Name: Erik Galhad
Age: 22
Height: 5â10
Weight: 177lbs
Species: Human (Keradoran)
Hair: White
Eyes: Black
Birthplace: Runners, Kerador
Occupation: Scribe
Family: Szeth Galhad
(brother), Darwin Galhad III
(father), Erika Galhad
(mother) (deceased)BioErik Galhad is a fresh-faced tenderfoot eager to explore the diverse lands of
AELORA. Mixed with a youthful bravado, his eagerness can make him come across as foolhardy but he is by no means foolish. Intelligent and well-spoken, Erik possesses a quick tongue and is a mean mercantile strategist. His passion however lies in research which he tries to use to make up for his lack of worldly experience. Outside of his comfort zone however, he might be described as nervous and hesitant.
Erik is the youngest son of former merchant Darwin Galhad III who, like his father and his father before him was born and raised in
RUNNERS. As a jab at his father, he named his first son Szeth and then named his second son after his wife, Erika. He did, however continue on with the family business but went so far as to join the extensive
PATRONS GUILD of
KERADOR, against his fatherâs advice.
Keradorâs Patrons Guild is operated by a handful of the nationâs wealthiest merchants. Control is the priority of the guild because with control of their trade comes profit. The guild mostly controls the travel trade from city to city throughout the nation and even the little that goes outside of it. They offer loans in the form of money, product and even protection. Those it benefits it does so greatly and those that it does not eventually go under and once a merchant is deep enough in the guild, a combination of debt and favors owed can make it impossible to leave.
Darwin Galhad was a member of the guild for over a decade but when his profits began to drop, the guild reprimanded him. First they forced âgood intentâ loans on him and then demanded he honor the favors he had incurred. It got to the point where he had to lay off his outside help and even reduce his security detail.
Erik wrote letters to the guild heads asking for leniency but they ignored him. It was when his family was forced to sell their modest home in Runners and take to living out of the wagon that Erik became truly outspoken against the guild. Whichever city they went to, Erik preached to whoever would listen about the injustice of the guild and their danger to the economy. While he did not garner a large following, those who were wronged by the guild
did listen.
Darwin was not among them and instead pleaded with his son to stop. Szeth agreed with his younger brother but not with his loud tactics and he also tried to get their father to turn his back on the guild. Szeth knew that if his father, a well-respected merchant were to take a stand then others would quickly follow and in that they might stand a legitimate chance.
At first it seemed as if all of Erikâs ranting paid off when the guild made them a special offer. It seemed that they had managed to broker a deal with a customer they had been trying to barter with for a long time: the native centaur of the
ALDWARDINE PLAINS. According to the guild, one of the centaur clans of
ORWEYN FOREST offered their services in trade for specialized supplies.
The Galhads would never come within sight of the forest boarder before being attacked by a brazen tribe of barbarians. They were robbed of their merchandise, their wagon was burned, and most tragically of all, Erika Galhad was murdered.
Life in Kerador would continue as normal for the rest of the population but over the next two years the Galhad family would dissolve as if touched by acid. As Darwin dove in to the bottle, Szeth dove in to the business, doing everything he could to salvage it and support what was left of his family.
Where his father and brother saw only tragedy, Erik saw conspiracy. He insisted that the men who attacked them were but mercenaries disguised as barbarians, hired by the guild to silence them. He even scoffed at their gesture of âgood willâ when they forgave his fatherâs remaining debts. But Erikâs accusations actually hurt his attempted rallying for support since any merchant who did believe him would certainly not risk crossing the guild after such a cruel and effective display.
Tensions only grew between Erik and his father with Szeth constantly playing mediator. Darwin called his son a fool who wasted his time with books rather than help his family while Erik accused his father of being a coward for not standing up to the guild.
So Erik left Runners behind him and eventually Kerador altogether with the rest of Aelora ahead of him. Though he does not yet know how, Erik intends to gather evidence of the guildâs corruption and present it to those merchants who do not share in their venality.
RunnersPossibly the oldest city in the nation, Runners was so named because in its earliest days it was home to those primarily charged with running messages between the growing communities of Kerador. Barely large enough to be considered one of the city-states, Runners remains independent of its surrounding neighbors through the stone will of the barbarian ancestry of its residents.