Name: Filo Gentiva
Race: Human
DoB: Summer 73rd, 470 AV
PoB: Ravok
Skills: Anthropology – 82, Reading – 62, Rhetoric 55, Persuasion – 43, Writing - 39
Gnosis: Qalaya - 1
Filo was born the third son of a middling merchant class family within the city of Ravok, destined for little other that playing the third fiddle to his elder siblings, perhaps stepping into the breach if they became careless and were assassinated. It afforded him a certain degree of luxury in his studies, his family were wealthy enough to afford a sizeable library – book gathered all corners of Syliras, some from beyond. Absorbed with tales of the past he soon lost interest with his family, with anything before a hundred years ago some said.
When he reached his sixteenth year it had become detestably apparent to Filo’s father that he would never become the son he wished him to be – ruthless and mercantile. He had become a daydreaming liability and as such he was shipped off to Zeltiva and its University – nominally so that Filo would be untouchable by those who might seek to use him against the Gentiva family. Whatever the reason Filo soon amazed his tutors with his firm grasp of logic, histories and his ability to see beyond the basic facts and into the true heart of their meanings.
Ten years he spent, working his way up in the academic circles and persuading all those around him that he could become the greatest historian since the Valterrian. For the most part this was an idle fancy that afforded him autonomy but his father’s tutelage in the games of power and persuasion were well used for once. He gained a position of relative importance, though it was below the great chairs of the age.
Here his story becomes muddled, some saying his genius exploded and others that an all consuming madness invaded him. Coming across the section upon Falyndar in the Libraries he found it to contain precious little of the actual peoples and cultures. He determined to change this and pushed for the funding to do so – it was denied. He did manage, however, to gain a larger personal store of tomes upon the Myrians and was fascinated. Then, suddenly, he was no longer to be found.
His rooms were vacant, his treasures left behind him as far as any could tell. The last that he was seen in Zeltiva came from scattered reports of sailors who noted he had boarded a ship. One knew where but they guessed well enough and did not pursue the matter.
Filo arrived in Taloba some time later, initially met with suspicion but impressing the local populace enough with his knowledge in a vast array of subjects that he was not harmed. He moved into his current residence as no one else wanted it, taking the opportunity to catalogue the building and its intricacies. He even went so far as to dedicate research into Myrian architecture and probable building methods to Myri herself, though as usual she met it with cold indifference.
He now operates a school of sorts, seeking pupils under the secret zealotry to unlock the Myrian past’s secrets and to educate the uncouth savages at the same time. He never breathes a word of his almost insane self-appointed task – to do so to those with wagging tongues would mean death. However, with every student gained, he reasoned, he succeeded a little bit more.
The subjects he teaches are Myrian in nature, all the easier to draw people in. For the select minds he has other lessons, lessons that could perhaps one days change the face of Taloba itself.
The subjects that Filo can teach those whom are willing are many and diverse. Usually restricted to histories, cultures and behavioural proclivities of various people’s throughout Mizahar he has a few other aspects of knowledge that he can be persuaded to teach – for the right reasons. Some topics are found below:
Falyndar: Past Stories of Lost Tribes
The Rise of the Goddess Queen: Fact and Fiction
The Age of Separation: Falyndar Before Unification
Architecture and Probable Methods of the Tribal Peoples
Mapping Taloba: Probable Uses in the Near Past
Material Culture: Where Is It?
*For other subjects, enquire with Filo himself within the walls of the building*