Giles Rais

Giles Rais

Courtier Spring Mantle •

Ogre Cyclopean

Played by Red Dragon (Inactive)

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Early History

Giles was born in San Francisco in San Francisco in 1978. The son of Breton immigrants who had opened a creperie in the city, his childhood was generally a happy and well adjusted one. However, Giles had a problem as he grew to adolescence. He developed an eating disorder, one of the rare instances of a man to do so. Growing up in a family of chefs that greatly appreciated food, his strange eating habits were a strange source of shame. His parents did not know what to do with their son, and preferred to ignore his habits, hoping they would go away.

Durance

It was this strange juxtaposition that drew in the attention of Fae slavers working for the giant Snap-’Em-Up, who kidnapped Giles and brought him to the kitchens of the monstrous fairy to be a cook. There, Giles learned the true meaning of hunger, as he was forced to fight for the smallest scraps that fell off the giant’s table, losing his eye in one of these scraps for food. If he was caught taking food from any other place, he was beaten severely. Giles suspects that human flesh was sometimes served at the table, and to this day remains haunted by the idea that he may have committed cannibalism. But Giles stayed and persevered. Giles rationed himself with the scraps he did get his hands on, using the psychological tricks he had taught himself as an anorexic to keep from eating whenever food was available. He developed a routine for meals, which allowed him to keep a slightly clearer mind and healthier body than his unfortunate co-slaves. His cooking improved, and with it his duties, access to food, and opportunities for greater freedom. With this freedom, he began to converse, cajole, and in a few cases threaten the fairy creatures that hung around Snap-‘Em-Up’s kitchens and gardens. From them, he learned secrets about the plants in the garden, and the stranger ingredients in the kitchen. He began to collect these plants and ingredients, using them and experimenting in his recipes. And finally, he created for the giant a delicious meal, filled to the brim with various goblin fruits and faerie herbs designed to induce sleep. Snap-‘Em-Up and his court devoured the meal gleefully, and soon fell into a deep sleep from which the other servants could not rouse them. Giles ran like hell, and made it back to San Francisco.

The Happy Return (?)

There, he wove a tale of running away, being kidnapped, escaping, and wandering before finally making it home. His parents believed him-they were glad just to have their son back. The authorities may have wondered if his story was really all that, but they did not want to interfere with a glimmer of happiness in this dark world. After all, the creperie had closed, the parents had divorced and found menial jobs, and the social workers and police knew that there would be a lot of pressure getting Giles to readjust. Giles was indeed incredibly disappointed to find that his old, ideal life was forever out of his reach. It was in an attempt to regain this past that he decided to become a cook himself. The years spent in Snap-‘Em-Up’s castle had given him great skills, and he quickly made a name for himself in San Francisco. However, the city held too many memories, too many reminders of what he’d lost. He decided to make a new start, and got a job as a chef de ligne in the Firehouse restaurant in Old Sacramento. He is now readjusting, and as his life picks up hopes to spread some of his good fortune to his fellow changelings. Giles believes in having fun and giving others a good time-not to shirk responsibility, but because, with too much pressure, people will fail. For this reason, Giles embraces his job whole-heartedly and enthusiastically.