Havildar Pratap Singh

Personal Description: Lean and hard-muscled, with dark skin weathered by years of field service. A lush black beard frames his jaw, and his moustache is luxuriant, carefully groomed, the pride of a man who takes his appearance seriously. His uniform is immaculate. His bearing is military to the bone: straight back, steady hands, eyes that rest easily on whoever is speaking. When he smiles, which is often, it is wide and toothy, brilliant white teeth shining through the darkness of the beard. The smile is the thing people remember. He moves with the unhurried economy of a man who is never in a rush and never late.

Traits: Patient. He can wait for weeks. He anticipates needs and solves problems before they become problems, because that is how you become invisible. He speaks softly and listens carefully. He defers to authority with practised ease but never grovels. He is calm under pressure and calm under calm. The stillness is not performance. He is genuinely at peace.

None at character creation.

None at character creation.

None prior to meeting the investigators.

None. Cthulhu Mythos 0%.

Assigned to the party as guide and liaison on the compliments of the District Magistrate, Charles Ashworth, and taken up on the landing steps at Chandpal Ghat on 8 October 1814: Freddy Cavendish, Emma Wentworth, Georgiana Wentworth, Adrien de Montferrand, Katherine Ward, with Thomas Wyndham and Elizabeth Ashby travelling in company.

He delivered the engineer, walked Fort William on his rank, and took tea with the khansama who runs the Magistrate’s house.

Location: The servants’ fires outside Garden Reach, Calcutta, evening of 9 October 1814 (Chapter 4, Session 9) — the dinner is unfinished Condition: Uninjured; Sanity full Carrying: Havildar’s uniform of the 67th Bengal Native Infantry, immaculate; tulwar; Brown Bess musket; the Magistrate’s letter of introduction (Pratap Singh Introduction Letter) Open threads:

• The Renwick commission is delivered: the Major is eight miles north at Baranagar on the Hooghly embankment works, not yet posted to the Gurkha campaign, and reassigned the moment the works are done. See Renwick Located at Baranagar
• The Surlish commission is still out and has not reported
• Bakar Ali gave him the full assessment of the table’s households over tea at the Garden Reach gate. The price is questions answered about his own masters, and some were answered
• The Garden Reach compound believes he reports to the Magistrate. He let the impression stand. It costs nothing now and everything when it breaks
• He swung at Ratan in public and missed, in front of the servants of half of Calcutta, before paying him. The servants’ world noticed a havildar losing his temper over a palanquin
• Ratan was caught with the Magistrate’s silver spoons and nothing has been decided about it
• Arranging horses and a riding party on The Maidan to show the newcomers the city properly
• He understood what Elizabeth Ashby was the moment she said Blacktown, and has said nothing to anyone Knows (exclusive): How Calcutta actually works — which door, which clerk, which price, and who can be got around.

{Player-facing notes. Protected — skills never modify.}