Professor - Edinburgh University
Schools: B.A. Oxford; Ph.D. Glasgow;
Hon. LITTD: Cambridge and Durham
Hon. LLD: Calcutta
As will be evident from the character picture, Dr. Hayward is a robust man - kind of a Grizzly Addams physique only not so tall. He is slightly balding but has whiskery chestnut hair brushing his shoulders. A bushy moustache and beard flush down to the tie knot line. He has dark, full eyebrows, which make his eyes contratedly wise when he is excited, but almost dormant in reflection.
Loosely considering his background, while Ben seems quite polarized on many political issues, Dr. Hayward has always been in somewhat of a removed community regarding such matters: whether in rural Scotland, India, or in academe. Hayward was born on June 29, 1941 in a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland. His mother was Scottish, a traditionalist; his father a British strict disciplinarian. They had met in an infirmary, she as a volunteer nurse, he being a wounded soldier. (more info to be filled out here) At about the age of five, Warren, ever the teased youth, was tricked into spending the night in 'a shunned house.'
Specifically, this was, indeed, a haunted house, but his visitation that night was corporeal, if a bit off-putting. Gettie Malligan was on old Scottish wise-woman and pauper, living in the abandoned house, not having any recourse. She regarded it as her own by rights. As a young girl, she had had an extended affair with the sense deceased rich owner of the house, Jonah MacLarrey. Because of class impropriety, they never were allowed to be together. He did, in fact, haunt the house and maintain some sort of relationship with Gertie from beyond the grave. Naturally, the charms and wit of the old woman were thereby enhanced. And, not having a son of her own, and feeling a might sorry for the sprout, she took his education as a personal affair. Mostly using old MacLarrey's old books, Warren quickly became quite the student. In addition, he obtained a SCHOLARLY fluency in ``the old ways.'' His mother approved. Though at first violently hostile to the idea, Warren's father obtained an attitude adjustment from old Gertie of an uncertain variety- but one which neverthless counciled him a closed lip ever after to the matter.
Warren beared through study at Oxford for a few years, returning to Glasgow in relief. He cared little for the snobbishness of the British demeanor. He was, perhaps British by extension, but this was, after all, Oxford. In college, he picked up the skill of fencing and most importantly, of other religions. During his grad work, he studied in India, translating some wonderfully entertaining volumes. After his PhD, Dr. Hayward returned to India and did some preliminary work on what was to be the Mohenjo-Daro dig, as well as drafting an insider's development of Thugee ideaology. After returning to Scotland, Hayward was awash with new ideas. He returned to the old MacLarrey house, in fact, to find it demolished by inspectors finding it unsound. Old Gertie was nowhere to be found. Salvaged were a few notables, including a few books and Warren's sword cane. Also picking up around the countryside led Hayward to some interesting conclusions about comparative religion.
Warren's niche was all his own. Picking up from Tylor and to some extent Robertson-Smith, Hayward became most interested in the cross-cultural notion of ``mana.'' Being an energy force, immanently creative, but possibly linked to the telluric currents, manna was something of an enigma. Hayward hypothesized a ``veil of fear,'' an adaptive feature of the human psyche which both raised up our gods, expulsed our demons, and maintained the lines of individual consciousness. ``Do not, therefore, offer pretense of fright to fear.'' His method involved the collection of various folktales and myths from around the world but especially of the Isles, India, Europe and the Middle East. He had a style somewhat like that of William James in ``The Varieties of Religious Experience.'' He was received somewhat as Joseph Campbell: knocked by academic committees but embraced by the students. Many a professor has kept a volume of Hayward's ``Beyond the Veil of Terror: Ghost Stories of Man'' hidden for nighttime reading, though.
Personally, Dr. Hayward is a hearty lecturer, storyteller, listener and companion. Never being the most intelligent, this has often benefitted him, winning over a story rather than probing it out. He is somewhat suspicious of British organizationalism in many respects. Academically, he believes them irrelevant. Personally, he believes them pompous. As regards to the occult, he feels groups like the PSR and the Golden Dawn perhaps have some sort of ``mana-ic'' validity, but buried hopelessly in institutional posturing. Above all, Hayward will keep an open mind, listen to you, and believe you if it's a good enough story.
SUBPLOTS:
Every other week, Hayward has a seminar for his graduate students in his home in Glasgow. Tea, coffee, and wafers are served. They speak about everything from research opportunities to Indian mythology to ghost stories. Come 11:00 pm, most leave for home, while a select few somehow know to stay. These are the few with whom Hayward discusses most frankly his findings-those unsuitable for academic presentation. Among these 4-8 students is Tilly MacDougal, a shy blonde with whom Hayward has ``relations.'' Noone must know this.
Every month, Hayward meets Dr. Roger Hicks, a collegue with whom he keeps his fencing game up. Hicks is a doctor of the most skeptical variety. The sport can sometimes become gentlemanly energetic. Hayward reviews all book ideas with Hicks. If Hicks hates them, they get published.
Hayward is continuing his search for Gertie, or at least information on what had become of her ultimately. Locals seem to know little, but an outright search would certainly raise some eyebrows. Currently, Hayward is writing on the Brithish isles and the secrets they guard.
STATS
STR 9 DEX 13 INT 14 Idea 70
CON 14 APP 11 POW 14 Luck 70
SIZ 12 SAN 99 EDU 19 Know 95
Hit Points - 13 Age: 47
Improved Skills: Anthro: 50 Read Sanskrit: 40
Archaeology: 10 Read Arabic: 20
Credit Rating: 25 Read German: 10
Debate: 50 Read French: 10
Dodge: 46 Speak Arabic: 10
History: 60 Speak Bengali: 10
Library Use: 95 Sword Cane: 45/45
Occult: 70