Nylas Trout

"Anything can be learned. Anyone can impart knowledge. But I am a Teacher--I'm the one you're learning from right now. Watch me. Hear me. Remember what I tell you, and maybe you'll walk away with some knowledge in that head of yours.

Background
Nylas Trout is the second of a pair of twins born to Rivianni and Tarlton Trout in Lionsgate, and though the family hardly qualified as troublemakers, they were generally considered people of ill repute.

Put bluntly, before marrying Tarlton, Rivianni had worked for years as a whore at the Laughing Bear Tavern, and this fact was hardly secret amongst neighbors. After her marriage, Rivianni insisted that she'd abandoned her risqu lifestyle for a more "refined" one, though that did little for the talk that cycled through Lionsgate.

It was six years before her twins were born, though that was hardly for lack of the couple trying for children. Those six years changed the nature of the rumors: people started to believe that Tarlton could sire no children, and, on a desperate quest for a family, Rivianni had lain with other men until she'd born her bastards. And yet nobody admitted to having slept with Rivianni Trout, much less sired her children, and Rivianni herself denied the rumors at every turn.

The talk made things taught between the Trouts and their neighbors for awhile, and also caused strife internally, as Tarlton weighed the option of leaving Rivianni as an adulteress. He didn't, however, and by the time the children were old enough to understand the hazy circumstances of their birth, the dust had settled, and the Trouts had nearly gained acceptance.

As Nylas grew, he would sometimes here disturbing whispers, or receive dark taunts from the other children, but he had a natural resilience and an inborn innocence that protected him from so much as understanding most of these. And anyway, once things settled down his childhood was hardly a bad one-Rivianni took up work as a maid at the Sleeping Wolf Coach House, which was considerably more honorable work in the eyes of town and family alike. Tarlton continued to work as a courier, and spent a lot of his time away from home.

Eventually, Nylas and his brother learned to forget about the rumors, and to pay them no heed, though they still sat uncomfortably at the back of Nylas' mind. The idea that he could be an adulteress' bastard became a part of him, as natural as thinking of his brother as a sibling.

Nylas never settled on a trade as he grew, though he passed over many. Becoming the proverbial Jack of All Trades, he found work doing odd-jobs for the occasional people. One thing he did master, though, and for reasons he couldn't explain he developed a keen interest in swordplay. He spent several years learning from a retired member of the Emperor's Blades working as a teacher in Lightholder, known as Kinael Swiftblade. This arrangement was only brought to a close when Kinael succumbed to an illness late in life. Nylas was thirty-five years old.

After the death of his teacher, Nylas had no particular desire to leave Lightholder. He'd played every role from handyman to militiaman in the ten years he'd been there, and it had become as much his home as any other place. Instead of leaving, he took up Kinael's place as a teacher, despite the fact that he knew less of weapons than he did of trades and other assorted skills.

Nylas has spent seven years now as a tutor in Lightholder, willing to teach for a few coins and still generally considered the guy down the block who could fix up that old rusty armor, if need be. Still, he's gained a fair amount of respect from the townspeople. His past and his parents are things he's left behind in Lionsgate, and things he prefers not to speak of. Despite the fact that it's never been proved, he dislikes the idea of being a bastard. His brother, Quaen, currently lives in Northreach and is regarded as half a madman, though the siblings visit from time to time.

Appearance
This is a man in his forties, or even his fifties, his tanned face lined with wrinkles and hardened with the weathering of his years. An ill-kempt shock hair hangs about his ears and forehead, clinging peculiarly at the base of his neck. Once, it was probably a light, medium-brown. Now it's mostly salt-and-pepper. His eyes, though, surrounded by a nest of laugh- and frown-lines, are a keen, bright blue. A strong nose and a well-defined mouth make up the rest of his face.

His body is more slender than muscle-bound, though it's obvious that he's used to physical activity. Topping an easy 6'2" flat-footed, calloused hands and arms showing obvious signs of strength hint at skills with the sword, or perhaps polearms of some sort.

Logs
''None! ... Yet.''