In-Character
Full Name: Ciaran [pronounced kee-ran] Brendan MidfordNicknames: Key, Midford
Birthdate: August 15th, 1852
Current Age: 37
Occupation: Owner of Tiara Shipping & Trading Company (est. 1889)
Reputation: 9? - There would likely be lingering memories of youthful debauchery, which he did little to correct while he lived outside of Britain. He was also a recluse for almost three years in the recent past.
Residence: A moderately sized estate in the southern countryside
Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff Alumnus (1863-1870)
Wand: 15", Red oak, Asphodel stem, bendy
Blood Status: Pureblood
Social Class: Upper Class
Family:
Ashley Midford - Mother - b.1823
Claude Midford - Father - b.1805 - d.1876
Tiara Midford née Godwell - Late Wife [m. 1882-1886] - b.1859 - d.1886
Andromeda Helene Midford - Daughter - b. March 13th, 1886
Vincent Midford - Brother - b.1844
Cassandra Midford - Sister-in-law - b.1850 - d.1887
Katherine Midford - Niece - b.1870
Dimitri Midford - Nephew - b.1868
Appearance: At six feet and one inch, Ciaran is noticeably taller than most. He's broad, sturdy, and muscular. Some might consider him classically handsome, but he's surprisingly humble about his physical appearance these days and prefers to wave those sorts of compliments off. He dresses well and has all of his clothing tailored by necessity. He is right handed, but can make do with his left in a pinch.
History: Ciaran Brendan Midford was born in August of 1852, far later than the midwife had predicted. Luckily, the birth went safely and both mother and baby made it through. He wasn't the first son, so his parents elected to spoil him or hand him off to nannies rather than prepare him to head the family one day. Due to this, Ciaran took on a meandering way of being. Nothing was ever urgent enough for him to rush. People would wait on him, so it didn't really matter if he was anywhere right on time or if his social graces were perfect. Everything happened when he wanted it to happen and not a moment before. His magic followed this lackadaisical pattern, not emerging until the date was uncomfortably close to the start of what would be his first year at Hogwarts. Ciaran's parents had been deeply concerned about him being a squib, but he was confident it would turn out fine. And it did. Two weeks before Hogwarts letters, he managed to levitate a tray of sandwiches across a room simply because he didn't want to get up for it that much.
Ciaran's Hogwarts Years (1863-1870) were remarkable in that he did as little schoolwork as he could get away with and focused his attention on extracurriculars. He gained a reputation for being a vapid, airheaded pretty boy and it wasn't exactly unearned. When it came time to choose OWL courses in third year, he picked the two that he thought were basically throwaways: Muggle Studies and Divination. Ciaran possessed no great fondness for or interest in Muggles, but he figured that it couldn't be too hard to learn about backwards people who couldn't even use magic. Divination was just making up nonsense which sounded convincing enough to be prophecy. Easy. Or so he thought. In the end, his exam scores left much to be desired. In sixth year he had limited choice when it came to NEWT courses, so he ended up with Herbology, Divination, and Muggle Studies on his roster. It was a bit of a mixed bag, but it did allow him to pass his last set of exams by the skin of his teeth. He gladly left school behind and shifted gears to cultivate the social life he'd always wanted.
For several years, he was gentleman of leisure, coming and going as he pleased all over Britain. He flirted with courtship a few times as he got older, but nothing ever came of those possibilities. He didn't need to marry a woman to get intimacy from her and he found the debutantes he met too boring to seriously entertain. When his father passed away in 1876, he began to regret his lack of commitment for the first time in his life. In an effort to distract himself from grief, he became infatuated with life on the high seas and gallivanted around the world to wherever sounded most interesting by ship. By 1878, he found himself in the West Indies. The weather and sights suited him, so he island hopped for a while before taking up residence in Jamaica. The magical community there was small but vibrant. Ciaran had the money to buy himself goodwill where it was not naturally forthcoming, so he became popular in his own way. Yet, not everyone was so easily bought.
His wandering eye led him to be in the company of a well to do family with a beautiful daughter, Tiara, who did not want to give Ciaran the time of day, really. She was the shrewd sort though, and recognized the ways in which Ciaran could be useful to her. This, she was open about in the letters they wrote to each other. Initially Ciaran was taken aback by the brutality of her honesty (she hadn't held back when laying out his flaws), but he quickly came to find it endearing. It was refreshing to not be fawned over and to engage in spirited communication with a woman. He spent many balmy nights thinking on how he would win her over. In the end, that wasn't exactly what happened. Under her influence, he genuinely changed. Life became more 'real' to him. It was no longer something to just cartwheel through, but a precious thing that required his attention and care. When he finally made an offer of courtship, it was out of true affection. Tiara was happy to accept him then. They were engaged after a relatively short period. They'd already known each other for years at that point, so it was something of a formality for them both. Still, Tiara wanted to do things properly. With her father's approval, they were engaged on the island and then, at long last, Ciaran returned home with a fiancée in tow. They were married in 1882.
Their marriage was a loving one, idyllic but for the lack of children. It took them longer than they would have liked to conceive and Tiara's first pregnancy resulted in the loss of the child early on. When she was ready, they began to try again and in mid-1885 she was pregnant again. She successfully carried this baby to term and in March of 1886, Tiara gave birth to a baby girl. They called her Andromeda. Unfortunately, naming the child would be the last thing her mother did for her. There were internal complications post labor and Tiara developed a severe infection. Efforts to treat her came late due to her aversion to Healers and she died a week later.
The loss of his wife devastated Ciaran and he was rarely seen outside of his estate for the better part of two years. In 1888, he began the process of starting a shipping company that exclusively serviced the West Indes and memorialized his late wife in its name. By 1889 the company was open for business, with Ciaran being fairly hands off in the day to day running of things. He cared about the larger issues, not minutiae that could be handled by capable staff.
Regardless of what he actually did at the company, Ciaran's mother took his business dealings as a sign that he was ready to properly re-enter the social scene. Using the strong motivator of parental guilt, she's convinced him that at the very least, his young daughter needed a mother. He's not thrilled about it but ... well ... he's looking.
Personality: As a very young man, Ciaran was something of an unreliable layabout. Without any particular ambitions, he just danced through life, his whimsy backed by his family's money. He could have done better in school had he tried, but he just didn't feel moved to. What did move him was the prospect of 'the thrill'. He was reckless in his pursuit of adrenaline highs and got himself into a great deal of trouble on account of that. His devil may care attitude began to change after meeting the woman who would become his wife. Courtship and marriage settled him down, allowing his charms to truly shine through for once. After his wife's death, Ciaran underwent yet another transformation. He became somber and reclusive for a long while. It took prompting from his mother for him to attempt rejoining society. He's still not as bright or boisterous as he once was, but his smiles do come a little more genuine. Privately, he's rather anxious about the matter of remarrying. He doesn't feel ready for it, but believes his daughter ought to have a proper mother around and she is his priority.
Other: Ciaran generally calls his daughter 'Darling' rather than her given name. He also dotes on her excessively, to no one's surprise.
Sample Roleplay Post: -
Out-of-Character
Name: RiverAge: 25
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