OOC InformationPreferred Form of Address on A&A: Dood... or whatever....
Contact Information:PM me here.
Other Characters on A&A: Mr. Crowely (not really RP though).
How You Found A&A: I know some people who know some people...
:tarandfeathers:
IC InformationName:Paul Calvin Jacobs
Avatar:Sam Neill
Occupation:Priest
Age:51
Gender:Male
Appearance:Reverend Jacobs is of average height. He wears a black jacket and slacks. His collar is white. What he wears is the typical uniform for Anglican Priests in this period. His shoes are leather boots. He keeps them in good condition, but they are never shiny. His clothing is always clean, but never to the point of being TOO clean. His shirts are pressed, but always SLIGHTLY wrinkled. His hair is combed, but always a LITTLE messy. An observant person might think that he goes out of his way to avoid excellence and remain average.
Personality:Reverend Jacobs has two personalities. The external one that he shows to others, and the internal one that is the truth but something he never exposes to others.
His external personality is pleasant and warm and kind (although somewhat stand-offish). He's very likely to do exactly what you would expect someone in his position to do. If you're in trouble, then he'll give you the proscribed advice that a religious figure would be expected to give. He always appears responsible and in control over himself. Yet, despite his apparent satisfaction with his lot in life, there is a deep sadness in his eyes, a sorry that hints only slightly at how broken he is inside.
His internal personality is a conflicted guilty mass of doubts and fears. Father Jacob lost all his faith a long time ago. Forget about the Holy Mother and the Messiah. Now he even finds himself questioning the existence of God. (Although he would NEVER admit to this, as it would destroy his reputation and his place in society). How did this come to be? How did his faith come to be shaken and destroyed? That is a question that must be answered in the course of RP. Perhaps someone close to him died in a way he felt spectacularly unfair or something.
History:Born the fourth son of a sharecropper, Paul Calvin Jacobs knew very early that he would not be given many choices in his life. When his parents gave him up to an Anglican-run orphanage at the tender age of ten, he knew that this was his chance to make something of himself.
At the orphanage he began learning how to sing praises to God and study the holy scriptures. It became his pleasure in life to seek the emotional purity of the lord and the companionship and those around him who believed the same things and wore the same clothing and spoke the same words and 'belonged' in the same way that he belonged. There was a unity to Paul's existence here, and it faded his personality so that he blended in the same way that different colored paint can be blended. He was red and the church was white, at first he became pink, and as the years went on he faded to a lighter and lighter shade until he was nearly white. Whatever doubt he might have had, whatever innate instinctive sense of the universe he might have held within him, it was overwhelmed and wiped away by the glorious love of God and the harmonious daily existence.
Continuing his education, the young Paul Jacobs attained a Master of Sacred Theology from <Appropriate Seminary School in Appropriate Location>. During his time at school he met a young woman named Bellefina Chandry, whom he wooed and married. These were the happiest times of Paul’s life. Bellefina gave birth to three children. The youngest was two when Paul was instructed by Bishop Millhouse to spend a month at the <Name of Church in Distant Part of England>. There he was to observe the oratory skills of Reverend Sneervol and learn from him.
When the month was over, Paul was offered a position as an assistant Reverend at a small church in < Name of Church in Distant Part of England>. He went there immediately and sent for his family as soon as he had obtained residence for them. Waiting on the train tracks in <Location Name> he watched the clock, but the time sped on and the train did not arrive. Finally there was an announcement that the train had derailed some miles away, and that it would be indefinitely delayed. Paul hurried to that location, but he was too late. His family was dead, crushed by the luggage inside the cars.
Spirit crushed, Paul nonetheless leaned upon his faith as best he could and proceeded forward to continue his career into the ministry. There was nothing else for him to do. Only distance in time from now could heal him – or not.
So it was that Paul Jabobs grew to become a man, and the man grew old. As people often do, he changed as he aged. Morphing and melding. Altering in proximity to those he was exposed to. Dancing across the ballroom of life to a tune he neither understood nor recognized. Doing his best to keep step so as not to disturb the others. That was his goal here: to blend and fade and eventually to vanish. It was a slow form of suicide that left less of a memory. When he was gone, not even the trauma of his passing would remain in the minds of his peers.
His entire life would have been like this - would have ended this way - if it hadn't been for the incident that changed him. Pride, you see, was something that Paul had determined early on to be a major hurdle for him. Ambitions could destroy your salvation and bring you to the forefront. THAT was not acceptable. To be humble was to know the Lord, and Paul wanted nothing else.
Then the incident occurred. The thing that changed him. Broke him. Turned him inside out and made him question the very faith that had sustained him all these years.
Now, a broken man with a broken faith hides himself in plain sight, holding a weapon that could destroy him and his faith, but refusing to use it because of... loyalty? Love? Devotion? Fear?
The bottom line is, he doesn't know. But he needs to find out.
Strengths:Paul is an expert at guessing at what other people are ashamed of and what they hide in their hearts. He is adept at reading between the lines. Sometimes he is excellent at gaining the trust of others, whether he is worthy of it or not. Secrets, however, are something he is excellent at keeping (which could be a strength OR a weakness, depending on how you look at it). He will never divulge a confidence, but sometimes he will take action based on knowledge that he holds private.
Weaknesses:Lack of faith and fear of discovery are his two biggest weaknesses. He will do almost anything to avoid others from discovering that he no longer believes as he is meant to believe. (Other Priests are different as he may seek their council, but parishioners must never know). His lack of faith may also make him seem somewhat less than enthusiastic when performing religious rituals, although he will never appear disgusted or hypocritical (which is how he feels on the inside). In RP, I will try to describe how he appears to be, and how he actually feels to make the dichotomy clear (although I'm not sure if I'll always be able to do pull it off).
Weapons:Only guilt, which he wields with an expertise that one might describe as bordering on supernatural. Perhaps because it is something he feels so keenly himself. It is a weapon that he believes might eventually kill him. Live by the sword...
Picture:Something like this (but in black with a white collar):
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2780731648/nm0000554