Gilam Landrel is quiet, confident, and somewhat sarcastic. His half-elven birth is the result of a torrid evening between his mother, Duinen Landrel and an aristocrat from Corentyn in Cheliax. Gil’s father, whom he does not know, was visiting Korvosa during The Breaching Festival of 4683 and stayed at the Leftovers, in the East Shore. Gil’s mother was a bar maid there at the time and foolishly taken with the young aristocrat. Gilam was the result.
Growing up in Korvosa, Gilam was enamored by the Sable Company Marines and longs to join their ranks and fly on a hippogriff. At every opportunity, Gilam would follow any marine he happened to spot, even all the way to their barracks in The Keep. He was often thrown out when caught, but most of the marines were good natured and used to the antics of young boys and teens wanting to join their ranks. On one especially fortuitous day, Gil made it into the hippogriff aerie. He was stepping toward one of the hippogriffs, and was able to place a hand on it’s beak beforen a marine caught him and, not so good naturedly, tossed him out of the barracks. Gil doesn’t remember much about the tirade, or the bruises, he received for that particular display of daring, but the hippogriff is as fresh in his mind today as it was the day he first saw it.
Something about that encounter sparked Gil’s love of animals and the wilderness called to his elven heritage. He began to go on forays outside the city, a little farther each trip until he met an old human ranger by the name of Sealamin Wolfswift, or Sealamin the Undaunted (male human Ranger 4). Sealamin took Gilam under his wing and began teaching him the craft of being a ranger. Sealamin’s good-natured teachings were a drastic change from the method of teaching Gilam had endured growing up in Korvosa, of course, Gilam was a far better student with Sealamin than he had ever been with any other teacher. With patience, knowledge, and displays of valor, Sealamin taught Gilam much about nature, animals, and how to respect and interact with each – while also teaching Gilam the art of bow making. His elven blood took to the lessons with an intensity Gilam had rarely experienced and by the time he was 16, Gilam knew nearly every hill and trail for miles in and around Korvosa. He helped support his mother with money he earned as a guide, bow-maker and explorer. When he was in town, he still went by The Keep to spy the Sable Company Marines and their hippogriffs – vowing one day to join their ranks.
Throughout the years Gil asked his mother about his father, but she was incredibly cryptic and Gilam never learned his full name. One night, however, Duinen let the name “Cord” slip - that is the closest Gil ever got to his father’s name. Duinen promised to tell Gil who his father was on his 25th nameday. Unfortunately, she passed when Gil was 18 while he was guiding a hunting expedition near Biston, on Lake Syrantula. Gilam never learned the name of his father.
Since his mother’s death, however, Gil has found little to keep him in Korvosa – not even the acceptance of the Sable Company Marines could sway him to stay. He left Korvosa, wandering all of Galorion, often hiring himself out as a guide, explorer and bow-maker - picking up the languages of Varisian and Osiriani along the way. He has seen the large mammoth’s of the north, barely escaped from a band of orc raiders to the east, and fought a small band of goblins to the south. His wanderlust and quest for knowledge has driven him to seek out the Eye of Abendego and to explore the Mwangi Expanse, starting with Sargava.
Gilam made his way to Corentyn, in Cheliax with several days before his passage to the Mwangi Expanse set sail. He spent two days trying to find any Corentyn aristocrat or noble with some form of the name Cord. Through his inexperienced questioning and the spreading around of some silver shields and even the occasional gold sail, Gil has come to suspect that his mother was charmed by Cordonikus Mastrich and the aristocratic slaver is his father. When he confronted the man, Cordonikus merely laughs and says "If that's true, and judging by the shape of yer nose it could be, you've got lots of siblings, half-elf. I know ye not, nor do I care." With that, Cordonikus turned his back and slithered toward the auctioneer podium to sell his wares. Not sure what he expected, Gil walked away, his head hung low. His desire for a home and more family than his loving mother quietly drowning.
