Robb Stagg

Royal Wisdom Robb Stagg (a.k.a. The Grey Mask)

Despite being one of the youngest royal wisdoms in history, Robb Stagg is generally viewed with disdain and underestimation by his peers. Suffering from a pronounced stutter and confidence issues, it would appear the only people who've ever truly believed in Robb have been his childhood friend, Natt Gatley, his mother, the former commoner Ness, and his current employer, King Landon Shearwater.
Born to the Stagg inventor family, Robb was expected to go into mass production like his father before him. Elric regularly took him to his factory floor, where he would learn about how to tune and fix machines that produced magitech such as the portable cryomancer, the bread toaster, and outdoor pyromancer. However, Robb developed a stutter during his childhood, and the subsequent bullying from a father who expected a future manager from his son exacerbated his issues.
He would retreat into himself, taking on passions separate from his father's, spending his time in the library studying mathematics beyond mere engineering. Meeting the kindhearted future Lady of River's Fork, Natt Gatley, instilled confidence in him, which eventually led to him developing a branch of his own known as 'gradient differentiation and area estimation', later shortened to GDAE, colloquially referred to as 'Robb Stagg's line maths'.
Natt and Robb were such close friends that his father gave up on his dream of having a factory manager for a son, and instead set his sights on using him as a marriage pawn. He would insist on a betrothal between Robb and Natt, despite both insisting their friendship was platonic, and that Lord Gill Gatley was already courting the weapon manufacturing Taze Pittson for the hand of his eldest son, Mulder.
When Natt inevitably married Mulder Pittson, Elric flew into a rage, blaming Robb's lack of assertiveness as the reason he lost his marriage deal, saying that a real man would have stolen Natt's maidenhood, forcing the marriage to go through. He ranted about how Robb would amount to nothing now that the only girl who could see through his horrible stutter was married, and that he was dead to him. Robb took the hint, and began applying for multiple wisdom and novice positions around Arkhera, throwing a shot at the Royal Electorate, seeing as their old wisdom, Melancholy, had recently been let go.
To his surprise, he was accepted as the Royal Wisdom, and with that, he hid his acceptance letter from his father, sabotaged some of Elric's prized personal walker machines, then quietly made his way to Deathsport, to enjoy success without his father.
Since becoming Royal Wisdom in 548 AGA, Robb Stagg has mostly kept his head down on the job. He's not proven himself exceptional, as Melancholy was, but he performs his duties to a functional degree. In his spare time, however, he has finally found a coping mechanism for his anxiety and stutter: Gentleman thievery.
As the Grey Mask, a masked gentleman thief, he leaves calling cards at various disgustingly rich Deathsport residents' houses, warning them of the items he's about to steal, before circumventing their preparations, stealing their goods, and anonymously selling them on the black market. He then uses the proceeds to donate to the impoverished in Deathsport, leading the Grey Mask to be something of a folk hero. He's even earned himself a lover through this identity, the obsessive Grey Mask fangirl, Nella.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Robb is short and pudgy like many gnomes, with light blonde hair and grey eyes. He regularly wears sunglasses when outdoors, as opposed to some of the heftier magitech goggles some gnomes from inventor families would wear. He has a clean-shaven face, in keeping with his job as royal wisdom.
When on the job, he wears robes of either red and white or purple and blue, while off the job he prefers simple, practical shirts and overalls. As the Grey Mask, he wears a metallic welder's mask decorated with paints that mimic a moustachioed face, along with a tricorn hat, a cravat, and a fancy velvet cape.

Social

Contacts & Relations

Nella of Deathsport (sincere crush and lover as the Grey Mask)
Lady Natt Gatley (best friend)
King Landon Shearwater (employer)
Prince Komekk Axol (superior)
Princess Serella Senheil (superior)
Royal Advisor Quira Abraxas (superior, workplace crush)
Royal Looking Glass Tei Fel'thuz (fellow organiser of information)

Family Ties

Religious Views

Robb Stagg is as atheistic as Arkheran society can allow for. Despite having direct proof of daemons from Royal Advisor Quira, he considers them less godly agents and more alien creatures with no high, divine connotations, despite their claims otherwise. He views almost every religious claim, even from immortals, with a degree of scepticism. Despite this, he observes Pantheistic religious ceremonies as is expected of a member of the Royal Electorate.

Alignment

Neutral Good

Current Location

Deathsport

Species

Gnome

Conditions

• Stammering Syndrome

Ethnicity

Arkheran

Honorary & Occupational Titles

Royal Wisdom of the Elective Kingdom of Arkhera

Year of Birth

527 AGA 24 Years old

Circumstances of Birth

Upper Class (Inventor Family)

Birthplace

River's Fork

Parents

Elric Stagg

Ness of River's Fork

Current Residence

Deathsport

Gender

Male

Eyes

Grey

Hair

Blonde

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Pale white

Height

3'8''

Aligned Organization

Royal Electorate of Arkhera

Other Affiliations

• Elective Kingdom of Arkhera
• House of Gatley
• House of Stagg

Known Languages

Common Tongue
Old Galdusian
Old Orcish
Jaranese
Madaki