Alik
Alik n'Noz puVern Sparkthrower
Appearance
At first glance, you might not think he's a person at all... just an artifice contraption of some sort, a 3-foot-tall humanoid collection of gears and tubes and mithril-wire mesh, spark plugs glowing actinic purple, and humming, whirring gears and hazy irridescent auras that it kind of hurts to look at.
Oh, sure, there's flesh as well... dark walnut-brown flesh, visible in patches here and there between the swaths of luminescent mithril ... but it takes careful observation to confirm it as a body within artifice armor rather than, perhaps, as patches of skin used as decoration.
But really, it's the artifice that demands attention. Indeed, Alik's own attention is mostly occupied by it, and he is constantly making adjustments to its functioning.
Overview
Alik is a middle-aged gnome artificer, born and raised in Rune but living in Happy Valley with his extended family for the last decade. He is an adventurer and a crafter of Wondrous Items, Arms, and Armor (see his ad below!). He tends to get distracted and wander off in the middle of conversations.
He rarely makes things blow up unintentionally.
He was one of the adventurers who discovered the tunnels under the Artificer's Guild that lead to Morduzum, and a founding member of the Morduzumite Inquisition.
History
Past History
Alik was born in Rune, a little over ninety years ago. His parents were illusionists, and he showed some talent for magic as a child, but his true love was machinery. He was apprenticed as a tinker... a proud calling among gnomes, although there was little call for that profession in a nation of mages, where mending spells were common and gnomes were rare.
In his twenties he found a forbidden Kulthian text in an obscure corner of a magical library and in that moment the path of his life changed. He became obsessed with the craft of artifice, taught himself the Kulthian tongue, began assembling magitech contraptions. The Runic mages weren't _thrilled_ but as long as he continued tithing the Temple of Reos they didn't interfere.
In his forties, Alik felt the Call -- the gimirri his parents had taught him of -- for the first time in his life. Somehow he knew that a Project of Significance was being worked on that could use his talents, and it was time for him to leave the place of his birth. He ended up in Happy Valley, in a community of gnomes for the first time in his life, and by the time the gimirri was complete he'd found a family there. He also became associated with the Artificer's Guild and, when he developed the Death Ray, Titan Armor, and Engineer's Hammer that truly marked him as an Artificer.
In his late eighties, when the tunnels beneath the Guild opened up, Alik became one of the founding members of the Morduzumite Inquisition, and began devoting himself to exploring and mapping the Tunnels. This proved extremely difficult, because the Tunnels are constantly shifting.
In 1019, on his 90th birthday, Alik led an expedition to more fully explore the Tunnels, which became lost in the shifting area. A year or so later, Alik returned to Alexandria, with a completely re-engineered suit of armor, tools, weapons, and his right leg entirely replaced by artifice.
The full story of what happened during that year, he has not revealed.
Roleplay Hooks
- Come buy Wondrous Items, Arms and Armor!
- Exploring, securing, and mapping the Morduzumite Tunnels.
- He misses Rune and worries about the war and wants to hear what's happening there.
WONDROUS ITEMS FOR SALE!!!
(Signs of this sort can be found all over Alexandros, mostly in places where they get torn down later the same day.)
Alik Sparkthrower's Wandering World of Wonders!
Coffee and jelly donuts FREE with every purchase!
60% of market cost:
- Masterwork firearms and ammunition.
- Enchanted firearms and ammunition.
- Enchanted swords, axes, lances, spears, shields and other melee weapons.
- Enchanted shields and armor.
- Enchanted bows, arrows, crossbows, bolts, slings, bullets.
- Enchanted belts, goggles, gloves, hats, capes, bracelets, and all other manner of wondrous items!
85% of market cost:
- Firearm ammunition: adamantine, cold iron, mithral, alchemical silver, living steel. (You must provide your own source of adamantine or mithral.)
FULLY LICENSED AND CERTIFIED by Artificer's Hall and Happy Valley Authority.
TRADE WELCOMED! Talk to owner for details.
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