Character: Ardsley Wooster
Character Sheet (Ardsley Wooster)
Combat Value: 6
Communique From: Her Majesty's Exterior Affairs DepartmentTo: Ardsley Wooster
Mr. Wooster,
You have long said that you would be a benefit to our department; in your words, you would be "an outstanding agent" if given the chance. That chance has now arisen.
MI-8 has learned that Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, the Baron's son, has begun a career of study in Paris. We do not know why Wulfenbach has finally chosen to dispense with the subterfuge that his son is an ordinary boy in his care, but this provides us with a rare chance to get to the inside of the Baron's empire. Master Gilgamesh will, no doubt, be protected by the most considerable security. But we are familiar, through numerous reports, of his rambunctious nature. We believe he is unlikely to take well to the discipline required for high security -- he will be seeking "trouble", and comrades-in-arms to share in that.
This, then, is your assignment. You are to position yourself appropriately to encounter Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, as innocently as possible; this will likely entail enrolling yourself in the University of Paris alongside him, and appropriate resources will be placed at your disposal to ensure that you matriculate there. Following this, you will befriend Wulfenbach, and become his intimate.
Understand that this is a deep-cover assignment. You are to seek a position that will permit you close association with Wulfenbach for as long as feasible. In such capacity, you will report back to MI-8 whenever possible, about such information about the Baron's plans as you may find. You should seek opportunities to advance Her Majesty's interests when possible, but you should take no actions that risk compromising your cover.
We are placing great store in your proven and professed abilities, Mr. Wooster. There are few agents young enough to befriend young Wulfenbach, and you are our best candidate. But understand that, if you are uncovered, we will neither be able to protect you, nor even admit to your status within the Department. Indeed, few outside this agency will even know of that status. You are not on your own, but self-reliance shall be necessary at all times.
On a personal level: good luck, Ardsley. You have great potential, and this is a task that will demand it of you.
Destroy this letter thoroughly after you have read it.
-- Roper-Halbertsam, MI-8
You destroyed the letter as ordered, but not until you had memorized it. It marked the beginning of the career of Ardsley Wooster, spy. That was four years ago. You hadn't really been sure that you would be able to maintain your cover for even a year, but by now the subterfuge has become almost second nature.
Setting up your cover identity was easy: at that point, you had access to ready funds enough to grease the right palms to get into the University with no difficulty. And finding Master Gilgamesh was trivially easy -- as soon as he came to the university campus, he was immediately its greatest celebrity. Son of the most powerful man in Europe, completely unknown himself until shortly before his appearance there: he made quite the sensation. You didn't even have to work to find out his class schedule -- every girl in the neighborhood seemed to have found it out before you. As assigned, you "bumped into him" in class, and hit it off quickly. That was the most delicate moment, pretending to have no idea who he was, and being startled and just slightly intimidated when you "found out". But really, it wasn't that hard: he was desperate for a friend, having left behind all of his peers on board Castle Wulfenbach. The two of you really did grow close.
Of course, it wasn't "Master Gilgamesh" then. You had decided to adopt the persona of a slightly stiff upper-class toff, but even so it was just "Gil". And the two of you had quite a time for the next two years. As promised, Gil was a troublemaker par excellence, with a skill for eluding his bodyguards that you could only marvel at. At least once a week, the two of you would sneak out and have a night on the town. The best entertainments, the finest booze, and oh, the girls. You knew that they were all there for him, and that you were sloppy seconds. But really, as problems went, it was one of the sweetest and easiest problems you could have hoped for. When the two of you started, at age 15, you were merely young rakes; by the time you left two years later, you were the most practiced connoisseurs of enjoyments.
None of which made for the most useful spying, of course: expert though you were becoming on the Red Light district, it made for thin reports back to the home office. You occasionally chafed at that -- you had gotten into this in order to be useful to Her Undying Majesty and Britain -- but you told yourself that your time would come. And come it did.
When Gil graduated, things got a bit dicey. Could you arrange to follow him back to Castle Wulfenbach? You were briefly at a loss, and unsure how you were going to deal with it, but Gil himself suggested the solution. In the end, it wasn't your wit or brains or way with the women that secured you a position: it was your skill with tea. For two years, you had been introducing him to the finest of English teas, and he had become quite addicted to them. So he asked you if you would be willing to come work for him as an associate and friend -- to be his "man's man". You were bowled over: you couldn't have asked for a more perfect cover. And so you went from college student to butler.
Since then, you've had more opportunity to observe the inner workings of Castle Wulfenbach. You still haven't exactly managed to find out every secret on board -- there is a considerable amount that the Baron doesn't tell his son, and even more that Master Gilgamesh doesn't tell you. But you've gotten pretty good at casually worming information out of him, and he tends to be pretty unguarded around you. So you've been able to pass useful information back every time an emissary happens to be aboard the Castle. (Not often enough, you must admit: Wulfenbach doesn't maintain traditional ambassadorial relations with England, so you only get a chance to send messages when a special English envoy comes aboard, or another agent who is in the pay of Her Majesty.)
You've also been doing what you can to "advance her Majesty's interests". That's really the part that got you into the spy business in the first place -- working behind the scenes to make things happen. You must admit some quiet satisfaction in that regard: your successes have been modest but not trivial.
Your principal objective has been to very gently change the balance of power. The Baron holds all the cards, at least on the surface: his Empire is unquestionably the most powerful in the world. But that power rests on the way he has slowly accumulated it, with each Duchy and Principality adding its power to his after they are conquered. If they were to all rise up against him -- indeed, if even a modest fraction of them were to do so -- his power would come crumbling down.
Not that you're really trying to do that: so long as he keeps his ambitions limited to mainland Europa, it suits Her Majesty to see him continue in power. A fallen Wulfenbach empire would be chaotic and unpredictable, and that is not the ideal situation. But if push does come to shove, and Wulfenbach threatens England, it is important to be able to sweep him away.
And so, you have been the sand in the gears, encouraging various factions to make quiet alliances with England, and ensuring that, for all the Baron's surface power, the true influence underneath is British. Your successes have been quiet and modest, but not without effect: you've arranged several minor nobles to formally ally themselves with England, and encouraged more to question how well the Wulfenbach structure really suits them. Probably your best achievement to do was to gain the favor of the mysterious "Geisterdamen": the ghost-women who inhabit the deep woods of the Wilderness, riding their great spider creatures. They agreed to support Her Majesty whenever the time calls for it; in exchange, they merely needed some small bits of technology, easily smuggled out of Castle Wulfenbach by funneling them through the "school"'s supplies. You are particularly proud of that one -- subtle accounting fiddles are the best way to make sure no one ever notices anything missing. And none of the items were particularly precious: it was just a few spare Pressure Pumps, one of the Baron's bio-growth monitors, and an alarm system, none of which anyone would be likely to notice anyway.
At the moment, you have several irons in the fire. None are obviously going to change the world, but each has potential to advance the British cause.
Probably the diciest is Sleipnir O'Hara. Sleipnir is one of the hostages being kept on board Castle Wulfenbach. This is one of the Baron's little maneuvers to keep his vassals in line: he takes their eldest children hostage, and raises them in his private "school". Of course, this serves several purposes. The children are raised to be comfortable under the control of the Wulfenbachs -- indeed, he planted Master Gil among them, as another anonymous "hostage", for much of his childhood, so that he and they would become friends. It also means that the parents cannot attack Wulfenbach without placing their children in mortal danger. You honestly don't know whether the Baron could bring himself to kill one of his charges in cold blood: he is a ruthless man, but tends to avoid gratuitous cruelty. Still, he is also immensely practical, and it seems likely that he would do what he saw as necessary.
Sleipnir is the eldest daughter of the O'Hara clan, a powerful but non-noble Irish group. She has the characteristic temper of her race, which you figure can be used to your advantage. She has always been restless as a "student" on Castle Wulfenbach -- she tried unsuccessfully to escape with Theo DuMedd a few months ago. You have attempted to sound her out as a possible spy herself, but didn't make any quick headway, so you backed off. You'll need to proceed with the utmost caution if you want to pursue that line again. She doesn't like being a pawn of the Wulfenbachs, but she's not going to be readily used by Her Majesty either, so you need to be careful that she doesn't twig to your own status and give you away.
Similarly, there is the possibility of driving a wedge between the Wulfenbachs and Zulenna Luzhakna, Princess of Holfung-Borzoi. Zulenna is another hostage -- or was until recently. When Miss Heterodyne escaped the Castle several months ago, Zulenna was killed helping her. The Baron brought her back to life, but the incident plainly left her shaken. And her father recently summoned her home: reports have it that he is dying, so she may imminently be coming into the rulership of her Duchy. She left Castle Wulfenbach for Holfung-Borzoi a month ago, accompanied by Von Pinn, Sleipnir and Master Zami. When you next see her, she may be Duchess of Holfung-Borzoi. She is a proud woman, and dedicated to the defense of her realm. If you play on that, you may be able to encourage her to put it ahead of her natural affinity to the similarly strong-willed Baron.
And then there is something going on with the Jaegermonsters. You don't usually pay them much mind -- most of them are dim creatures, scarcely the best allies. But they make up the heart of the Baron's army, so they do matter. You were present for a very curious meeting last week between General Khrizhan, leader of the Jaegers, and Master Gil. Khrizhan warned, rather cryptically, that Jenka, one of his own Jaegers, might be up to something that would be dangerous; he wouldn't specify precisely how, but it had something to do with preventing her from accessing the Jaeger homeworld. Jenka is a mysterious creature: a much smarter Jaeger than most, and much more independent. She often acts as an agent of the Baron, but despite talking to her a number of times, you've never really managed to learn much about her. If she is planning something that would cause issues for the Jaeger army, it may be worth encouraging her in that.
Of course, in amongst all this intrigue, you still need to attend to your job. Master Gilgamesh is leading a small expedition, investigating the surprise reappearance of the Hidden Castle of Amagog.
Amagog is a legend in these parts: a Spark who lived some two centuries ago, and reputedly explored time and space in ways that no one has managed since. And one day, he simply vanished, Castle and all. But around a month ago, the Castle reappeared, as if it had never left, and the countryside is in an uproar, with adventurers getting themselves killed trying to invade it. No one really knows what is inside, but it is in Wulfenbach lands, so the Baron wants whatever is there to be found. He can't lead the expedition himself, though -- he is off with the bulk of his army, attending to a moderate rebellion in the south. So he assigned Master Gil to deal with it.
Of course, the Baron expected his son to take a battalion of troops and Jaegers with him, but Master Gilgamesh has decided to prove to his father that problems can be solved without overwhelming force. (You will take some modest credit for gradually influencing him in that direction.) So it is a relatively tiny group, made up of himself and you, with Jenka and Bangladesh DuPree as bodyguards. DuPree is an unsettling woman. If Jenka is the Baron's secret agent, DuPree is his hired killer. Not someone to be readily crossed, nor easily manipulated, but certainly to be watched.
And to be fair, you want to make sure that Gil is safe and well-managed. While you are a true British patriot, you consider him a genuine friend -- certainly your closest friend now, probably your closest ever. So long as the status quo leaves England safe and independent, you are content to see the Wulfenbachs continue as they have done. It's just best if they don't get so powerful as to implicitly threaten that status quo.
So you will stay fairly close to Master Gil, serve him, watch him, and take your opportunities as they come to you. And time shall tell what those are...
Public Info
Personality
You are cool and collected, the perfect butler. Well, at least that's your cover identity. The butler is never allowed to show fear or guilt or -- well, any emotion, really.When in private, you show your secondary cover, which is a little more honest. Easily embarassed, but always friendly about it. Open and honest to his friend Gil.
And the truth? The truth is that you are far more passionate a man than you ever let people see. The true patriot, the boy who begged to be a spy, and still finds it the most remarkable career. You love the secrets and games, making your people safer in the shadows. That's the part that can truly love, truly fear, and truly anger. You try to keep it down, but once in a while, it still pokes through...
Some People You Know (Ardsley Wooster)
Her Undying Majesty, Elizabeth Tudor: Queen of Britain these past centuries, she whom you serve. Albeit indirectly -- you've never actually seen her, of course.
Master Gilgamesh Wulfenbach: He who you serve in the service of England, son of the mightiest Spark and a powerful one in his own right. (Gil broke through as a Spark at age 8, creating his first little "friend"-creature, Zoing.) It is sometimes a bit awkward, having your best friend also be the target of your spying. But it's for the best for everyone that the Wulfenbach empire be kept in check, and not serve as too much of a threat to the rest of the world. Master Gil is greatly fond of your tea: you have a special family formulation designed to calm the nerves, and he needs that frequently these days. Ever since Miss Clay's -- sorry, Miss Heterodyne's -- death a few months ago, Master Gil has been disconsolate, finding every monster he can and killing it.
Baron Klaus von Wulfenbach: Ruler of most of Europa, and Gil's father. Probably the most powerful man in the world today, and certainly the greatest threat to Her Majesty. Official policy is that, so long as he sticks to his knitting and keeps peace on the mainland, he is worth having there. But Britain must be prepared to deal with him if and when the time should come. In your two years of living on board Castle Wulfenbach and observing the Baron up close, you have found him to be remarkably intelligent, frighteningly ruthless, and immensely practical. He is quite actively grooming Gil as his successor, but annoying him terribly by continually testing him. There is opportunity in that -- if you can steer Master Gil to be less paranoid than his father (by encouraging gentle rebellion from his father's ways), he may grow up to be a more tractable person to work with than he father is.
Boris: Your opposite number in the Baron's service, his personal aide-de-camp. Boris is a four-armed Construct, who is distressingly proud of the fact that he is more efficient than you could possibly be. Which is true, but he has none of the humor that makes a truly skilled butler: even by your own standards, he is astonishingly stuffy. You take a certain amount of secret joy from the way the Jaegermonsters always give him a hard time.
Miss Agatha Heterodyne: Gil's dead great love. They met some four months ago down in Beetleburg -- you weren't there, but gather that it was quite the mess. Along the way, the Baron's old friend and associate Dr. Tarsus Beetle, ruler of Beetleburg, got himself killed: Gil got somehow blamed in Beetle's death, and has been annoyed by that ever since. She was brought on board as a hostage to the good behaviour of Moloch von Zinzer. Master Gil confessed to you that, even from the beginning, he was reasonably sure that Miss Clay (as she was then known) was the Spark, not von Zinzer, but he spent the ensuing month proving it to himself and quietly reveling in his father's error in the matter.
In fact, Miss "Clay" turned out to actually be the daughter of Bill Heterodyne and Lucrezia Mongfish, two of the most powerful Sparks of the previous generation, and she was discovering that she was a mighty Spark in her own right, with a particular skill for constructing little Clanks. Gil brought her on board as his lab assistant, and the two of them hit it off well, albeit in a rather stormy relationship: he was always either overjoyed or angered, depending on whether they had recently argued. It was quite clear that he was in love with her, though, and you encouraged that. That went well until her true identity was revealed and she escaped from the Castle. Gil went after her, and found that she had crossed paths with a traveling Circus, and died saving it from a wandering Clank. Since then, he has been on a vendetta against the monsters of the Wilderness, and has generally been morose.
Moloch von Zinzer: When originally found in Beetleburg, von Zinzer was believed to be a new Spark who was breaking through; in fact, he turned out to be a used-up soldier who just happens to be a competent mechanic, who got blamed for Miss Heterodyne's breakthrough. While he was largely innocent in the matter, the Baron did not look kindly on his willing complicity, and sent him off to a fate worse than death in Castle Heterodyne.
Von Pinn: Headmistress of the Castle's "school", Von Pinn is some sort of Construct -- strong, fast and rather terribly intimidating. Your respect for Master Gil grew when you were introduced to her as the lady who had, essentially, raised him. Von Pinn serves as a sort of combination teacher, bodyguard and surrogate mother for the children of various regional nobles who are kept hostage on board Castle Wulfenbach.
Sleipnir O'Hara: One of Von Pinn's "students", an Irish girl with a fiercely independent streak and a bit of a temper. She is desperate to escape Castle Wulfenbach, and it may be worth finding ways to help her in that, especially if she can be made into a proper ally of England. (The Irish are always a nuisance, but you'll take such allies as you can get.)
Theopholous DuMedd: Another student, and a cousin of Miss Heterodyne. He had been Head Boy of Von Pinn's school, teaching and assisting the younger students, and he was an old and close friend of Master Gil. He escaped from Castle Wulfenbach not long after she did, and hasn't been heard from since, and that seems to have been quite a morale hit on board the Castle.
Zami Yahya Ahmad ibn Suliman al-Sinhaji: Master Zami generally just introduces himself to people as "Z", but you cannot bring yourself to be quite so informal towards him. He is the son of the Iron Sheik, ruler of Persia and another Great Power nearly at the level of Baron Wulfenbach and Her Majesty. Master Zami is unusually level-headed and intelligent, and a moderate Spark in his own right. He is well worth cultivating: an alliance between Persia and Britain would be mighty indeed.
Zulenna Luzhakna: Princess of Holfung-Borzoi, a medium-sized and well-defended Duchy in the middle of the Wulfenbach lands. If there is anyone worth encouraging indenpendence in, it is Princess Zulenna: she is even more fiercely protective of her people than she is of her prerogatives as royalty. Word came to the Castle a month ago that her father was ailing, so she was called home, accompanied by Von Pinn, Sleipnir and Z.
Bangladesh DuPree: The Baron's pet killer, a self-declared "Pirate Queen". She is a devotee of some Hindu god known as "Kali", who you gather is an avatar of death. She is frightening in her own way, although rather charming as well -- she is always astonishingly cheerful, even when she is killing people. (Perhaps especially when she is killing people.)
Jenka: A Jaegermonster who the Baron uses as another of his detached agents. As Jaegers go, you have found her to be unusually intelligent and personable, and the two of you have struck up an odd sort of loose friendship, as people who don't quite fit into ordinary life on Castle Wulfenbach. General Khrizhan claims she is up to something -- what is it?
Othar Tryggvassen: The Baron's frequent sparring partner, a powerful but slightly insane Spark who has decided that the Wulfenbachs are some sort of Evil Incarnate. Tryggvassen is too much of a loose cannon to be a useful tool, but sometimes a good distraction. Master Gil despises the man.
Male Human (from Comic) (Status: In Game)
Pictures
http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/cgi-bin/gg101.cgi?date=20050928
http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/cgi-bin/gg101.cgi?date=20060522
(v5, p100-101)
(v5, p107)
Plots:
Many Jaegers (Many Jaegers)
The British Spies (Spies)
The Succession of Holfung-Borzoi (Succession)
Wulfenbach Interests (Wulfenbach Interests)
People of the Mirror-World (Mirror-World)
The Suspected Revenant (Suspected Revenant)
Items
Tea Set (Tea Set) -- A beautiful silver tea set, handed down in the Wooster family for generations. From the shape of the pot to the precise diameter of the spout, this is designed to make the absolute best tea possible, when used by someone who has studied the art properly.
Tea (Tea) -- Tea is the most prized of beverages, greatly honored throughout England, and the Woosters have always been the best at it. The Wooster family blend, mixed with several plants that grow in their native shire, is widely known to be both the most flavorful and calming of teas. From the nobility to the commoners, everyone is willing to pay a little extra for it.
This is a large block of compressed tea, suitable for many cups of the drink. It requires a skilled hand to make it just right, though, extracting all the flavor as well as its health benefits.
Abilities and Disabilities
Tea Making (Tea Making) -- You are a practiced expert in the making of Tea. While you can make the most our of any combination of leaves and teapot, you are truly a marvel when you have your personal tea set and family blend. If anyone doubts your skills with Tea, they need but taste it and look at this card: this Tea is smoother and more flavorful than any other. It is delightfully invigorating -- for the next hour, the drinker feels more clear-headed and calm than normal. If they are injured, the Tea can heal 1 point of damage: that is, if they were at -2 in Combat, they are now -1. (This bonus can only be used once per player during the game.)
Making tea takes five minutes and costs 1 Point; you may converse while doing so, but must keep an eye on the tea to do it properly. One pot makes four cups.
Historical Background
The following were notes while the character was evolving. They do not necessarily represent the way it came out.
Gil's right-hand man. Calm, quiet and competent.
While Wooster tries to keep his own personality as sublimated to his duties as possible, he is [a British patriot], and proud of his people. Gil seems to enjoy poking gentle fun at him over it.
On (v5, p100), it's pretty clear that Gil is on the verge of accusing Wooster of being a spy. But he enjoys the game too much to do so. In general, this sequence is important for setting their relationship.
Wooster is very much the consummate butler, and specializes in making Gil's tea perfectly. He needs to have a tea set as items.
Gil and Wooster finally have it out on (v5, p106-107). This is the moment when Gil admits that he's always known the truth.
Wooster's character sheet really should include his orders, probably as the first few paragraphs.
Wooster is slightly addicted to his own Tea, but I'm not currently planning on doing anything with that unless it seems convenient at runtime.
History
He and Gil [met in Paris]. He claimed to have no idea who Gil was; as we find out later, that was a lie.
Amount of Character Potential: Fair (Whether he's in-game depends a lot of when we set it. If it's in the past, he ought to be in if Gil is. There are real possibilities there -- he is a man with a secret, which always helps a character -- but we'd need to write a lot.)