High Tinkerer Rissa Gleamstone
High Tinkerer Rissa Thistledown Gleamstone (a.k.a. Embermind)
Rissa Gleamstone is the brilliant and uncompromising Rock Gnome Chancellor of Ashbourne, a fiery metropolis nestled within the heart of Ashen Peak. Revered as a master artificer and arcane engineer, Rissa governs with a balance of ingenuity and relentless practicality. Under her leadership, Ashbourne remains the crucible of magical innovation in Astrium, where volcanic energy fuels invention and ambition. A descendant of Thistlebright Fizzlegem, Rissa has dedicated her life to preserving the gnomes' legacy, protecting the relics of the Pandora War, and ensuring that Ashbourne continues to shape the future of the world through arcano-mechanical advancement.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Fit and resilient, accustomed to extreme temperatures and long hours in the forge.
Body Features
Calloused hands with nimble, long fingers; ash-flecked skin around the forearms.
Facial Features
Round face with bright, intelligent eyes and a near-constant soot smudge on her cheek.
Identifying Characteristics
A glowing gear-shaped tattoo on the back of her neck — a magical focus tied to her personal arcane forge.
Physical quirks
Taps her fingers in rhythmic patterns when thinking or calculating.
Special abilities
Innate understanding of arcane machinery (“Machine Empathy”)
Resistance to fire damage
Can create minor magical items daily (Gnome Tinker trait)
Apparel & Accessories
Reinforced soot-cloak, runic goggles, layered toolbelts, and a badge made from Pyreglass marking her as Chancellor.
Specialized Equipment
Cogwork Gauntlets – Enhances precision for delicate repairs.
Runic Stabilizer Rod – Used to channel raw arcane energy into inventions or defenses.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Raised in a lineage of famed inventors, Rissa quickly surpassed her peers in arcane engineering. Her adolescence was spent within the forges and lecture halls of the Grand Arcane Academy, mentored by artificers who once served during the Pandora War. She rose through the ranks of the Arcane Collective before being unanimously chosen as Chancellor after her creation of a failsafe mechanism to redirect lava flows.
Education
Graduate and later professor at the Grand Arcane Academy, specializing in volatile core stabilizers and arcane-conductive materials.
Employment
Chancellor of Ashbourne, Senior Director of the Arcane Collective.
Accomplishments & Achievements
Created the Ashen Heart Stabilizer, preventing a minor eruption in 865.
Reinvented the Emberclock Interface to allow safe monitoring of Ashen Peak’s core.
Led the reclamation of three Pandora War artifacts misused outside Ashbourne.
Failures & Embarrassments
Her first large-scale invention, a flying automaton named "Scorcher," malfunctioned during a council presentation and singed several delegates.
Mental Trauma
Suffers periodic anxiety due to the immense responsibility of keeping Ashbourne safe and functioning inside a living volcano.
Intellectual Characteristics
Exceptionally analytical, prone to intense bursts of inspiration, and a natural systems thinker.
Morality & Philosophy
Believes that knowledge and innovation must serve the greater good, but understands that progress sometimes requires risk. Deeply utilitarian.
Taboos
Destruction of knowledge, secrecy among inventors, or misuse of magic for personal greed.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
To ensure the legacy of gnomish innovation endures, and to prevent another war that would misuse their creations.
Savvies & Ineptitudes
Savvy with engineering, magical theory, and political negotiation.
Inept with social pleasantries and interpreting emotional nuance.
Likes & Dislikes
Likes: Blueprints, rare ores, volcanic glasswork, hot cocoa.
Dislikes: Bureaucratic delays, wasted potential, cold climates.
Virtues & Personality perks
Innovative, disciplined, community-minded, tenacious.
Vices & Personality flaws
Perfectionist, controlling, occasionally dismissive of non-technical minds.
Personality Quirks
Talks to her machines as if they’re alive.
Hygiene
Impeccably clean in personal grooming, but often soot-stained due to her work.
Representation & Legacy
Seen as a visionary and stabilizing figure; some believe she may be destined to awaken the Great Emberclock.
Social
Reign
872 - Present
Contacts & Relations
Arcane Collective (Leader)
Pyreforged Brotherhood (Advisor)
Astrium Council (Vice-Councillor for Ashbourne)
Family Ties
Distant descendant of Thistlebright Fizzlegem; parents are retired artificers who run a small forge in Moltenrun.
Religious Views
Follower of Flandal Steelskin, deity of craft and invention (Forge and Knowledge domains).
Social Aptitude
Eloquent in academic and political settings, but struggles in informal or emotional exchanges.
Mannerisms
Paces in tight circles while explaining ideas, often punctuating her words with gestures.
Hobbies & Pets
Volcanic glassblowing, star mapping from Pyreglass Tower, mechanical puzzles.
Speech
Precise and clipped, often filled with jargon, but quick-witted and animated when discussing her passions.
Wealth & Financial state
Considerable, though most of it is reinvested into the city’s infrastructure and research.
Current Status
Maintain control over magical relics created during the Pandora War, advance the arcano-technological influence of Ashbourne, and prepare Ashbourne’s infrastructure against seismic instability in Ashen Peak.
Current Location
Species
Honorary & Occupational Titles
Chancellor of Ashbourne, Embermind of the Arcane Collective, Grand Magister of Volcanic Sciences.
Age
142
Date of Birth
26th Serenora 739
Birthplace
Ashbourne
Children
Current Residence
Chancellor’s Hearth — a fortified magi-mechanical tower in Glitterlight Heights that doubles as her laboratory and council chamber.
Sex
Female
Eyes
Bright emerald green, often glowing faintly when focused on magical devices.
Hair
Voluminous copper-red, tied into a tight bun with embedded glass beads and metal clasps.
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Olive with soot-dusted undertones and ash-flecked freckles across her cheeks and arms.
Height
3'8"
Weight
44lbs
Quotes & Catchphrases
“Everything has a function—even failure.”
“If it doesn’t spark, it doesn’t work.”
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