Johnstone Dives

Johnstone Aitan Dives

"Pray do not get involved in matters you do not understand. I have put in the time, trouble, blood, and sweat to master these arts. Thus, I additionally recommend you do not get involved in interfering with me."

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Dives has the plush body of a man who has never had to do work any harder than getting up from his wing chair. His sallow skin and discolored fingernails are indicative of some unidentified physical malady.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Johnstone Dives was born in Capetown, South Africa, where his father owned three gold mines.

Education

Dives was educated at home until he was sent to Oxford, where he gained a First in Mathematics.

Employment

As the son of a man who literally pulled several fortunes out of the earth, Dives is a gentleman of leisure. He has periodically written monographs and articles for mathematical journals.

Accomplishments & Achievements

In 1928, a copy of books 2-6 of Euclid's Elements, dated to 1510, came on the London book market. Dives ended up in a three-way battle for the text with the British Museum and a catalogue agent who never gave up his client (though they did appear to operate out of Limehouse). Hundreds of pounds were spent before the auction even happened, and Dives was shot at twice. It is also reported that a fourth potential buyer was driven back into his Mayfair address by some grisly occult warnings that may have come from Dives himself.

The auction allegedly took place in a small building along the Victoria Embankment. Dives was the victor, though it took him several years of reaping his father's success to restore his credit thereafter.

Intellectual Characteristics

Dives' mathematical inclinations feed into his occult proficiencies. He has studied the arts of Megapolisomancy, though he has not, so far as anyone knows, obtained a copy of the eponymous book. His arts mix geometric formulae with a surprisingly intimate knowledge of the London and its secrets.

Personality Characteristics

Savvies & Ineptitudes

Dives' writings on mathematics, especially on Non-Euclidean Topography, have marked him as an erudite, if apathetic, scholar. His determined collection of books indicates that he's broadly knowledgeable on a wide variety of topics, though his anemic collection of published writings indicates he's generally uninterested in sharing what he's learned.

Social

Contacts & Relations

Dives is a member of the Pimander Club in the West End.

Social Aptitude

Despite a lifetime in society, Dives' bookish interests and mathematical mind have left him largely reliant on the arrogance of his social standing as the frame through which he views most interpersonal engagements. Other people are people he is employing to some end or people who want something from him.

Wealth & Financial state

Dives inherited the deeds to his father's mines a few years ago. Despite the oldest having been in operation for nearly five decades, none of the three he owns show any sign of depleting soon. Dives is wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice, and spends freely on the issues that interest him.

Current Location

The Pimander Club

Year of Birth

1882 52 Years old

Birthplace

Capetown, South Africa

Current Residence

Pimlico

Eyes

Blue-grey

Hair

Pale and receding, though unfashionably long

Height

5'9"

Weight

227

Known Languages

It is presumed, based on his upbringing and academic pursuits, that he speaks of a minimum of Afrikaans and Latin, in addition to the King's English.