BAYLOCK, ARTEMIS EMERSON

[ARTEMIS EMERSON BAYLOCK]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width: 300px; background-color: #7e1627;][cs=2]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width: 300px; background-color: #7e1627;][cs=2] artemis emerson baylock.

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width: 300px; background-color: #0F104B;][cs=2] male. human. alchemist. thirty-four.

I grew up in a middle class home, my parents were both domestic servants to a wealthy family and quite honestly our lives were easygoing. I had plenty of other children to play with and my parents were proud of me. Growing up an only child to my parents may have helped with having their pride in me and the fact that I had always done exceptionally well with my studies. Always the curious lad, I was, and it was something that could have potentially gotten me into trouble if I had not been known as a good child. It was my curiosity that led me to eventually finding the career I wanted to step into, even though my mother was positive that I was going to spend my life exploring the world. As a young man I was started straight away on my schooling. So I guess you can just say that my life was quite boring, everyday it was the same mundane schedule and despite my perfect satisfaction with it there is no use telling stories about it. My young life isn’t the thing that stories are made of, I was average. By the time I was twenty-two I had managed to gain an apprenticeship beneath an amazing scholar and alchemist; Professor Benedict Vandeleur. I will admit that despite being excited about the apprenticeship I was very fast to learn that Professor Vandeleur was not a patient man at all. By the time he had taken me he was already well into his sixties and was always rushing to fit in as much as he could into a day (in turn, often making me do foolish errands). His biggest goal was an elixir of life and I suppose this was less to the good of man and more for his old age. But I hardly whispered a word of protest and was completely engulfed in the studies and work. Anything that I could learn from him, I did and I did it very carefully. I asked many questions. We never completed the elixir but eventually the Professor came to terms with his mortality and passed on leaving his laboratory and everything inside of it. The man had no family so who else was he to leave it to? I was grateful in any case but now it felt as though all eyes were on me. Everyone who had once looked to him were now watching my every move more than likely curious to why such a renounced alchemist has left everything he had to a nobody like me. I took it all in stride though, not paying any attention to anyone who had doubts in me. After all, I eventually made my own name. The bit of fame and fortune that I had earned came through concocting successful medicines and offering my services to the public. In my spare time I worked with metals and the like, always looking for great fortunes. As my name made its way through the whole of London I was noticed by governing forces. I was offered a job on one of their fleets in the air. Having trained in both medicine and science they believed I would be a wonderful asset to their team. At first, I was planning on declining the offer. I was a man who preferred travel through books and would much rather be spending time in a lab than on a ship up in the air. However, the promise of adventure did get the better of me. I agreed and found that I had plenty of work to do aboard one of the many ships owned by the British government. I performed many experiments and took care of any ailments of the soldiers on board. I even learned how to fly a few of the crafts whenever someone offered to teach me. We didn’t travel all over the world but made some trips between continents and I was lucky enough to see some of the world. I truly was surprised at all of the different things I had the chance of learning. But, of course, all good things must come to an end in this world. And so my time in the sky was cut short rather suddenly. Even if it is not my favorite thing for people to notice about me first, wondering how I ended up in a wheelchair is usually the first question someone will ask. It is not something I’m extremely fond of discussing but usually have to do so. Curious and unrelenting stares constantly beg me to do so. We were leaving one of the many ports in London. Everything had seemed to be running smoothly and I was on deck with many of the other crewmembers waving goodbye to their family and friends. It was a wonderfully sunny day for that time of year… As we took off into the sky one end of the airship burst into flame. Nobody is completely sure still of how it happened though there have been whispers of disloyalty among the ship. In any case, the ship was going down and everyone was filled with panic. I recall several people jumping for their lives as the ship burned but they all died on the streets below, surely. I was among the many that fell though it was not by choice. I had decided to take my time in removing myself from the disaster by hoping to get close enough to a rooftop. Unfortunately I was flung overboard as the craft smashed into the wall of a building on the opposite end. I should have died, I am sure, but instead I awoke many days later broken and battered in a hospital. I no long had any feelings or use for my legs. I was devastated. For many years I stayed alone in my home, not willing to face the public. What had happened to me, I believed then, was terribly embarrassing. I felt useless. I had once been a man of complete independence. And then it was all taken from me. I was bitter and hopeless. But I pulled myself out of it with sheer stubbornness. I now have taken the place of my former teacher at The Academy of Inventors. I am sure it is my connections that got me the job.

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width: 300px; background-color: #0F104B;][cs=2] curious. reserved. organized. suspicious.

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width: 300px; background-color: #7e1627;][cs=2] hay. jude law.

[HEY, HAY.]