Matteo

Studious, cautious, and a little prideful, Matteo is a likable enough fellow, if you can get past the stacks of paper constantly surrounding him. He’s very tactful, even being kind to those he dislikes or that anger him, able to put on a strained smile for both friends and foes. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have his limits: he has a dry, quick wit, able to sass those who really annoy him in a way that isn’t offensive. Good to have in tense situations, this Pikachu has an uncanny ability to calm down a room, mainly due to his diplomatic nature; he can get past people’s defenses with ease, earning their trust and friendship just by listening to others. Maybe this makes him manipulative - but he hasn’t harmed anyone yet.
==Biography==
Matteo is one of the first faces you’ll see if you visit the International Guild’s headquarters in Aether… but it might be one that looks familiar. Long before the guild arrived, Matteo was working undercover as a guard, keeping tabs on everything that went on in the Aetherian army. He wasn’t entirely convincing, which he openly admitted even when he was pretending to be one, but his people skills made his disguise last till the guild set their plans to build an HQ in Aether in motion. But now that the Guild has set up roots in the capital, he’s free to take on his new job as the Guild’s scribe, performing the administrative tasks that keep the Guild running. There isn’t much to tell on what he used to do before working for the Guild: he isn’t very open about his history. One thing that is known is that he’s well-versed in many different languages, current and archaic, and he enjoys music, legends, and other myths of Avalon. Some might call him a scribe by day, bard by night. Nevertheless, while others might question Matteo’s secrecy, Bál seems to trust him, willing to let the electric mouse be his main Aetherian contact for a reason known only to him. You could even say that they’re friends… but in the same breath, Matteo would tell you that Bál is someone he dislikes, though that could be a joke, hard to tell with his ever-smiling face.
==Missions==
Mission 1: Matteo has infiltrated Aether by Bal's orders by applying for a position of guards. Due to Aether struggling to establish itself on the map, not even being known officially by "Aether" yet Matteo passed the the "screening" no problem as guards were sorely needed. Matteo was the one to alert both Gaius, and by the advisor's orders, Gawain of Pausanius's presence. 
Mission 2: Matteo was caught by Gaius's when he was browsing the old heavy tomes of old Aether in the castle Library. Gaius who was there for the same reason he was: to discover the truth behind the strange occurrences in Aether city, found his presence there suspicious. Most people can't read, when Matteo claimed he had learned a bit on the road due to his fondness of story telling, but found these tomes way above his skill level Gaius didn't believe him, but was unable to press the issue. He later uses "camp fire stories" to point Gaius in the right direction, though he of course feigns that was his intent when questioned about it, claiming it's just a tale he heard that the circumstances in Aether reminded him of.
Mission 10: During the events in Sazanami Matteo made his move in Aether using the opportunity provided by the king's absence to approach the Queen about the construction of a headquarters for the international guild's 3 known houses: the Artificer's Union, the Land's Heart and the Free Swords. In secret the Telurrian Anastasia had also settled in Aether. Queen Tara allowed the construction to start, due to this Matteo dropped his guard facade and took up his original role as a guild adviser and scribe and one of the heads of the Land's Heart department. 
Mission 11: Being pared up with captain Gawain, who he long pretended to be an "underling" of wasn't quite ideal, like many of the other guards the dragon didn't quite trust him after he "switched sides" or so it felt to them. However his diplomatic expertise was sorely needed, another reason he wasn't too fond of his match-up with Gawain, the mission was important, too important to led a certain Charizard's temper mess up. Aether might have some leeway with Gang-Tie after the events in Sazanami, it was still important that they stayed in the nation's good books, and that meant pleasing Xu Toa. Or actually Xu Tao's superiors who were keeping tabs on the Penguin due to his leniency with the rebel problem so far, wishing him to simply crush the tribes that opposed them. Fortunately there was a way to resolve the situation and stop a civil war from truly breaking out between the tribes and the Gang-Tie colony while doing that, thanks to a Ugalik an Xu Tao's cooperation in finding the true instigator a Glalie called Taro, even if it meant going through with that ridiculous conversation with the ice hedgehog to fool the captain. 
Mission 12: Despite what it may have appeared like Matteo was in fact not send to Kalka, his appearance was taken by Umbra. While he himself was on another venture at the time. 
Category:NPCs
Category:Aether