Character History

Gavião

Gavião Nobre

Age 29
Gender: Male
Race Human
Class: chevalier (paladin) Lawful Neutral

Was born in Portugal, went to France to be a part of the Knights Templar who serve Epona. Recently, the order has been giving some means to it's members who have other missions they could serve and sending them away, as they were expecting to be attacked by the King of France. The only Knights who were staying behind were those who were willing to sacrifice themselves to that the rest could get away, and continue their Secret Work and protect their Mysterious Holy Relic. I hired on to protect the Epona Cleric, making sure she can travel the roads in safety. I am somewhat worldly and disillusioned for a paladin. Probably more like lawful neutral than lawful good, truth be told, but Epona seems to not hold it against me. I'm rather like a veteran police officer. Surprised by very little in the way of evil doings, corruption etc. I'm willing to be rather ruthless if it is in the service of my causes.

Gaviao Nobre was born in Sintra Portugal, near Lisbon. His parents had little money. Gaviao's father, Pedro was disabled, his left hand, missing three fingers and his left foot, just a club, missing all of his digits. It left Pedro, with little confidence in life. His solace turned to wine and most of the time, he was drunk. During the periods in which he didn't drink, he tried to sell wood carvings that he made. Still very good for the bad hand, he could have made a living at it, but it cut into his drinking time. Gaviao's mother, Indra tried to make ends meet but it was hard for her to find work at anything but a bar maid or a laundress, at which she did both. She tried very hard to supply everything that a young boy could need but Pedro drank most of it away. It was a lucky thing that Pedro wasn't a mean drunk, he never tried to beat Gaviao and it was during these times that Gaviao learned of things that he never expected his father capable of doing. He spoke of the Knights Templar. A group of men and some women whose only goal was to do what was right for the world and the people. He spoke sometimes like he knew these people and missions that they would ride on. Gaviao grew up playing Knights Templar in the streets with all the other children of the streets. By the time that Gaviao was eight years old, his parents were barely speaking to each other and almost never seeing each other. Indra one night came to Gaviao's bed and scooped him up, saying that they were going on an adventure. To tired to protest, they left. Indra to Gaviao to a much nicer house, nearly a palace. Her she tucked him into a soft feather bed and put him back to sleep. In the morning, he awoke thought that he was dreaming to be sleeping in a place such as this. Indra came in and told him that they were spending their time here with Gaviao's new stepfather, Neeron. Neeron was a minor noble and a real ass. He nearly threw them both out on the street when he found that his new lover, Indra had a child and that she had brought him with her. Gaviao was soon placed to work in the stables. It was better for all concerned that Gaviao and Neeron didn't interact. Neither liked to back down from the other and their numerous confrontations only fueled the flames. Quitor, the stable master took Gaviao under his tutelage. Gaviao learned the care of horses and of Epona, the goddess of horses and animals. Quitor never let a day pass without a lesson in something or the other. Some days it was even humility, but mostly it was lessons in being a good person. Gaviao learned much from Quitor, horse care and handling, swordplay, when he had the time and more about both Epona and the Knights Templar.

Of Pedro there was no news, even when he tried to get find out, Gaviao could never find him. It was like his father had given up all his old haunts. By age 10, Gaviao was nearly running the stables, he spent more and more time down there. Most of his possessions were now above the horses in the stables, he very rarely slept in the house. His mother, Indra was kept very busy, usually in the kitchens but sometimes in the bed of Neeron. Neeron started to become more secretive as the time went on. People would show up at all times of the night and day. Gaviao's inquisitive nature got the best of him. Sneaking some nights up to the window of Neeron's study, he would listen to conversations. Most nights it was nothing but rumors of political intrigue that only really mattered to those that were into that sort of thing. But some nights the guests were strange, never uncloaking their forms, some were tall and thin, others very stocky. Most were normal enough looking but still Neeron sweated more on these nights than on any other. One night, standing outside the study, Gaviao failed to notice someone approaching from behind. A hand latched onto him and held tight, despite his struggles. The face was very thin, taunt skin as if it had to stretched to cover the bones of the skull, large blue eyes bulged from the sockets. Rav was his name and he was a new addition to the staff at the house, but had quickly become a trusted lackey for Neeron. Rav dragged Gaviao to Neeron. Neeron's guest, a tall man dressed in black armor, looked like the fantasies of knights that Gaviao held in his head. Long hair that curled down his back, and longer mustaches that flared when he talked. Sir Dray looked down at the boy that was held in grips of Rav. "This is your problem? This is not a problem just a boy that needs some instruction in manners. Pack your bags boy, we will be on the way to France by morning."

Stunned by the events of the night before, Gaviao didn't sleep that night, but by morning he was ready to go. He searched for his mother briefly to understand why he was being sent away. He did see her once from an upper window, before someone pulled her back from it. They left for France. It took a long time to get there. Gaviao doesn't remember much of the trip through Spain, just the endless days walking and then spending the night tending to Dray's horse. Provence France, was to be the home of Gaviao for many years to come. Here was the biggest training school for knights and squires. A crash course in French was the first order of business. Years passed for Gaviao and he progressed into a grown man. His interest in horses never waned, nor did praying to the goddess Epona. Epona seemed to be the main goddess of choice for the most of the knights. Sir Dray was stern individual but always fair in his judgments. Gaviao was made Squire by the time he was sixteen and progressed to Knight on his 21st birthday. Campaigns followed, France, Italy, Germany, England, Denmark, and just about everywhere in between. Always did it feel good to be doing something that was right and most of the time, Gaviao felt that was he was doing was the right thing. Five years passed, returning from a campaign in England, it had been two years since he had last seen Provence. A package dated over a year ago awaited his return. It was small but addressed to him from Portugal. He ripped it open. Out dropped a small marble rod with a strange script inscribed on the side. A note wrapped around the rod was written in Pedro's script.

"Son,
I watched your career from a far always proud to be your father. You will never know the many times that I tried to see you when you were in the care of Neeron, only to pushed away at the door. I never made much of myself just an old war veteran, with bum limbs. I saved this rod though from the times that I served with the Knights Templar. There are bad times coming for you. Even in my day they spoke of a darkness that was at the core of the Knights. I never believed it, but even now, many of my old war buddies have disappeared. I never told you the story of how I became like I did. We were on a patrol near Faro, Portugal. There were creatures that came out of the caves there, they looked like dwarves but were dark and twisted. They attacked several villages and farmhouses on the way. We were sent under the command of Sir Leayton to find these creatures and send them back to where they came from. We chased them for days and finally were lead into caves. We turned the horses out and entered into the cave system. Farther and farther down we traveled, many of us wanted to turn back but Leayton kept forcing us on. We thought we had them cornered in a cave, but it was a strange place, the walls glowed a strange greenish color. We lost a few men but we slaughtered them to the last. A few of the men, myself included took souvenirs. This is what I took. It took me a few years to understand the script on the rod. It only says 2. Odd I know. It was not long after this that all of us who went into that cave system started to feel strange and act even stranger.

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