So long time lurker, first time or so poster, but I really love this concept.
What chiefs are short retainers?

Character Application

Awyen Salt-Tooth [+]

Name: Awyen Salt-Tooth, Chief of Svicnoc, Sea-King of the Vedatanni. Son of King Konall Golden-Forge.

Note: Sea King is a self-styled honorific, and in no way denotes claim over lands of the Vedatanni.

Age: 36

Personality: Awyen is quick to distribute loot, but he is also quick to claim that right. That is to say, he lacks the inhibitions that keep other men safe and on their throne. He is mercurial, spontaneous, and sensual. He seeks out stimulation from foreign cultures, foods, and experiences. He believes in swift and decisive justice, with or without mercy. But with his decisiveness comes impulsivity. Although perhaps not as foolhardy as he once was, Awyen has always been the sort to rush into things.

Appearance: Awyen is missing his left eye, his nose is crooked, and he seems to always squint. He has a broad forehead, and when he laughs he seems to do it all in one great “HA” that is cut short as spontaneously as it began. His eye is grey, his hair red. The nature of his profession robs his hair of it’s vibrance, leaving it a dull salmon orange. He is broadly built and wears a gut at the moment due to his high intake of sodium. By all accounts, he resembles an alehouse thug and not a king.

Allegance: Vows made, Vedatanni Peoples, Svicnoc Tribe, Gods and Demons.

Rank: Chieftain’s Representative

Skills and Talents: Organizing and Motivating men, Tactical and Strategic thinking, Adaptability, Sailing and Navigation. Also, he makes very good stew.

History:

The Ascension of Chief Konall

Konall’s family have never been warriors. Like many families in Svicnoc, they had started as humble merchants. Where Konall was different from his ancestors was that he had taken advantage of something they had not: credit. Inevitably ships would sink, crops would wither, and raiders from neighboring tribes would make away with precious silver. Citizens would petition Konall for aid in these times, and he would give it. When the time came to pay their debt either Konall would make his money back and more, or he would receive both slaves and land from the deal. As you can imagine this might make someone very wealthy, but it rarely inspires love or ideas of kingship. Therefore Konall handled his debtors with grace. While he claimed ownership of their assets, he let them retain their freedom. Moreover, he offered them a consistent salary in exchange for their service on their former land. For the average landowner, the security from a consistent income far outweighed the pride of independence, and in time, more and more landowners came to settle with Konall.

The chiefship of Svicnoc gradually became an honorific title. Konall had held a contract with the chief to collect taxes for years, a result of the young boy's fruitless wars and expeditions backfiring. Eventually, when the guards started taking pay from Konall instead of the chief, they replaced the young monarch in a bloodless coup. The adolescent, of course, rode away and vowed revenge. Nothing has come of him yet.

As a chief, Konall continued his commitment to stewardship, and his realm prospered. He paid off raider, hired professional soldiers, and organized an efficient system of tax collection. As his realm became more prosperous other chiefs sought him out. At first, they observed him at work, but they could not understand it. Soon they began sending their sons to learn from him. At the same time, many chiefs sought out his protection from the raiders he had earlier bought off. He had brought relative peace to his peninsula not with a sword, but with an abacus.

The Tale of Konall’s Sons

In time Konall had two sons and a daughter. Awyen, his eldest son, was born under the sign of the seer. Within the next ten years, Awyen was blessed with first a little sister, and then a little brother. His sister was sweet and full of life. She was gregarious and beautiful. She took after her mother, a member of the Rhaead. Her hair was a bright red and her eyes a piercing green. Awyens younger brother Faeolin was golden-haired with green eyes. He was quiet as a child, but like his sister, he was kind and handsome. Awyen was not handsome, as his mother did not come from the Rhaead, she came from the gutter.

Awyen's mother was not a concubine, not officially. Konall had a habit for taking young women of the tribe to bed with him. One of these young women, the daughter of a fishmonger, was Awyen’s mother. Awyen, however, had his father's eyes, grey with a light green tint to them. While one would think that being a firstborn bastard would carry significant risk, Awyen’s eyes proved that he was descended from Chief Konall. Whispers are a hard thing to stop, and the golden-haired infant boy born to Konall from the Rhaead had the town ablaze with rumors. Where had the golden hair come from? Chief Konall assured everyone that Faeolin was indeed his son and that the townsfolk should love him as his father does.

It was in that way that Konall reared two loyal sons.

Faeolin was a born charmer and the more affluent of the two sons. When he came of age he was often used by his father as a negotiator and diplomat. In one legend, when Faeolin was about sixteen and his elder brother was about twenty, they were both sent to settle a debt that a young couple had accrued while in their tenancy at one of Konall’s farmsteads. The young head of the household rebuffed any claim of Konall’s. While Awyen and the young husband argued about the debt, Faeolin took the young lady aside and explained that the debt needn’t be paid in full now and that any collateral could postpone its collection. The young lady gave Faeolin her silver locket. Meanwhile, Awyen and the young tenant had been about to come to blows in the yard. Faeolin informed them both that the disagreement had been settled, but only after Awyen let the young tenant throw the first punch.

Awyen was the more direct and headstrong of the two. While his honesty was appreciated by most of the hard-working Vedatanni that he interacted with, it got him into more trouble than his brother's charm could get him out of. Where Awyen felt truly at peace was on the sea. When he was a boy his father would take him sailing to Veluz or south along the coast. When he was a young adolescent his father gave him his ship that he could sail with a few unlucky courtiers. It seemed settled, at least among the townsfolk, that the boys would rule jointly with Faeolin directing his father's bureaucracy and Awyen leading his father's trade fleet.

That was until the war. While neither Konall or his sons were warriors by trade, they were nobility among the Vedatanni, and when Nhir attacked it was their duty to defend Thraxia. Awyen and Konall command and rallied to aid the Gisilbards. It was in this war that Awyen proved his worth as a leader of men. Perhaps had the war waited a couple of years Faeolin would have been old enough to handle the emotional shock before him, or had they come a few years earlier Konall may have been physically able to keep up with his army. However an invasion comes when it wants, and the only member of the noble family who was fit to command was Awyen. There were no winners in the last invasion, and no chief dared to march home demanding honors. But with every setback Awyen learned. He was too young a commander to truly make a mark on the war effort, but while serving under other elder chiefs and generals, his bravery and commitment to his men impressed both commoners and chieftains alike. According to one contemporary source he spent every night, no matter the weather, in the same condition as his least equipt man. Once, when sleeping under the stars a soldier from a neighboring tribe approached the warchief and commented that he had no furs to cover himself with when it grew cold at night. Awyen, in response, made a gift of his furs and vowed to sleep outside with nothing but his cloak to cover him.

Upon returning home he was met with betrayal. His brother Faeolin had paid tribute to their enemy. This was in itself not such an awful thing. After all, Faeolin was a boy alone without any army to defend his kingdom. Haven't they always settled things with coin and not with force?

Awyen responded as he always had when his family was irksome. He set sail, but not before declaring to his people that when Nhir comes for them, he will be ready. He found work hunting Nhirinize pirates from Velusian Blood-Barons and spent his time sailing from one exotic location to the next. He made friends along the way. Velusian mercenaries, Thraxian adventures, and Gwidlic raiders were all welcome on his ship. Although he never forgave his brothers betrayal, after a few months he did dock at Svicnoc again to resupply and take aboard new volunteers.
An albatross skull adorns the helm of his ship The Minnow, the mark of a man who has touched the four corners of the world. His ship has been beached on cursed sands and become stuck in ice floats. He has feuded with horse lords and slept in canopies high above the trees. He has sought out treasures and magic alike. It is said by some that he traded his eye with a demon to gain great power over mortals, others say that he sacrifices children to cruel eastern gods of the sea to command waves. Claiming to have seen disturbing visions of a man made of clay turning to iron and rusting, he returns home to consult with his brother about the welfare of the Vedatanni.