Owyn Gerdasson
Owyn Gerdasson
Holy Books & Codes
The Ecstatic Surrenders... though Owyn has never seen a complete copy of the text. He has only ever seen a few of the divine recipes and... recommended bedroom techniques.
Divine Symbols & Sigils
A red rose inside a thorned circle of vines.
Tenets of Faith
Share your passions. Enjoy yourself. Harm none that have not harmed you.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Stout. Owyn is strong, hale, and agile, but his love of food and drink ensures he carries more than a few extra pounds.
Facial Features
Has been told he has a hawkish nose, and childhood bullies called him "knife ear" until he bloodied their lips.
Identifying Characteristics
Owyn's eyes are an incredibly bright and piercing blue. While the color is not itself unusual in Frostmerite lands, they seem to burn with an inner light that belies his non-human heritage
Physical quirks
When Owyn laughs it is deep and hearty, and his belly tends to shake.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Owyn's mother, Gerda is/was a tavern wench in the northern lands. Twenty some-odd years ago a travelling elf caught her eye, and Owyn is the result of their brief tryst. Owyn grew up in the tavern, listening to the bawdy songs and epic poetry of the Frostmere Skalds, and learning how to play instruments from travelling bards. His mother wanted him to have better prospects than a tavern life, and so as he neared puberty she apprenticed him to a local woodworker.
Owyn continued to spend his spare time around the tavern, where he would listen to tales and songs while whittling. One year as the solstice approached, Owyn realized that he had whittled a large assortment of small figurines and flutes he had carved. The Solstice Festival was a time of gift giving in Frostmere, and Owyn thought to his own childhood as a bastard being somewhat bereft in that department. As a result he set out on the night of the solstice and left a piece of art on the stoop of every house with a child, and an extra for every house where a child was a bastard or had lost a parent to the harsh realities of Frostmere.
As Owyn entered adulthood, he began to serve with the local militia. With a growing taste for adventure, Owyn joined the Jarl's initiative to seek out southern lands and grow the Frostmerite reputation for mercenary service. Owyn joined the Westbound Star Company and has served there for the past year. It provided him steady coin and the opportunity to see much of Tairos, hear new tales and songs, and grow his own legend.
In the aftermath of the slaughter at Peregrine Point, Owyn left the Westbound Star to return to Frostmere.
Gender Identity
Male
Sexuality
Heterosexual
Education
Formally apprenticed to a woodworker as a child. Informal education from the many troubadors that came through his mother's tavern.
Failures & Embarrassments
Eastern Creek. Peregrine Point.
Mental Trauma
Trauma is a strong word, but Owyn is slightly ashamed of his bastard status. There is little, if any, stigma related to this in Frostmere, especially given that the harsh life orphans many "legitimate" children and widowed parents often remarry. But the fact that he has a racial heritage that is alien to his experience is a source of curiosity and frustration.
Intellectual Characteristics
Owyn is gregarious, and loves good tales, good songs, good food, and good drink. He is a bon vivant with a powerful wanderlust.
Morality & Philosophy
Typical Forstmerite pragmatism mixed with a sense of wonder and admiration towards the epic tales of heroes past. Tis better to die in glory than live in defeat. Tis also unwise to do anything for free.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Owyn wants to see as much of the world as possible. He seeks to befriend everyone he meets, though he is not afraid to stand up for himself. He is always keen to learn a new tale, song, or ribald joke. He dreams one day of opening his own tavern, where he can spend his retirement swapping tales and drinks with friends.
Savvies & Ineptitudes
Adept carpenter and woodcarver. Knows how to play the lyre, the flute, and the drum.
Likes & Dislikes
Stout drink, good food, and a good pipe smoke. Dancing, music, and general frivolity.
Owyn also loves a good fight when the cause is just.
Personality Quirks
Owyn fidgets often. At any given time he is either picking idly at his lyre, smoking a pipe, or whittling. It is not uncommon for him to whittle as he tells a tale, or tell a tale as he whittles? Either way, at the end of many tales he will have whittled a piece of stray wood into an object reminiscent of the story he just finished.
Hygiene
Combs his hair and beard daily, but not obsessively. Plaits his beard in Frostmerite fashion.
Social
Contacts & Relations
Aelfric Vargstrom
Religious Views
The shamanistic traditions of the Frostmerites, coupled with some Malysean tenets and a bit of ancestor worship. Owyn feels that tales and legends have a power and magic all their own, and that immortality of a sort is possible so long as your story continues to be told. He's read a few scrolls containing some of the teachings of Malyse, and he honors her as a muse and patroness.
Social Aptitude
Extremely jovial. Flirtatious without being lecherous. Owyn can be mischievous without being malicious. He is very hospitable to guests, and can be charitable to those he perceives as down on their luck.
Species
Ethnicity
Birthplace
Blackvane, Frostmere
Children
Current Residence
The Open Road
Eyes
Light Blue
Hair
Red, worn long and plaited
Height
5'8"
Weight
200 lbs.
The Liberation of Peregrine Point
The snows had finally ceased, and the wagons of the caravan were ready to leave Ackley Point. I joined Aelfric, Beorna, and several of the other warriors to scout ahead of the wagon train, hoping to head off any trouble.
We were not but a few hours out when we heard screams from a nearby thicket. As we entered the copse of trees we saw an older human being set upon by boars. Despite the wood witch Caellana's pleas we slew several of the beasts. We tended to the stranger's wounds and he revealed his name as Hansel. He told us that he was the lone emissary of the nearby hamlet of Peregrine Point, attempting to reach Ackley Point for assistance with local bandits. What luck! These knaves would surely set upon the caravan if given the chance, but this was our opportunity to set upon them first. Glory and the liberation of their ill-gotten gains would be ours!
We bade Hansel guide us back to whither he came, and we pressed on through the encroaching dark, our thoughts on warm beds and perhaps a mug of cider or ale before we hunted our quarry. Alas, as we neared the hamlet, we saw that even in the dead of night, an unnatural quiet lay on the houses, and nary a lantern or candle lit for even a modest watch. We saw no livestock, and heard no snores. Only the wind creaking through trees and eaves. Along the perimeter we spied bodies, and as we neared saw they had been strung up and gutted like beasts for slaughter. Cordelia set about looking for tracks as I decided to investigate the modest tavern for any survivors of what was apparently the bandits' latest attack.
Unfortunately, the few surviving locals had been driven mad. As we attempted to open the tavern they opened fire with crossbows, injuring Hansel and Cordelia. We attempted to pacify them through speech and spell, but they would have none of it. More spilled from the houses, and it became apparent that they had been ensorcelled to view us as monsters, not men.
They set upon us with bladed farm tools and crossbows, and though we did our best to subdue some, we were forced to defend ourselves and felled several of the larger, stouter hands. Amongst their number however were two armored warriors. They did for poor Hansel, and we avenged him. As we examined their belongings, we notice they had a map of nearby hamlets, including Peregrine Point. We surmised that these were some of the bandits that had plagued the township, now driven to the same madness as their prey.
We awoke one of the subdued villagers, her head cleared by Caellana's magic. She told us that a local hermit had dealings with some vile necromancer, and so we set out to purge these lands of their foul magic. Near an old ruin we found a strange man poisoning the village well. Here lay the root of their corruption, and we dispatched this blaggard to answer the lords of Hell for his sins. We then demanded the hermit account for himself. He was indeed a wizard, though this curse was not of his doing. Former associates were attempting to relieve him of a relic, a strange stone I surmised to hold great power for enchantment. We took custody of the stone and bade this wizard and the survivors of Peregrine Point to join the Westbound Star for greater safety and better fortunes in the south.
On the morrow we shall see these desperate souls safely to the caravan, and then we shall investigate these marked points on the bandits' map. Either we shall save more lives, or avenge more deaths. Either way, the Lion's Claw shall answer for the blood spilled at Peregrine's Point.
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