Gerda of Hilfengarde

Gender: Female

Age: 193

Group: Merchants

Game: Dark Age of Aeran

Nationality/Loyalties

Gerda is a dwarf from the Dwarven City-State of Hefhilgen. Although she cares for her people, her loyalties lie primarily for her elf husband, Solandriel, and her longtime employer, the enigmatic fey known as Maelwin Keyes.

Title/Rank

A bastard daughter of the then-High King of Hefhilgen, Thoran of Clan Gul (and by extention, a step-sister of the current High King), Gerda is arguably a princess, although that position carries few perks for her these days other than easier access to the Royal Hall.

More applicable to her de facto situation is that she is the owner of the travelling potion shop, "Dwarven Potions and Tonics", a relatively reputable enterprise, if one that can be hard to locate.

Race/Appearance

Gerda is a middle-aged dwarf with moderately fair although clearly weather-beaten skin, mostly-red (with an increasing amount of grey) hair, freckles, and intelligent brown eyes. She has a pretty average height and weight of a female dwarf, which means she's short and sturdy. Despite her noble-ish birth, she has the look of a working woman rather than that of a pampered aristocrat.

Personality/Interests

Quite a few terms can be used to describe Gerda: meticulous, persnickety, resolute, persistant, morally flexible, Gerda is first and foremost task and goal oriented, usually willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish what she sets her mind to, even if people get hurt in the process. While she believes her intentions are benign, casualties can be justified if the ends are worthwhile.

Gerda also possesses a keen intellect and a remarkable education, being highly informed about the subjects she commits herself to, namely potion making and dwarven runecrafting.

While she has learned to work with people out of necessity, she struggles to tolerate fools, unless that fool happens to be her husband. She tries not to be condescending to those less knowledgeable and intelligent than herself (don't want to lose out on customers by being an asshole after all) but sometimes she slips up.

Brief History

Gerda was conceived during a rough period for the people of Hefhilgen.  Plague ravaged the great City-State, decimating the population and even the Royal Family, claiming the lives of the High Queen and the young Crown Prince, and threating the lives of the High King and the rest of his family.  Supposedly as much to secure the line of succession than as a way of finding solace in that dark time, the widower king fell into the arms of his head of servants.  These would be Gerda's biological parents.

Soon thereafter, the source of the plague, a witch coven dedicated to the destruction of one of the dwarven clans was discovered and eventually eliminated by a human hero and his sidekick, Tolkyn Grimr.  The High King and his second son, Marin, survived the devastation to witness the birth of Gerda, a child born out of wedlock although not technically adultery.  Still, once it became obvious that Marin would grow to be stout and healthy, and especially after the High King remarried, Gerda's existance became something of a stain on the honor of the family.  However her father was nothing if not a compassionate man (at least to those of his blood and his affections), and rather than casting the young girl into the streets as many a man in his position had done to a bastard, he instead sent her to a cloister and afforded her the finest tutors dwarven gold could buy.  This suited Gerda just fine, as she had always prefered to stick her nose in a book rather than endure the judgemental looks of the dwarven nobility anyway.

For many years Gerda lived almost alone out of the public eye as she stuffed her head full of as much knowledge as she could in fields such as languages, economics, diplomacy, anatomy runecrafting, and potion mixing.  This state of affairs continued until shortly after the death of her father and the ascension of her step-brother, Marin, to High King of Hefhilgen.  Marin had never quite seen eye to eye with Gerda and was not particularly pleased with how much of the state budget went into supporting her and others like her.  Assuming correctly that Gerda wouldn't try anything treasonous, Marin gave his step-sister enough gold and silver to survive for a few months then cut off the payments his father had long made to her.

Arms/Equipment

Pending

Talents/Abilities/Advantages

Pending

Fears/Weaknesses/Phobias

Pending

Favorite Sayings or Quotes

Pending

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