Gyrharte

Gyrharte does not know the full story of his birth. The earliest true memory he has is of his father, a professional storyteller, performing on the streets of Hochgart as his brothers and sisters acted out the legends for passersby’s loose change. His mother was never mentioned, nor were any questions about her tolerated by his father. While still curious about that, he has assumed that she passed away and his father’s heartache was intolerable.

Growing up as part of a street performer family Gyrharte was relatively poor, but happy. Flights of fancy were not only allowed, but encouraged. Unfortunately as several of those fancies were in the possession of other gryphons at the time, this did lead to several flights from the law.

Once he and his siblings reached, and endured, maturity, Gyrharte and his family traveled extensively all over the Gryphon Kingdoms as a celebrated acting troupe, never really feeling the need to put down roots in any one place. Eventually all things end though, and with his father finally passing the remaining family scattered as members left to pursue individual dreams and in some cases to raise their own families.

Effectively retired and at a loss as to what to do next, Gyrharte travelled to Equestria from the gryphon homelands across the sea, seeking adventure in a foreign land much like Gallant Quartermane did with Zebrica. The distance was daunting even for as strong a flyer as Gyrharte, leading him to take service on a merchant vessel willing to sail the deep ocean. To his own surprise he took quite well to the sailor’s life, and was reluctant to part with the ship when it arrived in Manehattan. The rest of the crew had more mixed feelings, leading to an unusual castaway situation once known as a Reverse Shangneigh, now being referred to by that crew as 'Pulling a Gyrharte'.

Finding Equestria far more settled and peaceful than he had expected from the stories that had filtered over to the Gryphon Kingdom, he now moves from place to place as whim takes him. Usually aiming for the more remote and wild regions where adventure might arise.

Jovially aggressive, or aggressively jovial, Gyrharte is big, boisterous, and just a bit belligerent. [Note: as if voiced by Brian Blessed, in pretty much any role he’s ever played.]

Unlike the stereotype of the blustering bruiser that he seems to be, he is neither intentionally a bully nor secretly a coward. While he enjoys a nice friendly punch-up, and injuries are accepted as part of the price for such fun; hurting those who are not willingly joining in is an anathema to him.

Instead, Gyrharte can appear to be oddly childish at heart. He is over-fond of adventure stories, to the point that he attempts to model his behavior after a variety of fictional (hopefully) gryphon heroes of old. Currently he is fascinated by the triad of Geowulf Trollbane, a warrior-king from ancient poems; Gallant Quartermane, a hippogriff adventurer who explored much of Zebrica almost a hundred years ago; and Gyggles the Flying Ace, a slightly more modern hero of the gryphon military. While there is no apparent connection between these three in themes, plots, or characterization, there is one hidden away in Gyrharte’s mind. He has played these characters on stage several times, even the hippogriff Gallant thanks to rather uncomfortable prosthesis on his hind legs. Beyond these three he does collect adventure stories about other characters, especially if presented in script form, and is especially interested in the myths and legends of gryphons in non-gryphon cultures.

Although he is at heart an actor and an entertainer, he’s actually quite serious about bringing back long-dead traditions. He thinks that most modern gryphons (and likely ponies, zebras and so on) have become weak and soft, having abandoned trusted customs out of laziness. Due to this, Gyrharte places great stock in honor, but his definition of what is ‘honorable’ seems rather fluid as he tries to incorporate attitudes from a vast span of time, most of it fictional and sometimes contradictory.

He is resentful of getting old, and is seeking adventure in the hopes that he will have a spectacular end before he is too weak. His greatest fear though is not physical weakness, but that he will lose his wits and not even realize it, something that happened to his father many years past. Due to that fear, getting confused will make him extremely angry and prone to lash out.

A large male gryphon, Gyrharte is relatively old and is considered well past his prime by other gryphons. However, while fading he is still fairly powerful due to his size and physical lifestyle.

His wings are covered with shiny dark gray feathers with just enough brown mixed in to give the impression of old iron, has extremely pale gray feathers for the head and neck with equally pale green eyes, a short crest matching his wings, and a russet lion’s body marked with faint streaks of a darker shade. Not well defined stripes or spots like a tiger or a leopard, but more of a faint brindle coloring. A long scar mars the left side of his gray beak, of which he seems embarrassed by for some reason. [Note: based on variations of the Harpy eagle and the Barbary lion]