Chraracter: The Engineer

Few people in Thyra are more mysterious than The Engineer, and this is a city where talking animals roam the streets.

Appearing seemingly out of nowhere, he is these days very much in demand for an almost preternatural ability to understand machines, which he explains by ‘these are good, solid machines, of a VERY old design’, which is odd, because most of them are brand new. He is possibly an old sailor, as he claims he ‘had a ship but lost it’. He seems fascinated by NightGems (although he doesn’t seem to acquire any) and by the Passages as ‘he can’t travel there, normally). 

A common vision in Thyra and the most friendly Places, The Engineer (the only name known) seems content to trade his knowledge for room, board and adventure. He is unusually good at languages, and seems to be able to acquire them at record speeds. 

On no less than 3 occasions, it is suspected he was the first to perform a Passage Opening, diving into the unknown without a second though. However, whereas Way scouts and reports back, The Engineer talks to people, engages with their machines and sits down for the evening meal, invited or not.

He has shown evidence to have seen the Dusk Bringing ritual of the Night Gaunts of Umbrous (Passage 39), and survived not only alive, but sane, the only non-native sentient known to have done so. How these wretched, deformed beasts didn't shred him on sight (they do it very often) is another mystery.

If you have him around, no device you have will ever fail. Just don't ask odd probing questions.

A custom character. Really good at engineering. As his background is secret (for now), that's really all I can say.