Pascal Adler
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Pascal Adler
51
2nd Sun, 8244
5'8"
Male
Half Elf
Sniper
Air Chief Marshal
Koben Air Force
Likes
Collecting guns (especially hidden ones), experiments, shopping, museums, tournaments, being 'the eccentric one'
Dislikes
Dishonour, apathy, being treated like an invalid, elves, deep water, stormy weather (plays havoc with his prostheses)
Personality
Gentlemanly | Pompous | Prideful | Honourable | Bullish | Hot-tempered | Careless
Pascal prides himself on being a true gentleman - that is, according to his own definition of 'gentleman'. Superficially that's what you'd expect - he's well-mannered, well-groomed, honourable and carries himself with appropriate lofty decorum for his station. Where he departs from your usual high society man is his sensibilities for 'honour'. He lionises everything bold and hot-blooded - including acts of passion that most sane people would think ludicrous. For better or worse, he has a fiery temper to match - his friends would warn that he goes from 0 to 100 in a second flat if his 'honour is offended' (i.e. his ego is scuffed), guns and duels included. As a nouveau-riche he also has a complicated relationship with social class - sometimes he looks down on the upper class for being snobs, sometimes he looks down on the lower class for being boors, and he himself can be at the same time surprisingly easy to get along with and an insufferable hypocrite to both.
What his gentlemanliness does not cover is any ability to look after himself. He treats his experiments with a reckless abandon that has seen him break and lose body parts with alarming lack of care. He's no less careless or accident-prone outside of work - partly as a consequence of all his missing parts, partly from natural gung-ho, and partly because he sees it all as a form of bravado. His friends joke that if it weren't for his reams of money - enough to afford whatever housekeepers and prosthetics he needs to keeping living like he does - they'd be shocked he's even alive.
Whatever pretentions come out of his mouth, they all fall away when it comes to what really matters to him - i.e. his work, his collections, and his friends who have so much to say about him. Loyalty and commitment matter very much to him. He is well-liked by his peers for his sometimes boyish enthusiasm, his willingness to get his hands dirty with them, and his propensity to defend them as fiercely as he would himself - guns and duels included. He genuinely loves his work and often uses it as a distraction from things he doesn't like; it's a common complaint that he becomes strangely productive and also frustrating to get a hold of when he's on the hook for something unpleasant.
History
Pascal grew up in small town not far from Koben city, the son of an elvish watchmaker and a human housewife. They were a very ordinary family, except that his mother Constanze would swan around town with haughty airs because, in her words, she was of noble blood and should be living in a mansion. She obviously wasn't popular and his parents never explained the story to Pascal, so he labelled her delusional and did his best to avoid her. His father Albert was never cruel to him, but was distant and apathetic - until Pascal developed an interest in his watchmaking as a young teen. Flattered that his son was following his footsteps, Albert revealed that he used to be in the Wissen Fellowship making flight machines. Pascal was thrilled; he soon convinced Albert to take him as an apprentice so they could revive his old passions again together. It became treasured bonding time in their otherwise disconnected family.
Soon after he turned 18, Pascal applied to the Wissen Fellowship himself with grand hopes of carrying on his father's dream. He knew he was talented and had every reason to expect success - but he was shocked to receive a swift rejection instead. Unwilling to accept this, he travelled to the Fellowship headquarters to appeal - and there he was kindly informed of the black mark against his family. It turned out that Constanze was in fact the daughter of a noble family - the Von Islings - who disowned her for eloping with a Wissen Junior, Albert Adler. Big sponsors of the Fellowship, the Von Islings had Albert expelled and demanded that no-one from that family be allowed membership. Pascal returned fuming - angry at the Fellowship for being in the pocket of despots, angry at Constanze for being the cause, and angry at Albert for leading him on for so long. Then, a week later, came a second surprise. A letter arrived revoking Pascal's rejection signed by the Crown Prince Artur - who had happened to involve himself with Wissen admissions that year and liked his application. If he would let Artur have a hand in his career, the prince would fund him and keep the Von Islings out of his way. Pascal packed to leave that day. He met Artur as soon as he could to express his gratitude, and the two became friends. His new royal connections re-ignited Constanze's hopes to some day rejoin nobility. She started nagging him to request a peerage or marry into the royal social circle; he roundly ignored her.
Pascal's career progressed quickly with royal support. In just a few years, he earned the right to direct his own projects and moved to the ailing airship division of the Air Force, tasked with rebuilding it from the ground up. It was a daunting assignment, but Pascal saw it as a chance to prove himself worthy of Artur's backing - and prove himself he did. Over many long nights and risky decisions, he turned it from a stalled project to a rising star. His passion and achievements in the face of an 'underdog' situation caught the imaginations of several young talents and drew a flurry of fresh blood to his side. Momentum tipped his way and accelerated, and as their successes piled up, fame and investors came too.
Now that he was successful and happy, his anger towards his family faded. He started visiting again and even toyed with the idea of moving them all to the city. However on one visit, he caught his father in an affair with a local baker. The family exploded into a huge blow-up, where Constanze broke down and Albert confessed in frustration that yes, he'd had countless affairs since Pascal's childhood. He had naively thought he could love a human for her lifetime, but as a still-young elf with responsibilities he wasn't ready for and a rapidly aging partner, he found he just couldn't do it. He'd stayed out of guilt and Constanze had allowed the affairs out of fear that she'd die in shame on the streets if he left. She couldn't beg her family to take her back because, on the slim chance that they allowed it, she knew they'd force her to abandon Pascal and that was the one thing she couldn't do. Pascal stormed out with one demand - that Albert never show even the slightest whiff of his existence to either of them ever again. Within the next few weeks the house was sold, Constanze moved to a city apartment on Pascal's dime, and Albert was gone.
Pascal turned his attention back to his much more palateable career. As the airship division transformed from straggler to powerhouse of the Air Force, he moved into the post of Air Chief Marshal. He made sure his mother was provided for, but rarely visited - their relationship was still not easy and she still had a habit of begging him to marry 'well'. Despite his unwillingness to marry up for her sake, he never married at all thanks to the small thought in the back of his mind that he could.
Current Story
After Artur and Sigmund's deaths, he is saddened but willing to serve the Kaspars suspecting no foul play. He is however aware that his opportunities may narrow since he's no longer a personal friend of the monarch, so he's actively if somewhat reluctantly put himself on the market for a marriage into nobility. Hot widows out there, give him a call.
Additional Info
Adler is not his father's real surname, but a pseudonym he went by when he came to live with humans. Pascal hasn't changed it because it's too closely tied to his achievements now, but decided long ago that he'd take his partner's name if he ever gets married, regardless of their station.
Distrusts elves thanks to his father, but has mellowed out enough that he doesn't make a fuss about it. He still has zero belief in human-elf relationships.
Has an assortment of specialty prostheses he swaps his 'regulars' out for when it's convenient, e.g. tool fingers and a pedal foot. He jokes liberally about his missing parts and will happily show them off.
Also as a result of various experiments, his sense of smell/taste is busted and everything tastes like ash to him. Since it's all the same going down, he only cares about nutritional content and all he eats of his own volition is army biscuits, fantasy protein shakes, etc.
Very rich from his many patents and royalties; he has a lot of passive income on top of his salary.
Has been in more than his share of stupid duels.
Relations
Albert Adler
Father, who he regards with disgust. Looking back now, he can see that the man was more of a 'fun uncle' than truly a father to him. (Albert for his part wasn't ill-meaning so much as an immature, irresponsible young elf. He's still out there living his free life.)
Constanze Von Isling
Mother, who he has mixed feelings about. On the one hand he finds her annoying and shallow for her obsession with rank, and on the other he feels guilty for siding with his father and making fun of her in his youth. Despite her faults, she was always a loving mother to him.
Von Islings
Mother's birth family, who he wants nothing to do with. Since he became Air Chief Marshal, they've turned face and now want him in their family. Constanze desperately wants him to agree because if he does she can call herself a Von Isling again; he absolutely refuses out of resentment for how they treated his family until he became successful. They have a habit of name-dropping him as 'really a Von Isling' that he utterly despises.