Colton Scott Gray [Finished]

[attr="class","appcontent2"]Colton is described as a very blunt, forward man - or as many of the young people call him, "an asshole." To Colton, any lie - no matter how small - is doing that person a disservice. "Truth above all else" he'll say...even if that truth could end the lives of thousands, he will see it as saving millions later on. That is to say, he is not a heartless man. His centuries have taught him that lives do matter, at least most do, and he will not hesitate to help someone in need...provided he is capable of remedying the problem at hand. While his bluntness does not lend itself to diplomacy, that does not mean he won't try. If he is capable of talking a foe down, he will, and derives no joy in killing someone not inherently evil like Necromancers. 

Colton believes strongly in "freedom of information." He despises secrets, and believes all - young or old, mature or not - should be able to learn whatever it is they choose...even the darker tones of magic and the supernatural, so long as the purpose is to know how to defend oneself against it. As a result, he loves to pore over books regarding necromancy - or any magic, really. Being a Magi gives him the inherent thirst to learn anything he can about magic and as an extention, anything else. He has a strong love for the heavens - even producing a few papers on physical models - and idolizes those who have given the many incredible breakthroughs in understanding the world around him like Darwin, Marie Curie, Heisenberg, and Einstien - who are just some of the photos that line his office walls at the University.

Colton prefers to remain out of the spotlight, however, and is a consequence of the necessity that his Magi ancestry remain secret. He has always detested the "silly, incessant cloak and dagger" of his race and is very thankful that in recent years they have made themselves known to the public. As such, with no more reason to hide, his use of magic has increased dramatically. Oftentimes, he uses simple illusionary cantrips to teach his class and display the effects of collisions and star supernovae using these - like holorgrams.

[attr="class","appcontent2"]Born from two Magi, Jason and Stephanie Gray, in Jamestown, Virginia Colton spent his childhood in the relative peace of the early American - then-English colony. Around the age of thirteen, his magic began to come to the surface and oddly enough, he had inherited his mother's knack for Ice magic. Unfortunately, the horrors of the Salem Witch Trials had been spreading south since its inception and many people in the colony came to suspect the family of Satanic dealings. Just before he turned fourteen, Colton and his parents were forced to leave after hearing word that the local populace wanted to see them hanged. In the dead of night, they left the colony and decided to eke out a living closer to the west, where fewer people had dared go for fear of the 'savage' native americans who were becoming more and more upset with the colonial expansion. Thankfully, the Iroquois people let them be after a display of Jason's fiery magic, making the local tribe think him similar to one of their Gods. Occasionally, they'd wake up to animals sacrificed on their land as a tribute - but the family showed no positive or negative reaction and instead preferred to quietly live their life.

It was not for another ten years that the family made contact with another civilized society beyond the odd 'road trip' to civilization for supplies. Westward expansion proved to move faster than the family once thought, and while it was not a bad thing, they were wary of Humans due to their hostile nature toward magic and things unknown. Remaining where they were, they soon became part of a small farming town located on the border of Ohio and West Virginia, sitting on the outskirts. Around Colton's twenty-fifth year, he decided to try and live out on his own and left his parent's homestead to explore the more developed cities to the east. He eventually settled down on the south end of Deleware and apprenticed himself to a blacksmith to make a little money while his true passions lie in the magic he wielded. Finding other Magi was not too difficult, and he joined a small community located near his town of residence not a year after settling down. 

His mentor passed away of natural causes roughly ten years later, leaving Colton to run the shop he owned which only expanded his ability to practice his magic in secret. He turned part of the shop into a makeshift shooting range as a means of honing his skills with the daggers he crafted and the ice he wielded. Unfortunately, people began to notice how little Colton aged compared to others. Children became adults around him, and yet he looked the same. Over time, talk of deals with the devil came up and he faced yet another brush with death when a radical Catholic set fire to his shop in the dead of night. Believed to have died in the fire, he instead had teleported himself to an old camping spot in the woods. Now, he understood why his parents avoided living in cities. The following years, he spent as a pseudo-nomad, staying in one city no more than five years. 

Patriotism was never part of Colton's life, and he cared very little for the supposed "Revolutionary" war that came near the end of the century. At the first sign of battle approaching, he fled to the north, unwilling to spill his own blood for what he perceived as a 'stupid cause.' Still, as independence came and the first American government formed, he felt more at ease. Everyone was more focused on getting the new 'country' in order, so his use of Magic went very easily hidden from the outside world. He felt more comfortable staying in one place, around the time close to modern-day New York City, at least until word spread of the new expansion granted by the French - the Louisiana Purchase. Curious, the Magi decided to leave and move West, stopping only to visit his parents, who now lived a few miles north of their original home.

For many decades, Colton remained in the central part of the United States, preferring the northern states to the south. He strongly opposed the slavery to the south, feeling sympathetic to the enslaved people. Over time, the building tension broke out into what became known as the Civil War. While he did not take part, Colton did set up a small blacksmithing shop in southern Illinois and assisted those following the Underground Railroad to escape their bonds, even fighting off a few slave hunters that had traveled north in search of their "property." This marked the first time he ended another human's life, and he felt remarkably...satisfied. He buried the men unceremoniously in the mountains and closed down his shop, moving South to see what he could do to help further, often posing as a slave hunter to find and help escapees to the north in a more active approach. He became known to slavers as "the Godless" for his actions, as he typically burned the bibles of those he killed in the pursuit of freedom.

As the Civil War came to a close, Colton ended his vigilantism and moved back north, wanting to get away from the sickening racism plaguing the southern states. He lived peacefully in the New England area for many years, taking up several odd-jobs before settling on a small news printing company, working the printing press. With his return to more...civilized company, he found a local sect of Magi and quickly made friends in the group, who all helped each other remain hidden. It was here he learned a minor glamour trick to make him appear older, allowing him to remain in one place for much longer without worry of being discovered. Unfortunately, as the world around him became more and more modern, he was required to have documentation he simply never owned. Birth certificates, social security numbers, personal identification - it became much harder to hide.

Other Magi also had this issue, solved usually by forging copies of more important documents to satisfy the local population. Such forgeries allowed him to attend a proper school, for once, located in southern New York State. While he had always liked numbers, he was given an entirely new outlook on the mathematics of the world and quickly became interested in astronomy as a result, studying the works of Newton and Galileo and various other astronomers both past and present, and graduated around the time Einstein began to take the field by storm. This new "golden age" of astrophysics proved to be one of the best times to break out into the field, and Colton enjoyed many years of studying and practicing the theories of Relativity and Atoms at Yale University located in southern Connecticut.

The prolonged lifespan of Magi did get in the way, and he was forced to relocated to the southern states for a few years, but eventually moved back to Massachusetts in the 1950's, where he has lived ever since. His ability to appear naturally aging helped, allowing Colton to remain in hiding as a simple Astrophysics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In recent years, with the Magi coming out to the public, he has revealed himself as well. The school kept Colton on their staff, both to show their  appreciation for his many years served at the institute and as a test to see if a nonhuman could be an effective teacher.

He spends his time now quietly teaching at the University and, on his off-time, instructing new up and coming Magi... or hunting down local Necromancers.