Frederick "Fritz" Allard Scrye
Background
Fritz was both to an extremely prestigious and privileged family - his father was the marques of Stillmarch, one of the top nobles in Highmark’s Sentinel house, House Machel. HIs mother, Margo Layne, was a noble in her own right, Baroness of Burbank, from House Scrye, also of highmark. He had two older brothers, Arnault, nearly 7 years his senior, and Lamont, who was 3 years older.
This idyllic family life didn’t even last a year before his father died in an Airship crash. Due to the nature of the marriage contract between the families, the children were formally taken into guardianship by their uncle, Thurston Allard, who would manage the Allard estate at Stillmarch and raise the children until they were established enough to adopt the full responsibility of their status, at age 25.
The problem was that Thurston and Margo very quickly came into conflict, but the law ruled in his favour. Still, she argued that Fritz was too young to leave her direct care and took him with her when he left the household. She quickly married, for a mix of personal and political reasons, to another young widow, Lady Ioana Antonia Klytotekhnes Hestion, who has two girls of her own, Hesta and Iouna.
Fritz was never extremely close with his older brothers, though he spent some time in Stillmarch and they both visited Burbank, or stayed with the family in Highmark during their summers. Arnauld never entirely forgiven his mother or accepted her new family, and would take this resentment out on Fritz at times. His middle brother, Lamont, was more friendly, desperate for his mother’s attention, and tried to play peacemaker between the other two. Their upbringing was very different though - Frits was aware on some level that something was wrong in Stillmarch and didn’t like his uncle, whose expectations and judgements, and veiled threats to permanently reunite him with his brothers felt ominous.
This got worse when Arnauld died unexpectedly while home for the summer, soon after manifesting his dragonmark and accepting the title of marquess for himself. Fritz felt a little guilty for feeling relieved more than sad about this second family tragedy, especially because of the effect of the death on his mother and brother. For him, it changed very little, except that he went to Stillmarch less. Quite quickly after Arnauld’s death, the title passed to Lamont. At this point, Fritz began to worry what would happen if he did manifest the mark of Sentiel, as his brothers had, and he prayed and prayed that he would not - that he would be able to stay part of his mother’s household, and either never manifest a mark at all, or manifest the mark of Making that would allow him to formally become part of House Scrye.
He got his wish, and his mark manifested when he was 16. It meant a lot of changes, and a great deal of relief that he was going to be spared the expectation of military service that his mother had nominally tried to prepare him for, and would be allowed to study what he wanted: architecture. His step-mother, Lady Ioana, had contacts at one of the Mythragalese academies and was able to secure him admission - it was a big culture shock, as he’d mostly been homeschool to that point. His mark was also an adjustment as, like his brother, he wasn’t able to turn it off. After an incredibly stressful week and a half, one of his sisters suggested that he just wear gloves to protect himself from the information overload. School was a bit harder, especially since there were other students from his house who resented his sudden rise to social prominence. Particular among these was Daven Estor-Maesby Scrye, who decided to do what he could to make the newcomer’s life miserable. Fritz did what he could to buckle down and focus on learning.
While he was making these adjustments, another family scandal struck, when it turned out that his uncle was a traitor to Nerath, and had been responsible for his older brother’s death, the murder of his cousin Algernon, and several attempts on his remaining brother’s life. Of course, none of this had anything to do with Fritz, but it certainly made him a figure of interest regardless.
That was two seasons ago - now he is making his own debut season in the company of his cousin (cousin in law?) Galatea. Mist step mother Ionana is taking them both out, partly to help insulate Fritz from the Allard family scandals, and partly because she was successful in securing engagements for her two older daughters in their premier seasons.
Not that Fritz is looking for an engagement. What he wants most is to make a professional connection, someone who will take him on as an intern or apprentice, so that he can continue his professional studies. There is only one problem with this plan - Daven is here too, looking for the same thing, and he’s certainly not going to let Fritz succeed at his expense!
Appearance
Fritz is the lightest of his brothers, with loose blonde curls and bright green eyes, visibly taking after his birth mother. He is tall, but rather scrawny, as his mothers never pushed him into physical activity. He never learned to love sports or martial arts as much as his older brothers, though he is a good rider, and can swim quite well.
Personality
Fritz is generally cheerful but get very wrapped up in things that interest him and can be very dismissive of things that don’t. Although he’s been as well prepared for high society as possible by his mothers, he doesn’t have a lot of practice. Brilliant and earnest, but not the best people skills.
