Ghyll:Baron Claude Lloyd Albert Smallwood
Baron Claude Lloyd Albert Smallwood (born -62/7/11 EC) is the estranged former husband of the infamous Bavarian Creame and is the most important producer of Adlorst wines. Baron Smallwood also grows a number of other grapes besides Adlorst Vinifera on his sprawling plantation in the Evesque Valley, as well as a decent-sized crop of Fefferberry, from which he makes the traditional Fefferberry wine.
In addition to being a well-known vintner, the Baron is also known for dabbling in alchemy and is a suspected member of the Karcist League. His alchemical experiments are believed to have led to the inadvertent creation of the doggerel plague which swept certain parts of Ghyll in -11 EC, though he strenuously denies it. Quite the "gentleman farmer", Baron Smallwood has written any number of monographs on subjects as varied as "Maximizing Your Fefferberry Crop During Tourist Season", "On the Appreciation of Calvados", and "Favorite Plants of the Alchemist : Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers". In recent years, his ever unquiet mind has led him to explore numerous new avenues in animal husbandry, including his attempts to engineer a new breed of Mute Chukarandos.
Also a student of linguistics, the Baron has collected a vast library on his estate filled with explorations of language on Ghyll. He has been heard speaking to both plants and animals on his plantation in tongues previously thought lost to mankind. Occasionally, it seems as if the animals have even answered back! Though, this has yet to be fully documented. Baron Smallwood has funded several expeditions into distant lands for the sole purpose of cataloging and recording the languages of small, dying peoples. He is also the author of "Speaking of the Night; On the Ritual Use of Language in Midnight Ceremonies"
Though Baron Smallwood claims not to be a superstitious person, he has been observed by many hopping widdershins around certain large and ancient trees on his estate by the light of the full moon, as well as engaging in certain rituals on both the day he married Bavarian Creame and the day he "was asked to remove himself from her presence forever", in his words. These rituals are performed annually, though in private.
Citations: Bavarian Creame, doggerel plague, Mute Chukarandos.
--Doctor Phineas Crank 17:26, 11 Sep 2004
