### **Gideon – The Scholar Who Became the Magister of Rivermarch** ![[DALL·E 2025-02-22 14.23.23 - A gnome summoner with pale skin touched faintly by the creeping edges of the Bleaching, with dark disheveled hair, often left untamed in the rush of h.webp]] --- #### **Basic Information** - **Name:** Gideon *(Formerly Gerilius Ithican Dathonius Evolent Ordilon Narakin—though that name no longer fits.)* - **Race/Species:** Gnome *(A soul rewritten, a name forgotten, a past buried in ash.)* - **Class/Profession:** Summoner, Magister of Rivermarch - **Alignment/Morality:** True Neutral *(Seeker of knowledge, builder of Rivermarch, a man balanced between discovery and destruction.)* - **Age:** Indeterminate *(His current self is barely a year old, but the echoes of past selves whisper through him.)* - **Gender & Pronouns:** He/Him *(A matter of convenience—he is Gideon, nothing more, nothing less.)* - **Appearance:** - **Short even by gnomish standards, his frame wiry but not fragile.** - **Pale skin, touched faintly by the creeping edges of the Bleaching**, though traces of old color still linger at the edges. - **Dark, disheveled hair**, often left **untamed in the rush of his thoughts.** - **Eyes that shimmer like glass catching the light**, always **watching, always calculating, always questioning.** - **Dressed in fine but practical robes**, woven with **small arcane sigils, warding glyphs stitched into the fabric in case of the unknown.** - **Nav, his clockwork eidolon, is never far from his side**, a mechanical construct of brass, gears, and Gideon’s own magic, **a tether to something far older than himself.** --- #### **Personality & Traits** - **Personality Summary:** Gideon is **a man caught between knowing and remembering, between logic and longing.** He **buried his past to survive, but the ghosts of it remain, whispering in every shadowed corridor of his mind.** He is **driven, obsessive, methodical—but at times reckless in his pursuit of truth.** - **A scholar before a ruler, a tactician before a politician.** - **Knows more than he speaks, but speaks only what is necessary.** - **Seeks control—not of people, but of knowledge, of power, of fate itself.** - **Fears forgetting, but fears remembering more.** - **Views loyalty as something earned, not expected.** - **Strengths & Skills:** - **Master of Arcane Theory:** **Leylines, summoning circles, magical constructs—he sees the patterns where others see chaos.** - **Coldly Analytical:** **Every decision is weighed, measured, and calculated.** - **Unwavering Curiosity:** **A mystery is not to be feared—it is to be solved, no matter the cost.** - **Master of Eidolons:** **Nav is not just a summon, but an extension of himself, a conduit for forgotten power.** - **Resistant to Manipulation:** **His mind is too sharp to be swayed by mere rhetoric.** - **Weaknesses & Flaws:** - **The Bleaching Lurks:** **Every choice, every moment of inaction, pulls him closer to the emptiness that nearly consumed him.** - **Detached from Emotion:** **Understands human emotion, but often struggles to truly connect with it.** - **Obsession With Lost Knowledge:** **Once he sets his mind on a mystery, he does not stop—regardless of the consequences.** - **Uncertainty About His Past:** **He chose to erase himself, but fragments remain. And some secrets should stay buried.** - **Fear of Losing Control:** **His mind is his greatest weapon, and the idea of losing it terrifies him.** - **Mannerisms & Speech Patterns:** - **Speaks with precise, clipped articulation, never wasting words.** - **When deep in thought, he traces symbols in the air absentmindedly.** - **Often pauses before answering, as if running probabilities in his head.** - **Rarely raises his voice—when he does, people listen.** - **Will stare at a problem for hours if necessary, dissecting every possible outcome.** --- #### **Background & Story Role** - **Backstory Summary:** Gideon was **not always Gideon.** - Once, he was **Gerilius Ithican Dathonius Evolent Ordilon Narakin**—a **name too long, too heavy, too burdened with history.** - Once, he was **a researcher, a seeker of knowledge, a master of leylines.** - Once, he **stood at the edge of discovery and saw something he should not have seen.** - And then, he was **no one.** He performed a ritual. **Something desperate, something final.** - He carved runes into his own flesh, rewriting himself, severing the thread of his past. - He **forgot what he needed to forget.** - He **became Gideon.** But **fragments remain.** Whispers of the past surface in dreams, in visions, in moments where he reaches for knowledge **and something reaches back.** He came to Rivermarch **not to rule, but to build**—to forge a kingdom where **knowledge is power, where the unknown is studied, not feared.** - **Current Motivations:** - **To ensure Rivermarch survives—not through war, but through knowledge.** - **To unravel the mysteries of the leylines before someone else does.** - **To protect his mind from the past clawing its way back in.** - **To prove that intelligence, not brute force, is the key to true power.** - **Connections & Relationships:** - **[[Brinn Whitewood]] (The Leader He Watches):** **Brinn rules with conviction, but conviction alone is not enough. Gideon ensures he does not rule blind.** - **[[Tybalt Rattigan]] (The One He Cannot Read):** **Too clever, too slippery, too unpredictable. A useful ally, but one Gideon will never fully trust.** - **[[Brinnard Whitewood]] (The Old Soldier Who Stares Too Hard):** **He sees Gideon as a man playing with fire. He’s not wrong.** - **[[Maximus]] (The Machine That Thinks):** **A construct, yet sentient. Another mystery. Another reason to study.** - **[[Borion Nightshade]] (The Magus With Doubts):** **A man who questions his own worth, yet holds power he does not fully grasp. He will either become something great, or something dangerous.** - **[[Tartuk]] (The Firebrand Who Finally Listened):** **They clashed, but now, at last, they understand each other. And that understanding makes them dangerous together.** - **[[Orena Valdiir]] (The Scholar Who Sees Too Much):** **She is like him—driven, relentless, but perhaps too hopeful. He cannot let her fall into the same abyss he once did.** - **[[Nav]] (The Reflection of His Own Mind):** **More than an eidolon. More than a summon. A piece of Gideon himself, watching, waiting, calculating.** - **Factions or Allegiances:** - **Rivermarch (His Experiment, His Responsibility):** **This kingdom will not fall. He will ensure it.** - **The Forsaken Aerie (A Power That Calls to Him):** **There is something there, something waiting. He must understand it.** - **The Leylines (The Key to Everything):** **They hum beneath the surface, waiting to be unlocked.** - **Notable Items & Equipment:** - **Nav (His Clockwork Eidolon):** **A manifestation of something older, something Gideon does not fully understand.** - **A Journal Filled With Scraps of Forgotten Knowledge:** **Notes written in a hand he no longer remembers.** - **A Single Silver Coin, Worn Smooth:** **He does not know why he keeps it. Only that it matters.** --- ### **Recurring Themes & Story Hooks:** - **"I was not meant to exist. But here I am."** - **"The past is a cage. Knowledge is the key."** - **"We are playing with forces beyond understanding. I intend to understand them."** - **"Rivermarch is not ready for what’s coming. But I will be."** --- Gideon **buried his past to survive.** Now, **he must decide if he is ready to dig it back up.**