Gordon

"'One does have to keep up appearances so...'" Gordon, the youngest of 31 children, originally wanted to be a baker. But as a descendant of one of the founders of LNER, he was forced to enter railway work to maintain the family image. His mother died during childbirth, something his father openly blames him for. His father criticized him relentlessly, leaving Gordon on the constant defensive about his appearance, his interests, anything was fair game. As for his many siblings, he has one full blood brother he was close to as a child, but the two have grown distant, with his brother– the lead driver of the famous Flying Scotsman– constantly overshadowing him. And yet, despite everything he’s gone through, Gordon’s persevered. He’s made a life for himself on the railway, having found people who love him unconditionally, ego and all.

Past
Gordon's family had deep ties to the railway industry. His great grandfather helped to develop the LNER, and his descendants have all worked in the industry through one facet or another.

His father, Gordon I, continued the tradition. However, the majority of his own fortune can be attributed to strategic stock market investments, and he had soon accumulated a fortune many times larger than his own inheritance- which itself would have provided any family means to comfortably live out their entire life without ever needing to work.

However, Gordon's father is a rather despicable character. he's a textbook psychopath. Manipulative, charming, and guiltlessly selfish, but there was one woman - out of the many he's had relations with - that he actually grew to care for. Lily Lù was a third-generation Chinese woman living in Britain. To a regular person, what Gordon I felt wouldn't really equate to love, but it was a very close equivalent. They had one child, Scotti, and were to have another. To this day, these are the only of his children to share a mother. Gordon I had plans to marry Lily, but when she died during childbirth, Gordon I's heart grew even colder than it had been before. Lily had wanted to name the second child after his father, a wish that Gordon I honored. but this is where his dedication to his son ended.

Growing up, Gordon was subject to relentless blame and abuse, with his father openly blaming him for his mother's death, and blatantly favoring his older brother. A few years after Lily's death, Gordon I decided not to try and marry for love again, but rather to strengthen the family's wealth. He then married Lady Carmine Redferne, who hails from an even wealthier family, with faint connections to the royal family. This changed the family's name to Featherstone-Redferne. Lady Redferne was very distant in Gordon's upbringing, hiring nannies and the like to rear the children. Gordon's father has gotten countless women pregnant, but very few of his children were raised "by him". It's something he would consider an honor. Gordon was the last child his father would rear for a very long time. Gordon wanted to go to culinary school, but his father forced him into Cambridge to study business and railway history.

Present

 * His accident in "The Great Race" definitely humbled him up a bit.
 * Doing alright now, he's physically healed but he's still recovering mentally.
 * Henry has helped him to be more confident and comfortable in himself.
 * He's also become good friends with his little sister, Gaylen - another illegitimate child of his father.

Future

 * Gordon and Henry won't have any kids, though they contribute greatly to raising Gaylen, taking her in for parts of the year to ease the pressure on her single mother.

Past jobs

 * While at university, he worked part time in a bakery. He'd never let his dad know, though.
 * Begrudgingly, he worked his way up from a cleaner to an express driver, tried numerous times to schmooze with Topham, but Topham was immune to his bullshit charisma.

Current job

 * Drives the No. 4, primarily takes the mainline express from (city, i think tidmouth? something like that) to the mainland (i think)
 * Very occasionally has to take freight trains, and hates it a lot.

Familial

 * Technically has 31 siblings, though most of them have very little contact with the family anymore.
 * Siblings he's the most in contact with are Scotti, Gaylen, and (i know there's another).
 * His biological mother, Lily Lù, is deceased.
 * His stepmother, Lady Carmine Redferne.
 * His father, Gordon I.
 * His cousin, Spencer.
 * He's very reluctant to admit it, but he's taken a fatherly liking to Thomas.

Platonic

 * Good friends with Edward and James

Romantic

 * In a relationship with Henry
 * copy "bad blood origin" section here, but needs to be edited to be from gordon's pov

Negative

 * His father, mainly
 * Spencer
 * and his brother scotti wow all of gordon's enemies are family members...ouch

Personality
Gordon doesn't want the world to know how insecure he really is. He’s a natural born leader, charming, and has a powerful air about him. And he knows this. Hearing Gordon talk, you’d think he has the most important job on the island: pulling the express. Being apart of the Featherstone-Redferne family doesn’t hurt his reputation, either. He may seem distant, but Gordon has a big heart and is actually quite sensitive. He forgives easily and will always help a friend in need.

Interests

 * Cooking, specifically baking
 * Weight lifting
 * Long distance running
 * Chess

Physical

 * Pale semi-tan skin, true black hair with a poliosis streak (inherited from his mom). He used to dye it, but now he doesn't, mostly due to Henry making him feel more comfortable with himself.
 * His eyes are partially monolidded (also inherited from his mother), but it isn't very noticeable unless he's smiling. Because of this, his father would scold him for smiling too broadly as a child.
 * Blue eyes
 * Scar on his philtrum from the corrective surgery he had as a baby to fix his cleft lip.
 * Very tall, about average/medium width, but his muscles make him look bulkier.
 * Naturally, he's pretty lean.

Uniform
Please see the following visual reference:

Quotes

 * "A goods train... A goods train! The shame of it, oh, the shame of it!"
 * "That Henry is too big for his boots, fancy speaking to me like that. Me! Who has never had an accident!"
 * "I haven't time to dawdle over my appearance."
 * "Small small small, teeny weeny weeny."
 * "It isn't wrong, but we just don’t do it."
 * "I would say 'oh, the indignity,' but it seems a bit of an understatement."

Trivia

 * Until the grand uniform overhauls, Gordon was depicted as having his jacket tucked into his trousers. This was because his design was one of the earliest, and the artist took inspiration from another person's humanizations. It was when the artist tried to take reference photos with a jacket tucked in that she realized just how impractical that really is. Seriously, who tucks in their jacket?