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Cromwell, Thomas
Topic Started: Mar 17 2010, 10:14 AM (330 Views)
Thomas Cromwell
Unregistered

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THOMAS CROMWELL

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HEY THERE. THE NAME IS LEX, AND I AM 19 YEARS OLD.
I'VE BEEN ROLEPLAYING FOR ABOUT 5 YEARS NOW, ON AND OFF. FAIR WARNING, IT'S BEEN AGES SINCE I LAST RP'D. OH, BY THE WAY, I READ THE RULES. WANT PROOF?
THE CODE WORD IS PUMPERNICKEL.
WANT TO REACH ME? HERE'S MY MSN: (THOUGH I DON'T USE MSN MUCH).

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  • - - - - Full Name, Thomas Cromwell.
    - - - - Title, Master.
    - - - - Gender, Male.
    - - - - Sexuality, Heterosexual.
    - - - - Age, 25.
    - - - - Place at Court, Secretary to Cardinal Reginald Bainbridge.
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  • - - - - Loves,
    The Lord God.
    Theology.
    The pursuit of knowledge and education.
    Men who can debate and defend their ideas eloquently.
    A tidy workspace and motivated workers.
    The concept of freely available education to the masses (such as the anglicism of the Bible).
    Languages (partly as a way to keep his mind busy, but partly because he secretly likes to show off his fluency in Latin, Italian and French).
    Those with determination and resolve (so long as he thinks their goals are worthwhile, otherwise they just irritate him).
    Discovering and enjoying the frivolities of the upper class as he rises in stature.
    and, uh...venison. *shrug*

    - - - - Loathes,
    The corruption of the Papacy.
    The concept of a man's worth being measured by material goods.
    The deliberate withholding of education and information from the poor.
    Men who let their emotions govern their choices.
    Those who view Martyrdom as a thing to aspire to.
    Loud, obnoxious women who flaunt themselves like prize fillies.
    For that matter, men who flaunt their daughters and wives like prize fillies.
    Traveling by sea or river. It makes him awfully sick.
    Feeling as if his own fate is out of his control.
    The pointless, vain expenses of the English court (though only in theory. Hypocritically, he bloody well enjoys nice things).

    - - - - Strengths, His mind, his wit, his strategic ability and his ambition.

    - - - - Weaknesses, His lifestyle lends itself to loneliness, and he's quite an unhappy person at the core of things. And of course, this being King Henry's court, Thomas' mind, wit, strategic ability and ambition could be his greatest undoing.

    - - - - Dreams, For a world where God's divinity is not used and twisted by the Vatican, as he's seen it be done. For a kingdom where anybody can pray to God alone and be comfortable in the knowledge that they will be granted salvation. For a church not built on profits and lies.
    Most of all though, he dreams of being the man who makes this happen.

    - - - - Fears, For his life to fall completely out of his own control, and to be quashed by undeserving men with more power and riches than he could ever dream of. For those men to hoard all the knowledge and art and beauty in this world for themselves. For a man's will, determination, intelligence and skill to cease to matter; until the entire world is run by spoiled, gluttonous deviants who fashion themselves little red hats and robes and call themselves God's voice on earth, whose ignorance and ineptitude will eventually consume and destroy everything and everyone in the ruined void that they deign to call their kingdom.
    *ahem* He gets maudlin and fatalistic when he's drunk.

    - - - - Overall Personality, Thomas Cromwell is an ambitious, smart man; who will soon find he's well suited to life at court. Along with his intelligence and sharp wit, Thomas' work ethic and meticulous attention to detail make him excellent at his job, though at times he finds the work tedious.
    He's a savvy man with some radical political ideas, though at the moment he has no way to voice them. He's also quite ambitious, rarely letting anything stand in his way for long.

    He can sometimes be taken as cold and uncaring, but that is usually by people far more open and outgoing than himself. He's always been a reserved person, subtle in every way, and this can be off-putting to some. To others though, he can be quite pleasant company. He has an engaging way of speaking to people he respects, as if every exchange is the sharing of great knowledge or great secrets.

    Though, despite all outward appearances, and despite his quiet, confident demeanor, he's scared. It's a strange kind of tension that he carries with him always; so pervasive and insidious that he usually doesn't even realize it's there. No matter where he is at any moment, no matter what he's doing, half of his mind is still in the moment before it. Double checking, cataloging, making sure that he didn't leave something behind. Sometimes, he thinks himself quite neurotic. And because of this, he's lonely.

    It's the curse of many intelligent men to not fully understand their own minds, and Thomas is no exception. He doesn't quite trust himself, with opinions as changeable and complex as his are. Sometimes he thinks he could drive himself mad, if he sat in his quarters and debated with his own head all day, turning his thoughts around and around as he argued every point of view imaginable.

    Most of all though, and most distressing, is that he doesn't trust himself to know what he's capable of when he's truly afraid.
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  • - - - - Family Members, His father, Walter Cromwell, is a layman of various trades living in London. His mother Joan died of consumption when he was 19 years old. So far, Thomas has never married and has fathered no children.

    - - - - Overall History,
    Thomas was born in Putney, a district of South London, in 1485. Born into a family that was neither rich nor very poor, he was expected to live a life much like that of his father. Walter Cromwell had worked many respectable trades throughout his youth, before settling into the role of an alehouse keeper at age 30. Unlike his father, however, Thomas quickly showed an aptitude for more intellectual work than labor, and was employed (for a minuscule wage) at age twelve by a family of merchant bankers.

    His work was simple at first, sorting papers and sweeping floors; but the job provided him with further education as he was trained in reading and writing by excellent tutors. By fifteen, he had established himself as a diligent young worker, eager to do things the right way rather than the simplest or easiest, as was done by most of his peers.

    He soon found himself in the employment of a young Bishop, and slowly, with great effort and some luck, secured himself a position as secretary to Cardinal Reginald Bainbridge by the age of 20. Not only was he now traveling between London and Rome regularly, but he found himself fascinated by the politics and nuances of this new world of luxury and importance.

    However his fascination would soon turn to disillusionment, and then disgust, as he was privy to some of the more unsavory aspects of Cardinal Bainbridge's life. The man spent money like his riches were infinite, and took money from the poor and desperate as if he had no concept of how much it meant to them. The politics that had so entranced Thomas now sickened him, as he slowly came to the belief that they had taken the place of God in the Catholic church.

    He began hearing whispers of a new way of thinking, a more progressive way of thinking, and soon he was meeting other men like himself, untrusting of the Catholic faith. The works of Martin Luther became known to them, in whispers mostly, but none of the men (Thomas included) were daring enough to seek out and read his pamphlets. Not yet. Not when they were so close to the church, where spies were sniffing out so called 'heretics' like bloodthirsty hounds.

    Now, Pope Julius II is traveling to England, to declare King Henry VII 'Defender of the Faith'. It will be quite the event, with many Cardinals attending. And so Thomas Cromwell has found himself back in England. Not in the city of London this time, but Hampton court itself. And Hampton, with its reputation as the most loose and lavish court in all the world, ruled by a young and hot tempered king, should soon prove to be a very interesting place for a 'heretic' like Master Cromwell to be.
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  • - - - - Roleplay Sample,
    It was nothing more than a derelict shed. Its walls were made of corrugated iron, buckled in places where the heat had distorted them, and its roof was mottled with bird poo and rust. The tiny, dust covered windows were open today, letting what small breeze there was inside, but this offered little relief. There was nothing around them but hot red sand and hazy heat-wave mirages for miles.

    It was perfect.

    As Shaun Mitchell leaned casually against the little shambled building, oblivious to the heat from the iron wall that was making the skin under his shirt flush an angry shade of red, he watched the sky.

    He stood like that for long minutes, his gaze tracing patterns only he could see, the afternoon's solitary cloud reflected in his sunglasses as it drifted lazily by. Nothing moved quickly 'round these parts. Somewhere nearby Beatles music was blaring out of static-y speakers from an old cassette player. Nothing much changed quickly either.

    It would today, though. Nothing could stop it.

    As the last, doleful strains of a chorus faded into crackling static, he pushed away from the wall with a surge of almost manic determination, moving towards the large sliding doors at the east side of the shed.

    It took a little effort to work the rusty hinges open, same as it did yesterday, same as the day before; though nobody ever seemed to get around to oiling them.

    'who?' His own voice whispered in his head, from the recesses of his mind that still housed rational thought, 'There's nobody else here to do it'.

    “Hey Ben?” He shouted, trying to keep his voice from sounding like THAT voice, smarmy and hopeless, though as it echoed hollowly back at him even he could hear the faint tinge of madness to his tone.

    “Yeah?”

    “I’m goin’ for it.”


[align=center] THIS TEMPLATE WAS MADE BY THATSNOTMYNAME ! @ CAUTION ,
AND THE LYRICS ARE FROM OWL CITY'S THE TECHNICOLOR PHASE [/align]
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King Henry VIII
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Hey! I am SO EXCITED you're joining and doubly so that you're playing Cromwell!! We don't have a Wolsey so he'll be able to become prominent quite quickly. Just a couple thoughts--could you space out your paragraphs in the history? Just makes it easier to read. Next, I can tell from your personality section and history section that you're a great writer, and we're not stuffy on post size here at FKAC, but we do try to do a minimum the size of your personality section. So if you could add to or put in a new sample, that'd be awesome!
[align=center]His Majesty is in 3 threads.

plotter[/align]
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Thomas Cromwell
Unregistered

Hey, no problem! I'm super excited to be part of the site.

I've extended the sample, and yes, paragraphs are my friend. Thanks for reminding me. :P
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Catherine Willoughby
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vérité sans peur
Yay! So now that I see you have fixed all the things Katie addressed, and considering I'm the only mod on...

[align=center]Accepted!

Welcome to FKAC! Post in the face claim and the threading extravaganza![/align]

I'm very excited we have a Cromwell too. :)
[align=center]"I must shape my own coat according to my cloth, but it will not be after the fashion of this world but fit for me."

Catherine is in 2 threads.
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