The residents of Fishertown are accustomed to academics from the university coming to their neighborhood to search for archæological relics of the city's bygone days. Wallas Malpole is an academic from the university who has come to Fishertown, but for an entirely different reason. A young recently appointed junior professor at the University of Lüm, Malpole specializes in marine biology, and he spends time in Fishertown because of its seaside location, and because he values the knowledge of the fishermen who spend their lives interacting with the sea. He has actually moved into the neighborhood, installing himself in a small apartment at Fishertown's northern edge, and commutes the university for lectures and office hours three times a week.

Malpole has made a point of befriending the local fishermen, with mixed success. Some of them have come to appreciate his enthusiasm and genuine interest in their activities, and willingly answer his questions about what they have encountered or give him any unusual specimens they find that they wouldn't be able to sell for money but that he might find interesting. Others still see him as an outsider who's trying too hard to fit in. There may be some truth to that; Malpole has been making a conscious effort to integrate himself into the community, but even among his peers at the university he's always been socially awkward, and in the rough and hardscrabble neighborhood of Fishertown he's definitely a bit of a—if you'll pardon the expression—fish out of water.

Wallas Malpole is a boyish man of about thirty, his light skin spackled with freckles and frequently red with sunburn. He has prominent dimples, a large chin, and light brown hair that he wears long in front and short in back. Malpole often stammers a bit when he talks, and fidgets when he's not talking. He dresses practically in trousers and light shirts shiny with wax for waterproofing.