Charles Ashworth Draft
Description
Forty. Twenty-two years in Bengal. Arrived as a junior writer at eighteen. Wife died of fever in 1806, never remarried. India is his life, his purpose, and his blindness. Speaks Bengali well enough to hear petitions without a translator.
Stat Block
| STR 50 | CON 55 |
| DEX 50 | APP 60 |
| POW 70 | EDU 75 |
HP: 12 | MP: 14 | SAN: 70 | Luck: 55
Damage Bonus: 0 | Build: 0 | Move: 7
Skills
| Skill | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting | 40 | Revenue oversight, Company ledgers |
| Credit Rating | 65 | Senior EIC official |
| Fast Talk | 35 | Not his style, but twenty years of politics |
| History | 45 | Bengal and EIC history |
| Intimidate | 55 | Institutional authority, not personal menace |
| Language (Bengali) | 60 | Hears petitions without translator |
| Language (English) | 75 | Native |
| Law | 70 | Primary professional skill |
| Library Use | 50 | Thorough with administrative records |
| Listen | 55 | Twenty years of hearings and informants |
| Persuade | 65 | His most dangerous skill against the investigators |
| Psychology | 60 | Reads people well. Twenty years of judging liars |
| Spot Hidden | 50 | Notices inconsistencies in testimony and paperwork |
Combat
Carries no weapon routinely. Flintlock pistol in his desk, cavalry sabre on the wall.
| Weapon | Skill | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flintlock Pistol | 25 | 1D6+1 |
| Cavalry Sabre | 20 | 1D8 |
Background
A lazy or corrupt official could be bypassed. Ashworth cannot, because he’s competent, principled, and everywhere. Informants, sepoy patrols, a memory for detail. He notices things.
His relationship with Ghosh: twenty years of mutual usefulness dressed up as friendship. Ashworth attends temple festivals diplomatically. Ghosh donates to famine relief. Kaunitz has already poisoned the well: by arrival, Ashworth has dined with the Baron twice. The Baron mentioned troublemaking Europeans from Vienna.
Motivations
Maintain order. Protect twenty years of carefully built trust between British administration and Indian religious institutions. He is defending something real and valuable, which makes him harder to move than a fool or a coward.
What makes him breakable: Pride. His identity is built on knowing Calcutta, knowing its people, knowing who can be trusted. Proof that he was wrong about Ghosh threatens his entire self-conception.
The Confrontation
Ashworth CAN be turned, but only by evidence he cannot explain away:
- A marked investigator showing dissolved flesh
- Witnessing a practice ritual from distance
- Discovering Kaunitz has been lying (proving his Vienna identity wounds Ashworth’s pride)
- Seeing dissolution begin on Kali Puja night itself (almost too late)
His Persuade 65 is his weapon. He asks precise questions that make weak arguments collapse. Psychology 60 means he reads the room. He knows when someone is lying to him.
Connections
- Acharya_Devendra_Ghosh — Twenty years of trust. The concealment.
- Otto_von_Kaunitz — Acquainted. The well is poisoned.
- Hugh_Cavendish — Under his administrative authority
Appearances
Relationships
- Trusts Acharya Devendra Ghosh — Twenty years of mutual usefulness dressed up as friendship. From Ashworth's perspective: genuine cross-cultural respect. From Ghosh's: Ashworth IS the concealment.
- Acquainted with Otto von Kaunitz — Has dined with the Baron twice. Kaunitz mentioned troublemaking Europeans from Vienna. Ashworth filed it away.