Name: Nicholas Cotterhill
Age: 31
Profession/vocation: Inventor/Pilot
Affiliation: n/a
Skills:
- Mechanical proficiency
- Works well with animals
- Invented the zeppelin (knows mechanics inside and out)
Traits:
- Observant
- Socially awkward
- Wealthy (if it counts)
- Enthusiastic
Personality: Nikolas seems like a stereotypical eccentric. He has strange habits, a sleeping schedule like a bat, and excogitative. After his success with inventing, the reclusive, socially inept emerged from the safe haven of his estate to mix with the aristocratic society of Kingstone. Adjustment to strange etiquette standards became a daunting task, leaving him often making movements and speaking phrases out of the ordinary for the rich and powerful.
Biography: The base of Nikolas' lavish and erratic lifestyle was not that of a normal well-to-do young man. He was born out of wedlock in the countryside of Wrenscote. Often ignored and left alone by his low-middle class parents, Nikolas turned to tinkering as a source of entertainment in his childhood. He began to experiment with all sorts of steam-powered devices. He also became captivated by wildlife, particularly the local avian population. Much of his time was spent either with tools in a field or a pencil and pad in a field.
Nikolas endeavored in the area of flight mechanics. He was amazed by the views of hot air balloons that rarely floated in the clear skies above the fields at his home. By the age of 19, he had managed to piece together a vehicle of the sky. He called it the "steam-propelled gas balloon". Early attempts at selling the machine were in vain, as locally the invention seemed to have no purpose and was generally a waste of space and materials. In his early twenties, Nikolas loaded his possessions and rations into his balloon prototype. He lifted it into the air, taking flight all the way to Kingstone, where he managed to successfully land his apparatus outside of the city. This attracted a lot of attention to the design, and soon orders for these balloons, nicknamed "zeppelins" due to the buzz-hum of the steam engine, flooded in. Nikolas bought a large amount of land just outside of the city, having a large estate built for himself. The most notable part of this extravagant house is the aviary, a large glass dome connected to the mansion, with a sprawling tree in the center.
Because of his successes and newfound wealth, Nikolas began to socialize with the rich and famous of the city. His invention secured him a position with the Union's Department of War, where he helps oversee the design, manufacturing, and maintenance of armed zeppelins for war times.