Fanon:Albany Capulet (Capp)

Albany Capulet (né Norman) (previously Capp) is a well known resident in my player stories in The Sims 2 in Veronaville. He is the son of the late Richard and Anne Norman, the ex-husband to Goneril Capp, the husband to Ella Capulet (née Carr), the father to Hal, Desdemona, Miranda and Ariel Capp and Joanna Capulet, and the adoptive father to Cody Capulet. Albany is voiced by Stephen Kearin and is 10 days from being an Elder.

To many players it is clear that at the start of the game Albany and Goneril were not in love, even though they have memories of falling in love with one another. In an early draft I tried to improve their relationship but just when things were going well, a fire started and Goneril died, leaving Albany to seek love elsewhere. But let's get straight to what happened when I changed computers and re-did everything from scratch.

Albany and his wife and their four children had just moved into a cheap house in Veronaville. Their family was low on money and needed to spend the last bit of money they had left on furniture and food. But whatever funds they had, it was nothing to how Albany was feeling about life. He was a father to four children - he always wanted a big family - and he had become an in-law to one of the most prominent families known in Veronaville. But he was married to a woman that he didn't love for who she was but for being the eldest daughter to a rich man - who was also an in-law - and to start a family of more children than he could afford. I could easily have looked at it from a different perspective and kept him and Goneril together. But after the events in the first draft, I decided otherwise.

Albany was granted custody of his son Hal; and Goneril - Desdemona, Miranda and Ariel. So Albany and Hal moved out into another house where they were given $20,000 simoleons rather than taking 50% of Goneril's. Tellingly Albany and Goneril had not been divorced.

A few days later Albany met and befriended a Sim I made named Ella Carr. The two of them quickly fell in love. It was that easy! Ella was the girl of Albany's dreams. But he didn't like the idea of cheating. Albany was just about to consider breaking up with Goneril when he had been given another reason to end their "marriage". Desdemona told her father that his "wife" was having an affair with another Sim. Well at least Albany never wanted to have an affair that he intended to keep "private". Even though Goneril didn't truly love Albany, she was still heartbroken when he ended their marriage.

A couple of days later Albany proposed to his girlfriend Ella and she accepted. It was during this time that they adopted a daughter named Cody Buckland who had been taken away from her neglecting parents. Albany had always wanted to raise another daughter since he and Hal moved house. Interestingly Albany and Cody actually had briefly met at some point before the latter was taken by a Veronaville Social worker. Albany's wedding was blissfully happy and the four of them had their surnames changed to Capulet while still being under the same tree as the Capp family.

Albany is now employed in the Science career as a Mad Scientist. The Capulets are now quite rich due to the additional funds I gave to all the families of the Sims 2. But now the Capulet's funds are roughly the same as the Goth's. The job I gave Albany was not an entry level job. It was quite strange moving from a man wanting a big family to a man who just wants a regular sized family and a life as normal as it ever can be as a Mad Scientist. Albany's employment did run the risk of failing miserably as he had no scientific experience. Despite narrowly escaping a mysterious disease, Albany made it through and became a successful professional scientist.

Albany, Ella, Hal and Cody now live in a mansion which I'd built to resemble 165 Sim Lane while still there being more than enough subtle differences in shape to tell them apart. I'm not the best at making houses for Sims but I did a very good job. Albany and Ella have had another daughter - Joanna Capulet who is the only biological child to Ella, and the only biological child to them both. Joanna is a Fortune Sim who works in the Business career.

Albany played a vital part in helping end the family feud after Antonio Monty managed to convince him that it was time to end the feud once and for all. As a Capp in-law, Albany's initial behavior towards the four Montys that he'd been feuding with was rather aggressive, arrogant and somewhat childish. Albany had gone over to Antonio's house uninvited, shoved Antonio and then left - this was Albany and Antonio's first meeting. This inspired Antonio to continually ring Albany up until the two of them became friends. However before Albany's hatred for Antonio had properly dissolved, he rushed over to Antonio's house, rang the doorbell and then rushed off. After Albany's feelings towards the Montys had changed, he apologized to each of the other three Montys (adults and up). His apologizes struck Patrizio, Isabella and Bianca Monty as a surprise - they didn't know who Albany was at the time - but it was worth it to help end the feud, nonetheless.

Trivia

 * Overall Albany is the central character for the majority of my Veronaville Sims gameplay.
 * Early in the Sims 2 I took a look at Albany Capp and then Mortimer Goth and it somehow struck me that the two of them were somewhat similar. They both wear red suits with bow ties, they both have short hair that isn't dark (Mortimer's was originally dyed black), and they both have a moustache.
 * It also struck me how different they are. Mortimer and Albany are very different Sims with different personalities and skills. But it was still fun to give Albany a career that in a way makes him a Mortimer like character.
 * Albany's default appearance is very formal and I was never very fond of Sims wearing hats. So I removed the hat and gave him a slightly more casual style, making him blend in better with all the other notable Sims from the base game neighbourhoods.
 * He is my all time favourite Veronaville Sim.
 * I consider Albany to be a "bad" character, due to being largely involved in the feud against the Montys. However that doesn't mean that I think of him as "evil" and in my player stories Albany ultimately finished up as a good character.
 * The Duke of Albany in the Shakespeare play King Lear ultimately finished up as a king. Though the same does not apply to either the default or my player stories versions of Albany, he has still been known to use "Duke" as part of his full name in my player stories.