Galadhil

Character Name: Galadhil; pejoratively known as ‘The King of Slaves’ by Altarans and Yamnich’Tok by the orcish tribes of the south (literally the ‘Broken Knight’)
Rank/Position/Concept: Errant Knight of Mitra
Sex: Male
Race: Half-elf (Half Grey Elf, Half Altarian Human)
Homeland: Altanis
Age: 21
Height: 6’2
Weight: 140lbs
Colour of - Hair: Golden- Eyes: Amber - Skin: Browny Red

Appearance: Though gifted with a striking face thanks to his mixed heritage, years of slavery and malnutrition have gifted Galadhil with an underweight and frail physical frame. He is often stooped, having not totally shaken the habit of constantly looking at the ground looking for scraps of food. Galadhil’s arms are jagged and misshapen, having been broken in multiple places during the slaughter at the Castillan Monastery of Dorak and fused oddly due to the bone having set badly.

Clothing: When not wearing armour, Galadhil wears a simple slaves tunic, with the symbol of Mitra rudely sown on.

Demeanour: Silent and meek, Galadhil sometimes suffers from back spasms and pain in his arms which he avoids by reciting the rituals of the one god. Once righteous battle commences, no war cries are screamed, no oaths thrown at the enemy, but tears of regret at his failure to preserve life stream down his cheeks.

Motivations: To free all slaves. Though at first the definition of slavery was quite literal in Galadhil’s mind, slowly this has come to included tyranny and subjugation in both arcane and social spheres of society. Being a follower of Mitra and having been taught by an order of war priests who above all see the preservation of life in all good things as paramount, Galadhil hates the practitioner’s of the necromantic arts that practice their own subjugation over the dead. Similarly, due to the tyrannical nature of the orcish race, Galadhil holds little love for the green skins.

Secondary Motivation: find out why his mother was this far south and where she came from.

Background:

An interrupted childhood…

His mother having died giving birth to him in the Castellan mountains, Galadhil was found by a monk of Dorak 21 years ago. The monks took him in and raised him in the ways of the forgotten God of Peace.  When the monastery was attacked by a barbarian war band 13 ears later, the monks were slaughtered to a man, having refused to take up arms to defend themselves as per their God‘s commandment. Witnessing the butchering of his surrogate family, a young Galadhil picked up a dropped sword and attacked Guthrig, Chieftain of the Stormcrows, who, laughing, broke both the boy’s arms with the blunt of his axe and kept him as a slave, repeatedly beating him when Galadhil spilled a wineskin or simply when Guthrig was in need of some amusement.

An adolescence of slavery…
For 3 years Galadhil served the Stormcrows, until the warband were ambushed themselves by orcish slavers. By this time Galadhil had lost faith in the teachings of Dorak, only might was right. Only those with strength and the willingness to use it were blessed by the gods. What did the weak get? Death… if you were lucky.

If the 3 years with the Barbarians had seemed bad, compared to 3 weeks with an orcish tribe you’d have thought you were in an Antillian Brothel! A fellow captive, a human paladin by the name of Beren, spoke to Galadhil and taught him something other than despair and wretchedness, Beren taught him hope through the teachings of Mitrak and together they led a slave uprising against their oppressors. Beren having killed the Orc Chieftain, died of his wounds, not before imploring Galadhil to seek out the Temple of Light in Mysk and tell his brothers of his valiant death.

An adulthood of devotion by the sword…

Galadhil took up Beren’s sword and travelled to Mysk, where he was inducted into the Brotherhood of the Lightbringers, a military order of Mitra. Here Galadhil learned of the sanctity of life and the need for the protection of the weak and the good. Here he learned that might was not right in itself, but could be used as an implement to perform good. Galadhil now travels the south, freeing slaves and fighting tyranny wherever he finds them. 


Recently infiltrated the Orc mining village Barath posing as an Antillian slave with the shipment from Mysk, defeated Urgrash a powerful black orc mine boss, Galadhil donned his defeated oponent’s layered plate armour, and recovered Beren‘s sword which had been sold to the orcs.


Galadhil's undercover quest to free the mining slaves of Barath was not sanctioned by the Order of Mitra, since it obviously puts them in opposition to the Antillians.  Also orthodox Mitraism does not forbid slavery per se, though it is against slave raiding & mistreatment of slaves.  Only the rumoured Mycr, the Unknown God, truly opposes enslavement. 

Contacts:

Achilleas: Head of the Lightbringers in Mysk. 50 years old, father figure.

Finwë: An red elven merchant situated in Bisgen used by the Lightbringers to send messages. Sometimes travels but often has made Bisgen his base of operations since

Aaricia: a slave girl whom he saved when she was 12 four years ago from slavers; lives in Renth as a silk weaver; she is devoted to him; to Galadhil is a little sister figure. Has not seen her in 18 months.

Hrothgar of the Longclaw Clan: a war chief with whom Galadhil allied himself recently when fighting Urgrash and his orc tribe.

Goals & Conflict: Inner conflict between his childhood beliefs of peace and his need to protect through violence; contradiction in his goal to protecting life by killing; another contradiction/conflict is Freedom from tyranny yet he is essentially a religious zealot. There could also be some Grey Elf stuff happening but I don’t know whether they are ever gonna make an appearance so I’ll obviously leave that up to you.

Development: Eventually I think I want my character to realise that might is never right and that violence only breeds violence. I’m basically following the whole T.H. White  proggression in his Arthurian novels i.e. Might is right à might can be used for the righteous à Might is never right.

Playstyle: I enjoy debating, particularly moral philosophy so unless you don’t find that suitable I’ll probably like to engage Galadhil into a of those as he is hugely conflicted ethically (even hypocritical you could say). Force is only a last resort so I’m going to have to make sure that I’ve exhausted peaceful solutions (others I’m sure you’ll enjoy penalising Galadhil in some excrutiating way).