❦ BASIC STATISTICS
Name: Clopin Trouillefou
Age: 46
Distinguishing/Hidden features: Big, long nose and a very minute, wiry frame
Style: …colorful…
Greatest flaw: He’s very condescending. He’ll relent technical knowledge to someone who shows they’re an expert in something, but privately he thinks everyone is just a rube waiting to be swindled.
Best quality: Very charismatic.
❦ BACKGROUND
Character's Financial/Social Situation: Perpetually broke. His wealth swells and sinks like a tidepool. He makes a modest sum performing in the streets (mostly for children). On top of that, he collects tribute from his Truands and the gypsies which occasionally stay in the Court. Then after that, he accepts odd-jobs from anyone who will pay him.
And then he blows it all the next night.
Educational Background: He has been classically trained in ballet, gymnastics and acting.
Very recently, he’s been picking up reading and scant Latin from one of his Truands, Pierre Gringoire.
Family & Relationships:
Father- (presumed dead) Opinionated and conservative. Clopin never got along well with him. Throughout his childhood his father worked valiantly to mold his son into a respectable human being. Then, when he got sick of Clopin, he tossed him physically out of the house.
Mother- (presumed dead) Boisterous and rotund, kept her fortune-telling customers on their toes with insulting patter. For the first ten years of Clopin’s life, he could be found somewhere around her skirt. Gave him a deck of cards as a joke when he was kicked out of the house. Fortune telling is, traditionally, girl’s work.
La Esmeralda- Whenever her parents were sick of hearing her screaming, she'd go to Auntie Clopin. Auntie Clopin let La Esmeralda get away with alot more than her parents ever did.
Judge Claude Frollo- His opposite number. Clopin enjoys mocking him.
Romantic interest- ALL THE ROMANTIC INTERESTS.
Character's Spiritual/Religious Beliefs: Monotheistic only as a knee-jerk reaction. He’ll pray when he’s in trouble or curse God when his luck is unbelievably bad. See also; the Superstitious fill.
❦ EMOTIONAL/MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS
Any Mental Illnesses? Clopin is a bit of a sociopath. Everyone he keeps around is useful in some way, however small.
He’s also incredibly obsessive-compulsive. He has kept his physical appearance as rigidly static as the years will allow, and each one of his suits has a very specific use.
And of course, he’s grown comfortable with his regular hallucinations. He has no honest idea whether or not his puppet is alive.
How does Character see himself/herself? Cutthroat gypsy scum.
How does Character believe he/she is perceived by others? Crazy and childish
How would others describe your Character? Crazy, childish, maybe just a little bit evil.
What is the spine of your character? Clopin is a coward, but he’ll be the first to rise to a challenge because he doesn’t trust anyone else to do it.
Physically, very bendy.
What is the mental process of your character? Scattered. He’s so used to keeping an eye on everything that he can’t remember the details for anything in particular. He has his own ways of remembering who is who and how they’re important to him, but sometimes he needs something to remind him.
He’s gotten very good over the years of identifying who is and isn’t important to his overall plans.
(PROTIP: If Clopin gives you awkward, uncomfortable answers or tends to keep his distance from you, it means you have nothing to offer him. He has no plans for you, so he doesn’t know how to act around you.)
What would most embarrass this character? Being proven wrong. He hates that.
What does the character want out of life? All he wants is Paris. If he could buy the whole city, he would. And all he wants from Paris is to use it like his personal puppet-theatre, pulling strings to make the whole city dance. Is that so terrible?
What would the character like to change in his/her life? This question implies regret.
What motivates this character? Keeping crime in Paris running smoothly.
What frightens this character? Entrapment and death.
What makes this character happy? Colors, balloons, music, an audience, a crowd, travelling, puppets, song, women, men, wine, freedom, Paris, when someone gets the joke, or when someone IMPROVES on the joke
❦ FAVORITE
Food: Rum Baba
Color: Purple. Royal purple.
Season of the year: Spring
Movie:
TV Show: What is a teevee? How do you show it?
❦ STATEMENTS
I believe when we die, we: “Let’s talk about something else, shall we?”
The greatest thing one person can do for another is: “Save their life.”
The ugliest thing I ever saw was: “Have you ever seen the plague pits? Those are disgusting. Once I saw an old man try to crawl out, so I poked him with a big stick.”
The most beautiful thing I ever saw was: “The first night I ever spent in Paris, I climbed to the roof and looked out,”
I am superstitious about: “Thank God when your luck is good.” Clopin is not a fan of superstition.