Name: Earnest John Worsley
Age: 36 [Born Autumn, 1760]
Occupation: Pawn Broker
Appearance
Earnest John has a stretched-out frame that leaves him looming over most men at a shocking height of 6'6". His limbs are long and too-skinny, his hands long-fingered and spidery, with strong knuckles. His neck is similarly stretched, with a very prominent Adam's Apple frequently covered in fine pale stubble. Sandy hair is kept cropped short with long sideburns, almost muttonchops. Dark eyes, usually narrowed, peer out from below heavy brows. His clothing is shabby but proper, worn but not patched, and just slightly out of fashion.
Personality
When people call him 'Earnest', it's frequently with a bit of a laugh — because he is most certainly not. No. He is a greedy man with a long grasp, and there are quite a few other titles people prefer to give him: spider, weasel, rat, none of them are half so flattering as the name his parents gave him.
The most important personality traid Earnest John has is his view on life [Me first!], followed, perhaps, by his adaptability. Few people know much about him other where he lives, and where his shop is; other than that, he makes up a litany of lies, never telling the same stories about his family twice.
He has a pride to him, but mostly it's a pride that keeps him from sniveling, not one that guides him away from shady dealings. Damned if he cares where the goods came from, so long as the Constables aren't going to come a-knocking on his door. Sure he'll buy your embroidered handkerchiefs, but he'll hike the price if he has to remove the monograms….
Skills
Earnest John is a pawn-broker who knows his way around a deal, pushing when he should and caving when he should and bargaining when he should so that he always gets the best price. He has a keen eye for appraisal, is more than able to judge the approximate value of an item, and also to convincing the seller that it's only worth two thirds that. He needs that room for profit.
He knows gemstones and precious metals, knows the most recent fashion even if he doesn't bother jumping into it, and frequently also knows the business of the people around him. After all, their business could be his business one day. If he keeps a sharp ear out, and his fingers in enough pies…
At his fingertips, he also has access to another resource — half of the enterprising young pickpockets and upstart thieves in Palisade know his name, and know that his shady little shop in a poorer area of town is always willing to accept whatever they offer, whether it be goods or information. And he keeps them coming back, keeps them [more or less] loyal with gifts of sweets and food and patched gloves at the start of winter…
History
The Worsleys have owned Tuppenny Pawn Shop for decades. Before Earnest John it belonged to his father, and before him, his father, and so on and so forth. As a young boy, he worked there, making charms to sell off the rack and learning the trade. When his father died — under mysterious circumstances, yes, likely disappearing his way to the bottom of the river, not that Earnest John will talk about it — he took over the business, and has been at it since he was a relatively young man.
He has no offspring, yet, to whom he will pass it along when he dies, and this makes him itchy. But what woman would be interested in him, with his narrow eyes and his pointed nose and his too-tall frame and his shady dealings? Honestly, he barely even tries, simply sticks to the whores and his money. It makes for an easier life.
