Intro

History

Family History

The Bredon family is a rich clan of merchants. The family business was founded by Ballista Bredon, Corrigan’s great-grandmother (now deceased). According to family legend, she immigrated to Gregora from one of the few outside gnomish communities with nothing more than a single pack full of trade goods, a dream, and a small personal fortune. Today the Bredons boast a trading contacts in most gnomish communities in Gregora (those worth trading with) and many human communities, even selling goods/weapons to the gnomish tribes trying to take over Wastrin.

The Bredons are of a traditional rock gnome stock, both in terms of bloodline and family culture. They are gnomes, not humans, and partake of the typical gnomish inventiveness and constant quest for perfection, but they have never quite taken up the fascination with mechanical devices that the majority of the gnomish population has. In a way, this is the secret of the family’s success. Mechanical devices take a lot of resources, especially when they blow up. The most reliably profitable of the Bredon trade routes is to deliver metal ingots, cut and treated wood, and cunningly crafted valves to serve the endless gnomish engineering projects. In much smaller quantities, the best and most reliable gnome inventions are carefully purchased for marketing to humans who have unique needs (or are rich and adventurous).

The current patriarch of the Bredon clan is Ebon Tallboy Bredon, Corrigan’s grandfather. Ebon is a canny, wily gnome in late middle age by gnomish standards. He’s regarded as a hard gnome who rarely cracks a smile, except at the funerals of human rivals he has outlived. Rumor is he keeps a large blackmail file and pays gold for dirty secrets on the powerful. He hardly has a personal life himself, having never remarried after his wife died and insisting on raising his daughter himself rather than turning her over to one of his numerous siblings or their large families. (Ballista had a lot of children, of which Ebon is not the oldest.)

Personal History

Ebon’s daughter Ellywick grew up spoiled, lazy, and rather too fond of fast living and wine. She became got pregnant shortly after physical adulthood, father unknown (“some guy” at a particularly wild party she thinks), and Corrigan was the result. Completely unequipped to care for a baby, she handed him over to her father. Ebon again determined to deal with things himself, preferring to hire tutors and nurses rather than go to his nieces or nephews for help. (Elly finally settled down when Corrigan was approximately 30 and became a priestess of Aphrodite. Her and Corrigan are barely on speaking terms these days.)

Bastardy does not have quite the social connotations among gnomes as it does among humans, but it is certainly not considered something to be proud of. It was somewhat worse among the Bredon family, who pride themselves on their bloodlines more than most gnomes. Corrigan, who already had an introspective, dreamy streak, grew up distant from the rest of his clan. He was undeniably brilliant and creative, but unstable, often adopting obsessions that would consume him for a time before he just as suddenly dropped them.

Seeing that Corrigan possessed great intelligence but not really the temperament of a future merchant lord, Ebon sought to have him trained in magecraft at a young age. This proved a successful move, as Corrigan readily took to awakening the arcane power that is the birthright of all gnomes. He studied wizardry, spellcraft, and alchemy with a succession of teachers, also showing considerable interest in history and general knowledge of the mystical. All in all, he showed the makings of the sort of well-rounded academic mage the Hierarchy might have approved of.

It was during this time that Corrigan adopted what has to date been his most enduring and extensive obsession, a mania for Sycron the Collector. Of course Corrigan had long heard stories of Sycron as a child, but studying arcane magic made him feel a kinship with the larger than life archmage. Corrigan had little respect his instructors, whom he viewed as stodgy traditionalists and mere hired hands of his grandfather’s. He saw in the remote Sycron a fantasy father-figure and mentor who would not disappoint. He specialized as a Conjurer because Sycron is known for conjuration magic and swore someday to attract the attention of his idol.

In 670 PD, the Black War broke out. Bored with his studies and desiring to leave home, Corrigan grabbed his spellbook and enlisted in the armies of Gregora. A mage, even a 1st level one, is a useful military asset, and Corrigan was accepted even though he was only 45 and not quite an adult by gnome standards. Corrigan was assigned to the armies fighting a holding action against the humanoid tribes of the Iron Hills. He served on that front for the entire 5 year duration of the war.

The Iron Hills were a bloody meat-grinder. Dangerous as the humanoid tribes were, the Black Army of Makira coming from the north was seen as the true menace. This meant that most of the (high level) heroes and supplies were directed north, with the armies holding the Iron Hills chronically under-supplied and under-manned. Not for the Hills the spectacular battle-field sweeping magics or duels between dragons. The Iron Hills were fought inch by bloody inch with shortsword and crossbow. (This is in general. There were of course exceptions.)

The Black War was one of the defining events of Corrigan’s life. It was during the war that he caught a poisoned goblin crossbow that permanently weakened his muscles. It was during the war that he became hardened against bloodshed and danger, having seen too much of both first hand. It was during the war that, in many ways, he came of age. Corrigan is still very proud of his military service and status as a veteran, and he always insists that the war would have been lost if not for the defenders of the Iron Line.

After the war, Corrigan returned to his grandfather’s house to recover, a process that took several years. He took back up the study of magic, but was unable to make much progress, only very slowly being able to master the second level of spells. The slow progress frustrated Corrigan, and it make him feel useless and angry. He felt a failure, unable to learn the higher magics like teleportation or elemental binding that would have been useful to a merchant empire, and this made him ever more distracted.

The Twilight Times changed all this.

Like many mages (and many gnomes; gnomes retaining contact their Rock Gnome heritage were often distressed), Corrigan began having strange dreams and visions. Unlike most, he found them not so much distressing as… inspirational. It was as though some floodgate that had been closed since the Black War opened once more inside him, and magic came as easily as it had when he studied in his youth. Corrigan stayed in his room for virtually the entire duration of the Twilight times, not out of fear but in dawning comprehension as arcane formulas he had wrestled with for years came easily to mind. He learned four new spells in as many weeks.

Corrigan prepared to set out into the world, feeling that only through adventure and new experiences could he maintain this spark of creativity. He agreed with his grandfather not to use his family name. Partially to avoid embarrassment, partially to keep from making Corrigan an easy target for enemies of the family. Still, Corrigan doesn’t go to a great deal of effort to hide who his family is. Ebon told him to come home when or if the Hierarchy made him a wizard. (Or until he could at least do something useful like cast teleport- Ebon is nothing if not practical.)

When word came of Sycron’s Challenge, Corrigan ‘knew’ it was no mere coincidence. This is his time to prove himself to Sycron and gain the attention of his hero. So he traveled to Highmoon, a city not unfamiliar to him.

And the rest is the campaign since his introduction!

Description

To be completed when I get back to my write-up

Physical Description

To be completed when I get back to my write-up

Personality

To be completed

Relations with New Warriors

Participation in Challenges

to be fleshed out later