Oliver Jackson
GM's Note: This character is no longer active.Name: Oliver Jackson
Home: Alderley Edge, United Kingdom
Age: 16
Height: 59
Weight: 135 lbs.
Activities: Studying and practicing magic, reading books on any subject, people watching, exploring, learning more about the world(s)
Quote: "Do you really think theyre telling the truth?"
Relationships: Oliver has a significant negative relationship with his former mentor and foster mother, Barbara St. Clair. Although she taught him many things, she also betrayed him and afterwards he discovered that many of her lessons were half-truths at best. He is grateful to the Wizard for taking him in, but his prior experience makes him somewhat wary towards her as well. He would like to believe that she really is what St. Clair pretended to be, yet complete faith is denied to him. Oliver finds it easier to get on with his peers at the White Tower at least those of them who share his interest in learning, such as Anneliese. He is also fascinated by Charlies stories. Whether there is more to this relationship is unclear even to him. It helps that she took the somewhat suspect refugee under her wing when he first arrived, though this became less necessary later.
Description: Oliver is a tall and lanky young man with pale skin, short black hair, alert dark brown eyes, and a habitually cryptic expression. While not overtly concerned with his appearance, he takes care to be neat and tidy. When in the White Tower, he normally wears plain light gray linen robes. Elsewhere, he favours plain clothes in stark colours, such as white jackets and black trousers. He normally speaks with an impeccable Received Pronunciation, but can slip into his native Yorkshire accent when agitated.
Personality: Olivers background was not conductive to a pleasant character. Outwardly, he tends to be polite and helpful, but also withdrawn and cold. He is slow to trust and dislikes to share anything personal. He can be secretive to a fault even with less personal information, though this often clashes with his impulse to show off his intellect and learning. On the inside, he is a natural introvert and seldom feels lonely but does sometimes regret being unable to trust people. Olivers mistrust can edge on paranoia sometimes, especially when his former mentor is involved, though he is usually able to rein it in when it would be counterproductive. He can also be (silently) resentful and envious towards people who seem to have had it easier than him, whether in life or in the pursuit of the Mysteries. On the other hand, he respects talent and knowledge, even when it is very different from his own.
Despite his considerable cynicism, Oliver also retains a childlike sense of wonder at magic, even though he tries to rein that in as well in favour of his habitual detached and analytical approach. Ever since he learned about the existence of magic, Oliver knew that pursuing such studies was what he wanted to do with his life. It was an endless puzzle for him to figure out. His obsessive, single-minded pursuit had blinded him to his original mentors nefarious nature until it was almost too late to escape the fate she intended for him. Having been burned once, Oliver learned to pay more attention to people. Although the experience made him more mistrustful, it could not turn him away from his ambition. However, his pursuit of magic also acquired a secondary purpose that of effective self-defense.
History: Oliver was born to a particularly poor family in a particularly poor part of a particularly poor version of Yorkshire. He was put up for adoption at a very early age, moving from one foster home to another until he forgot the face of his mother and learned to dissemble. Nevertheless, something about the overly serious and quiet boy kept him from finding a lasting home before he was taken in by an eccentric rich widow named Barbara St. Clair. In the tellurian circle that Oliver hails from, the existence of real, visibly working magic was not exactly public knowledge but it had considerably more practitioners than many such worlds, and Olivers new foster mother was one of them. It was she who first discovered his affinity and introduced him to the world of magic. As Oliver would find out later, her teachings came from a debased tradition that mingled truths about the Countless Worlds with intentional and unintentional distortions. For example, the spells that he learned consisted of largely unnecessary if impressive rituals performed around the use of various supernal items. However, St. Clair did give him at least one genuine boon: she helped him open his Third Eye, discovering the sunken city.
Even now, much about St. Clairs plans and motives remains unclear to Oliver. She seemed to take a genuine interest in the sunken city, encouraging Oliver to explore it and report what he had learned. Perhaps her intent was to expand the trove of plundered items on which her magic truly depended. Was she disappointed at his failure to find a way to access this supernal plane? Did he draw her ire or suspicion by questioning the rituals or conducting his own magical experiments in secret? Perhaps it was simply due to some external circumstance, instead. Either way, Oliver chanced upon his foster mothers meeting with an unnaturally dark and ominous personage and eavesdropped on their conversation, learning that she intended to trade the talented boy in exchange for a reprieve and future consideration. A few days later, St. Clair took him along on a trip to an otherworldly wilderness, supposedly to stock up on ingredients. The boy seized his chance and escaped before he could be handed over, using his impossibility to frustrate pursuit. Cut off all alone in a distant world, Oliver might not have lasted long if he was not discovered by acolytes of the White Tower there to spy on the servants of the Enemy. Despite initial mutual suspicion, he ended up coming with them and spent the next two years studying at the White Tower. It was not as though he had anywhere else to go. Besides, despite his doubts the Wizards teachings seemed more nearly real than St. Clairs, and there was a great wealth of information to absorb from the books and the people. Over time, it became something like home and he proved keen to show that he could pull his own weight.
Strengths/Virtues: Oliver is intelligent, determined, driven and usually self-possessed. He possesses a sharp analytical mind, keen observational skills and a strong work ethic. While not always completely honest with others, he is careful to be honest with himself, and his rigorous mindset helps him recognise when he has erred and learn from his mistakes. Despite his character flaws, he is fundamentally fair-minded and loyal, so long as he feels that loyalty was earned. He can go to great lengths to repay a perceived debt.
Faults/Weaknesses: Oliver is mistrustful, secretive and prone to self-isolation. Though not going out of his way to be deceptive, he could lie only too easily, especially by omission. While he is usually very careful to hide this side of him, he is both proud and envious, and prone to thinking too poorly of people when given the chance. Finally, his love for magic borders on a dangerous obsession; while this may not stand out much among the inhabitants of the White Tower, it may still be an issue if it causes him to overlook other concerns again.
Powers: Oliver possesses what Charlie calls an impossibility an affinity for a world containing (or consisting of?) an underwater city filled with intricate mechanisms. This affinity allows him to perceive and manipulate natural laws: most notably inertia. Sometimes he even does so unconsciously, causing objects to wobble in times of great stress. There may well be further applications he has not yet mastered as well as deeper mysteries he has yet to fully explore. He is also somewhat familiar with the supernal philosophies, though he has had to relearn much of what he had been taught.