ambrose

an ambitious graduate who rejects a safe, predictable future to instead track down the greatest alchemist of the century.

general

appearance

personality

• exceedingly stubborn when it comes to his ambitions. has never taken 'no' for an answer.
• charming and witty, comfortable with social expectations and rules of conversation. he knows better than to place his trust in the peers who seem to admire him, though.
• smart, creative, and impulsive enough to make him an alchemical prodigy. he cares only about testing the limits of known science — proving himself right, and proving those who doubt him wrong.
• excessively fashionable and vain — an unapologetic dandy.
• enjoys finery and luxury, and will spend large sums of money on extravagant comforts without batting an eye.
• sensitive to others' feelings, but typically dismissive when those feelings are obstacles to him.

background

family

• the athaide family's recent fortune comes from ambrose's grandfather's wildly successful steel manufacturing partnership, enabling the family to move to britain from india. the athaides have made a name for themselves as an affluent london family, though many still gossip about their place among the noveau rich.

  childhood

• ambrose and his older sister violet were both born in london. however, ambrose still found it difficult to fit in as a naturally expressive and opinionated child. during his school years, he was told which impulses of his were wrong, and which were right — which behaviors of his were tolerable, and which ones were not. in time, he learned to sculpt himself into the perfect victorian young man, though some surviving quirks of his remained.
• ambrose grew to be mostly compliant with the complex rules and structures of high society, making a convincing show of fitting in among the rest. though he seems to be surrounded by a sea of friends who gravitate to his charm, he never does place his entire trust in anyone other than his sister.

  university

• it became clear very quickly that ambrose's true passion was alchemy from the moment the new field of study was introduced in school. he went on to be admitted to the prestigious london alchemical academy, where he began research on altering known alchemical compounds under duress of heat and pressure — a risky venture that was questioned by many, until it resulted in extraordinary results that were honored by winning the crown's student alchemist innovation award.
• two years into his study at the academy, the then-apprentice cyril quintrell rose to sudden international fame after his discovery of a promising new potion base. little was released to the public about the discovery, thought there was plenty of intrigue around the inventor himself: his identity, his humble background, and his plans for the new discovery. ambrose kept up with the news at length, almost obsessively.
• the real obsession began when quintrell disappeared mere months after his skyrocket to fame. ambrose began to investigate everything about the inventor and his creation, a project that most people around him dismissed as a passing craze and waste of his talents. despite quintrell's disappearance, the newell alchemy corporation continued advertising the newell base for their own purposes — causing ambrose to fixate on what quintrell's real intentions for the base might've been. but the public craze over the disappearance quickly died down, and ambrose had to set aside his search for the sake of his classes and research....
• until a year and a half later, when ambrose graduates from the academy, and the world opens up before him.

extras

• extremely homosexual.
• always wearing flashy jewelry: watch chain pendants, brooches, stickpins, and especially rings. fond of dragonfly imagery, and owns a life-sized jeweled dragonfly brooch.
• enjoys going to the theater for plays and opera when he gets the chance, either with his sister or alone.
• never learned to cook or otherwise take care of himself, nor has he ever been head of a household — the quintessential useless bachelor.