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Post by redsycorax on Sept 10, 2023 22:16:13 GMT
It's possible. The sciences of cosmetic surgery, genetics and forensics were just getting started in the nineteenth century, although there would be the question of blood matches between the interloper and his adopted 'family.' If the interloper and family had the same blood group, that would be a match. There would also be the question of physiological resemblance too, so the interloper would have to choose a family whose facial features and bodily morphology matched his own. Given the presence of Indian rebellions against central authority until Indian independence was finally achieved in 1948, it might be relatively easy to 'lose' or 'misplace' documents related to his actual identity, or say they were destroyed after a local uprising sacked the local civil service officers, or bribe a Raj bureaucrat to destroy them anyway. After enough time had gone by, the prospect of surviving colleagues being able to directly identify him might cease to be a problem, and cholera, typhus and malaria were a constant problem for British Army service personnel in South Asia, so their mortality might already be quite high anyway. All in all, I'd say he would be able to pull off the fraud, except for keeping well away from those who knew him well in his earlier life. Which I suspect he'd do as a matter of common sense.
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Post by dans on Sept 10, 2023 22:53:13 GMT
I suspect in 1864 if he had the backing of a noble family who introduced him as 'the lad that ran off to join the Navy 30 years ago' and insisted that it really was the same person, that may have been enough ID. The idea of imitating another British officer who looked similar to him and who died in the Sepoy Rebellion had not occurred to me before though - it reminds me of a Supergirl story! I think that will become part of this bad guy's backstory... thanks!
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