Hauke "Hew" Lichthart

Backstory

A Wayward Wizard

Twenty years ago, Hew washed ashore with nothing but his name and a trove of calligraphy knowledge. He knew of how to derive the high-quality inks, create the parchment and bindings necessary for a spellbook, and had a knack for accurately copying over notes from one spellbook to another. Using this knowledge and the trove of magic-hungry wizards in Closter, Hew rebuilt his life and amassed a small fortune, allowing him to live like a noble.

Hew's calling was in spellbooks and magic. In his previous life, he was a cloistored scholar, preferring the treasure troves of knowledge tomes had to the unaccepting world outside. He kept copies of customer's spellbook in his personal library, albeit their own quirks and charms made each unusable for Hew. And in the process of making spellbooks for people, Hew amassed enough spell knowledge to make his own book, although the hassle of reading an incantation bothered Hew. So instead, he developed his own form of artificing by casting spells through glyphs. 

Lycanthropy's Never a Blessing

Being a werewolf is romanticized as some simple physical boon, with the horrors of killing innocents being diminished and shoved to the side. This couldn't be further from the truth.

Before he arrived in Closter, Hew was inflicted with lycanthropy by a werewolf. Every month when the full moon was out, Hew transformed into a gruesome monster that indiscriminately attempted to slaughter any living being. The first time, Hew awoke in the morning with blood covering his body and his clothes shredded. This jarring change of scenery and the knowledge that he had taken a life frightened him, but what was more traumatizing was the second time, when it felt less jarring. Hew didn't want to get used to killing people.

No wonder it was easier to beat someone into submission than to pulverize them with a spell.

These days, Hew tries to invade bandit camps on the night of the full moon, as the lives of bandits, in his opinion, pale in comparison to the civilians of Closter. But Hew still desired a cure, and he decided that becoming a Delver was the only way to find his cure. But with nobody other than his party for company, who knew how his next full moon would go?

Into the Depths

At some point, enough was enough. Hew maintained a springy and carefree life, trying to ignore his lycanthropy. But when his werewolf half came out on the full moon, it caused endless issues. Due to his miscalculations, Hew's rampage one time caused him to destroy the kitchen of an all-you-can-eat buffet. Thankfully, no lives were lost, but Closter was beginning to catch on that there was a werewolf loose.

Hew needed a cure. And since commissions scouring Vere didn't come up on anything, Hew was left with one single choice: abandon his cushy life and the aristocratic everyday comforts to delve into the dungeons.

Skills

Miscellaneous

Glyph Artificer

Given a wizard spell from a spellbook that Hew has intimate knowledge of, he can carve that spell into a small stone tablet in the form of a glyph. This tablet then can be cast by anybody without any magical components, creating the same effect as the wizard spell. Natural wind erosion and friction from containers renders these glyphs unusable after a day, meaning that Hew needs to use the glyphs quickly after carving them.

He can have his abilities active on either himself or someone else, never both. This style of artificing also allows Hew to own a spellbook that he can put spells into. In a pinch, he can cast a spell from his spellbook, however, his lack of patience causes a spell to take three times as long to cast, as careless mistakes cause Hew to have to repeat his incantation repeatedly.

Those who are close with him are free to borrow his abilities for dungeon-delving purposes.

Matters of the Self (Personality)

These days, Hew prefers to study passive spells. In a way, this predilection is a reflection of the type of person Hew is, as well as the privilege that he holds. Hew is not one for violence. Sure, the act of killing someone is undeniable as it flows in Hew's blood, but Hew does not let it control him. To Hew, right and wrong was not just something to observe, it was a moral guideline to follow, and violence was generally immoral. Rather than resort to vigilantism whenever one of his products gets stolen, Hew always calls upon Begonia to assist him. And the fact that he gets to work on buff spells means is a testament that he didn't consider his life as being in danger, before dungeon-delving, that was.

Indeed, Hew's life settled in such a rhythm that he doesn't need things like spirits to wind down a day. He is the embodiment of a stress-free lord, with a playfully posh accent and gently whimsical way of conducting himself. However, like a wizard who's meticulously read through and earmarked an entire library, Hew is inflated with hubris. Ironically though, he could hardly find the patience to sit down and commit spells into memory, hence the need for glyphs.

Fun Facts

Hew plays the cello. He laments that his house's acoustics are insufficient for the sound to travel well due to his largest room being his library.

His favorite tea is Earl Gray. It is the only thing that he is good at making. The last time he tried to make rice for Gou, he turned it into congee with the amount of water he used. His favorite food is Côte de Boeuf.

In business, Hew enjoys bartering as a sport. He is willing to let go with a good price if someone is good at bartering, and sometimes when he's bored he'll give his tutelage in bartering to a fellow wizard.

He has a pet snake named Henry.

Hew shares the same playlist as Sebastian Se. He was influenced by a TCF character that was never used, and his glyphs came from a personalized 3.5e prestige class called the Terran Alchemist, which is not something I own.