Nilas Inyo, Gaidin of the White Tower

Biography — Writing History

Written By: Jeremy
Created: January, 2010

Curriculum Vitae

  • Gender: M
  • Hometown: Cloverhill, an easy day’s ride from Far Madding

Merit Badges

  • The flame, the wheel, the chains and the sword.

Weaponry Information

  • Weaponry Focus(es): The sword.

Biography

Whenever he thought about it during his training – in a moment to catch his breath between sparring, or in the dark of the night as he lay awake trying to ignore the screaming of his muscles so that he could fall asleep – Nilas Inyo found that his life in Cloverhill seemed a very long time ago. He could almost convince himself, as he slipped off to sleep, that he had always been a trainee of the Training Grounds, working to better himself as a warrior, to achieve the goal he had developed, despite the prejudices of his hometown; to become a Warder, a brother to battle, and fight alongside an Aes Sedai in the Last Battle, against hordes of Shadowspawn.

Despite how disbelieving he was, Nilas Inyo was born in a small town, Cloverhill, which was found an easy day’s ride from Far Madding. The small community was far enough away to escape from the vigor of a large city. It was, however, close enough to Far Madding that it was unable to escape the influence of the beliefs that Far Madding was famous for; part of the reason that Nilas found it so hard to believe his upbringing, was that the entire town of Cloverhill had a deep mistrust for Aes Sedai and the White Tower.

His family life was average enough, his mother a washerwoman at the local inn, and his father a carpenter of moderate skill. He grew up watching his parents work hard to make a living, but they never had to struggle for a meal or anything else that they wanted. By the time that Nilas was seven, his parents conceived again – unexpectedly – and gifted Nilas with his sister, Sara. Life with a second child was harder, coin had to be stretched further, but still they continued to get by.

Nilas’ father died when he was ten, Sara three. It was a painful death for the man that Nilas had admired and looked up to, caught down by a vicious disease in his prime. A disease had run its course through the town, a bout of the winter chills, which had taken its toll on the weak, and the elderly. Nilas’ father was healthy at first, and appeared to be fighting the disease better than most, but it struck him down one day, his son finding him collapsed unconscious in his workshop, blood on his saw. The Wise Woman was worried that his body wouldn’t be able to fight two battles at once: against the disease already present, and against the infection in the large gash he’d given himself with his saw when he had grown light-headed as he worked.

Devastated and disbelieving, Nilas had fled from his father’s bedside, unable to watch his father slowly waste away in his fight, despite all the cures the Wise Woman presented them with. He stumbled across a woman, unlike any woman that he had seen before, riding through the forest, stumbling under the hooves of her horse in his haste to run from the dying. She was, he learnt, an Aes Sedai, on her homeward journey to Tar Valon.

The fabled myths and legends of the Aes Sedai were running through his mind as he begged for her help, her cool gaze looking down on the small boy on his knees, sobbing uncontrollably. Nilas thought, as he led the woman back to Cloverhill, that he would be considered a saviour – bringing an Aes Sedai who could heal his father! – but as he approached the town and people began to notice him, he realised he was wrong. It was a woman who was staying with her sister, a resident of Cloverhill, who announced the woman for what she was – “Aes Sedai are not welcome here,” the cold, harsh voice of Borjana Ashthorp had rung across the courtyard where everyone gathered. The sense of betrayal that Nilas felt as everyone, even his mother, turned the Aes Sedai away from his father, condemning the man to his death, was what began to forge his loyalty to the Aes Sedai and their White Tower.

They said it was because of the untimely death of his father that Nilas withdrew from everyone, even his childhood friends, and was often found playing games by himself, wielding a branch with a fierce energy. After a few years, when still he would not connect with anyone apart from his sister, and could still be found on the edge of the woods constantly hitting trunks of trees with his branch, he was branded as odd and disconnected. In actual fact, he was living the same fantasy in his mind every day of himself as a Gaidin of the White Tower, bonded to an Aes Sedai, the trees his deadly enemies. Just as he had heard legends of the Aes Sedai, so to had he heard of their mighty Warders, astride their war stallions, who rode in with their Aes Sedai into any battle. In his mind, Nilas firmly believed that a Warder would have thrust the villagers aside and made room at his father’s bedside for his Aes Sedai. He would become a Warder.

Nilas knew to keep his ambitions to himself, so it came as a surprise when the town of Cloverhill awoke to find him gone, a quick note scribbled left behind on his bed to his mother, explaining his actions. He learnt, a year later from one of the letters that Sara sent to him, that his mother disowned him, casting aside her son that associated with the Aes Sedai, as she had so easily condemned her husband.

Life at the White Tower was strict and disciplined; Nilas, a child who had been left to his own devices, found it hard at first to bend to its will. In his mind were pictures of learning the sword all day and catching the eye of an Aes Sedai, possibly with considerable bust, who would make him her Warder. The multitude of skills that Gaidin needed to possess was more than he had ever dreamed, but he took to the training quickly and always tried his hardest; he had sacrificed everything for this dream, and would not be turned away by hard work.

His dedication and hard work quickly caught the eye of the Gaidin – after he submitted to the discipline – and Nilas found himself progressing through the ranks relatively quickly, although he was held back by his reluctance to try his hand at other weapons. In his childhood fantasies, he had always been a Warder wielding a sword beside his Aes Sedai, who was always throwing fire at Trollocs and ungrateful villagers, but the White Tower forced him to grow up and hone himself as formidable with all weapons. Still, the sword remained his specialty and was the weapon he could wield with the most skill.

Nilas knew from dropped hints that he was being considered for his fourth and final merit badge when a letter arrived from his sister, declaring that his mother had died one week ago. In haste, he made his way back to Cloverhill and found the village in exactly the same manner it had been when he left it; after his years spend at the White Tower, he found its believes oppressive and near insulting. He was treated warily, everyone knew him as a child of the Aes Sedai, and after briefly staying with Sara – the only thing he enjoyed on the return visit – and burying their mother together, he returned immediately, his resolve and loyalty to the White Tower strengthened. It came as no surprise when he was gifted with his last merit badge on his return, his loyalty to the White Tower demonstrated.

After he was considered “trained” – having attained all four merit badges – Nilas threw himself back into the Training Grounds, teaching the trainees and trying to impart all of the skills that he had learnt back onto them. Despite remaining unbonded, surprisingly, his loyalty to the White Tower never wavered, and he knew that one day he would serve an Aes Sedai as her Brother to Battle.

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Writing History

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