Hi, 

	So some more on Girard.  I'm thinking he doesn't know who 
his real father is.  His mother refused to say.  There were 
probably conflicting rumors, but no single person stood out as 
most likely.  As for his birthmark: an interesting twist would 
be if he had a similar birthmark to Bill's PC (i.e. a twisty, 
vaguely serpent-like mark).  

	His mother Gwelen was a fiery, strong-willed Jarin woman 
who was defiant at first about her pregnancy and refused to say 
who the father was except that he would not acknowledge it.  She 
was, however, the Jarin daughter of a wealthy man and otherwise 
considered a good match for the Gelfein's son.  I want to look 
more into the villages and trade of northern Kaldor before deciding 
what her family was like.  I imagine them coming as a clan some 
fifty years earlier and basically working out a deal with the 
local lord where they would clear part of the forest themselves 
and then contribute to the manor as freemen (which they were).  
They remained fairly distinct from the locals, at least thus far.  

	I take him as basically having a wanderlust.  This as well 
as devotion, was behind his initial pilgrimage to Araka-Kalai.  
So I would guess him to be a pilgrim of the third stone (his 
Smell is below average).  I would say that he met the priest of 
Chuclaen Wheelwright at the village of Ochrynn who tried to 
recruit him for either the clerical order or the Aenghysa.  
I think they got along well, and may have gone to the further 
stones with him.  

	Then on the way back at Leriel he met with brother Olrau 
as you said.  This would be many years ago.  He went back to his 
home and announced his intention to become a priest, and put in 
order his familial obligations.  

	So he went to Gedan.  But I don't think he would get along 
well with the Aenghysa.  I think it is a bit modernist to think of 
them as "revolutionaries" or "rebels".  From reading, I think of 
them as bandits.  I mean, they live in a fairly barren region and 
make raids.  They have real religious and political rhetoric, but 
it's still close to a bandit's life.  

	So while he still feels strongly about the evil of Ivinians 
and Jarin independence, he is not comfortable with the Aenghysa.  
I think his wanderlust and social nature play a part in this, but 
there would also be a religious component.  I'm still pondering 
that part, but I think it involves seeing a different meaning to 
the mystery of Chuclaen Wheelwright.  The thing is, I want him to 
still be strongly motivated and proactive.  I don't want him to be 
just disillusioned and trying something new out.  I'll ponder it 
some more.  

- John