Magellus Black
THIS IS AN INCOMPLETE DRAFT.
Magellus Black is a tall, middle-aged human man with broad features and brown skin. His dark eyes twinkle with wisdom and the crinkles around his eyes suggest that he smiles and laughs often. His hair is long, kept in a ponytail, and he has a long beard bound in a leather cord to match. His hair is dark and was once jet-black, but it is beginning to frost with gray. As a professor of the University of Bridgemoor, he wears academic robes (the deep green color and silvery trim signifying his mastery of historical anthropology), and as a Meritocrat, he wears the pressed pants, vest, and short cape standardized for folk in Bridgemoor’s public office.
Magellus gives off an air of both deep knowledge and personal mystique; a sort of magnetism makes anyone want to lean in and see what he has to say. Although he is soft-spoken, when he walks into a room, everyone notices, despite his preference to keep a low profile.
Magellus is a Tenured member of the Meritocrats that legislate Bridgemoor’s code of laws and international trade agreements. He has outsized influence for his role, but wields his influence sparingly and with great temperance.
Magellus is a senior professor at Bridgemoor University, teaching courses on both history and introductory arcane magic. Out of his students of magic, he occasionally takes on promising apprentices and trains them more intensely in arcane abilities, serving as a one-on-one tutor.
When asked what he thinks of a situation, Magellus will politely decline to give his opinion. If pressed, he might say “my opinions are my own,” and instead focus on the indisputable facts of a given situation, putting the pressure back on other folk to make the decisions. When he uses this tactic, he may emphasize certain facts in order to get other people to make decisions that Magellus himself would prefer to see play out.
Magellus worries about the corruptibility of anyone in a position of power, and so by making other people make decisions, he shields himself from accusations of corruption. By wielding his influence with great care, Magellus tries to only sparingly get directly involved in a decision. When he does get involved in direct fashion, he can almost always sway the situation in his favor. He knows that most Meritocrats will exploit any situation, especially chaotic economic or political time periods, for their own personal gain. Magellus does what he can to covertly undermine the efforts of any strongman or demagogue, although his efforts are not always direct enough to really stop committed dictators from coming into power.