Gilerl

Background and Notes

Gilerl Gilerlson is a Gnome that was lost in the woods when he when he just learned how to walk and was never found by his parents. For three days he wandered in the forest, often on his hands and knees, before he was found by the kindly wife a scientist who nursed him back to health. The scientist was convinced that the baby was a feral child, raised by animals in the wild, so he constructed an elaborate controlled environment to study Gilerl. For three years Gilerl lived in that woods as the scientist's secret project, so secret that his wife didn't know about it. She was told that Gilerl was sent to an orphanage.

Eventually the scientist's wife discovered her husband's project, and convinced him to take Gilerl out of the woods where he had been alone for so long and send him to be domesticated (convincing him was quite a feat, as the first thing Gilerl did when he saw a human again was bite them). Years under the care of nurses brought him under something resembling control, though he still preferred to move on all fours. At the age of 7 he was moved from a psychiatric facility to an orphanage up in the mountains.

Gilerl was always curiously strong, and the years in the forest as a boy where he would climb trees to resolve boredom only made him stronger. Word of a boy in the orphanage who could barely talk but could lift whatever he pleased grew. On a cold February day a crippled man approaching middle-age came into the establishment. His name was Lindtwiss Nacklezig and he adopted Gilerl on the spot.

Any wild spark in Gilerl, now at the age of 14, had been buried deep inside. He no longer acted violently toward any other Gnome, and stayed alone most of the time when he wasn't helping around the orphanage. He was such a help that it took Lindtwiss a lot of convincing, and a significant donation, to take Gilerl off their hands.

The next few years were strange for Gilerl, who was given a mace by Lindtwiss and taught how to use it. Lindtwiss would often take Gilerl hunting and delight in Gilerl's skill in clubbing the monsters they came across. Lindtwiss wanted Gilerl to be wild again, encouraging the boy to yell and scream and make a fool of himself (though usually out of his adopted father's presence he was as quiet and obedient as always) and when Gilerl was 17 he revealed why. In a former life Lindtwiss was a merchant, and a successful one at that, before a band of thieves attacked him. His cohorts managed to fight them off, but an arrow in his leg kept him from leaving his very city. Trade is the lifeblood of our world, Lindtwiss told the boy, and these bandits are choking this land. They were the hunters, with you out there they will be hunted.

Having brought up a very suggestible boy to do the act that he always wanted but never was able to do himself, he gave his blessings to Gilerl and sent him off into the forest. His instructions were to follow whomever he sees and watch them from afar, and if they ever try to hurt anyone it was his duty to kill them, to rip them apart and leave nothing resembling a Man or Gnome behind.

It had been the mission of many to take Gilerl out of the woods, to make him a part of Gnomish society again. But due to the efforts of a vengeful Gnome with nothing left to loose he his out alone again. There is nothing for him to go back to, as Lindtwiss skipped town after setting Gilerl loose, and nothing ahead except the bodies of whomever he finds next.

*SPOILER* Gilerl's Character Sheet