Ripley

biography:

ripley is a skilled thaumaturge residing alone in their laboratory, in the middle of a deep, dense, temperate forest. their laboratory is spire-like structure of arcane stone- a deep, grey, magical stone- that towers high above the trees, built up over years and years to accommodate ripley's thaumaturgical needs. they are extremely reserved, and they usually dislike company or encountering other people. and when they do socialize with people, they prefer to be in control, or able to get information out of the other. although they are reserved, they are loud when they talk and they seem to lack any kind of filter. they can and will ramble on for hours and hours to themself about their latest theory- always trying to make a breakthrough, always trying to find a revelation. always trying to crack the code they are trying so desperately to find.

and that brings me into ripley's near obsession with the eldritch, and the reason they have become the way they are- a rambling madman hungry for knowledge. it likely started early on as a practicing thaumaturge, when they accidentally opened their first rift- a strange tear in the fabric of the universe- and their curiosity lead them down a slippery slope they could never recover from. their curiosity lead them through dimensions, encountering strange and otherworldly creatures, running into cultists and hooded figures that wanted god knows what with them.

ripley was born in a small, unassuming mining town. their parents where absent and neglectful for the majority of their life, until they turned 17, where they sought out work in the mines to begin working up enough money to support themself, and eventually leave town.

after several months of hauling coal and ore into carts and stripping rock with their pickaxe, (and building up quite a bit of muscle) ripley and the small group of miners they where part of broke into a vast, spiraling cave system. the walls of the cave where rich with strange, colorful, growing crystals. and as they handled the crystals, breaking them off the walls with ease, they seemed to somewhat tingle and resonate in their hands. ripley had never seen anything like it.

the nights following this where plagued by strange, specific dreams, as if something was trying to guide them.

and ripley wasted no time in deciding to follow these dreams. they kept a journal, documenting their dreams, and eventually their sights as they left town, off into the vast wilderness.

they didnt have very many belongings, but that was alright. they traveled between villages for the first few years of their adventure, trading services and items for food and shelter. their travels took them to strange lands, magical forests and beings, small glowing balls of sentient light. they learned how to fight, how to survive. and eventually, years after they left their home town, they found a place to settle in the dense, vast forest, where they began to build their tower and began their next exciting, but incredibly dangerous journey of studying thaumaturgy.