Arkham:Tristan Edward Westmoreland Vandervort
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Lord Tristan Morgan Westmoreland Vandervort, Viscount of Morpeth
Caucasian male, 28 years old, 6'1" and 195 lbs
Mystic archetype
Overview
Both parents are still alive. His father, the Earl of Carlisle in England, is from one of the oldest noble families and owns about one third of the land in Cumbria and Northumberland counties.
Tristan was born in Hong Kong in 1901, while his parents were handling business there. As such he is both a Chinese citizen and a UK citizen. He is currently living in Arkham, Massachusetts, and was "fortunate" to get a visa despite the restrictive Immigration Act of 1924 (The Johnson-Reed Act).
Tristan's Viscount of Morpeth title is a courtesy title, since he is the heir to the Earl title.
Character
| Archetype: Mystic | Total XP Earned: 0 |
| Personality: Ambitious | Unused XP: 0 |
| Skills | |||
| Agility | 5+ | Knowledge | 6 |
| Athletics: | 6+ | Resolve | 5+ |
| Wits | 6 | Melee Combat | 6 |
| Presence | 5+ | Ranged Combat | 6 |
| Intuition | 6 | Lore | 4+ |
Family
Naworth Castle, the ancestral seat of the family since 1323, is still privately held by the familyTristan's parents staunchly support each other and the family, which means everything to them. They met in 1891 at the University of Cambridge, and a couple of years later they departed for Hong Kong. The family had significant holdings there, and Tristan's father decided to take a hands-on approach during this tumultuous time. In the next few years they conceived Tristan, Alistair, and his sister there.
Wealth
The family's assets are mostly in leaseholds, which is a concept that dates back to feudal times. In England, among many other places, freehold is the most comprehensive form of land ownership, granting perpetual ownership of land and buildings, while leasehold involves owning the right to use a property for a limited period of time (such as 99 years), after which ownership of the land reverts to the freeholder. The Westmoreland Vandervort family owns about one third of the land in Cumbria and Northumberland counties.
The family had at one time owned a few companies in Hong Kong, most notably Dent Vandervort & Co. Major British mercantile companies known as "hongs" dominated Hong Kong during the 1800s, especially after the colony was ceded to Britain in 1842. Founded before Hong Kong's establishment, Dent Vandervort & Co. was known as the second largest British trading company in East Asia. The company bought one of the first plots of land at Hong Kong's initial land sale in 1841 and opened its headquarters there soon afterward. Like other "hongs", this company initially focused on the China trade and then from there expanded into finance, shipping, insurance, and real estate. Subsidiary firms were created to manage each of these areas of businesses.
In 1861 William Vandervort and his associates were pushed out of the main business, which was then renamed to Dent & Co or just Dent's, and instead spun off the real estate subsidiary into its own independent business. This later merged into Hongkong Land, with the Vandervort family owning a 20% stake in that business. Hongkong Land is still in operation today, being the single largest landlord in Central Hong Kong, with yearly revenue of 2.67 billion USD and assets worth over 38 billion. However, after living there for 8 years, the Earl decided to liquidate the family's holdings as well as sell off his family's stake in Hongkong Land.
The family also decided to sell off the mother's shipping business in 1996, which she had inherited only 6 years earlier. They correctly recognized that Hong Kong would not be able to compete with Shanghai as the main port of China. Afterwards the family moved to the family's estate in England, and have stayed there since. With the influx of cash from selling their stake in Hongkong Land as well as the sale of the shipping business they decided to invest a small part of it in buying land in the United States (where land is much cheaper). The rest of the proceeds were used to invest in two new businesses: energy and natural goods.
Around this time organic farming was starting to become a serious business, and with the Organic Foods Production Act passed in 1990 there was now a national standard and a certification system for organic foods in the U.S. This helped to legitimize the industry, both in the US and abroad. The Vandervort family founded the Hain Celestial Group, focusing on natural foods and organic personal-care items, using their newly purchased agriculural lands to produce the needed goods. The Vandervort family has kept a 45% stake in that company, which has grown fast over the years. That stake in the company is now worth over 1 billion USD.
The other major business was started more recently, in 2010. His parents saw the rise of wind energy, and realized that their vast land holdings in the north of England were quite rich in wind energy potential. In fact, England overall has some of the best wind energy potential in all of Europe. Some of the leaseholds in Cumbria and Northumberland were due to expire, and so that land was used as the location for their new energy business. Their local political influence in those 2 northern counties allowed them to overcome the NIMBY objections, allowing them to get started. With a few successful wind turbine "farms" going online in 2016 they then looked for additional capital investment. Cumbria Wind Energy is now a growing business, and their stake in the company is worth over 2 billion USD.
Occult Ties
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