Many years ago, there was a clan far away who protected a town of humans that despised them. There were a few sympathizers who existed from whom the clan could get news from, but they were few and usually either killed or banished from the town if discovered. However, an uneasy truce existed that kept the humans away from the rookery, one that existed merely because of fear.
However, all that changed one night when one of the clan members got into a fight with a human who'd been doing something suspicious (to this day, no one knows what), and he was tossed off a cliff and killed. The body was discovered the next morning when the person never returned, and a town council meeting was called. A priest was there, who tried to calm the people down, but was forced to not only shut his mouth (at the insistance that if he didn't he'd be seen as a gargoyle-lover and promptly killed), and to take part in the massacre that followed.
However, this priest was lucky enough to hide one egg during the carnage, and using the excuse of performing exorcism on the shattered remains after everyone had left, escaped with it, and was never seen in the town again. People claimed the ghosts, or demons, had taken him back to hell where lovers of such beasts writhed in torture for eternity.
The egg hatched shortly afterward, the little white baby gargoyle stole the priest's heart, he vowed to raise him as his own chid. Granted, one would never actually mistake Nick for anything than what he was, so the priest was forced to make some lifestyle changes, staying only in places he knew would not endanger the little one, usually this meant living in caves, hunting and finding their own food. Even with the hardships, Nick thrived under his care, learning much about the human world and it's customs. His 'father' tried to teach him what he knew of the gargoyle clans, but as little was truly known and the clan had kept much to themselves, there wasn't much he could say.
As the years passed, the priest knew they could not keep this up, that Nick would need to protection and knowledge of his own kind before long as he was nearing his death. Still, they wandered far and wide until hearing word of town and clan that were friendly to each other. Elated, they made for the Dachaidh Clan, where Nick was finally accepted and their paths seperated forever. Ill and near death, the priest put a cross necklace around Nick's neck, begging him to forever remember his human father, and to remember that the hatred for his kind was only brought on by fear. He died shortly afterward, and after Nick had buried him, he vowed to do as his father had asked, hoping that as he protected, he could pass on what he'd been taught as well about compassion and love.
