Gilderaun the Great

Gilderaun Redelore, also known as Gilderaun the Great was a famous adventurer, archaeologist, treasure hunter, explorer, and sailor who is best remembered for his expansive work in pioneering the field of global-wide travel, as well as his numerous historical discoveries and his publication detailing numerous accounts of his work entitled The Manuscripts of GIlderaun. However, he is most notably famous for his success in solving the posthumous Trials of King Trydgis after his father died and bestowed his progress unto him. Gilderaun was credited with finishing the trials, which not only revealed much information about King Trydgis and the Continental and Transcontinental Conflicts, but also gave Baltora the power it needed to return to Dohmunderiah. Aside from the professional work in his field, Gilderaun was also an avid trader, antique collector, farmer, musician, professional jouster, and swordsman. Being a traveler for most of his life, Gilderaun was homeless from the time he lost his father well into his late fifties, jut shortly before his death. Most of Gilderaun's possessions that he recovered from treasure hunting were stored in several of his colleagues' houses around the entirety of Dohmunderiah until he eventually completely organized and cataloged his collection at his private castle in the Moonlight Isles.

Gilderaun was an Acquirian by birth and, after moving to Trydgisia, worked under contract for the Trydgisian government for much of his life. However, he also gained citizenship in Luhtrance, where he spent many years. He also spent long amounts of time throughout the continents of Kellerian and Eldaragest, in the latter of which he would eventually reside permanently.

Early Life
Gilderaun was born in 4249 to Gullenbran and Blaire Redelore into a family of two other sons, Benecius and Alastair, who were four and seven years old at the time of his birth. He was born in the family estate on their plantation just outside of the city of Vallada. Little is known of Gilderaun's earliest years. It was evident very early on that Gilderaun was fascinated with fighting, especially shown through his interest in the local Knights of Vall and their activities in the city. Gilderaun often followed sections of knights around and mimicked their actions in mock-duels with his brothers, quickly surpassing them in their swordplay.

In 4256, when Gilderaun was seven years old, a tower of the Vallada Castle, which was being used as a mining supplies storeroom, collapsed after a very large explosion that damaged the southern wing of the castle. Gilderaun was in the courtyard of the castle with two of his friends at the time of the explosion. The three were buried in rubble, but were quickly recovered by others who were in the castle at the time. One of Gilderaun's friends was killed in the incident, while he and his other friend escaped with minor injuries. Gilderaun suffered from partial loss of hearing from the blast, and would live the rest of his life with impaired hearing.

When Gilderaun was eight, his father, who was secretly serving in the Knights Kronicha under the cover of working for the Analytics Guild, was tasked with permanently working in eastern Trydgisia, specifically Trydgisia City and Kingsport in order to attempt to assist King Trydgis in the returning of Baltora to Dohmunderiah. On their way to Trydgisia City, Gilderaun and Gullenbran were informed that King Trydgis had actually died very recently. They were among the first to hear the news, as Prince Narongal decided it best to delay the news until his father's body was recovered. In the following week, Gilderaun attended the Radoran College Tournament Final of 4257 where he was exposed to both college dueling and jousting for the first time, which would likely be the first factor influencing him to pursue these activities later on in life. On the same day, Gilderaun's father was introduced to the first of Trydgis' Baltorian Keys, which would also play an extremely large part in both he and his father's life. Due to these two events happening on the same day, the 12th of Illusvendus, 4257 is considered to be a very important day in Gilderaun's childhood, even if he did not know this for several more years. A few days after the 12th, both of his brothers left for their studies at Morthington Acadamy, in which Gilderaun accompanied them to, arriving in the city of Sempir Vertus for the second time in his life. It was here that Gilderaun's father first introduced him to the first Baltorian Key, although he chose not to explain its importance or his role in studying it.

Upon their return to Trydgisia City, Gullenbran made the decision to begin training GIlderaun in the methods of the Knights Kronicha in both combat and ethics. He did not tell Gilderaun the true reason for this training, other than saying it would simply make him into a good man. When asked why Gilderaun's brothers had not received the same training, Gullenbran simply said that he saw more practical potential in Gilderaun, seeing a purpose for the training, whereas he saw potential elsewhere in his two other sons. For most of his son's childhood, when Gullenbran was not working in Kingsport, he would push his son very hard in his training, eventually shaping him into an expert in fields such as agility, fighting, swordplay, archery, endurance, logical reasoning, observation, and perception.

Later Events of 4257
After returning to Trydgisia City with his father and Merrilus from the Hanarikar Lands, Gilderaun was faced with many hardships. Shortly after the funeral ceremony of King Trydgis, both Gullenbran and Blair fell sick to the plague as a consequence of the Roravinian Biological Attack on Trydgisia. GIlderaun was sent away by his father coincidentally at the beginning of the initial siege of the city. Leaving through the city's main gates bound for the city of Sempir Vertus, Gilderaun and a city guard named Hadriella were stopped at the city's south barracks when the invasion began. Hadriella returned to her post at the city's wall, leaving Gilderaun to wander away from the city on his own by horse until reaching Leinettes.

After the siege, Merrilus met up with Gilderaun at Sagacia Pointe within Leinettes and accompanied him down to Sempir Vertus, where the two finally met Benecius and Alastair on the academy campus. Merrilus had a long conversation with the academy's headmaster Madeleine Stirling, informing her of the recent events in the kingdom's capital. Through the headmaster, the lord of Sempir Vertus Nolden Longeye was consulted on the matter of the invasion. Lord Longeye had just returned from the city after attending the funeral of his longtime friend King Trydgis and was entirely surprised at the news.

Student at Morthington Academy
In the harvest season of 4261, Gilderaun joined his two older brothers within the walls of the Academy of Morthington. Gilderaun was cautiously skeptic over the formal strictness of the school at first, but quickly began to accept it. During the first school conference welcoming the new students in, Gilderaun sat next to a boy with long, black hair named Jacapo Savonavari, with whom he became instant friends with. Throughout the next few weeks, Gilderaun would also become very well acquainted with Schubert Greenwald, Vanessia Vaccado, Thomas Stanclark, and Sabine Belleau

When given the opportunity, Gilderaun and Jacapo both immediately joined the dueling team for Morthington. They were both accepted as a part of the junior team, which focused mostly on practicing and learning from their mentors on the senior team, which hosted both of Gilderaun's older brothers, who he easily bested at each practice. Jacapo, however, proved to be a much more experienced dueler than Gilderaun at first. Gilderaun soon also took the opportunity to attend many jousting practices when his schedule permitted, allowing him to finally have his first run at jousting, which he proved to be also quite proficient at. Jacapo was not as interested in jousting and kept his focuses in dueling.