Tycho Geldnehar

Tycho Geldnehar is a member of the Fraternity of Shadows that specializes in the geometry of space. He is the in-character avatar of Wolfglide.

Tycho has short, dark brown hair, and largely gray eyes, except for little inclusions of amber that radiate out from the pupil. The thumb of his left hand has lost the first and second phalanges. He tends to wear a gray waistcoat over a white shirt, which is tucked into black trousers that are in turn tucked into knee-high, black, leather boots, all under a cloak. He fastens a violet ascot about his neck, binds his cuffs with thin, silver chains, and wears two rings: a ring of clear crystal, and his Fraternity sigil ring.

Early Life

Tycho's mother, Risidia Lonvem, was the daughter of Witness Chiron Lonvem of the Faith of the Overseer in Martira Bay. At the urging of a midnight cat she was partial to, she absconded to Nova Vaasa out of boredom in 728 BC. In Egertus, she met the architect Agnar Geldnehar and fell in love. Within a year, they got married, and not long after found they had a child on the way.

Risidia did not want her child to be Claimed by Darkon, so she insisted on returning to Martira Bay to give birth. However, she had come to hate living in Nova Vaasa, and—after the midnight cat planted the idea in her head—planned to make sure Agnar remained in Darkon long enough to be Claimed himself. If he hadn't received word that one of his buildings was at risk of collapsing, the plan might have worked. Instead, Agnar left Darkon for a three week period after about two months, resetting the clock on his Claiming. He returned for the birth of his son Tycho in the summer of 730 BC, and was Claimed a month later, gaining the new identity Roric Voskan. This led to the uncomfortable situation of raising Tycho under the surname Voskan, despite the fact that official records gave his last name as Geldnehar.

In 738 BC, the midnight cat identified an exclusive educational program for Tycho, and suggested that Roric enroll the child in it. In the process of gathering the necessary paperwork for an application, Roric found the birth records listing his pre-Claiming surname as Tycho's last name. When Risidia could provide no explanation, he concluded that Tycho was not his son, and divorced Risidia. In 750 BC, Roric happened to cross the border of Darkon and regain his memories of being Agnar Geldnehar. He returned to Nova Vaasa, convinced that his former wife had bewitched him.

Risidia followed through on the program in the aftermath, and Tycho received a high-quality education. He came into adulthood as a polymath, with skill in mathematics, arcane magic, and the violin.

Higher Education

Tycho matriculated at the University of Il Aluk in 748 BC, and chose to study both mathematics and magic. He luckily avoided the Requiem while spending time with his family, and went on to finish his studies at the University of Il Aluk in Exile at Karg.

A particular focus of his studies came to be the Lamordian Weltaulkügel and its geometrical implications, which seemed to be at odds with certain observable qualities of the world. The necessary mathematics to explore this was complex, which motivated Tycho to use magic to augment his central nervous system, becoming a human computational engine. With this new aptitude, he amassed many models for reality, with the intent to use them to determine the geometric shape of the world.

Lamordian Tribulations

Tycho relocated to Lamordia in 755 BC in the interest of meeting respected cosmologists who would be able to assist with his work. Among those he met was the astronomer Ruprecht Zährenner, a member of the Syndicate of Enlightened Citizens. Tycho's scientific acumen was appreciated enough for Zährenner to grudgingly tolerate the wizard, but this tolerance evaporated when Tycho fell in love with Zährenner's daughter, Karola. In response, her father built up enough financial pressure on Tycho that he had to leave Lamordia. He went to Dementlieu in 758 BC, where he became an adjunct lecturer at the University of Dementlieu. He made a number of secret returns to meet Karola for a few years after that, but Zährenner put a stop to it once Karola was found to be pregnant. Karola's marriageability was salvaged by passing off her daughter, Lisette, as her newborn sister.

Dread Possibility: Cat's Paw

By making the midnight cat Hermitian his familiar and transmuting him into a human with the create faux henchman spell, Tycho enabled the creature in committing greater evils. One of these evils, which Tycho further enabled with the gift of a hat of disguise was the fathering of Lisette Zährenner while impersonating Tycho. Tycho's childlessness is the least of the implications of this Dread Possibility, for there is little precedent for a human child with a midnight cat and wizard's familiar as a father.

Work with the Fraternity of Shadows

The Fraternity looked into Tycho back when he was in Il Aluk, but he failed to notice the attention. With Hermitian's help, he became aware that he was being asked to join the organization in Dementlieu, and was inducted in late 759 BC. He continued to work on his geometrical pursuits, with his focus shifted to using his models to identify where physical law leaves off and interference by the Dark Powers begins.

At some point in his work with the Fraternity, Tycho was sent on a classified mission to Forlorn, where he lost his thumb to a goblyn bite.

Tycho, Aleister Smythe, and Cedrik Paddock were sent to survey Markovia in the Fraternity's search for Erik van Rijn.

Miscellaneous

Gilbert Andraud

Tycho's new romantic partner lives in Port-a-Lucine. Gilbert is a musician, capable of playing the cor de chasse. He and Tycho exchange letters and music via writs of communication, with Gilbert composing violin music for Tycho, and Tycho composing cor de chasse music for Gilbert.

Magical Innovations

• Geldnehar's Postmortem Confessional: A specialized version of speak with dead that makes a corpse write. The caster can loan some of its intellect to the corpse to allow it to synthesize information.
• Geldnehar's Cuff Chains: Modified wand bracelets that enable improved storage, but may only be safely used by one who can remember flawlessly what is stored in them. Tycho can safely use them due to his eidetic memory, but others risk losing their hands.
• Latibulum: An enchanted carriage, which Tycho uses as a residence. Its name means "Haunt" in Darkonese. It is self-driving, has a few nondimensional rooms on the inside, and is controlled via a magical whistle.
• Ray Flexure: A feat allowing the caster to bend rays around corners.
• Spatial Contracture: A feat allowing the caster to compress space into a spell's area of effect, allowing the spell to affect more targets and impeding motion and ranged attacks.

Statistics

(D&D 3.5) Neutral Evil Darkonese male Wizard 5 / Cerebrex 8 / Fraternity of Shadows 4