Notes

Wynston Marcius Fallabellerburg was born into the royal Fallabellerburg family of the gnomish kingdom of Pufferlapp 97 years ago, as the second child of King Gongillius and Queen Lalabelle. The issues with him started at a very young age, when his tutors found out that he stutters and no harsh lesson or even magic seemed to be able to cure the problem. This flaw was a huge disappointment in his parents eyes, since they wanted someone who could act as a diplomatic figure on behalf of the throne once Wynston's brother, Bobben inherits it, because the current heir was not only hot-headed, but his main interest seemed to be fighting instead of politics or seeking knowledge, which often resulted in him beating his smaller brother, just for the sake of fun, and thus the two siblings weren't able to develop a healthy relationship, because Wynston has always seen his brother as his biggest bully.
Due to his lack of physical strength or capability to make friends, the young Wynston was always the target of childlish pranks and brutal beatings when the other kids wanted to make fun of someone. This, among his general gnomish curiousity, lead the small child into the world of books, finding the library the most peacefull place in the world. He found friends among the fictional heroes of old tales and he found knowledge in the ancient scripts stored in the huge underground archives of Pufferlapp.
As he got older and older, his presence has been noticed by Uggil Ozmandas, the arch librarian of Pufferlapp. The old gnome took Wynston under his wings and taught him all he could about the world and the multiverse, numbers and literature, nature and arcana, and the young boy listened very carefully. His knowledge grew more and more deeper, and for the first time in his life, his parents were proud of him, hoping that one day they could encourage their child to master magic. They have paid the best wizards of the kingdom, but unfortunetly Wynston didn't seem to be a natural talent in the art of bending reality, even though he has got the brains for it. Years have passed but no master could teach him anything, disappointing not only his parents, but the whole kingdom once again.
It was in Wynston's 60's when his only real friend and his father-figure, Uggil suddenly died. He left only one thing to the young gnome: a mysterious letter, with a riddle that neither of them was able to solve before. Uggil's death left a deep scar in Wynston's soul, and it was right after his funeral's night when he decided to sneak into the archives, holding a single candle in one hand, looking for redemption among the adored books in his grief. It was a brave act from him, since the archives were closed after midnight, but he couldn't care less, he needed to ease his melancholy.
It was then, when he let his desire for hidden knowledge rule over him and he sneaked into the forbidden section of the archives, looking for a book he has not read yet. Many of the scrolles stored there were written in languages all mortals have forgotten, many of them have been from banned authors or they have described unnatural, dark magical practices. Wynston has browsed the entire gallery of forbidden books for hours, until he found something simple enough among the many exotic scrolls that it peeked his curiosity. It was nothing, but a thin book, with a simple, black cover, without a title or an author.
Wynston started reading it, while his candle was slowly burning down. The book was talking about ancient beings, godlike things from outside of the multiverse, floating, roaming entities amidst the eternal fog of the Far Realm. Wynston read it through, page by page, when suddenly he found a text in a language he has not seen before, but still, was able to understand it.
It was an equation, left unsolved. So Wynston solved it, and as he did, he felt the world around him shrink, his spine crack and his soul was pushed out from the material plane, and the gnome found himself in an empty, dark space, where he could hear nothing, but distant screams and blowing, wild wind. And in the nothingness, he saw something, an unnatural mass, that resembled an enourmus floating brain with tentacles, surrounded by clouds of storm and thunder. And this thing spoke to him, and because it had no mouth, it spoke to his mind. It saw his past and knew what he's been through, so it offered him a chance to redeem himself and if he obeys it's will, he shall be rewarded with the knowledge he was dreaming about. Wynston agreed and his soul was punched back to reality, back into his body, to find himself still in the library, but surrounded by darkness, because the candle allready burned down. So he grabbed the book, hid it under his cloak and left the archives.
From that day on, this entity, that Wynston named "The Elder Mind", taught him the art of magic, but not the kind most wizards use, but something different, and for the first time in his life, the gnome was able to use arcane forces. In the beginning he only practiced once a week, entering this unknown reality through the book occasionally, but as his hunger for power became harder and harder to satisfy, he started to visit The Elder Mind evry day, sometimes multiple times.
He learned much from it in the next ten years, and evry time he felt his magic was strong enough, he'd show his skills to his parents and the royal court (of course, he never talked about his secret mentor, and thus it seemed he was just getting better and better thanks to the wizard trachers) and evrybody was in awe of him. Evrybody, except one.
Bobben used to be the favorite son, and as his brother progressed he grew jealous of him. He became suspicious of his sudden success and thus he started spying on Wynston, trying to learn where his powers might come from. Eventually he found out and he exposed his own brother to the king and queen of Pufferlapp, who were both shocked and furious. Wynston spent six days in a prison cell as the council of the kingdom was debating what his punishment shall be, since he not only stole a banned book from the forbidden section of the royal library, but he'd been learning prohibited magic from a dangerous entity. One wizard tried to make contact with The Elder Mind while the trial was in progress, but once he came back to the Material Plane he could only scream and twitch in madness.
On the seventh day Wynston has been summoned by his father. He informed the gnome that they've decided his faith, and that it shall be exile.
So Wynston has left Pufferlapp. His book of elder gods has been taken away by the council, but the knowledge has remained in his memories. Now he walks a lonely path, hoping that one day he might be able to return and make his parents proud again. And if the time comes, and The Elder Mind requires his service, he will be there.