vorrutyer | Character bible

Byerly Vorrutyer
AGE: 34
HEIGHT/STATURE: 6'3
WEIGHT/BUILD: 160 lbs. Lanky and lean.
GENDER: Male
RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Eternal bachelor, eternally down to clown. With literally anyone. (Well, anyone adult and consenting.)
HAIR: Black
EYES: Gorgeous, rich dark brown, fringed with absurdly long eyelashes. Even (putatively) straight men take notice of how beautiful his eyes are.
ORIGIN: The planet of Barrayar. Grew up in the Vorrutyer District.
LANGUAGE: Multilingual in French, Russian, and English from birth. English is his public language - the one he uses out in society; French is his home language, and so the one he prefers for cursing and teasing; Russian is his language of intimacy and honesty, such as it is. Also knows a little bit of Greek.

VISION
Byerly would be handsome if he didn't look so dissolute. He's tall and fine-boned with gorgeous eyes and sensitive hands, but he looks constantly hung over and rumpled. He dresses in quasi-military suits in hideously loud colors - though as ugly as the clothes are, he always looks quite good in them; he dresses in ways that harmonize with his coloring and appearance. (Also, it's an improvement over the outrageous things that were in fashion when he was young.) His posture is loose and slouchy when he walks, sprawling and lazy when he's sitting; he always has his feet where they don't belong. He's quick to grow stubble, but actually puts some effort into keeping his facial hair groomed, so you don't usually see it on his cheek. Has physical tics: bowing sardonically, pressing his hands to his heart, fluttering his eyelashes.

SOUND
Byerly's voice is deep and quite rich. He speaks with an accent that sounds vaguely European, though someone not from his world would have trouble placing it. (Someone from Barrayar would know him as someone from the French-speaking minority.) He speaks often in a mocking, arch way that borders on camp (and sometimes crosses the line fully into camp). He has a number of verbal tics - calling people dear, ironically using minced curses (dear heavens, zounds, the like).

SCENT
By often smells like someone who's been out partying for a few days - there's often a smell of wine on his breath, and his clothes smell like they're in dire need of a wash. He covers it up with spritzes of cologne, generally in sweet and spicy scents.

MIND
He's twisty and hard to read. By is a liar par excellence, and his method of lying consists of first convincing himself of the lie in order to really play it to the hilt, so someone with empathic or psychic skills needs to really dig in past the surface level to know he's lying. Likewise, his emotions are always complex and rarely truthful; he's good at making himself feel things he's not actually feeling. Still, if a psychic digs into his mind, they'll find that he's mentally orderly and alert (and never actually drunk, no matter how he pretends); if an empath digs into his emotions, they'll find he's a lot more melancholy and less jolly than he seems.

MISC.
Handedness. Left-handed.
Stress reaction. Gets bitchier and nastier.
Adrenaline reaction. Gets calm and steady. Fear makes him focused.
Sense of humor. Witty above all else. Appreciates wit in others. Likes a good pun. The smuttier the joke, the better.
Phobias. Heights. Suffocation and drowning.
Rage triggers. None; his anger is slow and calculated. Abusers, oathbreakers, and traitors are targets of his wrath, but vengeance is going to be a long time coming.
Social.
Likes: Witty people, especially people who can tolerate jokes at their expense. Conversely, witty people who get all wound up at being mocked. Ferocious women. Honorable men. The brave and the kindhearted.
Cannot abide: Stupid people. People who punch below their weight class, as it were.
Sexuality. Bisexual, preference for men.
Sexual openness. Flirts with anything that moves.
Verbal tics. "Dear heavens." "My word." Cursing very casually to get a reaction.
Ways of expressing affection. Tapping people on the back of the hand or the forehead. Mocking them.
What kind of drunk? Constantly pretending to be drunk; fake-drunk involves stumbling and slurring. When Byerly is actually drunk, he gets very precise, almost scientific in his speech, and he becomes emotionally detached.
How does he treat social betters? Generally by mocking them. Those he actually respects, like his Emperor, get genuine deference mixed with witticisms and whining.
How does he treat social inferiors? With decency. He plays up his lordly arrogance so that everyone can laugh at it.
Political views? Essentially apolitical. If he put any thought into it, he'd be center-left.
Skills and employment.
Musical. Violin. Very, very good. Piano, good, but slightly less so.
Combat. Quite skilled and well-trained. Fights unpredictably, using a blend of fighting styles tailored to him by an ImpSec trainer. Fights fast, loose, and dirty.
In bed. Very, very good in bed. More interested in pleasing than in being pleased. Watch out for his pillow talk.
Other. Excellent marksmanship. (With a stunner, never anything deadlier than that.) Decent hacking skills. Very good skills picking locks and dealing with the more physical side of infiltration.
Employment. Informant for Imperial Security. Rank IS8, which is very far up there (and comes with a decent amount of money).
Background.
Father. Leon Serg Vorrutyer. Miserly and a hoarder. Rarely left home when younger, became a complete recluse in his old age. Disliked his son immensely.
Mother. Natalie Katrina Vorkovacs Vorrutyer. A lover of music who didn't do much raising of her children aside from teaching them how to play. Drank more and more as By grew up; was completely out of touch with reality by the time he was fifteen.
Sister. Nadine Anastasia Vorrutyer Vorlightly. Apple of Byerly's eye. Three years his younger. Stubborn and a bit judgmental, but generally sweet and good. Better than the rest of the family by far. Married with three children, all of whom have been gene-cleaned. Forward-thinking, well-educated, and independent. Byerly hasn't spoken to her in fifteen years, though she'd want to hear from him.
Nanny. Agafeya Darque. A French-Russian bilingual who raised him. Fired when he was eleven for being too expensive, which embittered him enormously.
Archnemesis. His cousin Richars, who used to viciously bully him when he was a kid. Revenge took a long while, but it came in time.
Education. Poor. Skipped school to hang out with his friends when he was younger, dropped out of school by the time that he was 17. Knows some information, but not in a systematic way.
Childhood home: Near the sea in a crumbling old family home called Rutger Manse. Often gets nostalgic for the ocean.
Special diet? Particular habits? Any other details you want to include can go here.