Graeme Creighton

Standing at 5'11" with a somewhat athletic build, Graeme has a rather average build for a human male of his age. His facial features are somewhat angular and his pale features show light signs of aging, smile lines around his mouth, worry lines on his forehead and mild crows feet at the edges of his grey-green eyes. Grooming-wise he keeps his hair long, oft restrained by a ponytail, and maintains a well-trimmed beard--all strawberry blonde with sporadic grey streaks.

Due to the fact that he prefers to dress conservatively (slacks, dress shirts and vests at work, more casual fare at home), one would never guess that he was covered in scars. His body is riddled with battle scars and overlaid with an intricate map of runic scars which cover a large portion of his surface area, excluding his face and genitals. There are too many to list individually, but the largest instances are X (gebo; gift) over his sternum and ᛞ (dagaz; day, daybreak, awakening) in between his shoulderblades.

Graeme has many little facial and physical tics he does his best to conceal when he's not feeling his best (trembling hands, twitchiness, etc.)

• Casual
Those who spend time around Graeme often comment on how easy going he is. Everything seems to be water under the bridge for him, and he's slow to anger.
• Compassionate
Serving in the war has made him sensitive to the plight of his fellow man and other sentient species. He gets how hard life can be and is quick to offer sympathy.
• Hardworking
Graeme is not one to do things half-assed. When he commits to something, he follows through as best as he can.
• Book read
Coming from a wealthy family afforded Graeme a good education, and he has nourished a healthy academic interest even after he was disowned.
• Two-faced
There are two distinct versions of Graeme. There's the side that he shows the public, and the side that he hides away. This can lead him to seem dishonest to those who get to know him better. He doesn't like to tell people about his sleepless nights, or how often he checks for escape routes.
• Closed off
Graeme isn't keen on letting anyone close enough to really get to know him. He's capable of being friendly with people and maintaining acquaintances, but having people see him for how he really is scares the hell out of him. Thus he often keeps his true thoughts and opinions to himself.
• Neurotic
Due to all the trauma he's experienced, Graeme has a ton of hangups. Most days he's stable enough to cope, but certain things always get a rise and subsequent fight or flight response out of him (e.g. sudden loud noises, fireworks, etc.).

• Runic Magic
Graeme has innate magical potential that he can translate into results via runes. The process goes a little like this: he draws a rune or series of runes (with chalk on the wall, or with a stick in mud, with blood, etc.) then speaks a word of power to activate the runic phrase. This requires energy and concentration proportional to the result desired, e.g. producing the tiny flame of a match requires little to no effort while producing a baseball sized fireball requires dedicated energy and focus. Larger endeavors may require more than one runic mage. Attempting something too large by one's self can lead to blackouts or even death. Incorrectly writing a rune or misspeaking a word of power can skew the results of the spell in unpredictable ways.
• Things he can do reasonably well on his own with the appropriate runes/words of power and reasonable concentration:
fist-sized fireballs, ice shards etc. (your standard elemental fair), sending messages across campus (one-way telepathy, essentially sending a thought/phrase to a desired person; the target must be willing and have an open mind for this to work [aka requires player consent]), heal small wounds e.g. small cuts, bullet scrapes (but not actual ballistic wounds), small summonings (e.g. sprite to fetch something) etc.
• Things he can do with more advanced runes/words of power and more concentration/time, liable to give him a killer headache and/or make him woozy/faint:
Larger displays of elemental prowess, heal moderate wounds (stab wound, sprained ankle, etc. but no broken bones), slow time for a handful of seconds, ward an area against a certain individual, a certain type of creature, or a particular alignment/intent (each one more difficult than the last), moderate summonings (minor elementals and spirits), etc.
• Things he generally should not be attempting by himself since it will probably kill him or create damaging, unpredictable results(like dimension hopping!):
Time travel, raising the dead, healing fatal wounds, etc.
• Tainted by Magic
The survivor of a large summoning ritual, Graeme's skin is etched with runic scars. They are particularly volatile and reactive to manipulation. They exude a magical aura that tends to attract supernatural creatures, for better or worse.

• Born into a wealthy family, Graeme is the middle child with two older sisters, and one younger brother and sister. Generally, growing up he wants for nothing.
• In his early teen years, he is caught kissing another boy in the estate's courtyard. The Creighton family patriarch proceeds to berate him and subsequently he was disowned from the family, a Creighton in name only.
• He ends up spending the rest of his teenage years at a youth hostel, attending common public school.
• As soon as he turns 18, he enrolls in Europa's army. It is during basic training that he truly discovers his magical talents and begins tapping into them. He eventually joins the Mage Corps and hones his runic magic skills.
• When out drinking with his corps buddies, he meets Charlotte. They hit it off and soon enter a courtship. Graeme plans to marry her.
• A couple years after the wedding, Europa goes to war with her enemies. Graeme is shipped off to the northern front.
• In the trenches, Graeme befriends a fellow corps member named Carter. They enter a lowkey relationship after a couple of months together.
• Europa is losing the war. Drastic plans are drawn up, and a large ritual is called for to try to turn the tides in their favor. Using flesh and blood as their canvas, the runic mages are to summon otherworldly forces to defeat Europa's foes.
• Graeme volunteers to be his platoon's sacrifice. Each corps member takes up an enchanted dagger and carves a phrase of power into his skin. The pain is excruciating. Consciousness flees him.
• Dark dreams haunt him until he awakes. He is disoriented, confused. He wasn't supposed to survive that.
• Europa's desperate bid fails. They have to retreat inland.
• During relocating, Carter catches a stray bullet and dies immediately. Graeme is devastated and has to be pried off of his comrade's corpse.
• Graeme's instability after Carter's death escalates to the point that he is discharged and shipped home.
• Adjusting to civilian life is difficult. A rift grows between Graeme and his wife as he struggles to cope with what's happened. It is clear that war and ritual have changed Graeme irreparably.
• He is unsurprised when Charlotte requests a divorce. The separation is messy.
• Graeme spends the five years or so in and out of counseling and slowly settles into a routine. He carefully begins practicing magic again in his free time and also picks up art as a means of stress relief.
• After a night of imbibing too much whiskey, Graeme decides to try a temporal spell to bring himself back to a time when the war wasn't lost and Carter was alive.
• A disorientated Graeme finds himself in contemporary England. He manages to keep his wits together well enough to haphazardly assimilate.
• He befriends an undercover magic user who refers him to Manta Carlos, and he soon immigrates.
• Seeking the stability of routine and an income to support himself, he applies to work at the academy.