InsaneJournal

• Name: Alastor Balthazar Moody
• Birthdate: 02 February 1927
• Citizenship: British
• Current residence:
• Blood status: Half-blood

Physical

• Height/weight: 5'11 / 220 lb.
• Hair/eyes: Brown and gray / brown and blue.
• Manner of speech: With a voice that can only be described as 'gruff', Moody speaks in an accent hailing from Lincolnshire, though over the years the strength of his accent has ebbed away, blending with those from the other areas he's resided on and off. His tone is most often sharp and firm -- he is brief but says only that which he means.
• Manner of dress: Always looking presentable, if only barely, Moody wears robes on a daily basis and without variation. Suits and the like have never seemed very comfortable to him and, besides, he needs the ability to move without restrictions, which is one of his reasons for dark, dirt and wrinkle-resistant robes. He has more important things to think about than how he is going to dress himself in the morning -- cutting out even thirty seconds of contemplation could mean all the difference in his day.
• Physical description: Once a somewhat attractive young man, Moody is now a scarred and slightly wrinkled shadow of his former self who has lost a few pieces over the years. He has a thick, strong build with broad shoulders, square jaw and stance. He wears his rapidly thinning hair short for convenience and puts very little effort into his appearance. His most notable physical feature is the large electric blue false eye he wears which is almost always constantly moving and can see through solid objects. Due to a run-in with werewolves, he wears a prosthetic leg below the knee and uses a crude walking stick to keep himself balanced.
• First impression: While he certainly does not strike one as approachable or overly friendly, his focus and down-to-business attitude are obvious.

• PB: Jack Coleman

Personal

• General personality: Even when he was a child, Moody was characterized by his generally distant and somewhat aloof attitude toward other people, even those he cared about. That much has not changed with age and though he is capable of maintaining working relationships, he doesn't often discuss his personal life (or have much of one) or engage in heart-to-heart conversations, even if he might try to function on the same emotional level as others from time to time (usually it is not without failure or upset). Thus, he is emotionally isolated and has difficulty relating to others -- their motivations are so frequently foreign to him that he has all but given up trying to understand them.

One certainly does not move to the front of their occupational field without sacrifice and in addition to his injuries, Moody has certainly sacrificed interpersonal relationships for the sake of professionalism. He chooses to operate on levels of respect/disrespect and ally/enemy, though more recently, he's had to take into account others' strengths and weaknesses to try to be a better leader. Leadership is not necessarily a role with which he is comfortable -- he can take control of any situation without hesitation, but other aspects of leadership (the more warm and cuddly ones) surpass his abilities.

Due to his extreme focus and no nonsense attitude, he is extremely efficient and has mastered the ability to get things done. He values those qualities in others and is somewhat lost around those who do not share it. Work has been the only thing he's done with his life for so long that loosening up or having a sense of humor is a foreign concept. While he does have the occasional tongue-in-cheek moment, he is mostly serious, somewhat uptight and endlessly concerned with productivity. If there is no point to doing something, he will generally refrain until one becomes obvious or something more immediately relevant comes up.

Over his career, he has developed a strong sense of self-preservation that has only grown stronger over the past year, particularly since he has suffered several severe injuries due to his own carelessness. He is constantly searching for ways to improve his skills and lives perpetually looking over his shoulder (or through the back of his skull, nowadays). He believe that the only way one can be too cautious is when one's caution prevents one from action and he is not quite to the point; however, he is painstaking when it comes to planning and organization -- anything that will help an operation, no matter how simple, run more smoothly is worth the investment of being done correctly, quickly and with as little complication as possible.

• Strengths and weaknesses: In combat, Moody is a very experienced and talented dueler. Through practice, he has gained unflappable confidence when it comes to his abilities and he cannot be easily shaken. He maintains a steady focus on his goals and his determination can be paralleled by few -- he will work hard and do whatever it takes, even violating his own moral ideals, to see to it that his desired ends are met. He does not fold, fluster or hesitate under any circumstances, no matter how great his pressure or stress.

However, his drive and business-oriented attitude frequently alienate him from others. He is not kind or sympathetic to others under normal circumstances and is, in many ways, almost completely detached from humanity. A life is a terrible thing to have lost, he acknowledges, but for the sake of ending the war -- for the sake of good -- everyone is a potential sacrifice, which he feels they should understand before agreeing to fight against Dark Wizards. He has absolutely no tolerance or patience for mistakes or others' short-comings and while he may respect those with whom he fights, he will not hesitate to correct or chastise them, which may make him an unpopular and unlikable person.

• Mental health: It would be a mistake to call Moody mentally fit -- he is extremely paranoid, far beyond a level of healthy caution and emotionally isolated. The war is his life and has thus become a complete obsession.

Relationships

• Relatives: Sebastian Moody (b. 1897); Half-blood; former Department of International Magical Cooperation employee (International Magical Trading Standards Body).
Cordelia Moody nee Hughes (b. 1910); Half-blood; housewife.
• Relationship with family: Moody is relatively fond of both his parents, but mostly pleased that they are out of harm's way (or so he hopes) in a tightly warded home in the Scottish Highlands. He does not talk to them frequently, but until he stopped working in the Ministry a few months ago, he sent them a portion of his earnings each month. His father is proud of him for the work he's done and whenever he does hear from his son, he requests stories of fights that he's been in over the years to help him live vicariously. His mother is mostly concerned. Neither have seen him since he lost his eye or leg.
• Sexuality: Heterosexual.
• Significant other: None.
• Children: None.

Educational

• School: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
• Years: 1938 - 1945
• House: Gryffindor
• Achievements: None.
• NEWTS: Charms (O), Defense Against the Dark Arts (O), Herbology (EE), Potions (EE), Transfiguration (O).

Occupational

• Occupation: Currently none.
• Previous jobs, if any: Auror in the DMLE.

The War

• How is your character involved in the war? Until several months ago, Moody was an Auror working for the DMLE, but due to his 'early forced retirement', he has since left the position. He has contributed and offered his leadership to the Order, particularly since Dumbledore's very recent passing. For all intents and purposes, his life has been devoted to defeating the Death Eaters and their infamous Lord.
• Will your character die during the next year? Doubtful!
• If yes, please give some details on how/when you'd like this to occur: In battle, if it does occur.

Overall History

• Family/childhood: Moody's childhood was mostly uneventful, growing up in Lincolnshire with an intact family that would have been called 'happy' and 'loving' by anyone who ever saw their interactions with their somewhat distant son. The family home was filled with war memorabilia, collected over the years by a combat-enamored father and a mother supportive of her husband's boyish obsession. Though he'd never fought in a war and had a mundane, middle-management job at the Ministry, he filled his son's head with stories of battle and tales of courageous war heroes. While Moody didn't think much of it at the time and often shied away from the violence of such stories to his mother's more tender version of bonding, he was a precocious child and soon had a neighborhood reputation of being the sort of guy with whom you did not want to pick a fight.

Though he never went out of his way to get into trouble, he quickly learned how to defend himself if and when he needed to, particularly with the assistance of adrenaline-spurred surges of magical ability. A particularly vicious duel lead to a boy from down the street breaking both his arms while Moody -- who had adopted his last name as his title in place of the poncy 'Alastor' his parents had chosen -- escaped with a black eye and bloody nose. While his father gave him only an approving pat on the back, pleased to see that his son had some fight in him, his mother tried her best to keep him away from the other children who would just as soon have nothing to do with him anyway.

Though they were wizards, the area in which they lived was not particularly magical and the family was generally viewed as snooty. Moody's lack of attendance in school would not have been a conspicuous thing had his family suffered the financial hardships of the times along with the fisherman in Spilsby who employed their sons as soon as they were big enough to help and sometimes even when they weren't. Things only grew more strained when he was sent away to Hogwarts -- a boarding school was almost unheard of when boys in the area were either expected to follow in their fathers' footsteps or enlist in the Armed Forces as soon as they were old enough. Education was simply not a priority, so when he left, it only raised the level of resentment and speculation surrounding the family, causing them to withdraw even more from their Muggle surroundings.

• School/work: By the time he had turned eleven, Moody was ready to be on his way. His parents were strict about enforcing the Ministry's laws concerning underage magic and he was itching to learn more -- as much as he could. It came as a surprise to no one when he was sorted into Gryffindor, as he'd always had a hotheadedness and courageousness that lent itself well to the House. He fit in well enough, but was by no means a leader among his peers. Even from a young age, he had trouble relating to those around him and was somewhat withdrawn. He was there to learn quietly and soak in as much information as he could.

As he grew older, some of his classmates joined clubs, became prefects or tried out for the House Quidditch teams, but Moody did not. Many of the group activities did not appeal to him -- belonging to a group wasn't a strong suit for some one who had spent the majority of his times alone pre-Hogwarts and he was too involved in his studies to care. His parents weren't particularly bothered either, since their son brought home good marks in all of his classes at the ends of the years and did very well on his OWLs. They joked that he should have been a Ravenclaw instead with the amount of time he spent revising for his classes but wit was not something he possessed. His sense of strategy and cleverness were to be learned at a much later date.

It wasn't until the incident with the Chamber of Secrets in his fifth year that Moody began taking any interest in his Housemates, eager to hear what they knew of the giant snake that had killed a girl both for the purposes of protecting himself and, consequently, other students, should such a thing ever happen again. Neither Tom Riddle or Rubeus Hagrid were on his radar until then, but even after the incident had been 'solved', Moody remained largely indifferent to both of them -- Hagrid was a fool and Riddle was astoundingly arrogant, but neither warranted his attention, particularly when Moody switched his attention to more current areas of interest, such as the war and the dark wizard, Grindelwald.

He followed the events of the next two years as closely as he could from Hogwarts, gleaning whatever information he could from books, newspapers and his peers. In his seventh year, when Albus Dumbledore defeated the wizard, Moody decided that when he matriculated, he would work as an Auror for the Ministry of Magic. His research on Grindelwald had led him to much information concerning other dark wizards whom he believed should be defeated at all costs. His interest became fanatical during the next few years and has since then developed into a full-blown obsession. His motivation was neither fame nor glory and only to some extent the desire to 'make the world a better place' -- his true reason for devoting himself to his work as an Auror was to show that it could be done and that these wizards who struck chords of fear within people were merely men who could be defeated and slain just as any average man or woman.

During the war, Moody's parents relocated to an isolated area in the Scottish Highlands, much to his father's protest, as he was enjoying the excitement of living in such close proximity to a military base. But his mother eventually won out with her insistence that since she spent the day at home with Royal Air Force planes flying overhead and the fear that an air strike would happen at any moment, it was more important that she feel safe than that her husband exercise his voyeuristic and vicarious fantasies at her expense. Moody lived with his parents for the duration of his training before he moved to a flat in Muggle London to be closer to the Ministry, though he still sent them a portion of his wages each month.

At first, he found adjusting to working in a team-like setting very difficult. He had always spent most of his time alone and had never realized the importance of teamwork and the associated camaraderie. It was not until he'd had a few close calls that he learned that he could not do everything on his own. The reputation he eventually earned as an Auror did not come immediately or without his share of blunders -- several wizards evaded his capture in the first decade of his work, which prompted him to be more disciplined and less careless. He knew very well that he was as fallible as the wizards he pursued and with that in mind, he proceeded to make a name for himself over the next twenty years, becoming completely absorbed with his work.

• Recent history: When approached to join the Order, Moody had his misgivings -- fighting alongside civilians was an extremely dangerous suggestion. Were it not for the respect he had developed for Dumbledore after his victory over Grindelwald, he would have refused to be a part of the operation at all. There was also part of him that wished he could fight against his enemies without the looming bureaucracy of the DMLE. With the possibility of break-outs, Azkaban was not enough assurance for him. He wanted dark wizards dead, where they could not stage come-backs when the system failed. He decided to look at it as a continuation of his career with fewer restrictions and consequently agreed to join.

Though he had suffered many injuries from his previous dealings with Dark Wizards and spent many days in his regular bed at St Mungo's (always stubbornly insisting that he was well enough to leave, even when he was clearly not), his worst were sustained in July of 1979 when he fought alongside Alice Longbottom against Georgina Wiles and Evan Rosier. Though the two were defeated, Moody lost bits of his nose and his eye in the process. While he was initially incensed (how could he fight with only one eye?), Dorcas Meadowes eventually provided him with an eye that far out-performed his original. He could now see through solid objects and with a 360 degree range of sight, he was no longer sore about his loss -- it had worked in his favor, even if it was not the most attractive feature he could have ascertained and his mother was convinced that he would truly, truly never marry. But being handsome and getting married were far from his mind when there were dark wizards still to be caught or killed.

However, before the work on this magical eye was complete, an August attack on the Order by a group of werewolves in his home led to the loss of his leg. Tabitha and Aaron Pryce were responsible and unlike his previous fight, Moody gained nothing from his loss -- neither werewolf was captured and Moody could do little else but chide himself for his carelessness. Though Aaron Pryce has since been killed, that Tabitha remains at large is a situation he intends to rectify as soon as he can. After losing his leg from the knee down, Moody fashioned himself a wooden prosthetic, which allows him to walk, though unsteadily and requiring the use of a walking stick. Regardless, that would still not stop him from his work, both for the Ministry and for the Order.

What would stop him from working for the Ministry was when the Death Eaters took control in January. Moody fought hard against them, but he was still adapting to dueling with his prosthetic leg and eye and did not do as well as he might have otherwise. With the purists in power, Moody left the Ministry, sending a tongue-in-cheek letter of resignation to the new Head of the DMLE. He has since been in hiding -- his own secret keeper, since he is the only one who he can trust unconditionally. During the last few months, he has devoted all of his energy to the Order since he has little else on which to focus. Dumbledore's death was one of the few that stirred grief within the now old man. Even though he made a point to remind himself that he was as mortal as his enemies, it was too easy to think the opposite. The death of a wizard that powerful was only further evidence of that and just what they were up against. Though he now has doubts as to whether or not it will be possible for the Order to win the war at all, he will keep them to himself.