Parmis Gilroy

Parmis Gilroy
Information

Parmis Gilroy is a mountaineer and, along with his twin brother, Chauncy, is considered to be a legend in his own time.

The Gilroy brothers are famous for being the only people known to be able to survive the winter in the Sikasoon Mountains. They are also responsible for the creation of Gilroy Pass, a shorter, summertime route through the Sikasoons connecting Myrken Wood and Derry.

The Gilroys spent almost all of their adult lives in the Sikasoons, making occasional visits to the mountain towns on both sides of the range, when they needed supply or medical treatment. In 201 AR, at 63 years old, Chauncy Gilroy passed away. Since that time Parmis has been seen less and less in the towns. Every year folks suspect Parmis for dead, but at least once every year, the living legend would wander into a town in Myrken Wood or Derry, gather some supplies, and wander back into the mountains, inspiring bets as to whether he would be able to survive another horrendous winter wandering around the Sikasoon Mountains.

Childhood

Parmis and Chauncy were born during an extremely cold winter in December 138 AR to a farmer and his wife. Unfortunately, due to complications during childbirth, the midwives were unable to stop their mother's bleeding and she died during delivery from blood loss.

The Gilroy brothers were raised by their father; growing up in the shadow of the Sikasoon Mountains. The boys spent their childhood summers hiking in the mountains and their winters sledding and snowshoeing. They spent all of their spare time in the mountains regardless of the weather. The brothers were also very competitive; constantly challenging one another to see who could go further, go faster, handle colder temperatures longer, and the like.

When the Gilroys' father passed away when they were thirteen, they decided to sell the family's farmlands, pack up all of their belongings and live off of the land in the Sikasoon mountains. Most considered it a death sentence, but the boys shocked everyone by surviving year after year in the unforgivingly cold conditions.

Gilroy Pass

By the time the boys were in the late teens, they knew the Sikasoons like the back of their hands. They had even summited Mount Bamepirn, the tallest of the mountains in the Sikasoon range, four times. It was around this time that they started to consider Silkback Saddle, a gradually depressed ridge between two peaks, as a potential pass that, if modified and faced with the right weather conditions, could be used as an alternate route between Myrken Wood and Derry--a substitute for Derry Row.

So, in the summer of 156 AR, at just 18 years old, the two Gilroys trekked to Myrkentown and Wrexham, the capital cities of Myrken Wood and Derry, and spoke to their regional councils about getting funding for some trees that needed felling and some laborers to carve and pound some slight switchbacks up the mountainside. The local governments were not very keen to give money to two "boys" when there was a perfectly good road in Derry Row. They were given permission to do the pass, but would be given no money to fund the venture. Fortunately the local merchant guilds whose businesses greatly valued speedy trade saw the value in the pass. They were also able to convince a few lumbersmiths to fell the trees for the wood, no more payment necessary.

Work began that summer and at the end of the summer in 158 AR, the first cart crossed Gilroy Pass. In the years since, the local governments of Myrken Wood and Derry have funded improvement projects to make the dirt road easier for carts, merchants, and traders.

However, the pass is normally open only during June, July, August, and some of September, because before and after those months the heavy snowstorms in the Sikasoons block the pass. Almost every winter a man would be fool enough to think that he was as gifted as the Gilroy brothers and try to cross the pass. He would cover himself in furs, gather a sled and a team of dogs, and set out to best the Sikasoons by attempting to take the snow-blocked Gilroy Pass to Derry. The bones of these adventurers and their dogs would almost always be found in the spring's thaw. Those whose remains weren't found were never heard from again.

How the Gilroy brothers managed to survive in the Sikasoons for so long, no one knew; it was certainly the main reason for their legendary status.

The Bear Attack

In November 186 AR, when out checking his deer and fox snares, Parmis had an altercation with a bear. Although bears were normally in a state of hibernation at that time of year, it's not uncommon for older bears, who have a harder time hunting and fishing to stay active later into the season so that they can take advantage of the lack of competition for food from other bears. It was one such hungry bear that decided Parmis would be a good enough snack.

Although Parmis had had many run-ins with bears and knew the tricks of convincing a bear that he wasn't an easy target, this bear wasn't convinced. Parmis stood perfectly still with his arms up, making himself as large as he could, and shouted at the bear. The bear charged him and was on him before he even realized what had happened. The bear's large claws tore at Parmis's face, shredding his cheek and lips and knocking out two teeth.

Parmis fell and the bear bit into his shoulder and held him down with its heavier body, pinning Parmis's arms. All Parmis could do to defend himself was to bite the bear; so bite he did. Parmis was able to bite the bear's neck, pinching off the animal's carotid artery. This stemmed the flow of blood to the bear's brain and after a few minutes of sustained thrashing, the bear eventually passed out. Parmis managed to crawl from under the bear and subsequently killed the beast with a skinning knife.

Parmis, who was losing blood and was already exhausted from fighting the bear, started to crawl back toward where Chauncy and his home was located. Unable to get there, he passed out in the snow.

Chauncy, worried that his brother hadn't returned, went out to look for him and was lucky enough to find his brother quickly. He applied compresses to Parmis's wounds, carried his brother to their sled, and then made the long journey to Myrkentown, the closest town that had skilled doctors. Fortunately, Chauncy was able to get Parmis to a barber-surgeon quickly enough to save his life.

Although the barber did all that he could to repair Parmis's face, he never looked the same again. His cheek was sewn closed and pulled tight to make up for where there was missing skin. The end result made his left cheek more taught and sunken than the other, not to mention the scars. The most obvious and almost horrifying result of the injury however, was Parmis's lips and mouth. The problem was that because the flesh of the lips had been flayed so badly, the skin of the upper and lower lips had a tendency to heal as he slept, meaning that over the months, the corners of his mouth heal and knit together, sealing his lips and decreasing how much he could open his mouth without tearing the flesh. As a result, Parmis had to return to the barber every couple of months to get his mouth cut back open. After a few years of this, however, Parmis decided to just do it himself...using the same skinning knife he used to kill the bear. To this day, he continues to cut his mouth open every few weeks.

Since the attack, Parmis has grown and maintained a spotty beard as well, trying to hide from view (fairly unsuccessfully) his horrific scars and the ever fresh wound that is his mouth.

After Chauncy's Death

In 201 AR, at 63 years old, Chauncy Gilroy passed away painlessly and silently in his sleep. Parmis's reaction to his brother's passing was interesting to say the least.

It is said that Parmis packed everything that he could from their cabin, strapped it to his back, and has wandered the Sikasoon Mountains endlessly ever since, regardless of the weather. When he is seen in town, he has the most unbelievable pack on his back, piled high with seemingly everything the man has ever owned.