BTW, I posted at the GURPS errata page, so hop on over and back me up! I forgot to mention the mistake in the river name, though, so be sure to include that.
So let's talk about Ieuan Redeemer. One of the chief tragedies of peasant life is that their children are conscripted to join the Legion at age 14 in times of war; Ieuan volunteered at 10. He's doing well, too. He completed the training course only a few months ago, but it's already clear that his dexterity and fleet-footedness will make him an excellent warrior, and that his razor-sharp intellect will make him a first-rate tactician.
Oh, and he's a Ghol. Read on if you dare...
Thirteen years ago, the Journeyman Nine Skull Crocodile was living a secluded life in Forest Heart, acting as doctor to the human settlers on its western edge and occasionally mediating in human-Forest Giant disputes on the subject of logging. Awaking one morning to the sound of snarls and whines, he hastened out of his cabin to see a tiny infant Ghol in the front clearing, but a few weeks old by the look of it, at bay before a cautious but obviously hungry wolf. Newborn Ghols mature much more swiftly than human babies; nonetheless, the proficiency with which this infant was defending itself, snatching up rocks and pine cones and hurling them at its attacker, was undeniably impressive. Mingled pity and curiosity impelled Nine Skull to move forward. With shouts and threatening gestures he drove the beast back to the trees, from which it watched with steady and incurious eyes.
Nine Skull knelt, and noted the baby's unusual coloration--jet black fur, with a curious greyish birthmark on the lower part of its left arm. He saw also that some provisions had been left with it--a few shreds of flesh which, from the look of them, had once been part of a human or humanoid body. It was fairly clear what had happened here--a band of ghols had passed by in the night, and had stopped here, perhaps to determine whether his cabin could be raided. They had moved on, but a mother had left behind her baby, most likely believing it accursed because of its mark. With un-Gholish compassion, however, she had left it a bit of food to slightly increase its miniscule chance of survival. Nine Skull Crocodile considered. The most convenient thing for him to do, and probably the most merciful thing for the baby, would be to quickly snap its neck and let the wolf have its meal. And yet...
Heron Guards were not known for their bloodlust. Any applicant to the order who took positive pleasure in killing would be turned away immediately. But through these decades of peace, serving always as a doctor and never as a warrior, Nine Skull had discovered within himself a true distaste for violence he never knew existed. Practical or no, he didn't *want* to kill the baby. And if he didn't kill it, there was only one thing to be done. Nine Skull scooped up the baby in one massive hand and turned back to his cabin. As he approached the door, the lean wolf darted forward and snapped up the food which had been left with the baby. Nine Skull took a strip of dried meat from his table, tossed it outside, and shut the door.
The Journeyman was never to regret his act of mercy. The Ghol baby grew quickly, in mind as well as body, and under his foster father's tutelage developed inquisitiveness, courage and compassion to degrees that most humans would be proud to achieve. The lack of self-restraint which marred the character of most Ghols manifested itself in this case as nothing more than impatience with all forms of ceremony and etiquette, a quality sometimes aggravating but sometimes admirable. Nine Skull named him Ieuan, which had been Nine Skull's own name before he joined the Heron Guard. Nine Skull was reluctant to teach Ieuan martial skills--though certainly with his remarkable dexterity and coordination he would have excelled in combat--but he told him everything he knew of geography, history, and the nature of the Mythworld. Ieuan could not learn magical healing spells used by Journeymen, dependent as those are upon faith in the Cath Bruig and love of its emperor, but Nine Skull taught him much about conventional medicine. Ieuan spent most of his time in Nine Skull's cabin, as his father feared lest he be harassed or outright attacked by humans or Ghols alike; still, he made a few friends among the more tolerant of the neighboring loggers, and won the respect (not to mention considerable amusement) of the Forest Giants when his father took him to meet with them. Life was not incredibly exciting, but it was pleasant. When he reached adolescence, Nine Skull suggested that he choose a name for himself after the fashion of more traditional Ghols; Ieuan chose the name Redeemer, as he hoped by his actions to show that Ghols might be forgiven their past iniquities, and admitted to the fold of the Light.
When Soulblighter reappeared, Nine Skull was called by his fellow Journeyman to rejoin the Legion and readily agreed, in spite of his newfound distaste for war. Ieuan would gladly have joined him, but this was clearly impossible; in a wartime climate, he would have been attacked by the first weapon-bearing human who spied him. So Ieuan was asked to remain in Forest Heart, and offer what medical help he could to its inhabitants. He did so uncomplainingly; nevertheless he ended up playing a part in the war after all. When the armies of the Dark entered Forest Heart in search of the Tain, it was he who first spied them; it was he who warned the Forest Giants so that they might retreat to their hidden arbors, rather than suffer Soulblighter's wrath for the harm they did to him sixty years past; it was he who led the human settlers to secret places of refuge, overgrown ravines and small caves, so that most--with the exception of a few unfortunate stragglers--survived Soulblighter's invasion.
In the course of the war Nine Skull and the other Journeymen reinstated the Heron Guard, and it was clear after Soulblighter's destruction that he would no longer be able to live in Forest Heart. A few months after the end of the war, he returned to his cabin to discuss Ieuan's future with the young Ghol. Obviously, if Ieuan wanted to enter Light society it would be best for him to join some sort of martial organization, which could protect him until he had shown himself worthy of respect. But what to join? Ieuan would have jumped at the chance to apply for the Heron Guard, but that was obviously out of the question--even had Nine Skull been able to convince his fellow Guards to consider a Ghol, the controversy generated by his admission into the most highly respected order in the land would have torn the Empire apart. In the end, they decided on the Legion. Nine Skull met with Alric, armed with a sheaf of recommendations from the settlers Ieuan saved, and even a few notes of praise from the Forest Giants themselves. Alric agreed surprisingly readily; Nine Skull suspects he was secretly hoping that something like this would happen. Ieuan's behavior in the Legion could be a litmus test for the Ghols as a race, indicating whether they were incorrigibly barbaric or capable of civilization, and thus whether Alric should seek to exterminate them or to assimilate them. Accordingly, Ieuan enrolled in the Legion training course at Madrigal, under Alric's watchful eye. As I said, he's graduated recently and is currently engaged on the routine missions given a team of novice warriors, basically policing of the countryside.
End of Backstory.
Ieuan's appearance: A black-furred ghol, with a silvery birthmark in the fur on the lower part of his left arm. The birthmark's appearance is not entirely clear, but it appears to include a pair of concentric circles. If he ever opts to shave the area, the mark on the skin may be seen to have more details. Ieuan wears a somewhat-reshaped (mainly shortened) warrior's uniform, with mail and helm; he carries the standard broadsword in a scabbard across his back, and uses a smaller, oval (long axis horizontal, short axis vertical) shield. He hangs a sack from his belt to carry useful stuff.
Ieuan's talents & skills: Basically, Ieuan's centered around talent rather than skill. He's got an exceptional mind, and a body which is exceptionally obedient to the commands of that mind; but youth and his sheltered life have kept him from learning much, other than basic warrior skills, and some history and medicine taught to him by Nine Skull. Nonetheless, his high IQ and dexterity make him reasonably proficient at most tasks even without actually having any skill points in that area. In combat, he finds an enemy's weak point and exploits it. A Warlock would deal with an attacking dragon by blowing its head off with fireballs. Ieuan would toss a single dwarf cocktail in a perfect arc so that it landed in the dragon's inner ear, destroying its sense of balance and causing it to fall out of the sky onto the sharpened wooden stake Ieuan raised twenty minutes earlier when he planned the whole thing. I'm not sure how well I can roleplay someone ten times as smart as me, but I'd like to try.
Ieuan's advantages and disadvantages: Being friends with a well-respected Heron Guard, the Forest Giants, a few Legionnaires and some settlers of Forest Heart is a big advantage; being disliked by pretty much everyone else in the country is a bigger disadvantage. Humans dislike him because he's a Ghol; Dwarves hate him because he's a Ghol; Ghols loathe him because they consider him a traitor. In almost any company, Ieuan's shape and nature work against him.
Ieuan's personality: His primary qualities, as already mentioned, are curiosity and compassion. He serves the Light because he feels that, on average, Mythworld sentients are happier and more knowledge is discovered and disseminated when the Light's in charge. His scorn for ceremony is his biggest personality quirk. Why should you shake hands when introduced, he feels, when it's obvious you're already aware of this person's existence? Why should you bury the corpse of a loved one when you could recover fifty pounds of usable protein? Nine Skull and his few Legion friends have gotten him to make concessions to the biggest issues of etiquette--like not eating the corpses of sentients--but this is still the quality most likely to get him in trouble with humans and dwarves, who are just waiting for him to do something Gholish so they can say "We told you so!" and put his head on a stake.
And yes, Ieuan has an amazing, earth-shattering secret just like everyone else's character. I'm not telling you what it is, though. :)
