Eric Ivorsen is an adventurer.
When his parents were killed in a climbing accident, the young 14-year old Ivorsen was sent to live with his Uncle Charles, a very eccentric but successful gambler who plied his trade all over the world. The two Ivorsen brothers had been considerably different. Where Eric's father had been a genius when it came to mathematics and the like, the uncle was a genius at knowing people and seeing opportunity, his wealth being a good testament to that. He was good at other things, too, but his ability to read a situation and profit from it was exceptional.
Ivorsen's uncle took his new responsibility of the teenage boy very seriously and, having no children of his own, decided he would do his best to raise his nephew to be the best he could be. For this reason, Eric did not continue normal schooling from then on. For the next five years he was moved by his uncle to different places to be taught by the best tutors available.
In Berlin he was taught by the best mathematicians. In Oxford he studied the classics. Switzerland was where he learned to ski like a pro. Amsterdam and Paris and other places provided instruction in art, finance, and other studies that his uncle felt he should have. He completed his schooling, when he was of age, with a degree at Princeton.
Now as a well-rounded, highly intelligent and gifted man, Ivorsen is well-off enough to go where he wants when he wants, doing what he wants. While excitement is something he craves and adores, the kinds he is always finding without looking are the kinds that can get him killed the quickest.