Balentine Riach Omnibus

Whether he is actually insane or not is up for debate, but it's pretty clear that Balentine Omnibus lives almost entirely in his own head. He was born to an affluent family in Baron and bounced from one prestigious private school to another throughout his early schooling. He developed a nasty habit of pissing off instructors by being more intelligent than they and subsequently proving them wrong.

Before completing a degree at the University of Maranda, he took a "vacation" with his roommate, then Crown Prince Carlos Bichass. Due to unrest in the kingdom of Roan, Carlos's father summoned him home. When they arrived, however, the elder Bichass had been assassinated, and Carlos ascended the throne. Omnibus then assumed an informal position of court inventor, and chased a few skirts (including the young king's sister.)

While in Roan, Omnibus completed the design of his "Flat Earth Drive," also called the Omnibus Drive and later retooled as the far less efficient Manx Drive (with Omnibus and his original plans gone, nobody was capable of replicating the intricity of the original.) With the Omnibus Drive installed on three ships, the Nena, the Kupo and the Santa Claus, Omnibus left on a shakedown cruise to prove the viability of the drive. He hasn't been heard from since, aside from a brief message passed to Keaton Error through Isobel.

His inventions, however, and their designs, litter the Web, creating all manner of havoc when they surface from time to time.