Jane

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The Glamorous Social Climber

Portrayed by Vanessa Marano

Name:	Mary Jane Gwynn
Aliases:	Jane, Janie
Birthday:	Jan 03, 1917
Position:	London University Student
Lineage:	Muggle

Description

A young woman with a certain fragile elegance, like a delicate glass sculpture made flesh. Although only average height at 5'4", a narrow build, very straight posture, and near-perpetual heels conspire to give her a certain slyphlike appearance - one she augments further with careful taste in clothing. Chestnut hair is usually left loose, the better to pool over her shoulders in gentle ripples and contrast with her pale complexion. The young woman's face is fine boned and classically aristocratic, augmented with deft makeup: she is fond of crimson lipstick. Given the rather glamorous rest of her, the choice to leave her eyebrows fuller than the current fashion must surely be deliberate. Jane's hazel eyes are large and solemn, and have a certain gift for vulnerable expressions.

+ Wardrobe Descs

Today's dress is a black number with a fashionable bias-cut blouse, a navel-height waistline and knee-length skirt creating the illusion of much longer legs than Jane technically possesses. The dark color is relieved by a scarlet arrow in glossy satin, the broad point at her waist, the vertical streak to the hem created by a panel of bright fabric, half-hidden by clever pleating. The requisite beige stockings smooth the lines of a pair of already shapely legs: scarlet heels add a touch of splash. Out of doors, she wears a knee-length cape of fashionable cut, its thick black wool providing protection from both cold and damp. Her hat is a broad-brimmed creature, with the requisite tilt to the side: a rather simple affair, with crisp lines, spiced up with a scarlet bow. Black gloves of excellent quality complete the ensemble.

Background

The Story

Mary Jane Gwynn began her life in the Cornish village of St Buryan, raised in rural poverty by her tenant farmer father. John Gwynn had lost his wife Mary to the deadly 1918 influenza pandemic, and his sour temperament and poverty killed any chance of remarriage. Still, John adored his daughter, and did his best to provide for her. She attended the local school, played with the village children, helped their landlord's wife in the garden and kitchen in exchange for scraps, learned tales of local folklore from her father.

This would all change in the winter of 1926. What she remembers is a simple story: an accident with poorly maintained farm equipment, herself unharmed but her father and two of their neighbors killed. Her plight caught the attention of a few wealthy benefactors, who arranged a fund for her schooling and sent her off to the care of her Great-Aunt Wisteria, a middle-class spinster and pediatrician living in London. For the last decade, nearly everything in Jane's life has been carefully calculated towards maximizing her skill at appealing to others. She manages her appearance and reputation with great care, cultivating a particular image: a sugar sweet glamour girl, fashionable enough to rub shoulders with the rich, vulnerable enough to appeal to would-be knights errant.

The grammar school she attended, the highly competitive St. Paul's Girls School, provided excellent opportunities to build connections with wealthy and well-connected girls, who helped give her a taste for a lifestyle beyond the means of darling 'Grand-Auntie'. The college she attends now was similarly chosen: when her scores weren't quite good enough to make it into Oxford on scholarship, an alternative that would place her in the wealthy surroundings of Mayfair was deemed acceptable: hence Western London. Her choice to study psychology is motivated only partially by genuine talent and interest: the fact that it's a fashionable field of study is the bigger draw. Though she's within a year of achieving her degree, the real letters she's gunning for are a Mrs.: she has no intention of actually working for a living.

Her friends are mostly girls of generous temperaments and useful connections. Her beaus (she's been secretly engaged three times in her university career, each relationship deftly ended once a better prospect came along) are more or less always wealthy young men who enjoy feeling like chivalrous knights caring for a vulnerable-eyed damsel. It's rather rare for her to have to pay for the upper class amusements she enjoys, and a careful combination of deft sponging and eagle-eyed financial management lets her keep pace with her friends. She could very nearly get away with not needing a job at all, were it not for the expense of needing a good wardrobe. A job at an expensive shop as a shopgirl and dressmaker's model was undertaken recently: the opportunities to acquire last season's unsold models and rich women's old clothes (not to mention build those ever-beloved connections) more than make up for the meagre pay.

The Truth

Though the case has long since faded from the public eye, for a few months in 1926 Wizarding Britain was abuzz with the St Buryan Murders. Percival Pascoe had taken up residence on the outskirts of the sedate little village, hoping to conduct research on the magic-infused Celtic ruins throughout the area. But his outsider status and bizarre behavior soon caught the unfriendly attention of the locals. Always hot-tempered, Pascoe's blood boiled at being mistrusted and mistreated by people he viewed as lesser beings - until, finally, he snapped. By the time Aurors came to intervene, two of the villagers had been killed, and a third - John Gwynn - was too far gone for the Healers to help. Jane herself had been left unharmed in light of her age, but had borne witness to many of his actions. Although his defenders tried to argue that Pascoe had been pushed to it by Muggle nastiness, the child's shellshocked testimony placed him in Azkaban.

There was no thought of leaving Jane's memories intact, and any awareness she had gained of Wizards and magic was erased, along with the events surrounding her father and neighbors' deaths. With her father dead and her impoverished and uneducated Cornish relatives deemed unfit by well-intentioned Wizards, her memories were altered just a tiny bit further - to include a Great-Aunt Wisteria in London, allowing her to be placed under the care of the unmagical sister of a Muggleborn Ministry official, with some financial assistance being provided by kindly souls.

This was where the law of unintended consequences took hold. After the initial shock of being orphaned and transplanted faded, the child began to notice certain peculiarities in her situation. Jane has always been an observant girl, and even with a child's self-centered point of view it did not take long for her to realize that more than the usual amount of fuss was being paid to her. Poor children were orphaned every day, and usually shuffled off to orphanages without a fuss, not deposited with well-off distant relatives. So there was the mystery of Wisteria's generosity: Jane could "recall" only a handful of mentions of the woman in her whole life, so why had she stepped up? There was the mystery of "Great-Uncle" Wilber and his odd friends, who kept visiting, giving her remarkable presents and asking too many solicitous questions. And there was the mystery of Great-Aunt Wisteria letting slip that Jane's entry into an alarmingly prestigious elementary was being paid by a trust fund for her benefit.

An overheard casual comment by one of Great-Uncle Wilber's peculiar friends provided Jane with a solution, of sorts: "What a sweet little waif: it's hard not to want to take care of her." This got the girl thinking. If she was naturally waif-like enough to have people go so far out of their way for her, what could she do if she fine-tuned her charms?

RP Hooks

• St Buryan Murders: These happened a little over a decade ago, in 1926. Were you involved in the case? An Auror, a member of the Wizengamot, a Muggle Liaison? You may remember Jane, even if she doesn't remember you.
• London University and Intellectual Circles: Jane is a student at Western London College. If you're involved in campus life, you may encounter her. The British Museum, or science demonstrations, or the wonkier sort of dinner party? She might show up there, too.
• Muggle Fashion: Are you well-dressed? Jane is, too. And she works for a fancy dressmaker's as a model and salesgirl, so she'd love to hawk some wares at you.
• The High Life: Jane is a fan of dancing, horse racing, fox hunting, dinner parties, exhibitions - all the favorite past times of the Muggle idle rich.

Logs

Logs featuring Jane	Logs that refer to Jane
(1937-11-23) At the Newsagent's (1937-11-21) Bijou Breakfast (1937-11-20) The Rabblerouser

Quirks

• Altered Memories: What Jane remembers of the winter of 1926 is not, to put it mildly, accurate.
• Cool Cucumber: While she occasionally pretends otherwise when it's convenient, she is not prone to genuinely losing control over her emotions.
• Manipulative: Just a lil' bit of a smooth operator.
• Well-Connected: Jane knows people who know people who know people.
• Wealth: Well-To-Do: Between a middle-class guardian, a trust fund that pays for her schooling, a job that gets her access to cheap(er) haute couture, and friends and boyfriends prone to gift giving, Jane isn't lacking.

Relationships

John Gwynn Father. Deceased 1926, victim of a magic-using murderer. A tenant farmer of little account, whose naturally sour temperament took a turn for the worse after the death of his beloved wife; his daughter was the only person he showed any softness to. John was one of those who mistreated Percival Pascoe, and he paid for it with his life.

Mary Gwynn Mother. Deceased 1918, during the Spanish Influenza pandemic. A beautiful and intelligent woman, considered by many in St Buryan to have been much too good for the poor man she married. Jane cannot remember her, and possesses only a single, elderly photograph.

Wisteria Adoptive Great-Aunt. One of the New Women of the old century, Wisteria bypassed marriage and children in favor of an independent career as a pediatrician. The unmagical sister of a Muggleborn, Wisteria is aware of the Magical world but doesn't especially approve of it. 'Grand-Auntie' is extremely fond of her ward, and the usually perceptive woman has an enormous blind spot to Jane's lesser habits. She is, in return, the one living person Jane can be said to genuinely love. (Besides herself, anyway.)

Wilber Adoptive Great-Uncle. A Muggleborn Ministry official, working for the R.C.M.C. in the Spirit Division. He ain't afraid of no ghosts. 'Grand-Uncle' is an infrequent presence in Jane's life, though a generous one. Despite the gifts, Wisteria's mild disapproval of her brother has influenced Jane's somewhat negative perception of him.

Rosie Flatmate. The Honorable Roselyn Byng is the daughter of a minor aristocrat, and has been a carefully cultivated friend of Jane's since they met on their first day at university. Blonde and noisy, Hon Rosie is brash and scandalous, but her generous streak is a mile wide. The Cornwall Terrace flat Jane, Rosie and Susan share is paid for by Rosie's father, and Rosie tends to take her share of the everyday expenses more than is strictly fair. She is studying English Literature, when she isn't studying English boys.

Susan Flatmate. Shoshannah Bauman has been friends with Jane since shortly after the latter's first arrival in London, and is one of the very few amongst Jane's current circle of friends to know something of her impoverished origins. As this is potentially damaging information if it got out with some of her other acquaintances, Jane is careful to keep on Susan's good side. As her name might imply, her family is Jewish; while the English strain of antisemitism is mild compared to what's bubbling on the Continent, she is the cautious sort and favors 'Susan' as a less conspicuous nickname. Redheaded and sensible, she is politically minded and studying History.