When Keenan Lane needed to have something 'built' in Paragon, he'd wondered how best to approach translating his existing other-dimension home into blueprints. Fortunately for him, he ran into an extraordinarily powerful mage who was 'slumming it' in Paragon: Jake Alabaster.

Jake had a widely known reputation among magic-users of certain groups, and it was that reputation that led Lane to talk to him about this project. They worked together for several months, hashing out designs and locations. In the end, Lane bought some appropriate property in Salamanca - also known as Croatoa because of the occasional ghost infestations - and Alabaster set about 'building'.

Jake's talents surprise even Lane. Perhaps the power is akin to Lane's own learning to shapeshift with greater ease: whatever power it is, it flows very well in this dimension. Alabaster took not only the raw lih, the Vortal power that Lane could provide him, but memories of the place he wanted to build, and put them together into a physical, actual location.

Essence of Vortessence is that location, detailed on its own page.

Alabaster and Lane reached some form of payment plan, though neither of them will speak of it. It's very likely that it involves further power use or 'battery power' from Lane, for Alabaster's personal use.

As a person, Alabaster is reasonably quiet and certainly soft-spoken, unless there's professional interdimensional softball involved. (He owns a pro level team called Alabaster's Gems, and also sponsors a team consisting of dragons.) It is very clear that Alabaster is remarkably intelligent, and that his magical talents are both innate and educated. In his work for Carramba High, he serves to promote their Magic Studies department, though what he might actually teach there is unclear. He could probably instruct most courses on summoning, pocket space creation, and teleportation with ease.

Though he seems to be too quiet for some activities, Jake is quite the party animal at times. He has a very... colorful past involving [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] but no one got hurt so there's no official records. He speaks with a distinct "so-cal" drawl, often using terms like 'tubular' and 'radical'.

All in all, Alabaster is a relaxed sort who enjoys his job, and enjoys the attention he has gotten for helping to create Lane's mansion. He doesn't seek the spotlight, otherwise.