Bruce McGregor

Nephew of Prince Brannart McGregor of Klantyre

Former Castellan of Crownguard

AC 1016

"I pray to the Immortals for that day when the Highlands will be free of suffering and oppression and the evil that magic brings!"  

Appearance

There is a man in the dungeons of the Tower of Crownguard. Once tall and large in build, his bony frame is now draped with sallow skin and sunken flesh. His proud majestic frame is bent down in humble prayer, knees locked in perpetual genuflection, the skin roughed by the stones beneath them. He wears a loose tattered tartan, bearing the faded colors of the McGregor clan. His grimy face is covered with disheveled hair and an unshaven beard and moustaches of a dirty red hue—and yet it bears an expression of calm serenity. This pathetic wretch is Bruce McGregor.

Personality & Quirks

Sir Bruce McGregor has always been a troubled soul, and no one—not even himself, could grasp the depth and extent of his turmoil. He is always looking for enlightenment and expression for the passions of his psyche. Sometimes, he is able to verbalize these tumultuous thoughts—How does the cosmos work? What is the nature of Immortality? Why does mankind suffer? Why is there Chaos and Law?—but these queries confound even the greatest of mystics and philosophers of Mystara.

And yet, Bruce is a kind and gentle soul, always willing to help those in need around him. He would never hesitate to work for the cause of good and lawfulness, and would come to the defense of those who are oppressed by poverty, persecution, or injustice. When not immersed in the otherworldly mysteries of the soul, Bruce is quite practical and organized, as proven by his work as Castellan of Crownguard.

Bruce also firmly believes in the equality of mankind, be he a spellcaster or not—a position that would make him unpopular in the magocracy of Glantri. Bruce is also a very devout and spiritual man, faithfully believing that the Immortals have a grand plan for the good of mortal man. Secretly, he worships Razud, the Patron of Self-Sufficiency, but he also receives visions from the Immortal Vanya and even Thanatos.

Background

Born in AC 965, Bruce McGregor is a scion of the ruling McGregor family of Klantyre, albeit from a minor branch with little magical ability and no political ambitions. He could not have wanted a more loving and caring family, with his devoted father, the Kaelic warrior-poet Sir William McGregor, his affectionate mother, the humble Lady Fiona McGregor, his rambunctious brother, Burnaby McGregor, a local battlemage in Glenmoorloch, and his two younger siblings, his sister Mary McGregor  and baby brother Angan.

But Bruce himself was a soul in turmoil. He was inclined to profound philosophical questioning about the very nature of life and was prone to moodiness, extreme emotions, and bouts of depressions, so much so that we would get episodes of epilepsy, when his very spirit would leave his body, hoping to escape the troubled conditions that was his own doing. More than once, Bruce ran away from home, despite its domestic bliss, in an attempt to escape the demons that were troubling his own tormented soul.

If rumors are to be believed, it was during one of these excursions into the wilderness of Klantyre that Bruce finally found solace and purpose for his soul yearnings. Some say he joined adventurers who were devout followers of the Immortal Razud, and showed him the ways of self-sufficiency and personal fulfillment. Some say he found comfort amongst a hidden sect of clerics of Razud, who indoctrinated him in the ways of their Patron. Some even say he was visited by the Immortal Razud himself, appearing to a suffering Bruce as a young Flaemish boy of radiant beauty, bearing a mystical golden grail blazing with undying flames. Whatever the truth, Bruce found some measure of peace in the spiritual teachings of Razud, and he eventually returned from the wilderness a calmer, more serene man.

But the calm and serenity of his home was not what he returned to. It was AC 988 and some mysterious enemy of the Clan McGregor was decimating all their families in Glenmoorloch. While Sir William and Burnaby valiantly defended their home, Bruce was struck down by the assailants. Though blessed with remarkable strength and a sturdy constitution, Bruce was taken over by his epilepsy, triggered once again by the witness of senseless violence and destruction in this mortal realms.

Bruce recovered his senses days later in the Tower of Crownguard, where Mary, the sole survivor, had brought him from the massacres at Glenmoorloch. For weeks, only the mournful sounds of his bagpipe, played at the highest turrets of Crownguard, could ease the torments of his body and soul. But eventually, Bruce ceased his bereavement and tried to find purpose of his new life among the McGregors of Crownguard. He and Mary tried to fit in but were generally little more than ignored by this family who had their own ghosts haunting them. Bruce did find a friend in his cousin Duncan McGregor, a robust man of a similar mind and a good heart.

In Crownguard, Bruce busied himself with mundane everyday, working for the Castellan of Crownguard. Years later, Bruce earned the position himself (when his predecessor somehow displeased the Prince of Klantyre, Sir Brannart McGregor). All of this was to hide what he did in his private hours and behind closed doors: continue his spiritual exercises and his worship for the Immortals.

When Mary had her first child, the prodigious Sir Angus McGregor, all of Crownguard feared that the young child was a demonic force of evil, destined for much malevolence and wickedness in this world. Mary could not help but turn to her trusted brother Bruce, who agreed to become Angus' tutor and mentor. Sir Bruce taught Angus history, geography, nature lore, and even some philosophy, in the hopes of turning the boy from evil.

Sir Duncan McGregor also enlisted his friend and cousin Bruce to join in his crusade against the magocracy. Sir Bruce became one of the leaders of the Followers of the Claymore, and helped coordinate operations in Crownguard and Glenmoorloch for Sir Duncan. In AC 1007, at the height of the Wrath of the Immortals War, the Followers of the Claymore suffered a major defeat in the Sablestone area, and the complicity of Sir Bruce with the Followers was exposed. Moreover, Bruce's illegal clerical practices also came to light—perhaps a greater sin to Prince Brannart McGregor, who promptly eliminated the problematic relative. Many thought Bruce dead. In truth, he has been languishing in the dungeons of Crownguard, praying and meditating, and perhaps receiving revelations from the Immortals whom he has served so devoutly.

Web of Intrigue

Prince Brannart McGregor had only considered the Castellan of Crownguard as a suitable and efficient pawn, until he discovered Bruce's treasonous involvement with the Followers of the Claymore and his secret of clericism. The new Prince of Klantyre, Angus McGregor, owes no fealty to his uncle and former tutor, and is inclined to let Bruce rot in the dungeons of Crownguard altogether.

Sir Duncan McGregor, Master of the Followers of the Claymore, is a staunch ally of Bruce, but believed Bruce has been dead since his disappearance in AC 1007. Lady Mary McGregor, the loyal and loving sister of Bruce, is not willing to give up yet and has been sending adventurers to Crownguard to investigate Bruce's true fate.

Style of Magic & Combat

Statistics: 28th-level cleric of Razud (D&D), 18th-level cleric of Razud (AD&D); Str 16, Dex 10, Con 15, Int 14, Wis 18, Cha 13; AL N (D&D), CG (AD&D).

Skills: ancient history (Flaemish, Kaelic), cartography, geography (Klantyre, the Highlands), musical instrument (bagpipe), reading/writing, religion, riding (land-based), survival (forest).

Languages: Kaelic, Thyatian (Glantrian dialect), Flaemish.

Weapon Proficiency: claymore.

Though Sir Bruce masquerades as a knight and a warrior, he is actually a cleric of the Immortal Razud and his holy symbol is disguised as his claymore. He is versed in the Kaelic styles of fighting, but has learned a few combat maneuvers against wizards, due to his association with the Followers of the Claymore.

In his lifetime, Sir Bruce has been visited by three Immortals: Razud, who chose Bruce as his servant and cleric; (In return, Vanya used her influence in the Sphere of Time, so that Bruce would avoid the undue attention of the Immortal Rad as Étienne d'Ambreville); and Thanatos, who granted him some protection from the Necromancers of Klantyre (particularly Prince Brannart McGregor) but whose real motives remain unclear.

There is a growing legend that these three Immortals presented Bruce each with an artifact, a holy grail or chalice, which sealed Bruce's servitude to the Immortals and granted Bruce some of the mystical powers he wields now. Whatever the truth, Bruce has had no opportunity to display any of his abilities of late, save for surviving nightmarish conditions of the dungeons of Crownguard that would otherwise crush other mortal spirits.

"Laddie, laddie, aren't you scared?

They've hidden your laird under the stairs

Hung him mid-air by the ends of his hairs

Nightmares of despair, no one is spared!"

(old Kaelic rhyme)

References:

History of House Crownguard

A Kaelic Tale, a parable about Bruce McGregor and the Immortals he worships

Author: Kit Navarro