In-Character
Full Name: Acquired Names: Ayotunde, given by her father; Ife, given by her mother. Surnames: Taiwo, from her father; Gbadamosi, from her husband.Nicknames: —
Birthdate: 22 August 1822
Current Age: 71 Years
Gender: Female
Occupation: Socialite
Reputation: 10
Residence: Wellingtonshire, Hogsmeade
Hogwarts House: Attended Uagadou
Wand: —
Blood Status: Pureblood
Social Class: Upper
Family: Most of Ife's family is back home. In England she lives with her son-in-law Taiwo Adebayo and her grandchildren.
Appearance:
General | Ife carries herself with confidence and poise. She has long been out of the spotlight socially but can still easily command attention when she chooses to. She has her hair braided close to the scalp so that she can style these braids in similar fashions to English women.History:
Expressions | Ife's expressions are often so extreme as to appear as caricatures. It is not unheard of for someone witnessing her laugh for the first time to assume she is mocking them with an overblown approximation of joy. Her default expression is thoughtfully severe; she spends a good deal of time at society events surveying the dance floor with her lower lip protruding and her brows arched as she composes internal judgements.
Fashion | Having grown up with a much different kind of fashion, Ife has little patience for the monochrome of English society. She wears gowns in the latest English fashions but in striking bold colors, and has even been known to occasionally wear something white despite obviously not being a debutante. She has never observed mourning black. She wears English hats and Yoruba gele equally. She has a selection of jewelry in both English and Ethiopian styles; she tends to wear the English jewels more often, but cherishes the heritage pieces more.
Scent | a complex blend of spices over alcohol, and sometimes flavored tobacco
Face Claim | Adjoa Andoh
Personality:Early Years
Ife's childhood was spent in the wealthier circles of magical African society in and around the Kingdom of Benin. She is given the names Ayotunde (joy has returned to our house, as she was the first living child born after a series of difficult pregnancies which were unsuccessful) and Ife (love). Due to her mother's ongoing fertility issues she is one of only three surviving children by the time she goes to school. The days of her childhood vary between incredibly sheltered (by the staff, who were fretful of bearing the weight of her parent's anger should anything happen to her) and spontaneous adventures with her parents where anything was possible. Although her parents were not often present she idolized them both and cherished her memories with them. She is closer to her mother than her father, meaning while she is formally Ayotunde Taiwo she prefers to use the name Ife with friends.
Attending school is her first real exposure to children who are not entirely like her. She finds she has little in common with poorer students, so does not make many friends there (though she does not believe herself prejudiced; she had no trouble recognizing their achievements as classmates). Non-pureblooded witches and wizards are an interesting case. Although the slave trade had been functionally illegal at the time of Ife's birth, there was still a lot of money floating around the Muggle world that had been tainted by it; after discovering a handful of Muggle-related classmates had grandparents or parents who had at one point participated in selling slaves, Ife develops a general mistrust of families which are too closely connected with the Muggle world. Muggles themselves are not worthy of mistrust; they are best avoided entirely.
As is true of most Uagadou students, Ife becomes an animagus during her school years in addition to mastering wandless magic. After graduation she is briefly finished and then sets about finding a husband. She is generally sought after, being the only daughter of a powerful family, intelligent, and graceful. Ife is aloof with her suitors — after her mother confides in her about her family's blood curse, she has determined never to fall in love, and so will not allow herself a chance. Of course she understands she must marry, but is determined to marry whoever her father selects without forming any opinions of her own on the matter. Her father entertains a number of offers for her hand and eventually selects the most advantageous (for him); a widower twenty years her senior with a strong desire for heirs, after his previous wife died in childbirth to her third daughter. Ife is relieved; she certainly cannot fall in love with him.
Marriage & Motherhood
She can, on the other hand, perform her duties as his wife extremely well. Only a year after their marriage she has delivered him his first son, and continues to produces children (almost entirely male) for the next seven years. While she does have three step-daughters to raise as well, she longs for a daughter of her own, and eventually has one: named Bosede (born on Sunday) by her father, who was not especially invested and selected a factual but (in Ife's opinion) uninspiring name, Ife calls the girl Monifa (I am lucky). She and her husband have an amiable enough relationship, but she does not consider him a friend; they have nothing in common aside from their children, and even there they had clear differences in what they care about. Ife has a variety of friends in society to expend her energies on, and of course her step-daughters and Monifa.
Her step-daughters coming of age is what eventually puts an end to her husband's nighttime visits; they have a veritable stable of heirs at this point and it seems imprudent (to Ife) to risk dealing with pregnancy during a social season where it is her duty to see to young women. Her step-daughters keep her occupied while Monifa is in school, with parading them about and seeing them married and then helping them adjust to their new lives as wives and mistresses of their own households. When her sons come of age she takes a less active role in their transition to adulthood as she believes who a man marries is of much lesser consequence to his eventual happiness than who a woman marries is to hers — but not inconsequential, so she does meddle and dabble in order to see them well-matched. Monifa's husband she selects herself (after giving her daughter the same warning her mother gave to her). Her future son-in-law is ambitious and sensible; he seems designed for the future, rather than one dwelling in the past, and she feels this will result in her daughter living a good life. And, as she tells Monifa during her engagement, it certainly never hurts to marry a man whom the stars smile upon. Monifa's first pregnancy resulting in healthy twin boys seems proof of this to Ife; a fortuitous match indeed.
England
Over the next few years Ife sees her remaining sons settled. Her husband lives to see his youngest son's wedding and then dies the following week. This is something of a relief given that it saves her from ever having to figure out how to hold a conversation with him that doesn't revolve around fretting over her children's futures. She has no desire to live alone in the too-big house, though, so when her son-in-law announces he will move his family to England, she invites herself along. Ife jokes that England is her retirement. She is suitably doting as her daughter produces more grandchildren, and visits home periodically toterrorizecheck in on her various other children and on society at large. She disagrees with the decision to school her English-born granddaughters at Hogwarts, but as a guest in the house is not inclined to fight it too much and risk wearing out her welcome. All in all, she is quite content to put her feet up... at least until her daughter makes a terrible mistake.
At first Ife doesn't understand how it happened, though she knows immediately what must have happened. Her son-in-law and Monifa had been cordial for their entire lives but there was nothing lately to suggest they had fallen in love. She is at first racked with guilt for having chosen her daughter's husband poorly — but after interrogating him on the matter, she determines that it must not have been him her daughter was in love with. Oh, Monifa. Of course no one can know the truth, and her son-in-law is a good enough man with enough of a mind for his children's futures and his family's reputations to agree. The hyena that has taken residence in her daughter's room is discreetly donated to the Sanditon menagerie.
Matron
With Bosede (Ife no longer uses Monifa, not that anyone is around to notice) gone, Ife decides she will have to "come out of retirement" in order to see to her grandchildren's success in life — particularly the girls, to ensure they do not repeat their mother's fate. She takes English society by storm, ingratiating herself in all the right places so that she is well-positioned to act when the children are ready to debut. This is not to say that her thoughts are entirely forward-facing: she also (very quietly) arranges for a series of academics to begin research into how to reverse blood curses, in case there is any chance of reclaiming her daughter... and hires a private investigator to determine who led her astray, so that even if she can't reclaim her daughter she can take revenge on the man who ruined her.
She sends Callista to finishing school after school, which seems appropriate as she herself was finished — and as she is still not entirely sure she understands what is required of an English debutante. When it is Iphegenia's turn she finds it less necessary — Genia may admittedly be her favorite grandchild, having mastered the animagus transformation and being her own namesake. Ife reckons she is ready to take the season by storm, and is hoped to be proved correct in short order. At least one of the girls ought to find a good prospect this year; she isn't getting any younger.
Date References (most of these are ~ish):
- 1822 - Ife born
- 1833 - 1840 ish - Ife at school
- 1843 - Ife marries. Step daughter birth years: 1834, 1837, 1841.
- 1844 - 1850 - Ife having kids. Bosede around 1847.
- 1851 - 61 - step daughters in society
- 1861 - 64 - older sons in society
- 1864 - Bosede marries Taiwo Adebayo
- 1866 - Bosede's twin sons born
- 1867 - Ife's youngest son marries. Her husband dies. She goes to England.
- 1884 - Bosede disappears
- 1890 - Callista debuts
- 1894 - Genia debuts
Other:
Out-of-Character
Name: Lynn
![[Image: TrSGeWR.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/TrSGeWR.jpg)