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The McCradden Family
of Superior Engineering
a business report by S.A.Gallacci
Superior Engineering and the McCraddens © 1998 S.A.Gallacci.
Shareware to Spontoon for fannish NFP use.

Malcome McCradden was born in Banff, Scotland, in 1887 to fishing folk working out
on the North Sea. He showed an early aptitude for marine engine work and quickly became
an itinerant mechanic and later, engineer, working the north and west coast of the British
Isles. He more or less settled in Galway, Ireland, long enough to marry and have a son,
Patrick, in 1910, before being shipped off for service with the Royal Navy. His wife died
the next year. (Malcome would suffer from Ben Cartwright Syndrome, losing wives and
gaining sons over the years.)
 

"Paddy" Patrick McCradden, the oldest boy, a loud Irishman of a character, an
unremarkable mechanic but a wizard in business, be it going through the books or
schmoozing a deal. He has kept the accounts since he was a teen. Unfortunately, he
prides himself on his Irish, or at least his broad interpretation, that is too loud and too
fond of drinking, fighting, and whoring. (Since he tends to drink too much when he's
out on the town, he actually doesn't get that much action, usually simply sleeping off the
excess with various female friends.) He is more fun-loving than trouble-making, and has
enough sense to not hold grudges against those who may have beat him bloody during a
"friendly" fight. Mostly honest, usually generous, a lot of friends and few enemies, at
least among the crowd that will have him.
Born 1910. Average height, lean build, keeps his beard short, reddish cast to hair.
 

Daffyd McCradden makes his father look like a chatterbox. A brilliant machinist and
metal craftsman, he is quiet and retiring outside the shop. Though he is well-read and has
a clever wit, as well as a clear singing voice (prefers the Welsh traditional songs of his
Mother's side), he is uncomfortable in social situations. Dafydd is secretly a desperate
romantic, hoping to one day find his one true love and would never casually trifle with the
ladies, yet never goes out where he might have some chance of meeting Miss Right.
On occasion, anticipating Patrick's tendency to go out and get himself hurt, Dafydd will
accompany him on his pub-crawls. Dafydd doesn't drink and sees no sport in brawling,
so if drawn into a scrap, goes in for systematic bone-breaking. Needless to say, his
presence at a loud party tends to have a moderating influence, and it is a fool who would
deliberately pick a fight with him.
Born 1915. Short, stocky, and dark for an otter. Full black beard.
 

Cedric McCradden is the baby of the family and the only one without much in the way of
mechanical skill. Instead, he is keen on designs and on-paper engineering, and to that end,
has the most formal schooling of the family, having been sent overseas for engineering
classes. However, he doesn't last at any particular school for very long, as he gets in trouble
with the girls, or more accurately, their fathers or various authorities. While he doesn't seek
them out, he seems to be a female magnet. This is unusual, as he is a quiet and unassuming
boy, with no obvious features or style that would suggest any particular attraction. He is
polite and attentive, as any well-mannered young man would be expected to behave, but
seems to provoke the lusts of women he is introduced to. Far from exploiting the
opportunities, he is somewhat embarrassed, and tries to deflect most attentions away,
as any well-mannered young man might. But when persistence and discrete opportunity
arises, he will give in and accommodate the interested party. What happens next has never
been revealed, but apparently he has a particular gift or skill that seems to very much
impress his partners. But the females' infatuation rarely lasts, and with the exception of a
circle of maiden aunt and grand-motherly types who are immune to his power (though
think it a great source of gossip and teasing at his expense) he seems quite incapable of
maintaining a friendship with anyone of the opposite sex.
Born 1918. Average height with slight, youthful build, sandy hair.

a business report on
Superior Engineering
by S.A.Gallacci