Full Name: Liberty Merinda Gore
Nicknames: Libby. Aunt Peggy is not fond of any of Liberty’s given names, so likes to ignore them all and call her Elizabeth.
Birthdate: 10th November, 1867
Current Age: 22 Years
Occupation: Heiress
Reputation: 7

Her English side of the family was of excellent pedigree, but her mother was an indigenous Tasmanian witch not of the same status, and Liberty was brought up entirely in the Australian colonies until she was uprooted at seventeen.

Residence: At her aunt’s house in Bath; London during the season.
Hogwarts House: n/a
Wand: 8 3/4”, tallowwood and dragon heartstring, whippy.
Blood Status: Half
Social Class: Upper
Family:

Lowanna | Mother | Halfblood, probably | 1842 - 1872
Hector Gore | Father | Pureblood | 1836 - 1882

Miss Margaret “Aunt Peggy” Gore | UCPB | Spinster aunt, guardian

Notable ancestor | Hesphaestus Gore | Minister of Magic, 1752 - 1770

Appearance: Although on the petite side at 5’1”, Liberty has a leanness of limb that makes her look a little taller, and a firm enough presence to feign it too. Her aunt would probably blame her skin for this, which is brown and (at least in the Australian colonies) a telling confirmation of her mother’s indigenous culture. Liberty likes her dark colouring quite well, in fact, although she is less convinced about the mole on the side of her nose. Her dark hair is wavy and kept in the usual styles; her brown eyes are quick and lively; her mouth is naturally set downturned, which gives her a haughty, almost bored look that she doesn’t always bother to correct. Her wand hand is her right. She can afford the best in garments, but she has never been able to bring herself to care about fashion.

History: TASMANIAN GOTHIC | 1867 - 1882

The life Liberty is living now scarcely resembles the childhood she remembers, and she supposes she can see why some in British society might be horrified by it. In the British imagination, of course, Tasmania - the island colony set south of the Australian mainland - is still a wild land of outback and rainforest, the end of the world to which dangerous convicts are sent. Were sent, that is: transportation ended in the 1850s and the colony transformed into something more civilised, although people still tell the stories of dangerous bushrangers and Alexander Pearce, an escaped muggle convict turned murderous cannibal.

Liberty used to like hearing these as bedtime stories. Her father would tell them to her in a joking tone. Her father, Hector Gore, came from an upper-class English family of excellent pedigree, the most successful of his ancestors having been elected Minister and done much to renovate the prison of Azkaban. Hector had come to Tasmania (then ‘Van Diemen’s Land’) with his parents as a young boy, and had grown up to take over his father’s influential governing position in remaking the (wizarding structure) of Tasmanian society from the penal colony it once was to a prosperous place, full of natural resources to be mined, spectacular natural beauty, and a settlers’ civilisation springing up around them. Society there is insular, removed, stifling and always feels somehow displaced: but the grounds of their manor are large, and Liberty, as an only child without the opportunity for many friends, instead has plenty of time to explore, learning to ride and shoot and trek in between sketching pictures of giant spiders and catching billywigs.

As she enters her teens, she becomes more aware of the politics of the land, magical and muggle. Her father tutors her as much as staff hired to tutor her do. Given the history of hostilities between settlers and muggle aboriginal clans, most muggle Aboriginals were sent to live on Flinders Island and most of them have now died out due to the terrible conditions; the reconciliation efforts have been markedly more successful between wizards and magical tribes, mostly because both groups are better at and more concerned with staying hidden. Indeed, her father - more open-minded than his distant family - married an indigenous woman, either for love or as an arrangement of good faith, she’s not sure. Her mother died when she was five, so Liberty didn’t get the chance to hear Lowanna’s side of the story.

VICTORIA | 1882 - 1885

Besides that, she can only think of her childhood as a happy time. The apple of her father’s eye, Liberty accompanies him when he travels to Victoria and the other Australian colonies, or over to New Zealand; they have also travelled every inch of Tasmania together, the theatres and museums and towns as well as the natural sites. But her father dies of an illness he’s long been fighting - ten years after her mother, almost to the day.

This upends her life completely. Her father’s solicitor begins to deal with his estate in Tasmania, including all the land, mining shares and the rest of his capital assets; Liberty is sent to stay with family friends in Melbourne, Victoria. The girls’ governess here is a little horrified by the depth of Liberty’s book learning (she has done almost too much of it, and the interest in politics isn’t wonderful either), and more horrified by her disinterest in ladylike manners. The family here take it upon themselves to ensure Liberty is finished properly, and end up sending her away with their own daughter to an elite school for girls: Liberty, still in the thrall of grief, does not have the energy to resist it.

THE ENGLISH INHERITANCE | 1885 - Present

Eventually, a living relative of hers is sourced: one of the Gores back in Britain. Apparently the few of them that remained had died within the past year of fire and plague, all but an unmarried aunt whom even disease probably couldn’t suffer to touch. Aunt Peggy has never met her before now, and is evidently disappointed with her brother’s lone daughter for more reasons than one. Liberty is not particularly interested in making familial connections here: she has a substantial inheritance that means she might be self-sufficient and more for the rest of her life if she likes. Aunt Peggy, however, values societal connections more than anything and - having no appreciation for the colonies - insists on sending Liberty to be finished again, this time at Pendergast’s School for Young Roses in a tiny little place called Irvingly. Hopefully the second time is the last.

Liberty can keep her head down when she chooses, and in 1887 comes out properly finished and even with a few British friends now to her name, which is more than she expected. Next on her Aunt’s list is marriage, but after Liberty’s first season as a (somewhat disinterested) debutante is over, she insists on personally travelling back to Tasmania to retrieve the last of her father’s belongings before the last of their property and investments are sold off. She dawdles there for the better half of a year before returning to Britain reluctantly for the next season. Fortunately this time Aunt Peggy can’t make her be finished again, though she does endeavour to keep Liberty busy with social calls. Liberty really rather prefers managing her own estate, and going to meetings with her financial advisors, investing where she chooses, reading the newspaper and thinking about political reform: which is really rather annoying, because if she were a gentleman people might bother to take her seriously when she has opinions. She supposes if she married, her husband might listen to her. But there’s the catch, isn’t it? Might. Might isn’t quite good enough.

Personality: Intellectual. Adventurous. Assertive. Loyal. Decisive, but enjoys the debate. Practical. Easily bored. Can be haughty. Elegant and polite when she needs to be, but is impatient with stupidity. Sarcastic sense of humour. Knows her own mind.

Other:
— Has a fondness for Astronomy because she finds connection to her mother in it.
— Her patronus is a Tasmanian devil because how could I resist.

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Age: 25

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