Baron Gavriil Aukes

Was always trim with a few extra pounds about the waist as is common with doctors who spend long hours being stationary. Towards the end of his life, his frame became more skeletal.

Was always fair-skinned though the last decade of his life Gavriil's skin faded to an almost ghostly white. Inherited the bright blond hair known to those born of Aryia 's old families. Kept his hair long but neat in a way that was mildly scandalous for men at the time in his better years. When he died, his hair was unkempt, matted and down to his waist. His hair showed no signs of greying at age 34 but was streaked with white and unkempt when he died.

Heart shaped face with a sharp jawline and high cheekbones. Kept himself clean-shaven for most of his life but, much like with his hair, in the last few years of his life, he grew an unkempt beard. Sharp slightly thick eyebrows that go up at an angle and never curve down. Has a long concave nose.

Dark navy long coat with gold filigree patterns on the shoulders and cuffs. Cream colored dress shirt. Dark navy fitted pants and black almost knee-high boots. If he was going to see a patient, he would wear a heavier long leather coat in place of his normal coat and black gloves.

Gavriil Aukes was born to Earl Lucian and Baroness Emilia Aukes on an unusually warm autumn day in the year 390. The auspicious weather day was thought to be a blessing and was a sign of good things to come for the second child and first son of the Baron and Baroness. Gavriil's older sister Katarina was born a year and a half before him and two sisters, Sophia and Janine and a brother, Laurits, followed after him a year, three years and four years respectively.
  Gavriil spent the first few years of his life with his siblings at the medium sized estate just outside Aryia's capital Llyne. During this time his parents and tutors noticed Gavriil had intelligence that was quite advanced for his age, understanding concepts and ideas most children his age had a hard time comprehending. Gavriil quickly surpassed his older sister, who was also smart for her age, in their studies but especially in what would later be known to be his specialty: runes. Taking note of this interest, Earl Lucian wrote to the Remia when Gavriil was seven years old and requested the academy send someone to meet Gavriil. Two instructors sent by the academy came and were so impressed by Gavriil's knowledge that even though he was three years below the age of entry, they petitioned the Archmage to let him begin his schooling that year.
  Gavriil immediately became a star pupil at the academy and was constantly praised by the Magus as he quickly mastered the basic runes. During his second year, his interest in runes became focused upon healing runes primarily because they were so difficult to master. His study of healing runes took up most of his time though he was able to make a few friends namely, Sasha Massey and Edgar Howland. Though his initial few years saw his knowledge and abilities expand by leaps and bounds his last few years were at almost a snail's pace as Gavriil lost all interest in anything except women and having fun. Even though he attended virtually none of his classes his final year his prospects weren't hurt in the slightest as he already had a guaranteed spot as a healer in the royal palace.

Upon leaving Remia, Gavriil immediately began working at the royal palace. He worked there for five and a half years before rumors of him sharing the bed of Princess Lela Oweyn saw him dismissed from his position and he began working as a healer in the city proper. He gained a positive reputation amongst the middle and lower class citizens due to him accepting patients from all walks of life although his fellow nobles looked down on him for it. It was around this time that he and Sasha Massey got engaged. At the same time, Gavriil had a falling out with Edgar. Rumor said Edgar had fancied Sasha but Gavriil had slept with her behind Edgar's back and gotten her pregnant but as the engagement went on Sasha showed no signs of pregnancy.

In 423 the citizens of Llyne began contracting a disease known as The Bloody Scourge . The Bloody Scourge was slow to reveal its lethality making healers, including Gavriil, initially believe there was merely an easily treatable cold going around. Amongst those who contracted the disease were Gavriil's older sister Katarina and younger brother Laurits. Two weeks after the first victims came down with the illness the city healers began to realize the disease was much worse than believed as the cough of those first exposed to the disease had transformed from mild to ragged and bloody. The death toll which had been virtually nonexistent began to steadily increase as victims began to die from choking on or drowning in their own blood. Those that did not choke to death began to waste away as they gradually found themselves to be unable to keep down any food. Through examinations of the sick and dead patients, it was discovered that the cause of the bleeding was a massive number of tiny sores all along the victim's lungs, intestines, stomach, throat, nose, and mouth. Healers soon began to despair as their best efforts seemed to have a minimal effect on the sores. Gavriil not willing or able to stand by and watch the same fate happen to his siblings threw himself into his research and eventually after months of frantic searching discovered a new way to use the runes and herbs that massively boosted the results. Thanks to Gavriil thousands, including his beloved siblings were saved, but hundreds perished before he was able to discover a cure.

After the Bloody Scourge, Gavriil changed. All of the death and the near loss of his siblings made Gavriil wonder why not only why anyone should ever become sick but why anyone should ever have to die in the first place. Where once he pursued his research in healing runes with an academic curiosity he now pursued it with an almost savage intensity. Patients he had seen for years suddenly found themselves dropped in favor of doing research and family and friends began seeing less and less of him. Sasha, who had been putting up with him pushing their wedding back for years, became fed up with him ignoring her and his manic obsession broke off their engagement after a loud fight, and that was the last anyone saw of Gavriil for four years.
  For three years Gavriil poured over every book, manuscript and text about healing runes he could get his hands on and chased down every theory or outlandish idea anyone had ever written about. Then on one rainy spring night, he moved from research to experiment. It's still not known what the exact trigger was but, on that night Gavriil knocked out and kidnapped a prostitute who frequented the slums near the port. It is unknown how long he kept her in his house, but it thought he kept her there for a couple of days during which he would draw various healing and protection runes on her and then injure her to see if the runes would prevent the injury from occurring. This continued until she eventually died from blood loss. The exact number of people he killed is unknown as most of the people Gavriil abducted were prostitutes, beggars, and drifters but he continued to abduct, experiment, and eventually kill a number of people over a span of two years.
  His killing spree came to an end when his sister Katarina came by for an unexpected visit. Unknown to Gavriil, whispers had begun to spread about whether he was still alive and how an all-encompassing feel of evil that emanated from the home and made pets and small animals avoid the area. Spurned on by wanting to prove these stories wrong Katarina, using the key her brother had given her, entered the home and was immediately met with the smell of death and decay. Following the smell and expecting the worse, Katarina moved down into the basement where she discovered him, pale, disheveled, surrounded by corpses and in the process of experimenting on his latest victim. Her screams of terror and mad dash out of the house drew the attention of Gavriil's neighbors and two members of the City Watch nearby. Gavriil was immediately arrested and hauled off to the nearby jail. The whole time Gavriil was madly screaming at the City Watch and everyone standing around.

Gavriil's trial was one of the quickest in Aryia's history, and he was sentenced to death. During the trial, Gavriil's family tried to prove there was some shred of sanity left in him but everyone who tried to talk to him found themselves on the end of an insane diatribe, and they eventually gave up. On a warm summer day in 428, Gavriil Aukes was executed.

The day after he was executed Gavriil's house caught fire and burned to the ground but not before the Magus of Remia had taken his journals and notes and locked them away.

After his crimes were brought to light, Remia instituted a policy where no one could be admitted to the school before the age of 10 no matter how much potential they have. As well as one where the school kept in frequent contact with former pupils to make sure no one's interest turned into an obsession.

The Aukes Shipping Emporium saw a decrease in sales as their association with the serial killer Gavriil Aukes painted a negative image of the company. It was only under the direction of Katarina's daughter Janeka Warren the company saw the negative image fade.

Rumors continued to circulate that Gavriil was the birth father of Princess Lela's eldest son, Raynard as well as the father of a number of noble women's children including Lady Andrea Wright, Lady Cerra Black, and most scandalously Lady Thalia Argyris from the neighboring kingdom of Visea.

Additionally, a number of countries including the island nation of Kimiri, who already viewed the use of runes with unease, forbid the use of runes altogether.