Earth Pony Professor Barding [Final]

[kamerad]

By the awesome SkyHeavens!

Roleplay Type: Mane RP

Name: Professor Barding

Gender: Male

Age: Stallion

Species: Earth pony

Pelt Colour: Black

Mane/Tail Colour & Style: Black, loosely-styled mane and tail

Eye Colour: Yellow

Cutie Mark: Old-fashioned key (he is not literally good with keys; he enjoys discovery, e.g. "unlocking" the future)

Physique: Slender

Residence: Manehattan, but travels frequently

Occupation: Inventor and doer of ill deeds!

Motivation: The Professor is consumed by his one desire: to see all of Equestria brought into the 'modern' era by the use of mechanisation and automation. Or...so he likes to tell himself.

Character Summary: 'Professor' Barding was born to a middle-class watchmaker and his wife in Trottingham, and was apprenticed to a locksmith when his cutie mark manifested. The circumstances of its appearance were somewhat ill-mannered: Barding, as a colt, was attempting to get at a locked room in his parents' attic, and when he finally succeeded in breaking in (through finesse; he was never very good at brute force), his mark appeared, despite which his parents were slightly upset that he should be going around meddling in somepony else's business. Possibly the only thing that saved him from a sound disciplining was that there was nothing in the room.

Despite his initial promise as a locksmith, however, he showed little interest in locks or keys--puzzling all around him. It seemed that unless there was something interesting to be discovered, he was very listless in doing anything. Deciding to abandon his trade, which he perceived as a poor match for him, he packed a few things, and, as a young stallion, started to travel. Eventually, his travels brought him to Manehattan, where he was impressed with the grand factories of industry there. Taking what knowledge he knew from his watchmaker father, he attempted to construct his own inventions, and soon his basement apartment was filled with scrap metal, springs and tubing, which he fashioned into various everyday inventions, partly to help him along and partly because he found the process fun.

Having really discovered something he was good at, he started to peddle his various inventions to his coworkers at the hat shop where he'd found employment, in addition to streetfolk. Eventually, he was able to afford a little wagon, where he set up a stage and demonstrated several gadgets every day at the Bucker Square Market at 5:30 PM, sharp. This passtime slowly took over his life, and soon was the focus of his whole attention. He left his job at the hat shop and became a full-time inventor, styling himself as a 'Professor', which, despite being less stable as far as income went, was also considerably less dreadful for him.

Deciding at long last that he had stayed in one place for too long, he simply packed up and left one day. Travelling to Baltimare, and thence to Canterlot and finally Trottingham, being unable to stay in place for very long. On his travels, he became increasingly aware of what he viewed as a backwards lifestyle in the country, at odds with the ones he had observed in Manehattan. Resolving to 'fix' this aberration, he set himself on the goal of bringing the gift of automation to all of Equestria, in all walks of life. In Trottingham, he caught the attention of the daughter of a certain socialite, whom he would later know as Erma. Fascinated by Barding, she abandoned her preparatory school studies and demanded to join with him. At first hesitant, Barding acquiesced after her uncanny and jarring demonstration of mechanical skills. Realising the potential advantage of having an assistant, Barding took her on as an apprentice (although her skills admittedly outmatched his).

While in Trottingham, Barding received word that his father had passed away, leaving him with a considerable amount of money. Barding, having thought that his family would have cut him out of the will when he ran away so many years ago, was shocked to find that not only had he been kept in, but a savings account had been established in his name, which contained what was probably the greater portion of the couple's savings. Feeling extremely guilty for having never written to his father, much less never going to visit either his father or mother, Barding slipped away from Erma and attended his funeral. Events transpired, which need not be detailed here, and when Barding returned to Erma, he had mysteriously gotten much wealthier. Deciding to move back to Manehattan, he bought a house in the Upper East Side, where the two have stayed ever since.

Personality: Barding is a very passionate pony, prone to flights of fancy and mood swings. He is full of a zest for life, and is consumed by his dreams. He is angered easily, but is at the same time very sensitive, and cries just as easily. Although at first he viewed Erma only as an assistant, she soon became his friend, and, almost without realising it, he came to care for her, although he's very insistent that their relationship is strictly professional.

[Lux]

Hello.

Your friendly neighborhood helpstaff, Lux here!

I really like your pony with his steampunk like qualities and his ability to invent things. Just a couple of things to clear up with your pony before getting him ready to be played.

1) For his age, you don't need to put 30s. Just call him a stallion.

2) You say he's a doer of ill deeds. I'd remove that as it seems that he really isn't evil at al. Then again ponies don't consider themselves evil, especially their occupation.

3) "Travelling to Baltimare, and thence to Canterlot and finally Canterlot, being unable to stay in place for very long." I think you were meaning to add another city rather than mentioning Canterlot twice.

4) You should elaborate more on why he considers the places he visits to be backwards. Many ponies would agree that places like Canterlot or Manehattan are very civilized, probably the most of the places. Does he feel that the culture is off or the level of technology?

You're almost there to creating an interesting character, and with these fixed, he will be ready to go.

[kamerad]

I meant to say he'd travelled to Trottingham (.-.); I've fixed that, and his age.

What I meant by him observing a backwards lifestyle is that, on the road from city to city, he'd encounter undeveloped rural towns (e.g. Ponyville :u). I've edited the post to hopefully be clearer. That said, he does think rather fancifully about transforming the greater cities into ridiculous metropolises. I'm going for the feel of Harvey Corbett, who wanted to do this to New York:

And others who envisioned wacky airports:

Or people like Hugh Ferriss, whose stuff looks like it was ripped straight from The Night Land:

etc.

Well, maybe not the last, but hey, I was on an architecture kick.

There's not a really good way for this to happen naturally (it's all very drastic), so that's where Barding's 'ill deeds' come into play: he's trying to make this great leap forward happen, sort of like Flim and Flam but without so much personal interest as a misguided dream of the future.

I wanted him to be a melodramatic villain type of character, but not a cardboard cutout (I guess this is partly why I included Erma, so that now he has the girl, nya ha ha!--and doesn't know how to act), so if he doesn't seem evil, then I've done my job!

[Lux]

Just to clarify, is Erma a character you will be creating an application for in the future, or one you did prior to this one?

[kamerad]

In the future.

[Lux]

Ok. Just checking.

[Lux]

On more thing. You mentioned his cutie mark was a key but after trying locksmithing he rejects this as something he does not want to do. A cutie mark represents one's talent, what they're good at. Maybe a way to incorperate the mark into his job as an inventor is that he wants to be the key to the future. As a colt he thought it literally meant being a locksmith, when it's a more metaphorical meaning.

[kamerad]

That's what it means.

All my pony characters have ironic cutie marks whose real meaning is at first misinterpreted, to their misery or misfortune. It's a running gag I have.

[Lux]

Ok. So just mention that in his cutie mark section and then it we can continue with the process.

[kamerad]

I thought I'd highlighted that in his character summary, but if you want it in the cutie mark section too, I'll do that. Just need to get back to my desktop.

Sent from my C771 using Tapatalk 2

[Lux]

Both would be fine.

[kamerad]

All right, I edited his cutie mark section.

[Imagination]

This looks good to me! However, I'd like to make sure you're aware that technology is extremely limited in Equestria. While he may explore technology as an inventor, you shouldn't expect anything to really work or be taken seriously if it's beyond the technology level accepted as part of the RP.

With that said, have fun!