Gedryn/Background

Thornhaven, that small village a few day’s walk away from the city of Alexandria, never really was known for much excitement. In truth few would even remember the name or its location unless they managed to stumble into it by accident. The families that call the village home like their quiet, simple lives. They had no need for the hustle and bustle of city life and so they kept to their own and were happy to leave their problems on the other side of their tall, stone walls. Into this sleepy little village, a third son was born to a humble family without much remark. Gedryn, youngest of three children , was the last born to Gatham, a craftsman and occasional carver, and his wife Mynna, a herbalist. He and his older brothers were never wealthy and occasionally meals were light but they always knew what was expected of them. As soon as the children were old enough, each was expected to help earn money for the family. Gedryn’s older brothers, Ewan and Devon, both had taken to the axe and followed their father out into the forest to cut wood. Gedryn, however, slight of frame, was no real use to them as they hauled whole trees around on their backs. He was put to work with their mother to help her prepare herbs to sell to the villagers. Gedryn’s life would have just what his parents had expected if it hadn’t been for the newest arrival to the village.

In Gedryn’s twelfth summer, a wizard - of sorts - had purchased one of the empty homes in the village from the owner’s last heir. He told the neighbors that he moved away from the throng of the city to live out his final days in relative peace and quiet. Cursed with a summer cold upon his arrival, the wizard - an older man of sixty years named Athyl, required the aid of Mynna and her herbs. Gedryn, as her assistant, was given the task of delivering the herbs that the wizard would need to treat his cough. The wizard was a terrible patient and insisted that Gedryn prepare the herbs for him as he was entirely too busy with his own work. Ever the curious one, Gedryn couldn’t help but let his eyes drift across the books and pages that Athyl had scattered about his home. Gedryn, like many in the village, hadn’t learned to read or write much more than his name or a few things here and there. Their family hadn’t had much money to be able to afford books or even writing materials but Gedryn, fascinated by the wizard and all of his trappings, decided there and then, that he wanted more out of life.

It took a while to convince the wizard that Gedryn could be of service to him but as he seemed to never shake the cold from summer into fall - the boy was at least valuable in some fashion to him. Preparing herbal remedies eventually lead to preparing ink which then lead to gathering quills and before he knew it - Gedryn was put to work copying out pages for the wizard. He took to it as though he were born to be a scholar. By the wizard’s first winter in the village, the boy had been able to copy out an entire copy of one of his books - something that fetched a nice price back in the city. With the excess coin he bought the boy a writing set of his own and additional paper. By the following summer, as one might expect, Gedryn’s curiosity got the best of him and he tried to repeat some of the words he had heard the wizard use to cast some of his spells. What boy would not want to wield magic? It’s one thing to copy pages - it’s another to become a novice wizard. That choice could not be left to the wizard himself and so he had a meeting with the boy and his parents. Gatham, as a simple woodcutter, had no real familiarity with arcane magic and distrusted those who wielded it. Mynna, however, was a practical woman and saw a bright and bountiful future for her son if he became a wizard. She made her mind up to facilitate the choice as best she could. Mostly that meant that she ‘convinced’ her husband to let Gedryn pick his own path in life.

For the next six years, Gedryn served as Athyl’s apprentice. He ran errands for the man - carrying messages from his master to the city and back. He gathered materials, kept his hearth and home and seemingly adopted the man as a surrogate grandfather. The first time he used his magic away from the supervision of his master was when he was returning from the city one evening. He was sent to deliver a message and wait for a response. It took hours for the letter to be answered and by the time he was on his way back to the village it was already dusk. The path from the city to the village took him off of the main road by the time the light of the city and the sight of the wall was left behind him. He turned onto the wide trail and tried to see his way by the light of the small lantern that he carried.

At only sixteen, he was still thin and not exactly an imposing figure. The shadows crawled out from the forest on either side of the trail and seemed to plague his mind. He was certain that some beast would come springing out at any moment to snap at his heels or rip out his throat. The faint light of his lantern barely illuminated his feet as he walked and he tried to drive the fear deep down into his gut. There was no warning when the stag jumped out from the forest - no sound except for the thud of its hooves hitting the ground right in front of Gedryn. He panicked and jumped backwards to escape the thundering beast - dropping the lantern. The stag ran off with the same thumping as the boy’s heart that tried to escape his chest as he realized that he was in no real danger. He was, however, now in the dark. The candle flame of the lantern was dead and he felt that he was not far behind. Summoning his courage, and his magic, he called the words of the spell to his lips and held his hand aloft to nearly scream the spell at the top of his lungs - an attempt to push back the fear and the shadows. “Light!” he screamed in the arcane language of magic. The shadows retreated like insects before his magic and his steps seemed more confident. Magic would protect him. Magic would guide him.

Athyl, after hearing how Gedryn used his magic to drive back the ‘evil shadows’ of the forest, barely managed to suppress a snicker. The fact that his apprentice was able to conquer his fear of the unknown and used magic to do so was no real surprise for him. It was a sign that he should continue the boy’s training as a wizard but also his education as well. Ignorance, to Athyl, was almost a sin. As a follower of Navos, Athyl had encouraged Gedryn to understand the world around him as an awakened mind. The fact that the boy was able to use his magic to fight his fear of the unknown, at night, seemed almost a sign from the Mistress of Dreams that he should also teach the boy about his goddess. His mother and father, being simple, village-folk, knew of the gods - at least some of them - in name only. They worshipped their own patrons but left the rest. Athyl wanted to prepare the boy to understand more than ‘just the basics’ and encourage him to follow whichever god he chose. It came as no small surprise that Gedryn chose to follow the god of his Master and the being, he felt, guided him back home to the village that night he broke the lantern.

Now upon his nineteenth year, Gedryn has been granted permission by his master to travel to the city of Alexandria and ply his skill as a Wizard and further his education. “Magic is not just in the books, boy.” Athyl told him. “Magic is out there - and you need to find it.” And that’s what he’s set out to do. With his meager possessions and a pair of robes that his mother made for him, he has set out from Thornhaven to the city to study with the Society. Only Navos knows where his path will take him.