Accepted! - Tracey

Your Nickname: Melissa
Have you read and do you agree to the Code of Conduct?: Yes
How did you find us and decide to write with us? Other
If you have written other characters here: Yes
If Yes, list them all: Dreogan Eleor, Adon Eleor, Colette Wheaton, Florian Wiesniski (likely to be retired without ever being played)
Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary

Full Character Name: Alberic Magnus Hubert Grimm
Character Birthday & Age: September 13, 1969; 42
City & Country of Birth: Westminster, London, UK
Blood Purity: Pureblood
Alma Mater: Hogwarts, Slytherin
Job/Position: Necronomist

Wand: Yew, 12", chimera scale, pliable, spiralled shaft. Not Alberic's first wand, but a sort of first: this is the wand of the first necromancer he defeated.  While different from his original wand, customised to his personality, the chimera scale adds a level of strength which has made it preferable, regardless.

Alberic is known to also keep his original wand concealed on his person (also yew, ashwinder ash, supple with a smooth shaft) as a back-up should the need arise. It has, from time to time.

Physical Description: As to his person, Alberic Grimm is rather lean and dark in appearance. He has learnt that the world is kinder to the handsome; the underworld is more merciful to the sinister. When it is possible, however, it is best to play it both ways. He's utilised this when he may, cutting a figure that is dark but not altogether menacing. Respectable but not entirely cleanshaven.
He dresses sharply but keeps his face and hair in calculated state of disarray betraying a close adherence to an ideal rather than mere negligence.
His long-lashed eyes might be considered doe-like and sensitive were it not for the cynical smirk which often surfaces, changing soft and open features to become sharp and shrewd.


Personality Description: Alberic is very intelligent. His sense of calculation and perceptiveness come into play when vindicating himself. As a Ministry worker employing dark magic, Alberic needs this skillfully mastered art of bullshitting  in order to rationalise and justify his conduct and views. Alberic manages to twist his rather purist, dark leanings to fit squarely within a compassionate, law-abiding view.
Cynical, sarcastic, and morbidly playful, Alberic has few qualms about making others feel uncomfortable. If such a sentiment is expressed by an associate, he will be certain to explain that the fault of the discomfort lies not in his own conduct, but in his associate's closed-minded principles.
Above all, Alberic aims for free domain in life; to do and act as he pleases. Alberic does not intend any great abuses with this freedom. Indeed, he hopes to simply be free to be the best at what he does; he aims to become indispensable. He wishes to continue to provide for himself in a comfortable manner. To increase his knowledge and ability. Maybe someday to get a wife. But with all of this, the aim is the same: to render people helpless without him, so great is his skill in whatever duty he fulfills.
He delights a little too much in the foibles of others.
Alberic carries himself with authority. When speaking to those he deigns equals--fellow Ministry employees, purebloods, or likewise--he is generally regarded as affable. When dealing with authorities and his superiours, however, his demeanour, while not wholly provoking, tends towards  insolence. He is a good deal cleverer than most, particularly those who have become complacent in their superiourity. Alberic Grimm has no qualms about displaying this disparity to open view.
To those beneath him, however, Alberic tries his best not to treat them in one way or another at all. To be overly compassionate would be insulting their delicate sense of honour. To exult in the superiourity would be to commit the same offense which he detests in those above him. In all, Alberic attempts to treat those beneath him with a keen sense of awareness of how he would like to be treated by his superiours.
Alberic is stoical, particular, and loyal, albeit somewhat secretive to where his loyalties might lie.

History: Born into the family of Devona Whitman-Grimm and Ryce Grimm, Alberic found himself the second of two children. By his seventh year, he found himself the only real child of the Grimm family, his eldest sister, Hestia, running off with a Jewish wizard twice her age against the wishes of his parents. While a pureblood, Dreogan Eleor was a radical who, not surprisingly, was murdered some years later for his foolhearty beliefs. This window of time, between his sister's elopement and her return to London, was a fruitful one for Alberic, in which he performed the role of dutiful son.
In his eleventh year, he was sorted into Slytherin, primarily upon his request to the hat, which thought him also a viable candidate for Ravenclaw. Cunning and charming, Alberic had no shortage of friends and was able to delight his fellow classmates with displays of dark magic. Alberic might have received a good deal of detentions were he not so often his professors' favourite pupils and were he not so very calculating in his mischief. Seldom was he caught. And when he was, he always made a point to come off looking justified. And so in his fifth year, Alberic became prefect. In his seventh, he became Head Boy. Alberic governed--there is no other word for it--with great precision in this year, excelled in his NEWTs, and graduated.
It was a well-acknowledged fact that Alberic was destined to become Minister someday. His parents debated for some time how best to accomplish this. Perhaps he ought to become an Auror. Or serve as a clerk in the Wizengamot before becoming a member himself.
Alberic allowed speculation to rage and welcomed all advice. It distracted his all-too-involved family as he set about his own plans.
He approached the Ministry of Magic, noting the lawlessness of vampire hunters and renegade status of would-be exorcists who, like the yellow-curtained street magicians of old days, might hawk their services for whatever price they pleased, preying upon the gullible and desperate. He argued compellingly the need for such a role within the structure of the Ministry; legally justified and certified. An authority who the magical community might trust would not abuse or exercise unjust power. Such a role, of course, ought to go to the man--or woman--best qualified for the job; he must be shrewd, assertive, knowledgeable in the dark arts as much as he was familiar with the defense against them. It would, he assured them, take an extraordinary person.
Alberic was not the least surprised when, two months later, the position was not only set up, but was offered to him.
At the mere age of nineteen, Alberic's duties were small at first. He was to deal with paperwork and complaints for some time, sending Aurors, hitwizards, or others to deal with matters as the need arose. Alberic continued to act as charming son when necessary, visiting family regularly upon the weekends and dating whoever his parents suggested with noted and palpable indifference. It was not long before his parents desisted in arranging anything for his love life. Alberic, if he did not want her, would make the girl they chose for him miserable. And they would need to explain and pacify the parents.
At his work, it was not long until Alberic was able to convince his supervisors that he was suitable to carry out these jobs. It was not much longer after that before Alberic had no supervisors beneath the Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. He takes her advice with indifference and customary insolence. Level Two has, for the past fifteen years, had so little to do with these affairs, save in the most exigent of circumstances, that Alberic has become quite indispensable and, crucially, irreplaceable, to the Ministry. Inasmuch as they have allowed him to govern his own sector, no one quite knows how he accomplishes it. The clerical methods of necronomy are, in fact, an arcane art in and of themselves.
In the midst of this upward climb, sometime around the mid 1990's--Alberic could be certain, but he'd rather not take the time to look it up--his wayward sister returned to the family. Alberic had hardly known her when she left and didn't think it much worth the effort to bother with it now. She kept to herself with her son. Recently a second son has appeared and works on Level Two. Alberic would have known this without looking into records or names or, more bothersomes still, talking to his family about it. The youngest Eleor has a particular Grimm look to him. It fascinates him.
Alberic might take the time to get to know him, but really there are more pressing things to worry about. His job, as always. And, at the age of 38, there is the matter of a wife. Several women have been suggested, and Alberic, after giving several of them a try--and being sternly reprimanded by the girls' parents for that--has found them unsuitable.

Describe your job duties and how you go about them: According to Alberic, the purpose of a necronomist is simple: to make sure the dead stay dead. Alberic is, by permission of the Ministry of Magic, able to employ necromancy in order to neutralise revenants including, but not limited to ghouls, inferi, deviant ghosts, menacing vampires, and zombies. Occasionally his job borders on the mundane, needing to counsel ghosts on the futility of haunting -- something Alberic is not very well suited for --, performing exorcisms, or, more extraordinarily, destroying the Necromancers who have summoned the undead. For this last task, he works in conjunction with Level Two.

Elaborate on your expertise in your field: Alberic comes from a line of dark wizards and dark wizard hunters. The two, as seen from the above job description, often employ the same means. Vampire hunters and necromancers are found in steady supply in the Grimm line, and Alberic, like his forebears, has a penchant for the dark intricacies of necromancy, coupled with a rather reputable regard for the law.   
It has been said that Alberic enjoys this job because he can see to it that no one can transcend his skill in Necromancy; he is within the law; all other necromancers without it. Alberic would not deny this, nor would he confirm it. He'd find it a petty sort of squabbling critique not worth noting.
Alberic is good at what he does. He is efficient. He is skilled and learned. And he's a bit vicious.

Writing Sample:

Sum up your character in one paragraph: Shrewdly perceptive, morally ambiguous, and stoic, Alberic Grimm cuts a commanding presence and has, through the art of self-vindication, built for himself a little domain within the Ministry of Magic which he is perfectly content in. He creates the world as he sees fit and makes it so.

Accepted! ~Elle

Character Name: Alberic Grimm
Age: 37
Please provide a link to their Application: link
Do any of your other Characters have Special Abilities?: Yes
If Yes, then Please provide their name and a link to their bio: Dreogan Eleor, Seer

 
Special Ability: Occlumency/Legilimency
What level is this ability at?: Advanced
At what age did your character gain this ability?: 23
How did they learn or hone this ability?: Alberic is a dedicated and skilled occlumens, which he actually began dabbling with a bit while at Hogwarts, as he was trying to escape detection of his darker tendencies. What he learned was, unfortunately, acquired from books and so not truly beneficial. It was in his time spent briefly abroad that he was taken on by a Voodoo priest and taught the refined skill of Occlumency and began his work in Legilimency.
Describe how the Special Ability influences their life.  What do they use it for?: As mentioned before, Alberic uses Occlumency to occult his intentions and the use of his darker magic; he also uses it in his day-to-day practises to avoid possession, a critical and crucial skill for his job, as he is often times an exorciser and needs to protect himself against the forces he combats.
While Legilimency is not necessary for his job, it comes readily enough, with the years of devoted study of Occlumency.  Even more recently, Alberic has made an obsessive study of Legilimency, in hopes of finding in it the secret to possessing human bodies.  He has managed, with great success, to Read animal minds and is able to gather from creatures--birds most frequently--any intelligence they might have gained in traveling from place to place.
He uses his Legilimency in order to also read people, and their desires. This is a crucial part of soul-study, Alberic's chief hobby.
Write a description of what happens when your character is exhibiting this Special Ability: Alberic finds assurance in his Occlumency. He can hide what thoughts he does have, making him even more cryptic. He is able to close off outside forces and influences, which also makes him very resistant to possession and the Imperius curse. Both of these are vital for his job; he could not fight the undead and spirits without great risk to himself without this ability.
And, of course, Alberic uses Legilimency when he dabbles at possession or divining, which is used in a bit of voodoo. Usually against Kurby Bagnold.

2011 threads
January 3 Rebuilding the Walls -- Mihai Zamperia
January 15 A Denser Darkness -- Lawrence Musgrave, I.D.R.E.A.D, various
February 14 Two Roads Diverged -- Mortimer Gamp
March 13 You Belong To Me -- Adon Eleor
March 13 Mostly Dead -- Adon Eleor, Flynn Hughes, Hestia Eleor

2010 threads
July 12 No Natural Allies -- Mortimer Gamp
August 10 There are Limits to Empathy -- Primrose Woolfolk
December 12 Go Fish -- Snapshot

2009 threads
January 1 Compared to you, the other plagues were a joy! --Various witches and wizards
January 5 For Thine is the Kingdom -- Terry Katsaros, Dreogan Eleor, Adon Eleor, Jonas Trevelyan
January 13 You are a dream among the sharks -- Liadán Ó Móráin
February 14 The date debate -- Abby and Aileen Reid
March 3 And then the witch doctor told me what to do -- Liadán Ó Móráin
March 23 Unmarked Mail --Liadán Ó Móráin
May 12 ISO: Sphynx For Rent -- Liadán Ó Móráin
May 20 Strange Times and Stranger Acquaintances -- Ventus Shang

2008 threads
December 27 Insanity runs in every family; in mine, it gallops -- Charlene Malone
December 29 Whiskey in the Jar -- Kurby Bagnold, Oscar Whitman