Eliot Ford

Actor	Jonathan Rhys-Myers
Sex	Male
Status	Registered Evolved
Ability	Empath (registered)
Age	31
Date of Birth	May 3rd, 1977
Affiliation	Linderman Group
Business	Rapture Nightclub
Family	Orphan
First Appearance	Not the Prom Queen

Why is it that some people starve and others have so much they waste it?
— Steerpike, from Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast.

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Background

Eliot Parker Ford is easily looked up. He's an orphan, raised in New York, who bumped around several foster homes and got outstanding grades both in public school and college. He has a psychology, sociology, and business degrees, and owns the high-class nightclub known as Rapture.

(Truth is more of a stranger than fiction.)

He doesn't remember his parents. Somewhere in the back of his mind he suspects he may have never had them. He remembers vague shadows and soft voices; and then one day a memorable shudder in reality. His reality. He remembers growing up in an orphanage and being shown the card that had stated his name and his birthdate and age, and nothing else: Eliot Parker Ford; 05/03/1977: 1 year, 3 months.

Even though he knew nothing of his past, the orphanage took good care of him. It made sure he had clothes, food, and was put on a bus every morning so that he could acquire a good education. It was a good institution; it followed the rules, taught the children ethics and morals, and received decent donations. It unfortunately could not control the manner and socialization of all the children therein: Eliot's formative years were filled with strife and blood. Picked on by larger, older kids; beaten and manhandled. Eliot's early life was a study in social dichotomy, and he learned his lessons very, very well.

High school was easier for Eliot. Even though he hopped from foster home to foster home, he never remained in one place too long and always was adopted in Manhattan, which made it simple to keep him in the same school. He learned how to talk to people; he learned how to convince them of things. He learned which bullies to antagonize and which to befriend and he learned how to be the boy behind the curtain.

Eliot became, quite honestly, a lying liar who lies. It suited him well enough and he didn't mind being reprimanded for it, since usually whatever he was being chastised for was small potatoes compared to what he'd done while everyone was looking the other way. He got high marks in school, showing himself to have a keen intellect and good concentration skills. His sophomore year he discovered he had a mind for business and socialization.

He also discovered people would do whatever he wanted them to: all he had to do was ask nicely.

Eliot went through the rest of high school being completely adored. Nobody challenged this; nobody even suspected anything was awry. Even he himself only knew that people had an unnatural degree of adoration for him, and that he could will it to grow if he concentrated on a specific person.

He had any girl he wanted. He had any -boy- he wanted. He had the nerds, the jocks, and the freaks. He graduated with honors from high school, and went on to college without a single hesitation. It was in his sophomore year of college that Eliot was found out. A man came to his dorm room — a double that was only occupied by him, thanks to his enchanting of the administration's housing representative — and offered him a job as his assistant. It was only part time, but once Eliot graduated from college with his Psychology, Sociology, and Business degrees, he became employed full time by one Daniel Linderman.

After ten-plus years of working with Mr. Linderman, Eliot has learned many valuable lessons. The first, is always be willing to get your own hands dirty: to this end, he has trained extensively in the art of muay thai, and while by no means an expert, he is deadly. The second is: never underestimate the appeal of money: he has a lot of it, slowly accumulated through personal ventures and business deals undertaken for his boss. Third: always respect your mentor: Eliot is ruthless and amoral, but he is loyal to one person. Linderman. His mentor is his all, and while he wants nothing more than to take Linderman's place some time down the line, he's perfectly willing to let the old coot die on his own time. No need to hurry up the process; not while Eliot is still learning.

Recently, Mr. Linderman recalled Eliot from a venture in the West Coast, asking his protege to please come back and look after a business venture that he had started in New York after The Bomb went off. Eliot returned at once and became the legal owner of the nightclub known as Rapture. His uncanny charisma and level, emotionless mind for details and economics making him the perfect caretaker of the locale.

Now, time will tell whether Eliot's ambition will leaad him to greatness, or see him crash to the ground like prideful swan.

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Skills

Finance: Eliot was a Business minor in college, and thanks to this and his sharp intellect, excels in economic endeavors. He knows how to manage books, keeps track of employees, and make business ventures come out profitable without much risk. He could make a life in Wall Street, if he so desired.

Social: It is unlikely to find someone more at home with people than Eliot. He can talk to just about anyone about just about anything, and loves to do so. He's a con-artist, a lawyer, and a psychologist, all wrapped into one. He could be a lobbyist or a high-priced defense attorney. He loves talking to people, and due to his special gift, most people love talking to him.

Muay Thai: He has studied this martial art since he started college, and has become quite proficient, though not an expert. He can handle himself in a bar brawl for sure, and it's not recomended to be on the receiving end of a knee or elbow blow from him.

Cash Flow: Picking 'Business' as a minor wasn't just a whim. Even during college, he put the few bucks he earned at his student job to work for him, and has coincidentally built up a remarkable investment porfolio and number of accounts in several different banks (including one in the Caiman Islands). He is filthy rich; with all the words.

Polyglot: As part of his studies, Eliot pored through languages like a hungry anteater through an anthill. While he isn't fluent enough to have a speedy conversation with anyone, he does speak the following languages well enough to talk business in them: Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, and German. He is, of course, a native English speaker.

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Ability

He can tell when you're blue,
He can tell when you're mad.
He can feel when you're true,
He can feel when you're sad.

It's so nice to be an empath; (at least, that's what it says on his Registration papers).

(Oh, sorry, did you want the real deal?)

READ BEFORE CONTINUING: Eliot puts a lot of effort, time, and resources into maintaining his façade as an Empath. Nobody — except Linderman — knows the truth behind his Ability. Please, please, please talk to me before assuming your character can figure it out without Eliot or Linderman himself outright telling them so. Please remember that all legal papers state quite clearly that he is a registered Empath (of low enough level that he can fake the ability with judicious use of his psychological and people skills).

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Even though he takes every chance he can to convince the world that he is an empath, with the low-level ability to sense emotions, the truth about Eliot Ford's evolved ability is a lot less innocent: his power is charm. Enchantment. He can draw people into an emotional web, making them react positively to his presence and anything he does. This power comes in two iterations, Ambient Charm, and Personal Charm.

Ambient Charm

Eliot's particular brand of Charm is a bit of a hassle. Especially since he cannot turn it off. It is persistently active. Over the years Eliot has been able to dwindle it down to a minimum. Even so, at its lowest level, the ambient aura is strong enough to attract animals and people to him. Unless he does something very specific and clearly deliberate to warrant their ire, it's almost impossible for someone to see Eliot in a negative light.

It's quite common to see dogs roll over for Eliot; cats purr and horses don't make a fuss. Insects and other animals of lower intellect are unaffected by Eliot's ambient aura, but any animal more complex than that is fair game: rodents, felines, canines, reptiles, amphibians, etc. He can easily train dogs or cats to perform complex tasks, given some time with the specimen.

People are not as easily affected by the ambient aura, but are still very susceptible to it. It depends on how many people are in his near vicinity (ten or so yards around him, give or take); the more people near him, the more the intensity of his ambient aura disperses amongst them. It makes for a less intense effect, though still quite functional and potent. His ambient aura's general effect is to put people in good spirits towards him, showing him in a positive light, though it doesn't generate actual devotion or obsession.

Personal Charm

He doesn't tend to do so often, but if he wants, Eliot can narrow the range of effect to just a handful of people, concentrating the intensity and making his aural charm that much more potent. He can even 'aim' it, bringing it to such narrow potency so as to affect a single person. This raises the potency and intensity of his charm's effects exponentially. Most targets will grow fascinated by him, do anything for him, or possibly become completely obsessed with him.

Different people are affected in different ways, and it depends on each person's psychological make-up. Often, this is why he is unwilling to use the more intense, personalized iteration of his power on people he doesn't know well. First he tends to get to know people, work them over, and try to make sure they aren't the type to become exceptionally obsessed with him. After all, he doesn't want to create Swimfan.

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DISCLAIMER: I do not expect everyone to fawn over Eliot; that would be silly, if not ridiculous, and certainly god moding. I leave the style of reaction to his persistent aura up to each player. However, due to the nature of his power, I respectfully request that unless Eliot does something specific to piss your character off, that their disposition towards Eliot remain favorable, or at least leaning towards the 'positive' spectrum. I will, of course, always ask and discuss before attempting the more 'concentrated' version of his power.

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Timeline:

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Trivia and Notes:

Playlist

I'm the Bomb, Electric Six
Power Player, Clutch
I Break Hearts, Leeroy Stagger