This will be based on my imaging of Starswirl.

I base his character on his portrayal in the Season 7 finale Shadow Play (I.e., an arrogant jerk)

Most of the incidents will be versions of things done by real people
(For example, trying to use resonance to collapse a bridge was done by Nikola Tesla IRL, as was his shooting lightning at people. This is about Starswirl's career as a chess prodigy. IMO, it's not necessary to know anything about chess to understand it.