Lieutenant Richard Sharpe

OOC Info
Username/Nickname: Sharpiefan/Sharpie
How did you find out about PMPT? I run it
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Character:
Canon/Original: Canon - Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell
First Name(s): Richard
Surname: Sharpe
Nicknames:
Age: 32 (approximately)
Sex: Male
Place of Birth: London
Occupation: Soldier
Family: None
Description: (Description here is all Sean Bean's TV series Sharpe!) He is about five foot eight with dirty-gold hair and green eyes. He has several scars from fights, including one over his eye that would have left him half blind if it had been an inch lower. These scars include those left from being flogged, so his back is covered in ridges and welts of scar tissue. He always wears his green Rifleman's jacket in battle, with a pair of cavalry overalls and boots taken from a Chasseur Colonel of Napoleon's Army. The only badge of rank he carries, apart from an officer's sash, is a 1796 pattern Heavy Cavalry sword, which he much prefers to the curved sabre. He also carries a rifle, and the combination of rifle and straight sword has several times led to his being mistaken for an ordinary soldier. His most prized possession is a telescope, given to him by Sir Arthur Wellesley after he saved the General's life.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
~ He has very few close friends. Once someone has earned his loyalty, they have it for life; and he will do anything to defend and protect his friends.
~ He will back his men up against anyone, even if his men are in the wrong.
~ He is a contradictory person; very private about his thoughts and feelings, yet he makes no bones about the fact his mother was a whore. It even seems at times as if he is proud of that fact, when he is actually proud of the fact that he is now an officer despite that.
~ If he hates somebody, or worse, despises them, he will make it very clear, both to them and to the people around them. And nothing is worse in his eyes than a coward: someone who hasn't the heart for a fight. He isn't a fire-eater himself, but he can fight, and knows he can, and expects others to be able to as well.
~ His background as a bastard is a hindrance in social situations, which he finds extremely uncomfortable. He disguises this discomfort in bluntness that may seem boorish and off-putting to those who don't know him.
Background: Born sometime in 1777 (he thinks), Sharpe spent his childhood in a Foundling Home in London before escaping into the warrens of St Giles Rookery. He enlisted into the 33rd Foot at the age of 16, on the run from the law. He first saw action (if it could be described as such) in Flanders soon after taking the shilling. He went to India with the 33rd. Flogged on a trumped-up charge (well, he did hit the Sergeant, though even an angel would have after what the Sergeant had been saying...) he was sent into Seringapatam in 1799 on what might have been described as a fool's errand. Surviving that, he contrived to save the General's life at the Battle of Assaye in 1803, thus receiving a battlefield commission.

Despite making a name for himself as a brave soldier and even earning a commission by saving the General's life at the risk of his own, he found it extremely difficult to fit in with the other officers of the regiment he found himself in: the 74th Highlanders. He took part in the storming of the fortress of Gawilghur, 'the fortress in the sky' deemed by most to be impregnable.

He was offered, and accepted, a transfer to the 95th Foot, a newly-formed regiment armed with rifles instead of the usual musket. Left behind when they sailed to Copenhagen in 1807, he had intended to buy himself out until he was given the special task of accompanying a British agent to the town. Surviving the bombardment and uncovering a French spy, he returned to England.

In 1808, he sailed for Spain as Quartermaster to the 2nd Battalion. During the winter of 1808/08, he managed to save thirty or forty men from the hell that was Sir John Moore's retreat to Corunna, and brought them down through Spain into Portugal to Lisbon, in the worst winter for thirty years. He is now kicking his heels in Lisbon, both longing for and dreading the return of the 95th to the Peninsula. He knows that as an officer promoted from the ranks, he can look forward to little more than a posting back to the Quartermaster's department...
Anything Else: PB: Sean Bean
Writing Sample/Past Roleplay: Sharpe frowned suddenly, wondering which of the two would be the lesser of the two evils.

"Hakeswill's probably dead and buried long since," he said, although from the sinking feeling inside, the Sergeant was still making the lives of those unfortunates in the Light Company hell on earth.

A thought struck him. "Wonder what happened to Tom Garrard, though," he said, watching the sailors below run out on the yards. Sharpe smiled, remembering. "He were me best mate," he said, unconscious that his Yorkshire accent was growing broader as he spoke. "He were a good soldier, nowt better, and a good mate too."

He glanced at the other officer. "He used to send money home, you know. I never learned how, on a soldier's pay."

The shouts of the naval officers drifted up to them as he paused. "His family got thrown out of their cottage after a bad harvest 'cause his dad was three days late with the rent. So Tom went for a soldier, to save them having to feed another mouth."
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