Darwyn Timbergrottle
Darwyn Timbergrottle
Darwyn Timbergrottle was as the second youngest son of a large gnome family, living in a major city. His family were artisans and were fascinated with city life, but Darwyn always felt more comfortable on his own, preferring to read book, journal, and draw in the quiet forest places. In pursuit of this hobby, Darwyn discovered a secret woodland grove, and met the love of his life, Laurel, a dryad. Laurel introduced him to the wonders of the natural world and its life, and to share it with those in the cities who could't experience it by creating a codex of life around the forest. Tragically, this dream was cut short when fire caused by a marauding tribe of goblins spread to Laurel's grove, burning it to the ground and killing Laurel. Darwyn swore to carry on their mutual dream of cataloging the natural world for others to enjoy in his codex, and carries it with him as he quests to discover the great wild places and creatures of the world and find peace after Laurel's death.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Darwyn is tall for a gnome, standing at roughly three and a half feet tall. He is slightly skinnier than most, weighing only 50 pounds, but Darwyn possesses a wiry, scrappy strength, and can move quickly and nimbly when the situation demands.
Body Features
Darwyn's left hand is covered with burn scars, and he has a thin white scar on his right shoulder from an old spear wound.
Facial Features
Darwyn has a thin band of freckles on his upper cheeks and nose. His features are thin, with long pointed ears and a wide smile.
Identifying Characteristics
Darwyn's left hand is burned and scarred. He does not have any body piercings or tattoos.
Physical quirks
Darwyn has a nervous tendency to play with his hair, often braiding and then unbraiding it or weaving local grasses or flowers into it in elaborate flower crowns.
Special abilities
As a gnome, Darwyn can communicate with small beasts though sounds and simple gestures, and has superior vision in darkness. He also has a natural resistance to magic as a result of his gnomish ancestry.
Apparel & Accessories
Darwyn tends to dress practically and simply. He wears a worn set of knee high boots splattered with dried mud, close fitting khaki breeches, a loose white doublet under a leather cuirass and forest green vest, and a deep green cloak. He always carries a leather knapsack which carries his Codex, and also always wears a small leather box pouch where he keeps his writing and drawing supplies. At his belt, Darwyn wears a small dagger, and keeps both his shortbow and its accompanying arrows slung on his back. Darwyn also always carries a charred wooden staff, shaped with a wooden knot at the top, which is actually a branch from Laurel's tree, scorched by the goblin's fires, which Darwyn uses as a walking stick and club.
Specialized Equipment
As a druid, Darwyn is capable of wild shaping into various beasts. When in this wild shaped form, Darwyn's eyes remain the same color and he often retains his distinctive red hair when appropriate (i.e birds and animals might have a streak of red fur or feathers on the crown of their head).
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Darywn Timbergrottle grew up as the second youngest sibling in a large family of forest gnomes living in the city. His father was an apothecary and his mother ran a small urban garden, and it was here that Darwyn first learned of his love for nature. He loved sitting in the garden and reading, enjoying moments of private peace from the city, and felt a calling to the great wild places of the world.
As he matured, while his siblings found their own lives and paths within the city, Darywn preferred to explore on his own outside the city, searching for ever more remote places. He enjoyed reading and sketching the various plants and animals he saw. On one such adventure, Darwyn followed an injured chipmunk, his future companion Theodore, back to a secluded grove where he helped nurse the injured animal back to health over a period of weeks. Darwyn was unaware he was being observed though, until eventually a Dryad, Laurel, struck by his gentleness, revealed herself to him and the two developed a close friendship and eventually a romantic bond, and Laurel taught Darwyn the beginnings of natural magic and lore, starting him on the path towards Druidhood.
This love was cut short nearly as quickly as it had bloomed when goblin ravagers started a fire which spread to Laurel's grove, burning it down and killing Laurel in the process, despite Darwyn's attempts to save her. While searching through the ashes, Darwyn uncovered one unburnt branch from Laurel's tree, which he carries with him now as his Shillelagh, and also discovered his two other companions, a woodpecker named Zip and a fawn which he named Ward.
Now, with Laurel's grove destroyed, Darwyn has two main ambitions. The first and most important is that he complete the codex he and Laurel had dreamed of compiling, and second he seeks to restore Laurel's grove to the sanctuary it once was, and in the meantime has taken up residence there.
Gender Identity
Darwyn identifies as male.
Sexuality
Darwyn identifies as straight, though after his love Laurel was killed he is uninterested in romance, and does not expect to love again.
Education
Darwyn is well educated, first by his parents and older siblings, amongst whom knowledge and intellectuality was praised. Darwyn spent many days in his father's workshop and loved the family library even while his other siblings preferred to focus on their own experiments or projects, but Darwyn always preferred reading. He was briefly apprenticed as a healer while his parents tried to find a suitable profession for him, but Darwyn didn't think it was his calling. After his time with Laurel, Darwyn found himself immersed in the natural world and is well versed in natural lore and reading the signs of the forest and its inhabitants. This knowledge has only increased as a result of his work on the Codex.
Employment
Darwyn is not currently employed, though when he is in need of funds for his travels he may take commissions from wealthy and well-intentioned patrons as a cartographer, using his extensive personal library of maps created during his own work to copy new maps before his book is eventually published. When he is not adventuring and searching for new entries to his codex, most of Darwyn's time is spent on these commissioned maps, or revising and consolidating the codex between trips. During these periods, he can be found in his home in Laurel's grove, where he also actively works to restore the forest to the sanctuary it once was. As a result Darwyn finds his unemployment unconcerning, as he knows his family would welcome his home should he ever long for the comforts of home, and finds living in Laurel's grove comfortable and easy enough given his druidic background and simple lifestyle. Moreover, his work on the codex and restoring the grove occupies all his time as is.
Accomplishments & Achievements
Darwyn is proud of his travels, and of his extensive progress on the codex, often encouraging visitors to examine it and appreciate its pages.
Mental Trauma
Darwyn is haunted by the death of his Dryad love, Laurel, and the destruction of their shared home in her grove. As a result, he has a deep prejudice against goblins, and a mild fear of fire. While he has proven to be able to overcome this fear in times of crisis, these instances may trigger memories of Laurel's death.
Intellectual Characteristics
Darwyn is fundamentally curious, and enjoys exploring and learning more about the universe. He doesn't have any particular affinity for the higher powers, and considers them unreliable at best, and so prefers to focus on the real and present rather than the ethereal. He is practical and reserved, and prefers to be left to his own studies and work, and prefers not to keep any particularly close relationships aside from the animals he befriends.
Morality & Philosophy
Darwyn fundamentally wants to do good and help the world. While he doesn't see himself as a grand heroic figure, Darwyn wishes to spread joy and his own love of the natural world to others by creating his codex of natural life and sharing it with people in cities and towns who might not ever experience it. In doing so, Darwyn hopes to preserve Laurel's memory and achieve their shared dream, while also helping to save the great natural places of the world from destruction.
Darwyn is not against civilization, but rather believes in maintaining a balance and coexistence between civilization and the wilderness.
Darwyn is also a genuinely kind individual. He first discovered Laurel's grove where he nursed an injured chipmunk back to health, and is a fundamentally pacifistic individual, though he believes it is sometimes necessary to strike first to prevent imminent violence and protect the innocent.
Taboos
Darwyn is vehemently opposed to animal cruelty, and will intervene if he sees it occurring, and treats animals like equals and will attempt to nurse them back to health. He does not eat meat anymore (though growing up his family did eat meat). Darwyn is also against the unnecessary or wonton destruction of nature and its outright exploitation. Darwyn also hates unattended fires or fires left out of control.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Darwyn is driven by grief and love. He seeks to complete his codex both as a way of sharing his passion with others and preserving the natural world, but also to honor Laurel's memory. He believes that by completing the codex he can encourage a love of the wild in others, and share it with those who might not be able to explore it, such as those who live within the city. He aspires to achieve a balance between the wilderness and civilization, and to explore the great wild places and chart and catalogue them and the life which inhabits them to impart this value onto others.
Savvies & Ineptitudes
Darwyn is a talented artist, and is surprisingly dextrous and nimble. His scroll case and notebooks are filled with pages of sketches, charts, and notes which he plans to consolidate. Darwyn has an extensive knowledge of natural lore, knowing many plants and their purposes, and has a green thumb. Darywn is also a talented cook.
He cannot dance, and has no musical inclinations.
Likes & Dislikes
Darwyn loves animals, especially small animals like rodents or birds. His least favorite animals are snakes. He also loves flowers. His favorite kind of flower is a bluebell, but he prefers the smell of jasmine most, and loves the look of lilies best. Bluebells are just happy and do everything well. He has a sweet tooth, and loves fresh honey.
Darwyn does not eat meat, but he misses bacon. His favorite meal now is cinnamon toast with fresh honey and syrup.
Virtues & Personality perks
Darwyn is kind, honest, and gentle. He is extremely curious and is a natural optimist.
Vices & Personality flaws
Darwyn is extremely curious and explorative, to the point of self-endangerment as he heeds none of the dangers which might deter others from exploring, such as climbing a waterfall just to get a better view of the valley or crawling out onto a ledge over sheer cliffs simply to catch a glimpse of a new kind of bird in its nest.
Darwyn tends not to form close relationships with others, and prefers to keep to himself and his books and be left alone. As a result, he has very few close friends and tends to eschew family bonds.
Personality Quirks
Darywn is a bit hyperactive, and tends to braid and unbraid his hair when his hands have nothing else to fiddle with. Similarly, Darwyn almost always has some form of snack secreted about his person, such as nuts or veggies like carrots, which he occasionally munches on but more often shares with his animal companions.
Hygiene
Darwyn generally has good hygiene, and tends to smell like pine needles. He enjoys weaving flowers and grasses into his long hair as he braids it, which means he often smells like whichever flowers he weaves in (frequently lilac or lavender, though his favorite is jasmine), although at times twigs and sticks get worked into his hair which he doesn't always clear out. Theodore is almost always hidden somewhere on Darywn's person, and often chooses to nest in his hair or a pocket on his vest. Darwyn's boots are often caked with dried mud and look worn in, but otherwise his clothing tends to be immaculate.
Social
Family Ties
Darwyn has a large extended family, but is not particularly close with any of them. He knows they would welcome him home, but as nearly the youngest child Darwyn always felt overshadowed by his siblings and never got much attention.
Hobbies & Pets
Darwyn has a pet chipmunk, Theodore, whom he saved from the destruction of Laurel's grove and had previously nursed back to health, and who often sits in Darwyn's hair, in a pocket, or in a pouch on his person. He also frequently accompanied by a woodpecker, Zip, and is also nursing a young orphaned fawn, his Ward.
Speech
Darwyn speaks calmly and quietly. He prefers to make his point simple and not waste time in conversations.
Wealth & Financial state
Darwyn has very little material wealth, but is almost entirely self sufficient.
An introverted gnome with a kind heart, past heartbreak has driven Darwyn to become strong enough to protect those he loves, avenge his loss, and guard the wild from those who would harm it
Character Location
Alignment
Neutral Good
Honorary & Occupational Titles
Darwyn has no official titles, but he is considered a master cartographer and explorer, and has been a member of a number of successful adventuring groups.
Age
40
Date of Birth
23 Transephine, 1505 A.C
Birthplace
Attika
Children
Current Residence
Laurel's Grove
Gender
Male
Eyes
Green/Gold
Hair
Red
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Pale, some freckles and sun damage
Height
3'5"
Weight
50lbs
Ruled Locations
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