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Uranhed is a fairly slim gnome with blonde hair and a neatly kept beard. He likes to wear practical clothes with lots of pockets to keep his various tools and trinkets in, as well as curiosa he might find while out travelling. He makes no secret of his affiliation with Candlekeep, wearing the symbol of his station proudly.
Psychological description:
Inquisitive, even for a rock gnome, Uranhed is easily fascinated by new things he discovers, especially when he encounters something entirely new to him. Like most rock gnomes he is generally of good humour and does not shy away from playing pranks (he is an illusionist after all!), and holds to the traditionally gnomish view that all aspects of life are to be enjoyed to their fullest.
His outlook on other races is mostly friendly, except to monster races of course:
- He is lightly envious of the stoicism and pragmatism of dwarves, an attitude he himself finds difficult to adopt, but finds very admirable.
- Of elves, he finds most in common with moon elves, and less impressed with sun elven arrogance.
- Uranhed respects halflings for their adaptability in a world that could be seen as big and scary.
- Humanity is a race of progress and invention. However, Uranhed also observes they spend too much time reinventing, only to end up at the same place.
- To Uranhed, planetouched humans are basically humans, just spicy. And he may very well say that out loud. With a laugh.
- He has very little experience with drow, but would certainly be suspicious given their history with svirfneblin.
- Duergar are evil dwarves. Skilled crafters, but they too cause trouble to the deep gnomes.
- As someone from a city with a fairly large orc population, he is probably more tolerant to them than most on the Sword Coast, but he remains wary of them.
- Goblinoids and kobolds (especially kobolds!) are monsters to be eradicated.
As a scholar, he has opinions on most gods. This is but a selection.
| Diety | Attitude | Thoughts |
|---|---|---|
| Garl Glittergold | Patron | Fairly traditional for a gnome, Uranhed holds Garl Glittergold in the highest esteem. |
| Baravar Cloakshadow | Reverence | As an illusionist, Baravar Cloakshadow would be the obvious patron for Uranhed. However, Baravar is also a god of deception, something the avowed of Candlekeep is less comfortable with. He nevertheless greatly values Baravar for his portfolio of illusion. |
| Baervan Wildwanderer | Reverence | Having spent a good few years of his life travelling, the gnomish god of travel has often been in Uranhed's prayers. |
| Nebelun | Reverence | The gnomish name for the god Gond. Though he is not very mechanically inclined, Uranhed places high value on Nebelun's portfolio of invention. Creating and discovering new things are among the greatest joys in life. |
| Lords of the Golden Hills | Reverence | The remainder of the gnomish pantheon, apart from the evil Urdlen, are all held in high regard. |
| Mystra | Reverence | The goddess of magic, she who is the Weave, is clearly one an archillusionist like Uranhed would revere. He especially likes the new one, because she seems a little bit less serious. |
| Deneir | Reverence | As an avowed of Candlekeep, Deneir's teachings appeal greatly to the gnomish scholar. |
| The Morndinsamman | Respect | Like with the dwarves themselves, Uranhed has a great respect for their gods. Except Abbathor, of course. |
| The Seldarine | Respect | Of the elven pantheon, especially Corellon and Erevan are seen with great respect. The intricacies of the Seldarine are a bit strange for the gnome, however. Especially the strange - but fascinating! - mystery of Angharradh. |
| Yondalla's Children | Respect | The halfling pantheon also earns Uranhed's respect, though it is chiefly directed to Yondalla herself. |
| Oghma | Respect | Though Oghma is the god of knowledge, Uranhed secretly thinks Deneir probably would do the job better. He will never ever say so to anyone in Candlekeep, however. Even so Oghma's position earns him respect. |
| Milil | Respect | Music is one of the greatest ways to express one's joys in life. And how better to tell stories than through song? |
| Azuth | Respect | Though Uranhed does indeed respect Azuth, it is a respect that is purely professional. |
| Tempus | Neutral | Gnomes are generally peace-loving, and Uranhed is no different. He's not a pacifist, by any means, but he'd rather choose diplomacy above war. As such, Tempus and his followers are viewed as impatient and sometimes slightly annoying. Think of all the knowledge that becomes collateral (or intentional!) damage in war! He does recognise that sometimes it is inevitable, however. Especially against kobolds! |
| Leira | Neutral | Though she is (or was) a goddess of illusion, Uranhed is mostly disinterested in the goddess because of her focus on lies. He probably in fact slightly dislikes her. |
| Urdlen | Hated | The blind, evil, mindless mole god of the gnomish pantheon is feared and hated nearly all gnomes. Uranhed is no different. |
| Kurtulmak | Hated | Absolutely all kobolds must be destroyed! Including their god! |
| Maglubiyet | Hated | Goblins are bad too! |
| Talos | Hated | Though all the furies are destroyers in one way or another, Talos is the god of destruction. Thus the opposite of creation, which is Nebelun's area of interest. And it is the antithesis to preservation, which is Uranhed's job as an avowed. |
Not applicable.
Ancestor:
Not applicable.
Biography
Family
Names used here are informal only. Gnomish names are lengthy, and gnomes keep adding extra names as they grow older and more accomplished.
| Relation | Name | Year of birth | Alignment | Occupation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Father | Addtikk Jandinwed | 1203 DR | Lawful Good | Water- and windmill engineer | A true follower of Garl, Addtikk is an efficient engineer, but he spends a lot of time telling jokes and making pranks. |
| Mother | Varanna Jandinwed | 1210 DR | Neutral Good | Illusionist | Uranhed's beloved mother is also the one who began his training as an illusionist. |
| Brother | Nebjan Jandinwed | 1283 DR | Lawful Good | Priest of Gaerdal Ironhand | Rarely introvert for a gnome, he is of the same stern disposition as his god. |
| Sister | Pinluna Jandinwed | 1297 DR | Neutral Good | Gemcutter | Extremely business oriented, but gives away most of her earnings to charity. |
| Brother | Skordin Jandinwed | 1305 DR | Lawful Good | Water- and windmill engineer | Aspires to be much like his father, but struggles a bit with shyness. |
| Sister | Arumraerae Jandinwed | 1311 DR | Chaotic Good | True Bard | Travels far and wide, and perhaps surpasses even Uranhed in curiosity and inquisitiveness. Bardic magic comes from a fey ancestor, from the mother's side of the family, but this is not known by the family. |
As most rock gnomes, Uranhed lived a fairly carefree childhood, filled with joy and early practice of illusions and other magics, under the tutelage of his mother. Milvarune's large gnomish community offered a lot of work and opportunities to practice the magic he learned, and to learn of other interesting topics. And learn Uranhed did! Into his adulthood he had already developed a deep zest for knowledge of all kinds. His curiosity led him up the Dragonjaw mountains to visit the gnome clans there, to learn how they built their cliffside communities. And throughout most of Thesk, the Great Dale and Aglarond, he travelled, looking for new things to learn.
He even spent a little bit of time with some outlaws - not to participate in their unlawful business, but to document their internal culture and ways of life. Most of the time, these outlaws just saw a gnome: Weird, excessively jolly and inquisitive to the point of obsession. Of course, if these outlaws were planning to do particularly evil things, Uranhed would attempt to use his illusion to either warn the targets, or misdirect the outlaws themselves. But once again, he learned much! And ultimately, he managed to misdirect a few bandit groups into being captured by local authorities. Much to his own amusement, for how better to bring evil to justice than by illusion and prank?
But ultimately, he knew it was on the Sword Coast where most knowledge in the world was stored. At the famous Candlekeep. And so in 1343 DR, when he was 53 years old, he bid farewell to his family and his city, and set off towards the Sword Coast. The journey was full of yet more opportunities for discovery, so it took him a couple of years to get there, but by the end of 1345, he had been accepted as an Acolyte.
At Candlekeep, he did his chores diligently and efficiently, as any hard-working rock gnome would. His opportunities to read inside the library were of course few while he was an acolyte, but he was patient and looked forward to every such opportunity with the utmost joy. The first time he was invited inside the library proper to aid one of the Scribes, he managed to impress the Scribe with how insightful and efficient he was already. And so, it did not take long before he was given the opportunity to take his vows and become a Seeker.
Once more he would travel, for that is the duty of a Seeker. This time it was to Lantan, where he would liaise with the industrious gnomes and collect blueprints and other lore to send back to Candlekeep. He formed friendships, and even a romance with a priestess of Nebelun named Owjanae, though it was not to last (but they did remain great friends!). Though he had of course been back to Candlekeep a few times for brief stays over the years, he was indeed eventually called back to the library to assume a new role. And so, in 1353 DR, after several years mostly living on Lantan, he returned to Candlekeep and was made a Reader.
Having grown a bit older now (and perhaps more accustomed to staying in one place for extended periods), his apparent wanderlust had diminished somewhat, but his curiosity remained ever burning. He took to his new task with enthusiasm, and especially the increased access to the library and the vaults. He particularly found the prophecies of Alaundo to be fascinating. Of course, with most of them being vague, it was difficult to really understand their meanings, but because of that, he decided his first project as a Reader would be to catalogue the prophecies that had already come true. Part of his intention in this was to look for some kind of pattern to learn how to interpret those that would eventually come true in the future, and to be able to better anticipate when they might occur. He found then, this prophecy:
"In the Year of the Turrets, a great host will come from the east like a plague of locusts. So sayeth the wise Alaundo."
Now, by the Roll of Years written by Augathra the Mad, he could identify the Year of the Turrets as 1360 DR. And by the end of 1357 DR he had realised whatever the 'great host' was, it would affect his homeland of Thesk. And thus he requested to be allowed to travel home to record whatever might happen before and after the Year of the Turrets in the east. Of course, he also feared that the 'great host like a plague of locusts' would put his family in danger, so he also hoped to use the opportunity to help, if that came to pass. Then, in 1359 DR when the Tuigan Horde began its conquest of Shou Lung, and later Thay and Rashemen, 'the great host' was revealed. And the next year, the Year of the Turret, Thesk was invaded.
Uranhed spent much of the war with the Tuigans close to the front line, recording everything that happened. Not much of a warrior, he didn't particularly participate in any fighting. Fortunately, the horde was defeated before his home city of Milvarune was ever in danger. Uranhed nevertheless remained in Thesk for a time after the Tuigans had been repelled, to collect stories of the war and whatever of historical significance happened during the restoration of both Thesk and Rashemen.
Eventually however, it came time to return to Candlekeep.
Future
Building Candlekeep's prominence and reputation.
Plot hooks
Eradicating kobolds!
Finding lore!
Good-natured pranks!
Eradicating the rest of the kobolds!