feet and three inches and just shy of two hundred pounds, Joel could be the definition of brawny. Having been very active as a mountain-man researcher for the past decade, the physical nature of his career has kept him fairly in shape. He refuses to admit that his metabolism has started to slow down and now that he is planning on returning to London will probably come up with some (not so clever) excuse as to why he frequents the gym. There are not any rampaging Dragons to chase down in the city, though if rumor has it there are plenty of giant snakes.

The man always seems to be smiling even when his lips are dormant. His entire demeanor gives off an air of a constant inside joke that only he is in on. The mischievous glint tends to illuminate his otherwise plain and non-discrete brown eyes. His eyes are almost the same color of his hair, which tends to be a shade darker when allowed to grow longer and form the Radley “point” above his forehead. The shade tends to be a hair lighter when he cuts it shorter and tires of the infamous hair peak.

Incredibly slouchy, he has been mistaken for an American more than once as a result to his posture. Though, it is more out of a sub-conscious courtesy to be more on eye-level with his consorts that laziness. His skin is well tanned from constant and prolonged sun exposure, something he will dismay to lose in the doom and gloom of overcast England. His hands are rough and callused, scared and considerably singed from accidents of idiocy in the preliminary years of his career and other general wear and tear. He has shoved his pride aside and often wears gloves to work now, but the damage has been done. Burns and scars are not uncommon in his profession and he has many others, each of which he attaches some fabricated story to so that they do not seem quite as lame as they really are.

Personality Description:

Straightforward, tactful, uncomplicated, and direct. Also known as STUD, it is a motto and way of life that Radley attempts to adhere to. Blunt and to the point, what you see is very often what you get. He is not about false pretenses are underlying meanings and often has little tolerance for either. Long, drawn-out emotional moments tend to make him uncomfortable and he tends to shrug them off out of fear for his testosterone levels. He tells it as he sees and moves on, quite often expecting others to approach life in the same fashion and is baffled and frustrated when the mentality is not always reciprocated.

If he does have problems of the emotional realm, he tends to deal with them by facing them right away so that he can move past them and get on with life. In this same respect, his anger is not easily provoked but when it is it flares quickly and burns brightly, but also tends to cool just as fast as it sparks. He gets angry, faces the emotion, and quickly exhausts it. 

Joel never makes plans in his life -- he just does whatever happens to strike him as important in that given moment. Very driven, these momentary whims can consume him and overtake his life with absolute precedence to everything else. However, he needs to see results in order to stick with it. If things get too calm or peaceful, he tends to lose interest swiftly. The only two facets of his life that seem to be the exception to this rule are his career and his family. The former is rarely neither calm nor peaceful and presents a pay check, and that later, well, he is stuck with them anyhow so he might as well make the best of it. He loves his family very much and is truly very family-oriented though he never admits least his mother will try and make him settle down. Life to Joel is an intense series of emergencies and as soon as the frantic adrenalin rush is over he looks for the next adventure to take part in.

Incredibly innovative, he is always coming up with new ideas and grand schemes. Nothing is quite as exciting as a wide range of new opportunities to grasp a hold of. Once he has done one, he typically does not like to do it again, but move onto another one. He is extremely restless and tires of being in one place for too long. As a consequence of this mindset, Joel enjoys travel and seeing the world. He loves throwing himself into a new culture and see what he can make of it. He sometimes pities muggles and their shorter existence, doubting that they will ever be able to see all the wonders of the world. He doubts even his lifespan is great enough for that, but he is bent on trying. Luckily, as a Dragon Researcher, travel is a part of his job description.

The large man is not competitive or combative unless threats are thrown – in the end, all he is looking for is a good time. Monetarily, this can be an issue. He is more than willing to take part in a game of wizard poker or a drinking contest but lacks the competitive and defensive edge to play either intelligently. As long as people still are up for a game, he will continue to put money in the pot – and usually lose it. He tends to be very careless with money and thus never seems to have any when he needs it.  It is, perhaps, one of his largest vices.

He can be very witty when he feels so inclined and has a playful and mischievous sense of humor. The pure definition of cheeky, the man will debate with someone taking on the role of devil’s advocate, simply for the sake of the dispute. The more heated it gets, typically the happier it makes him. He does not strive to win the argument but he simply enjoys the conflict. Mentally quick, Joel is far from the most studious or individuals but he does have a decent amount of common sense. He can quickly understand what is going on in a given situation and tends to be very resourceful and capable when thinking on his feet. One has to be when they play with dragons, he argues. However, even though he has the capacity to think things through, he rarely ever does, preferring to jump into a decision and deal with the repercussions afterwards.

Highly flirtatious, Joel rarely has more than that in his life: reoccurring flirtations. Very upfront and direct about matters of romance, he is the type of guy that will daringly approach an attractive woman in the street or at the bar without much of a second thought. Which is perhaps the problem. Far from ready to settle down, relationships tend to be another entertainment factor in his life. When they become boring or too serious, he tends to ditch them. The word ‘commitment’ does not seem to be a part of his vocabulary.

Joel Radley is not quite sure what he wants out of life and strives for originality and independence. He would gladly single-handedly re-make the world if he could simply because he is sure he would have a blast while doing it.

History:

For reasons Merlin knows and Joel never wants to contemplate, Sylvester and Leola Radley waited a lucky seven years before having another child. Joel likes to claim that Archer Radley was such a traumatizing experience that they had to thoroughly debate another child. When they had Joel, he was such an encouraging improvement that they decided to have another, the youngest and last brother (Hunter Radley) a mere two years later. The logic makes sense in his mind and he firmly stands by it.

Born the middle child of the infamous Radley Brothers, Joel never really felt the plight of ‘middle child syndrome’ with the whomping age difference between the eldest and himself. Growing up, especially in the younger years, Joel often found himself filling those big brother shoes to Hunter while Archer was off at school and forming his niche in the world. Not a real travesty, that – though it was always bittersweet when the oldest would come home for the summer and usurp Joel’s hierarchy standings and demote him back to the second born son.
 
Not to mislead one to believe that he disliked his older brother. He, in fact, had a hero worship of Archer growing up. Joel wanted to be just like him. As a result he tended to be envious of the eldest’s accomplishments, believing he had just that much more to prove. It was this drive that initially perked his interest in Quidditch, though it was more of the danger aspect of the sport that intrigued him rather than the game himself. However, he has little patience for actually watching the sport.  It simply kills him to watch others having all the fun when he could be the one having it. Though, like his brothers, he considers himself a loyal Puddlemere fan -- on principle.

Like all of the Radley children, Joel worked in the local, family owned Pub (The Green Goblin) from the time he could successfully carry a tray until he got his acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Even then he found little angst in wooing the well known and favored customers of quiet Puddlehinton over the summers, though, regrettably, Hunter has maintained favorite status in that department. Joel blames that on the ‘prettiness’ the youngest inherited from their mother rather than the roguish, rougher handsome of their father that bestowed the older two siblings. He absolutely refuses to acknowledge Hunter’s standings as the most attractive of the trio.

Hogwarts was where Joel truly flourished. The year he started, his older brother had graduated, leaving the school to be a fresh, new battlefield where he did not have to lurk in the (slightly) shorter shadow. To no grand surprise, the youthful daredevil was sorted into Gryffindor. Immersing in the life style, Joel played as Chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, but swiftly lost interest in the sport competitively and quit. He, after all, enjoys the game for the thrill and failed to understand the politics of winning rather than just having a good time.

As a student, Joel was rather unpredictable. Depending on how much he enjoyed a class and thought of the Professor instructing it often dictated how lazy he chose to be in it. It was a continuous bafflement to the teachers how he would score top marks in one class, low marks in another, and ace both come final exams. If the impressionable Joel Radley had a man-crush at school, it would have been on Rubeus Hagrid, whom seemed to share a love for the dangerous – particularly dragons -- and actually had giant status rather than just boast it. A true soul-mate. It was threw this man that Radley was introduced into the realm of dangerous magical creatures.  It was to his immense delight that the year Hagrid became the Care of the Magical Creatures Professor coincided with the last two years of Joel’s Hogwarts career. He claims, entirely, that the half-breed giant was the sole reason he took Magical Creatures at the N.E.W.Ts level.

In the 1994-1995 term, his final year at Hogwarts, a once in a life time opportunity came to Hogwarts; the Triwizard’s Tournament. One champion per school? Very strong chance of mortality? Seventh Years only? You better believe he stuffed his name into that Goblet of Fire. To his immense disappointment, the Cup spit out a Hufflepuff’s name rather than his own. And then, to his great loathing, Gryffindor’s poster boy Harry Potter was also illegally selected. And naturally, what had been one of their first tasks? Going head to head with a Dragon. Radley has still never quite forgiven the Potter boy for that. The Hungarian Horntail had been a marvelous specimen. And he cannot truly complain about the free time he had to flirt with the Beauxbatons girls and – you know – he did not end up dead. Cedric Diggory cannot exactly say the same.

When he graduated from school, the spirited young man decided to settle on a career path with his first love: dragons. Since his older brother had decided on the Auror track of life, Joel has assured his graying mother that it was the only career that could top it. She became significantly grayer after that day. He spent the first four years learning the ropes and apprenticing, but before long talk of dead Dark Lords rising from the grave started stirring and the Second War was upon them. Joel kept his head low, doing his best not to get involved, and simply being there for his family. 

After the Second War, Joel landed a job in Asia working with and researching the Chinese Fireball Dragons up in the ancient mountains of China with an expedition of other like-minded wizards and witches. A rare opportunity as the Dragon is one of the most sacred of creatures, even to the Muggles, and they tend to covert them. The honor was initially bestowed on the Researcher Joel was studying under but the man was settling for retire and, as he put it to Joel, the energetic Gryffindor alumni was the only one crazy enough to actually go out there. And he did.

For the past decade, Joel has lived up in the mountains with a dozen other researchers, studying and interacting with the Fireball dragon in its natural territory. He came home occasionally, once every few years or so to prove that he was still alive if considerably singed. Having lived so long among the Chinese, Joel still clings firmly to his English heritage but has become fluent in Chinese (at least, that is what he claims) and has melded with many of their customs.

Recently, one of the lesser males of the flock they were studying was expelled from the territory by a more dominant alpha male. Before they could securely restrain it and move it safely to one of the sanctuaries it escaped on them, almost exposing itself to the Chinese muggle population and killing the Head Researcher on the expedition. The Chinese Magical government temporarily disbanded the team as a result, pending investigation.

Instead of waiting around for the politics, Joel accepted the government’s recommendation for the foreign party members to return to their native countries for the interlude and has decided to return to London. Not permanently, but he does not plan on going back to China. He spent over ten years of his life working on a thesis and gathering information. He figures it is time to riffle through that data and then move onto life’s next big adventure, whatever that may be.

What is your occupation? How do you go about it?
How did you get your current occupation?  How does your past and abilities justify your current skills?:

Here Joel will like to point out the significance behind definitions. There is no such thing as a Dragon Tamer. If anyone claims that they have tamed and trained a dragon, they are lying. It is simply not possible and never will be possible. He has too much respect for the beasts to ever call himself a ‘tamer.’ A Keeper is slightly more respectable as Keepers ensure the safety of Dragons, particularly on the reservations where they have to keep the different breeds with their own hierarchies from mutilating one another. But he insists his job is even cooler than this. He is a Dragon Researcher. His job is to travel into native territories and observe Dragons in their natural habitats, restraining them and moving them to new, secure locations as needed with sanctuaries being the last resort.

For the past decade he has lived up in the mountainous territories of the man-eating, Chinese Fireball dragon with eleven other dare-devil Researchers, studying behavior patterns and flock organization with emphasis on pecking order and how it is determined. He has put together a thesis and intends to one day write a book on it, but he has to actually sit still long enough to write it.

His love for dragons was cultivated at a young age and then further encouraged by his Care of the Magical Creatures Professor Rubeus Hagrid. Before the second war he started off as an apprentice of an aging Researcher who regardless had great expertise in the field. After four years of working with him, and the stagnated period during the Second War, the Researcher was granted a rare opportunity to study the Chinese Fireball Dragon and sent his enthusiastic protégé in his stead.  This is where Joel gained the bulk of his experience, interacting with these dragons on their turf and by their rules so as to observe them as naturally as possible. There were a number of near-death experiences.

Joel claims that he knows his way around dragons enough to keep from getting killed. It is two-third luck and one-third talent. They are large, magical creatures who he doubts Wizards will ever be able to fully understand or grasp the exact potential of their magical capabilities. But there can be a lot to gain through studying them. He thinks they hold the key to some larger answer, he does not know what the answer is to, just that it is there and he wants to find it.


Sum up your character in one paragraph:

When it comes down to it, Joel Radley is a man that does not quite know what he wants. Compassionate, he has a heart that has too much of a lion in it for his own good and one of these days probably will be the death of him. Until that day, he tries to figure out what he is suppose to do with his life in the most reckless ways possible.