Name:
Richard Breckenridge
Age:
Twenty-Six
Gender:
Male
Birthplace:
Manchester, England
Religious Affiliation:
Church of England (Though, he wouldn't be considered very pious)
Secular Affiliation:
A bit of a lone wolf, Richard doesn't really fair well with others, which some would argue that is tad of an understatement on his behalf. As his erratic and borderline narcissistic personality often puts him on edge with others.
Level of education:
High, if not the highest. Educated within the halls of Cambridge University.
Social status:
Aristocrat
Occupation:
Scholar, scientist (so he likes to think), thinker, historian, general know-it-all.
Appearance:
Richard is, slightly unkempt in his appearance – slightly being a rather polite manner in which to describe him. His hair is a bundle of frizzy curls, which no true attempt to really tame his hair it flows and bobs and weaves into several directions, forming an untangle-able brown bush upon his head. Beyond his eyes which betray his lack of sleep – largely a willing act – his eyes are a deep blue. His nose, long and sharp, lips rosy, a small smidgen of sprouting hairs on a youthful face, there is something of a handsome man behind that vagabond, now if he would dress proper to suit the occasion, acted more gentleman like and adhered to his upbringing a bit better, then maybe Richard could me more like his brothers, handsome, noble and clean-cut upstanding noble Englishman. Alas, this is Richard and the vagrant appearance appears to be staying.
Personality:
Richard has always been unusual – his behaviour is erratic, if not at times outright insane, at times he's capable of great kindness and joyous honour to then suddenly go into great periods of sudden mood swings and supposed depression. Capable of intense jealousy and violent outbursts at his fellow peers, Richard had very few friends during his time at Cambridge. This can make getting along with Richard an incredibly arduous task, especially if he judges you to be on his level of intelligence and if you are not; then expect plenty of sarcasm and undisguised insults. Though he developers intimate relationships slowly, if ever – the man has very few friends – Richard is stupidly loyal in his dedication to said friendship. Of course, if you can get back the negative traits first.

However, Richard is a passionate person, passionate about his line of work and the adventures he goes on, he hasn’t had a good day if he hasn’t learned something new. He dives into new material and potential expeditions with an almost childlike eagerness.

Skill set:
To say that Richard is smart is an understatement. Richard is a vastly intelligent individual, a historian, philosopher, student of astrology, author, scholar, and everything in-between. If you ask him about something obscure or some dusty old ruin or tale you know of, more than likely, Richard will know everything about it.
Languages:
English (Naturally), Latin, Portuguese, Spanish and some Dutch and German.

Bio:
There's nothing great here, in fact, his early life is rather boring. Within the Greater Manchester area, from Altrincham to the edges of Bolton, the Breckenridges were a wealthy and influential family of Northern England. Richard, however, was not set to carry on the responsibility of maintaining this wealth and influential. With two elder siblings, who had children of their own, Richard never sought to inherit his families land and holdings. Instead, he was, largely, left to his own devices. Fragile and often ill during his early years of childhood, Richard did not attend any formal educational schooling until he was nearing his eighth name day. But before then, he was already burying himself in books and scripts. Not really knowing if he was getting the pronunciation correct or not, he was at the very least, making sense of the plot, words and grammar. He was learning, though slowly, his ability to pick up things and learn on his own accord was nothing short of being astonishing, but even then, it was still meagre – He was learning but by his own rules, he had the basics but they weren’t defined. Nevertheless, he revealed that he had untapped potential.

As time passed, his health improved significantly, he began to attend regular schooling where his untapped potential fully bloomed. His rough edges smoothing out, it didn’t take long until he surpassed the established students around him. The young Richard grew to be a very intelligent, albeit it, increasingly odd, yet insightful adolescent.

With his families wealth and his intelligence, Richard began to attend the prestigious Cambridge university. Here, he found people he could talk in-depth with, debate with, and make enemies with – and many enemies he did make. But even here, Richard outshone many, which only allowed him to indulge in an already large ego for a character that was growing increasingly odd with each year.

Once his life at Cambridge came to an end, Richard sought to travel and to begin his career. France, the German states, Italy, Sweden, a brief period within the Ottoman Empire; he published several books regarding many subjects, from historical nations and events, famous and urban legends of Europe. He also produced a numerous satirical commentaries and the politics of the time, wrote plays and stories, many of which he did under a nom de plume. In what seemed like a short amount of time, he established himself as a very popular author and respected scholar and one of England's very own renaissance men.

Notes: Despite his own stupidly large ego and superior mind; he considers Leonardo Da Vinci to be the finest man to have ever graced the known world.

Name: Esra Gad El Rab
Age: 22
Gender: Female
Birthplace: Tafilet, Morocco
Religious Affiliation: Muslim
Secular Affiliation: House of Alaoui
Level of education: attended many classes and lectures at her mosque in Tafilet & Rabat; trained as a healer
Social status: middle class (in Morocco)
Occupation: midwife & healer, mother & wife
Appearance: It’s a joke between Othman, her husband, and Esra that she is the better looking of the two. One because it is not hard to look more attractive than her club-footed husband who also sports drooping eyes and poor teeth. Two because Esra isn't horribly attractive herself. She has too many freckles on her face and her bottom lip is too fat to be considered “pouty.” Her eyebrows are thick (almost identical to Othman’s) and her small nose is almost as wide as it is long. As a child, she couldn't wait to wear a hajib because of scar behind her left ear that left a large bald spot. Othman helps comb out her wiry, black hair at night. She’s got the type of body babies like to bury their faces into; soft and warm and fleshy. Othman says this is her most attractive feature (even more so than her green eyes).
Personality: TBD
Skill set: Familiar with poultices & tonics for aliments; in Rabat she assisted with the occasional surgery;
Languages: Arabic (fluent), Berber (fluent), Portuguese & Spanish (so-so)
Bio: TBD
Notes: Although she is a healer, she primarily took care of women due to gender segregation as outlined in the Qur’an.

Name: Abdulhayy Mahmud Hata'i

Age: 56

Gender: Male

Birthplace: Constantinople

Religious Affiliation: Muslim

Secular Affiliation: None

Level of education: Few men are as well-read as Hata'i, having excellent knowledge of all matters scientific and religious.

Social status: Being a somewhat well known theologian, translator and scholar, Hata'i often receives immediate respect in Muslim circles, however, stories of him being a heretic also run around and treatment may change from person to person. He's also well known in amongst scholars for his translations, in the Zaphorozian lands for slaying a giant serpent, not to mention that he has friends in the philosophical circles of the Netherlands.

Occupation: Formerly a scholar and a translator, Hata'i is a semi-famous traveler (most of his fame due to his many former occupations), who lives off what he can gain from the people and things he's gathered in the wilds.

Appearance: An incredibly tall and somewhat pudgy man, Hata'i, while somehow not looking the part at first sight, can be quite creepy to an erudite observer. His arms are comically disproportionate, reaching almost beyond his knees, not to mention his giraffe-like, long neck, almost completely covered by his rather oddly shaped beard. His face is, possibly to further confuse any possible onlooker, perfectly fine and normal, with a round head, green eyes with pupils that somewhat resemble that of a goat, and skin free of wrinkles, creating a somewhat childlike appearance. His legs are thin, and when bare, look like they'd barely support his weighty, fat-covered, large round torso. With all of these joined together, Hata'i wouldn't look out of place in a horror story - but somehow, nobody that's met him has had any questions about his unnatural appearance. His skin is thick and light, with a yellow hue.

On his head is a simple, salmon colored skullcap gored into two, its sides covered with a green cloth band that leaves only the top part open, with a small, decorated button on top of the crown. His clothing consists of knee-high leather boots, with baggy breeches tucked inside the boots, a white shirt, a mail-lined kazaghand coat, a large, green padded robe, a leather buffcoat, and a red sash on top of it all. He has an axe slung around his shoulder along with a bag, a bandolier wrapped around his torso, a miquelet carbine tucked in his sash alongside a sabre, and a blowing horn hanging from his neck alongside various medallions. However, he prefers to hide in local attire while traveling, wearing them over his usual clothing.

Personality: Hata'i isn't your stereotypical fat, strong, hale and hearty boisterous bruiser - while he can get hotheaded, he's mostly a calm, quiet man who keeps to himself. While he's not introverted, it'd be wrong to also call him extroverted. He listens to all opinions and respects them as long as the opposition can raise a successful argument, and prefers diplomacy over violence. He can, however, get up close and personal once he feels cruelty and oppression. While he always accepts a cry of mercy, he will not stand by while there is tyranny. Even though he does not approve of certain traits like vanity, he does not like voicing his opinions and creating friction amongst people. Still, when asked about something, he always answers sincerely and sometimes bluntly, sometimes leading him to trouble.

Skill set: Hata'i is well versed in survival in the wilds, and is a quite durable laborer, but his expertise lies in his incredible knowledge of religions and the Unknown. In towns he resides he spends his time reading, laboring for food, and making charms for people who'd rather have something to cling to. He also has some experience in fighting, having fought in the Ottoman-Safavid war as part of the Sultan's cavalry retinue.

Languages: Hata'i is a proper polyglot, being able to speak Turkish, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Latin, Greek, Italian, French, Russian and German to varying effectiveness.

Bio: Born in 1610 as the son of a Qadi, Hata'i (then just known as Abdulhayy Mahmud) had his future outlined pretty nicely from birth. Born during a rather tumultuous time of the Empire, his father was a Qadi during the reign of Osman II the Young, a devout follower of the Sultan on his actions against the Janissaries. However, after Osman II was overthrown by the Janissaries, his father also lost the position of Qadi, and a resentment started to grow within the man. His resentment took the form of religious extremism, for the Janissary Order was tied to the Bektashi Sufi Order, a rather unorthodox sect, not to mention that the Theologians who had a part in the rebellion were people who often spoke respectfully of controversial figures such as Ibn Arabi. The man came to think that only heretics could act so boldly against the Sultan and spill his blood, and thus, these people, and those they respected, had to be heretics. Finding himself a part of the newly-rising fundamentalist Kadızadeli movement, Abdulhayy Mahmud's father spent his time preaching on heretics and taking care of his son's education. The man eventually regained his position of Qadi during the reign of Murad IV, and used his regained position to improve his son Abdulhayy Mahmud's education. As a young man, Abdulhayy Mahmud took lessons in almost all of the Islamic subjects, eventually proving to be an excellent learner. After earning his father's approval, he went to Egypt and Mecca for further learning, in 1628. Returning to Constantinople in 1632 upon his father's death, he was taken in to the retinue of a Pasha, earning a valuable source of income and opportunities. Abdulhayy Mahmud used this position to crack down on unorthodoxy while also expanding his influence to court, increasing his knowledge of the Unknown in the meanwhile. After earning the Sultan Murad IV's favor by using the 'Elite Science', the one about the Djinn, to partially cure Murad IV's brother Ibrahim's mental illnesses, he was given the position of Royal Polymath, essentially becoming a companion of the Sultan. He was present alongside the Sultan during his campaigns against the Safavids, and was amongst those who tried to cure him of gout on his deathbed.

Upon Murad IV's death, he found himself in palace intrigue, immediately becoming disgusted with it. He fell more and more into his studies and spending time with his friend, the scholar Katip Çelebi. After earning the hatred of the charlatan Hussein Effendi, who was kept around by the deranged Sultan thanks to his claims of speaking with Djinni, he bid Katip Çelebi farewell and left for Caucasia alongside the explorer Evliya Çelebi. Earning his respect with his knowledge of interesting matters, the two soon became friends and were present during the rather unsuccessful siege of Azaq. Soon after, however, Abdulhayy Mahmud realized he couldn't escape Hussein Effendi's grasp, as a letter was brought to him from apparently the Sultan himself, ordering him to leave for Northern Crimea, near the Dnieper, to slay a monster terrorizing the populace. He was strictly ordered to go by himself, as the letter said that 'only he had the capability to fight a being of the Unknown'. Abdulhayy Mahmud knew that this was not written by the Sultan himself, as he was, most of the time, mentally disabled. But, to decline this order was to accept his doom, and death in the Zaporozhian lands sounded better than to receive treatment from the famous executioner Kara Ali. After bidding his friend Evliya Çelebi farewell, he, alongside a courier that would leave for Constantinople once Abdulhayy Mahmud had a confirmed location on the creature's whereabouts, set out to the lands of Zaporozhje, on a horse gifted to him by the Crimean Khan, armed with a simple mail-lined coat, a carbine and a saber. Staying away from groups of people and pretending to be one of the local populace by removing his turban, Abdulhayy Mahmud followed the rumors of the monster to a small island on the Dnieper. Moving to the island on a chaika along with a group of brave Cossacks, he managed to ambush the monster, which was revealed to be a dragon-like creature, with the head of a deer, about the size of a very large elephant. After emptying their guns on the dragon (considering that these guns all had one shot each, it wouldn't be hard to say it didn't do much to the creature), Abdulhayy Mahmud and the Cossacks rushed at the dragon, sabers in hand.

Before anyone could get in reach, the creature opened its mouth and shouted and flapped its wings, and a burst of lightning charred everyone but Abdulhayy Mahmud. Somehow unhurt, Abdulhayy Mahmud swung his sword at the dragon's neck, opening a large wound that started bleeding profusely, and also breaking the sword. Throwing itself on its back, started speaking. It spoke of how it was an avatar of the Sazakhan, dragon of thunder and lightning, and how Abdulhayy Mahmud had damaged the Divine Balance by attempting to kill it. The creature then cursed Abdulhayy Mahmud in its dying breath, a punishment for his disrespect. Abdulhayy Mahmud was then promptly warped into a mess. After a while, the Cossacks waiting for them found the dead creature, the charred Cossacks, and the inhumanly shaped Abdulhayy Mahmud, paralyzed and shaped physically unable to move. While the villagers contemplated burying him, one realized that his eyes were still moving, and they took him back to the village, out of sheer gratitude. After a few weeks, he was suddenly taken from the house in which he was put by a group of Tatars and hastily put on a horse. He assumed that they were the men of Hussein Effendi, taking him to Azaq so they could cut his head off, salt it, put it in honey, and send it back to the Palace. Oddly enough, he arrived at Perekop, with Evliya Çelebi waiting for him there. Evliya Çelebi told Abdulhayy Mahmud that he had questioned the courier, bribed him to say that Abdulhayy Mahmud was dead, and hired some Tatars to find Abdulhayy Mahmud before men of the Porte wanted to make sure. He was taken to a dervish, who told him that only a Sheikh could cure him of his problem. After going to Bakchysaray, Evliya Çelebi gave him one of his slaves to act as companion on his voyage back to Constantinople.

The ship got cleaved in half during a storm in the middle of the Black Sea, and Abdulhayy Mahmud, out of pure chance, found himself in a barrel, which floated as the waves wanted. After a few days, Abdulhayy Mahmud found himself on the coasts of Trebizond, saved by fishermen. Realizing that Abdulhayy Mahmud's illness wasn't of a physical nature, the fishermen from Trebizond decided to make him companion for the dervishes visiting a Shaykh in Anatolia. After spending a weeks' journey in a wheelcart, he was brought to the Bayrami Shaykh, who cured him of his condition through a hard slap in the face. Eternally grateful, Abdulhayy Mahmud left his old life and became a Bayrami Dervish himself. Now calling himself Hata'i, 'one who has mistaken', he spent 9 years of his life as part of the Order, woodcutting, fishing, and hunting for the populace, meanwhile redefining his opinion of Islam through Sufism. Believing himself to be reborn, and wanting to undo his mistakes, Hata'i bid farewell to the dervishes and the Saint, and left for Constantinople once more, with not much more than how he came to the Order. The year was 1651, Hussein Effendi having been executed during a revolt against Sultan Ibrahim 3 years ago. The news of him being alive quickly reached court, and by the time he actually got through the city gates, there were guards and aghas to celebrate his homecoming. He was also given a letter by the Vizier through courier, which said that he still was one of the Royal Polymaths. He did not refuse the position, hoping that, through his position, he could perhaps change some things in the State for the better.

Things didn't go as expected for him, however, as the court was now more corrupt than even before, with everyone hoping to use the 10 year old Sultan for their own gain. Realizing that he was not in position to do anything, he quit from the position of Royal Polymath and retreated to his abandoned house, bought by Katip Çelebi years ago after his supposed death. From the house he wrote declarations, poems, and manuscripts on what the State needed to do in order to stay close to the essence of Islam. He also went from mosque to mosque, preaching about abandoning superstitions and focusing more on love, instead of hate. His teachings quickly gained followers, and with them, Hata'i created a fund for the poor folk of Constantinople. This act boomed his popularity even more, and after earning the approval of a Rifa'i Sheikh, got his name spoken in the Sufi Orders as well. After regaining popularity, he was sent a letter by the Vizier once more, and was given the rank of Professor. He accepted, and extended his teachings amongst the academic circles of the Ottoman Empire, working with Katip Çelebi to theorize improvements for the Empire, not to mention working on the sciences, and criticizing current policies. However, fellow academicians started to envy his newly found popularity and his rather blunt tongue, and he was framed of heresy after his positive comments about Sheikh Bedreddin, a man who had rebelled against the Ottoman Empire two centuries ago. After a trial that was extensively modified through bribery, Hata'i was indeed found guilty of Heresy, and, while about to be executed by the hand of Kara Ali, the punishment was changed to house arrest and exile to the island of Crete, out of respect for his past deeds, and the public belief that he too possessed saintly qualities, a belief that had spread after his act of (supposedly) slaying the Sazakhan. It was the year 1653.

At Crete, he was locked in a Greek style two-story house at the edge of a cliff, guarded by a group of Janissaries. At the house, there was not much to do except pray and plan an escape. After a few months of waiting, and befriending and mentoring the guards, he eventually hosted a feast for them during Ramadan, and openly voiced his intentions to leave. At that point, the Janissaries viewed Hata'i as a figure of authority, not to mention their immense respect. He was freely allowed to leave, with the Janissaries writing off a death by flu as his. This was the second time that he was assumed dead by the State. Hata'i grabbed all things of value, and got on a ship headed to Venice. At Venice, he spent two weeks learning the Italian language, after which he started wandering from village to village, pretending to be a monk, helping in menial tasks in exchange of food and taking care of any problems the people were afraid of. After killing a giant bear in Turin, and hunting down 'a demon' in Milan, he started attracting unwanted attention from authorities, which caused him to escape to Zurich. Preaching about 'a Way of Hope' during an unstable time which Christendom was recently recovering from, he was able to get away with it without any lasting problems for a while. Buying himself a horse at a village north of Zurich, he started a journey through Germany, going from town to town, helping with labor and menaces, making speeches, and occasionally arming the populace against bandits, marauders and cruel rulers, leading them personally more than often. Nonetheless, rumors of a man riling up the peasantry and causing uprising reached the Habsburg Court, and bounty hunters started to hunt 'a tall, demonic enemy of the Catholic Church and a foe of the State'. Learning of this, he took on the guise of a bounty hunter from Graz, and rode his horse to the Dutch Republic, where he was able to assume a new identity as a translator. He was able to be informed of the news from his homeland through Ottoman traders, and after befriending them, entered trade himself, but quit soon after, believing the job to be unfit for his personality (a viewer with a keen eye may spot him in the Johannes Lingelbach's Dam Square painting). In 1657, he learned of his friend Katip Çelebi's death from one of the traders, and in his friend's memory, started translating Latin books to Ottoman, while translating Ottoman works to Latin. During this time, he met and befriended a young Baruch Spinoza, playing an extensive part in his philosophy through his translations (and possibly being one of the reasons for his expulsion from the Dutch Jewish Community), and also became an acquaintance with Rembrandt (who actually made a painting of Hata'i, but unfortunately, the painting was lost in time). After traveling alongside Spinoza for some time after his expulsion, he moved to Rotterdam in 1662.

In 1663, he met with his old friend Evliya Çelebi out of coincidence in Rotterdam, who was still wandering the earth despite his age. Talking to Evliya Çelebi, he learned that he was still traveling, and writing down his memoirs about the lands and the marvels of God. Moved by his example, Hata'i remembered the life of the dervish he had left behind. Here, in the Dutch Republic, he was no longer the traveler he was, but merely a translator. He had riches, thanks to his short stint in trade, but he had lost the true riches in his life. He had given up wandering - yet his friend was still walking the earth, learning more about it, reaffirming his awe of God. In 1664, he sent a farewell letter to his friend Spinoza, containing a bill that left all his wealth in the Dutch Republic to the young man, and left for what he did best in life, which was traveling, preaching and helping. He traveled to Spain through France, becoming a thorn in the side of local authorities once more. As expected, he attracted attention he did not want (and probably nobody would want), and after taking up new identities and shedding them over and over through a span of 2 years dotting through French and Spanish borders hoping to lose attention, he decided to go to Portugal, and through there, the New World. His plan was working quite well, with him pretending to be a trader from the Dutch Republic, resting in the town of Sintra.

Then he woke up in a pile of ash.

Notes: Is excellent at coming up with new identities for himself (complete with backstories), and can learn a language within a few weeks.

Name: Johan Ekengren
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Birthplace: Stockholm, Sweden
Religious Affiliation: Protestant. 
Secular Affiliation: Swedish Empire/Lappvargarna
Level of education: High.
Social status: Frowned upon; A man of simple birth with a extraordinary talent for nasty things. His particular talents for have brought him fame, not all of it good.
Occupation: Mercenary

Appearance: A Swedish grenadier has to be over 6 feet and so Johan is no exception. Standing at 6'4, Johan is as such reffered to as the blonde giant by his mates. His hair is a bright blonde, a slowly receding hairline has caused him to cut his shorter. He sport a blonde beard, thats been cut fairly even and short. His eyes are a dark, blue color, common in his region of birth. He dresses in a grey, large weapons coat covering most of his person. The cuffs are yellow, and the collar blue. The standard of his mercenary force is embroidered on his arm. It portrays A wolf wearing a crown.

Personality: Unwavering and resilient to a fault. He is a battle hardened, pious man whos dedication to his king turned into a do or die attitude. The mercenary inside him is the combination of glory hounding and greed, with a pinch of embittered survivors guilt. He has seen a lot of death, survived many campaigns and fought since he was 16 years old. Nobody knows war better then Johan.

Skill set: Melee combat (Bardiche), Marksman (Musket), Tactics and Military survivalism. A born soldier, Johan uses his bardiche with great effect aswell as his musket. A large man, he is known to fight tooth and nail, but he posses a surprisingly calm and collected mind for tactics as well.

Languages: Swedish (native), German (Good), Latin (decent), French (Decent), English (poor)

Bio: A lumberjacks boy from northern Sweden, Johan was born in the poorer regions of Sweden. Lappland is one of the swedens biggest regions, but mainly consist of dense pine forest, mountains and snow. Due to the cold climate, with long harsh winters, food is scarce. The family of Ekengren was a family of 5, the Ekengren couple had three sons with John as the oldest. Lumberjacks by trade, they worked for the local noble, and were fairly well treated all things considered. The family was well known in the community, always going to church and people liked them.

However, one summer, that daily church visit would be different. The priest was standing next to a man in blue coat. A officer of the King army. The church had been called upon to help in the recruitment of young able men. Johan, 16 year of age was a giant among his peers, and was direcly drafted along the 160 other men of the town. Johan, brighteyed and strong, was exactly what they wanted in a soldier. And so, he and his fellow men began to train for the hell that claims numerous lives, War. The war in particular? Europes most devestating conflict to ever have occurred; The 30 year war. Johan had no idea what he was about to encounter.

Johan was a natural fighter and a very intelligent young boy. He already knew latin from church, and under a monks tutelage, learned to speak German as they were headed south, towards the German Imperial states. No amount of religious fervor or training in combat could prepare him for what was to come however. The 30 year war had been raging for a long time, and it was nearing its bloody end. But at the time Johan was thrust into battle, it still had 2 years left to rage. Johan was part of the a regiment that was mainly large men from all over the country. They were grenadiers, armed with rudimentary grenades, a bardiche and a musket. The would march along the line infantry, get as close as possible, and throw their grenade into enemy ranks. Usually followed by a salvo and a charge. They were fearsome, but their numbers were dwindling fast. During his first battle, Johan saw Death for the first time. As bullets crashed trough the skulls of friends and foes. As they punctured and ruptured windpipes and lounges, he saw people fall around him. But he saw Death, he saw the terrible, omnipresent nature of death all around him. And he pressed forward. The battle was won, not by him but simply due to chock and awe tactics. The moral of his enemies broke, as he and his comrades, regardless of losses, ran straight into their ranks. These massive men with great axes were murdering machines.

For two years, Johan turned from boy to man. From recruit to Sergant. From brigh eyed to dull, shrewd and ruthless. His younger brother Willhelm had joined the war as well at this point. At the very last battle the two brothers fought in, Willhelm was struch dead by a bullet to the skull. The peace of Westphalia came the year 1648. Leaving for home, his journey took another year of his life. When he arrived, his family home was gone. The entire village was. It had starved without a proper workforce, and the Noble family had apparently been killed by the Crown. They had been it turned out, catholic supporters of Swedens enemies. Johan returned to the army, looking up a old officer friend named Oskar Gustavson. He was of course, dragged directly into a new war.

Oscar and him, began to collect more people around them. They were putting in charge of a small contingent of young recruits and some veterans with the expressed interest in acting as a shocktroop. The two of them soon trained a powerfull unit, they became founding members of Lappvargarna. A Swedish mercenary force that the crown allowed to fight wars down in Europe, partly becouse one had to pay the Swedish war chests directly to hire their services. Their expertise led them to fight in several conflicts across the continent. The French in particular were fond of them. By the end of 1665, Johan had made some decent coined and lived past both Oskar and Willhelm. Now he wished to settle down. He didn't want to go back to Sweden however, for there was nothing left for him there. Wanting to put the cold north behind him, he seeks reprieve in Sintra. As something ungodly ravishes the town, he found himself out in service again. But this time as something else then a mercenary fighing fellow men.

Notes: The mercanary battalion that are his brothers in arms, are technically under command of the Swedish crown. Like the German Landknecth, the Lappvargarna are mercenaries that are in hight demand. Known for their Pike and Musket formations and tactics of marching as one, close to the enemy before firing. 

Name: Esra Gad El Rab

Age: 22

Gender: Female

Birthplace: Tafilet, Morocco

Religious Affiliation: Muslim

Secular Affiliation: House of Alaoui

Level of education: attended many classes and lectures at her mosque in Tafilet & Rabat;
trained as a healer

Social status: middle class (in Morocco)

Occupation: midwife & healer, mother & wife

Appearance: It’s a joke between Othman, her husband, and Esra that she is the better looking of the two. One because it is not hard to look more attractive than her club-footed husband who also sports drooping eyes and poor teeth. Two because Esra isn’t horribly attractive herself. She has too many freckles on her face and her bottom lip is too fat to be considered “pouty.” Her eyebrows are thick (almost identical to Othman’s) and her small nose is almost as wide as it is long. As a child, she couldn’t wait to wear a hajib because of scar behind her left ear that left a large bald spot. Othman helps comb out her black hair at night. She’s got the type of body babies like to bury their faces into; soft and warm and fleshy. Othman says this is her most attractive feature (even more so than her green eyes).

Personality: Esra doesn’t like to be interrupted. Even when dealing with her four children, she becomes frustrated if cut off when speaking or forced to stop a chore before she was finished. She appreciates routine as any healer would who has had to deal with the results of a break in routine (a dead mother or a maimed child). She might admit that she likes stories too much. But she also might begin to tell a story about why she likes stories so much. She likes broken, lopsided things more than perfect, smooth things. After getting something new, she likes to knick or tear it. Othman hates her tendency to stare at a person’s knees as she talks to them. When on a ship, she brings along her own spices and ingredients to cook with. She never asks if this okay to use the kitchen. But if brought food from the cook, she will eat it all and give thanks for their generosity. She won’t let her children or husband have any of it.

Skill set: Familiar with oils & tonics & herbs for aliments; she’s assisted with the occasional surgery; sewing, cleaning, cooking, & the general know-all of mothering.

Languages: Arabic (fluent) & Berber (fluent)

Bio: Tafilalt is no place to grow-up. Rabat was no place to have a family either. But both places are home to Esra. Her father did her best to shield his family from the anarchy of Tafilalt. He balanced the books of several date palm merchants for a small commission when traders came through the Shara either west towards the Barbary pirates or east towards the Algerians (though Sultan Ali Cherif and his son Sultan ibn Sharif attempted to turn the cluster of ruins and anarchy into something resembling its previous glory over three hundred years ago). The job is appropriate to a man who is as flavorful as khobz. His employers could be Shi’a Muslims or Jews and he’d get along just fine with his bent back and down cast eyes. Omar never knew how to handle his children, though, even the boys. He would squint at them as if he’s not entirely sure what they were doing in his household each meal time he came home.

Her mother, however, knew just exactly how to handle the mischievous boys and the catty girls. Three older brothers and three younger sisters set Esra in the middle. For five years she assumed the position of the one and only little sister. When her sisters came along she was confused by the amount of attention they received and dumbfounded by the responsibilities now attributed to her because she became the eldest daughter. For the thirteen years she lived in Tafilalt with her family, she didn’t have a good relationship with her sisters and often fought with them.

She married her cousin, Othman, when she was fourteen and he was twenty. She only met him a handful of times, but she enjoyed how he hobbled around already with a cane he carved himself. He had a good voice for storytelling. Esra knows this is what led her to fall in love with him. Othman explained to her on their trip from Tafilalt to Rabat after their wedding that he was a carpenter. A simple carpenter who was contracted by Barbary pirates to make repairs to their ships. Esra explained to Othman that her father was a banker for date palm farmers. A simple banker who’s money was made off the backs of slaves.

If she wasn’t living with Othman’s father and two wives she was on the ships with Othman. Esra’s first child was born in the cabin of a ship with a French name and a Captain who wasn’t Muslim, but respected the religion nonetheless. She was there to accompany the Captain’s wife (a Spanish woman that wore too much lace) as they journeyed into the Mediterranean to sell European slaves along the Algerian and Tunis coast. Often as the only woman on a ship she learned how to take care of herself (how to wrap rolled ankle or what helped her stomach during bad waves). That translated over to her time on land as well when she started working at Rabat’s hospitals in the women’s ward.

With her four children either strapped to her back or toddling after her, Esra became proficient in healing and child birth on and off the sea. Despite her time in questionable company, Esra never knew real danger. Her births were always smooth. Her children always strong. Othman temper is fair and the Captain’s of the ships she was on respected Othman’s work so much that they and the crew never harassed her.

During her travels along the coast collecting slaves for the Ottoman empire or illegal goods for whoever had deep pockets at the time, not once had she ever stepped foot on foreign soil. She always stayed in her family’s cabin until the cargo was loaded and they were out to sea again. It wasn’t until Portugal 1666 that she got off a ship when docked. Little dingies brought them to the shore of Sintra. They were supposed to dock in Lisboa. She wished the Captain stuck to his plan.

Notes: Although she is a healer, she primarily took care of women due to gender segregation as outlined in the Qur’an.