Fortunio

Fortunio is a former artificer working for the Koan Republic and mentor of Thurmacc and the captain of the Iron Whale's expedition to the Orphan Sphere. He spent his early career working on deep sea exploration of Progenitor ruins in search of their lost homeworld, the Orphan Sphere. The crew had a tradition of leaving one member behind to continue thier work if the expedition failed. On the day their submarine finally crashed, Fortunio was the one chosen to stay behind.
After the program was shut down, Fortunio left the Board of Artificers to form his own crew of grey-market inventors. He gathered a team from a wide assortment of backgrounds, including Eliza, a Homyn Alchemist; Maximos, a Koan Rocketeer; Rune, a geit pyromancer; and Hobb a Scalfi salvager. However, Thurmacc was Fortunio's protoge--being a fellow former artificer and every bit Fortunio's intellectual match.
Thurmacc's connections with the Board of Artificers provided Fortunio a chance to resume his search for lost Progenitor technologies. While his contract called for making modifications to a deep-sea exploration submarine called the Iron Whale, Fortunio appropriated the funds to convert the vessel into a rocket that would take his crew beyond the Rim and, hopefully, to the Orphan Sphere.
Fortunio was forced into a premature launch when Thurmacc's contact, Gaius, discovered the ruse and attacked. As the Iron Whale prepared for launch, Fortunio cast Thurmacc out, choosing him to be the one to carry on their search should the already-compromoised expedition fail.