Philo Falkin
 | |
| Philo Astoroth Falkin | |
|---|---|
| Biographical Information | |
| Born | 31 August 1997, 20 |
| City of Birth | Shrewsbury, Shropshire |
| Residence | Steeple Underfoot |
| Blood status | Half-blood |
| Physical Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Hair Colour | Dark |
| Eye Colour | Dark |
| Skin Colour | Fair |
| Relationships | |
| Father | Frederick Falkin |
| Mother | Francine Falkin |
| Siblings | |
| Pet(s) | Arlaug (Swear Frog) |
| Magical Characteristics | |
| Wand(s) | |
| |
| Boggart | Werewolf |
| Education | |
| School | Hogwarts |
| House | Ravenclaw |
| Class of | 2015 |
| Character Information | |
| Playby | Skander Keynes |
| Will | |
Philo is the middle child of a large magical family living close to the border with Wales. He is the first of his family not to be placed in Hufflepuff; instead he was sorted into Ravenclaw. He enjoys brain teasers and taking things apart to see how they work. This inspired a gadget he designed as a student called an Irregularity Camera. He is a Ravenclaw Graduate (Class of 2015)
- Supporting Roles: Egypt 2009
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Origin
The Falkin family are something of the counterparts of the Weasley family, in that its a large magical family with a distinctive hair color and House loyalties. For the Falkins, they are dark haired half-bloods, distantly related to the Welsh. Everyone is very boisterous and outdoorsy, usually tall or stocky. There are several year gaps in the ages of Francine and Frederick's children.
With the awkward middle son, Philo. He doesn't quite fit in with the usual family interests, mainly Quidditch and Hippgriffs owing to the occupations of his older siblings. Every member of the family except Philo was sorted into Hufflepuff, so there was some ribbing about Philo being in Ravenclaw. He knew more about puberty and romance than he cared to before he reached school age, thanks in no part to his brother Foster's not so hidden 'zine stash and his mom's back to back pregnancies with his younger siblings. As such, he developed school crushes early but kept them secret; he was attracted to weighty, full-figured professors and chubby classmates, especially a Hufflepuff in his year named Obderedria Pienas.
On a family camping trip in the summer of 2003, Philo was nearly attacked by a werewolf that wandered into their camp (The Attack). He fell off a cliff and was rescued by his brother Foster's flying skills. It cemented Philo not liking nature, preferring to study or work on puzzles indoors. He would say he keeps it at a comfortable distance, sans a pet Swear Frog and amateur ornithology hobby.
Recently at Absit Omen
Several months ago Philo was part of a research expedition tracing the magical origins of the Aztecs and Mayans across Mexico and Central America. Although scholarly in the field of Archeology as a Knareswick Phrontistery apprentice, he's loath to continue field work. Reluctant adventures are sure to pop up for him as he tries to make ends meet as an apprentice. What with continued improvements to the Irregularity Camera, shifting werewolf politics, a part-time job at Blue Silver, assisting his dad with flying car enchantments, dating without coming across as a creep...
1st to 3rd Year
Although immensely pleased to be sorted in Ravenclaw, Philo was somewhat glum and awkward as a child. You would be too if your frog frequently snuck into your bag to croak random expletives. He was somewhat teased for reading a lot of Patty Morgana. His scholarly aptitudes were apparent at a young age, as he would do well on written exams and research, yet had middling spell performance and lousy results in potions or herbology. He enjoyed the Department of Mysteries booth the most during career day. During an Astronomy cram session towards the end of his 1st year, he noticed a hand me down pair of omnioculars were trying to 'label' things based on Qudditch details. Although confiscated by Prof Tapendra Trishna, once they were returned Philo tinkered with improving them into a magic detecting camera (the Irregularity Camera).
Late one night, he and some other students went to the Room of Requirement looking for junk. And junk they found, a new decade's worth of lost items in the ashen space damaged during the Battle of Hogwarts. Philo didn't find anything for his camera project but was accosted by the Non Flying Carpet which chased him back to the dorms before he trapped it in his trunk.
Philo was one of the youngest students attending the school trip to Egypt the summer of 2009, his first time away from home. He found Egypt fascinating and was hoping to impress Professor Aileen Reid, as he was self-studied on Ancient Runes from one of his brother's old class-books. However, the carpet burst out of his trunk one night and it took Philo, Alvis Norling and Abigail Reid to calm it. Alvis nicknamed it Runner. During the rest of the trip the three investigated Runner's origins, discovering it was lost from the tomb of a wizard pharaoh. They were in a whole lot of trouble for almost getting trapped in tomb (as Prof Reid & Trishna had to go the long way through various traps). It turned out Philo was the latest wix to help return Amahté Ialu's lost carpet, which needed to return to the tomb every hundred years, so he was permitted to keep it.
Back at home, Philo worked with Pax Wintergreen to combine their ideas for a Gaming Club at school. They made a valiant effort on Club Day that fall as co-presidents. D&D was a popular topic, as several muggleborns were interested to see D&D get played at the school, while magic raised wix were confused about the muggle interpretations of elves, spell-casting and +2 magic swords.
Having a brief moment with Drea in Diagon Alley weeks before 2nd Year term resumed, Philo became her friend and the third member of this little trio of himself, Drea, and Heliotrope LeJean as they were frequent class partners. They tried to invite people to Helio's birthday, only to be eclipsed by someone else's party days earlier. Philo went to the kitchens near the end of November to ask the elves to make a turkey dinner, as he had learned an 'American Thanksgiving' was Drea's favorite meal around her birthday.
Otherwise Philo did his best to avoid trouble given how Egypt had turned out, although Runner did make a poor impression on the lion animagus Felinus Woodward during his time as caretaker. Philo would attend various seminars, had Gaming Club duties, and tried his best not to ogle the visiting Beauxbatons Headmistress Victoire Bisclavret.
Eager to sign up for Ancient Runes and Arithmancy in his 3rd Year, Philo accidentally enrolled in Care of Magical Creatures as well. One of his more miserable subjects, yet he soldiered on given family support and another class shared with Drea and Helio, before dropping it after spring term. He also began studying magical languages in earnest, revisiting topics he learned in Egypt. He started learning Gobbledegook thanks in part to a new board game based on banking primers called Gargle.
4th to 7th Year
In his 3rd and 4th years, Philo became something of a polyglot based on languages heard around school or studied in class. He picked up on old Gaelic from Pavee at the school, such as a few professors and Mairead ó Fearghail, a Gryffindor in his year. Also Welsh and the Elder Futhark. While he could translate well, especially from written texts, his own conversational skills tended to be scattershot depending on the language in question. He'd likely earn funny looks from the Irish Travelers when attempting old Gaelic or Shelta.
For magical languages, he gained some fluency in Gobbledegook and an understanding of Mermish given proximity with Heliotrope, yet found it quite the strain on the vocal cords. Ancient Runes, Arithmacy and History of Magic tended to be his top subjects going into his O.W.L.s; yet this was also an area that put a strain on his close friends at school.
As both he and Obderedria were the peers most involved in trying to improve Heliotrope's grades, he found himself in the middle of their growing tension as Drea was getting sick of playing den mother. Hormonal teenage fantasies were also getting the better of him again. While they had stayed good friends, besides her personality he was also physically attracted to watching her weight increase. Yet this was one of Drea's major insecurities during her school years. Hoping to help her mood from her frustrations tutoring Heliotrope, Philo offered to invite her to a Falkin family meal over a school holiday. His parents had always found her a delight from chance meetings, given the obvious Hufflepuff loyalties. Philo was even ready to endure the worst of teasing from his other siblings, who were catching on to his predilections.
To his great relief the holiday supper seemed to go over well, giving him the confidence to try and ask Drea out when they are back at school. His timing and delivery, however, is worse than his early attempts with complex languages. Hot off the heels of a major rift between Drea and Helio, Philo admits to his crush on finding her "attractively fat" which goes over as well as a leaky dungbomb with how stressed out Drea has been feeling. The friendship of all three is quite sour as they head into their exams.
OWL scores:
- Outstanding - Arithmancy, Runes
- Exceeds Expectations - History, Astronomy, Defense
- Acceptable - Charms, Transfiguration, Potions
- Poor - Herbology
Although he should improve some of his spell subjects, early career counseling suggests Philo might be a decent cursebreaker. His love of puzzles and scholarly aptitudes certainly slant him towards magical archeology. Yet his various misadventures over the years, and blowing it with Obderedria, give him pause on actually considering it as a career. They won't be sharing as many classes anymore as N.E.W.T. students and Heliotrope looks to have dropped out after her 5th year. Philo has a frightful encounter with some sort of spectral, demonic horse close to the start of 6th term, the creature absconding with Runner.
When he wasn't caught up in studies, school drama or gaming club, Philo had conflicting thoughts about werewolf politics given his fears. While he tries not to hold it against other students or returning headmaster Knox Greyfriar, the nights of the full moon when they are deadly still give him chills. Others close to his generation, like Eirene Antonopoulos & Frank Sellaphix get caught up in the Eradicate Lycanthropy Foundation. For a time Philo also considers joining, yet ultimately remains on the fence.
As an older student, Philo makes considerable improvements to his Irregularity Camera compared to the early models in his first few years. He wonders about getting it patented after graduation.
NEWT scores:
- Outstanding: Arithmancy, Runes, History
- Exceeds Expectations: Astronomy, Charms, Defense
Magical Potential & Skills
Philo is a scholarly sort as a wizard. He did far better with written theory compared to practical skills. He’s of average spell casting repertoire but sub par with the handling of magical plants or potions. He barely completed a year of Creatures.
Ancient Runes - Runes was the class Philo was most looking forward to in 3rd year. He was self taught on materials his older siblings had from the temporary study as electives. By his 1st year he was already familiar with the Elder Futhark and first learned of Egyptian Hieroglyphs on the 2009 tour. Most recently, he was part of a expedition of ancient Mayan and Aztec magic studying their carvings. His penchant for Runes stems not only for his love of puzzle and cryptography but talent for languages as well. He has a decent turnaround for decoding writing he is unfamiliar with, faster with a appropriate dictionary.
Languages - Philo is conversational with both magical and mundane languages used around the UK. This includes Welsh, Gaeilge, Scottish Gaelic, Latin, Gobbledegook and Mermish (the latter sparingly). He’s semi-conversational with Latin and Slavic based languages, and on a case by case basis for spoken forms of runic writings he can translate.
Magical Games - Philo is well versed on various board and parlor games, being one of the original co-presidents of Hogwart’s Gaming Club. He has a very witty strategy for classics like Chess, Gobstones or Exploding Snap. He digests the rules of new games quickly.
Archeology - This is Philo’s focus as a Knareswick Apprentice and a culmination of his above linguistics skills with strong scores in History, Astronomy & Arithmancy as well. He’s an excellent research assistant in identifying old ruins or artifacts. If leaning too heavily to the library rather than practical field experience. His family thinks it would be more exciting if he trained as a Cursebreaker.
Muggle Studies & Mechanics - Philo never actually took the course at Hogwarts. However, his father Frederick is muggle born and long time worker of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, so Philo has gotten a crash course by proxy. Philo, like his younger sister Penny, has a hobby interest in outdated tech and how it can be enchanted by magic. Or how to best shield technology from magic. The family has also been working on a new car restoration project with the changing legislature for flying cars.
Artificing - Philo is a mild savant for magical inventions, if compared to the genius of Alvis Norling, close to his generation. Philo’s personal invention of the Irregularity Camera was originally adapted from omnioculars and some dark detectors. It’s also made the magical film potion the only potion he’s been able to fully master. Philo has an expertise with optical or surveying equipment but knows how to repair a few different kinds of artifacts.
Trivia
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