Abdul Basir Mustafa
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This character is deceased.
Contents |
Short Stats
- Character Name: Abdul Basir Mustafa, Abdul for short.
- Title: Sidi Abdul Bey, Prince of Tunis
- Estate Name: none
- Nationality: Tunis (a subsidiary of the Ottoman Empire)
- Age: 35 (b.1640-d.1675)
- Gender: Male
- Eye Colour: Black
- Hair Colour: Black
Physical Attributes
Abdul has a dusky skin with dark curly hair and a goattee. His teeth are brillaintly white. His build is typical for the Turks, lean and yet muscled with a twinkle to his dark eyes. Abdul usually wears English clothing except for very special occassions in which he will wear state garb as befits a Bey of the Ottoman Empire.. the long black robes, the checkered cloth around his head.
Initial Impression of Personality
Abdul walks like a tiger, soft on his feet. He moves with an almost feminine elegance. His English is almost perfect with just the slight lilt of a foreign country. He wears fashionable clothing, including jewelry, which is always of a most the latest cut.
Background
Abdul's mother was Eleanora Dimplewitch, English, fourth wife (kadin) to the Bey of Tunis, though not of English nobility. Her father was a rich merchant that succesfully gained protection of his ships by offering his younger blond daughter in marriage. She converted to Islam upon her marriage and quickly became one of the Bey's favorites due to the sheer novelty. Eleanora's older sisters did marry well. Her oldest married a viscount who doesn't frequent court. Her other sister married a current small time investor into the East Indian Trade company. There are plenty of English cousins for Abdul yet nobody of note.
Abdul was her only child though the other wives produced two more (elder) sons and myriad of daughters. Her dying wish was for her son to be send to Oxford university so that he may learn that part of his heritage. His father, the Bey of Tunis, an area that had trade relations with England but also had been frequently accused of harboring pirates that preyed on English ships, saw a diplomatic advantage of having his younger son at English Court. Part of the Ottoman court over at Constantinopel was outraged, considering their own institutions far superior. However the Grand Vizier did not interfer with the rather independant Tunis.
Abdul left for Oxford University aged 20, where he persued among other things astronomy, mathematics and philosophy. His free time was spend with many leisure activites, among which were horseriding and womanizing and he was not always a very serious student. Having finally finished his studies with a degree in astronomy Abdul returned to Tunis aged 26. He had been active at court somewhat, but never with great success.
In Tunis he got broiled up with the most profitable venue in the city: piracy. After several successful raids his luck turned against him. His ship was captured by the English navy and he was brought back to England. Rather than being thrown in the tower, Abdul Basir Mustafa- Bey is now a hostage as the King and his Secretary of State try to force his father the Bey of Tunis to keep English ships safe.
May Season
Abdul courted a few ladies, but never without any seriousness. The only two ladies that did catch his eye were redheads: Catherine and Catriona. He could not help but fall deeply in love with Catriona, the Scottish Beauty that he thought urgently needed his protection, which he proceeded to offer over her protests.
Summer Recess
Abdul was deep down a passionate man. The fact that the King had made his heart of hearts into a whore was slowly breaking down his soul into depression and allowed his temper to rise unwisely. Already he had chased off some ladies that thought him an honorable gentleman and he was ready to cast even more dirt upon his person and make a nuisance of himself in a strange sort of Eastern Pride.
At first he simply used his energy to get into brawls in pubs, not drunk at all, but very belligerent. He practiced with Hale on fisticuffs to get the hang of this particular skill of brawling, so very English, and was amused by it. This however did not occupy him for long.
Who knows what he might have gotten up to, had not the Kings secret service, that group of men who the rest of Court hardly seemed aware of, captured him as he stood outside the soon to be abandoned house of Lady Patterson in Piccadilly Street, stalking and without his usual guard (which he had gotten in the habit of ditching more frequently as they trusted him enough not to get into trouble). Upon his arrest, which was rather disgraceful for the sulking pirate had allowed himself to be sneaked up upon, the Turk exploded in anger, shouting the worst kind of insults about the man sleeping with the lady, his moral character, the dubious origins of his children and the way he, his brothers and indeed his mother were conceived out of wedlock.
Thus instead of being escorted back to St. Marks Hall, the prince was unceremoniously thrown into the Tower for insulting the King and breaking his vow not to escape, with several cuts and bruises and a few broken ribs. There he lingered in some of the darkest dungeons till his grandfather, using some of Abdul's own funds bribed him a nicer place in Beauchamp Tower as befitted his noble status. Dimplewitch pleaded with his grandson to offer a well written apology and subject himself to the mercy of the King, eager to remove this stain from the family name, afraid that it would hamper business. This Abdul refused with a stubbornness that was exasperating for the Englishman. He did write a short letter of apology to corporal Hale, expressing his hope that the underofficer did not meet with censure over the fact that he had escaped his guards just before he was captured again and reminding the young men that even the strongest man can be brought low by a demoness in a dress, advising him to avoid women at all cost. He also wrote a letter to his mother telling her not to worry, with some understatement informing her that his English bride would have to wait for a while. He thought about writing to Catriona but pride forbade him. The King ordered the Turk not to be released unless he would sign a public apology.
Being in the Tower had one serious drawback: he couldn't keep an eye on Catriona. Here is where his friendship with Hale came in. He and his group of Life Guards kept an eye on the Viscountess as well as keeping Abdul updated on her health. It fell neatly together with the Kings orders in fact and so the loyal Life Guard dutiful gave their reports to both protective men. Abdul paid 70 pounds a month for niceties for his Lifeguards back at St. Marks Hall, not wishing them to be in dire straits as he was no longer there to occasionally slip them something nice. He was weak hearted towards the people depending on him, a well guarded secret. By the end of Summer the Life Guards did not spare the Turk in reporting the Lady was thought to be pregnant, one assumed by the King. He went in a rage smashing half his apartment and having to redecorate afterwards, earning himself the reputation of a violent man. Needless to say that the apology to the King was not drawn nearer by this news.
During the Summer Abdul lingered in the Tower, spending his time gambling with his gaolers and losing a pretty penny of over 300 pounds. He couldn't care less about the money, but liked the increasing bond he made with the guards like he had with the Life guards. He was after all a very affable man as long as his ire was not raised and was good in rallying men to his banner which he as former captain had done quite often.
He tried to keep up his health by exercising regularly, practicing fist fighting for of course he was not allowed a weapon. While he lost some weight he became rather proficient with his fists. During the summer his grandfather meanwhile continued to sell the goods that Abdul had collected, paying for his upkeep in the Tower from these funds.
Thus September arrived with Abdul still locked in the tower.
September Season
Catriona visits Abdul and over his grumblings convinces him to plead with the King and apologize for his behaviour. Just as the letter reaches the King the Turkish lord gets a visit from Adam MacGregor, one of his few friends at Court, and he confesses his love for Catriona. Thus he learns the gutting truth: even with the King out of the picture Catriona will never be his, for she is in love with Adam. Abdul realizes he will not stand in Adam's way and doesn't tell him of the intimate moments he has already shared with the Scottish Beauty. As soon as Adam has left he takes to drink and renounces his faith.
Fate takes a dark turn. Catherine shows up in prison, finding Abdul in deep dark despair and utterly drunk. He warns her to go away, but in her innocence she thinks she can save him. Crazed Abdul takes what he thinks is offered him, raping the sweet girl.
The King forces Abdul to engage himself with Catherine, but upon Lord Blackheath's request her own father petitions the King to change this outcome. Utterly frustrated and still considerably drunk, a near permanent state now, Abdul challenges Blackheath to a duel, to be fought on the early morning of Christmas Eve.
Autumn Recess
What occupies the time of a courtier who is a prisoner in all but name? A prisoner to the King but also his own mind. At day he tormented himself with images of a Scottish Thistle. At night his dreams were tormented by another pair of eyes, widened in horror. He always denied it come morning of course, claiming it was the alcohol which made him sleep fitfully.
Having been tempted to abuse of alcohol it was difficult to stop, so Abdul didn't. However he did cut back somewhat, instead picking up his fencing again, practising his moves and occasionally inviting one of his guards to enter in a practising bout.
Thrown upon solitude Abdul concentrated most of his waking time not fencing on studying the stars, picking back up his study of Astronomy. There was something comforting about the far away burning balls of fire.
Finally Christmas approached, a day that had no significance to a Muslim, and everything to a Christian. Abdul was now neither. He himself was an unbeliever, a Kafir, a thought that amused him no end as he prepared himself quite openly for the one thing that did held significance to him now.
Christmas Eve
Abdul faces Lord Blackheath at Herne's Oak, on a freezing morning with clear blue skies, standing in the snow. The duel is fought with all passion that both gentlemen are capable of. The LifeGuard arrive too late.
- Abdul's eyes rolled away as he breathed his last, falling back into the cold comforting snow, soothing his burning pain. No more words. In vain he tried to lift the miniature in his hand to his face to look at it once last time. Too late. The picture in his mind however remained in his last fading thoughts. The tiny miniature fell from his hand, covered in the blood that so liberally spilled from his mercifully quick dead body. It was a very bad copy of the portrait the rising star Marino di Bambino had once made of Lady Patterson, the Kings Mistress and renowned Court beauty, such as were readily sold on the streets of London.
