I have decided that the Savoulain expy's name is Nathan, short for Nathaniel. except that whenever the good doctor refers to him it's with his full first name and a not-entirely-fair amount of exasperation. the letters he writes back to Nathan are 10% insulting him, 20% insulting Summerset, 40% expounding on the evils of the upper class, and 30% deeply detailed and genuinely thoughtful answers to Nathan's questions and theories regarding the Correspondence. they are at least 5 pages long, not counting the books he sends alongside them.

Nathan's letters, meanwhile, never cease to be polite and kind, as if he's writing to a friend. he describes his own research on the scholarly paradigm of the Correspondence in great detail, from his theories to the everyday happenings of his studies. he engages with Dr. Ashveil's theories with both respect and curiosity, asking questions and probing weak points with no trace of malice. often he sends books of his own.

and the good doctor, of course, drops everything to reply whenever he gets a letter.

I have gone from "what if Nathan invited the good doctor to translate a box of sunlight with him" to "what if I wrote a whole thing in the style of an in-game storyline where you get to play queerplatonic matchmaker to these two"

I have decided that the Savoulain expy's name is Nathan, short for Nathaniel. except that whenever the good doctor refers to him it's with his full first name and a not-entirely-fair amount of exasperation. the letters he writes back to Nathan are 10% insulting him, 20% insulting Summerset, 40% expounding on the evils of the upper class, and 30% deeply detailed and genuinely thoughtful answers to Nathan's questions and theories regarding the Correspondence. they are at least 5 pages long, not counting the books he sends alongside them.

Nathan's letters, meanwhile, never cease to be polite and kind, as if he's writing to a friend. he describes his own research on the scholarly paradigm of the Correspondence in great detail, from his theories to the everyday happenings of his studies. he engages with Dr. Ashveil's theories with both respect and curiosity, asking questions and probing weak points with no trace of malice. often he sends books of his own.

and the good doctor, of course, drops everything to reply whenever he gets a letter.

on the topic of the good doctor being German - I think he doesn't have a German accent, per se.

• he has a knack for languages. I feel like he knows French and Latin at the very least, possibly others? he was University Educated.
• plus also he's been living in London for some decades
• he studies the Forbidden Language That Sets You On Fire, and that includes speaking it - so his ability to make precise sounds with the right emphases is very good.

I feel like if there's anything unusual about his speech, it actually comes from studying said Forbidden Flaming Language, not from having German as his native language. it's the kind of thing that just worms into your brain. there's no easily-comprehensible pattern to how the sound of it works, but it bleeds into his English regardless - the way he emphasizes certain syllables or alters certain sounds, but only in certain words in certain contexts. it's very hard to put a finger on and the overall effect is "perfectly understandable but uncanny" and people write it off as a product of him being German and mad.

(yes, if you get him to imbibe enough alcohol that his brain calms down, he speaks perfect (Victorian London) English.)

the plan originally: "Dr. Ashveil has no friends. he is continually finding more and more exciting ways to lose himself to his obsession. the closest person he has to a friend is enabling this because it makes the good doctor into a steady source of fun and unique nightmares"

how it's going: "despite his best attempts, the good doctor has friends"