Robert Singleton
From Demiurge Games
The kinain son to a friendly Boggan Baker, Robert Singleton has always been a little out there. Open to the chimerical world at a young age has allowed Robert to have a very open view on life, magic, and dreams, who else had their own talking mouse named Brianna for a best friend? Although he never really picked up on his mother's knack for baking (as evidenced by his college diet of ramen, much to his mother's disapproval), he has shown a remarkable aptitude for chemistry which he expanded upon with metallurgy courses.
After college, Robert was very surprised when an uncle, David Eisenguard, had dissapered without trace in the deepest jungles of South America. The executors of his uncle's estate, going off of his living will, bequeathed him a small corporation that develops alternative fuels, as well as a mansion and a rather extensive library. Delving into the literary works, Robert determined they contained, in great detail, the art of alchemy, as well as his uncle's journal which included an imploring plea to Robert to continue his uncle's work in developing a 100% efficient energy source.
Robert arrived at the manor to find Demitri, Jilia, and Reynolds already residents there, all of who went out of their way to make him feel at home. Robert took on business at the research lab, and studied his uncle's writings at home, and everything seemed perfectly fine until the arrival of Jarrod and Bob followed by Ian and Joey.
The two separate groups brought the same news, Robert and Eisenguard Industries had been targeted by a faction within the technocracy intent on destroying them to protect their profit margin. Preparing themselves, the group was startled when the first volley in the war was an ancient book, Dreams of the White Court, a cursed book of faery tales that manifests spirits in its location. Binding the book and sealing it in a vault for safe keeping.
Shortly after the book Robert found himself visited by an griffon named Trevor, bearing a gift for him from an unknown recipient. A pair of guardian masks and a message stone were inside the package prepared for Robert, the message playing a small recorded hologram of a great mage named Master Tzun who knew his uncle, and who offered to train him in his hedgemagic if he so desired. Robert accepted his gifts graciously and took on his apprenticeship to the mage using Trevor as a messenger to communicate with the elderly mage, receiving the Rose Crystal as well.
A few weeks later, Robert found the Dreams of the White Court at a used book store. Buying it quickly he returned home to add it the other in his vault and found the vault empty. It was the same book! The book was bound in chains enspelled by Jarrod and seared with Warning symbols into the leatherbound hide(though someone would wonder why it had a biohazard and nuclear symbol on it.. they might get the gist), and locked up in the vault away from anything else.
Robert proceeded to continue on with his life, gaining the protection of the five elemental dragons from the help of Jarrod and the unseen Auntie Tsai. At a local art charity function for the wealthy elite, Robert came across Julia Hardgrave, another wealthy socialite that promoted the arts along the western seaboard. Smitten by the attractive woman, he was surprised to find her reciprocating the feeling.
At this time Robert also under went a spiritual awakening, finding himself able to see the ebb and flow of quintessence around him after Jarrod mistakenly zapped him with it(who knew that the pure unadulterated power of the universe would do that?). Jarrod attempted to teach him the bare basics that Robert could understand, but true understanding came from a solicitation he received in the mail. Filling out the information request form, he received a package via air courier the following day. Robert viewed the project contained within as a personal challenge, and 8,987,091 steps later, his own little robotic dog was "born". Interceptor created jealousy in Rob's first pet, but soon soothed the mouses ire when it listened to her as much as it listened to Robert.
Julia visited Robert that summer, and lucky him, that's when the Technocratic Killbot attacked. Jarrod was forced to protect Robert when the thing rampaged through the gates and nearly up to the manor, taking on most of the security measures in place. Robert meanwhile was forced to watch helplessly as Julia slipped into unconsciousness, the trauma causing her to enter her crysalis, and as Jarrod was battered by the backlash of the feat he performed to crush the cyborg.
Robert used the technology from the remaining piece of the killbot to help backwards engineer a prime scanner modulator to add to Interceptor. The dog recovered the Amber Orb, and a battle ensued with the consumption bane which Jarrod destroyed with the aide of the five elemental dragons but nearly at the cost of his life. Robert payed for all of Jarrod's medical bills, but once he was released he learned about the sanctum and how it had been kept from him. Jarrod flipped and told Robert off, and Rob found himself the caretaker of the abandoned Ng Family Shrine.
Robert's focus shifted to fiscal matters in an effort to save a freehold named Elfland. Located in central California near the UCSC, the freehold was crafted by the university students in the redwoods. Robert flew north, experiencing the freehold first hand, meeting the chimera and the caretakers and their efforts to save what they could by moving it further into the forest and creating Tebernethia. Finding the company that had bought the land, Raiz Construction, Robert bought the open shares of the company and gained the proxy vote of several members to gain control of the board. Robert ended up trading off minor stock options in Eisenguard Industries and bulking out his portfolio by investing in a soda bottling company and three comic book stores in Portland, Oregon in his bid to gain control of the company. At the end, Robert gained control of the board, in trade for exclusive construction contracts with Eisenguard Industries, the company donated the land on Elfland to a charitable entity to care for the property and the surrounding area including Tebernethia.
Robert's return home after had him once again taking off. Master Tzun contacted Robert and informed him that the Dragon of Wind and Fire, a statue of jade with incredible influence over dragon lines, had surfaced and he had to collect it to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. Tzun gave Rob the information that it was located in Podunk, Missouri at a small antiquities shop. Rushing there, Rob was confronted with the fact he had no idea what the statue looked like. Seeing competition starting to descend, Robert instinctively bought every piece of jade the antique dealer owned, coming up with a cubic buttload of jade. Flying home he found he got the right statue, as well as a fetter of a young girl named Jade, which he placed with Jarrod's Family shrine to protect her.
Then calamity struck, and Robert was left without a mentor and with a depressed, overpowered, griffon spirit. The master mage had been lost and Trevor was unable to find him or Yelestin again. Robert took in the displaced sending, and began the long term quest of finding the 12 gatekeys scattered around the world.
During the search, Robert was invited to a gallery opening by Julia up in Seattle. Taking the entire household up there as a minor vacation, Robert spotted Jarrod in Chinatown and chased him down, apologizing to the man. Robert was left speechless by the backlash of the accountant and let him go. Attending to the gala opening of Julia's art exhibit as her date, Robert found something horribly wrong with the artwork of one of the local artists Julia had allowed to show there. The artist was a nephandus, using the art peices to spread the tainted hate of his masters to those that viewed his paintings, feeding off the festering intolerance and bigotry the artwork planted in its owners. Confronting the artist, Robert and his friend Chax were pulled into the paintings and fought the infernal mage to the death, leaving Robert with a paradox flaw that left him out of the picture for a while.
Once Robert's sensory overload was cleared up, the quest for the keys resumed and Robert gathered them all and did as instructed, accidentally transporting his entire estate to Yelestin in his attempt to find Master Tzun. There he tracked down the Master and Obtchnok, and was possessed by the later. Trapped in his own mind, Robert was freed by the intervention of Auntie Tsai. Having officially claimed him as her own, she 'forced' Jarrod to aid him. Jarrod for his part found he needed Julia's help in reaching Robert. Robert was freed from the spirit's grasp and managed to subjugate it, freeing Tzun in the process.
