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Professor Susan McAlistair


Professor Susan McAlistair teaches Natural Science at the College of Human Disciplines. This is one of several thousand colleges at the Sophonus Institute of Knowledge. Unofficially this is known as 'the Great University'.

Susan caught the explorer's bug shortly after she began her doctorate studies. She found funding from a minor house Windsor noble called Richard. And a supervising professor. The professor dropped out of the trip just prior to departure, leaving Richard and her to travel the known worlds together. It is probable that Susan had many adventures during her travels, Richard and her parted company after a year or two and he is noted to have said "She encountered beasts that most would call dangerous with 'scientific obliviousnous'. Scientific because she would note every detail about the beast, and oblivious because I regularly had to drag her away from the jaws of some giant predator and she would complain that I had disrupted her study!

Shortly after returning from her exploration, Susan was granted a small house on instructor row. Here she wrote her vastly detailed textbook on the flora and fauna of the known worlds. She was pregnant when she moved in, and the university were good enough to grant her then consort; Jake, a role in the Charioteers guild as a support teacher. Jake's skill soon led to his promotion within the guild to the rank of Captain. Susan says with some remorse that "His role was simply to fly one of the university ships while an actual teacher explained what he was doing. He would also let the youths take the stick and try the feel of flying. It was not the most interesting job but, he didn't seem to mind. I always thought he would stay with us but, well. He didn't.

A few years after Susan's book was published, it became quite the sensation. The idea that any one person could visit so many worlds in a single lifetime thrust her into the public's imagination. She was hailed as one of the known worlds greatest explorers, and amid great publicity she finally accepted tenure as a professor at her college when her two children; twins Zack and Zoe, were around 4 years old. This promotion and her young family meant that the university allowed her a far more sizeable house closer to the main university buildings. This prestigious block is where all of the highest ranking professors live, it is the one we all know as it appears on the cover of most of the college brochures. The twins have grown up in this house, it is a large six bedroomed white terraced house on the front of instructor's row. It is very high-tech and outfitted with second republic gadgets and tech from top to bottom. *The tech and the house are maintained by the university affiliated resident Engineer's guild maintenance team.

Although their upbringing has been luxurious by most standards, potentially on a par with some of our Noble house cousins, the twins have had their challenges. For a start the environment they have grown up in is a public one. Their mother a well known and highly celebrated explorer, come author, come lecturer. Their private home, almost a public building. Maintenance men and engineering guild students popping in and fiddling with things on a daily basis. Cleaners morning and night, five days a week.
Zack McAlistair, a gaunt and bookish, red-haired boy. Has his mother's flair for academic work. Unlike his mother, and presumably also unlike his errant father, Zack is very much a stay at home, tow the line and follow the rules kind of guy. On top of that he is wholeheartedly and unapologetically a bookworm. At only eighteen he is about to complete his first bachelorate, three whole years ahead of the usual time. Add to that his mother's reputation, and her connections and you can see why he is on the fast track to a career within the university. The world according to Zack is one of complete academic success, his future is mapped out and is is very bright indeed. Mattock Furrier, field journalist, Liberty News.
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