PLAYER DETAILS
Name (or alias): Matthew
LJ:
soundingfurrowsAIM SN: Optional: boneman1115
BASE CHARACTER PROFILE -- PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE SHOULD ONLY BE ONE WORD ANSWERS (Except for the last one... and use your common sense for others too.)
Name: Nigel Klyn
LJ:
”nigel_klyn” Played By: Ian McKellan
Birthdate: 19th January 19 1962
Age: 44
Gender: Male
Wand: 25 centimeter ashwood wand with a core of phoenix feather
Blood: Half blood
Birthplace: Cambridge, United Kingdom
Location: Cambridge, United Kingdom
Status or Class: Upper class - due to the success of his mother as a researcher, his father as a Ministry worker, and himself as both an employee of the Ministry and a university professor in the muggle world, along with Nigel’s own skill at money management, he sits well above comfortable.
Race/Culture/Religion: Caucasian/Catholic
Family:
Guardian #1's Name/Age/Occupation: Lynda Klyn/70/Professor Emeritus at Cambridge
Guardian #2's Name/Age/Occupation: Harold Klyn/72/Retired wizard
Siblings' Names/Age/Occupations:
Pet Name/Species:
OWL Scores:
Astronomy: P
Charms: E
DADA: E
Herbology: A
History of Magic: A
Potions: A
Transfiguration: O
Other Subject #1: Muggle Studies: O
Other Subject #2: Arithmancy: A
Optional Other Subject:
NEWT Scores: (Put N/a if it is not applicable):
Astronomy: N/A
Charms: E
DADA: E
Herbology: A
History of Magic: A
Potions: N/A
Transfiguration: O
Optional Other Subject #1: Muggle Studies: O
Optional Other Subject #2:
Optional Other Subject #3:
10 Words to describe your character: Selfless, brilliant, encouraging, friendly, patient, instructive, innovative, transcendental, determined, devoted
EXTENDED APPLICATION -- PLEASE DO AT LEAST A PARAGRAPH ON EACH OF THESE, UNLESS THEY ARE STATED TO BE OPTIONAL
Personality: Nigel is, at best, pleasantly eccentric. At worst, he is quite insane, though his insanity rarely puts anyone (besides himself) in danger. His quaint dementia makes him an excellent teacher, because he often restates himself two or more times, in multiple ways. Besides his mental health, however, he is a devoted follower of the thinking that Voldemort is quite wrong and should be stopped. To that end, he is a member of the Order of the Phoenix. His normal demeanor is pleasant, though he does not tolerate seeing others being mocked, especially about weight or inability to perform assigned tasks. Likely, it is his handicap that has sensitized him about these things, though as a student at Hogwarts, he often found himself defending fellow Ravenclaws against the merciless taunting of the Slytherins (and sometimes the Gryffindors).
As to the perception of Nigel in the community as a whole, well, mostly his madness is overlooked in favor of his intense ability. His wandwork is a show to watch - because of his leg, he developed quite a technique during his short time as an Auror. If he had not, undoubtedly, he would be dead by now. Also, the fact that one of his major published works is the cat’s meow in the transfiguration world means that he gets a great deal of well deserved respect from many places.
Obsession is something Nigel knows little about - rather, he employs a much more discoordinate approach to life. What needs to be done gets done, though not perhaps in the conventionally preferred order.
Strengths: Both magical and personality: He is, obviously, excellent at transfiguration. His books on advanced transfiguration and the theory behind it made him an instant celebrity among authority figures world wide. More than that, though, he is well versed in all wand work, and one of his special strengths is integrating the various divisions of wand requisite magic with each other. It is this integration that makes him the wizard that he is, and he often uses his own technique to take teaching beyond the textbook and into real life situations.
Personally, he is very charismatic. If Nigel can not make you smile, well, you must have had a very bad day. “Or,” he often says, when confronted with a person clearly determined not to smile, “Perhaps you do not like chicken.”
Weaknesses: Both magical and personality: His constantly positive outlook on life sometimes gets a bit annoying. Okay, more than sometimes, depending on the person, but it can also be a very bad thing for the situation. Nigel constantly tries to believe the best of people; however, when confronted with conclusively damning evidence, feel sorry for the offending party.
Magically, he is weak with any magic that does not require a wand. Potions, especially, evades his expertise so effectively that he refuses to even concoct the most simple draughts, relying instead on the proven abilities of friends and co-workers.
He also walks with a very hefty right handed limp. He got it in a flying accident shortly after his graduation from Hogwarts. I hear you cry, “Why does he limp from an accident? This is a magical world - surely they fixed him right up!” And I reply, true! But consider - we have ineptitude in our world…is it not feasible that there is ineptitude in the magical world as well. While the rest of his body healed fine, the healer botched the spell to fix the leg, resulting in irreversible damage to the bone and muscle. He walks with a cane and a limp, but his actual mobility depends on the day. Some days, he can nearly run, he hobbles so quickly, while others he can barely stand from his chair without collapsing in pain.
Fears: Fear would require sanity, which Nigel lacks in some degree. When confronted with a deadly situation, however, he does fear dying. And he often fears that he will be unable to protect his students when the time comes, whatever that time may be.
History: Nigel was born to the son of a very rich, pureblood wizarding family who, to the intense surprise and chagrin of their fellow pureblood friends, did not cast out the man (Harold) immediately upon his decision to marry the then chemistry graduate student, Lynda Eldern. Instead, they supported Harold and Lynda as they travelled to the United States so Lynda could finish her PhD. After graduation, the Klyn's returned to England, where Lynda attained an associate professorship at Cambridge, Harold got a job working as an Obliviator for the Ministry, and Nigel was born.
As he was not a pureblood, Nigel never had the luxury (or agony) of attending any of the elitist pureblood gatherings that his grandparents always seemed so intent on dragging his father off to. His father rarely went, especially as Lynda's career became more lucrative with a move to a tenure track position at Oxford. Surprisingly enough, Nigel's grandparents continued to be supportive of the little family, which eventually earned them enough scorn from the pureblood wizarding world that they themselves stopped being invited to the elitist gatherings. From the time he was old enough to have a base understanding of what went on in that rung of society, Nigel always found it odd that love and support so undermined the influence his family had over other wizards.
By the time he was eleven and finally admitted to Hogwarts, his mother was a full professor at Oxford with her own lab, working in research on N-succinimide catalyzed organic reactions. His father worked as a consultant for the Ministry in their finance department, which gave him a number of useful contacts that disregarded the outcast status the Klyn family had been labelled with. Nigel, a gangly boy, excelled in school, of course, in the style of a true Ravenclaw. His strongest subjects were Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. He did not like Potions, and therefore did only what was necessary to get a good grade. All other classes were similar to Potions, except without the animosity.
The only extracurricular activity he thoroughly indulged himself in was Quidditch - Nigel Klyn loved to fly. From the moment he got on a broom, people told him he was a natural, told him he was born to fly. And he took them to heart - the year after he graduated from Hogwarts (with honors), he went to the world Quidditch tryouts. In the first round, he flew spectacularly, which earned him a sure place in the final pick. Unfortunately, during the final flight around the pitch, Nigel's broom experienced a rather unfortunate malfunction, and it bucked him off, 100 meters above the ground. He fell the whole way without cushion, and the fall shattered his right leg beyond even magical repair. Because of this, he walked with a limp for the rest of his life and, while he is still a skilled flier, the fall ruined his chances at a career in Quidditch.
After that, he jumped around a lot. Did several stints for the Ministry, including one as an Auror (for a man as large as he is, he is surprisingly spry, even with his lame leg). His Auror career was wondefully uneventful - he participated in maybe two dozen raids in the two years he worked as one. His biggest success, however, was when he applied to Oxford to get his muggle degree.
Really, he had not wanted to do it, but since he had no other career, his mother insisted. So, he attended, using his Hogwarts training as a high school degree. Eight years, he worked without magic, doing things the muggle way, in a lab. He witnessed the birth of the modern computer and watched it grow in popularity. By the time he graduated for the last time, Nigel Klyn, PhD, the internet had only just been born.
Naturally, he stays up to date on the muggle scientific publications. For a while, he even held a research post at Cambridge, complete with his own lab, research assistants, and a minimal teaching position. His research focused on the sub atomic mechanisms of chemical reactions - it was a new branch of physical chemistry, one he was eager to pursue. And it was there, in his lab, working calculations, that the revelation came to him, the disccovery that linked modern science to arcane magic.
To the wizarding world, his discovery became "Transfiguration for the Advanced Wizard, Volumes 1, 2, 3, and 4." To the muggle world, a rather long series of publications in various primary journals marked the entrance into a new realm of sub atomic theory that had never been explored. Unfortunately, most of the articles were removed from the publications before printing, due to the lack of evidence supporting his theories of proton rearrangement, but the wizarding texts lived on.
And so, Nigel Klyn re-entered the Wizarding world, becoming an expert on Transfiguration theory. Having taken the time to teach while he was doing research, however, he decided that he missed the classroom. And, of course, the Headmaster of Hogwarts was more than willing to give him a position.
Physical Description: At the least, provide base details of build, height, eye/hair colour, and complexion. Nigel is not a small man - in fact, pleasantly rotund would probably best describe him. Of course, it is probably only pleasant if you are at least a meter and a half tall - he is almost exactly two meters, and weighs in at a pleasantly well-fed 200 kilograms. He is balding, and the hair he does have is snowy white. His face is adorned with a pair of patchy glasses and a stubbly, salt and pepper beard. His nose is crooked from an accident in a previous job, though this is difficult to tell because of its bulbous nature. His teeth are straight, however, even if they lack the brilliant white luster to be really attractive.
Significant Relationships:
Family: Optional: None specifically
Friends: Optional: Nigel is a good friend of Reginald Chandler and Arthur MacAlaister
Other: Optional:
Special Considerations: Such as broom ownership, being an animagus, famous in some form, or a metamorphmagus. All are subject to mod approval, and if you are given special considerations, you are liable to be used for plots at the Plot Mod's command. Nigel is an animagus. Really, it seemed only natural to him that he would learn to become one, with his skill in transfiguration, but his accident confirmed the need in his mind. As such, his animagus form is one that frees him from the rigors of his handicap - he is a falcon, a large, grey falcon with a white tuft on the top of his head. Nigel is also a member of the Order of the Phoenix and was, before I went on hiatus-from-hell, a member of the Wizengamot.
COMMUNITY SPECIFIC QUESTIONS -- ONLY ANSWER THE SECTION APPLICABLE TO YOUR CHARACTER
Hogwarts:
Year: Professor
House: Formerly Ravenclaw
Why are they in that house? His drive to learn and study, combined with a lack of ambition for personal power, placed him best in that house.
Position: (Subject to mod approval) Transfiguration Professor
Atlas:
Prior School:
What house were they in? (Or would they have been in had they gone to Hogwarts?):
Why were they in that house? (Or why would they have been in that house?):
Occupation:
ROLEPLAY SAMPLE -- PLEASE ENSURE THAT THIS IS IN THIRD PERSON NARRATIVE POINT OF VIEW As the days of winter wore on, Nigel found himself wishing more and more for the warm weather of summer. Though the castle might be warm enough, an ever-present chill had settled into the pain in his leg, exacerbating it. Often, he spent entire class periods sitting behind his desk, instead of moving amongst the students as he normally wished to. Today, he feared, would be one of those days.
On the blackboard, as he had taken to doing, he had written the lesson for the day. While he would explain it once the students arrived, this gave the early comers time to begin and get a head start over their tardy classmates. He enjoyed rewarding vigor and dedication - this just seemed another good way to do so.
Good morning, students. Today, as we enter the first week back from break that we're having classes, we're going to step into something new. You will see on the desk before you a block of wood, such as you might use in a wood-burning stove, or fireplace. Now, you might not wonder that we're using wood in Inanimate Transfiguration, but I ask you to remember one thing - all wood comes from trees, which are very much alive.
Of course, once the tree is cut down, the wood becomes as inanimate as a stone or a bit of dirt; thus, we can use it in our lessons. However, you must remember that the spells you learn today will not work on a tree or plant of any size as long as they are still alive and growing.
That said, today's lesson is turning the piece of wood into a ceramic plate. You will find the incantation and wand movements on page 358 of your text - you may begin when ready.
As an aside, I must apologize for my inability to come to you if you have questions. If you require assistance, please come to my desk, and I will do my best to help you.
MOD-ONLY QUESTIONS -- THESE WILL ONLY BE KNOWN TO THE MODS
Character Secrets: Secrets? I don’t think so, but I’ll have to get back to you on that.
Character Alliance: The good guys, OotP, etc.