- Influence
- 3,936.00
Corda & Cordan LeConte
SkillsTotal Points Available To Spend: 12 |
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The default for new characters over 16 is 12, for characters under 16 it is 11. |
Physical
-Dueling (Rapiers) [Trained] (2)
-Derring-Do [Trained] (2)
Total Points In Category: 4
Mental
-First Aid [Trained] (2)
-Tinkering [Trained] (2)
Total Points In Category: 4
Social
-Heroic Banter [Trained] (2)
-Polite Etiquette [Trained] (2)
Total Points In Category: 4
General Information
Age: 25
Species: Fox
Size: Medium
Physical Description
Corda and Cordan are both dusty gray foxes with light blue eyes and a mischievous, knowing smile. Cordan tends to carry himself with a certain bravado, speaking in a clear, confident voice, albeit one pitched a bit higher than for most males. Corda, for her part, tends to present a little more reserved, keeping to the rules of etiquette, ones that obscure a clever mind at work. While Cordan favors bright coats and trousers of blue and gold appropriate to the swashbuckling dandies of pulp novels, Corda wears more muted dresses of red and marigold with a leather corset. Cordan is rarely seen without his trusty (albeit antique) rapier; Corda keeps a medical kit by her side, one stocked with a few innovative devices of her own. Those who know the twins often remark on the incredible similarity between them, even for fraternal twins.
Inventory and Real Estate
-An antique rapier in decent repair
-Several sets of clothes appropriate to either a polite young lady or an extravagant fop
-A bag of assorted medical supplies and small tinkered innovations
Personality
Cordan is highly outgoing and boisterous, imitating the larger-than-life heroes of old swashbuckling adventure novels, full of noble bands of brothers who swear oaths of camaraderie, topple the corrupt nobles, and rescue the damsel in distress. Many find him to be, politely speaking, "a bit much", a characterization to which he seems oblivious. Corda, in contrast, is quiet and polite, a surprisingly good conversationalist, though she hides her intellect between self-effacing wit and the formalities of polite conversation. She tends to shrink from a confrontation, even withdrawing into herself or fleeing to go find her brother to fight her battles instead.
Strengths
In conjunction, the twins operate well as a unit. Cordan's outgoing personality is well-suited to stressful or violent situations, and his idealism can be a refreshing counterpoint to his sister's stoic cynicism. Corda, in turn, is a talented caregiver, cleaning up her brother's wounds and tending to the beasts around her with an empathetic touch. But for that they never seem to be in the same place, they would be quite the dynamic duo.
Weaknesses
The twins, taken individually, have some serious blind spots. Cordan's idealism and desire to emulate the heroes of his childhood fiction often land him in trouble, especially when the conceits of the genre run into the cruelties of cold, harsh reality. Corda, in turn, seems to freeze in situations of confrontation, seeming to retreat into herself until she can flee to fetch her brother. Neither one, independently, is well-suited to operate in the world alone. This is made only more complicated by a truth that both conceal: both personalities cohabit in a single body.
History
Born under the name Corda LaConte to a rural Vulpinsulan family of above moderate wealth, the young vixen quickly demonstrated an unorthodox set of preferences. She fell in love with the stories of dashing heroes read to her by her mother, and begged for fencing lessons, trousers, and hats with large feather plumes in them. Her mother, a vixen of frail health, indulged her daughter, much to the displeasure and even ire of her husband. Corda's father at first harshly rebuked Corda for her tomboyish ways, going so far as to take away her boyish clothes, books, and toy swords, much to the kit's immense distress. Her mother would then quietly either recover the confiscated items or purchase new ones, starting the cycle over again.
As the years went on and it became clear that no other heir to the LaConte name would be produced, Corda's father grew ill-tempered with both his wife and daughter, more frequently resorting to harsh words and heavy paws to take out his frustration, punishing every infraction by Corda with growing malice. Corda's mother, in turn, tried to shield Corda from the worst of his temper, hiding Corda's books, outfits, and swords away from where her father would look, and arranging fencing lessons in secret. Swiftly Corda was living two separate lives; around her father, she was the meek, cowed daughter learning the feminine arts of needle-point, polite conversation, and managing a household; with her mother, Corda instead used masculine pronouns, asking to be treated as a boy, and took for himself the name of Cordan. Over time, it became clear that this wasn't merely a case of an alter-ego; Corda and Cordan grew to be oblivious to, or at least disconcerted by, the lives the other led. Corda had to cower before her father, wincing every time he raised his voice or paw; Cordan was instead encouraged by his mother to be brave, to try to be the hero he knew himself to be. With the trouble that Cordan was prone to get himself into, Corda had to teach herself some basic medicine with which to conceal the scrapes and bruises of her 'brother's' misadventures. The neighboring kits, those whom Cordan befriended, conjectured based on gossip that the LaConte family must have two kits, a hardy young todd with an adventurous street, and a meek, perhaps sickly, young vixen.
In time, Corda was set to be introduced formally to high society upon her coming of age. Her father's hope was to impress a wealthy family and arrange a beneficial marriage for his daughter. To his dismay, however, halfway through the party Corda disappeared. Instead, circulating about the room and charming the young ladies with his chivalry, Cordan LaConte made his first appearance in high society as well. Humiliated, Cordan's father was forced to stand back and watch as his unacknowledged son became the favorite of local high society, with even a few hints at a possible engagement proffered by the fathers of eligible young vixens. Only at the end of the party, at their mother's suggestion, did Cordan retreat for the night and Corda returned to bid a fond farewell to the evening's guests.
When the party was over, Corda and Cordan's father flew into a violent rage, beating his wife savagely and blaming her for 'perverting' their daughter. Corda, caught up in terror of her father, retreated into herself in the spectacle. It was Cordan who emerged from the dissociative event, seizing an iron poker and striking at his father, piercing him in numerous places, including a stab right through the knee. When their father lay bleeding on the floor, Cordan retreated, leaving a horrified Corda to bandage the wounds left by her brother.
The next few years were tense. The twins' father made a partial recovery, though the damage to his knee never healed fully and left him with a pronounced limp and a bitter attitude toward his whole family. The offers made to the LaConte family for Corda and Cordan's paws in marriage were quietly withdrawn due to the insufferable demeanor of their father, who increasingly retreated into drink to manage his pain and disposition. While this gave space for Cordan to exist outside of his father's malicious gaze, Corda remained trapped in the role of reluctant caregiver to her father and mother both, especially as her mother's health waned and her father grew increasingly prone to drunken rages.
One stormy night, when the twins were well near twenty-five years of age, the tension that had built in the LaConte house finally reached a breaking point. In a drunken rage, the twins' father went to his wife's room and violently assailed her, accusing her of ruining his and the family's good name. This time, when Cordan emerged, he didn't limit himself to an iron poker. Retrieving his grandfather's old rapier from its place on the wall, he intervened, challenging his father to a duel. The old fox, too drunk to understand, attacked his son, causing Cordan to skewer him through the heart. When Corda next came to, it was to find her father already bleeding out on the bedroom carpet, dead, and her mother severely beaten. Within a fortnight, despite Corda's best attempts to tend to her mother's wound, the LaConte twins found themselves orphaned.
In the aftermath of their parents' death, the twins discovered that the family finances were in far more dire straits than they had imagined. Their father's mismanagement of the family finances, as well as their mother's perhaps overindulgent spending on Cordan, had left the family unable to support itself any further. With no way to earn enough to keep the estate, they were forced to put their family home up on market, using the proceeds to book their way to Bully Harbor. Neither twin have yet a clear picture of the future; Cordan hopes to find adventure, perhaps in the navy, while Corda, with an eye for innovative design and a desire for improvement, seeks to learn from the Ministry of Innovation and perhaps one day join its hallowed ranks. Neither want to acknowledge that these dreams are mutually exclusive, nor that, the longer they persist, the greater the risk of exposure. Instead, each are determined to pursue their dreams in whatever form they can, each counting on the other to watch their back.
