User:MisterSinister/Stuff/Ashe's File

Captain,

I have provided these reports on the various faculty members of note as per your request. Some of this information is speculative at best, but where possible, I have tried to only include verifiable facts. Sections of particular concern have been highlighted by me. It is my wish that this report be satisfactory, and I welcome any commentary on it that you may wish to provide. My desire is only to serve the Captain as best as I am able.

S. K.

Captain's note: Suck-up.

Professor Ashe Whitecroft
Age: 28

Gender: Female

Titles: Countess D'Armand (disinherited), BWiz (abjuration), MMPhil (Great Honours)

Time as Faculty: 3 years

Notable Associates: Nealan White, Faith Epps

Captain's note: This Nealan keeps showing up everywhere. Why has he not been turned yet?

Personal History
My sources confirm that Ashe Whitecroft was born to the Count and Countess D'Armand, as the middle of three daughters, much to their father's misfortune. The D'Armands are considerable land-holders, hailing from a southern province where there is considerable farmland. The childhood stories of Ashe that I was able to track down, scant though they are, attest that she was nicknamed 'Little Miss Why', because she insisted on questioning everything. Her father, a reasonably-educated man, kept a small private library, and it is alleged that little Ashe spent no small amount of time there, reading everything she could get her hands on (apparently instead of attending the dancing and etiqette classes she was meant to be in).

Captain's note: I can totally picture this - it seems to make perfect sense for someone like Professor Ashe.

Ashe, like most daughters of most nobles, was destined for marriage, and at 16, she was supposedly matched with the Duke of Neardort. Needless to say, Ashe was not particularly keen on that idea, and ended up stalling for time as much as possible (two years in all, supposedly!). Eventually, though, stalling always fails, and this forced Ashe to flee her home province with little more than her allowance for that month and the clothes she was wearing. Unsurprisingly, her family publically disowned her at this point.

Captain's note: I'm not surprised Ashe stalled and ran, given that the Duke is known for both his horrible facial scars and the fact that he prefers men to women.

At this point, there is a two-year gap in Ashe's personal history - the next reliable information I could get was her enrolling into AM for a BWiz on the back of her outstanding entrance exam results at the age of 20 (but as this is a matter of public record, I won't discuss it here). Ashe has never spoken of this time to anyone I could get a straight answer from, and even the individuals who work closely with both her and us could tell me nothing conclusive. I suspect (and would like to note that this is pure conjecture) that Ashe was involved in something either very unsavoury or very illegal (or both - the rumours I have heard range from the almost-believable to the completely insane). This conjecture is founded on the fact that Ashe has consistently claimed that she never received any help from her family in paying for her tuition at AM (and given her status with them, this doesn't seem unlikely), but at the same time, her having sufficient personal finances to pay for five years of education at AM without some kind of massive windfall is unbelievable to say the least. This bears further investigation, as I suspect that this information, if we were to somehow discover it, could act as a powerful form of leverage against her should she try to oppose Enforcement.

Captain's note: Agreed. I'll put the Twins on this right away.

Throughout her time as a student at AM, Ashe was ridiculously successful - she would receive nothing but A+s throughout her entire time (with one exception, as she reportedly once joked). She was asked to teach several classes before she completed her BWiz (a rare, but not unheard-of ocurrence), and her research interests rapidly veered towards the theoretical end of the spectrum. Teaching, however, was one great passion of hers, and it was primarily this that motivated her to stay on at AM. She completed her MMPhil with Great Honours, but as her thesis is also public knowledge, I won't include this information here. Since that time, she has been one of the most well-respected instructors at AM, with a consistently-full class schedule.

Among Students
Ashe is held in mixed regard by most students. For quite a large number of people, she is seen as difficult to follow and tough as an instructor, due to her focus (some would say fixation) on academic rigour and lack of interest in the more practical ends of magecraft. Quite a large number of students (especially those that fail her classes) claim that her super-genius makes it extremely difficult to keep up with her content, and that she expects far too much of her students.

However, for a smaller, but still-significant number, Ashe is brilliant, kind and supportive. Unlike many instructors, who keep some distance from those whose research they supervise, Ashe always keeps them extremely close, and is willing to go far further than any other instructor in ensuring that they are happy, productive and able to do their best work. One source has even cited that Ashe was willing to share her research fund with them, for which the source was immensely grateful (though he hasn't had to employ it - yet).

Among Faculty
Like with students, staff at AM seem to hold Ashe in mixed regard. Those of a more academic persuasion see her as exemplary of the success of AM as an academic institution, and seem to find her a pleasant and helpful co-worker, but those of a less academic one tend to see her as aloof or even outright dismissive of their work. While staff at AM haven't been fully open to my investigation, I gathered that many staff don't interact too closely with Ashe, seeing her as difficult to follow. Given my later note on Ashe feeling lonely, this seems logical.

In particular, Ashe has an unusual relationship with three faculty members: Elush, Erzebet and Norton Chadwick. For the Captain's reading benefit, I have put each of these in their own section.

Captain's note: Them again? Gods damn them.

Elush
I have heard persistent rumours that Elush and Ashe were involved romantically (or what passes for that with Elush, anyway) during their respective BWiz degrees. These rumours seem to be given substance by how Ashe tends to act towards Elush, which is with a mixture of disgust and cold politeness, despite Elush's rather direct and even charming approach. However, I suspect that this may be simply an expression of Ashe's disdain for Elush's (rather un-noble) behaviour towards both her and others that Elush is attracted to.

Captain's note: Oh wow, a woman annoyed about Elush's constant advances. What an unusual fact to make note of! Tell me something I didn't know.

Erzebet
As both Ashe and Erzebet are former nobility, they seem to be friends rather than simply colleagues. However, Erzebet's unusual fixations clearly make Professor Ashe highly uncomfortable at times, which is clear from the times that they talk.

Captain's note: I'm not at all surprised. If I was around someone who regularly worked in dungeons full of corpses, described this as art of the highest form, and also tried to invite me to go gravedigging with her every other day, I'd feel pretty uncomfortable also. Again, tell me something I didn't know, SK.

Norton Chadwick
Professor Ashe and Norton Chadwick regularly co-operate on research, and many students that Ashe takes under her wing end up either supervised or co-supervised by Professor Chadwick. The two of them have a relationship that's clearly far closer than simply that of co-workers, as they're regularly seen together in Amtown, joking as friends and seemingly having an incredibly good time.

One particular occurrence that relates to these two that I thought was worth mentioning happened several days ago. Ashe was reported running to Professor Chadwick's office in tears, and the two of them had a scry-blocked and closed-door conversation lasting nearly two hours. This was so vital that Professor Chadwick and Ashe both missed two meetings. They also ended up leaving his office at different times, almost a half-hour apart, and Ashe was clearly distressed, although less than she was prior.

Captain's note: Looks like something worth investigating. Perhaps that Nealan character knows something - get the Twins on this ASAP.

Personal Life
Ashe has been remarkably private in her personal life - she almost never speaks of it, preferring to focus on work and matters of research and theory. If she has had any kinds of romantic involvement while at AM, as staff or student, these have been rumours at best. There is some suspicion that she and Professor Elush were 'an item' at one point during their respective BWiz, but this is difficult to verify, primarily due to Elush being both an endless flirt and womanizer, and partly because rumours about Elush are mostly started, perpetuated and reinforced by Elush himself, which makes separating truth from rumour extremely difficult.

Captain's note: Let's get real - Elush had romantic involvements with half his class! If Ashe happened to be one of them, I would hardly be surprised - either about the fact it happened or the fact that she won't talk about it!

One notable fact that has come up from several of my sources is that Professor Ashe feels somewhat academically lonely. This has been reported (in various forms) by various sources loyal to us, and it is probably why she is so focused on her teaching - she is aiming to create a circle of like-minded and equally-capable researchers around herself. Whether this poses any threat to us or AM is at present uncertain, but it is worth observing for future information.

Behaviour
Ashe's behaviour is usually fairly quiet and reserved. She speaks in a quiet and calm voice, and rarely shows significant excitement on any topic (or at least, as compared to other, more exhuberant, staff members). Her demeanour is calm and happy most of the time, and about the only emotional expression that most will see from her is the surprise that everyone else doesn't 'get things' as quickly as she does.

Those who know Ashe more closely, however, know that she is fixated on precision, neatness and formality (the last of these I suspect comes from her noble upbringing). While not everyone sees this from her, Ashe is incredibly caring, to the point of being willing to share her research fund with those of her promising students who cannot afford to pay their fees or are having other financial trouble.

Ashe regularly expresses her (reserved) distaste for the less academic side of magical practice, often describing it as 'a waste of time' or 'not worth doing'. This is something she usually doesn't put forward around faculty members that don't share this opinion, but I'm sure this filters through eventually to those that are interested in hearing about it.

Captain's note: She's probably made a few enemies this way. Look into this further.