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Name: Chiaroscuro
Nickname(s): Rosco
Age (Appearance Wise): 37
Age (Actual): 64
Hobbies: Design, organizing, cleaning, keeping journals, drawing still lives, detective stories, reading and writing instructions, and painting.
Birthday: December 13
Favorite Things: Light, most colours, quiet, cleanliness, small spaces, wide spaces, precise shapes, lamps, and the feel of smooth objects.
Hated Things: The colours red, white, and black, jarring noises, large, disruptive text, spaces that aren't quite small or wide, open-air candles, slimy or rough things, bulky and awkward shapes, and sports.
Favourite Story:
Favourite ending And never did they have to worry again.
Job: Glass artisan in a studio. Rosco's job consists of designing glass windows, cutting glass to fit the window shapes, painting it if it's stained glass, and also designing/painting a number of other glass objects, such as vases, lamps, bowls, and cups. Rosco can also blow glass himself, but as he's not as good at it as some of the other city people in his workshop, he uses the mold-blowing method to make sure that the finished piece ends up in the right shape without having to rely on his own glass-blowing abilities.
Location: Eyncastor
Class: Upper-middle class
Fears: Breaking glass, conflict, being alone in the dark.
History: Chiaroscuro appeared in Eyncastor outside the glass studio he works at, and has been there ever since. Back then it was just starting up, and, as he had nowhere else to go, and the process fascinated him, he demanded to help. He tried to prove he could be useful by picking up broken shards of glass, and eventually was allowed to stay so long as he kept the workshop clean, leading him to have a meticulous eye for cleanliness that he'd carry with him all his life. However, picking up the glass often cut his hands, and after ten years of being the cleaning boy, his silhouette's hands weren't the loveliest any city person ever did see. But despite his scars, his hands could still create, and he often stayed late in the workshop designing his own windows and glass sculptures. Eventually the other workers began to notice the quality of their cleaning boy's designs and began to teach him to blow and make his own glass, something he quickly cottoned on to. Finally allowed to express himself, Rosco began to create commissioned work. However, his glass blowing was imprecise and clearly not as good as his designs, which were his real strength. Despite his inability, he began using a mold-blowing technique to make his own designs in his own time, eventually filling the tiny hole in a wall he called a home with stained glass designs. The complexity and creativity of the designs and his persistence in designing despite being a menial assistant eventually made it so he was allowed to be an almost full time designer rather than a glass blowing assistant, which he was much relieved for. He still uses molds to make some of his designs himself, but he'd rather let more talented glassblowers and glass makers create his work. By now, Chiaroscuro has a reputation as an artisan, and all through the force of his will, which he prizes very highly. Because of his work, the studio has gained a reputation and grown quickly, which more than a few of the original staff attribute to the boy who appeared outside the workshop a week or so after they began: to many of the employees, Rosco is considered to be a lucky omen, though Rosco is reluctant to encourage this kind of image, as he doesn't believe in luck.
Personality: Rosco is a rather quiet man, for a lucky omen he isn't particularly exciting. He's a bit socially awkward, and prefers to speak to his work or his fellow employees than anyone else. He has an eye for beautiful things, and is highly meticulous about creating and maintaining such things, getting angry when something is broken or neglected. In some cases, when it's his glass that is treated in such a way, Rosco demands that the owner return it to him, and in some cases, his employees have had to drag him off till he calms down. This is the only thing that makes Rosco sputtering mad in public. Generally, when his glass isn't involved, Rosco is a very patient person, willing to put up with all sorts of harassment, and he deals with children especially well. He's a special favourite of the children that some of his coworkers take in, and he and they sometimes watch the people passing by from the window and make up stories about them. Rosco really is quite nosy, and if he had more call to, he'd be a meddler. He's a bit of a matchmaker, as well. When good looking people pass by, it's like he is with his glass- he wants to sort them into pairs. Rosco is a workaholic though, and thus doesn't have much of a social life. Though he's eager to speculate about the lives of others, when he goes on outings outside of work, he must be dragged. Since the City People who took him in are, essentially, his co-workers rather than his family, that hardly ever happens. However, Rosco is wrapped up in his work because he's good at it, and when it comes to little details, he's both observant and clever. He is especially innovative when it comes to lighting, as stained glass requires light to appear to full effect, and using candles and designing the glass with places where candles might actually be stored, Rosco has created some lovely works or art. One of the ones he's proudest of is simply a small sphere of glass with a candle inside that dangles from the ceiling as a colourful globe of light. Rosco has produced many of these, and quite a few hang from the small ceiling of his home. Rosco's favourite books are murder mysteries because of the process. He enjoys reading about methodical, clever detectives, because they go about things in a logical manner, and there's almost always a happy, or at least a good ending. He also likes to figure out who did it, himself, and likes to discover more about the suspects' lives as he tries to figure it out. If two of the suspects fall in love, he likes the book more for it, so long as one was not the murderer.

Thoughts on the Forest: Rosco is made nervous by the forest, as it seems incredibly dark and strange. He far prefers the comfort of his workshop, and can't imagine straying too far from it to explore the uncivilized unknown.
Thoughts of Book Children: Rosco only minds the book children when they are breaking his glass. They look interesting, so Rosco is quite curious about them, but as far as he is concerned, they're none of his business.
Thoughts on City People: His people! Rosco is comforted by their hustle and bustle and likes to watch them go by as he works. Many of the scenes in his designs are inspired by them, and he's really rather nosy about their comings and goings, though he doesn't take part in many social events himself.
Physical Appearance: Chiaroscuro is a short silhouette that is part magpie. He has bird feet and tailfeathers, very beady, round eyeholes, and a sharp, thick, beaklike nose. He appears to be in his late 30s, and dresses practically over fashionably.


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I've always loved glass stuff...but putting that aside, I'm interested in the whole section about his personality since it mentioned children. If I am correct, City People pop into existence so there's no real "children" and they age differently than real people. Therefore, there's probably no real parent-child relationship. I was about to put the "does with with kids" part into my character until I re-read the setting.

Psst, kota (and Sacred!), sorry I'm no crit-help, but I happened to see the 'children' exchange - check out the second question in the "Question Time" thread. To summarise, City People do start off as children (in IC Info, it's stated that they start out looking around 7 ~ 10, and are expected to have matured into responsible adults around 45), and there's a kind of informal adoption tendency that might allow for parent-child relationships. c:

Ah, thank you, that's good to know! <3 <3 I thought I read something like that, but I couldn't remember. * u *b

LOL, it's cool! * u *b

1) He tries to distract them, mostly. If they break his glass, he gets upset and sends them out, but he's more the type of person who just needs to be alone for a while when he really gets upset. It takes some doing to make him upset unless you break his glass, and he usually doesn't let you hold it long enough to give you the opportunity.

2) He goes to his house and his workplace, but outside of that, you can find him at places he has to be for essentials, like markets and such, or in quiet places, or in places that have pretty stained glass or decoration, sketching. He draws a lot since he designs stained glass, and his drawings are more geometric than organic, but he's very interested in capturing things he finds to be pleasing visually on paper. He'll also go anywhere he's taken- it's just he doesn't usually explore new places of his own accord.

3) I didn't say he was a good matchmaker, LOL. He matchmakes in his head as a hobby, and occasionally makes awkward hints to a pair if he knows them, but his matchmaking is all mental and it's often based on superficial things like appearance rather than personality. He hasn't had any love interests in the past, as he's too wrapped up in his work, but he does admire the forms of City People, and tends to favour the female form on the whole. He's not very openly sexual at all, though, and more likely than not, he doesn't think of that kind of thing in regards to himself, the same way he doesn't think of himself as a drawing, or himself as stained glass. Matchmaking is a hobby he inflicts on others, not himself. His love of reading more romance driven books is simply that the ending is happier and tied together more neatly when people are paired off.

Thanks for the crit! <3