Lan Uring

 is a character in Torment: Tides of Numenera.

Background
The thin young man smiles hesitantly as you approach. You notice a small metallic ovoid protruding from his skull, nearly hidden by his disheveled hair. The fingers of his left hand tap nervously on his leg as he speaks. Lan is socially awkward and displays a clear lack of confidence when interacting with people he doesn't know well, except when discussing his work; he then becomes passionate, verbose, and possibly annoying to anyone whom he has not managed to convince of the importance of his work, which is pretty much everyone. His most prized possession is a small neurological implant, grafted to the exterior of his skull, that reduces his need for sleep and relaxation, allowing him to dedicate more time to his research.

Lan is a researcher whose goal is to somehow construct a super-intelligent machine, which can be tasked with reverse engineering the numenera, rediscovering the secrets of fallen civilizations and raising humanity (and associated species) to heretofore lost heights of technological mastery. Or so he believes.

As noted above, Lan's goal is rather ambitious, and despite advice from the other Aeon Priests, he hasn't pared it back to something more realistic. Instead, he pours all his efforts into his boondoggle of an idea, and he still hasn't managed to make a discovery worthy of admission to the Order

Lan *does* want to become an Aeon Priest, though, not least because it will offer him access to the Order's funds. (Because of their close relationship with the city, the Order gets significant funds to assist their research, but only full-fledged Aeon Priests have access to the money.

In his money-seeking, he talked to the current Memovira. He originally went to her organization for research funds (since he's not getting anything besides basic living expenses from the Order), and they agreed to give him shins if he'd do some work for them. Lan assumed this meant technological work, and he was horrified when he realized that the Memovira wanted him to spy on his colleagues. By then, he'd already accepted some money, and if he'd tried to back out, they would have killed him.

Other interactions

 * You can tell him about the probability engines left by the Changing God beneath the city, after you learn they are being used to copy the same woman over and over again. You will receive a gift from him after he becomes a priest. If you have Rhin in your party, she will ask if she can hold on to the gift (which becomes the God of Small Devices). If you keep it for yourself, it becomes the Machine Intelligence Prototype.

Behind the scenes

 * Lan Uring is an obvious reference to Alan Turing and his groundbreaking research into modern computing.