Eleanor Bayning

[Eleanor Bayning]

Character Sheet Player Profile
    Name: Sarah
    Email: shairlyn at yahoo dot com
    Age: 40
    How you found us: Long time player. Originally Google, I think?
    What is your background and experience in roleplaying: I have played PbEM and PbMB RPGs since I was 16.
    What themes do you wish to explore in our game: Friendship, romance, intrigue,
    What makes you excited to do in our game: Negotiate the complexities of court
    What are you NOT looking for in our game: Dark storylines
     
   Character Profile  
    Character Name: Eleanor Grace Bayning
    Title: Mistress (Daughter of Viscount Bayning of Sudbury)
    Estate Name: Honingham Hall in Suffolk
    Nationality: English
    Age: 16 (born April 1662)
    Gender: Female
    Eye Colour: Blue
    Hair Colour: Brown
    Avatar: Image from book cover.

The First Impression & Physical Appearance 
Eleanor comes across as a proper young lady, dressed well if a little conservatively. She is neither particularly pretty nor unattractive, but rather acceptably plain and uses cosmetic arts to enhance her looks. She favours slightly asymmetrical hair styles that allow her to drape a few brunette locks over the right side of her face, part of her efforts – together with face paint – to hide the port wine birth mark that covers her right ear, neck and part of her cheek. Blue eyes regard her company intelligently, and a fan is almost always present and active in her slim fingers, flicking back and forth elegantly near her face as yet another distractor. She is of average height and still growing into a woman’s fuller figure.

Personality
A proper and well bred young lady, Eleanor is careful in her manner, acutely aware of the responsibility resting on her shoulders to represent her family well and maintain her own reputation. The eldest child, she was somewhat precocious and tasked with keeping her younger siblings in line, so has been accustomed to responsibility from a young age. But now she is a small fish in a very big and somewhat overwhelming pond, so she goes cautiously. She is an intelligent young woman who watches others and seeks to learn what she can of a situation before she engages herself in it.

Wealth Level :
    Average Wealth
     
Housing:
    St Marks
     
Benefits, Challenges

• Daughter of a Viscount (2+): Eleanor is the eldest daughter of Paul Bayning, Viscount Bayning.
• Disfigurement/Scars on face (-1): Eleanor was born with a port wine stain on the right side of her neck, covering her right ear and her cheek near that ear.
• Disability (-1): As a consequence if her disfigurement she is also deaf in her right ear.

Origin/Background
Growing up in Honingham Hall, Eleanor had a pleasant childhood in the English countryside, nursed and tutored appropriately. She learned to ride and to identify the flowers about the estate, along with all those skills necessary for a young, aristocratic woman.
A full five years older than her brother, due to the loss of a babe born between them, Eleanor was naturally recruited to help with her brother when he was born, and became a natural carer and ‘little mamma’ for her siblings, two more of whom, a boy and a girl, followed in the several years after. She didn’t think much of that responsibility at a young age, but no doubt it shaped her personality.
She was a quick and willing student, reasonably intelligent and enjoyed reading for the journeys books could take her on. She proved an adept hand at embroidery, such that her parents supplied her with silk threads as she grew, and eventually even gold and silver thread, so that she could adorn her clothes and those of her siblings, which she enjoyed doing. She never developed a great appreciation for music, perhaps due to being deaf in one ear, nor found any instrument which appealed to her. Her difficulty hearing however did cause her to develop some small ability with lip reading, in order to catch any words she might have missed, and her siblings learned that, if they wanted to whisper to her, it had to be into her left ear.
As she grew Eleanor became more self-conscious of her birth mark, especially when the son of a neighbouring family teased her for it. Her mother Alice took care to instruct Eleanor in the application of cosmetics, particularly with the view of hiding the mark as much as possible, though even lead paint couldn’t hide the thickened texture of the skin. Still, she developed certain tricks to conceal and distract from it, and even came to enjoy the artistry of it. In fact, Eleanor thought that, since she could paint her face, she might try her hand at painting those flowers she enjoyed, only to discover that she had no sense of proportion at all. Perhaps the less said about her efforts the better. But that didn’t stop her gathering poseys for her room.
Eventually Eleanor reached an age where her future really did need to be considered, in the eyes of her family, and with no likely marriage prospects nearby, she was sent to court with very strict instructions, along with her once nurse, now maid and chaperone, Mary. Despite her responsibilities, Eleanor looked forward to venturing into the wider world and meeting her peers. Her mother had written ahead to a distant cousin of hers who was at court; Henry Grey, Baron Grey of Codnor Castle, whom Eleanor was to meet once she arrived. She barely knew Henry, who was her father's age, but it was vastly preferable to arriving and knowing no one at all.

Family:

• Father: Paul Bayning, Viscount Bayning (b. 1633)
• Mother: Alice Anne Bayning nee Grey (b. 1642)
• Siblings:
  • Brother: John Evett, (b. 1664, d. 1664)
  • Brother: John James, (b. 1667)
  • Miscarriage (1669)
  • Brother: Clarence Edward (b. 1671)
  • Sister: Mary Anne (b. 1675)

Goals

• Investigate the young men of court for possible marriage prospects.
• Investigate the younger girls associated with court, looking for a potential betrothee for her brother John, now 11.
• Maintain her good reputation.
• Meet interesting people of like minds.
• Collect rare flowering plants.
• Improve her prospects if possible.
• Eventually make as good a marriage as she can, looking for a fellow of good breeding (her parents’ goal) and who can keep her in the manner to which she’d like to become accustomed (her goal).
• Once she has one, help her husband (and thereby herself and her children) to gain as much advantage at court as possible.

Edited November 10, 2022 by Eleanor Bayning

[Caroline Despanay]

Welcome to the game, Sarah!  Nice char bio. Hope you enjoy it here.

Maybe our chars will meet at some point. Not that Caroline would be a good role model for young Eleanor😋

[Guest Georgie Porgie]

I contest that the future Lady Chilchester would make an excellent role model!

Welcome Elenor 

[Blackguard]

This character has been approved.  You may post when ready.

[Defiance]

Welcome to Age of Intrigue, your Character Sheet has been ACCEPTED!

 

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