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|image1= Philatel-426.png | |image1= Philatel-426.png | ||
|caption1= | |caption1= | ||
|aka= | |aka= Mailbag | ||
|born= | |born= | ||
|died= | |died= | ||
|species= [[Mark V]] [[Clockwork Cherub]] | |species= [[Mark V]] [[Clockwork Cherub]] | ||
|gender= Male | |gender= Male | ||
|residence= [[Cupid Homeworld| | |residence= [[Philatel-426's house]], [[Cupid Homeworld|the Cupid Homeworld]] | ||
|occupation= Postmaster | |occupation= [[Prefect]], Postmaster | ||
|romantic_partner(s)= | |romantic_partner(s)= | ||
|creator(s)= | |creator(s)= | ||
| Line 17: | Line 17: | ||
|copyright= [[Lupan Evezan]] | |copyright= [[Lupan Evezan]] | ||
|index= '''''[[:Category:Featuring Philatel-426|See category]]''''' | |index= '''''[[:Category:Featuring Philatel-426|See category]]''''' | ||
}}'''Philatel-426''' was a [[Mark V]] [[Clockwork Cherub]] and member of the [[Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids]], | }}'''Philatel-426''', sometimes mistakenly called '''Mailbag''' (actually the name of his [[Mailbag-431|old Co-Prefect]]), was a [[Mark V]] [[Clockwork Cherub]] and member of the [[Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids]]. He served as the Crew's postmaster, i.e. the [[Prefect]] of the [[Department of Postal Services]]. | ||
== Description == | == Description == | ||
=== Physical appearance === | |||
Philatel was a [[Mark V]] [[Clockwork Cherub]]. Most of his body was a yellowish-gold colour, with light silver accents, including his wings, which had a bat-like character. He had metallic hair, styled to appear receding and curling up at the back of his head. There was a square panel of grating to the left of his chest, and his feet resembled pointy shoes. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol (short story)|A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol]]'', etc.) | |||
=== Personality === | === Personality === | ||
[[Rosen-035]] thought of Philatel as “steadfast”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Multiversal Mischief (short story)|Multiversal Mischief]]'') | |||
Philatel was primarily defined by his love of collecting stamps, which he discovered in his youth; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol (short story)|A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol]]'') he was willing to great lengths to protect his collection. However, even then, he did not dare to interfere with the mail, viewing its protection as his sacred duty; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Acquaintanceship-982 and the Missing Mail Mystery (short story)|Acquaintanceship-982 and the Missing Mail Mystery]]'') Philatel thought of his [[Department of Postal Services]] as the most important organisation in the [[Cupid Homeworld]], as he proudly announced to [[Jenny Everywhere (38167th Universe)|Jenny Everywhere]] ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Time of the Toymaker (novel)|The Time of the Toymaker]]'') | |||
In his youth, he had shared in [[Journey-535]]'s dream to go exploring [[the Multiverse]], but he drifted apart from Journey as time went on, becoming more and more monomaniacally focused on the Department and his stamps; ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol (short story)|A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol]]'') the adult Philatel disliked romanticising missions, preferring to stay in the [[Cupid Homeworld]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Acquaintanceship-982 and the Missing Mail Mystery (short story)|Acquaintanceship-982 and the Missing Mail Mystery]]'') | |||
=== Powers & abilities === | |||
In his youth, Philatel was trained to use a bow and shoot [[Cupid Arrow]]s, but by his own admission he was “never very good at that”. Similarly, he did not usually wear his rightful [[anti-gravity circuit]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol (short story)|A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol]]'') | |||
== Biography == | == Biography == | ||
=== Early life === | === Early life === | ||
The [[Mark IV]] [[Clockwork Cherub]]s were scheduled to launch in 1974, logically placing the construction of Philatel and the other [[Mark V]]s at some point between that year ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Arena of the Detraxxi (short story)|The Arena of the Detraxxi]]'') and the [[Mark IX]]s' creation in 1982. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Dark Cabaret (short story)|The Dark Cabaret]]'') | |||
As a newly-built Cupid, Philatel trained with a bow and arrow in the [[old training hall]], soon realising that he was untalented as a bowman. He was “no good at any of the usual Cupid things”, and made few friends among the other Mark Vs in training; their training lasted for several years, marked by the yearly [[Valentine's Day]] parties, but at each of them Philatel stayed by himself in a corner instead of dancing with the others. He soon discovered stamp-collecting, and failed in his various training missions even more thoroughly as he began to treat them merely as opportunities to collect more, without even trying to hit his mission objectives. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol (short story)|A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol]]'') | |||
=== Setting up the Department of Postal Services === | |||
While still in training, Philatel began to plan the creation of a [[Department of Postal Services]]. He submitted plans to the [[Cupid Parliament]], but it was a long time before they were approved; in the meantime, he worked at the [[Department of Journalism]] under [[Editor-345]], whom he would later recall as “the best boss [he] ever had”. Editor's warm demeanour went some way towards loosening up the young Philatel, once convincing him to leave behind some figures relating to “the subscription and circulation data of [[the Cupid Courier|the ''Cupid Courier'']]” to join in the fun of a party Editor had organised within the building. | |||
At some point around this time, Philatel even made a true friend, the slightly younger [[Journey-535]], and the two made plans to go explore [[the Multiverse]] together once Philatel was done setting up the Department. A month after the [[Department of Postal Services' building]] had been built, they again talked excitedly of those plans, but a year after that, when Journey brought up the subject, an increasingly distant Philatel dithered and claimed he was too busy planning new building extensions, including what would become his stamp wings. His stance did not alter when a saddened Journey suggested that he might, in that case, go on his own. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol (short story)|A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol]]'') | |||
=== The lonely Postmaster === | |||
By 1986, Philatel was in charge of the Department. It was him who received the rhyming letters sent by the [[Society of the Rhyming Dove]] to the Crew. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Society of the Rhyming Dove (short story)|The Society of the Rhyming Dove]]'') | |||
For a number of years, the similarly close-minded and work-obsessed [[Mailbag-431]] assisted Philatel as Co-Prefect, although he did not appear to have been involved when Philatel founded the Department. The two shared an office, over which both of their names were written, and were one another's “only friend” by that point. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol (short story)|A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol]]'') | |||
However, by April 2019, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Acquaintanceship-982 and the Missing Mail Mystery (short story)|Acquaintanceship-982 and the Missing Mail Mystery]]'') Mailbag had become one of the few Cupids ever to die, in unclear circumstances. A “document declaring him” so was signed by Philatel himself as well as [[Copper-Colored Council of Elders|the Council]], the [[Supreme Quaestor]], [[Cupid Parliament|the Parliament]], and the [[Cupid Prime]]. Philatel was Mailbag's “only mourner”. By December 2019, he still hadn't painted out Mailbag's name from above the door to the Prefect's office, for which reasons some young Cupids sometimes called Philatel “Mailbag”; he never corrected them. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol (short story)|A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol]]'') | |||
=== Feud with Foreman-964 === | === Feud with Foreman-964 === | ||
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=== 2019 Christmas season === | === 2019 Christmas season === | ||
[[File:Angry Philatel.png|thumb|left|315px|Philatel got very upset about the number of undeliverable letters to [[Santa Claus|Santa]] his Post Office received. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[A Message from Philatel (comic story)|A Message from Philatel]]'')]]In the 2019 [[Christmas]] season, an irate Philatel had to record a public-service announcement to quell the influx of letters addressed to [[Santa Claus]], which the Depatment was in no position to deliver and which had piled high even after they were given a specific sorting crate | [[File:Angry Philatel.png|thumb|left|315px|Philatel got very upset about the number of undeliverable letters to [[Santa Claus|Santa]] his Post Office received. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[A Message from Philatel (comic story)|A Message from Philatel]]'')]]In the 2019 [[Christmas]] season, an irate Philatel had to record a public-service announcement to quell the influx of letters addressed to [[Santa Claus]], which the Depatment was in no position to deliver and which had piled high even after they were given a specific sorting crate; ([[COMIC]]: ''[[A Message from Philatel (comic story)|A Message from Philatel]]'') he was further angered by the waste of good stamps on letters that couldn't even be delivered. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol (short story)|A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol]]'') | ||
Taking advantage of [[Dandy-432]] having dragged [[Foreman-964]] to the [[Prime Universe]] to cut down and retrieve a Christmas tree for [[Dandy-432's house|Dandy's own house]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dandy and the Christmas Tree (short story)|Dandy and the Christmas Tree]]'') Philatel stole “all of [Foreman's] documents approving new constructions”. Foreman discovered this as soon as he returned to the [[Cupid Homeworld]], and ran frantically through the [[Mainland Cloud]], looking for Philatel or anybody who knew where he'd taken the all-important papers — notably accosting [[Larrikin-1029]], who was busy transporting a Christmas pudding on behalf of [[Bibliophile-962]] and had no inkling of the situation. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Larrikin and the Christmas Pudding (short story)|Larrikin and the Christmas Pudding]]'') | Taking advantage of [[Dandy-432]] having dragged [[Foreman-964]] to the [[Prime Universe]] to cut down and retrieve a Christmas tree for [[Dandy-432's house|Dandy's own house]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dandy and the Christmas Tree (short story)|Dandy and the Christmas Tree]]'') Philatel stole “all of [Foreman's] documents approving new constructions”. Foreman discovered this as soon as he returned to the [[Cupid Homeworld]], and ran frantically through the [[Mainland Cloud]], looking for Philatel or anybody who knew where he'd taken the all-important papers — notably accosting [[Larrikin-1029]], who was busy transporting a Christmas pudding on behalf of [[Bibliophile-962]] and had no inkling of the situation. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Larrikin and the Christmas Pudding (short story)|Larrikin and the Christmas Pudding]]'') | ||
Philatel subsequently lived through his “very own [[A Christmas Carol|Christmas carol]]”, | Philatel subsequently lived through his “very own [[A Christmas Carol|Christmas carol]]”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Case Against Conspiracy (short story)|The Case Against Conspiracy]]'') The event began towards the end of December 24th, when, sitting angrily at his desk pondering the folly of Christmas, he rebuffed [[Dandy-432]], who had tried to invite him to the Blue Feather's Christmas party; rebuked [[Charity-563]] and [[Philantropist-926]], of the [[Department of Donations]], who had tried to persuade him to distribute a few stamps for free; dismissing [[Cupid boy (A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol)|a caroler]] at his window; and, finally, only acquiesced with extreme reluctance to [[Lord Thymon]]'s request for a week off to visit his friends and family in [[the Void]]. | ||
[[File:Philate-426 and the Three Spirits.png|thumb|right|350px|Philatel and [[the Three Spirits]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol (short story)|A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol]]'')]]After returning to [[Philatel-426's house|his house]], he was visited by the [[ghost]] of [[Mailbag-431]], who had been chained up in trinkets of his callousness and selfishness in life. Telling Philatel that there were [[Ghost Lord|beings]] in the [[Spirit Realm]] who would harshly punish him in the same manner if Philatel were to die, Mailbag warned his old partner that he would be visited by [[the Three Spirits]]. Indeed, over the course of the night, Philatel was successfully whisked through time and space by the [[Ghost of Christmas Past (A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol)|Ghost of Christmas Past]], [[Ghost of Christmas Present (A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol)|Ghost of Christmas Present]] and [[Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come (A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol)|Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come]], who forced him to realise what a humourless, selfish creature he'd become, and reminded him of the zest for life he had in his youth. He was particularly stricken when the Ghosts of Christmas Present and Christmas Yet-to-Come took him to the Void to see [[Lady Spatium]] and her children, including [[Tiny Thymon]], who was in danger of fading away if Philatel did not start allowing Thymon more time off to educate and mould his [[shapechild]] duplicate. | |||
[[File:Philatel-426 in A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol.png|thumb|left|250px|Philatel begins to feel bad about his callous behaviour toward [[Lord Thymon]]. ([[PROSE]]: '[[A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol (short story)|A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol]]'')]]After the obligatory [[Cupid Graveyard|graveyard sequence]], however, things took an unusual turn, even though the Spirits had been making a valiant effort at sticking to the classic script despite the newness of Christmas in the grand scheme of their charge's life. The Ghosts of Past and Present turned out to have been captured outright by the [[Ghost Lord|invaders to the Spirit Realm]] right as they left Philatel. Realising what had occurred, Yet-to-Come took Philatel into the Spirit Realm itself and set him the final task of walking a subjectively-infinite distance to reached the captured spirits, and then free them from the ghost-repelling chains in which they had been bound. After he succeeded, the Spirits explained what had occurred, then erased Philatel's memory of the deviation, returning him to his house in the morning of December 25th believing that he had come directly from the graveyard vision. | |||
Calling upon the young Cupid caroler to go and buy a turkey for him from one of the unauthorised shops in the lower clouds, he then hopped into [[Philatel-426's Fog Ship|his ship]] to deliver it (and a bevy of stamps) to Thymon and his family, alongside the announcement that he'd decided to promote Thymon to Co-Prefect of the Department. Back in the Homeworld, he walked up and down the Mainland Cloud, delivering well wishes to everyone he met — including the Donations Cupids, to whom he gifted a fantastical amount of stamps before turning up at Dandy's party, where he was happily welcomed by all, with the possible exception of [[Pessimist-242]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol (short story)|A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol]]'') | |||
=== Later events === | === Later events === | ||