Database: Crawford Starrick

Date of Birth: 18 August 1827.

Crawford Starrick was born in the West End of London, the younger son of Robert Starrick, a wealthy but un-landed businessman who had famously tripled the value of his family estate as a young man by investing in the heady early days of Railway Mania.

There's probably a magazine called Railway Mania, isn't there?

The Starrick boys were bred for competition. Throughout their early childhood they were neck and neck in academics and sports, almost as often as they were at each other's necks. "Boys, through and through," their mother observed proudly, never suspecting anything darker beneath the surface. When Crawford was twelve, boarding school provided an opportunity. He at last had room to grow.

He was ostracised by his House, sarcastically dubbed "Lord Starrick" for the airs he put on. In his private notebooks, he began to see humanity as divided into two strata: those who served and those who ruled. Naturally, he fell into the latter category. Recognising that he would earn no friends at school, he settled instead for lackeys. He sharpened his charm to a fine point, hid his disdain behind smiles and helpful words, until he could bend teachers and peers to his will. "A natural gift for leadership," teachers would remark. "Shows great improvement. Young Crawford has come into his own." The feeling of power and control was addictive.

Upon graduation, he modeled himself as a railroad baron, and through smart purchasing and the strange disappearance of the competition, he rose to the top. With his larger fortune he expanded into many different industries, also broadening his reach across London. He fell in love once, and only once, to a businesswoman as ruthless as he, but she refused to marry him.

Crazy woman, eh?!