Albion Drake

Engineer, genius, playboy, philanthropist.

> "The most merciful thing in the world is our minds' inability to correlate all its contents, and with five feeble senses, we pretend to comprehend the boundlessly complex void... I pity the fool who in his callous search can remain sane to the bitter end..." ~ Albion Drake; on the Works of the Void.
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## Introduction:

*[Some of this info is outdated. This page is being reworked over time]*

Albion Drake, son of Algernon Drake and Lisbeth Innsmouth, is a book keeper and occasional writer, and the current proprietor of the Eloquent Quill. Being the son of a married couple dabbling in understanding the various religions, Albion has taken to studying both religions, the Pantheon and the traditions following these.

Eccentric, casually careless and generally not concerned about the politics of where he sets up shop, Albion can often be found casually talking to anyone he comes across, be they human, elf, beast or monsterkin. His philosophy for both casual conversations and more intimate matters is that he cares very little for the looks, but is more interested in the person behind the looks.

To anyone around, he is known only as Drake. Only one person knows his first name, and even that seem lost to time now.

## Description:

Albion is a short human male with white hair, veiled eyes and pale skin. He is skinny but not brittle, and he will often be seen in full armor, face covered and a rebreathing module making his voice sound slightly deeper and mechanical.

His offduty attire usually consists of a closed up vest with a smoothed shirt and dark tie. A loose skirt is worn along with the shirt and vest, joined by a belt sporting a satchel and a lantern. His legs are covered by over-the-knee socks and equally as long belted legwarmers covering the top of his shoes. He also has an earring in his right ear sporting a deep-sea emerald and around his neck, usually hidden from sight, a special key of significance to Albion. Likewise, he carries a special crystal at all times; a sapphire of great importance to him.

When he is in service to the empires however, his attire becomes that of an machina / tinkertech reinforced cleric.

## The Eloquent Quill

The Eloquent Quill is a bookstore near the center of the residential cave, easily found by the sign above the door. The window, whilst darkened significantly, will reveal a room lit by not normal light, but an eerily dark seagreen light emanating from two chandeliers in the ceiling, and a lantern with bioluminescent whale-oil on the counter. A golden dragon statuette stands ready to greet newcomers. It is however tethered to the shop.

Anything from old books with lore of the world outside, to knowledge about mechanics and how magics are formed, are easily found within the shop. Should a scroll with magical attributes be needed, such can be found as well. One should just ask.

Albion is the proprietor of this store, and as such is the main source for acquisition of goods and books.

Quote of the shop: "Step off the beaten path, enter my world. The eyes are the limit."

The music one would hear inside the shop, subtly in the background.

## Likes and dislikes:

Likes:

* Reading
* Writing
* Engineering/Machina tinkering
* Daydreaming
* moonlight bathing
* Socks
* Fishing
* Spectating and tending to Koi carps
* Chatting and learning

Dislikes:

* Losing friends and close ones to corruption
* Rudeness/dismissal
* Politics
* The smell of tar
* Sweat/strong musk
* Alpha narcissism

## Personality:

Albion is eccentric. He is not crazy, but he does not always perceive an encounter in the same way as others would which at times can lead to him either helping, or hindering. He has a very soothing voice, smooth and empathic, and his words are usually accompanied by articulate gesturing to emphasize mood, intent and point. He is eager to learn new things and will, at times, become quite eager when dwelling into a particular topic which might interest him.

He will offer his advice but will not endeavor to force a point. He will however remember if he has been slighted. Whilst not nearly as aggressive as a dwarf might be, h still will find a way to 'return the favor'.

His philosophy on various races is optimistic, borderlining xenophilic of nature. While the scientific and curious mind of his near always will take a more inquisitive glance at whom he is talking with, he is more in favor of figuring out who the person is, rather than what they look like. Ask him any day and he could pull out a book and talk about species and traits, pedigrees and habits, but to him, he finds greater amusement and interest in sitting and hearing what the other person has to say. And be the encounter casual or intimate, to him it is the prize: Knowledge.

## Griffin Empire:

Drake holds the rank of Senior Specialist (R2) within the Griffin Empire's Fifth Legion. He is also the second in command of the Machina Corps. Additionally, he holds the honorary title of Adjunct Acolyte to the Church of Helma; assisting the Imperial Clergy when there is a need for such.

Drake is likewise considered an Auxiliary NCO and Bannerbearer for the Fifth Legion, and can often be seen in ceremonial posture during Formation or ceremonies.

Drake visited the capital some time ago, and has had conversations with the Emperor himself, on more than one occasion. This has given Drake the conviction to carry on, as he has met the ones he stand for, heard their motives and ideologies. These are what Drake can support, as to him, it makes sense.

## Backstory:

Albion started his time in the bookkeeping section of his father's mystical shop after having helped studying artifacts and other mystical reliquaries alongside his dad and a slight bit of medicine under his mother. School was not something Albion got to attend but his knowledge didn't diminish because of that. It would not have given him much anyways given Albion quickly grows bored of repetitive sessions of the same day. His interest always gravitated towards books describing mystical and mythical phenomena, including the vivid and colorful descriptions of the populace' depiction of the Pantheon of Deities. Many a time did he find himself sitting in his own room lit up only by an oil lamp, and reading about the endeavors of what he perceived as being 'Truth seekers'. His magical knowledge however, first manifested after a series of studies on a particular artifact. His potency with Aether however, whilst dormant at first, only started manifesting around the time he entered puberty and whilst not wholly sure what that would mean, his father told him it was natural to his family and as such, it would stand to reason Albion too would inherit these talents. How they manifested however, was a mystery to Albion. Such is a path he is still to this day exploring.

A time came however, where the store of his fathers no longer had more to offer. Any book pertinent to Albion had been read, every trinket studied, including a quite substantial understanding of exotic medicines and concoctions including something as interesting as monster flesh. So after having given such a long bit of thought, Albion decided to set out to explore the world for himself. This brought him to a traveling fleet of merchants. His talents surely could be put to use there, and duly so. The books there were of interest, the trinkets unlike anything he'd seen before and he favored in particular when new trades came in. Opportunistic as the fleet was, trading in illicit goods according to the general laws of undeterminable artifacts, it became an obsession for Albion to explore. Most times, these proved to be either inert or fake, but on rare occasions an artifact would come in which proved to have some semblance of magical of nature. It was also in that period where Albion during a docs visit for supplies and trading,  stumbled over Nova. Nova was held as a slave in leash and collar and did not seem to have been treated well. Contacting the owner of Nova, Albion at first queried to Nova but got little more than incoherent babbling and ranting about beastkin. In a spur of the moment, Albion chose to offer to buy Nova instead, and after some negotiations, Albion walked off with Nova and an ornate artifact.

The last artifact he studied however; a book of sorts with a distinct engram on its front, would though prove to be his last, at least as a part of the merchant fleet. Reading said book caused his aether attunement to flare up, forming a portal around Albion's meek quarters, sending both himself and Nova off. They had both passed out by the time the portal had fully formed, and when thy woke up, they were loomed over by a welcoming slime and a surly monsterkin. How they'd gotten there, they did not know. They did not even know where. But, as ever the opportunist, Albion started looking over the area in this fair new town. It did not take long either before Albion had established contacts, and acquired a smaller shop with lift for the two to stay in. And it is from here that the adventure is starting to unfold.

As time passed, and as the world grew more unsafe, and the island was escaped from, Drake and Nova remained reclusive up until such a time where the Crosswinds at last fell following a fierce battle between the Shadowlord, Fafnir, and the Nations and guilds. At first chance, Drake took Nova to the Imperial capital, and with his own mandate, secured her citizenship and refuge within his parents' newfound fortunate position within the inner ring of the capital. Drake has since returned to the dark continent to assist the Fifth Legion in repelling the new Shadowlord and the dark horde following them.

## Pictures:

The polite proprietor of the Eloquent QuillAlbion as an engineerNot afraid of the water are we...?Albion's informal dressA polite smileHow may i be of service?