In-Character
Full Name: Tanwen Genevieve Selwyn
Nicknames: Tan, Wenny
Birthdate: November 17, 1860
Current Age: 29 Years
Occupation: Socialite and Glorified Nanny
Wand: Cedar, 13.25", supple, dragon heartstring
Blood Status: Pureblood
Social Class: Upper class
Family:
Nicknames: Tan, Wenny
Birthdate: November 17, 1860
Current Age: 29 Years
Occupation: Socialite and Glorified Nanny
She is by no means actually employed as her brother's nanny but she acts the role anyways, keeping his and his wife's children in line when they cannot be bothered to show interest in them themselves. Frankly, if you ask her, she has to play nanny for her older siblings as well as their children. As far as society is concerned, she is a spinster socialite who just happens to reside with her brother.Reputation: 8
Her brothers cannot seem to put face on. Trystan has a reputation for not being able to keep it in his pants, Daniel is just strange and his wife stays away months at a time, and Emrys, while the most normal of the bunch, is particularly a sociable society figure. She herself remained unmarried despite her status and never was known to put the expected effort into finding a husband.Residence: Selwyn Manor, Wales
The family manor was her childhood home and she resides there even now that her father has passed and ownership has been handed to her brother. It is likely where she’ll reside the rest of her life as well. She has been occasionally known to rent a place at the Sanditon Resort as well when her family becomes too much for her to handle.Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff
Wand: Cedar, 13.25", supple, dragon heartstring
Blood Status: Pureblood
Social Class: Upper class
Family:
Ephraim Selwyn, father, b. 18xx d. 1882Appearance:
Rhea Selwyn nee, mother, b. 18xx d. 1880
– Trystan Selwyn, brother, b. 1848
- Ambrosia Selwyn, sister-in-law, b. 1856
- - Cadawalader Selwyn, nephew b. 1874
- - Hortense Selwyn, niece, b. 1877
- - "Hephaestus" Selwyn, nephew, b. 18xx
- Various random women
- - Athena Selwyn, niece, marketed as sister, b. 1865
- - Liliana Selwyn, niece, one of the few bastard children Trystan has that actually got acknowledged, 1872
- - Adrienne & Aristide, niece and nephew, twins, marketed as orphaned cousins, now wards of her brother, b. 1874
- - “Dionysus”, nephew, unacknowledged, lives with family friends, does not know his parentage, b. 1875
- - James Fletcher, nephew, believes that "Zeus" is his godfather. Raised out of the country, b. 1878
– Emrys Selwyn, brother, b. 1851
– Daniel Selwyn, brother, b. 1854
- Freya Selwyn, sister-in-law, b. 1865
- Deanna Benwick née Nott, mother-in-law, b. 1846
There is no question of her parentage, she sports the trademark Selwyn dark hair and fair skin and blue eyes. Her hair is a dark brown almost black that has undertones of auburn coloration that are only seen when she is out in the sun. Thick, it holds curls well and tends to fall loose in slight waves - on the rare occasion she has it down. Typically it is pulled into a style appropriate to the occasion, though at home she is known to leave it handing in a simple braid. She sports a light splattering of freckles across her face and body that she has had since childhood that refused to go away no matter how many lightening potions she used.History:
Unlike her brothers, she stands at average height. As she has aged, she found herself developing hips though remained nearly flat chested. The way she carries herself has changed over the years. Now she tends to stand in a way that gives off a faint presence, a hint of something underneath. She no longer stands with her shoulders hunched over and has found her posture and confidence improve as she grew into an adult. She dresses modestly, and tends to favor wizarding robes over the ever changing muggle fashion. She favors earth tones and has found herself choosing darker tones after becoming a spinster.
She uses her wand and writes with her right hand.
Personality:ChildhoodBorn on a cold fall's night in '60, Tanwen is to be the first daughter and last true child of Ephraim and Rhea Selwyn. She turns out to be a quiet and submissive child, easily pushed around by her elder brothers whenever they are home from school. She grows up mostly knowing her brothers at a distance as, by the time she is four, all three are all at Hogwarts. Still, that does not save her from being subjected to their torments when they are home.
She shows her first sign of magic when her "half-sister" is born. Still too young to figure out that Athena isn't actually her father's child but rather her eldest brother's, she is easily confused by the anger that lurks in the house. The night Athena is brought home, Tanwen has enough of the fighting and accidentally spells her room into the silence that lasts the week. No one seems to be able to undo and eventually they just let the magic fade.
HogwartsHer time at Hogwarts was approached under a sense of unease. While she is excited, a larger part of her would be okay just receiving her magical education at home from a governess. At this point, she is terrified of new places and is expecting to be utterly overwhelmed. And she is. She retains little memory of the train or boat rides or the welcoming feast. Frankly, all she remembers is waking up in a new place donned in yellow.
She does settle in eventually and becomes grateful for her parents for refusing to allow her to stay home. She isn't sure if the whole scenario is made better or worse by the fact all of her brothers had graduated by the time she attended. She thinks they would have made it worse.
In fact, once she settles in, it seems the distance from home and family is much what she needed to grow a sense of self-confidence and over the seven years turns from someone meek to someone who does what needs to get done and doesn't mind getting dirty. Her friends help with this process a lot, pushing her to do things out of her comfort zone until she no longer needs prompting to raise her hand in class or stand up for herself. This shift in her views of herself prompts growth in her relationships with her brothers - Trystan especially. With Trystan over ten years her elder and Daniel being six, it might also help that she is starting to reach an age where they no longer consider her a kid.
It is during her first year, 1872, that Trystan has his first public episode of scandal and rather than marrying the girl he knocked up, he just takes the child in. Tanwen is pissed about this whole thing and there starts her collection of unsent angry letters to her brother. When he knocks up yet another girl in her third year her parents have had enough and a rushed marriage takes place. The twins are portrayed as orphaned cousins from another country. They are getting really good at covering up Trystan's “adventures”. She can now socially acceptably refer to herself as an aunt.
She isn't too sure about her new sister-in-law, Ambrosia. The two are only a few years apart in age but Ambrosia has a far more dominant personality than her own and seems to not care for Tanwen at all.
Her performance in her classes are mediocre and she only really seems to enjoy charms and divination and when her N.E.W.T. years come around she ends up taking only four classes, charms, divination, transfiguration, and history of magic.
Life seems okay - other than the random need to deal with Trystan's illegitimate offspring - until the night of the Hogwarts debutante ball where she has an encounter with a boy a few years older than her that quite puts her off the idea of marriage. Marriage was never truly something she wanted but rather expected to have forced upon her but she finds herself truly against the idea once she starts to experience male attention on her for the first time.
DebutanteAfter Hogwarts she is thrown straight into the social scene, a fact she meets with mixed feelings. While she enjoys parties, she puts little effort into finding a husband, despite the annoyance of her parents. While she had always accepted the concept of having to marry, now she wants no part of it. Her much desired break comes in a tragic way as her mother dies in ‘80 from unknown causes. Devisated, she throws herself into caring for Trystan and Ambrosia’s children and handling the family affairs. It turns into her therapy and she finds herself more comfortable in her skin than she ever has. But then, two years after the death of her mother, her father suffers a heart attack. Unmarried and her guardianship is transferred to her brother. Desperately she begs him not to marry her off, and in turn, agrees to look after his children till they are all adults. Being the youngest is only five - and who knows if there might be another - it is a fair commitment.
Glorified BabysitterLife after the death of her father takes time to adjust too, with her brothers splitting amongst themselves their father’s wealth and companies but a new normal slowly settles in. Caring for the children gets easier as their average age gets older and more and more are seen off to Hogwarts. She dreads their getting older as she knows she will likely be incharge of finding marriages for all of the bastard children, with Liliana coming up for the next year.
As Liliana graduates from Hogwarts, she is almost grateful for the Vane-Tempest woman for taking on Liliana as a project. Now when the bastard-child is unable to find someone of the family’s standards to marry her, the blame will not be pinned on Tanwen. She’ll have her hands full with Athena and the twins though at least they are still pureblood. Well Athena, the twins, and if she has to guess possibly Cad and “Hephaestus” as well if they don’t grow in favor in their mother’s eyes before they reach a marrying age.
All of the children are officially at Hogwarts during the school year - except Liliana who is now someone else’s problem as long as Tanwen can keep peace in the house - and she finds herself at loss of what to do with herself now that she has no children to keep in line. It certainly means more interactions with her sister-in-laws and her ‘sister’.
Methodical. Strict. Caring.
No Nonsense. Stubborn. High Energy.
"Try me," is likely her motto. She's spent so many years cleaning up after her brothers that she's developed a backbone of steel and a reputation as the one you want to go if you messed up. She has a knack for getting things in order and back where it should be - objects or humans. This is why she tends to be used to care for the horde of her brother's children. In her opinion neither him nor Ambrose have a maternal bone in their body and that those children would be better off alone than strictly under the care of their parents or parent. They are children, not military.
Despite her no nonsense mentality, she is typically warm and caring to her friends and family. Soft spoken until angered, ever since her mother's passing, she has taken to tending to the family much like a shepherd and his sheep. She genuinely loves them all. She has truly never met a stranger and would rather invite someone into her own home and care for them than leave them to fend for themselves and she often expects the same in turn. While strict under mistake, she easily forgives and has only ever held one true grudge - Trystan's infidelity. To her family is sacred and needs to be cared for and tended to. She still loves him, but they have issues.
Out-of-Character
Name: NicholeAge: 20
