Captain Hugh Somersby

Alias: The Man Who Forgot the Sky
Origin: Kent, 1922
Age When Taken: 42 (now appears 45)
Current Age: 145 (Chronological)


Before Captivity:

A decorated veteran of the Royal Flying Corps, Hugh Somersby survived the Great War by relying on instinct more than command. After the Armistice, he turned to quieter work, managing balloon rides and air displays at Kentish fairs. On a calm spring day in 1922, he launched a solo ascent to check weather rigging. Ground crews reported no wind—but the balloon rose, jerked upward once, and vanished. His tether burned to ash in mid-air.


In Faylinn:

Hugh was pulled into the Aerial Fold—a liminal, airless expanse where the sky curled like fabric and gravity failed to obey reason. He navigated islands of memory, stitched with regret and starlight, guided only by feelings of weight and loss. In that realm, he mapped sorrow by inclination and dreamed of escape routes written in windless constellations. There were others, too—silent pilots in crafts made of ideas and birdsong. He became one of them, until the Fold let go.


After Return:

He crashed through the glass dome of an abandoned conservatory in Dover during a storm in 1935, his uniform unweathered, parachute unopened. Official reports listed him as “an unidentified airman.” FDG agents intercepted before burial.

He now works in low-light environments within FDG’s Spatial Disruption Unit, where he consults on distortions in dimensional geometry. He refuses to fly. Sometimes he stares out windows for hours and says, “The sky is listening again.”


Scars:

  • Boots leave no footprints on certain surfaces, especially polished floors
  • Points out constellations no one else recognizes
  • Occasionally experiences “lightfall events”—brief moments where gravity seems to fail him
  • Describes altitude in emotional terms: “Today feels like 6,000 feet of loneliness”
Faylinn Defence Group - Britannia's defence against the faerie realms