Feng Shui is copyright and trademark Robin D. Laws, used under license by Atlas Games. The use of this or other trademarks here is without permission, and does not constitute a challenge to the ownership of those properties.

Frederick Townsend Ward
Creator of the Ever Victorious Army
Mandarin
Hand Operative

Quotation: Frederick Townsend Ward, American sailing officer and soldier of fortune born in Salem, Massachusetts. In the first twenty-nine years of his life, Ward traveled the world extensively on merchant vessels (making several trips to China) and participated in military campaigns in Mexico and the Crimea before contracting with the imperial Chinese government to undertake the defense of Shanghai against the Taiping rebels in 1860. Starting with foreign mercenaries, Ward later employed Western officers to train Chinese soldiers to use the most modern weapons and tactics. The force he organized along these lines was eventually named the Ever Victorious Army by the imperialist Chinese, but his troops were known as "the devil soldiers" among the rebels. -- The Devil Soldier, by Caleb Carr

Ward uses a variant of the Ex-Special Forces type, with experience
Bod 5, Chi 0 (For 8), Mnd 8, Ref 8

Skills:
Deceit 13
Driving 13
Guns 13
Leadership 20
Info/China 10
Info/Sailing 13
Info/Small Unit Tactics 15
Intrusion 12
Martial Arts 11

Schticks:
Carnival of Carnage x 2
Hair-Trigger Neck Hairs x 3

Ward has 'Unique' schtick 1 of the Karate Cop.

Unique Schtick: Never the same mistake twice: Ward demonstrated an ability to learn the correct lesson from any setback. This ability makes him a deadly adversary in a long conflict.

Source Material:
The Devil Soldier, by Caleb Carr

Wealth Level: rich (if he actually collected on his IOUs), otherwise working stiff

Weapons: Period rifles, pistols, knives, swords, etc.

Juncture: 1850 (really 1860)

Notes: Ward was a soldier of fortune who eventually found his cause fighting the Taiping Rebellion. At his father's urging he served on several sailing vessels, but he always sought to find service in military campaigns. Had he not had to struggle against his father, he could have been a brilliant commander in the US Civil War, fighting as part of the Union forces. As it was, he served in Mexico, Nicaragua, and with the French in the Crimean War, learning valuable skills and making contacts who would be of use in China. In China his personal powers of persuasion allowed him to eventually forge a devastating fighting force from unreliable soldiers of fortune and native Chinese. Leading the Ever Victorious Army against the Taiping Rebels, it is considered possible that Ward played an important part in keeping China whole, rather than having it split into smaller states or colonies. Ward became a Chinese citizen, was made a Mandarin, and married Yang Chang-mei.

In Feng Shui:
It is clear that in FS terms Ward is a Hand agent. A working-class American merchant sailor becoming the pivotal person to keep China whole? How likely would that be?
Despite his small size, he was a very competent bare-handed fighter. His forays in other military campaigns gave him the contacts and knowledge to make the defense of Shanghai possible under the Imperials, not through complete foreign government intervention. His incredible ability to command or persuade otherwise hardened, uncontrollable or devious men speak to his special nature.

Websites:
Frederick Townsend Ward
http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/6/0,5716,78096+1+76092,00.html
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0851456.html
http://www.bartleby.com/65/e-/E-Ward-Fre.html
Google search: http://www.google.com/search?q=frederick+townsend+ward
Book: The Devil Soldier

Taiping Rebellion
http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/2/0,5716,127722+4,00.html

William Walker
http://www.slider.com/enc/55000/Walker_William.htm