Byron Asquith

Simple Personality

Always smirking, manipulative, shady, not afraid of getting his hands dirty, tends to fixate on one person for a long period of time, likes to poke at people's weak points, the type to bother someone when he likes them, sticks his nose into people's business, rather sadistic, obsessed with money, methodical and perfectionistic.

Appearance

Byron is 6'4" (193cm) and rather lanky due to spending most of his time indoors. He has been a nobleman his whole life so he always has impeccable posture and manners. His clothes are always neat and look good, but he favors comfort over fashion.

History

He grew up with Conrad and the two of them were very close as children. The Asquith family was a lesser branch of the Seymour family and thus had no claims to the crown. Despite being a noble family of considerable rank, however, the Asquiths were famously poor. Mocked and bullied for this when he was a child, Byron worked hard at studying so that he could move beyond his station and make money to honor his family name. The main reason for this, rather than a real attachment to his family, was that he had a rather strong one-sided crush on his cousin and wished to someday be useful to Con, who would inevitably become king. He let nobody else get close to him and because of Con's natural airheadedness and tendency to trust too easily, Byron had to look after his younger cousin quite a bit. He constantly worried about Conrad's well-being and safety to the point where he disgusted even himself. Byron eventually hardened his heart and resolved to never tell Conrad about his feelings (or even about his homosexuality), knowing that Con would one day have to enter in a political marriage and leave him behind. Byron prefers to do the dirty work behind the scenes to keep Conrad happy and pure—to keep the country safe for him.

Byron's endless hard work paid off and he became a renowned alchemist. His work began to take him farther from the capital more often and over time his feelings for Conrad became a more distant, pleasant memory than truly strong attachment. He is somewhat ashamed of the dark, morally gray person he has become and purposely tries to meet Conrad less often so as not to disappoint his cousin.

Recently, his shady dealings have been called into question by Parliament so for the time being Eskandar Watson from the Parliamentary Department of Investigations is living with Byron to keep an eye on what he's doing. The two have very different personalities and so tend to clash, but this is probably the closest that Byron's ever really been close to another person since Conrad and Eskandar is slowly beginning to understand, respect, and like Byron.