Henri "The Astonishing" Anžir

Henri Anžir (also contemporarily spelt Angier, and known as the Astonishing Anžir) was a Felonili stage magician and amateur artifice-inventor who acquired the world's first electric machine to be seen by the public. Murdered on the opening night of his show, his death set in motion a chain reaction of events and other murders which eventually led to the emergence from exile of Professor Waldenstromm, and thus the adoption of electricity on Indratera.
== Early Life ==
Born in 1525 and having grown up in the town of Jarren's Well as a farmer's son, he had an obsession with magic from a young age, but had no silver in his blood, so he could not wield magic. In his 20s, he travelled to the capital Felonil, working as a stagehand and usher for various comedians and shows. He learnt simple sleight of hand magic and tricks that he became quite talented with, eventually starting a solo act to local success after-hours. During this time, he met his partner and stage-assistant Arabella Divolterra, a blonde curly-haired Lyskeian, during a world's fair.
Keen to take his performances to untold heights, he tracked down and visited the scientist-in-self-imposed-exile Arnu Waldenstromm, in the East Rakkimarran town of Vorgasen. Here, he asked her to build him an electric machine capable of wowing crowds. She obliged, however the machine was unstable and flashy. If kept on too long, it could rip a portal through space-time and unleash elemental horrors from a world of pure lightning. She made Henri promise not to turn it on for prolonged periods of time. It's a point worth noting that electricity had not been disseminated to the wider population yet, so this machine would have definitely surprised and shocked people. Henri returned to Felonil, which was now Halcyon, and planned a new run of shows called Shock and Awe, where he would perform artificer-style electrical-related tricks that people had seldom seen. 
== Death and Chain Reaction ==
However, on the opening night on 3rd Ixte 1567, he was stabbed to death in his dressing room moments after the show. The truth was that a young novice spy named Isalda, who had been sent by the I.D.E.A. (magical peacekeepers) was snooping around his room for the blueprints so she could figure out if the machine was safe or needed confiscation, when Anžir startled her, he mistook her for a burglar, they tussled, and she accidentally killed him. This turned into a chain reaction; it became a long and complex case for several investigators (Asha, Hyram, Tracey and Vaurok the Iconoclast), because it uncovered a string of sinister threads, including:
* the reveal that Hyram was once a vivissectory scientist for a fascist government, the Oracles
* the involvement of the Thieves Guild
* the murder of the Grand Master of the Iconoclasts Luth Salmastrien
* the reveal that the noblewoman Érmione Disforza was actually killed and impersonated by a murderer
* Professor Waldenstromm's harnessing of electricity coming to light, which led to electricity becoming widespread
* the cut-throat competition of the rival inventor Johnovver Mackenzie in trying to stop electricity being invented
His sister Leänna had a son, Douglas Roscoe Angier, who would later become a famous motion picture actor and the typecast 'hunk'.
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