Fredrick Dirgehell

Fredrick Dirgehell was a freelance artificer working out of Vardona who specialized in magical technology. He was hired on to be the lead engineer of the Dawnstrider, an airship owned by the same mysterious person who hired Fredrick. He and the navigator were brought on separately but the rest of the crew had already been working together on ships that sail the seas, not the skies. When the Dawnstrider was attacked and crashed, Fredrick was the only surviving crew member but was badly crippled in the experience as a large mast fell on him, destroying his legs in the process. After the crash Fredrick told the three other survivors (all passengers) he could get the airship moving again if they managed to acquire a rare mineral called Blackore that the engine is made of for repairs after he was forced to flood the engine room with coolant to stop the unstable engine from exploding, rending all the existing fuel inert. In order to get this material, Fredrick sent the passengers off to the mining town of Cliffside while he stayed behind to make sure the ship wasn't tampered with and to start making whatever repairs he could manage in his condition. 
By the time the passengers returned from their expedition to acquire more Blackore, Fred had managed to perform a fair amount of repairs on the ship with the assistance of several small homunculi that he managed to create out of the spare parts of the ship. He even created a mobile chair for himself and a simple lift out of the rigging for original cargo crane so he would be able to navigate between decks. The engine was still severely damaged but with the Blackore acquired, he was able to get the ship levitating a few feet off the ground and moving again.
In the time since then he's been instructing the wizard Erick on how to manage the core of an airship because he's currently the acting captain of the Dawnstrider and needed the extra hands in the engine room.
Only one of his homunculi are still intact and he has gone out of his way to upgrade it. Although he'd never admit it, he seems to have become quite close to the thing. 
After the three passenger's plans to enter Sandguard Fort in search of Rexius Artanis were complicated by the appearance of a dark fog over the fort, Fred told the party that he's actually quite familiar with the structure of the fort because his grandfather was one of the architects that helped build the fort on top of an old existing structure. He said they found an ancient tomb nearby that connects to the underground layers of the fort and entrance through there may be possible.