Character History

   As a boy, Keith was always inspired by science fiction movies such as Short Circuit and Weird Science, but none moreso than Explorers, in which a group of boys build a spaceship from an old Tilt-a-Whirl car. One of his favourite games to play with his friends was to drape sheets from his top bunk of his bunk bed and use his mechano sets to make a space ship. Although while his friends took on the names of various GI Joes and wrestlers and only wanted to fight the aliens they met, what Keith wanted most was to meet them and to talk to them. While his friends used building toys to make guns, he built translation devices.

    Keith loved all things relating to outer space, and took it upon himself to learn all he could of the skills he might need as an astronaut. He begged his parents to enroll him in all sorts of extracurricular courses, and although most programs offered for children of his age were physical, such as karate, sailing, and swimming, he did get a few that were more stimulating, like children's' introduction courses into computers and robotics.

    This 'shotgun' approach to learning carried through to high school, where Keith took a hearty interest in gym, science, and shop. At first the only course he didn't value was social studies, although that changed when the course's focus narrowed to Canadian history, rather than global history. Keith had always been a little patriotic, perhaps due to the fact that his father was a lieutenant commander in the Royal Canadian Navy, but once he learned more about Canada, how it was formed and the philosophies that shaped its character, the pride he felt for his country grew immensely. He went out of his way to learn more about some of the things his country had brought to the world, from simple yet handy devices such as snowmobiles and paint rollers to wonderful, complex devices like the Canada Arm and and the Candu reactor.

    Of course, all of his studies took time, and he wound up staying in high school for an extra semester while his friends went on to university. Once he had finished his studies he found a job in a repair shop in his hometown of Victoria. It was there that Yvette-Marie Carnot found him discussing some modifications he had made to a friend's CD player. She immediately saw his potential and, under the guise of a professor from a French university, convinced Keith to fly to Paris with her. She took Keith to the Great Hall, where he saw an Englishman and a Texan arguing over which of their countries produced the best scientists. Keith interjected, trying to persuade them that Canada produced the best scientists, and although both men were impressed by his knowledge of national statistics and philosophies, neither would be swayed. As an example, Keith brought up the Avro Arrow, for which both English and American technologies had been turned down, and had become an aircraft so advanced that only recently had the aircraft industry begun to catch up. However, Texan countered that they had all been destroyed, and so it had come to nothing in the end.

    "You are mistaken," Yvette-Marie interrupted, "one still exists!" She took Keith through a door and into the Gernsbeck Continuum, and his eyes grew large as he saw a world he had only dreamed of. Yvette-Marie led Keith to a hangar filled with strange aircraft and rocket ships, and at the very back, Keith saw a shape he recognized from old pictures and newsreels. He walked toward the fighter plane in awe, and reached out to touch the cool metal of the Arrow's skin. As he did so, he felt as if something in his mind which had been unplugged all his life was finally connected, and he realized that just by touching the outside of the plane, he could feel all of it, where every wire led and how much solder was on the connections, where every bolt was and how tight they all were, how much fuel was in it, everything.

    After Keith's epiphany, he was inducted into the Sons of Ether, and began tutelage under Yvette-Marie. He learned more than he ever dreamed possible, but he missed his homeland, and when his introductory studies were over, he returned to Canada.

Terms for people unfamiliar with Mage: the Ascension

Great Hall: this is one of the Sons of Ether's largest gathering places.

Gernsbeck Continuum: a dimension only accessible from the Great Hall, in which a 50's post-modern future exists, the laws of reality having been warped accordingly.

Sons of Ether: a group of mages who use Victorian science to focus their magic.