Professor William Taylor: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 21:20, 22 April 2026

Professor William Taylor
Full name	William Taylor
Affiliation	Eastern Tsuga College; House Subconium
Status	Active
Occupation	Professor of Psychology, Eastern Tsuga College
First appearance	Making the Grades: Kelly's Unveiling
Canon status	Confirmed

About

Professor William Taylor is a psychology professor at Eastern Tsuga College and the connective antagonist of the Making the Grades series. He teaches Psych 250: Sexology: Sexual Deviance or Sexual Culture, one of ETC's most controversial course offerings, and uses it as the structural entry point for a private research program into the psychology of sexual blackmail. He is in his fourth year at ETC and his second year teaching PSYCH 250. He is a member of House Subconium, which he values for its social network and behavioral utility rather than its metaphysics. He does not believe in the occult dimension of Verdant's history.

Description

Taylor's usual Camera Noctis look is a head-to-foot black suit with dark red accents and a blood-red tie.

Background

Taylor arrived at ETC four years before the events of Making the Grades. He is writing a secret book about the psychology of sexual blackmail; his published academic paper is a decoy. He joined House Subconium with clear eyes about what he was joining: a social organization with unusual members, useful connections, and a community already predisposed toward transgressive behavior. He occasionally visits Camera Noctis but prefers his home equipment for play and always avoids playing with his own students at the venue.

His condo has a modest exterior and a dark interior motif. The downstairs has been converted into a combination office and BDSM playroom containing a St. Andrew's Cross, a spanking bench, a mat by the door with a symbol, rope, and numbered clothing cubbies. Regular professional cleaners maintain it.

Personality and traits

Taylor is charismatic, calculating, intellectually rigorous, and morally flexible. He is the smartest person in most rooms he enters and is aware of it. He has built an elaborate intellectual framework around what he does that allows him to understand his own behavior as scholarship rather than predation. He is wrong about this but not in a way he can see.

He is a genuine skeptic. The Hemlock Veil, the Delacroix artifacts, the centuries of magical practice — he considers all of it superstition. What he does believe in is the influence of belief itself. Verdant's reputation as a place where people give themselves unusual permission is a genuine behavioral modifier regardless of whether anything supernatural underlies it. He exploits this consciously. The irony he cannot see is that the Veil is real and is amplifying the results of his experiments. He believes he is observing natural human behavior in a permissive environment. He is observing behavior that has been pre-modified by a 350-year-old fertility spell before he enters the room.

Role in Making the Grades

Taylor is the connective antagonist across all three Making the Grades books. Each book follows a different student through his methodology across consecutive semesters. His approach evolves across books as he learns from each encounter.

In Making the Grades: Kelly's Unveiling he identifies Kelly Spaihts after she misses a pop quiz and initiates a remediation arrangement that escalates across the semester. His closing line at the end of Kelly's arc, "there would always be another Kelly," is his operating mindset entering Making the Grades: Allie's Descent.

In Making the Grades: Allie's Descent he applies a refined methodology to Allison Branigan, deliberately thinking "lightning doesn't strike twice" and expecting the process to be harder. He introduces an NDA as a direct lesson learned from Kelly's Chelsea Zhou encounter. He keeps Allie at arm's length from his condo longer than Kelly.

Methodology

Taylor's approach is calculated and non-supernatural. He identifies students who have missed an assignment or failed a quiz and leverages institutional authority to initiate a remediation arrangement that escalates through psychological manipulation. Key elements include using missed assignments as the initial point of leverage, framing escalating tasks as voluntary remediation, exploiting the lowered inhibitions created by the Hemlock Veil without knowing the Veil is real, maintaining plausible deniability at every stage, and learning and adapting from each encounter.

The sexuality assessment he administers is a diagnostic tool as much as a compliance mechanism. It maps a student's genuine desires, identifies the gaps between what they admit and what they feel, and gives Taylor the framework for everything that follows.

Key relationships

Kelly Spaihts

Kelly Spaihts is Taylor's first documented PSYCH 250 subject. Her arc across Making the Grades: Kelly's Unveiling represents his methodology in its first full iteration. He ends her semester as planned but with complications he had not anticipated, including Cassandra Blake's confrontation and Chelsea Zhou's investigation.

Allison Branigan

Allison Branigan is Taylor's second documented PSYCH 250 subject, the semester immediately following Kelly. He is more calculated with her and expects the process to be harder.

Cassandra Blake

Cassandra Blake had a prior arrangement with Taylor before Kelly's semester. She confronted him at the end of Kelly's arc, did not threaten exposure, made three specific requests, and refused to shake his hand.

Professor Cynthia Laskaris

[Cynthia Laskaris]], known at Camera Noctis as Lady Ebonheart, is Taylor's longtime friend from graduate school and occasional play partner. She is a switch who nearly always takes the submissive role with him. She holds a rare outside-member invitation to the House Subconium events committee. She was introduced to Kelly in Book Three as a demonstration and mentor figure.

Cyrus Fox

Cyrus Fox is the bartender at Camera Noctis who knows Taylor's habits well and occasionally counsels him at the bar.

Affiliations

Professor of Psychology, Eastern Tsuga College. Member, House Subconium. Alias: Maestro (Camera Noctis).

Canon notes

Birth date not established
Whether he appears in Comply or future SSU works has not been confirmed
His secondary research book on sexual blackmail has not been published in the SSU timeline

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Infobox Character
-| full_name         = Professor William Taylor
+| full_name         = William Taylor
-| affiliation       = [[Eastern Tsuga College]]
+| affiliation       = [[Eastern Tsuga College]]; [[House Subconium]]
 | status            = Active
 | occupation        = Professor of Psychology, Eastern Tsuga College
@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 == About ==
-'''Professor William Taylor''' is a professor of Psychology at [[Eastern Tsuga College]] and the connective antagonist of the [[Making the Grades]] series. He teaches [[Psych 250: Sexology: Sexual Deviance or Sexual Culture]], one of ETC's most controversial courses. Taylor exploits the subtle effects of [[The Hemlock Veil]] and the power dynamics of the academic environment to manipulate students into escalating arrangements.
+'''Professor William Taylor''' is a psychology professor at [[Eastern Tsuga College]] and the connective antagonist of the [[Making the Grades]] series. He teaches [[Psych 250: Sexology: Sexual Deviance or Sexual Culture]], one of ETC's most controversial course offerings, and uses it as the structural entry point for a private research program into the psychology of sexual blackmail. He is in his fourth year at ETC and his second year teaching PSYCH 250. He is a member of [[House Subconium]], which he values for its social network and behavioral utility rather than its metaphysics. He does not believe in the occult dimension of Verdant's history.
+== Description ==
+Taylor's usual Camera Noctis look is a head-to-foot black suit with dark red accents and a blood-red tie.
+== Background ==
+Taylor arrived at ETC four years before the events of Making the Grades. He is writing a secret book about the psychology of sexual blackmail; his published academic paper is a decoy. He joined House Subconium with clear eyes about what he was joining: a social organization with unusual members, useful connections, and a community already predisposed toward transgressive behavior. He occasionally visits Camera Noctis but prefers his home equipment for play and always avoids playing with his own students at the venue.
+His condo has a modest exterior and a dark interior motif. The downstairs has been converted into a combination office and BDSM playroom containing a St. Andrew's Cross, a spanking bench, a mat by the door with a symbol, rope, and numbered clothing cubbies. Regular professional cleaners maintain it.
+== Personality and traits ==
+Taylor is charismatic, calculating, intellectually rigorous, and morally flexible. He is the smartest person in most rooms he enters and is aware of it. He has built an elaborate intellectual framework around what he does that allows him to understand his own behavior as scholarship rather than predation. He is wrong about this but not in a way he can see.
+He is a genuine skeptic. The Hemlock Veil, the Delacroix artifacts, the centuries of magical practice — he considers all of it superstition. What he does believe in is the influence of belief itself. Verdant's reputation as a place where people give themselves unusual permission is a genuine behavioral modifier regardless of whether anything supernatural underlies it. He exploits this consciously. The irony he cannot see is that the Veil is real and is amplifying the results of his experiments. He believes he is observing natural human behavior in a permissive environment. He is observing behavior that has been pre-modified by a 350-year-old fertility spell before he enters the room.
+== Role in Making the Grades ==
+Taylor is the connective antagonist across all three Making the Grades books. Each book follows a different student through his methodology across consecutive semesters. His approach evolves across books as he learns from each encounter.
+In [[Making the Grades: Kelly's Unveiling]] he identifies [[Kelly Spaihts]] after she misses a pop quiz and initiates a remediation arrangement that escalates across the semester. His closing line at the end of Kelly's arc, "there would always be another Kelly," is his operating mindset entering [[Making the Grades: Allie's Descent]].
+In [[Making the Grades: Allie's Descent]] he applies a refined methodology to [[Allison Branigan]], deliberately thinking "lightning doesn't strike twice" and expecting the process to be harder. He introduces an NDA as a direct lesson learned from Kelly's Chelsea Zhou encounter. He keeps Allie at arm's length from his condo longer than Kelly.
 == Methodology ==
-Taylor's approach is calculated and non-supernatural. He identifies vulnerable students, typically those who have missed an assignment or failed a quiz, and leverages institutional authority to initiate a remediation arrangement that escalates through psychological manipulation.
+Taylor's approach is calculated and non-supernatural. He identifies students who have missed an assignment or failed a quiz and leverages institutional authority to initiate a remediation arrangement that escalates through psychological manipulation. Key elements include using missed assignments as the initial point of leverage, framing escalating tasks as voluntary remediation, exploiting the lowered inhibitions created by the Hemlock Veil without knowing the Veil is real, maintaining plausible deniability at every stage, and learning and adapting from each encounter.
-Key elements of his methodology:
+The sexuality assessment he administers is a diagnostic tool as much as a compliance mechanism. It maps a student's genuine desires, identifies the gaps between what they admit and what they feel, and gives Taylor the framework for everything that follows.
-* Uses missed assignments or failed quizzes as the initial point of leverage
-* Frames escalating tasks as voluntary remediation
-* Exploits the lowered inhibitions created by [[The Hemlock Veil]]
-* Maintains plausible deniability at every stage
-* Learns and adapts from each encounter — his methodology evolves across books
-His final thought at the end of [[Kelly Spaihts|Kelly's]] arc, "there would always be another Kelly," confirms his operating mindset entering [[Making the Grades: Allie's Descent|Allie's story]].
+== Key relationships ==
-== Known arrangements ==
+=== Kelly Spaihts ===
-* '''[[Cassandra Blake]]''' — prior arrangement, partially disclosed to Kelly
+[[Kelly Spaihts]] is Taylor's first documented PSYCH 250 subject. Her arc across [[Making the Grades: Kelly's Unveiling]] represents his methodology in its first full iteration. He ends her semester as planned but with complications he had not anticipated, including Cassandra Blake's confrontation and Chelsea Zhou's investigation.
-* '''[[Kelly Spaihts]]''' — [[Making the Grades: Kelly's Unveiling]]
-* '''Allie''' — [[Making the Grades: Allie's Descent]] (forthcoming)
-== Psych 250 ==
+=== Allison Branigan ===
-Taylor's course, [[Psych 250: Sexology: Sexual Deviance or Sexual Culture]], explores societal responses to sexuality and how these responses shape individual identity. The course fits ETC's ethos of challenging societal norms — and provides Taylor with a steady pool of students open to unconventional ideas.
+[[Allison Branigan]] is Taylor's second documented PSYCH 250 subject, the semester immediately following Kelly. He is more calculated with her and expects the process to be harder.
-== Relationship to House Subconium ==
+=== Cassandra Blake ===
-Taylor avoids playing with his own students at [[Camera Noctis]], maintaining a policy of self-regulation. His relationship to [[House Subconium]] and [[Margot Delacroix]] has not been fully established in canon.
+[[Cassandra Blake]] had a prior arrangement with Taylor before Kelly's semester. She confronted him at the end of Kelly's arc, did not threaten exposure, made three specific requests, and refused to shake his hand.
+=== Professor Cynthia Laskaris ===
+[Cynthia Laskaris]], known at Camera Noctis as Lady Ebonheart, is Taylor's longtime friend from graduate school and occasional play partner. She is a switch who nearly always takes the submissive role with him. She holds a rare outside-member invitation to the House Subconium events committee. She was introduced to Kelly in Book Three as a demonstration and mentor figure.
+=== Cyrus Fox ===
+[[Cyrus Fox]] is the bartender at Camera Noctis who knows Taylor's habits well and occasionally counsels him at the bar.
+== Affiliations ==
+Professor of Psychology, [[Eastern Tsuga College]]. Member, [[House Subconium]]. Alias: Maestro ([[Camera Noctis]]).
 == Canon notes ==
-* Taylor does not end Allie's novel burned or disgraced — the Chyoa epilogue in which he loses everything is not the direction of the published novel
+* Birth date not established
-* He explicitly thinks "lightning doesn't strike twice" when setting the quiz trap for Allie — more calculated than with Kelly
+* Whether he appears in Comply or future SSU works has not been confirmed
-* The NDA introduced in Allie's arc is a direct lesson learned from Kelly's Chelsea Zhou conversation
+* His secondary research book on sexual blackmail has not been published in the SSU timeline
 == Related articles ==
 * [[Making the Grades]]
-* [[Eastern Tsuga College]]
+* [[Making the Grades: Kelly's Unveiling]]
+* [[Making the Grades: Allie's Descent]]
 * [[Kelly Spaihts]]
+* [[Allison Branigan]]
+* [[Cassandra Blake]]
 * [[Psych 250: Sexology: Sexual Deviance or Sexual Culture]]
+* [[Eastern Tsuga College]]
+* [[House Subconium]]
+* [[Camera Noctis]]
 * [[The Hemlock Veil]]
-* [[Camera Noctis]]
 [[Category:Characters]]
 [[Category:Eastern Tsuga Faculty]]