Irene Stickypaws
General Information
Age: 51
Species: Wildcat
Gender: Female (She/her)
Size: Medium
Physical Description
General Information
Age: 51
Species: Wildcat
Gender: Female (She/her)
Size: Medium
Physical Description
Irene Stickypaws is a tuxedo cat of middling age who, thanks to cosmetics, excellent fashion, and a fortunate bloodline, does not yet look the fullness of her years. More than that, the intelligence in her shrewd golden eyes lends a youthful vigor to her presentation, allowing her to easily present as a decade younger than her two-score-and-eleven years. Frequently she wears a blend of Imperial and Alkamarian fashion, a bold statement given current tensions between the two nations. Her headfur, grown long over the years, she keeps tied back in a neat twist.
Inventory and Real Estate
-A shared mansion in her husband's estate near The Iron Pit
-A townhouse in the lower Trenches within walking distance of the Ministry of Innovation
-A laboratory on Ministry premises, on a basement floor that doesn't officially exist, for her private research
-A sizable library of her findings and various research material from around the world
Personality
Irene is a passionate beast, at least when it comes to her interests. She fixates upon her research almost to the detriment of everything else - and that 'everything else' is only tended to largely thanks to a trusted staff who see to it for her so she won't be interrupted. Despite having borne four kits, there is no one alive who would list 'mother' as one of the top five words describing her; her kits, Alice (15), Jasper (12), Robert (8) and Melody (3), despite her claims that they are the center of her world, only have her attention for approximately three percent of her waking moments, and that's when she's between projects. In Irene's view, the number of nannies, tutors, and boarding schools she pays for constitute affection enough on her part, and she sees little reason to put in greater effort than that. As for her husband, while there's rarely been a meeting of two more compatible minds, and in that respect they hold a deep mutual respect bordering on affection, Irene would not claim that their marriage was motivated by love, even to his face.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Irene is brilliant, there are few who would gainsay that; with that brilliance comes a certain narcissistic confidence in her own capabilities that has led her to push hard and aggressively for her space in the world and especially at the Ministry of Innovation, an establishment that, despite its forward-looking mandate, has not always had the most welcoming internal culture toward outspoken femmes. Her unorthodox (bordering on heretical and unethical) scientific interests have earned her a mixture of respect and wariness both, gathering would-be students to her side at the same time as those who oppose her dogma marshal against her. That same confidence that drives her forward and draws apprentices to her also spurs her opposition, undermining her work with equal magnitude.
History
Irene Stickypaws was born to a MAUL agent deep undercover in Alkamar circa the Second Alkamarian War, sired by a minor don of the Alkamarian court. This unconventional parentage led to a tumultuous first few years of her life, sheltered in Alkamar unwittingly from the very forces her mother was secretly working to bring into the country. When a plan to open the gates of the Fortress of Bruschard failed and suspicion fell upon her father, Irene and her family all fled together to the Vulpine Imperium, her father defecting in exchange for safety for his mistress and daughter, unaware that both were, by bloodright, Vulpinsulans themselves. When he got to the Imperium and it was exposed that his downfall had been entirely by his mistress's paw, he abandoned them out of shock and outrage, going to live in exile alone in the Vulpinsulan countryside instead. Irene would only see her father thrice more after that day, one of those occasions being his funeral.
With her mother busy in the field, Irene was afforded a full Imperial education on Misanthropy's dime. She swiftly demonstrated a remarkable skill for pattern recognition, and the Ministry attempted to funnel her into a program for cryptography, but, ironically, this was too easy to long hold her interest. Instead she became fascinated by the form, coloration, and pattern of living things, and swiftly became an avid student of biology. She was even afforded the opportunity to study at the University of Length, graduating early at the age of nineteen. Because her education was entirely paid for by the Ministry of Misanthropy, she was required to spend at least ten years in their employment for them to reap the benefits of their investment. While she could have worked in the poison gardens, tending to the exotic species at play, the Dark Star (Chief of Intelligence) of the time, a vixen named Dawn Mistrunner, recognized the potential inherent in her Alkamarian background and instead trained the young molly for international espionage.
Under the cover of being a foreign scholar and professor of biology, Irene was dispatched to Alkamar to work in le Université de Alkamar, ostensibly teaching and biology and researching a new strain of hybridized grain, while also attempting to discover secretive military technologies being researched by the other professors. In this role, Irene became taken with a fascination when she encountered a student of mixed Alkamarian-Miklarian heritage with the unique black schlera common in Miklar, but rare among native Alkamarians. Her focus was forgotten almost entirely as she began diving into this feature, seeking out other individuals of mixed heritage in an attempt to discover how this trait was and was not passed down. Once she thought she had a hypothesis on this trait (she believed it passed down most often matrilineally, but could occur recessively every two generations so long as both parents were one generation removed from the last instance of black eyes), she realized that she had to test this theory. She subtly recruited a mixture of research assistants of various Alkamarian and Miklarian extracts, and began assigning them in male and female pairs to separate projects away from the rest, even going so far as to supply the pairs with alcohol and various perfumes extracted from the glands of certain plants that Irene had observed were frequently employed in mustelid mating rituals. When a stastistically abnormal number of out-of-wedlock pregnancies suddenly arose among her research students, the university administration took notice and, concerned, looked into the matter. It didn't take long for them to realize that Irene had been experimenting on her own students in violation of every ethical rule of the institution and their society writ large. She was expelled and send packing, bundled on a ship heading back west.
When she returned to the Imperium, Irene was a different beast, a driven one this time. Having made the realization that beasts could be selectively bred for certain characteristics, if one was so inclined, she swiftly started up an unusual business under the table to advise the nobility on how to appropriately arrange their childrens' marriages in order to produce optimal qualities - a better swordbeast or croquet player, for instance, or improve the odds of a talented musician in the family. She garnered enough customers to establish herself as reputable and fund further research, this time into the matter of what made one beast talented and successful while others languished in poverty and obscurity. Over time, she thought she had the answer: it was entirely a matter of selective breeding.
When a talented scientist by the name of Nicholas of the Iron Pit arrived from the Ministry of Innovation to impound her unauthorized research, Irene saw an opportunity to test her theory in action, and she instead proposed a joint experiment with Nicholas. They would produce a number of children together and observe them for uncommon intellect. Her hypothesis was that their brilliance would be inherited by their offspring, producing a set of children that equaled or exceeded their parents' intelligence. This would also allow both to satisfy the social norm of marriage and kits, freeing up more social permission to continue with their ambitions. Within the next two decades Irene conceived and gave birth to three kittens: Alice, Jasper, and Robert, each of whom swiftly proved themselves to be geniuses in their own fields. Alice became fascinated with the properties of light and, at fifteen, has become a pioneer in the field of optics. Jasper, at twelve, is already a brilliant composer and mathematician, applying the rigid rules and geometries of the latter to his compositions in search of the most perfect concerto ever created. Robert, only eight, is a precise and exacting sculptor, his pieces inspired by the scientific discoveries he obsessively researches and translates into his chosen medium.
Taking her hypothesis as proved by her own kits, Irene has sought to expand application of this principle to the entire Imperium. She has quietly been encouraging the Empress to have more kits, confident that a proliferation of the royal family (especially fathered by a selection of well-educated and brilliant todds) will be key to national revitalization. More quietly, she has begun to gather like-minded and impressionable young scientists to her from the Ministry of Innovation, wherein she secured a research position presumably to research botanical hybridization, but which Irene uses to study her true passion of determining how to create superior breeds of the various species that dwell in the Imperium. This gathering shadow organization within Innovation, which privately refer to itself as the Docents of Perfection, is inevitably mulling more extreme measures to accomplish their goals on a shorter timespan, even measures that would be considered inthaumane such as deliberately introducing plague, poisoning wells, or engaging in forced sterilization or selective genocide.
Irene, at the center of this web, obsesses over how to bring her vision to life, even as she ignores the living proof of the flaw in her hypothesis: her daughter Melody. Conceived far later than most beasts would believe was even possible for a femme (a showing of fertility that Irene attributes to her genetic superiority), Melody has not hit the same developmental markers as her siblings at the same age. Her nannies and tutors report that she is fussy and prone to fits of non-responsive insularity, ignoring the lessons and toys curated for her development and, when pressed, often resorting to rocking back and forth on the floor. Irene's shame at her daughter's state has led her to dive even deeper into her research, fleeing from the proof that she is not the uberfeline she believes herself to be.
With her mother busy in the field, Irene was afforded a full Imperial education on Misanthropy's dime. She swiftly demonstrated a remarkable skill for pattern recognition, and the Ministry attempted to funnel her into a program for cryptography, but, ironically, this was too easy to long hold her interest. Instead she became fascinated by the form, coloration, and pattern of living things, and swiftly became an avid student of biology. She was even afforded the opportunity to study at the University of Length, graduating early at the age of nineteen. Because her education was entirely paid for by the Ministry of Misanthropy, she was required to spend at least ten years in their employment for them to reap the benefits of their investment. While she could have worked in the poison gardens, tending to the exotic species at play, the Dark Star (Chief of Intelligence) of the time, a vixen named Dawn Mistrunner, recognized the potential inherent in her Alkamarian background and instead trained the young molly for international espionage.
Under the cover of being a foreign scholar and professor of biology, Irene was dispatched to Alkamar to work in le Université de Alkamar, ostensibly teaching and biology and researching a new strain of hybridized grain, while also attempting to discover secretive military technologies being researched by the other professors. In this role, Irene became taken with a fascination when she encountered a student of mixed Alkamarian-Miklarian heritage with the unique black schlera common in Miklar, but rare among native Alkamarians. Her focus was forgotten almost entirely as she began diving into this feature, seeking out other individuals of mixed heritage in an attempt to discover how this trait was and was not passed down. Once she thought she had a hypothesis on this trait (she believed it passed down most often matrilineally, but could occur recessively every two generations so long as both parents were one generation removed from the last instance of black eyes), she realized that she had to test this theory. She subtly recruited a mixture of research assistants of various Alkamarian and Miklarian extracts, and began assigning them in male and female pairs to separate projects away from the rest, even going so far as to supply the pairs with alcohol and various perfumes extracted from the glands of certain plants that Irene had observed were frequently employed in mustelid mating rituals. When a stastistically abnormal number of out-of-wedlock pregnancies suddenly arose among her research students, the university administration took notice and, concerned, looked into the matter. It didn't take long for them to realize that Irene had been experimenting on her own students in violation of every ethical rule of the institution and their society writ large. She was expelled and send packing, bundled on a ship heading back west.
When she returned to the Imperium, Irene was a different beast, a driven one this time. Having made the realization that beasts could be selectively bred for certain characteristics, if one was so inclined, she swiftly started up an unusual business under the table to advise the nobility on how to appropriately arrange their childrens' marriages in order to produce optimal qualities - a better swordbeast or croquet player, for instance, or improve the odds of a talented musician in the family. She garnered enough customers to establish herself as reputable and fund further research, this time into the matter of what made one beast talented and successful while others languished in poverty and obscurity. Over time, she thought she had the answer: it was entirely a matter of selective breeding.
When a talented scientist by the name of Nicholas of the Iron Pit arrived from the Ministry of Innovation to impound her unauthorized research, Irene saw an opportunity to test her theory in action, and she instead proposed a joint experiment with Nicholas. They would produce a number of children together and observe them for uncommon intellect. Her hypothesis was that their brilliance would be inherited by their offspring, producing a set of children that equaled or exceeded their parents' intelligence. This would also allow both to satisfy the social norm of marriage and kits, freeing up more social permission to continue with their ambitions. Within the next two decades Irene conceived and gave birth to three kittens: Alice, Jasper, and Robert, each of whom swiftly proved themselves to be geniuses in their own fields. Alice became fascinated with the properties of light and, at fifteen, has become a pioneer in the field of optics. Jasper, at twelve, is already a brilliant composer and mathematician, applying the rigid rules and geometries of the latter to his compositions in search of the most perfect concerto ever created. Robert, only eight, is a precise and exacting sculptor, his pieces inspired by the scientific discoveries he obsessively researches and translates into his chosen medium.
Taking her hypothesis as proved by her own kits, Irene has sought to expand application of this principle to the entire Imperium. She has quietly been encouraging the Empress to have more kits, confident that a proliferation of the royal family (especially fathered by a selection of well-educated and brilliant todds) will be key to national revitalization. More quietly, she has begun to gather like-minded and impressionable young scientists to her from the Ministry of Innovation, wherein she secured a research position presumably to research botanical hybridization, but which Irene uses to study her true passion of determining how to create superior breeds of the various species that dwell in the Imperium. This gathering shadow organization within Innovation, which privately refer to itself as the Docents of Perfection, is inevitably mulling more extreme measures to accomplish their goals on a shorter timespan, even measures that would be considered inthaumane such as deliberately introducing plague, poisoning wells, or engaging in forced sterilization or selective genocide.
Irene, at the center of this web, obsesses over how to bring her vision to life, even as she ignores the living proof of the flaw in her hypothesis: her daughter Melody. Conceived far later than most beasts would believe was even possible for a femme (a showing of fertility that Irene attributes to her genetic superiority), Melody has not hit the same developmental markers as her siblings at the same age. Her nannies and tutors report that she is fussy and prone to fits of non-responsive insularity, ignoring the lessons and toys curated for her development and, when pressed, often resorting to rocking back and forth on the floor. Irene's shame at her daughter's state has led her to dive even deeper into her research, fleeing from the proof that she is not the uberfeline she believes herself to be.
Skills
Total Points Available To Spend: 16 (4 Purchased) |
|---|
The default for new characters over 16 is 12, for characters under 16 it is 11. |
Physical
-Unarmed Fighting (Claws) [Proficient] (2)
-Sleight of Paw [Trained] (1)
-Ballroom Dancing [Novice] (0)
-Flamenco [Novice] (0)
Total Points In Category: 3
Mental
-Science (Taxonomy) [Seasoned] (4)
-Espionage [Proficient] (2)
-Research (Genetics and Pedigree) [Proficient] (2)
-World Languages (Alkamarian and Miklarian) [Proficient] (2)
-Alkamarian Fresco Painting [Novice] (0)
Total Points In Category: 10
Social
-Persuasive Rhetoric [Trained] (1)
-Scheming [Proficient] (2)
-Parenting [Novice] (0)
-High Society Socializing [Novice] (0)
Total Points In Category: 3
