Post by (Lord) Cutler Beckett on Aug 22, 2011 22:23:26 GMT -5
((YE BE WARNED: THERE IS MUCH TL;DR))
Name: Cutler Beckett; the ‘Lord’ was added when he obtained the leadership of the East India Trading Company
Age: 41
Species:complete and total ‘bag human
Place of Origin (what movie or story did they come from?): Pirates of the Caribbean
Appearance:
hair description: Nearly every second of every day he is seen with a long white wig tied back in a loose ponytail with a black ribbon. What is not in the ponytail becomes curled up on the sides of his head in a set of one roll of white hair a side. Without his wig (and Beckett is rarely seen without it), his hair is short and brown.
facial description/mood expressions: Both one of Beckett's greatest strengths and greatest flaws is that he often tries to remain as stoic as possible with his facial expressions. Most of his emotion takes place in his deep blue eyes, and even then that could not be identified without somewhat close inspection. However, he does let the occasional smirk get past, giving off the presence that he is eerily calm with whatever situation he is placed in. Yet this cannot last forever, as whenever he is caught extremely off-guard, there is a brief expression of panic on his face.
clothing style: Beckett goes out of his way to make himself appear different from his men. As they would be wearing the same uniform, Beckett would have on different attire, yet he always manages to somehow appear more official-looking than his soldiers. He is rarely seen in a uniform of any kind, as he personally feels this would demote him to the level of his men, whom he considers his pawns.
body build: Lord Beckett's strength and manipulative power over his people is turned into a curious irony as, compared to most of his soldiers, he is the shortest of his men by several inches, only being five feet, five inches tall. Having to tilt his head slightly upward to look even Elizabeth Swann in the eye, at times his height is an embarrassing asset to him, but sometimes (however, he rarely finds how, for he was never put in such a situation) it can be used to his advantage. Partially because of his height, Beckett was never really a physical person, therefore he doesn't have much to show in terms of brawn. However, he chooses to exert his strengths in the role of chessmaster, in contrast to actually fighting.
Oh, and did I mention HE’S SO TINY?
Plus, I think it’s confirmed that he is left-handed.
Personality:
Behind that barely expressive face of Beckett's, there is quite a lot going on in his mind. Therefore, there is a lot more to him than what meets the eye at first.
On the outside, Beckett appears to be extremely calm. It is rather unsettling to see primarily because he almost always looks like he knows that something is going according to plan. Even if the pirates (he always groups them into one individual category, since he despises them that much) are gaining an upper hand on him, Beckett always remains calm. Nine times out of ten, he knows how to get out of a rut his opponents have managed to dig him into, and that may sometimes be using his opponents' allies against them. Lord Beckett can be an extremely reasonable man when he needs to be, and he will not hesitate to use that fact to his advantage.
However reasonable he is in conversation, he is certainly unreasonable in all other aspects of his life. Although he does nothing to physically harm another person, he has no sympathy for anyone who is under or against him. As Beckett can watch hundreds of his prisoners die without even blinking, he can watch a million of his own men die without even blinking as well, because as loyal as they are to him, he merely thinks them as insignificant, existing only to carry out what he orders in his own place. They are only his pawns, and he believes if they must be sacrificed for the good of his objective, then he will let them die. However, Beckett isn't stupid when it comes to this. He knows that not everyone is going to simply eat out of his hand and follow his orders immediately, so he puts an extra effort into persuading them that all is good, and that their intentions are for the greater good of their society. However, in order to sugarcoat everything, very important negative details needed to be purposely left out, which is why Beckett also believes he has the right to answer only the questions he chooses to answer, and only them. This is because, along with his ability to get himself and his objective out of ruts they may have found themselves stuck in, he also wants to try to avoid such ruts in the first place. Therefore, situations that would normally get them into such ruts need to also be avoided.
However, an important detail about Beckett is that he isn't materialistic. That is, he does not think money is important. He prefers power over money, because even though money is fast becoming the only trait of nobility, money does not instill fear into the lowliest of people and trick them into doing what they're told. He also does not believe in wealth through money simply because he feels he does not want to reduce himself down to the level of pirates, which he loathes (if you did not catch that already). However, despite that, Beckett is slightly hypocritical because, even though he appears to be a saint to the people who heavily support him, he has the soul of a filthy pirate, deceiving others for his own benefit and causing destruction only to steal and reap the rewards.
Although this is a side effect of all of the power he has, Beckett is conceited (the man has a huge painting of himself on his own ship!), believing that he is never wrong. He personally believes (and therefore wants other people to believe) that his own intentions are better than those of his enemies and traitors, and therefore will not accept the fact that he is wrong. However, like with everything else, Beckett does not make a huge scene about the concept of him being wrong. Instead, he thinks it over for a while, and then tries to come up with a way to get past it. After all, he must not appear vulnerable in front of his supporters, lest they lose belief in him.
However emotionless he seems, Beckett also has a dark sense of humor. He likes to tease his 'victims' while arresting them (at least, the ones hecares isn't too busy to be present for) for his own satisfaction, before apathetically (although he does enjoy to watch, especially if it happens during his tea break - tea AND a show!) putting them all to death. Obviously from what was stated above, Beckett only cares about few people, first and foremost himself. He manages to convince the general public that he is working for the good of the industry, but that is only half true; he is only working for the good of the industry so that the industry works for the good of HIM. Beckett has an ulterior motive to everything he does, and to most people, he manages to disguise it well. The only people he seems genuinely evil to are his criminals, and most of them die before they even get a say.
Most of them...
History:
Sometime in the very late 1600's, there was an English nobleman named Benjamin James Beckett, who had some time ago inherited a mansion in the Beckett name outside of London. For a while, he had been married to his young wife, Ann, but it was a slightly conflicted marriage, mostly because each had their own reason for marrying the other. Ann had adored Benjamin as a man and a husband, but he had only decided to marry her because of the sudden merging of their family fortunes, which would most certainly help keep the family afloat for a while. Therefore, Benjamin hardly even paid attention to her, almost as if he had forgotten she had existed. It worked for him, however, until Ann suggested to him that they have a child. Even though she pleaded, Benjamin still refused, for what need did he have of a child running about the house? Then it eventually dawned on him that he had no heir. When he was to eventually pass on, there was no one to inherit the Beckett fortune, and therefore it would be.... evenly distributed. That would not do with Benjamin. At all. So reluctantly, he agreed.
The child had eventually come, but it was slightly early for either of their liking (and it was hard to displease Ann). Yet as much as the servants attempted to help, it seemed as though the mother was not meant to live to see her son. This displeased Benjamin greatly, for he was now considered the primary guardian when there were so many other ways to spend his time. For a while, he even considered leaving it at an orphanage. But, for the sake of the family name, the child, named Cutler after his uncle, had to stay. Later, though, it dawned on him how the boy could be put to use.
While Cutler was a bit frail from being prematurely born, he was still incredibly intelligent, and caught on quick in his studies. Therefore, his father heavily stressed his schooling, barely giving him time for anything else. Cutler wasn't the most social young man, therefore, and knew of only business. Business was what it would all lead up to.
Eventually, his father remarried and there was a new lady of the house. Cutler was intrigued by Geraldine, his stepmother, and she simply adored him, much to his surprise. One day, while he had been studying, Geraldine had approached him, and at her insistence, they talked, Cutler putting his books away for a while.
What happened next, Cutler barely remembered, but both husband and wife were shouting at each other, and the boy was, as most young boys would have been in that situation, scared. Cutler had winced when his father mentioned giving him several lashes, but suddenly Geraldine pulled Cutler closer to her, attempting to shield him. The embrace had been something completely new to him, and as he was pressed to her bosom, he wanted never to leave. As he felt tears streaming down his
cheeks, his father abruptly pulled him away, only to see his eyes red.
"Are these tears? Men don't cry, Cutler," he distinctly remembered his father saying. "Emotion is a weakness. Weak men don't survive. So get upstairs, get your shoes on, and get back in that office before I teach you how many lashes weak men get."
After that, he never saw Geraldine again, and everything was back to normal, although he did have some doubts about the way his father was raising him. However, Cutler did not protest, for he thought his father knew what he was doing, and he had been taught not to protest authority.
After much more schooling (top rate, and unbelievable quality, nonetheless. It was much more than what his father had forced upon him), Cutler eventually applied for a position at the newly-formed East India Trading Company, which would eventually become Cutler's future and life. Because his boss was concerned about the way Cutler had been raised working, the young man had been reduced to a regular schedule so he could get enough sleep to avoid fatigue. After several months, he had dropped the habit of working extremely late completely, and grew much more successful with the way he was ahead of everyone else in his department. Over the next ten years, Cutler Beckett practically flew up the hierarchy of the company due to his hard work and innovative personality that hadn't been revealed until he had actually started working in the company. Likewise, the higher up he became in the company, the more he had a chance to travel the world and to tag along on the many ships of the EITC. He also became more obsessed with his work, just as his father had done and Geraldine had feared, and had put business on top of everything else that was supposed to matter in his life, save his own health. The more power he had in the EITC, the more he wanted.
Something else Beckett had noticed was that the more power he had, the LESS he had to work, since he had people under him and all he needed to do was keep them in order. This had certainly been a change, and yet more of a reward for him compared to the level of work he had to do before he had worked at the East India Trading Company. He chose to bask in his power, believing it something he earned. One the men in particular Beckett found under him was a gentleman named Mercer, and the two had a close bond, so much so that Beckett considered Mercer his 'right-hand man'. Yet what crafty Beckett really desired was someone, in particularly hostile and dangerous situations, to be his 'double' to get information and to possibly lead raids in his absence. Because Beckett just WANTED to be there during all of the action. Another trait that Beckett had happened to pick up from his time of rising power was his extreme dislike of pirates. There had been several cases of business attempting to be made that had somehow been interrupted, delayed, or sometimes even prevented by pirate attacks and raids. The more this occurred under Beckett's watch of the Company, the more this small hindrance angered him. How dare these lower-class ruffians, hooligans, and just plain scum even dare to attempt put such a damper on several sets of perfectly good business dealings?! Yet Beckett could do nothing about this problem, primarily because he could not be bothered to, since he thought with the oncoming industrialization of those countries they would simply either die out or be driven away, a classic case of 'two birds, one stone.' However, an underlying reason that Beckett would often leave out of his lengthy explanations was that he did not have enough power to fully influence the massive dilemma, no matter how much he would think of trying. However, both of his excuses would be blown away with the chance meeting of one 'pirate' in particular,
It was during Beckett's time as overseer of some of the divisions of the EITC that he had first come into contact with the man known as Jack Sparrow. He had been employed to his division of the company, and for the sake of hauling cargo to different countries and locations associated with the East India Trading Company, he had entrusted Jack with a ship christened the Wicked Wench, soon to become the Black Pearl. He had Jack run several assignments for him while Jack was under his employment, and when he suspected one time that Jack had been lying to him about the location of a mythical island that he had been commanded to find, Beckett commanded Jack's obedience by demanding him to haul a certain "cargo" - black slaves, which went against Jack's initial promise to himself and the Wicked Wench - to the New World. Upon realizing that the cargo contained slaves, Jack had set them free in Africa, thus enraging Beckett. Immediately upon hearing what Jack had done, he ordered the ship burned and sank after Jack arrested. He had personally branded Jack a pirate (thus giving him the "P" brand on his arm). Since the ship had been burned in front of Jack and he attempted to save it, Beckett thought that Jack was dead. However, through word of mouth of Jack's many shenanigans after that day, Beckett learned otherwise. However, he would not see Jack again for another fourteen years.
For it was fourteen years later that the East Indies would be completely under the influence of the East India Trading Company, Beckett would eventually be promoted supreme leader of the Company (and receive his current title of Lord added in by the King in recognition of this) and the sights for the company would next be set on the Caribbean islands - where there were beautiful views, a lovely trading port or two... And pirates. Lots of pirates. Lovely. That small blot in the picturesque scene would have to somehow be blotted out in order for that area to actually be appealing. Therefore, fate would have it that Lord Beckett would be stationed there next in order to supervise the imperialistic takeover the East India Trading Company would have over Port Royal. Word has spread about the return of Jack Sparrow, so much so that Lord Beckett, since he happened to be going to Port Royal anyway, was asked to deliver the arrest warrants made for Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, Commodore James Norrington and finally Jack Sparrow himself. He manages to imprison Elizabeth (who is later set free by her father), but creates a bargain with Will - he would pardon Will and Elizabeth if Will can find Jack and give him a message that Lord Beckett would like to employ him as a privateer. Yet his motive in this proposal was only to obtain the compass of Jack Sparrow, which was said to point only in the direction of what one desires the very most. That for Lord Beckett was the legendary Dead Man's Chest, which contained the heart to Davy Jones and the power to control him and the seas along with it, allowing him to eliminate all traces of piracy from the Caribbean seas in order to enhance the trade routes that the EITC would create. However, he did not say this right away.
Lord Beckett had an opportunity once again to negotiate when a released Elizabeth approached him and held him at gunpoint, demanding that he verify the documents releasing her and Will with his seal. The young Miss Swann seemed to be a step ahead of him, since she had been informed by Will that Lord Beckett had sent him to get the compass, but clever Beckett already knew more about it than she, for he simply (although not literally) laughed off her attempt to get him to dismiss the matter. He subtly informed her of his true desires, before claiming the offer needed to be enhanced. However, Lord Beckett verified the documents anyway, knowing he would eventually get his way in the end with obtaining Jack's compass. As the pieces were being put together, Lord Beckett imprisoned Elizabeth's father, Governor Weatherby Swann, for freeing the girl in the first place, and then blackmailed him to convince the government of London using his influence to aid the East India Trading Company in their objective in exchange for Elizabeth's safety. Everything was going according to plan, as Lord Beckett indirectly made an agreement with former Commodore Norrington: obtain the Dead Man's Chest and somehow get it to him, and Norrington would be pardoned for his blunders and regain his position in the Navy. As Lord Beckett expected, Norrington agreed, and soon the Dead Man's Chest was in his possession.
Sensing the future of piracy was in danger, a group of pirates and people associated with them who were to be hanged started a chorus of Hoist the Colors, thus calling for the Brethren Court to meet once again. This was of no surprise to Lord Beckett (he had been appointed representative to the King at this time), who had expected something like this to happen. His new plan of action was to eliminate the heart of piracy, thus rendering the rest of the pirate population helpless and therefore vulnerable to his attack. This had well begun as since Davy Jones' heart was in the Company's possession, the Flying Dutchmanhad been killing off pirate ships mercilessly (not to mention Jones had been forced to kill the Kraken in fear of it being an obstacle and a danger to the Company), much to the dismay of Lord Beckett who desired prisoners to interrogate rather than mass killings. He confronted Davy Jones himself, reinforcing the fact that Jones was under his and only his command. Because he suspected that Governor Swann knew too much and might have been planning to betray him to attempt to stop him, Lord Beckett ordered him killed, before convincing the rest of his men that Governor Swann merely returned to England to avoid suspicion. Lord Beckett placed Norrington in charge of the Dutchman while he had other matters to attend to, such as finding out the location of the Brethren's meeting.
Everything was once again going according to plan as Sao Feng handed Jack and his crew over to Lord Beckett in supposed exchange for the Black Pearl (which he doesn't get, since Lord Beckett fully intended to keep it for his own uses). On his ship, Lord Beckett encountered Jack for the first time in over fourteen years, and attempted to convince Jack to reveal the location of the Brethren Court meeting. Instead, Jack proposed that he would lead Lord Beckett and his men to Shipwreck Cove, where the meeting was supposed to be, and then lure the pirates into his hands. Lord Beckett then taunted Jack, revealing to him that he has his compass in his possession, and that he should kill Jack in order to force the compass to point him in the direction of Shipwreck Cove. However, Jack convinced him otherwise, reassuring him that his idea is better. When Beckett's ship, the Endeavour, was suddenly attacked by Sao Feng's ship, Jack manages to escape. When asked what ship to follow when the two ships travel in different directions, Lord Beckett responded to follow the Black Pearl, while the Dutchman followed Sao Feng's ship. The Dutchman ended up attacking and seizing Sao Feng's ship, killing Sao Feng and indirectly making Elizabeth his heir.
Will, in an attempt to save his father, attempted to lead Beckett to Shipwreck Cove, but is knocked off the ship by Jack and was picked up by Beckett instead, to whom Will discussed his deal... over tea. When Beckett summoned Davy Jones, he confronted him about the concept of Calyspo, where at the same time Jones realized Jack was now alive. Jones told his story to Will about his connection to Calypso while Beckett listened patiently, believing this information will come in handy. It is then that he also obtained Jack's compass once again.
Beckett, Will, and Jones confront Jack, Barbossa, and Elizabeth, and the third exchanged Will for Jack under her right as Pirate King, before Lord Beckett delivered his threat - either fight and be wiped out completely, or surrender and be wiped out partially. Elizabeth then promised to avenge her father, threatening Lord Beckett's death. However, Lord Beckett only seemed to dismiss the threat, anticipating the oncoming fight which he believes he will win.
During one of his tea breaks, Lord Beckett was informed that the wind had grown stronger, only to see a storm break out and form a large whirlpool, in which the Black Pearl and the Dutchman battle. He watched from the comfort of his ship as the Dutchman was sunken. All hope seemed lost for Beckett until the Dutchman resurfaced. However, Beckett did not know that the Dutchman was no longer under his control, since Davy Jones was killed and Will Turner had become the new captain. Once Lord Beckett realized that both the Black Pearl and the Dutchman were closing in to attack the Endeavour, he tried quickly to formulate a plan, but failed to come up with anything as his ship was quickly being destroyed. While the rest of his crew abandoned ship, Beckett simply stood in the midst of the turmoil at his former position, as if in a trance. Slowly and gradually he began to descend the steps onto the deck while everything exploded around him, but was eventually consumed by the flames, taken down with his own ship.
... At least, he thought he was, before there was a great flash of light that he knew did not come from the fires, and suddenly he became... whole again. As his surroundings cleared and his mortal body became healed once again, Beckett knew he had a second chance.
A chance to make things right...
Strengths/Abilities:
- clever wit
- mentally nitpicky
- extremely manipulative
- knows just how to make a person crack
- deliberately keeps emotion from getting in the way of his goals
- very persuasive
- has enough business experience to know exactly how to strike a deal
Weaknesses/Flaws:
- relies heavily on the men under him and his power - without them, Beckett is nothing.
- will not take no for an answer (although he does not always make this obvious)
- is vulnerable when caught off-guard
- has little to no sympathy for people (criminals) he doesn't like
- has very few visible emotions (or, rather, emotions he would like the public to view)
- is two-faced, and almost always has an ulterior motive.
- believes in the power of imperialism - all for the sake of good business.
Likes:
- power
- playing with his "prey" until he gets what he wants from them (however, this is not always completely obvious)
- the spread of his influence
- the transition in that time period from the Old World to the New World
- having control over the Dutchman.
- a good cup of tea.
- having an ulterior motive that few will recognize
- the concept of imperialism
Dislikes:
- pirates (especially Jack Sparrow, whom he wants dead more than anything else)
- all people associated with the above (including Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, (former) Commodore Norrington, etc.)
- piracy
- people who defy his authority
- criminals who escape from his grasp (hint hint)
- people who betray him
- dirty, filthy, mangy criminals (pirates may also be included in this, should they not receive their own category)
- vulnerability
- his height. Somewhat.
- being called "Cuttlefish"
Fears:
- losing his power and his control over what he has of the world and the seas
- betrayal
- death
- not ever being above his men
- putting shame upon the name of Beckett
- losing in general - he always wants to remain the winner, or at least have the upper hand.
- a lack of industrialization
RP Sample:
He felt cold.
Despite the flames that were shooting up from the Endeavour and eating into his skin while delicately tickling at it at the same time; despite the way he felt as though he had been roasting before he had fallen into the fire, Lord Beckett still felt cold. Fearful he had been when he was confronting his demise - he had failed in one of his greatest ambitions, and for the first time in life he was completely alone and defenseless, so therefore, there was no further purpose for him in this life - it almost felt comforting, as if the fires were a warm embrace from an unseen damsel, whispering for him to stop fighting fate and simply fall into the darkness. However, no matter how tight the embrace became, it did nothing to stop his veins from turning to ice under his skin. What a feeling it was to be warm and cold at the same time, Beckett thought, but surely in death such logic could always be defied. After all, it was death.
Lord Beckett had no way of telling when the explosion had occurred, only that he had been thrown off the ship and was still barely conscious of it all. He had been deaf to it, merely because his senses had been fading away as seconds seemed to feel like days, and his human heart was nearly still. He could only still feel what was happening around him, for the fires had long since blinded him. Beckett knew when he had hit the water, since at that time, his entire body was cold, and the fiery damsel that had been caressing him before had vanished, leaving his charred body in her wake.
As the last of his senses slipped away while he slowly sank past the ruined ship, drowning, Beckett had faced himself with a question, his consciousness barely hanging on by a thread. Was he at peace? He had then answered himself, after some thought, it didn't matter. Nothing mattered. Whether he was at peace or not, there was nothing he could change. Anymore. Had he done everything he wanted? The answer was, of course, no. He still had many ambitions, many goals, but they had been deemed impossible. Arguably, there was much more than this. Did he have a wife to weep over his watery grave? Children he would never know? The answer was, again, no. In dedicating himself to the Company, he had gambled everything... and had lost everything in the end. He had lived and died for nothing but the Company. Did it make him a martyr? The thought gave him a small bit of pleasure as everything, even his mind became numb.
And thus, Cutler Beckett - a sight too gruesome for human eyes but serene in his final moments - was no more.
It was not long before feeling began to return to his body. It had surprised him, for since there was no Davy Jones (not that, when he thought about it carefully, Jones would willingly save him), there was no one to save him from death. However, even with the vast knowledge he had, Beckett knew nothing about death, nor what awaited him. It was strange, however, that the water had turned to sand, running through his numb fingertips, and as a force unknown pulled him toward the surface, a voice from a distant memory echoed through his mind, even though he knew there was no one speaking.
"I can take you away from this horrid place, darling. I know you're miserable here, Cutler, and I want you to be happy. I want you to be..."
Someone, somewhere a long time ago had told him that. He couldn't remember her name nor her influence on his life, but he knew she had came and went, like the sands trapped in the tide...
When his sight returned, Beckett was nearly blinded all over again by how bright his surroundings were. It was a clever illusion, for there was no direct source of light (that he could tell), but instead all of his surroundings were colored to be the brightest white, although the sands were more of a light pale. After thoroughly releasing himself from the sands' hold (as he had woken up to be semi-buried), Beckett took a closer look at what lay before him. As far as his eye could see, half-buried corpses of men (women and children were present as well, but there were mostly men) were spread among the desert floor, Beckett seeming to be the only one alive for miles. Standing up before starting to walk around, he managed to nearly trip over some protruding limbs that happened to be above ground, but Beckett mostly managed to avoid them. It was eerily quiet, almost to the extent that Beckett sensed in his gut something was wrong, or something was to be 'wrong'.
He didn't let his guard down. He never let his guard down.
Suddenly, Beckett heard voices, but those in strong contrast to the warm and loving voice from his subconscious.
"Thief and a liar..."
"Dirty coward..."
"I won't rest until his neck is snapped!"
Beckett looked around for the source of the voices, but they seemed to be coming from everywhere at once - even inside his mind.
"He lied to us..."
"Cold blood..."
"Less of a Lord, more of a pirate..."
The air was chilled with each of the voices, so much so that even the hairs on the back of his neck stood up straight. Still, Beckett tried his best not to seem much more frightened than that. Heaven knew what weaknesses would come out of that.
((-here
Name: Cutler Beckett; the ‘Lord’ was added when he obtained the leadership of the East India Trading Company
Age: 41
Species:
Place of Origin (what movie or story did they come from?): Pirates of the Caribbean
Appearance:
hair description: Nearly every second of every day he is seen with a long white wig tied back in a loose ponytail with a black ribbon. What is not in the ponytail becomes curled up on the sides of his head in a set of one roll of white hair a side. Without his wig (and Beckett is rarely seen without it), his hair is short and brown.
facial description/mood expressions: Both one of Beckett's greatest strengths and greatest flaws is that he often tries to remain as stoic as possible with his facial expressions. Most of his emotion takes place in his deep blue eyes, and even then that could not be identified without somewhat close inspection. However, he does let the occasional smirk get past, giving off the presence that he is eerily calm with whatever situation he is placed in. Yet this cannot last forever, as whenever he is caught extremely off-guard, there is a brief expression of panic on his face.
clothing style: Beckett goes out of his way to make himself appear different from his men. As they would be wearing the same uniform, Beckett would have on different attire, yet he always manages to somehow appear more official-looking than his soldiers. He is rarely seen in a uniform of any kind, as he personally feels this would demote him to the level of his men, whom he considers his pawns.
body build: Lord Beckett's strength and manipulative power over his people is turned into a curious irony as, compared to most of his soldiers, he is the shortest of his men by several inches, only being five feet, five inches tall. Having to tilt his head slightly upward to look even Elizabeth Swann in the eye, at times his height is an embarrassing asset to him, but sometimes (however, he rarely finds how, for he was never put in such a situation) it can be used to his advantage. Partially because of his height, Beckett was never really a physical person, therefore he doesn't have much to show in terms of brawn. However, he chooses to exert his strengths in the role of chessmaster, in contrast to actually fighting.
Oh, and did I mention HE’S SO TINY?
Plus, I think it’s confirmed that he is left-handed.
Personality:
Behind that barely expressive face of Beckett's, there is quite a lot going on in his mind. Therefore, there is a lot more to him than what meets the eye at first.
On the outside, Beckett appears to be extremely calm. It is rather unsettling to see primarily because he almost always looks like he knows that something is going according to plan. Even if the pirates (he always groups them into one individual category, since he despises them that much) are gaining an upper hand on him, Beckett always remains calm. Nine times out of ten, he knows how to get out of a rut his opponents have managed to dig him into, and that may sometimes be using his opponents' allies against them. Lord Beckett can be an extremely reasonable man when he needs to be, and he will not hesitate to use that fact to his advantage.
However reasonable he is in conversation, he is certainly unreasonable in all other aspects of his life. Although he does nothing to physically harm another person, he has no sympathy for anyone who is under or against him. As Beckett can watch hundreds of his prisoners die without even blinking, he can watch a million of his own men die without even blinking as well, because as loyal as they are to him, he merely thinks them as insignificant, existing only to carry out what he orders in his own place. They are only his pawns, and he believes if they must be sacrificed for the good of his objective, then he will let them die. However, Beckett isn't stupid when it comes to this. He knows that not everyone is going to simply eat out of his hand and follow his orders immediately, so he puts an extra effort into persuading them that all is good, and that their intentions are for the greater good of their society. However, in order to sugarcoat everything, very important negative details needed to be purposely left out, which is why Beckett also believes he has the right to answer only the questions he chooses to answer, and only them. This is because, along with his ability to get himself and his objective out of ruts they may have found themselves stuck in, he also wants to try to avoid such ruts in the first place. Therefore, situations that would normally get them into such ruts need to also be avoided.
However, an important detail about Beckett is that he isn't materialistic. That is, he does not think money is important. He prefers power over money, because even though money is fast becoming the only trait of nobility, money does not instill fear into the lowliest of people and trick them into doing what they're told. He also does not believe in wealth through money simply because he feels he does not want to reduce himself down to the level of pirates, which he loathes (if you did not catch that already). However, despite that, Beckett is slightly hypocritical because, even though he appears to be a saint to the people who heavily support him, he has the soul of a filthy pirate, deceiving others for his own benefit and causing destruction only to steal and reap the rewards.
Although this is a side effect of all of the power he has, Beckett is conceited (the man has a huge painting of himself on his own ship!), believing that he is never wrong. He personally believes (and therefore wants other people to believe) that his own intentions are better than those of his enemies and traitors, and therefore will not accept the fact that he is wrong. However, like with everything else, Beckett does not make a huge scene about the concept of him being wrong. Instead, he thinks it over for a while, and then tries to come up with a way to get past it. After all, he must not appear vulnerable in front of his supporters, lest they lose belief in him.
However emotionless he seems, Beckett also has a dark sense of humor. He likes to tease his 'victims' while arresting them (at least, the ones he
Most of them...
History:
Sometime in the very late 1600's, there was an English nobleman named Benjamin James Beckett, who had some time ago inherited a mansion in the Beckett name outside of London. For a while, he had been married to his young wife, Ann, but it was a slightly conflicted marriage, mostly because each had their own reason for marrying the other. Ann had adored Benjamin as a man and a husband, but he had only decided to marry her because of the sudden merging of their family fortunes, which would most certainly help keep the family afloat for a while. Therefore, Benjamin hardly even paid attention to her, almost as if he had forgotten she had existed. It worked for him, however, until Ann suggested to him that they have a child. Even though she pleaded, Benjamin still refused, for what need did he have of a child running about the house? Then it eventually dawned on him that he had no heir. When he was to eventually pass on, there was no one to inherit the Beckett fortune, and therefore it would be.... evenly distributed. That would not do with Benjamin. At all. So reluctantly, he agreed.
The child had eventually come, but it was slightly early for either of their liking (and it was hard to displease Ann). Yet as much as the servants attempted to help, it seemed as though the mother was not meant to live to see her son. This displeased Benjamin greatly, for he was now considered the primary guardian when there were so many other ways to spend his time. For a while, he even considered leaving it at an orphanage. But, for the sake of the family name, the child, named Cutler after his uncle, had to stay. Later, though, it dawned on him how the boy could be put to use.
While Cutler was a bit frail from being prematurely born, he was still incredibly intelligent, and caught on quick in his studies. Therefore, his father heavily stressed his schooling, barely giving him time for anything else. Cutler wasn't the most social young man, therefore, and knew of only business. Business was what it would all lead up to.
Eventually, his father remarried and there was a new lady of the house. Cutler was intrigued by Geraldine, his stepmother, and she simply adored him, much to his surprise. One day, while he had been studying, Geraldine had approached him, and at her insistence, they talked, Cutler putting his books away for a while.
What happened next, Cutler barely remembered, but both husband and wife were shouting at each other, and the boy was, as most young boys would have been in that situation, scared. Cutler had winced when his father mentioned giving him several lashes, but suddenly Geraldine pulled Cutler closer to her, attempting to shield him. The embrace had been something completely new to him, and as he was pressed to her bosom, he wanted never to leave. As he felt tears streaming down his
cheeks, his father abruptly pulled him away, only to see his eyes red.
"Are these tears? Men don't cry, Cutler," he distinctly remembered his father saying. "Emotion is a weakness. Weak men don't survive. So get upstairs, get your shoes on, and get back in that office before I teach you how many lashes weak men get."
After that, he never saw Geraldine again, and everything was back to normal, although he did have some doubts about the way his father was raising him. However, Cutler did not protest, for he thought his father knew what he was doing, and he had been taught not to protest authority.
After much more schooling (top rate, and unbelievable quality, nonetheless. It was much more than what his father had forced upon him), Cutler eventually applied for a position at the newly-formed East India Trading Company, which would eventually become Cutler's future and life. Because his boss was concerned about the way Cutler had been raised working, the young man had been reduced to a regular schedule so he could get enough sleep to avoid fatigue. After several months, he had dropped the habit of working extremely late completely, and grew much more successful with the way he was ahead of everyone else in his department. Over the next ten years, Cutler Beckett practically flew up the hierarchy of the company due to his hard work and innovative personality that hadn't been revealed until he had actually started working in the company. Likewise, the higher up he became in the company, the more he had a chance to travel the world and to tag along on the many ships of the EITC. He also became more obsessed with his work, just as his father had done and Geraldine had feared, and had put business on top of everything else that was supposed to matter in his life, save his own health. The more power he had in the EITC, the more he wanted.
Something else Beckett had noticed was that the more power he had, the LESS he had to work, since he had people under him and all he needed to do was keep them in order. This had certainly been a change, and yet more of a reward for him compared to the level of work he had to do before he had worked at the East India Trading Company. He chose to bask in his power, believing it something he earned. One the men in particular Beckett found under him was a gentleman named Mercer, and the two had a close bond, so much so that Beckett considered Mercer his 'right-hand man'. Yet what crafty Beckett really desired was someone, in particularly hostile and dangerous situations, to be his 'double' to get information and to possibly lead raids in his absence. Because Beckett just WANTED to be there during all of the action. Another trait that Beckett had happened to pick up from his time of rising power was his extreme dislike of pirates. There had been several cases of business attempting to be made that had somehow been interrupted, delayed, or sometimes even prevented by pirate attacks and raids. The more this occurred under Beckett's watch of the Company, the more this small hindrance angered him. How dare these lower-class ruffians, hooligans, and just plain scum even dare to attempt put such a damper on several sets of perfectly good business dealings?! Yet Beckett could do nothing about this problem, primarily because he could not be bothered to, since he thought with the oncoming industrialization of those countries they would simply either die out or be driven away, a classic case of 'two birds, one stone.' However, an underlying reason that Beckett would often leave out of his lengthy explanations was that he did not have enough power to fully influence the massive dilemma, no matter how much he would think of trying. However, both of his excuses would be blown away with the chance meeting of one 'pirate' in particular,
It was during Beckett's time as overseer of some of the divisions of the EITC that he had first come into contact with the man known as Jack Sparrow. He had been employed to his division of the company, and for the sake of hauling cargo to different countries and locations associated with the East India Trading Company, he had entrusted Jack with a ship christened the Wicked Wench, soon to become the Black Pearl. He had Jack run several assignments for him while Jack was under his employment, and when he suspected one time that Jack had been lying to him about the location of a mythical island that he had been commanded to find, Beckett commanded Jack's obedience by demanding him to haul a certain "cargo" - black slaves, which went against Jack's initial promise to himself and the Wicked Wench - to the New World. Upon realizing that the cargo contained slaves, Jack had set them free in Africa, thus enraging Beckett. Immediately upon hearing what Jack had done, he ordered the ship burned and sank after Jack arrested. He had personally branded Jack a pirate (thus giving him the "P" brand on his arm). Since the ship had been burned in front of Jack and he attempted to save it, Beckett thought that Jack was dead. However, through word of mouth of Jack's many shenanigans after that day, Beckett learned otherwise. However, he would not see Jack again for another fourteen years.
For it was fourteen years later that the East Indies would be completely under the influence of the East India Trading Company, Beckett would eventually be promoted supreme leader of the Company (and receive his current title of Lord added in by the King in recognition of this) and the sights for the company would next be set on the Caribbean islands - where there were beautiful views, a lovely trading port or two... And pirates. Lots of pirates. Lovely. That small blot in the picturesque scene would have to somehow be blotted out in order for that area to actually be appealing. Therefore, fate would have it that Lord Beckett would be stationed there next in order to supervise the imperialistic takeover the East India Trading Company would have over Port Royal. Word has spread about the return of Jack Sparrow, so much so that Lord Beckett, since he happened to be going to Port Royal anyway, was asked to deliver the arrest warrants made for Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, Commodore James Norrington and finally Jack Sparrow himself. He manages to imprison Elizabeth (who is later set free by her father), but creates a bargain with Will - he would pardon Will and Elizabeth if Will can find Jack and give him a message that Lord Beckett would like to employ him as a privateer. Yet his motive in this proposal was only to obtain the compass of Jack Sparrow, which was said to point only in the direction of what one desires the very most. That for Lord Beckett was the legendary Dead Man's Chest, which contained the heart to Davy Jones and the power to control him and the seas along with it, allowing him to eliminate all traces of piracy from the Caribbean seas in order to enhance the trade routes that the EITC would create. However, he did not say this right away.
Lord Beckett had an opportunity once again to negotiate when a released Elizabeth approached him and held him at gunpoint, demanding that he verify the documents releasing her and Will with his seal. The young Miss Swann seemed to be a step ahead of him, since she had been informed by Will that Lord Beckett had sent him to get the compass, but clever Beckett already knew more about it than she, for he simply (although not literally) laughed off her attempt to get him to dismiss the matter. He subtly informed her of his true desires, before claiming the offer needed to be enhanced. However, Lord Beckett verified the documents anyway, knowing he would eventually get his way in the end with obtaining Jack's compass. As the pieces were being put together, Lord Beckett imprisoned Elizabeth's father, Governor Weatherby Swann, for freeing the girl in the first place, and then blackmailed him to convince the government of London using his influence to aid the East India Trading Company in their objective in exchange for Elizabeth's safety. Everything was going according to plan, as Lord Beckett indirectly made an agreement with former Commodore Norrington: obtain the Dead Man's Chest and somehow get it to him, and Norrington would be pardoned for his blunders and regain his position in the Navy. As Lord Beckett expected, Norrington agreed, and soon the Dead Man's Chest was in his possession.
Sensing the future of piracy was in danger, a group of pirates and people associated with them who were to be hanged started a chorus of Hoist the Colors, thus calling for the Brethren Court to meet once again. This was of no surprise to Lord Beckett (he had been appointed representative to the King at this time), who had expected something like this to happen. His new plan of action was to eliminate the heart of piracy, thus rendering the rest of the pirate population helpless and therefore vulnerable to his attack. This had well begun as since Davy Jones' heart was in the Company's possession, the Flying Dutchmanhad been killing off pirate ships mercilessly (not to mention Jones had been forced to kill the Kraken in fear of it being an obstacle and a danger to the Company), much to the dismay of Lord Beckett who desired prisoners to interrogate rather than mass killings. He confronted Davy Jones himself, reinforcing the fact that Jones was under his and only his command. Because he suspected that Governor Swann knew too much and might have been planning to betray him to attempt to stop him, Lord Beckett ordered him killed, before convincing the rest of his men that Governor Swann merely returned to England to avoid suspicion. Lord Beckett placed Norrington in charge of the Dutchman while he had other matters to attend to, such as finding out the location of the Brethren's meeting.
Everything was once again going according to plan as Sao Feng handed Jack and his crew over to Lord Beckett in supposed exchange for the Black Pearl (which he doesn't get, since Lord Beckett fully intended to keep it for his own uses). On his ship, Lord Beckett encountered Jack for the first time in over fourteen years, and attempted to convince Jack to reveal the location of the Brethren Court meeting. Instead, Jack proposed that he would lead Lord Beckett and his men to Shipwreck Cove, where the meeting was supposed to be, and then lure the pirates into his hands. Lord Beckett then taunted Jack, revealing to him that he has his compass in his possession, and that he should kill Jack in order to force the compass to point him in the direction of Shipwreck Cove. However, Jack convinced him otherwise, reassuring him that his idea is better. When Beckett's ship, the Endeavour, was suddenly attacked by Sao Feng's ship, Jack manages to escape. When asked what ship to follow when the two ships travel in different directions, Lord Beckett responded to follow the Black Pearl, while the Dutchman followed Sao Feng's ship. The Dutchman ended up attacking and seizing Sao Feng's ship, killing Sao Feng and indirectly making Elizabeth his heir.
Will, in an attempt to save his father, attempted to lead Beckett to Shipwreck Cove, but is knocked off the ship by Jack and was picked up by Beckett instead, to whom Will discussed his deal... over tea. When Beckett summoned Davy Jones, he confronted him about the concept of Calyspo, where at the same time Jones realized Jack was now alive. Jones told his story to Will about his connection to Calypso while Beckett listened patiently, believing this information will come in handy. It is then that he also obtained Jack's compass once again.
Beckett, Will, and Jones confront Jack, Barbossa, and Elizabeth, and the third exchanged Will for Jack under her right as Pirate King, before Lord Beckett delivered his threat - either fight and be wiped out completely, or surrender and be wiped out partially. Elizabeth then promised to avenge her father, threatening Lord Beckett's death. However, Lord Beckett only seemed to dismiss the threat, anticipating the oncoming fight which he believes he will win.
During one of his tea breaks, Lord Beckett was informed that the wind had grown stronger, only to see a storm break out and form a large whirlpool, in which the Black Pearl and the Dutchman battle. He watched from the comfort of his ship as the Dutchman was sunken. All hope seemed lost for Beckett until the Dutchman resurfaced. However, Beckett did not know that the Dutchman was no longer under his control, since Davy Jones was killed and Will Turner had become the new captain. Once Lord Beckett realized that both the Black Pearl and the Dutchman were closing in to attack the Endeavour, he tried quickly to formulate a plan, but failed to come up with anything as his ship was quickly being destroyed. While the rest of his crew abandoned ship, Beckett simply stood in the midst of the turmoil at his former position, as if in a trance. Slowly and gradually he began to descend the steps onto the deck while everything exploded around him, but was eventually consumed by the flames, taken down with his own ship.
... At least, he thought he was, before there was a great flash of light that he knew did not come from the fires, and suddenly he became... whole again. As his surroundings cleared and his mortal body became healed once again, Beckett knew he had a second chance.
A chance to make things right...
Strengths/Abilities:
- clever wit
- mentally nitpicky
- extremely manipulative
- knows just how to make a person crack
- deliberately keeps emotion from getting in the way of his goals
- very persuasive
- has enough business experience to know exactly how to strike a deal
Weaknesses/Flaws:
- relies heavily on the men under him and his power - without them, Beckett is nothing.
- will not take no for an answer (although he does not always make this obvious)
- is vulnerable when caught off-guard
- has little to no sympathy for people (criminals) he doesn't like
- has very few visible emotions (or, rather, emotions he would like the public to view)
- is two-faced, and almost always has an ulterior motive.
- believes in the power of imperialism - all for the sake of good business.
Likes:
- power
- playing with his "prey" until he gets what he wants from them (however, this is not always completely obvious)
- the spread of his influence
- the transition in that time period from the Old World to the New World
- having control over the Dutchman.
- a good cup of tea.
- having an ulterior motive that few will recognize
- the concept of imperialism
Dislikes:
- pirates (especially Jack Sparrow, whom he wants dead more than anything else)
- all people associated with the above (including Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, (former) Commodore Norrington, etc.)
- piracy
- people who defy his authority
- criminals who escape from his grasp (hint hint)
- people who betray him
- dirty, filthy, mangy criminals (pirates may also be included in this, should they not receive their own category)
- vulnerability
- his height. Somewhat.
- being called "Cuttlefish"
Fears:
- losing his power and his control over what he has of the world and the seas
- betrayal
- death
- not ever being above his men
- putting shame upon the name of Beckett
- losing in general - he always wants to remain the winner, or at least have the upper hand.
- a lack of industrialization
RP Sample:
He felt cold.
Despite the flames that were shooting up from the Endeavour and eating into his skin while delicately tickling at it at the same time; despite the way he felt as though he had been roasting before he had fallen into the fire, Lord Beckett still felt cold. Fearful he had been when he was confronting his demise - he had failed in one of his greatest ambitions, and for the first time in life he was completely alone and defenseless, so therefore, there was no further purpose for him in this life - it almost felt comforting, as if the fires were a warm embrace from an unseen damsel, whispering for him to stop fighting fate and simply fall into the darkness. However, no matter how tight the embrace became, it did nothing to stop his veins from turning to ice under his skin. What a feeling it was to be warm and cold at the same time, Beckett thought, but surely in death such logic could always be defied. After all, it was death.
Lord Beckett had no way of telling when the explosion had occurred, only that he had been thrown off the ship and was still barely conscious of it all. He had been deaf to it, merely because his senses had been fading away as seconds seemed to feel like days, and his human heart was nearly still. He could only still feel what was happening around him, for the fires had long since blinded him. Beckett knew when he had hit the water, since at that time, his entire body was cold, and the fiery damsel that had been caressing him before had vanished, leaving his charred body in her wake.
As the last of his senses slipped away while he slowly sank past the ruined ship, drowning, Beckett had faced himself with a question, his consciousness barely hanging on by a thread. Was he at peace? He had then answered himself, after some thought, it didn't matter. Nothing mattered. Whether he was at peace or not, there was nothing he could change. Anymore. Had he done everything he wanted? The answer was, of course, no. He still had many ambitions, many goals, but they had been deemed impossible. Arguably, there was much more than this. Did he have a wife to weep over his watery grave? Children he would never know? The answer was, again, no. In dedicating himself to the Company, he had gambled everything... and had lost everything in the end. He had lived and died for nothing but the Company. Did it make him a martyr? The thought gave him a small bit of pleasure as everything, even his mind became numb.
And thus, Cutler Beckett - a sight too gruesome for human eyes but serene in his final moments - was no more.
It was not long before feeling began to return to his body. It had surprised him, for since there was no Davy Jones (not that, when he thought about it carefully, Jones would willingly save him), there was no one to save him from death. However, even with the vast knowledge he had, Beckett knew nothing about death, nor what awaited him. It was strange, however, that the water had turned to sand, running through his numb fingertips, and as a force unknown pulled him toward the surface, a voice from a distant memory echoed through his mind, even though he knew there was no one speaking.
"I can take you away from this horrid place, darling. I know you're miserable here, Cutler, and I want you to be happy. I want you to be..."
Someone, somewhere a long time ago had told him that. He couldn't remember her name nor her influence on his life, but he knew she had came and went, like the sands trapped in the tide...
When his sight returned, Beckett was nearly blinded all over again by how bright his surroundings were. It was a clever illusion, for there was no direct source of light (that he could tell), but instead all of his surroundings were colored to be the brightest white, although the sands were more of a light pale. After thoroughly releasing himself from the sands' hold (as he had woken up to be semi-buried), Beckett took a closer look at what lay before him. As far as his eye could see, half-buried corpses of men (women and children were present as well, but there were mostly men) were spread among the desert floor, Beckett seeming to be the only one alive for miles. Standing up before starting to walk around, he managed to nearly trip over some protruding limbs that happened to be above ground, but Beckett mostly managed to avoid them. It was eerily quiet, almost to the extent that Beckett sensed in his gut something was wrong, or something was to be 'wrong'.
He didn't let his guard down. He never let his guard down.
Suddenly, Beckett heard voices, but those in strong contrast to the warm and loving voice from his subconscious.
"Thief and a liar..."
"Dirty coward..."
"I won't rest until his neck is snapped!"
Beckett looked around for the source of the voices, but they seemed to be coming from everywhere at once - even inside his mind.
"He lied to us..."
"Cold blood..."
"Less of a Lord, more of a pirate..."
The air was chilled with each of the voices, so much so that even the hairs on the back of his neck stood up straight. Still, Beckett tried his best not to seem much more frightened than that. Heaven knew what weaknesses would come out of that.
((-here
