Ashmanning, Malinveer J.

Sir Malinveer J. Ashmanning was, along with Harrican Syldanade, a member of the Farthingside Brotherhood of Explorers, which held monthly meetings at Farthingside Gentleman's Club in Clampwych.

Sir Ashmanning was frequently incensed by Mr. Syldanade's outlandish tales of adventure, characterizing them as "...poppycock and balderdash! Fairy stories fit only for children and the mentally infirm." It is said that, during Mr. Syldanade's oration describing his discovery of, and adventures within, the Lost City of K'Rozh, Sir Ashmanning strode furiously from the room shouting "I've never heard such a demented crock of horseshit!" (He later amended this statement, saying "Not since the last time Syldanade returned from an expedition, anyway.")

Though few of Harrican Syldanade's claims were ever proven true within his lifetime (and many not even today), what evidence did surface to back Syldanade's stories invariably galled Sir Ashmanning -- though not as much as the frequency with which Syldanade was awarded the Brotherhood's Explorer of the Year medallion. As a result of this, the two men became great rivals, engaging in frequent contests, challenges, and wagers. Much is written, for example, of their race to be the first to circumnavigate the Needle Moon of Firth, or to be the first to return to Farthingside with a member of the Hidden Tribe.

Sir Ashmanning was killed in May of 1727, when his experimental glyphship, the Queen Mathilda, dissolved off the coast of Perlguneer. At the man's funeral, Harrican Syldanade gave the following eulogy:


 * "Sir Malinveer Ashmanning and I were never what one would term 'friends', but every great man must have a great rival. 


 * "Moreso than any other man of Terra, Sir Ashmanning drove me to find the unfindable, name the unnameable, and tame the untameable. Without the pressure of this esteemed colleague, it is doubtless that I would not be the man I am today.


 * "Though he never bested me in any of our little contests, I hope he will find solace in the fact that he will be the first of us to explore the Kingdom of Heaven. 


 * "...Assuming, that is, that said Kingdom does not turn out to be a small planetoid in the Gala-212 cluster from which I've just returned. I rather suspect that it might."