Ignatius Constantine Beauregard Sparkfizzler

[Ikby]

Player Name: James


Name: Ignatius Constantine Beauregard Sparkfizzler

(While he has gained the nickname 'Ikby' due to his initials, Ignatius Constantine Beauregard Sparkfizzler tries to have people use his full name. Very few do.)

Age: 74
Race: Gnome
Height: 3 feet (It's actually 2'9", but he will never admit it, and has sheets of calculations 'proving' otherwise via complicated theoretical mathematical structures)
Weight: 38lb / 17kg
Location: presently Eyropa


===Physical Description:===

Ignatius Constantine Beauregard Sparkfizzler is a small gnome.

That is, small even for a gnome. It has not been unknown for a City Guard to, while questioning the gnome on why he was following a particular battlemage around with strange gadgetry, lift him up with one arm like a naughty puppy. Though to be fair to the guards, lest cries of 'Guard Brutality' be raised, it was the only way to keep the little gnome's focus on their questions - rather than whatever aspect of his current project was on Ikby's mind.

It is conceivable Ikby could win an armwrestling match - if the opponent was a little girl, and was run down with fever at the time of the match. That Ikby possesses any physical strength at all is only due to constantly carrying the weight of his experimental equipment - and his muscles are most certainly specialised for carrying things: not fighting, not climbing, and certainly not armwrestling some fever-riddled girlchild. He is, however, fast on his feet and capable of jogging and even running long distances. A lot of Ikby's practical experiments 'in the field' end up with the gnome having to run away from things and people.

Ikby has blue eyes and used to have blonde hair, until an error in the calculations of one experiment resulted in permanent hair loss. Nobody has yet had (or desired, lets be honest here) the opportunity to discover if the hairloss covers the gnomish researcher's entire body (SPOILER: it does. Ikby suffers from permanent magic-induced Alopecia. But it does save him valuable time which would otherwise be wasted on shaving). This alone would make the little gnome a distinctive sight, except it's hard to tell he has no hair under the complicated helmet he wears. Resembling the improbable technological lovechild of a spider, bascinet helm, and a jeweller's multi-lensed loupes, Ikby's 'Enhanced Magic-Discerning Ocular Apparatus Attached To Conveniently Flexible Articulated Appendages' acts as both a visual signature and proof he -really- needs to do some work on what he names his inventions. And perhaps show some moderation in his use of capitals.



===Possessions:==

==House and Workshop==

A few decades ago, investing some of his more legitimate financial earnings into a facility for Experiments In Critical Lens Development, Ikby claimed a small abandoned building neighbouring another gnome's workshop in the Industrial District. Within a week, he'd decided to make it his home too and added a bed, so as to avoid wasting valuable research time on travel.

At present day, Ikby describes it as 'The Ideal Technological Facility For The Research And Codification Of Magic With Conveniently Attached Abode And Workshop'.

What that means in practical terms is a nightmarish array of incomprehensible experimental equipment given insanely unwieldy names along the lines of "Articulated Arm For The Restraint Of Small Objects In The Process Of Being Examined'. Most rational people would call such an item an 'extendible clamp', and be done with it - but that just isn't Ignatius Constantine Beauregard Sparkfizzler's style - after all, "Experimental Equipment Needs To Be Appropriately And Descriptively Named".

Over the years the workshop has been set up with a side-office, bathroom, and contains the luxury of plumbing and electricity.

In his current absence from Marn most of the paraphernalia is gathering dust as the neighbouring gnome workshop merely extends the courtesy of keeping the locks in working order - by upgrading them as development of new designs - after all, what Ignatius doesn't know cannot hurt him.


==Ignatius Sparkfizzler's Proprietary Enhanced Magic-Discerning Ocular Apparatus Attached To Conveniently Flexible Articulated Appendages==

(AKA 'that daft little gnome's stupid glasses hat')

There are many combinations of optical enhancement available to Ikby with his ridiculously complicated and unlabelled assortment of loupes and lenses. Over the years he has crafted lenses which, when combined (and those combinations remembered at the right time) have allowed the gnome to see in spectrums of light not typically available to gnomes. He has achieved thermographic vision through particular magic-tainted crystals. He refers to such as a 'Fire Sight Sensory Enhancement Lens' due to the heat patterns the lenses allow him to perceive.

He also has lenses which appear to show reality in a different light (which are just coloured lenses, though somehow Ikby hasn't quite got around to the field tests which would alert him to that fact. He is fond of the settings, though. Especially the 'Nature Sight Sensory Enhancement Lens' - according to Ikby, seeing everything in shades of green can really "Help A Gnome Think Outside The Jeweller's Box").

Importantly for his research, Ikby has also succeeded in crafting lenses which allow him to visually discern magical energy. However, it only shows him things above the 'general baseline magical radiation'. That is, unless someone has very recently used magic, it doesn't show anything. There has to have been magic use which significantly distorts the baseline permeation of magic in an area for the lenses to register the difference in a meaningful way. But it is a start, and 'A Critical Triumph Of Gnomish Ingenuity' as Ikby thinks of it (As always, Capitals Included - the little gnome -does- have a legitimate problem in that area).


==Convenient Weather Proof Storage Device For Multipurpose Scribing Implements==

Which is one way to say that Ikby has an oilskin pouch with a range of different writing implements to cover any and all surfaces. Including a particular crayon of Ikby's own invention which can write underwater. (No, don't ask. You do not want to know about Ikby's bathtime habits. Just realise 'A True Inventor Never Takes A Break!')


==Ignatius Sparkfizzler's Proprietary Apron Armour With Many Useful Pockets And Strong Resistance To Spilled Coffee==

There's a story behind this invention. Unfortunately, it is far more mundane than even the name hints at.

However, despite its humble origins in a scalded lap, the outfit does have numerous functional advantages. Something of a combination in style of a leather rider's hauberk, labcoat, and leather apron, the garment does offer decent protection against glancing blows and slashes. And the plethora of pockets and assorted equipment inside those pockets could likewise be considered an extra 'layer' of armour.

However, Ikby's intention was to make a labcoat which scalding liquids would not get through, thus the leather construction. The Semi-attached button-down apron flap was added after the 'coffee incident'. Pockets were added everytime the gnome ran out of space to store things... until he ran out of space for pockets. And even so, some pockets have auxiliary pockets attached to them. The gnome looks like some odd little leather pangolin-hybrid at times.

It is perhaps one of the most useful things Ikby has invented to help preserve his own mad existence. Not that that was the original intention. Chances are, if he'd tried to make 'armour' he'd have ended up looking like a walking suit of kitchen crockery with similarities in style to his loupe-laden helm.


==Deluxe Enhanced Superior Gnomish Jeweller's Equipment==

Pretty much what it says on the tin: standard jeweller's equipment modified with Gnomish Know-How to be both better at what it does and yet somehow rendered non-usable for anyone who isn't Ikby. That Gnomes can take something that isn't broken, and fix it so that it IS broken and yet somehow works better, is probably one of the reasons Marn authorities want gnomes to stay at the bottom of the foodchain.

The tools are what Ikby use to fashion his lenses and, as an incidental sideline to his research, perform occasional jobs as a jeweller. A task which Ikby is actually exceptional at. If he was less obsessed with his Grand Research Project, Ignatius could have been the pre-eminent jeweller of Marn at his young age.

Yet somehow less-than-savoury folks have learned of Ikby's talents in that area, and the oblivious Ikby has been known to happily cut stolen gems for strangers who offer to help fund the next stretch of his research. As of yet, Ikby has escaped the attention of authorities for this sideline. Not that his obsession with the study of magical energies doesn't have him on their radar. Only the fact that he is a gnome and a non-magic user has saved him from more severe questioning. For now, he remains seen as a 'lunatic gnome with an unhealthy obsession'.


==Ignatius Sparkfizzler's Proprietary Catalytic Enhancer Of Magical Devices==

NOT what it says on the tin: this strange rod-like contraption of brass and slightly luminescent lenses does not 'enhance' the function of a magical device.

Rather, it acts as a catalyst for a recursive feedback loop of the magical energies within the device, causing it to overload in a spectacularly explosive fashion. It works reliably on minor magical trinkets, but sometimes the enchantments on older and more robust magical devices can prove to be too stable to be affected by the Catalytic Enhancer.

Ikby is VERY secretive about this device as, despite it being the key to his research and one of his greatest inventions, he does not want anybody else knowing about it and thereby duplicate his research. He has even built in a 'telescope' function so that he can pass it off as just another ocular enhancer.

That the device could potentially function as a weapon, overloading somebody's magical device, have not occurred to the gnome.


==Ignatius Sparkfizzler's Proprietary Wailing Determent Device

A weapon in two parts for ease of carrying. The barrel, a conical arrangement of complex mechanics, springs, magnets, and crystals has no obvious purpose, until slotted into the stock, which has a similarly complicated arrangement of components and a hand crank.

The 'weapon' is actually a music box retroengineered after one night spent frantically running away from the unwelcome attentions of a banshee. In truth, the banshee had every right to try and kill the gnome: ghostly or not, a woman deserves her privacy, and strangely-helmed little gnomish peeping toms are not conducive to privacy. That Ikby's overexposure to magical energies allowed him to weather her devastating wails with little more than a migraine and bleeding ears did not improve the banshee's mood. It took several attempts for Ikby to successfully capture the banshee's wail, but he succeeded.

To activate the weapon, he has to crank it for about 30 seconds to generate the charge required to send a focused and condensed banshee wail at whatever is threatening to maul him. Over the years, due to frequent 'misunderstandings' and banditry, Ikby has developed the art of running-and-cranking to the point he has successfully made the trip to Keltaris alone.

The weapon itself works in a narrow field of influence and range of efficacy. At medium range (90ft or 30m) the banshee wail will cause headaches and a ringing in the ears. Animals and creatures with weak wills may find themselves afflicted with a sudden onset of terror and the desire to flee.
At short range (30ft or 10 metres), the effect can cause unconsciousness, burst eardrums, and bowel-loosening terror in the weak-willed.
At pointblank range, it is like trying to french kiss a banshee who isn't enjoying the experience. Ikby will never forget the bandit who bled from eyes, ears, even from pores in the skin where capillaries had been ruptured. Ikby tries to keep things medium range where possible if a non-damaging warning blast at long range doesn't keep danger away.


==Ignatius Sparkfizzler's Proprietary Shielding Device For The Safe Observation Of Catalysed Magical Devices==

Essentially a small pavise with special viewing holes for Ikby to insert his loupes. He has had several over the years, needing to replace them on those occasions he's had to run away very fast. Unsurprisingly, when something explodes in the middle of nowhere, people and -things- often come to investigate the cause. Every now and then he recovers them, but usually it is easier to make a new one.



===Powers/Strengths and Weaknesses===

(As some of Ikby's defining traits tend to be both strengths and weaknesses, I shall be formatting this section a little differently. For established powers relating to his inventions and equipment, please see Possessions, above.)


=Grand Purpose

Strength: Not many people find their true purpose in life. Having a purpose gives people passion, guidance, a constant navigational point in the chaos of their existence. This gnome has found such a purpose: the observation and eventual codification of magical energy. Ikby is convinced magical energy can be measured by the proper application of Gnomish Ingenuity.

Weakness: Ikby has been all but consumed by his 'Great Project'. In fact, the gnome's own delusions of grandeur with regards to his research has resulted in a disturbing tendency to occasionally think, and speak, in capitalised words. Particularly when in the midst of his research. To understand this in practice, compare these responses to a standard 'How are you today?' greeting:

1 - Rational Responses - "I am well"; "Oh, you know, getting along"; "Bloody annoyed with the price of fish".
2 - Ikby's Response - A moment of rapid-blinking discombobulation at being greeted followed by "Analysis Of The Experimental Data Has Proven Inconclusive And I Must Reconstruct The Experiment!" If the greeter is lucky, they won't be subjected to a full explanation of what the gnome was thinking about prior to being greeted.

The symptoms worsen when the gnome becomes hyperactively excited about progress in his research, at which point HisWordsCanRunTogetherLikeThisInAVeryConfusingWay similar to a race announcer's updates. A typical example might be "IAmVeryExcitedForTodayIObtainedImportantNewDataNoNoNoNoCannotStopToTalkMustAmendTheoreticalStructuresImmediatelyGoodByeSirAndGoodDay"


=Inventor=

Strength: Ikby, like most of his race, is brilliant at coming up with technological solutions for the problems facing his research: whether it be enhancing his visual range, or protecting him from spilled coffee. (See his possessions for examples)

Weakness: the gnome will often fail or refuse to use mundane solutions to issues if he can think of 'A Better Way' and end up spending a day of inventing to save himself 10 seconds on a task he may only ever perform a dozen times in his life.


=Focused Intellect=

Strength: The good thing about obsession is how it shapes one's focus. On matters which interest Ikby, such as gems, crystals, lensmaking and the 'Pandisciplinary Theory Of Quantifiable Magic, the little gnome can be considered a genius. His ability to pick up new information and details on such subjects is superlative.

Weakness: If Ikby -isn't- interested in something, he might as well have the memory span of a small fish. Considered particularly 'unreliable' among the gnomish community, sometimes the only certain way to ensure Ikby completes a task or attends a meeting is to convince him he was interested in it to begin with. Or stand over him for the entire duration of the task as a 'manual override' to the inevitable distractions provided by the gnomes actual interests.

=Honesty=

Strength: Ikby does not lie. His peculiarly focused worldview utterly rejects any 'fudging of the data' whether it be in the analysis of experimental results, or responding to a Guard asking him "What are you doing?" Those who know the gnome, personally or by reputation, are aware that he is pathologically incapable of lying.


Weakness: There is such a thing as 'Too honest for your own health'. Answering a Guard by saying "Observing The Battlemage For Fluctuations In The Ambient Levels Of Sparkfizzler's Proprietary Magic Codification Notation System" has landed Ikby in trouble on a couple of occasions. It is likely Ikby would have 'disappeared' long ago if it weren't for the fact that Guard higher-ups can see a potential use for devices which can monitor magic levels - if the gnome ever gets it right.

Perhaps a stronger downside is that Ikby projects his own worldview on others. He finds it almost impossible in first meetings to discern when people are lying to him (though he is not so dense when being told tall stories as to 'Assume Their Data Has Been Compiled With Gnomish Care And Foresight'). Outright implausibilities tend to be filed under 'Requiring Independent Quality Assurance Experimentation'. However, if someone introduces themselves with a fake name or profession, and is at least pretending to the role somewhat, Ikby will accept it hook line and sinker. The gnome lost money to several scams before he introduced a 'Checklist For Evaluating the Fiscal Reliability Of Financial Transactions With Strangers' to ensure he didn't have any more such 'Failed Financial Experiments'.


=Run, Rabbit, Run!=

Strength: Over the years, Ikby has made some very bad miscalculations (if only because magic refuses to adhere to Ikby's theoretical mathematical constructs) and this has resulted in various reasons to run very fast. Whether it be because "It's about to explode" or "Oh gods, it's chasing me!" or "Oh dear, they'll never believe I was just picking mushrooms", Ikby has learned the art of making good his escape.

It isn't about speed: because let's face it, Ikby has a smaller stride than any pursuer he'd ever have to worry about, even if the little bugger can run fast for his race. No, it's about vectors and terrain. Ikby has almost perfected the art of "Oh hey, that was a tree, you should avoid that not run into it". With his leg muscles all springy and specialised from years of running away from him, coupled with his use of mathematics, some onlookers to an Ikby Chase have compared the gnome's manoeuvring tactics to a jackrabbit being hunted by foxes.

Weakness: Unfortunately, due to his skill at it, the gnome will often choose 'Run away!' as his first response to a situation he doesn't like. Even if it's a chance meeting with a disliked member of his family or accidentally making eye contact with a City Guard. The Guard have adapted, though: if the guards need to speak to him specifically, they send two guards: one guard to spook him into running home, and a second guard to wait at his house and pick him up (Literally. Ikby's Apron Armour gives them some suitable handholds). If they DON'T need to speak with him, they let the slippery little sod run off. After all, they know where and how to find him if they actually need to. The approach has made arranging 'official questioning with regards to suspicious behaviour' a lot easier. This leads nicely into another defining feature of the gnome: he has something of a reputation.


=Marn-Specific: Reputations=

Strength: When Ignatius Constantine Beauregard Sparkfizzler is doing something he is interested in, other people in the same field would find themselves hard pressed to achieve the same level of obsessive fine detail in their work. As a result, the gnome has a reputation as a skilled jeweller and crafter of mundane ocular lenses and professional loupes. He has even published some well-received monographs on those subjects. His reputation for his inability to lie is also well known.


Weakness: Unfortunately, the above positive details are but a small part of the gnome's reputation. He is known to the Guard as a particularly frustrating witness and accidental troublemaker. As the gnome is clearly addled and doesn't have a malicious or criminal bone in his body, the guard tend to let him off with a warning and occasionally some enforced community service (usually some kind of pro-bono work the guards need a gnome to do, such as setting Ikby to the task of giving an official appraisal of gems recovered in stolen goods). There are hopes in some areas of the Guards HQ to eventually use Ikby's research (if it comes to anything substantial and replicable) in their efforts to keep the battlemages under proper Puradynic observation. In the gnomish community, Ikby is known for a number of outlandish and (thus far) unsubstantiated claims and theories with regards to the nature of magic. In matters unrelated to the cutting of gems and crafting of lenses, Ikby is considered an utter crackpot. "Never seen a gnome shape diamond like him, but whatever you do, do NOT mention the M word around him, alright?"


=Eyropa/Foreign Parts Specific: Fish Out Of Water

Despite his poor reputation in Marn, the gnome is something of a 'known quantity' by residents. He's 'that little freak with the crazy hat who the guards pick on a lot'. Some of the novelty of his appearance has worn off in those sections of Marn Ikby most frequents. Not so elsewhere.

Strength: What the Guards in Marn have figured out, guards and law enforcement elsewhere have not. Ikby's talent for running serves him well in foreign parts where few people expect a gnome to be so frustratingly -good- at running away. He also gets a (normally very brief) window of opportunity where people give the gnome the benefit of a doubt when he starts off on one of his practical field experiments.


Weakness: Unfortunately, Ikby inevitably squanders those opportunities with the first detonation of a magical artefact. Even when not directly witnessed, explosions of magical energy tend to draw unwanted attention. On top of that, when Ikby goes travelling, he tends to catch the eye with his bizarre clothing and experimental accoutrements. His strange speech patterns and mannerisms also tend to alienate him from regular folk. Ikby is incapable of 'blending in', 'subtlety' or 'stealth' (beyond the art of running away).


=The Side-Effects Of Research: magical resistance=

Strength: Years spent devising and operating devices designed to make minor (and not-so-minor) magical knick-knacks and devices overload have had several effects on the mad gnome. Permanent hairloss was one advantage (as far as Ikby is concerned) but a more potent benefit comes in the form of a strong resillience to magical effects. From frequent exposure, a single-minded belief that 'magic can be measured', and a fanatical faith in his Grand Project, Ignatius Constantine Beauregard Sparkfizzler has been known to brush off explosions of high magical intensity with little more than a bleeding nose, heavy bruising, and minor concussion. The kind of 'outcome', in fact, the strange little Gnome would 'expect' from such an 'experimental mishap'. However, the effects of this warping of reality only work on Ikby's own person, and others would be clever not to come too close to one of Ikby's 'experiments'.


Weakness: Due to the unconscious and uncontrolled nature of the ability, magical healing and restoration just don't seem to work at full effect on the gnome, even if it would be damn helpful at the time. In terms of energy expenditure to outcome, a healer would be far better off applying a bandage, supplying painkillers, and sending the lunatic researcher on his way. It is also quite possible (read: probable) that the constant exposure to magical energy are having a slow but gradual effect on his mental and physical state of being. The precise effect such mutative energies might have on the gnome as yet remain unknown. It has been noted by his peers that Ikby 'is getting a little stranger every year'.



===History===

=Part One: Youth, Apprenticeship, Weird Hats, and Capital Letter Thinking=


"Once upon a time, there lived an irresponsible Gnomish couple. Their story ends happily and selfishly ever after in Eyropa."


However, incidentally, they did have a child before that point in their lives is eventually reached.

In what had become something of a modern gnomish trend at the time, their child was given the kind of impressive name which would, theoretically, inspire the child to live up to the name's grandiose nature. Thus was born and named Ignatius Constantine Beauregard Sparkfizzler.

And as far as present-day Ignatius Constantine Beauregard Sparkfizzler is concerned that is the start and finish of the tale of his origins.


Ikby was born in Marn to a pair of travelling gnomes who had stayed in Marn for a few decades when they tired of travelling. The circumstances which led to his parents leaving the odd youth to fend for himself in Marn at the age of twenty remain unknown to Ikby, as he never really tried to find out. His parents had, however, arranged for a Gnomish tutor - one Bartholomew 'Barty' Aquaregis Brasspipe Alembic - to oversee his education at a young age, and Bartholomew continued doing so even after the parents disappeared. Even at a young age, Ikby had an unusually intense way of focusing on one thing at a time, and consequently a skewed sense of priority.

Rather than any influence from his vanished parents, it was an off-handed dismissal of a query he'd made about magic to his tutor which would shape the young Gnome's future.

Barty Alembic had offhandedly replied "Don't bother with that 'magic' nonsense the elves and humans fuss over. It's illegal you know, and besides, it can't even be measured. It's patently nonsense for us gnomes to worry about such things."

Couldn't be measured? Impossible. Ignatius Constantine Beauregard Sparkfizzler would Prove him Wrong. Would prove them ALL wrong, and thus usher in a New and Enlightened Age of Gnomish Research!

Barty, having a working pair of eyes and a dash of common sense, recognised the slightly fanatical gleam to young Ikby's eyes and hint of 'Capitalised Word Thinking' even then. In an attempt to distract the youth from whatever was on his mind, the tutor quickly got him apprenticed to a Dwarven jeweller under the pretext "Well, if you plan to measure magic, maybe you'll need to learn how to make proper lenses. And to do that, you should start with learning how to cut gems and glass from a jeweller."

Ignatius Constantine Beauregard Sparkfizzler accepted that logic hook, line, and sinker. But rather than shift his obsession to the jeweller's craft as Barty had hoped, it was simply a Stepping Stone. A Means to a Glorious End. His teacher, A dwarf known as Torvald Diamondshaper, never had any complaints about the quality of his apprentice's work. Yet despite that Torvald could not grow to like the gnome much. There was always something a little awry about the way he spoke, not that he could explain what he meant. Luckily, Torvald never needed to: his opinion was universally shared by those who engaged in any lengthy conversation with Ikby - "Brilliant work, but he's a bit strange, isn't he?".

And thus is encapsulated thirty-odd years of apprenticeship, Journeyman status, and eventual obtainment of his Master's classification. However, it was what Ignatius Constantine Beauregard Sparkfizzler got up to when he wasn't in Torvald's workshop which would most influence the shape of the present-day gnome. Ikby began bartering gem polishing services in the Historic Ruins in exchange for small magical trinkets to test some of his theories on. The first such trinket which proved at all useful was a darkstone - a stone which glowed in the dark, but only at night. For it to work, it had to be kept in utter darkness during the day, thus its name. In the early days of trying to develop the correct kind of ocular device, it would serve as a way to see if a particular combination of lens materials would work.

The true breakthrough in his early research was dropped in his lap like a gift from Science itself. Torvald was approached by a client to polish some strangely luminescent gems. The client, who turned out to have been using magic illegally, was arrested and never showed up to collect his goods. Ikby, recognising in those gems a possible means to resolve his current experimental difficulties, took the expedient route and replaced them with gems of very similar colour which he expertly polished in an identical fashion. That they were not luminescent, Torvald put down to the fraud of the client - justified by the man's arrest - and gave it no more thought. As for Ikby, in his mind, it wasn't a dishonest act. He was merely obtaining vital materials necessary to his research, and replacing them with goods of approximately equal value.

In truth, Ikby's future hung on a knife-edge at that stage, though the gnome never realised it. If Torvald had harboured any suspicions of his apprentice, and asked him about it, Ikby would have unthinkingly explained everything he'd done. However, because the gnome's behaviour didn't change in the slightest, and his oft-demonstrated inability to answer in anything but a straight-forward and factual matter resulted in the gnome not even being considered as part of the 'gems losing their shine' equation.

Those gems, cut and polished into lenses, would give the gnome the first ultrasensory devices of his career. The first was what would eventually be called the 'Fire Sight Sensory Enhancement Lens'. At first, until experiments with the darkstone in a darkroom proved otherwise, Ikby believed the lens to show areas of magical intensity. Having ruled out magic, he was able to discern that it could highlight heat patterns even in absolute darkness.

However that was a minor triumph compared to the day when, during luminescent lens combination test 517, he finally saw a faint haze around the darkstone. It took a month of testing and finetuning to create a combination of lenses which adequately visualised the magical energy around the stone. In excitement, Ikby immediately took out another magical trinket, fully expecting an identical response. Immediate disappointment: there was a faint haze, but not the clear outline of energy he had achieved. Clearly, he was missing something.

Further testing convinced him of three things: 1) there was a range of variation in the intensity of magical energies attached to magical items. 2) He needed a way to quickly swap between lens combinations. 3) It was almost his 40th birthday
And thus was born the prototype to 'Ignatius Sparkfizzler's Proprietary Enhanced Magic-Discerning Ocular Apparatus Attached To Conveniently Flexible Articulated Appendages'. As a jeweller, he was used to switching between lenses in his loupe when examining gems. It was a natural extension to create something grander and more effective for his own research. It turned out to be the most favourite of the presents he had made for himself.

And to think they called him 'Mad' when he first walked the streets of Marn wearing it. Well, He Showed Them! And one day, He Would Show Them All!


=Part Two: Research Trips in the Guise of Commerce, and The Science of Running Away=


Soon after his breakthrough discovery, Ikby began wandering the Industrial District on his days off, until he found a small abandoned building in an area surrounded by other gnomish workshops, perfect for furthering his research. Over the years, it would become his home and base of operations. With his certification as master of jewelcraft behind him, Ignatius Constantine Beauregard Sparkfizzler decided it was time to get serious about his research, and thus began three decades of research field trips out into the wilds of Thar Shaddin. Which might go some way to explain why much of those three decades was spend running away from various things, natural and unnatural.

The first decade of research was spent almost exclusively finding someplace quiet to blow up magical trinkets and record the results. Ikby never bothered to concern himself with why he'd spend several mornings throwing up his breakfast after such experiments. The Great Project Must Go On At All Costs, after all, and Ikby simply ignored matters of his health. Although this did in fact slow his research down in the first few months, he found the symptons dwindled to a mild nausea after six months, and a couple of years later he would only feel slight twinges of illness after catalysing more potent magical devices.

At the end of that decade, around the time he turned fifty, Ikby realised that obtaining magical devices to catalyse was becoming more and more difficult. Which was when he took the next 'logical' step: field trips to observe 'magical' creatures. It was during this time that his 'Wailing Determent Device' was invented, as well as his decision to dedicate the research into 'The Essential Science Of The Rapid Tactical Retreat' which would later serve to save his life on numerous occasions.

When he turned sixty, Ikby realised he might need to search further afield for more components and data, which began the gnomes quasi-infamous commercial ventures to Keltaris. At first the guards suspected Ikby might be involved in smuggling, and searched him upon every return. Even after those initial suspicions were allayed, the gnome's every return trip is punctuated by a complete search of his pack and pockets. Although most of those trips consist of barter in the form of services for gemstones or magical trinkets, any of the latter get catalysed long before Marn is reached.

Perhaps the most memorable visit to Keltaris was a chance meeting three years prior to the present day, when Ikby met with a strange mage who not only wasn't hiding his magic (though that alone wasn't uncommon for Keltaris) but was willing to discuss it. Even seemed to be experimenting with it! Close examination proved that this 'Roy' was not a gnome. Far too tall. Circumstances did not allow any extensive collaboration, as the mage seemed to be on a trip to his hometown. Ikby, focused on his research only, did not make a mental note of where that hometown was, and the pair parted ways.

Recently, Ikby spent the past few months in Marn compiling his research data and re-examining the theoretical structures by which he is attempting to quantify magical energy - especially in light of certain incidents involving the still-angry banshee. But the drive to experiment and lack of new research materials in Marn once more sent the gnome afield. While passing through Keltaris in hope of meeting the strange wizard again, he heard a rumour regarding a haunted house in a town called Laurium, and decided that could be an opportunity to test out his new lenses for viewing incorporeal magical creatures that didn't have a 'Regrettable Lack Of Understanding For The Necessity Of Scientific Advance' like that of the banshee. And so Ikby made his way to the unusual town of Laurium.

[Katona]

Approved.