A young man who is extremely paranoid over any perception of himself. Since he was a child, he has clung to anything secretive - cryptids, spies, and secret codes/cryptic messages.
As a kid, he loved (and still loves even today) the idea of working behind the scenes, and being invisible to all but one’s most trusted associates. As such, he created a secret club of his own and invited all his closest friends.
But as he grew into teenhood, he began to develop trust issues and became paranoid. Eventually, he unceremoniously disbanded the group, kicking out everyone and hiding away.
But he still craved social contact - connection and companionship. He became lonely.
So he decided to start it all over again, start up a "secret club" and only let those he trusts the most in on it.
Hold on, Ian - wasn't there someone you forgot to ask?
To pretty much everyone that he isn't close with, Ian tends to speak cryptically; either nonsense such as "The local geese have become ornery. Perhaps their anger is the way to truly appreciate the calmness yesterday held.", "The sun has set. The moon is new." or "VCGVJRCRKNZKIKYJRVVIL.".
Those that are close enough to him can recognize when he is speaking "plainly", as he calls it - when he's speaking with no cryptic messages throughout. "this is the voice of someone speaking plainly. only enough bells and whistles for it to be comprehensible."
Not as prominent is his fascination with cryptids - when anyone mentions New Jersey to him, the first thing that some to mind is the Jersey Devil.