Galli Stoutsong
Gnome - Morale Officer, Storykeeper, Secret Keeper
Backstory
Born in a glen untouched by war and fire, Galli Stoutsong's early life was laughter and melodies, ripe with music, festivals, and the warmth of her extended family. Her parents, both acrobatic performers in a traveling troupe called the Tanglebough Troubadours, taught her how to spin tales from nothing, how to make a room sing with joy, and how to find the sun even on a rainy day.
But the glen was not untouched forever, the fires of hatred are easy to flare, and harder to quench.
When Galli was still young, her troupe passed too close to a nobleman’s disputed land. What started as a misunderstanding ended in blood. Soldiers set fire to the wagons. Her family scattered, and Galli ran, barefoot and face covered in soot. She ran into the woods, clutching the lute her father had carved for her. From that day on, she never saw him again.
She wandered for weeks before she was taken in by an old half-blind druid who lived in a hill of briars. The druid taught her about the deep songs of the world, how even grief has music, how mourning can be a chorus. It was from her that Galli learned that hope is not the absence of sorrow, but the act of singing through it anyway.
Joining the Emberwake
Years later, Galli was found on a craggy shore, singing a love song to the ocean. The Emberwake had just lost three crewmen in a storm. Spirits were low, and Arden, the ship's captain, heard her voice carried on the salt wind and offered her passage in exchange for a song. She never left after that.
The crew quickly grew to adore her, not just for her voice, but for her uncanny ability to lift even the most jaded soul. She has a song for every sorrow, a joke for every silence, and a warm cup of sea spiced tea for every shaken hand. Yet beneath her bright eyes and mischievous grin, there is still a quiet place, a scar that never quite healed, but one that didn't fester.
Sometimes, in the early morning hours, when the sea is gentle, and the gulls pass over head. Galli stands at the bow of the ship, eyes closed, singing a lullaby in the language of her people to the sea. The crew knows not to interrupt, it’s her time, to mourn those that passed, and to remind herself that even when all is lost the future can still hold hope.
“Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is stay kind. Even when the world tells you it’s foolish.” - To Lorelai
“Some nights I sing to the stars, even though they’re just holes in the sky. Because maybe, just maybe, someone I miss is looking through one of them, listening.” - To Arden
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