User Profile

Name: Taylor Hailes
Age: 19
Social Class: Merchant
Birthday: September 20
Family: Taylor's mother died giving birth to him. All he knows of her comes from stories told by his brothers.
His father, Leonard Hailes, was a stern but caring man who strove to make sure his sons would succeed in life. His skill at business brought his family great wealth, but unfortunately he died when Taylor was seven.
Patrick (34), the eldest brother, inherited their father's business and has enlisted the help of his younger siblings in running it. Though a kind man who had no small part in raising Taylor after their father's death, he is less than skilled at managing money.
Anthony (30), is the second brother. Uninterested in business, he was rarely of any help when it came to financial matters. Six months ago he vanished. Nothing has been heard of him since. Taylor actually got along with him well, and his disappearance without a word disturbed him.
Christopher (24), the third brother. He's smart and hard-working, but his attitude frequently causes him to clash with his siblings.
Preferred Element: Water

Within hours of Taylor entering the world, his mother left it, unable to survive the combination of a difficult birth and a sudden illness that had struck at the worst possible time. Taylor nearly died himself, but thanks to the great amount of care he was given by his family, he pulled through. Throughout his childhood ended up falling ill quite often, and eventually just took to staying inside and reading. Leonard continued to take care of his sons while running his extremely profitable business, a trading company that he had built nearly from scratch.

After Leonard died, Patrick took over the company, but it was clear from the start that he lacked the skills necessary to run it. Every year, the fortune that their family had built up slowly declined towards zero. Anthony ignored their problems entirely and squandered money shamelessly, and though Christopher often offered good advice, he fought enough with Patrick to cause other problems.

Taylor, still a child, had no part in this. He watched with confusion as his brothers panicked, unaware of the signs of decline. He could not, would not imagine a life without money, could not bring himself to believe that his comfortable life could be upset. All he wanted to do was keep to himself, helping his brothers with bookkeeping when needed. As the years passed, however, the signs became impossible to ignore. The company was failing, and soon they would go bankrupt. By the time Taylor turned 19, they had already been forced to sell much of their land and possessions, barely staying afloat in the process. Anthony had disappeared six months ago, taking a number of his possessions and a large sum of money with him. They were months away from running out of money, and Taylor could do nothing but watch.

Then the testors came. The last one in his family to become a mage had been generations ago, and his brothers had been talent-less, so it was no small surprise when they learned of Taylor's latent ability. He left for Everthorne Academy with a promise: "One month. After one month's time, I will somehow be able to make things right."

Taylor has rarely gone far from his home, and has spoken to few outside his immediate family and the servants (before they left). As a result, he is not exactly a skilled conversationalist. He puts things very briefly, and has a tendency to complain about trivial things. He can sometimes come off as quite arrogant and insensitive to the needs of others.

In reality, he's terrified. His life as he knew it was already falling apart, and now he was forced to go to an unfamiliar school filled with unfamiliar people for a whole month. He had never been apart from his family before, and the idea scares him. No matter how confident he may seem about passing, his doubts are starting to gnaw at him. The responsibility he has taken upon himself is a big one, and he isn't sure if he can handle it.

Taylor has a number of hobbies, a good many of them involving the arts. He plays both the flute and the piano quite well, and is a skilled artist. He also enjoys reading, particularly classical literature. He's extremely neat and tidy and cannot abide dirt (or dirty people).

Taylor grooms himself very carefully just for the sake of being neat. He has black hair down to his ears and his eyes are a strange shade of blue. He's quite good-looking, and Anthony would often try to bring him on his trips into town, saying that he was a "natural" (something he would always politely decline). He doesn't smile a lot, though. He's thinly built and quite weak, so he usually has to rest after relatively small amounts of exercise. His clothes are always kept in impeccable condition.