Glenn Alexander Velvet
Scion of the Velvet Family
Magus. 17 years old. The heir apparent to the former Lord El-Melloi II, the Clock Tower's legendary lecturer. A young man proud of his parentage, yet no prestigious title crowns his name. The root of the contradictions that define Glenn Velvet cannot be traced to a single source. Every single aspect of his life dating back to his conception is rife with ambiguity, the circumstances in which he was raised hiding uncertainty in all filial notions and double meanings behind things others take for granted.
It is a near certainty that his mother is Lady Reines El-Melloi Archisorte, one of the Clock Tower's twelve ruling Heads, insofar as his father has never outright denied it when asked. It is also a fact that Lady El-Melloi does not have an official heir to the family title, being quite young and relatively new to her position, considering that the length of a magus' lifespan. Nobility is sustained by pedigree, and as such the matter of inheritance is not taken lightly. Many factors pertaining to magical compatibility and potential determine the match that produces the optimal heir to a family's magic crest, not to mention the negotiations necessary to achieve a successful marriage even after a suitable match has been found. It is therefore agreed that although preliminary inquiries are underway, the Lady still has years in front of her before the need becomes pressing. The heir to the name El-Melloi cannot be anything less than perfect, after all. And perfect is not what anyone in aristocratic circles would call a child born from a union with a third generation magus of middling circuit quality, no matter what fame he has otherwise accrued.
Aristocracy finds roles for those useful to it, so long as they know their place. The Velvet line, of which the former Lord El-Melloi II was the 3rd head, is officially a branch family of the Archisorte, current owners of the prestigious title, and though the latter currently number only one member the division of the two families is crystal clear. Waver Velvet remains a first-class lecturer in charge of managing the classrooms belonging to the El-Melloi, a position that Glenn Velvet aspires to inherit, or at least prove worthy of to begin with. His childhood dream of becoming a Lord, a hope he held since he pieced together the truth about his parentage from the rumours surrounding his father rather than anything the man himself had said, was something he only shared with another person once. The response dissuaded him from putting faith in the possibility that this hope might one day be realised.
It is not that he did not receive affection from his father. Waver Velvet was a stern and oftentimes unrelenting teacher who had little patience for fools, but the care that underlay his grudging interactions with those under his charge was made apparent when it came to his son. Certainly a man as perceptive as him understood his position, and so he endeavoured to employ the formidable methods which had produced many a prodigy of the Clock Tower in order to create, as he put it, a magus that would render him obsolete. The teachings he imparted, both of a general nature and pertaining to his particular brand of magecraft, found fertile ground in the keen mind of a young man eager to prove himself. Sensing this, Waver Velvet offered to pass on his crest and name Glenn Velvet the new family head not in order to rid himself of the obligation, but to give Glenn the opportunity to prove himself which he so dearly wished for.
However, the young man did not accept. For all the nurturing and grooming there were seeds of self-doubt deeply embedded into his mind which had only spread their roots as he grew up. His birth was a political move, of that he had no doubt; a means for Reines Archisorte to bind an illustrious and well-respected lecturer to her service even after their personal contract had run its course. Though Waver never spoke of it, the chances that the man who was slandered as a slave to the woman's every whim was a willing part of her schemes were low. No matter how Glenn spun it in his mind, despite the teachings which hammered into his head the tenet that a magus was defined by his own deeds rather than his name or the achievements of his ancestors, his whole life carried on under the shadow of deep-seated doubts.
Why was he denied his rightful heritage? How could his father stand for having his services repaid with injustice? Was he always intended to be a political tool? Did his parents even see him as anything else? Telling himself again and again that such questions did not matter in the slightest, he continued to dwell on them. For a man of his intellect - for a magus - to be crippled by these emotions was frustrating beyond measure, too proud to voice them to others yet clueless as to how he could resolve them.
His father, no fountain of emotion himself, refused to speak of the matter, and Glenn knew better than to ask for the one thing that the man who had raised him could not bring himself to give.
The first time he met his mother, two days after he had been received second-class accreditation - the youngest lecturer to achieve it in decade -- he barely managed to form a coherent question which reflected a fraction of his swirling thoughts. Lady Reines El-Melloi Archisorte merely smiled, patted him on the cheek, and said only this:
"I knew all that trouble would pay off."
Glenn did not try to speak with her again. Three weeks later, with the classrooms in holiday recess, he packed his suitcase and booked a ticket to the farthest possible place from London. Officially, it was a vacation. To his acquaintances, it was a breath of fresh air away from the Clock Tower. His father merely got a note informing him of his absence.
It was only when his feet touched solid ground that Glenn admitted to himself the reason he had come to Japan. The city of Fuyuki was where a young unproven man had once gone through the experiences that would forge one of the greatest lecturers the Clock Tower had ever seen. If there were any answers to be found in the world which would put his doubts to rest - if he was to come into his own as a magus who could take pride in his accomplishments and become a worthy successor to his father - Glenn Alexander Velvet could think of no other place to seek them.
Originally Posted by Imperial
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