Margaret Swiftwind (a.k.a. Maggie)
The second child and eldest daughter of
VictorSwiftwind and
Edna Swiftwind, Margaret Swiftwind is the 37 year old sister of
Lord of Oaksleigh Arthur Swiftwind,
Edward Swiftwind, and
Elspeth Swiftwind. Headstrong but also shrewd and self-disciplined, Margaret was a determined social climber and networker from a young age, and by the time her father died Margaret was the owner of multiple well-established businesses throughout Essenmark and some parts of Ardia. These businesses include booksellers, tanners, smiths, distillers of fine spirits, a network of stagecoaches, and a butcher's shop in Bellaerie, among others.
Margaret values her family and her family name in equal measure; she has always allied herself with her industrious brother Arthur, despite her mixed feelings about his unpredictable and sometimes wild nature. This relationship of alliance in both family matters and business led to a strengthening of the Swiftwind name over the last fifteen years, which in turn led to a strengthening in the brands associated with the Swiftwind name. Margaret and Arthur share portions of the profits from their mutual projects, and while Arthur was left control of Margaret's portion of the family inheritance in Victor's will just as he was awarded control of the inheritances of his other two siblings, Margaret is one of very few powerful women in Essenmark to have her own fortune separate from that of her family, as well as her own home and staff in Ardia near Ars Destine.
Having never married, Margaret is sometimes spoken of coolly behind her back, but she never allows venomous tongues to bother her; she is proud of her accomplishments and knows that she has secured her own wellbeing as well as helped to bolster that of her entire family. Only one of the several powerful men in Essenmark who resent Margaret's achievements and self-possessed attitude is close enough to the Swiftwind family to cause occasional conflict, but unfortunately, that man is
Theodore Morgenstern, the father of Arthur Swiftwind's betrothed,
Tomasina Morgenstern. The celebratory dinner that took place after the announcement of the couple's engagement was nearly spoiled when the two businesspeople engaged in passive-aggressive verbal combat over the smoked salmon and asparagus puree, and ever since then, the two spend the duration of social engagements shooting each other steely glances from across the room.
Margaret's goal as she blossoms into middle age is to continue supporting Arthur's endeavors and filling the family coffers, as well as lining her own pockets. She also relishes taking Elspeth under her wing and guiding her in the ways of living life as an independent and self-sufficient woman. This sometimes causes her frustration because while Elspeth wishes to be free and in control of her own life, she is also easily swayed by her emotions, and Margaret fears that she will fall prey to the first man to capture her heart.
Physical Description
Somewhat stout, average height, and an imposing, confident posture.
Long, wavy brown hair lightly streaked with slate grey, which she usually wears pulled back; when free, it is actually rather copious. Small, deft hands and shapely legs.
A strong nose, bright grey eyes, and a wide mouth. Generally wears a calm but somewhat guarded expression, and can be quite stern.
Mental characteristics
Margaret was always a quick learner. As a child, it became apparent to her that she would never be openly regarded for her many talents in the same way her similarly talented elder brother, Arthur, was. She was a girl, and society simply expected different things of her. So, Margaret spent most of her life learning to subvert those expectations with subtlety until, in her mid-twenties, she had amassed enough personal wealth and influence to begin building a network of trade and cooperation between various businesses, always turning a profit and looking to expand wherever she could. This made Margaret both threatening and appealing to her male competitors; many hated her for daring to take money out of their pockets and others wanted to marry her in order to eliminate a competitor and gain control of her wealth and familial status. Margaret would go on to confound them all, however; she has never married, and at the age of thirty-seven she is rather unlikely to.
Trained alongside her older brother in marksmanship, horseback riding, literature, mathematics, culture, and hunting, Margaret is a formidable woman in a fair number of ways and has been of similar physical capability to most of the men she has met in her life. She advised her father in the later years of his life and handled the matter of his death until Arthur unexpectedly returned, and now she advises Arthur in most matters. Margaret has also taken her sister Elspeth under her wing, attempting to teach the young woman the ways of trade and investment, but has met with difficulties inherent to Elspeths' nature that have sometimes left Margaret exasperated and ready to drink. A bit of a lush, Margaret has been known to get toasted and spend time relaxing in the lounge with a book or conversing with the butler, Templeton, in the atrium.
Margaret's sexual orientation is a mystery. Some have speculated that perhaps her siblings would know whether she is attracted to any sort of person at all, but if they do know, none of the three have cared to speculate on it.
Margaret received almost the exact same education as Arthur and, like her brother, has pursued her own studies well into adulthood. While Arthur attended college in Ardia, Margaret ended up studying at the University of Essenmark in Bellaerie, never straying too far from Lannora Ivy. Since graduating, she has expanded the library of Lannora Ivy by nearly forty percent, collecting various literature and encyclopedias to be used as reference material.
Margaret owns part of all of many different businesses located throughout all the areas that Arthur has traveled; in fact, part of a longstanding arrangement between the two was the Arthur would help establish contacts and make acquisitions for Margaret's various enterprises whenever he explored a new part of the world. This arrangement has left Margaret and Arthur both much richer and has also left Margaret an incredibly wealthy and influential woman from a prestigious bloodline. She remains Arthur's financial advisor as well as his general confidant in many matters despite Arthur's retirement, and Arthur respects Margaret enough that he takes her voice in matters of business and the family name seriously.
*See Personal History, Education, and Employment*
Margaret has only ever been ridiculed in small circles for having never married, but she is not particularly bothered by this. Very little gets Margaret's goat, and she knows how to bide her time and let her success be her best revenge.
Believing Arthur was dead was difficult for everyone in his family, but it triggered a sort of defensive preparedness in Margaret that she still has not shaken off. Her desire to train Elspeth to care for herself began shortly after Margaret began to believe that Arthur was dead, as this meant that Victor would likely rush to marry Elspeth off and name Edward his legal heir. This would eliminate much of Elspeth's personal freedom and would leave the Swiftwind household and name in the hands of a man too selfish and impulsive to care for a family and an expansive estate. The fear of such insecurity terrified Margaret for her entire family, despite that she had a solid foundation built for herself. When Arthur returned just after Victor's death, no one was more relieved than Margaret, as this meant that Victor's original will would be honored and Arthur would become Lord of Oaksleigh. The impulse to prepare and guard against the worst has never left Margaret, though; to this day, she is still always looking for a way in which things could go wrong and looking even harder for a way to prevent it.
Intuitive; analytical; insightful.
Does not believe in an objective right and wrong in most cases, but does believe that one's moral obligation to society is part of the price one pays for benefitting from the conveniences of human civilization. Margaret believes more in order than in law and more in commitment than in love.
The standard universal taboos.
Social
The Swiftwind family and what remains of their extended relatives.
The Essenmark Merchants' Guild, the Farusa Merchants' Guild, the Ardian Merchants' Guild, the Essenmark Port Authority, the Bellaerie Forgemasters...the list could go on and on.
Atheist, though she does acknowledge that there do seem to be spiritual beings and happenings in the world.
Socially adept and quite shrewd.
Horseback riding, sport shooting, quail hunting.
Sister (Important)
Towards Lord of Oaksleigh Arthur Swiftwind
Brother (Important)
Towards Margaret Swiftwind
History
Arthur is four years' Margaret's senior, and the two siblings are fond of one another, though somewhat distant. Each relates to the other striving to be themselves and pursue their own goals regardless of the judgments of others, and they respect each other for that, despite the fact that they do not agree over the specifics of Arthur's tendencies toward adventurous and risky decision-making. Margaret views Arthur as her reliable yet free-spirited older brother and Arthur views Margaret as his level-headed if slightly too serious sister.
Nicknames & Petnames
Arthur is one of few people close enough with Margaret to call her "Maggie"; Margaret usually calls Arthur by his given name, but in her more sentimental moments calls him "Artie".
Shared Acquaintances
Arthur and Margaret were close enough in age as they reached adulthood that they had several of the same acquaintances in high society. Margaret also developed relationships with many of the same big names in business and industry that Arthur did, and the siblings also both have longstanding and generally positive relationships with the staff of Lannora Ivy, or Swiftwind Manor.
Brother (Important)
Towards Margaret Swiftwind
History
When Margaret and Arthur were young children their mother gave birth to a third child, Edward. The boy was a sweet baby and kind (if somewhat mischievous) child and Margaret adored him, ever willing to guide and protect Edward. It was not until Edward's preteen years that he began to act out, angry and bitter toward VictorSwiftwind for being such a distant and occasionally emotionally abusive father. As Edward grew older and wilder, Victor continued to ignore his younger son's emotional needs and Edward continued to resent and lash out at his father until eventually, he had slighted both of his siblings as well as his parents many times over. By the time Edward came of age and left Lannora Ivy, or Swiftwind Manor, he was already developing a bad reputation in polite society as a drunk, a gambler, and a womanizer. While Margaret generally views Edward with a healthy measure of shame, her feelings for him are more complex underneath her stately and somewhat stuffy exterior; Margaret believes that the boy she so loved is still alive beneath all of Edward's avarice and spite, and she leaves a place in her heart open for him despite their various disagreements. Edward loves his siblings but has maintained a stance of angst and wrath for so long that he no longer knows how to show affection to Arthur, Margaret, and Elspeth or how to be vulnerable around them. Margaret and Edward are very alike in that they each love the other, but neither hides their disdain for the other's attitude.
Nicknames & Petnames
Edward sometimes refers to Margaret as "Marge", which she hates; Margaret used to call Edward "Eddie" out of affection when they were children, but as the divide between them grew, Margaret began calling her younger brother by his full first name.
Shared Acquaintances
Margaret and Edward are both well acquainted with the staff of Lannora Ivy as well as several of the usual suspects among Essenmark high society, but Edward is not welcome among most of polite society anymore, so their list of mutual acquaintances has diminished significantly.
Sister (Important)
Towards Elspeth Swiftwind
Sister (Important)
Towards Margaret Swiftwind
History
Margaret adores her younger sister Elspeth and views herself as a female role model for the young woman, especially due to the absence of their mother from Elspeth's life. Elspeth does indeed look up to her older sister, perhaps even as much as she admires Arthur, but Elspeth is more intrigued and excited by Arthur's tales of adventure and freedom than she is by Margaret's life of regimented business transactions and routine maintenance of alliances. The politics and petty grudges of high society are hardly appealing to Elspeth and Margaret is not blind to this fact; however, Margaret has yet to find a way to make Elspeth understand the advantages of living a more settled, fiscally responsible life, and also fears that Elspeth is too given to flights of fancy and stories of grandeur and romance to take hold of the independence and security that following in Margaret's footsteps would offer her. Elspeth sees more of these details than Margaret realizes but simply believes her elder sister is a bit of a stick in the mud and that she could not possibly know what is best for Elspeth any better than Elspeth herself does. Due to this attitude, Elspeth humors her sister's attempts to teach her the ways of business and being a woman of the world, but the younger woman only takes these pursuits half-seriously and frequently seems distracted and bored with the more mundane aspects of the work.
Nicknames & Petnames
Margaret refers to Elspeth as "Elsie" and Elspeth tends to call Margaret "Maggie".
Shared Acquaintances
Margaret and Elspeth know almost all of the same people since Margaret introduced Elspeth to high society and has shared the majority of her business contacts with her, but the group of people that both sisters know and are the best acquainted with are the staff of Lannora Ivy.
Has access to an amount of wealth that is difficult to fathom.
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