PLAYED BY: Daniel Sulman
CHARACTER NAME: Brother Gerald
GENDER: Male
PRONOUN(S): He/Him/His
CLASS: Cleric
AGE: 17 (in 274)
RACE: Human
HAIR: Short, straight, brown
EYES: Blue
OCCUPATION: Ordained Eagle in the Order of Arnath’s Chapter of the Light.
KNOWN SKILLS: Can fight, in various ways and with various weapons. Can cast divine magic. Pretty intelligent. Is trying his hand at poetry.
BIRTHPLACE: A house in Starkhaven.
APPEARANCE: Around 6 feet tall. Stocky build. Usually wears armor and an Order tabard, and if not, basic clothes and a burgundy hood.
NOTABLE TRAITS: Looks young for his age. Somewhat easy-going, but in a serious situation, drops the light attitude for a no-nonsense one. He is not his father, and will tell you. Believes that his father lost his family’s honor and worth, and now he has to earn it back. You can call him Jerry.
RELATIONSHIPS: Other members of the Order, Lay and otherwise; Brother Carl, a mentor and friend; family: Mother, Father (both deceased); only child; no cousins, aunts, uncles, or other close relations as far as he knows.
RUMORS: Some say that his father was a Griffin of the Order, but when the Lich came to Mardrun, he fled rather than face the threat. They say he was hunted like a dog and hung for cowardice. Jerry doesn’t like to talk about it.
BIO / BACKGROUND HISTORY:
To the Keeper of the Library at Starkhaven,
You asked for details concerning my life, so here they are.
As far as I know, most of my family has been in the service of Arnath. My mother was a healer, a combat medic, in the Lay Order on Faedrun and then on Mardrun. My father was a Griffin. We lost contact with him around when the Lich came. One of my grandfathers was a captain in the Lay Order, and died in the early years of the war with the Undead. My other grandfather wasn’t in the Order, but my family thinks he was one of the major suppliers of food to it. We don’t know what one of my grandmothers did, but the other was a valiant Lion.
You get the idea.
Now, after all those generations of bravery and commitment to Arnath, comes me. My father was executed (I’ll talk more about that later). As the years went by, especially after my father’s death (which he must have deserved), my mother’s hair grew grayer and she grew weaker. She stayed as active as possible in the Order, vehemently refusing to stop her work. When the fighting between the chapters began, and the Starkhaven keep was taken over, she picked up her spear and joined the fray. She fought for the Fist, believing that strength was the only way we survived. From what I’ve learned, my mothers heart gave out when she was patrolling. Not even the magic of Arnath’s healers could save her. Soon after, a member of the Lay Order militia came by and took me to an orphanage.
So there I was, alone in an orphanage in Starkhaven. It was in the middle of the town, so the Fist and Light’s fighting was never far away. When the fighting finally ended, I was just shy of ten years old. The Chapter of the Light, the winning chapter, was desperate for more members after the losses suffered. I, a child who had just survived a war zone, somehow found myself in front of a Griffin that was testing my magical abilities. To both of our surprises, I was able to cast magic through the power of Arnath. The Griffin mentioned he had known my father, and he hoped I turned out better than him. I thought nothing of it at the time.
Anyways, I joined the Order. I was trained in all sorts of things. Fighting, healing, even cooking. After a few years, I was given to Brother Carl to apprentice under. My father may have known him. Carl was an Eagle, and I inherited a little bias towards the role because of this. Just a few months ago, I was ordained as Brother Gerald Anderson of the Order of Arnath. I chose to become an Eagle.
While Carl was obliged to train me as well as he could in all three roles, he only had experience as a Lion and Eagle, and he had far more in the latter. Due to this, most of my training was in Eagleship.
Now, about my father:
I don’t really like to talk about him. The few memories I have are him, vaguely red with the tabard of a Griffin, cooing at me in my cradle. I remember vividly one time. I saw him staring at the small shrine to Arnath that was in my childhood home. That was the last time I saw him.
When I was older, looking through the Order’s archives, I came upon a few papers detailing Harold Anderson (my cowardly father)’s desertion and execution. Unknown to others, perhaps due to some foul undead magic or a curse of the mind, my father turned on his fellow clerics and then fled, seemingly out of his wits. When he was hunted down, some expected him to be branded or punished in some way… but the judgement handed down by the clerics deciding his fate that day was swift and absolute; they hung him for his actions against the Order. Swift justice was a cornerstone of the Chapter of The Fist, afterall.
Nowadays. I try to stay “in the know,” where things are happening. I keep a journal, writing whatever it is that comes to me. Years ago, soon after I learned how my father died, I wrote down the three aspects of the Path, & how I live them. Here it is:
Duty to the People.
I try to stay just & fair in my life, & keep my word & my honor, & those of Arnath & the Order. I protect those that are weaker than me, & help those that need it.
Duty to Arnath.
I always pray when the time comes. I try to keep to the Path, & honor Arnath in all that I do. After all, I am his Light on this world, & must act accordingly.
Duty to the Order.
In the battle situations that I’ve been in, I always listen to my superiors & respect them. I learn from veterans in the Order, & treat them with the respect they deserve.
(The journal’s over now) I recently learned about Grimward deploying captured civilians into battle. Basil (a commander in the Lay Order) sent news about it. Apparently they threatened to kill the poor soul’s families if they didn’t fight. It seems to me like that’s just about the worst thing someone could do. I’ve heard through the grapevine that Basil was all for killing them. That’s something I dispute. I know he doesn’t have to follow Arnath, but I’ve been taught most of my life that my duty is to protect those weaker than us. That’s a dilemma there. If I had been there, would I do my Duty to the People, and spare the poor bastards, or my Duty to the Order, and obey my superiors? Ah well, that’s just my thoughts on the matter.
Now before I send off this letter, let me write this: I am not my father. I have honor. I follow the Path. I am of Arnath. I am an Eagle, fighting for Him. I am, I am, and I am.
.
Signed by my own hand,
Brother Gerald Anderson of the Chapter of the Light
The Tenth of April, of the Year 274