Most researchers take a very slow, methodical approach to their studies, carefully changing one variable at a time and recording every boring result. You, however, take a far more proactive approach, often to unearthly—or even explosive—results. This disturbing, unconventional, or dangerous undertaking may have cost you friends, respect, and even a digit or two. Perhaps you conducted your experiments in secret because of the stigma attached to your field of study, or maybe you joyfully invited the entire academy to view your ongoing work.

You seek the treasures of empires long vanished. The world’s dungeons are brimming with lost secrets and artifacts of unimaginable power—and they belong in a museum, or at least in your living room. While others call you a tomb robber, you consider yourself an archaeologist, a collector, or an explorer.

Are you associated with a wizards’ college or institute of higher learning, or are you a private collector? Are you an idealist or a profiteer? What is the one relic or piece of knowledge that you’d trade anything to find?

You are a seeker of the world’s truths and an expert in your chosen field, with esoteric knowledge at your fingertips, or at the farthest, in a book you vaguely remember.

Why have you left the confines of the library to explore the wider world? Do you seek ancient wisdom? Power? The answer to a specific question? Reinstatement in your former institution? 

You might be a criminologist on the city payroll, a public prosecutor, part of a military tribunal, or a private amateur whom the local authorities rely on to help solve crimes. Consider what case might have most affected you, and whether you are still in contact with any of the victims or perpetrators.

You were a member of a sinister cult. You performed ancient rites found in forbidden tomes, seeking to empower a fiend, a false god, or a terrible being from a strange and distant realm. 

Why did you leave the cult? Did you come to recognize the emptiness of its promises of power? Did you witness horrors that shook your faith? Or do you still nurture its dark edicts in your heart?

You are skilled enough in a trade to make a comfortable living and to aspire to mastery of your art. Yet here you are, ready to slog through mud and blood and danger.

Why did you become an adventurer? Did you flee a cruel master? Were you bored? Or are you a member in good standing, looking for new materials and new markets?

Though most eyes look to the future, the past fascinates you, and you have found wisdom in exploring the ruins of civilizations that fell to disaster, or that gave birth to today’s world. Foremost in the public’s consciousness are the prehistoric orcs known as the Ancients, who left massive stone edifices, fantastic golden treasures, and little else. But you might also study the Demonocracy, the brief philosopher state of Pala, pre-Malice Elfaivar, the magically unstable ruins of Methia, or any of the multitude of obscure peoples of the past.