Arris is well known in Chimeria house and beyond for his love of Metamagiphysics, a passion that at times can be a little out of control. However, he seems to be on some form of scholarship that involves Divination, indeed he seems to be a favourite experimental subject of certain professors for reasons that are not entirely clear.

When he first arrived, it was clear he was a little strange, only having occasional lucid spells where he was “normal”. As the first year progressed these spells came to dominate, but he can often still be found going off on various insane tangents, or wondering off into the deep halls of the university babbling to himself in what you might swear was another language.

arris_toe_crat@education.chaosdeathfish.com

Immediately following 'The Event' Arris petitioned the University Headmaster to allow him to go on the first mission of the dimension ship. He was allowed to take a year in the field as part of his course (for extra credit) and by all accounts he put it to extremely good use. His initial route traced back the path the University had taken, studying the impact of the University's passage not only on the worlds it had landed in but on the very fabric of reality as it tore its way through. From this he was able to study the gaps between dimensions and the kind of things that lived there.

This had two effects; the first was his discovery that it was going to be unlikely that binding the inter-dimensional creature that had his magic bound would do much good however he theorised that beating the stuffing out of it might be sufficient to get it to release him and his companions - which he duly did; the second was his discovery of an inter dimensional creature that didn't want to kill, twist or enslave him… in fact it seemed to want to make friends.

Given his experience of such creatures in the past, Arris approached this new creature, calling its self The Scribe of Forever, with a healthy dose of suspicion and scepticism. However after several months of The Scribe not betraying him, his inquiring mind began to wonder at the possibilities of what a willing and cooperative entity like The Scribe would be able to achieve by way of enabling the linking of more than three spells. This was a question he pondered for a long time, still wary in case The Scribe was playing the long game. Arris returned to the university to complete his degree before joining the dimension ship full time. During Arris' studies, The Scribe remained present and continued to not betray him, even joining the crew of the Dimension Ship along with him. Exactly why The Scribe seemed so intrigued with Arris was forever a mystery but perhaps the attraction of a mind that was as inquiring as its own, and the obvious practical benefit of protection that Arris could offer (having already beaten up several nastier dimensional creatures) were sufficient for it to hang around.

During his voyages he began to pick up his interest in divination once more on the basis that it could have a very real and practical value during the otherwise fairly unpredictable and often dangerous journeys that the dimension ship went on. The nature of pre-destination (nor not!) and the paradoxical effects of knowing and therefore being able to influence your own future meant that divination was almost always a 'best guess' of which branch of the tree you were going to take and what effect that would have. Increased complexity, as seen in the hall of mirrors, allowed more branches to be viewed at once and more options to be considered, however it was all still just guess work. The apparent 'warnings from the future' not being time travel per se (although it appeared later that others had decided to takle that particular problem) but future echoes speaking of predicted possibilities.

After several years travelling on the Dimension ship with the new 'Toecrat Oracular prediction system' (or TOPS) in place, journeys of the dimension ship became much safer and danger was now rarely unanticipated even if not avoided. In the tenth year of its existence, the TOPS system detected an unavoidable and almost certain (to 99% probability) catastrophe to its internal systems related to its next jump regardless of destination or timing. Arris and The Scribe were on board at the time and were able to ascertain that there was no mistake with TOPS, whatever was about to occur would be catastrophic and probably destroy the ship, everyone on it and do significant damage not only to the current dimension but to countless others nearby in the multiverse. After careful thought, Arris determined that the most likely cause was a significant weakening and twisting of the fabric of reality, like a spiders web with a dimensional creature at the centre. One more powerful than anyone from the University had encountered before just waiting for something to trigger its trap.

There was one small slim chance at survival, to defeat the creature head on. But the ship was ill equipped for such an assault. Arris, realising there was one option open to them, had to trust The Scribe and ask it to mediate a four way link spell between himself and three others on board the crew at the time. It was incredibly dangerous, the power of the spider was great and even though they had known each other for years Arris was not entirely sure he could trust The Scribe but there was no other option. The Scribe agreed to the request and fours spells of four wizards were linked together willingly for the first time in known history.

The Dimension ship returned to The University, battered and somewhat broken, but with all crew alive and well. The memories of what exactly happened were hazy amongst those who were there, but it seems that an immense amount of power was released towards the creature even as the ship was drawn into its trap. Some spoke of bright lights, others of impossible shapes in the sky, still others of the feeling of being trapped in an infinite loop for an eternity and for a moment all at the same time. Whatever happened, it worked and allowed the safe return of the ship. For those directly involved it had taken its toll however. Arris seemed shaken although exhilarated by the experience, his mind clearly contemplating the ramifications of what had occurred. The Scribe on the other hand was very much drained by the effort, remaining weaked by the experience for several months afterwards. Clearly maintaining such a powerful link was not to be undertaken lightly but together they had shown that it could be done, safely and with great effect!