brian_mongfish@education.chaosdeathfish.com
Life in Pyria is slow and sedate, and on first meeting Brian it's obvious why it wasn't the place for him. He is the kind of student that no lecturer wants - never satisfied with an incomplete answer, and finding almost every answer simply asks more questions. His childhood was spent competing with his sister Lavender to prove who was the smarter, but has recently become frustrated that she's more interested in boys than the far more interesting pursuits of Science!
“I can't help thinking it must have been difficult for Mum. Dad was often off for long periods of time an although she knew he'd always be safe, that didn't stop him being gone for months at a time. Not that she'd show it of course, very relaxed is our Mum. She and Dad met at university - they were both involved in the Incident and I guess that kind of shaped them, after all mum joined the Dimension Fleet and Dad… well… Dad did science. Endless science. To everything.”
- Percy Tallywhacker-Mongfish. Son of Tally and Brian
Brian Mongfish understood the importance of safety and despite his thirst for knowledge it is indiciative of this concern that the first thing he worked on following the return of the University after the Incident was a way to more permanently tether himself to the regenerating facilities of the infirmary, such that no matter where he ended up or what he did, he would always come home safe and sound.
Building on the work he, Aris and the rest of the 'Science Club' had undertaken during the Incident, he began working on construction of a series of inter-dimensional levers. Working on the basis that a single lever could 'unhook' you from your current dimension and send you catapulting towards your 'home' dimension as if attached to it by elastic, Brian created a network of levers that allowed him to fling himself from dimension to dimension, 'catching' on various dimensions he passed on his way home to allow him some control over his travel. Despite the success of this method of transportation it proved to be somewhat tiring on the traveller (motion sickness and whiplash being common complaints) and transport on the dimension ship was generally agreed to be a far more comfortable method of exploration. Never the less the construction of the dimension harness allowed Brian to explore far more independently than if he had been limited to the ship alone.
With his practical experience it was only natural that he should become a leading figure within the metamagiphysics field and, along with Li Esvelt, he became one of the youngest doctors to obtain tenure at the University. It is a matter of some debate who was the most eminent dimensional theorist of the age out of the two young doctors, the inability for anyone else to understand the details of what either were saying a key factor, however this incomprehensibility was generally taken as a sign of genius amongst the scientific community.
Somehow between all the scientific research, Brian married Tally although it is widely rumoured that it took the combined efforts of all their friends and family and finally Brian's sister's ability to create portals, to ensure that both bride and groom turned up to the ceremony on time. Against the odds of them being in the same dimension at the same time, Brian and Tally had a number of children, all fiercely inquisitive and interested in science.
In the last year before his disappearance, Prof. Mungfish made a number of startling scientific breakthroughs. The first were a series of fundamental laws governing the interaction of magic with the universe, the second was the discovery of the 'Thaum', the smallest unit of Magic.
After his discovery of the Thaum, Prof. Mungfish's behaviour became more erratic. Despite his age (by this point he was 83), he had maintained his vigour through the judicious use of mangos, but he appeared to become more and more agitated with regard to the implications of the 'Thaum'. He was last seen in his lab moments before there was an immense explosion from within. He did not reappear in the infirmary and no sign of his remains were found in his lab. His notebooks suggest that he had been debating how exactly to monitor the de-constitution of the Thaum as he had already determined to undertake that particular experiment, and that he was very close to doing so. Also found amongst the wreckage of the lab was a strange device composed of Gindrogac (highly unstable) with a single button on it. His notes suggest that not only had he created the device while he slept, he was also unsure of the result of pressing the button despite careful study of the device. From those who knew him it seems unlikely he will have refrained from pressing it for long.
Whether Brian disappeared due to the device or due to trying to take apart the smallest unit of magic is not known but he has not returned to the infirmary or the University in over five years so it is suspected he is still alive somewhere in the multiverse… doing science to it!