Gilfreed Rentheus Iloskin

Gilfreed Rentheus Iloskin is the second of three children born to Kiria and Renford Iloskin, two denizens of Elothninian society and fixtures at Queen Lilhelndine's court. Kiria, also of noble descent, is related by marriage to the Tern-Lindle family, and has been considered quite a beauty, with long, flowing blonde hair, and striking features. Rather appropriately, Gilfreed's progenitors actually met and fell in love while at the royal court, each one dazzling the other with their eclectic and daring fashion choices. They were also united on the basis of neither one of them ever having been forced to sully their hands with any sort of toil, due to their both having sufficiently substantial stores of family wealth to maintain a comfortably opulent lifestyle in the finest neighborhoods of Neerhemhind.

A life of unceasing luxury and repose was not, however, to be the fate of young Gilfreed. Having attended the finest preparatory academies and institutions of higher learning, it seemed as though the lad was well on his way to becoming a very respectable, suitably effete dilettante. He was a passably bright pupil, finishing in the top quarter of his graduating class at the Otellian Institute in Neerhemhind, where he studied a diverse range of topics.

Gilfreed's greatest interest during this time was not the sciences, the arts, or even history: his heart belonged to strategy! Exposed to Carrot takes Radish at a very early age, he quickly developed into a very apt practicioner of this quintessentially Elothninian game, often defeating and consequently impressing members of the queen's court of considerably more advanced years and experience. This success imbued the young Gilfreed with a deep and abiding fascination with the military, though his notions of army life remained woefully naiive.

Gilfreed's parents managed to dissuade him from joining the Imperial Army and take a position at university in Neerhemhind where he ostensibly studied Elothninian manners¹. In reality, the young student spent much of his time reading the histories of great Elothninian battles, which only served to fuel his passionate fantasies of military grandeur.

After graduating from university Iloskin finally felt that he could defy his parents, and he joined the military. Catching wind of their son's impetuousness, and, simultaneously realizing the lad's determination to enter the military, his parents contrived to have their son directed to a less dangerous, while still socially acceptable position in the army: the spy corps.

In this position Gilfreed showed a certain amount of competence and rose to an acceptably high rank at least partially through his own merit. Despite the rigors of army life, the pampered vassal has adjusted relatively well, though many of his comrades (Craggle in particular) consider him to be a dilettantish lay-about.
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¹Though the Elothninian University system is by and large a bastion of scholarly excellence, there are programs that are open only to members of the super elite that essentially provides them with a strong-grounding in the intricate and arcane rules of the court.