Aelwyn

Character Name: Aelwyn

Name Meaning: fair browed

Age: 21

Date of Birth: Summer, 2989

Race: Man

Residence: born on a Rohirric croft in the Westfold; now travels about with his adoptive grandfather, “grandmother” (eyeroll) and brother, throughout Rohan and its borderlands

Profession: a little of this, a little of that (meaning he hunts while they are traveling, provides some muscle to protect Gramps and his goods [and gold] and does a little ‘creative borrowing’ whenever they come near civilization)

Appearance: He stands about 6'3" tall, muscular, fit, long blonde hair, blue eyes, fair complexion but exposed skin tanned from weather and sun

Personality: Bold, brash, fierce, wild, fearless – except when it comes to Gramps. He can be cowed by the now diminished older man, with just a look or a sour word. Aelwyn is perhaps one iota more...contemplative...than his brother, Einion. He can be...brooding. He has also been somewhat restless of late.




Parents: His natural parents, names unknown, deceased; his adoptive grandmother, Maeve, deceased; his grandsire, Talfryn, age 61; his "step-grandmother", Freahilda, age 20

Sibling(s): Einion, adoptive brother, age 21; he probably had other, natural born siblings, but if so they are dead, and he has no knowledge of their names, ages or gender

Spouse: n/a

Children: He might have unknowingly and unintentionally sired a few, but if so they are unknown to him

History: Aelwyn is the name given him by the woman who raised him – a Dunlending. What his Rohirric name might have been will never be known. It was lost, along with all his kin, during a borderland raid that saw his family killed, every man, woman and child, with the infant boy being the sole exception. When the Dunlending “medicine man” Talfryn and his wife Maeve came upon the smoldering remains of the croft, they found little left of use, and the babe. He was hidden under a tattered basket, possibly overlooked by whoever had done the killing and looting. Maeve had a tender heart, and the care of another waif, her own grandson, born only months before to her daughter Morna, who passed soon after she brought her one and only child into the world. Talfryn may well have left the straw headed Forgoil to perish. But Maeve’s insistence that they take the foundling in prevailed. Thus the dark haired Einion gained a brother, and the two were raised as one.

They were wild things. Talfryn and Maeve wandered all over the plains of Rohan, and sometimes beyond, the man peddling his cures and charms and elixirs, most of which held more of positive thinking than any real healing properties. Aelwyn and Einion helped some with the gathering of the various ingredients, and learned much about the properties, both good and bad, of plants that grew in the areas in which they traveled. They hunted and fished and came to provide much of the food the tiny family consumed whilst “on the road.” They played and wrestled and sometimes fought and learned skill with knife, bow and sword. In time, as Talfryn aged and his beard shaded to white, the two boys, grown to men, were a useful set of arms, strong backs and bold natures to have around, to help guard and protect what little they had. Ever and ever they traveled, never long in one place, and if Aelwyn ever thought of his lost family or roots, he never seemed to regret the freedom, or the common perils, of his adoptive life.

In time, Maeve sickened and passed, despite all of her husband’s curatives. Aelwyn grieved for her as for a mother born; no son could have loved and respected more deeply. A year or so passed and by this time, Aelwyn was took with the notion of having a wife of his own, or something like. One night in a tavern he sweet talked a pretty girl to come with him, and share the adventures of the road. What motivated her, only Fraehilda could have said. But Aelwyn was delighted to bring her back to their extremely modest camp, to introduce her to his brother and grandfather. And there the trouble began.

Einion, the dolt, insisted that, as it had always been “share and share alike” between them, as brothers (and even to the women they encountered here and there, this had sometimes been the case), that it should be so again, if Fraehilda was to become their traveling companion. Aelwyn was aghast, and outraged. Fraehilda was to be his wife, or as close to as made no difference in the lack of formalities. The two fell to arguing, then to fighting, then to something that came closer to trying to kill one another than they had ever come to before. The struggles lasted for hours, and in the end, the outcome was…unexpected. Talfryn had made his own move, and while the two brash, lust filled idiots tried to throttle one another, he sweet talked his own way into the young woman’s favor. After all, he held the gold, and what woman ever says no to gold?

Thus it was that the next morning Talfryn announced that Fraehilda was now to be considered his wife, and the boys were to consider her their new grandmother! And she a year younger than them both! He even insisted that they refer to her as such, perhaps in the deluded hope that this would emphasize his suzerainty. More likely, he did it to have his little ongoing joke over them.

In any case, since then, Aelwyn has begun to question more and more whether he should stay in company with the old geezer and the lovely Fraehilda, the woman he should have been bedding, and got with child by now. He wonders more and more about his roots,and if he should make some effort to locate anyone who he might claim as kin, or even to simply return to his people and make himself of service to the man who would have been his king. Thus far, the answer, in his head, and in his heart, has continued to be…not yet. The only thing really staying his flight is the true love that he bears for Einion. Without him, he knows he would be lost.