"Portrait of B.V." by Virginie Carquin


Name: Marshall Boone

Age: 35

Occupation: Captain of The Rocky Top Rose and four-year winner of The National Aeronautics Relay

Appearance: Marshall stands at around 6'2 with brown hair, lively green eyes, and a beard that he keeps trimmed short and close to his chin. In the air, he usually dons a leather coat over his shirt and vest. The "flashiness" of his ensemble depends on his desire for attention. When he runs his trade operation, he tries to look as homey and haggard as possible, but if he seeks the attention of his fans, he makes no qualms about preening himself to the finest.

Personality: For Marshall, life is a big, uproarious joke. He can find the humor in any situation. His fans often find his personality charming and playful. His cousin and first mate more often than not sees him as careless and immature. However, everything changes once Marshall takes the helm; it's all business from there. He is a restless man, and never likes staying in one place for very long. He hates feeling awkward or uncomfortable around people and will go out of his way to avoid unpleasant conversations or situations. He will make exceptions for people he dislikes, and has gotten himself into trouble for pushing the wrong people too far.

History:
Marshall Ashley Boone was born April 9, 1865: the same day Robert E. Lee signed the Surrender Correspondence which brought an end to the Civil War. Before the war, his family ran a booming tobacco plantation in Madison, Tennessee. He was the youngest of his five siblings, but certainly not the favorite. He never knew the Boones of the aristocratic Antebellum South, he only saw a bitter, withering patriarch wasting away in the shadows of an empty, rotting mansion. His father, Harold Boone, often saw his youngest son as a harbinger of bad fortune. His mother, Celia Porter-Boone, struggled to adjust as she fell from the lap of luxury. Since they never learned self-sufficiently, the Boones dipped into their shrinking savings to hire a couple of their former slaves to aid them in gardening, home maintenance, and cooking. Harold sought to ease his grief with his love of the drink which only worsened his financial situation. The Boones finally lost the eighty-year-old family estate shortly after Marshall's tenth birthday. The family sold the house and moved to Nashville in the hopes of building up a business. The sons were quickly put to work and finances were pooled. Harold's drinking eventually brought him ill health. He became unable to work and had to rely on the income of his boy. The eldest soon moved West, the second son resentfully stayed behind to care for his parents, while Marshall found work aboard a trade ship. He thrived working on merchant airships and he quickly rose from being a simple deckhand to handling export supplies, to joining the buyers and sellers in the port cities. His Southern charm made him a natural salesman and his easygoing nature attracted plenty of business. He traveled extensively, but developed a special fondness for China where he lived for six years. It was there that he discovered his love for the small, swift racing airships and found he had a natural talent for flying. In his spare time, he learned everything he could and volunteered his services in the pit crew teams. Small time racing crews took him on until one of his team won a regional championship. He became a permanent crew member and helped propel the team's success. Racing in China was still catching on in popularity, and Marshall wanted to make a career of it. He worked his way to becoming a first mate before returning to America. He joined the crew of the Anita Belle . He acquired a little money and a lot of fame while running an illegal smuggling operation to keep his ends met. When his former captain retired, he gifted him with his own fixer-upper of a vessel which he repaired with his business partner and later first mate, Cecil Freeman. Freeman turned the ship into a masterpiece which has since was four consecutive national championships and made Boone a star.