Arthur Parsons

**Arthur Parsons**, known professionally as **Agent Cormorant** (operative **C\787451**), was an especially notable field operative of the ICA.

## Biography

### Early Life

Parsons was born in Kakpa, Khana on 30th Marpenoth 4631 to Carlo and Charity Parsons as an only child. Educated at the Khana School for Boys and the Royal Naval Academy, he graduated with full honours and quickly rose through the ranks of the Khanaian Air Fleet, achieving the rank of Ship Commander by the age of thirty-five.

In 4666, Parsons took part in a now-redacted mission in which he was severely traumatised, though he did successfully retrieve an item the ICA would go on to catalogue. As such, the agency approached Parsons after his rehabilitation and retirement from the Sky Fleet. The item and mission's designation, as well as any details of it, have been since redacted from all ICA records with at least Level 2 access.

Parsons subsequently joined the ICA and was an active field member and special agent, assigned Gamma Class. During his time with the organisation, he successfully completed at least nineteen operations, cataloguing and containing many items and creatures of varying origin. One of particular note, designated ICA-23196, being a skinwalker near the Enisti town of Broadford.

### Mission to Broadford

Intel received from an informant based in Broadford named Yollar greatly advanced his investigation into a target designated ICA-34521. A bandit encampment in a forsaken forest near to Broadford had gone dark about seven months prior to Parson's disclosing details of this case in his log on 4678-05-24. Despite the town's guard investigating the cause and assessing that it was the result of a wild beast, reports of wholly skinned humanoids led Parsons to believe otherwise. He was reminded of the ICA-23196 skinwalker case, which was closed about five months prior and confirmed its containment at Site-078, before arranging travel to Broadford three days later to conduct his own investigation.

Arriving in Broadford around the 30th, Parsons was able to confirm ICA-23196's involvement in the bandit encampment massacre and discount it from his current investigation, though correspondence from Yollar's family had indicated that something was happening in Broadford beyond the skinwalker's hunting. Having established himself in Broadford, he spent the next few days interview local guards and discovered the people to be skittish and paranoid. He noted that despite being a small and unassuming town with little plaguing it beyond the skinwalker in recent years, the residents often evaded his questions and supplied him with contradictory information. Unsure if charm magic was involved, he intended to deploy Class-C measures to determine whether his investigation should be handed over to the Wizard's Pavilion.

However, it seems he never did so, as by the next day he made no mention of it in his log. Instead, Parsons noted a strange sense to the town and what he termed a kind of pressure, as if he was being watched but could not discern by who, or what. Yollar disclosed to Parsons that his mother had recently sent him a letter which, embedded quite distinctly within a story about the upcoming harvest festival, was the sentence "help me for the love of god help me help". However, when questioned by her son, Yollar's mother had no recollection of writing the sentence. Parsons decided to investigate further, though could not find Yollar's mother at her address and was instead met with neighbours who all insisted that no one by that name had ever been known at the address. Despite this, the neighbours knew Yollar and could all attest to his growing up in the very same house. Parsons decided he needed to remain in Broadford to gather more intel.

Parsons' final log entry was three days later, where he expressed growing increasingly concerned and was unable to recall who Yollar's mother was or why she was operationally important to his case. He began to wonder if he was being misled by a competing agency or force. He even considered that Yollar's mother had never existed in the first place and was instead an invention to sow distrust, though this notion was interrupted in his log by the non sequitur "help me I watched it eat him". Though he intended to soon return to Baston after investigating further, Parsons was never heard from again. The last entry in his log stated that he was constantly fatigued and felt an increasing pressure in his head that he could not adequately describe.

### Attempted Rescue and Death

His file dated 18 Uktar 4678 was redacted and supplied to a newly-formed team of ICA operatives tasked with finding out what happened to Parsons and retrieving him. Despite the team's lack of experience or training, they did successfully track parsons to Broadford. However, upon arrival, they learnt that no one had ever heard of Parsons. Furthermore, the file they had been supplied seemed to supply contradictory information on the man, calling him extremely dangerous and describing him as a deadly criminal and a mercenary who the ICA sought to contain. The agents came to believe they were there to eliminate Parsons and in their confusion, one of them was killed during an unrelated incident that made them realise the town was affected by some sort of memory-altering magic.

Their investigation unveiled the presence of a false hydra under the town that used its song to habitually erase the memories of its residents, creating the paranoia and cognitive dissonance detailed by Parsons in his log. It was then inferred that Parsons had likely been eaten by the hydra and all memory of him had been erased. Knowing they had little time to act before the hydra erased all their memories again, the agents decided to attack the hydra alongside the town's guard. The failure of this attack, and the lives lost with it, led the agents to decide to evacuate the town and burn it to the ground, killing the false hydra.

This subsequently restored all memory of those lost.

## Personality

Parsons was described in his file as a stoic and quiet figure, with his discretion and leadership capabilities making him well-suited to intelligence work.

However, his sustained trauma was known to effect his work, though its manifestations were redacted, as were the kinds of assignments it was generally advised he be placed on because of it.

## Abilities

Parsons was a highly trained individual, receiving training from both the Khanaian military and the ICA.

He was noted as having keen vision and was physically imposing, standing 183 cm tall and weighing 91 kg. His military training additionally made him a capable combatant. Parsons was also adept in several specialist fields, including arctic survival, document forgery, surveillance and extraction, infiltration and asset termination. He had licences as both an airship captain and a sea captain and held a firearms licence.

His training with the ICA meant he was experienced with surveillance and counter-surveillance enough to discern the feeling of being watched by the false hydra and constantly forgetting its presence.

In addition to Common, he spoke Elvish, Dwarvish and Undercommon fluently.

## Relationships

* Carlo Parsons † - Father
* Farina Parsons-Atlor - Wife
* Balor Parsons - Son
* Marika Parsons - Daughter
* Nesti Parsons - Daughter

Allies* ICA
	+ Agent Condor - Superior
	+ Agent Peacock (Cordelia Smudge) - Colleague
	+ Agent Bluebird - Colleague
	+ Bluebird's Team
		- Kran † - Attempted Rescuer
		- Honey Smith - Attempted Rescuer
		- Silk Greengallow - Attempted Rescuer
		- Lacey Stain - Attempted Rescuer
* Yollar † - Informant and Fellow Victim
* Yollar's Mother † - Fellow Victim
* ICA-23196 - Prisoner
* The False Hydra of Broadford † - Adversary
* Boris M. Oplot - Assassin

## Trivia

* Parsons had two large scars across his nose and right cheek.
	+ Another notable feature was his multiple ear piercings. He had black hair and brown eyes.
* At the time of his death, he was forty-seven years old.