Level 1 Cleric
Age: 42
Str: 14
Int: 16
Wis: 18
Dex: 13
Con: 17
Chr: 8
Cms: 10
Weapon: Quarterstaff, Club
Armour: Chainmail
Special Items: Silver Holy Symbol of Tyr, Amulet - Protecting Hand Of Thor
Gerald Reck's Character History
Written by Tom Kalis
Age: 42
Str: 14
Int: 16
Wis: 18
Dex: 13
Con: 17
Chr: 8
Cms: 10
Weapon: Quarterstaff, Club
Armour: Chainmail
Special Items: Silver Holy Symbol of Tyr, Amulet - Protecting Hand Of Thor
Gerald Reck's Character History
Written by Tom Kalis
Character Background for
Gerald Arthur Reck formerly of Arundel
and currently residing in Framlingham
Gerald Reck was born the third of what were to be seven children of Marie & Lucien Reck, a peasant couple eking out a meagre existence on a small farm outside the city walls of Arundel.
Life was cheap on the farm. Among the seven children to survive childbirth, only four (Gilbert, Jean, Lucie and little Sylvia) achieved adulthood, the others having been lost to disease and mishaps so common with farming at the time. Gilbert inherited the farm; Gerald was left to assist where required, but to supplement the family’s income, and God-willing, find for them a way out of this miserable rut of an existence.
At the age of nineteen, Gerald met a travelling showman, a peddler of sorts, who was passing through Arundel. The man’s name, as Gerald came to know him, was Lucas the Magnificent. Lucas specialized in minor tricks of sleight of hand and showmanship to earn a marginally profitable living; owing to low overhead costs, he and his travelling cart played in several outlying areas of the kingdom.
Intrigued, or as his family would later recall, fascinated with Lucas, Gerald left his pre-destined path to follow this ‘master’ illusionist. Lucas was as kind as he could afford to be to his young protégé. He taught him to read, to write, and to perform minor tricks to amuse children. While Gerald indeed possessed a mental acuity which allowed him to continue his study with Lucas for several years, Gerald found himself wholly unable to mimic with sufficient proficiency the complex gestures required to distract, amuse and entertain. The experience served to frustrate Gerald, who learned to satisfy himself with whatever books he could prey upon.
Their travels took them to a major city being besieged by a plague; not immediately recognizing the severity of the epidemic, Lucas drove them to the heart of the city to play at the Howling Hound, an Inn of ill-repute - but the pay was good. Soon the dead outnumbered the living; those who survived the horrible plague were forever scarred with thousands of small pocks about their faces, hands and privates. The city was placed on quarantine, and became a place of puss-filled horror.
Lucas was taken early in the plague, and his small collection of trinkets were seized in order to pay for his burial. Gerald found himself cast adrift in a sea of monsters, far from anything, or anyone, he knew.
It was then that Gerald turned to the bottle. Partially due to his depression, partially owing to his disfigurement, Gerald became a victim of the plague for which there might be no cure. He found no gainful employ, and survived by loitering near the various drinking establishments, begging for scraps, chasing a drop of swill at the bottom of discarded tankards. He gained some fame as the local population came to know him for another trait: a pungent odour. ‘Uncle Stinky’ was known to most as a kindly, however desperate, soul. Gerald accepted the nomenclature as he accepted his circumstance: on the chin.
Gerald wallowed for several years in this even more pitiful existence. During this time, he had no contact whatsoever with his family, who presumed that he had found his fortune and abandoned them. Gerald would have continued to poison himself into oblivion, if it had not been for a passing nobleman of gentle birth, and gentler heart.
It was at the break of dawn, when the city was still fast asleep, that the stranger arrived on horseback. He dismounted and approached the nearby inn, seeking shelter for a few hours before continuing his trek. The stranger stopped midstride on the stair to gaze penetratingly upon the disheveled & frail heap of a man. Gerald outstretched his bony hands in a desperate plea; the stranger embraced them, and in his warming touch, filled Gerald with a nourishment he had not known for many years.
The stranger took Gerald in, fed him, and clothed him, and escorted him beyond the gates of the city walls. They travelled together, talked together, prayed together. Gerald found in this man the salvation from all his plights he had been seeking.
The stranger took Gerald to a nearby missionary hospital, where he was treated for his physical ailments. A circle of religious tended to his spiritual needs. Gerald spent many years among them, and became one of their most fervent adherents.
At the age of 37 years, Gerald joined their order, and studied as an initiate at a monastery. He proved an apt pupil, much better suited to this area of study. After five years of prerequisite study, Gerald graduated to attain status as a missionary of the order of Tye, and was tasked with seeking to bring more like him into the fold.
And yet, despite the years of indoctrination, Gerald has not let go of many of his mannerisms, so deeply ingrained over many years: he is often cantankerous, shies ever from the taste of the bottle, and cannot shed a foul air about him, despite thorough washings.
He has taken as his own the order’s symbol of strength, a simple oaken staff, carefully hewn throughout his training, and polished with years of prayer.
Gerald will never forget the generosity of a single soul, and the difference a chance encounter can make.
Back to The Framlingham Five
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©2002 Alexandr Machula (except portion written by Tom Kalis)
Gerald Arthur Reck formerly of Arundel
and currently residing in Framlingham
Gerald Reck was born the third of what were to be seven children of Marie & Lucien Reck, a peasant couple eking out a meagre existence on a small farm outside the city walls of Arundel.
Life was cheap on the farm. Among the seven children to survive childbirth, only four (Gilbert, Jean, Lucie and little Sylvia) achieved adulthood, the others having been lost to disease and mishaps so common with farming at the time. Gilbert inherited the farm; Gerald was left to assist where required, but to supplement the family’s income, and God-willing, find for them a way out of this miserable rut of an existence.
At the age of nineteen, Gerald met a travelling showman, a peddler of sorts, who was passing through Arundel. The man’s name, as Gerald came to know him, was Lucas the Magnificent. Lucas specialized in minor tricks of sleight of hand and showmanship to earn a marginally profitable living; owing to low overhead costs, he and his travelling cart played in several outlying areas of the kingdom.
Intrigued, or as his family would later recall, fascinated with Lucas, Gerald left his pre-destined path to follow this ‘master’ illusionist. Lucas was as kind as he could afford to be to his young protégé. He taught him to read, to write, and to perform minor tricks to amuse children. While Gerald indeed possessed a mental acuity which allowed him to continue his study with Lucas for several years, Gerald found himself wholly unable to mimic with sufficient proficiency the complex gestures required to distract, amuse and entertain. The experience served to frustrate Gerald, who learned to satisfy himself with whatever books he could prey upon.
Their travels took them to a major city being besieged by a plague; not immediately recognizing the severity of the epidemic, Lucas drove them to the heart of the city to play at the Howling Hound, an Inn of ill-repute - but the pay was good. Soon the dead outnumbered the living; those who survived the horrible plague were forever scarred with thousands of small pocks about their faces, hands and privates. The city was placed on quarantine, and became a place of puss-filled horror.
Lucas was taken early in the plague, and his small collection of trinkets were seized in order to pay for his burial. Gerald found himself cast adrift in a sea of monsters, far from anything, or anyone, he knew.
It was then that Gerald turned to the bottle. Partially due to his depression, partially owing to his disfigurement, Gerald became a victim of the plague for which there might be no cure. He found no gainful employ, and survived by loitering near the various drinking establishments, begging for scraps, chasing a drop of swill at the bottom of discarded tankards. He gained some fame as the local population came to know him for another trait: a pungent odour. ‘Uncle Stinky’ was known to most as a kindly, however desperate, soul. Gerald accepted the nomenclature as he accepted his circumstance: on the chin.
Gerald wallowed for several years in this even more pitiful existence. During this time, he had no contact whatsoever with his family, who presumed that he had found his fortune and abandoned them. Gerald would have continued to poison himself into oblivion, if it had not been for a passing nobleman of gentle birth, and gentler heart.
It was at the break of dawn, when the city was still fast asleep, that the stranger arrived on horseback. He dismounted and approached the nearby inn, seeking shelter for a few hours before continuing his trek. The stranger stopped midstride on the stair to gaze penetratingly upon the disheveled & frail heap of a man. Gerald outstretched his bony hands in a desperate plea; the stranger embraced them, and in his warming touch, filled Gerald with a nourishment he had not known for many years.
The stranger took Gerald in, fed him, and clothed him, and escorted him beyond the gates of the city walls. They travelled together, talked together, prayed together. Gerald found in this man the salvation from all his plights he had been seeking.
The stranger took Gerald to a nearby missionary hospital, where he was treated for his physical ailments. A circle of religious tended to his spiritual needs. Gerald spent many years among them, and became one of their most fervent adherents.
At the age of 37 years, Gerald joined their order, and studied as an initiate at a monastery. He proved an apt pupil, much better suited to this area of study. After five years of prerequisite study, Gerald graduated to attain status as a missionary of the order of Tye, and was tasked with seeking to bring more like him into the fold.
And yet, despite the years of indoctrination, Gerald has not let go of many of his mannerisms, so deeply ingrained over many years: he is often cantankerous, shies ever from the taste of the bottle, and cannot shed a foul air about him, despite thorough washings.
He has taken as his own the order’s symbol of strength, a simple oaken staff, carefully hewn throughout his training, and polished with years of prayer.
Gerald will never forget the generosity of a single soul, and the difference a chance encounter can make.
Back to The Framlingham Five
Back to main
©2002 Alexandr Machula (except portion written by Tom Kalis)