Cyrus has been in town for a few months.
If any other established residents (or anyone else) would like to figure out some backstory please PM me

THE BASICS
Name: Cyrus Rook

Nickname:


PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Gender: Male

Age: 25

Hair: Black

Eyes: Brown

Distinguishing Marks: Faded smallpox scars on his cheeks. Missing the ring and little finger on his left hand.

General Appearance: Cyrus's inate appearance is more heavily influenced by his Shoshone mother than the Irish-Catholic of his paternal lineage. His skin is almost as dark as his mother's, and his hair is black, thick and straight. Possibly as a result of being a sickly child his frame is slight and he's an inch or two shorter than most of his peers. In contrast, his dress sense is far more heavily influenced by his father and his fellow settlers. When possible he favours a clean shirt, a vest and jacket, a respectable hat, and hard wearing trousers and boots.

HISTORY
Occupation: Doctor and druggist

Personality: Cyrus is polite and quiet either as a result of being reserved and proper, or of being shy. He can be assertive and even authoritative when the circumstances call for it, a fact that has saved more than one life, but it does not come naturally to him. If he gets drawn into something that particularly interests him he forgets some of his reserve and becomes animated and effusive.

Sexual Preferences: Women, of course. Currently single.

About Your character: Following a typhus outbreak that took his wife, their newborn baby and two of their children Judge Issac Rook abandoned his comfortable and respected position to move out to the frontier with his three remaining children. It was an ill fated decision, and the small family would not have survived more than a few months if the Judge hadn't managed to negotiate trading with the local Shoshone, trading away the relics of his former life. They were mutually mistrustful at first, and life was still far from easy for the newly relocated family, but they managed to survive the first year. Their second year they managed slightly more than survival, and by the third year their homestead's farm produced more than they needed and they were able to start trading their own produce with the Shoshone.

After six years of hard living the family's relationship with the tribe had developed to the point that the Judge was able to take a Shoshone wife. A year later, Cyrus was born. He was the only issue of their union, possibly as a result of a smallpox outbreak in the local area when Cyrus was a few months old that nearly killed both infant and mother.

Despite the family's isolation Cyrus was educated by both his father and his mother and, having shown an affinity for the natural sciences, it was arranged for him to travel back to the city to apprentice and train. Cyrus was used to being left out by his older half-siblings, but he was not prepared for the discrimination he faced as a result of his mixed heritage. Even his letter of introduction from Judge Rook wasn't enough to get him anything more than a job preparing prescriptions in the back room of a pharmacy.

This job was enough to give him access to books, and it afforded him enough spare time to pursue his own research, but it did not satisfy him. So, when war broke out, Cyrus signed up with the Union as a doctor using forged papers. Four years of battlefield surgery was a far better and more comprehensive education than any apprenticeship or school could offer, and at the end of it Cyrus had a real job offer at an eminent hospital, where he could work, teach and even command his own research lab.

Rather than take advantage of this offer Cyrus decided he wanted something quieter, where he could recuperate after four years of war. When he heard of the growing town of Sweetwater, which was in need of a doctor and pharmacist, the fit struck him as perfect and Cyrus wrote a respectful letter of regret to the hospital and bought a train ticket.