Katherine
The Unpredictable Rake
Portrayed by Katee Sackhoff
Name: Katherine Elizabeth Sykes
Aliases: Kat
Birthday: August 15, 1913
Position: Auror Initiate
Lineage: Pure-blood

Description

Standing at about 5' 5" tall this spry, leggy blonde exhudes confidence in her movements and general attitude. Creamy skin, high cheek bones, a strong jaw, and cinnamon brown eyes make for a combination that while attractive is more handsome than beautiful. However her straight, gently pointed nose and wide, luscious lips lend an extra touch of femininity to her features.

Background

The Sykes family is a family so old and so proud they still tout their coat of arms as if they were about to step onto a medieval battlefield. And they rightly should be since they've churned out a number of accomplished witches and wizards over the years — researchers, healers, high-ranking ministry officials, business owners and the like. The idea of achieving excellence is something that is ingrained into every Sykes from infancy so it should come as no surprise that Jancarlo Sykes and his wife Katerina chose to raise their children in a very similar manner to that chosen by his younger brother Arlo even thought the children were reared on opposite sides of the continent. Jancarlo's work with the Ministry of Magic's Department of International Magical Cooperation saw him stationed in Moscow, Russia as an Ambassador. There he met his wife, Katerina Yakuskin, who he deemed a suitable match given her father's business and political connections as well as the long and storied pedigree of her family. At Katerina's insistence Jancarlo used his own connections and influence as well as her father's to assure that his posting remained unchanged for as long as possible, resulting in both their children Katherine and Richard spending the first few years of their life in Moscow. But in the end, right around the time of Katherine's 6th birthday, it became clear that if Jancarlo's career was going to progress any further the family would have to return to London, where Jancarlo started work in the upper echelons of the International Magical Trading Standards Body.

Never being one to leave things to chance Jancarlo made sure that his children began their education as early as possible, including how to speak and write proper English as well as Russian, and that their leisure time was spent on activities that would improve both their mind and body. Katherine specifically proved to be a bright, inquisitive child that, to the delight of both her parents, showed an early aptitude for magic had and had no problem learning anything. Until they tried to teach her how to read and write that is. Here she hit a snag. It took much longer than usual for her to get the grasp of how letters worked together, in part because the frustration of the whole exercise and the lure of more interesting activities made her stubborn streak flare up. So if she wasn't watched carefully by her teachers and tutors she had a tendency to slip away, later to be found in the gardens of the manor climbing trees or chasing any stray animal or insect she stumbled upon showing a tendency to be a bit on the reckless side and a preference for adventure over academics. Given her difficulty with the written word and the amount of attention it took to keep her on task the choice was made to hire tutors and educate Katherine at home.

By the time she reached her 11th birthday, through many an effort, tantrum, hunt and retrieval, bribe, and punishment her parents had made sure that she was ready to at least survive the academic rigors of any of the prime schools of magic in the world and that she had an understanding of the kind of excellence that is expected of a Sykes. The invitations to Hogwarts arrived but both Katherine and Katerina showed a preference for to continue Katherine's schooling at home but even thought Jancarlo tended to dote on both of the women in his life in this one instance he would not bend. Katherine would be attending Hogswarts as had generations of Sykes before her, no ifs ands or buts! So off to Hogwarts she went, against her will and with a bad attitude.

Once at Hogwarts she was sorted into Slytherin House, which was a surprise to no one given the Sykes tendency to end up as Snakes. And that was when things started to improve since she had the opportunity to reacquaint herself with Xavier and later Jocunda, who she had only had contact with during the infrequent holiday during her childhood. Jocunda in particular turned out to be a kindred spirit given their shared tendency towards recklessness. But Kat's need to work extra hard on her academics to meet parental expectations and her dedication to Dueling Club, which she had found to be the perfect release for both the tension caused by her studies and her desire for danger and adventure, they did not spend as much time together as they might have in other circumstances. Sweat, blood, tears, and a massive amount of manipulation to get her fellow students to do as much of her academic work as possible managed to get Katherine through 7 years of what she considered mostly torture. Throughout that process she concocted a plan to meet her father's expectations for excellence by managing to get N.E.W.T.s in Charms, DADA, Potions, Herbology, and Transfiguration, in other words, all of the subjects needed to qualify for the Auror training program. And with the exception of charming or manipulating people into writing a good part of her essays she earned the N.E.W.T.s thanks to her constant dueling practice honing her already natural aptitude for the practical side of those classes.

But it came at a cost. By the time Katherine was done with her N.E.W.T.s she was burnt out. Feeling a need to decompress before she could even think of applying to the Aurors she convinced her father she needed a sabbatical. So she convinced him to rent her an apartment and started playing the part of the young socialite and in the process getting involved with a less than savory crew. As the intended one year sabbatical started to stretch out into much more than one year Katherine started developing a taste for gambling, particularly poker. But her activities and her friends started straining her relationship with her parents so little by little they started cutting her off, which had the unintended effect of accelerating the downward spiral given that the less money Father was willing to part with the more she started hanging out with people involved in illegal gambling and charming her way into games where her partners, male or female depending on who was more conveniently available to provide her with the lifestyle she wanted, covered her expenses. Jancarlo gave her rope, willing to let her learn a lesson the hard way. That is, until Katherine found herself in an illegal game that was raided by the authorities. Covering this incident up cost Jancarlo enough effort and political capital that he's finally set his foot down again. Do what you said you were going to do 6 years ago and join the Aurors or get cut off from the family. And so Katherine finds herself back in London, since one thing is having a little bit of fun but sullying her name and shaming her family by being disowned is something that she's never going to be willing to do.

Wand

Katherine%27s%20wand.jpg
Springy, nine and a half inches, Rowan wand with a Dragon Heartstring core.

Pets

Pets? Pets are for people that can't make friends.

Personality

Katherine has a mercurial personality. She's normally smooth and charming, very controlled in her emotional expressions and what they show the outside world. Until she's not. Its difficult to tell what might set her temper off and when it does go off its like someone set off a stick of dynamite. Sudden, and violent, and all over the place and then, just as quick as it all started, she's back to normal.

Quirks

  • Wealth: Comfortable Although her family is very much old money Kat is trying to prove herself and calls on her father as little as possible for financial assistance.
  • Rake: Kat's sense of morality in the sexual areas of her life is rather loose, especially by the standards of the mid-1900's.
  • Stubborn: Bullheaded, pigheaded, obstinate, headstrong; take your pick. When Kat's made up her mind about something almost nothing will make her change her mind or back down.
  • Unpredictable: see the description of her personality.
  • Dyslexic: Kat had difficulty reading as a child and a teenager. She has learned how to compensate for this over the years but reading still isn't fun, enjoyable, or a quick process for her.

RP Hooks

  • Pureblood Society: The Sykes family is well known and very affluent in wizarding society. Respected by some and hated by others.
  • Duelist: Kat was one of the best duelists at Hogwarts in her day.
  • Seedy Past: She's trying to walk the straight and narrow again but Kat has done more than her fair share of slumming and has a tendency to backslide from time to time.

Grimoire (Known and Commonly Used Spells)

Home

#7 Lambeth, London

Logs

Wolfgang

Wolfgang
Darling boy with a beautiful voice the spirit of a true flirt. Even thought I've know him for ages there are secrets there still undiscovered.

Kenneth

Kenneth
I've met the Captain a few times at The Natrix. Nice man but his story is a little sad. I hope he can come to terms with the loss of his wife soon so his kids can get their father back.

Graham

Graham
Graham is a fellow Auror Initiate and was a contemporary at Hogwarts. I'm starting to get reacquainted with him and it seems life has mellow that old goody-two-shoes streak he had in school, which is good.

Julian

Julian
Up and coming duelist and brave enough to go exploring in the seedier parts of Hogsmeade. He's expressed an interest in becoming an Auror as well and I think he might actually have the chops for it. Too bad he has to deal with the stigma of being a half-blood but its just one more of those challenges he says he loves.

Randy

Randy
Julian's cousin and a no-nonsense kind of girl. Reminds me of myself a few years ago.

Gallery

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