Alda Arkin

Doctor Alda Arkin was a retired Crossborn professor in Cliffsunder, where she was born and raised. Her mother, an Elf from Ardhon Miniel, disappeared during her childhood, and a rather absent relationship with her noble Human father led Alda herself to disappear into books. Cold and astute, she entered the Whiteharbour Academy and became an academic teaching natural history. She taught at the Academy for over a half-century, before leaving her post a history professor to become the curator for the Cliffsunder Museum of Natural History.

Doctor Arkin was responsible for the museum's close ties with the local anthropological and academic circles. As the museum was desperately underfunded, she kept staff low, even occasionally working the tills herself; when searching for guards, she paid cheap rates, often finding random dockworkers at the Grandport and offering them jobs. To keep the museum funded, she held many auctions of famous artifacts, inviting the elite of Upper Cliffsunder to purchase any rare finds.

One of these was the Murkmire Stone, which Doctor Cassee Dannel was desperate to get back. However, when the Doctor snuck into the Museum after-hours to steal the stone, Alda caught her while working late. She approached the local universities and had Cassee fired.