Aunt Margaret
July 6th, 2009
Long time partner to Ophelia Himmle in her endless quests to understand the nature of umbralites and the universe in general and the only League member privy to the intimate details of Ophelia’s mysterious “Avatar Project.” Though, this was mostly due to her habit of not muttering an excuse and running for cover whenever the League’s venerable leader appeared with a fist full of notes and a manic gleam in her eyes. It is popularly believed that it was over exposure to Ophelia’s pet project that finally induced her to leave the League and all but vanish from their knowledge.
Self-proclaimed historian and doily enthusiast, she holds the position of acting head of the League. A direct descendant of Lord Couch, she has amassed a great store of umbralitic artifacts in an attempt to unravel their unprofessionally muddled past.
Often called the Lady of Dust, she is one of the most accomplished haunters of the modern era. Something of an outrider to the League, she keeps to herself and her own errands. She is seen but rarely, most times in people’s attics. In fact, it was recently established that she was the original inspiration for the fabled Decrepit Curtains Spirit. She is also the only umbralite to become universally hated by the demented cleaning ladies, mostly due to her somewhat inconvenient effect on her surroundings.
The greatest hoodlum smiter of the 1960s; in a time when umbralites were beset on all sides by a seemingly never-ending flow of crazed young people, she brought the fear of the venerable decrepit back into many hearts. Even though she was wheelchair-ridden, she set out on a crusade to do battle with the dark alchemy that is the internal combustion engine, and armed with her patio umbrella, became a rolling night terror of the streets. She is, in fact, the original source for the expression, “tilting at drag racers,” which roughly means, “to serve the good of one’s fellow man because it is fun.” 
A renowned archeologist and medievalist, he stumbled upon the fact of League’s existence while pursuing his pet project, namely, the Holy Grail. The League was impressed by his natural talent and asked him to join; in return, they offered what information they had about Lord Couch’s involvement in that ancient quest. It was through his tracing of League history that the good doctor finally found the Grail, but it is for his later discoveries that he is honored by the greater portion of the Umbralites.
Perhaps the most powerful and mysterious umbralite in history, she simply breezed in one day and assumed leadership of the League. She bested the dire parrot Phooter and imprisoned his soul within her umbrella, bringing the psittacines back into their old alliances. She addressed the deteriorating power of governesses by instituting the Order of the Nannies to combat the spread of demon children. Her list of exploits, both confirmed and rumored, is truly vast.
Her real name is unknown, as are her origins. She was called “St. Paul’s Sentinel” by the local washerwomen, and “the Heart of London” by the vagrantory element. The only name she gave the League was “The Bird Woman.” In respect to all of which, the Avatar is recorded as remarking, “They all work in their own way, though the official version is more to the point. The first merely implies that she sits on the cathedral steps all day doing nothing in particular, which she does but that’s not the point. The second is a technically accurate, but misleading, metaphor. Unless, of course, it was made by someone with a separate circulatory system for their platelets, which they might, you never can tell.”
His unaccountable fixation with the principals of extra-aerodynamic flight resulted in many raised eyebrows over the years. For the most part considered a harmless eccentric by his colleagues at Oxford, he was mostly ignored by the scholarly world, which had learned early on that getting into technical conversations was injurious to one’s mental balance.