Sebastian Clay is not human. He claims to be an elf, but is in fact an animated suit of full plate armor.

He began his life over 350 years ago as the result of a spell designed to turn a suit of armor into a servant.

The wizard that created him originally used him to tend horses and as a body guard. Every now and then, he also had him cook a meal. Eventually, he decided to set him free, as a sort of experiment.

Knowing that life on his own would be difficult, to say the least, he asked his former master to teach him magic, so he might learn to repair himself when needed. After several years of study, he finally set out on his own.

Being a Gray Elf, his master is still alive, but he's getting old.

Believing that others would not understand and would likely mistreat him if they knew the truth, he chose to call himself Sebastion Clay and began pretending to be a gray elf. When he has to, he'll even pretend to eat and sleep.

If asked why he has a very human name, he'll respond that he was taken in by humans as a small child, because he'd been separated from his real parents. He'll further explain that it was difficult watching his "human parents" grow to old age in the span it took him to mature to adulthood. The story goes on that his "father" eventually found him and took him home.

If others ask him why he won't ever take his armor off, he'll "explain" that he's the victim of a terrible magical accident and that a kindly wizard enchanted a suit of armor to keep him alive. He ardently refuses help from any kind of healer, usually pretending to be too proud to accept it.

If anyone gets too inquisitive and/or forces him to "take the armor off," he'll use an illusion spell to produce an image of a horribly scarred elf, coughing and bleeding from the ears, eyes and nose to discourage them. He invariably says, "Don't make me take off my armor again. It hurts too much."

He's been a member of the Wizard's Guild for over sixty years, but has always refused to take on any kind of role greater than an Initiate. Through his association with the Guild, he has done quite a bit of research into the exact nature of mana. The result of this research is that he's become a living mana well. It's a difficult technique to master, but he's willing to teach anyone willing to pay for his time. He'll freely teach anyone that's a member of the Guild and is often asked to give lectures on this amazing talent.

He's been adventuring for over two-hundred years and is one of the founding members of the League of Adventurers. He is the only one still living out of the original members of the Hazard Harbingers. The rest have either died in action or retired from the field and eventually died of old age. The current governing council trusts him completely, as he did help train several of them.

Both Sebastion and his master are members of the Cult of Profit. Eventually, Sebastion himself became a priest of the religion.

It should be noted that Sebastion is the teacher of Gwen Bystrom of the Terrible Trio. She paid him quite a large sum to learn both magic and his techniques for mana regeneration. She surpassed his abilities very quickly, as she has a larger Energy Reserve and a higher level of Magery. They are good friends, having spent quite a lot of time studying together. Despite this, she does not know his secret.