Arran Jacob Lewis

Physical: 6ft, lithe build, very fit, scruffy short blond hair, hazel eyes, boyishly handsome features with a slightly haunted look. Background: Born in New York August 22 (1865) only child to Professor Diancecht and Evelyn Lewis. Father is American (born Portland, Maine), mother is English (born London, England). At the age of 5, he was given a talisman by his father and left in the foster care of his Uncle Tiernan Lewis in New York. His parents then returned to their main home in Dunstone, Widecombe in the Moor, Devon, England (they also have a townhouse in central London). Not really wanting to look after the boy, Teirnan enrolled Arran in military boarding school as soon as he was old enough and basically let the military bring him up and educate him. He has spent all his formative years in their care, any time out of school was spent either at his best friend's family estate, near Lake Michigan or at his Uncle's home in the city. Arran learned Latin, and other languages under his Uncle's insistent and compulsory tuition, but what he enjoyed most was the time outdoors with his friends, either riding, or playing at warfare with his constant ally, Dave Harper. He was never told why his parents left, or why they didn't take him with them, but he used to receive letters from his mother on a regular basis. He went on to gain entry to West Point, New York. (Dave Harper graduates this year - May). However after only 2 years at the Academy, he received a letter from his mother, still back in England, advising him that something had happened to his father, and he left without finishing his studies, travelling home immediately. On reaching Britain after a long, arduous sea journey, he first joined his mother at her home in Dunstone, a rambling old house in a town on Dartmoor. It was there he first discovered exactly what his father had always been interested in, but never told him. Ancient texts, strange artefacts and drawings, logbooks written in code. He remains in the process of trying to unravel exactly what happened to his father, who is still missing without apparent trace. His mother knows little of what happened, she has moments of lucidity, but is basically suffering from a nervous breakdown and of minimal use information wise. His father's journal seems to have all the knowledge he has gleaned over the years contained within it, but it is either written in some kind of personal code, or surely beyond belief. The last few entries make no apparent sense, referring to some kind of investigation which is not explained at all well, sketches are dark and hard to make out. The only word Arran has managed to work out from the confused jumble of information there is 'pact' and since he arrived at the house, he has had strange dreams he can't explain. Most of his contacts are still in America, he knows no one in Britain really and his American accent either works for or against him depending on the viewpoint of those he encounters. He is polite and well spoken, self confident and reasonably easy going considering, but he rarely shows his true, deeper emotions, using well constructed emotional armour as a shield to casual acquaintances. He is extremely dependable, personable and basically honest, takes insults well and rolls with situations comfortably as they unfold. Despite his lack of personal contacts in the UK, his mother's family are reasonably wealthy, live in both London and Devon and so will provide him with a few places to start. Taking the journal with him, and leaving his mother in the capable hands of her immediate family in Devon, he travels to London...