Eisen Grimm

Eisen Grimm
Caption
Alternate Names	Grimes
Pronouns	He/Him
Species	Human
Division	Education Division
Height	6'3 / 192 cm
Age	28
Birth Date	1202
Zodiac	Prideful Moth
Aspect	Dark (Expired...?)
Family	Mother (Disowned) Father (Disowned) Dolly (Wren's Snake, his worst enemy) Wren (Best Friend)

"I can make you better permanently. Stronger than a spell, smarter than a sorcerer, and way more reliable than any arcane aspect."

Eisen Grimm is a human commonly seen wearing long robes or coats covering the many inventions he keeps. He teaches at the Education Division, affectionately called Professor Grimes by the way pupils' or acquaintances' hands distinctly smell of oil after shaking his. He conducts famous classes related to a revolutionary type of Blacksmithing and Weaponry, but they say his true brilliance shines through in his passion for by-the-books engineering and his pursuit for progress no matter the cost. All without the help of Magitech or the Arcane itself.

He's known to never cut corners or rely on guesswork. He's a genius, but very known to be difficult. It shows on his face if not in his words.

Appearance

Often seen with a tight, wry smile of greeting before walking past you through the corridors. He wears billowing coats and loose long sleeves, accompanied by fur or leather gloves when outside. He peruses tailor shops in his spare time. His hands, when not gloved, are the most obvious thing about him, a precise mix of cogs, wires, and metals constructed from scratch to make a fully functional mechanical hand.

His walnut colored hair is spiky, but is always kept short. Sometimes he uses a headband to push it back when he has to concentrate for work. When his coats are set aside, students & accomplices would always catch a glint of metal hiding. What it is precisely is a mystery.

Personality

Progress always comes first and foremost. In his head it is ingrained that having a human's longevity was a huge disadvantage already compared to Elvaari and other species, what more with not having magic? He constantly seeks to push the boundaries of technology and engineering, believing that his greatest contribution to uplift society with his short lifetime would be the knowledge he spreads. Grimes has a habit of using dry sarcasm in his speech. His smile never seems to reach his eyes, but a gleam does go to them when he's impressed. He doesn't waste any words, his sentences brief and methodical, often sounding robotic and integrating unnecessary measurements into his speech, causing him to suffer with his relationships a lot. The engineer has no idea when to differentiate work and his personal relationships.

He refuses to work with anyone else with his models and schematics, especially in the labs, unless it's really important or highly conditional. Because of this, he's regarded as arrogant. Offers his expertise to the Wayfarer's Division openly though if they need handy dandy tools. He's often frustrated with incompetence and always opts to correct it with harsh logical statements.

He does take pride in students who try their best in his class, deeply invested in improvement. He's strict, but never cruel, wholeheartedly believing that they leave better. In the precision of his words and near-none traces of approval, it's clear that he cares for those who notice small details.

Biography

Son and destined heir to powerful wealthy sorcerers, Eisen had a decent and privileged childhood. Ranking as one of the best up and coming sorcerers in his coven at such a young age, he had a promising future. During a risky test to see if he could finally balance the coveted Light Aspect for full control of his Dark Aspect, he failed to account for the difficulty that came with achieving such greatness. Instead of casting at the target without a wand for the very first time, he had casted it on himself. The unexpected splash of darkness wrapped around his hands as its unstable conduit, and rotted both of his hands to the bone.

And in the midst of ugly tragedy that could've knocked anyone unconscious, Eisen was wide awake. He had watched as he crumbled under the weight of his own ambition.

He cut ties with his family after they disowned him, keeping himself busy by getting into engineering books and slowly building back his hands. First they were mini-stilts made of wood and tied together with copper wire, then they were fork-like mechanisms made of scrap metal. Eventually, he was able to create fully functional hands with a few months of studying and a lot of elbow grease. His ingenuity caused his reputation to spread by word-of-mouth, and he soon gets a job in the Education Division. There he never seems to stay in one place, going home particularly late carrying new blueprints and arriving stupidly early.

Class Notes

Below are a collection of notable events/exchanges in Prof. Grimes's classroom:

When student asks if he's ever been wrong:

"...0.0001% chance of happening. Let's work with the 99.9999% that matters. "

When correcting his students:

"I simply won't tolerate watching you fail. You increase your success rate by 2.5% each time you try again. The components are misaligned by approximately 0.03 centimeters. Now, invert the values there-"

When asked why he's so hard on his students:

"The world doesn't reward mediocrity. Their mistakes have weight and have a high probability of costing lives. Because I refuse to let them walk out of this classroom incompetent, I want all of you to rely on skill."

When flattered:

“Flattery has zero impact on the grading system. I suggest you don't do that again."

When asked about his hometown:

"I weighted the calculations once. If I had stayed, the probability of me ever being happy was approximately 3.4%. If I left, it increased to 47%. I chose the most optimal outcome."

It's said that after his lecture people in the faculty office saw his hands jitter a little but sources are unreliable.

One time in class when a student's invention explodes and a shrapnel almost hits him:

"A 4.2 millimeter difference between safety and fatal injury. Start over, but this time make something that isn't fundamentally flawed."

When a student complains about a hard task/lesson:

"I've seen worse, so you're not special in that regard. But I wouldn't squander your potential if I were you. You know I don't waste time on those who give up."

When he actually is impressed:

"This is sufficient. Acceptable quality."

Later, it is noted that Prof. Grimes had put that student's prototype on display with his written approval on paper beside it.

When someone uses magic:

>:(

Rumors

Whisper, whisper. Some think he actually encourages this. Some claim he gets a kick out of watching people scramble to find out the truth. He'd never outright confirm or deny any of these:

• He once offhandedly mentioned in one classroom that he was 65% metal. He didn't specify where.
• He built a coffee machine in the guild's common room that's said to brew coffee that can wake anyone from the dead. What the hell did he put in it?
• He once talked down to an old mage so harshly they actually quit magic. He works at the local butcher's now.
• Students think he gets his lunch from eating cogs and wires. No one's ever seen him eat.
• He once said a joke to a fellow faculty member and it was so unfunny they resigned.
• Someone wrote under one of the classroom desks that they heard Prof. Grimes laugh and they got 7 years of bad luck.
• They say when you poke one of his three beauty marks in a certain pattern his face unhinges in a mess of mechanics and will show a little critter piloting his body.
• A faculty member heard him apologize once. They say all the lights in the offices went out for a solid 5.5 minutes right after.

Relationships

(feel free to talk to me if you want oc interactions teehee)

If asked about them:

Serenity Rosewood

"She is efficient and functional under any condition despite her faulty eye. Serenity's presence has this strange stabilizing effect. I wouldn't change a single detail."

• They lived in the same town and he accompanied her travels. They're childhood best friends, with Wren being the only one known to comfortably call Eisen by his name or "Eis" rather than "Grimes", and Eisen being the only one to call her "Serenity" instead of "Wren".

Leo Eridanus

"Often I wonder if he's aware of his progress without the needless positive ideals. If he would only speak with more accuracy--in the classroom. Not outside of it. Especially not with me. Very capable of improvement, an estimated .005% rise for every class he attends."

• Once told off bullies to quit bullying Leo when confided in class that the rumors were affecting his grades.

Ari Lancaster

"Highly unpredictable. It's almost admirable how committed he is to hindering his own progress. He has the potential, if only he'd put his instincts aside before his enthusiasm deteriorates to mediocrity."

• Grimes never keeps his gaze for more than 4.2 seconds with Ari in the classroom.
• Thinks he's a superior monitoring his lectures, but gives him below the passing grade anyway.

Clover Blyss

"Mental note to not allow her to carry weaponry. Her optimism is encouraged so long as she's willing to learn because of it."

• Clover cut off Grimes's mechanical arm a total of 13 times over a single week. Grimes does not seem to mind much since it gives him the opportunity to figure out how to enforce his arms better.

Deirdre Silva

"A constant morale-booster in the lecture room. I advised her to stop bringing me bolts and stray wires in a sandwich bag. I don't actually consume those."

• Deirdre seemed often displeased with her score, so Grimes gave her a cog with a safety pin glued behind it.

Hanzekihel Oulieus

"He could have been brilliant. His faulty choices led him to prefer magic, an unreliable medium.I could have taught him how to be better."

• Grimes' nose scrunches up whenever Hanze is mentioned.
• He taped Hanzekihel to a chair to listen to him once. Hanzekihel trapped him in an ice cage to watch a coven perform/spar once.
• They are only nice to each other during lunch time.

Bellona Salvia

"Ari Lancaster's colleague. Mentioned they had relationship together but often kicks each others' backs literally. "Girlfriend", was it?"

Keldwyn Flannery

"Ari Lancaster and Bellona Salvia's colleague. I observe they're friends, but they exchange words that say otherwise. I'm sensing a pattern."