Born in 1904, Algy's mother was a Welshwoman who fell in love with a dragon. This dragon was a forest dragon from Bulgaria, or a Zmey Gorianin, who sought her out in the shape of a man, the two marrying to live their lives. As is often common with the wives of zmey, Algy's mother isolated herself, dedicating all her energy to her husband and eventually their son. Algy's childhood was markedly lacklustre, the family not exactly poor, but living in isolation in the north of Wales. At the age of 10, when the war that they would eventually call the Great War started, Algy was relocated to an aunt in Pembroke. His father disappeared, avoiding being conscripted by the British army, and it was only later that Algy, then in his late teens found out his mother had wasted away without either of them there, dead by the time the war ended. At his aunt, he learnt of the mother's side of his family, all with blood from a great red Welsh dragon hundreds of years past–family legend said it was the one on the Welsh flag, but Algy dismisses that as fanciful thinking. It was as he hit puberty that Algy started to notice his heritage. Thankfully, he avoided getting wings under his arms, as was the Bulgarian habit, possibly the Welsh dragon blood saving him. Instead, bright red scales grew down his spine and framed his hips, eye-catching and noticeable. He also began producing smoke out of his nose and mouth, difficult to control as a youth, but he took up smoking to cover it. This changed much of how he behaved, turning up the charm and being overwhelmingly friendly and welcoming, all the while keeping people at a distance. They hardly noticed, as Algy was never openly rude of stand-offish. As a teenager, Algy had avidly watched the development of flying machines, his heritage making him long for flying and being in the air. As soon as he was old enough, he enlisted in the Royal Air Force. After the Great War, the RAF had its operations cut steeply, but Algy was still avid in the development of new air power and participated in the RAF actions in Iraq and other air operations in other areas within the British Empire. He took to flying with enthusiasm, learning the machines and anticipating the advance of the technology to accomplish even more than they already had. During a few months in Cairo, Algy met a local archaeologist, an enthusiastic and intelligent woman who caught his attention. It helped that she was devastatingly beautiful, what one might term a desert rose if such flowery language came naturally to Algy. She was a firebrand, defying expectations and the social mores of the time, pushing forward her work within Egyptology as best she could. Algy was taken by her, joining her expeditions since he was free from his RAF duties for a time. He made his appreciation clear but kept a respectful distance, but his tactics eventually worked. The two married, but Mariam remained in Egypt to continue her work, while Algy returned to her when he could. As the Second World War loomed, the RAF underwent a rapid expansion. Algy, at 35 years old, had already established himself in the ranks and was among those who pushed for a firm response to German actions in Europe. Throughout most of the war, Algy was on Bomber Command, participating in strategic bombing. He began in the Vickers Wellington, but their numbers were harshly cut down by superior German fighters. He served later in Bristol Blenheims, before going to the Avro Lancaster. When precision bombing was found ineffective, the RAF took to area bombing, almost guaranteeing civilian deaths, but to Algy and many others, it was necessary to end the war. Still, if he finds the time to think back, he regrets his role in the madness. Towards the end of the war, Algy's entire crew on his Avro Lancaster were KIA. He would've been dead too, if not for wings bursting out of his back, allowing for a shaky return to the cliffs of Dover and a slog back to base. That surprise of his heritage saved his life, but it would take a long time for him to get used to them. Near the end of the war, Algy received news that his wife Mariam had been killed during the North African campaign, with little other details. Last they'd spoken, however, she had told him of Germans with undue interest in supernatural artefacts of Egyptian origin, and her plans to make sure nothing fell into Axis hands. Based on his knowledge of her and the sort of situation that had erupted in North Africa at the time, he was more or less convinced she found her death at the hands of the Nazis. He mourned her, and is arguably still mourning her, but ultimately he wasn't allowed time to linger in his grief. After the war, Algy shifted to flying transport planes, the Avro York primarily, as it was almost identical to the Lancaster. He was involved in Operation Plainfire to supply Berlin behind the Iron Curtain but bounced around as the British Empire slowly shrank, rebellion after rebellion. As Algy neared his fifties in the 60s, he realised that while he [i]was[/i] aging, it wasn't as rapidly as those who were around his age. It was yet noticeable, he looked young for his 50s, but not outlandishly so. It seemed his career with the RAF was coming to an end. However, an old friend from the early day of the RAF linked up with him and offered a solution. He'd shift away from his current command and link directly with NATO. He'd be within the RAF still, but working actively with NATO. This led to a rather boring existence during the cold war, but this picked up after the revolutions in 1989 and NATO reevaluated their role. As NATO's role became more defined, Algy was among those who spearheaded the organisation of the military operations. When he could, he dipped into active participation, flying transports or anything else needed. Alongside this, Algy and a few others of a supernatural persuasion began putting together a task force that could address things that humans alone could not deal with. They tapped into the special forces of NATO's member countries: UKSF, NSFK, USSOCOM, FCOS, and many, many more. They identified those with the skills they needed, carefully selecting mundane humans they could risk revealing this world of myth and magic to and taking advantage of those who already knew, alongside other half-bloods or otherwise cursed individuals. Eventually, these turned into regular units, so long as they could convince the various commands to let them borrow the soldiers, or wound it into a NATO operation. Here, Algy's charm came in handy, able to convince many commanders to go without some of their soldiers. Algy often ran the risk of becoming quite possessive of these teams, leading them personally in many cases, or giving additional training. They were his people and the goal was to keep them alive to fight another day. Despite his seeming rank, he often kept close ties with them, sharing his extensive collection of alcohol when the moment was ripe and sharing war stories when they needed distractions or stealth pep talks. Decades of work went into this, but eventually, Algy was weighted down enough by his near-century of fighting and loss. He retired, passing on the operations to someone else and effectively retiring. He wasn't at loose ends for long, being directed to the curious town of Easthaven by a colleague and informed by another that one of his old soldiers had found herself in the town. He focused first on establishing himself, putting together a flight school on an airstrip a distance outside of the city and advertising lessons and air-tours, as well as some flights.