Nia D. Teppelin

Nia Teppelin was born Nia Cobra, an heiress to the Alabastan throne. From a young age, Nia showed extreme interest in academics, both scientific and magical. As she got older, her parents expected her to gradually abandon her academic pursuits and instead learn to be a proper lady of royalty, to be married off to the Isshin family in Sekiran to cement an alliance. However, Nia refused to give up her academic tendencies, rebelling at every step, until she had had enough. She secretly arranged for a lone tower far to the north east to be built. Upon its completion, she packed as many books as she could and ran off into the night, never to see her family or Alabasta again. She named the tower after her favorite author, Gabal Litner. Once settled into her tower, she spent most of her time studying all the books she had brought with her and experimenting with the knowledge within, writing down her findings and new theories.
Any who encountered the tower were met with a young wizard who simply called herself Nia. Those who were not immediate threats to her, she would do all she could to help, in exchange for any supplies they could offer. With time, rumors spread of a mysterious wizard in the north east of Agutare, willing to share her expertise for supplies. As more people visited, the rumors spread farther, and more people came to see Nia. Her tower eventually expanded into a larger tower, then more buildings until she had a campus, and even more until there was a village around the campus. This continued until she had a full fledged city built around her tower. At this point, it had been 10 years since her original journey from Alabasta, and to celebrate, she decided to travel farther north east in pursuit of more knowledge and wisdoms. After 3 years away from Litner, she returned, invigorated and inspired by something she saw on her travels. She declared her intention to start a nation dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom. She took on the name Nia D. Teppelin, and named the nation such, although she refused to tell where this new name came from, simply saying "time will tell". From then on, she ran the new nation, establishing laws and structure while simultaneously continuing her studies nonetheless. In her later years, Nia announced her retirement from lead researcher of Teppelin and departed into the mountains, never to be seen again, alive or dead.