[CHAR] Colonial

[Byrd Man]

Name: Dr. Peadar Browning Age: 36 Appearance: Browning is a very fragile man, standing at a diminutive height of 5’4 and barely weighing above 120 pounds. His long hair is black with streaks of white. He wears a collection of suits that were once fine, but are now tattered and stained due to the conditions since his exile. Along with his clothing, he has a small bag with medical supplies. Bio: Dr. Peadar Browning was born into one of Tirna-Sorset’s upper middle class family, a family of social strivers. Peadar was taught how to read and write at an early age and soon amassed an impressive library that contained everything from plays, treatises, works of fiction, and political tracts. He had dreams of one day becoming a writer, but he was pushed by his father to practice medicine. He acquiesced to his father’s wishes, but continued to write on the side as he studied. Under the pseudonym of E.G. Rathais, Peadar published the best-selling adventure serial The Bowrocker. Further successful Rathais works followed. There was the sweeping epic A Kinsman's Journey, the romantic and bawdy Tales of a Country Wench, and the runaway successful novel The Life of Callum Creag that was published in several languages across the world. While the name Rathais became an international celebrity, it didn't provide much future so Dr. Peadar Browning quietly continued to practice medicine by day and write at night. Among his closest patients were a duke and his wife. The duke and duchess were part of a small group of nobles who were beginning to grow disenchanted with Aenda’s regency. They invited Browning to meetings where they discussed the rights of nobility, the aristocracy, and who should rule. Motivated by these discussions, Browning wrote a series of essays under the pen name Publius, the essays were titled Thoughts on Constitutional Monarchy. The works called for making the royal family powerless figureheads while a governing council made up of the nobles ran the country with evenly divided power. The duke and duchess provided the seed money for publishing. The essays, published during the height of Aenda’s war with the gentry, sent shockwaves through the nation. The followup pamphlet Thoughts on Self-Determination was even more radical and called for a mixed government of nobles and commoners elected directly by the kingdom's land owners. After the brief civil war's end the duke and duchess were arrested by the army. Under duress they confessed that Browning was Publius. The good doctor was arrested and served six agonizing months in a dungeon before he was shoved on a ship and sent across the water to Uponhill. Browning was party to the hellacious first year the colony suffered. Like the rest of the town he suffered disease and starvation. As a doctor, he did what he could for those in need of his help. Those he could not help he helped bury. The first year is now over and Browning, emaciated and constantly sick due to his weak constitution, serves as just one of two doctors the town has. He helps the people of the colony where and when he can. In his free time he continues to secretly write political tracts that concern the radical ideas of self-governance hoping to one day find an audience that is ready for his ideas.

[Vilageidiotx]

Name: Gwynda Adair Description: 38/F/Uponhill Background: Gwynda Adair was born Gwynda Umbrahme, the daughter of the Erle of Tembree. Tembree was, in ancient times, an independent kingdom who's people subsisted off of fish, whale, and seal while their warriors ranged across the moors finding opposing tribes to plunder. Those harsh times came to an abrupt end long ago when the young Kingdom of Sorset invaded and swallowed the small, unpeopled moors of Tembree. This conquest had been achieved by a Sorsetii Queen named Athdara. The Warrior Queen's personality cult grew strong in this far off place, and it has remained the unofficial main religion of the Tembree people, who's provincial nature has largely kept them isolated from the cosmopolitan Ethahnic faith. Tembree's barrow-pocked moors and climbing basalt cliffs set the stage for her early childhood. Her father was gone for much of her childhood, leading a detachment of Provincial Light Horse in the early stages of the Brugii war. This left Gwynda's education to her mother, and to the astrologers and court witches that her mother tended to favor. Gwynda was a strange child, taken to fluctuating moods that she would later relate to the spiritual world. She was imaginative, putting stock in old superstitions and falling deeply into the Athdaric cult. At fifteen, she was married off to the young Erle of Siltbruce, Riordan Adair. The Adair clan came from ancient blood, and they trace their lineage to a time so far back that legend and myth are too mingled in the history to prove them wrong. Riordan had entered public life as a cavalry officer, and by nineteen he had already been inducted into the Society of Banshees - a secret society of distinguished Cavalrymen who marked themselves by making their faces ghost-white with cakey white powder, running lines of greasepaint below their eyes to represent banshee tears, and screaming in battle. Though his induction was undoubtedly due to his social status rather than any sort of veterancy - he had only fought in one pitched battle before being brought into the society - it was still a badge of honor he wore with great pride. Gwynda was happy in her marriage. The Adair clan only paid polite attention to the Ethahnic religion, attending more to a routine of traditional ancestor worship, and their lack of devotion allowed Gwynda to practice her particularly devout worship of Athdara. Riordan was a patient man and seemed to handle her flights of fancy well enough, and the Adair wealth allowed her to indulge these fancies with some extravagance. The couple had one son who they named Nevin, and two daughters who they named Blaire and Braithe. The War of Brugii Sucession had began when she was just three years old. In the early years of their marriage, Riordan had been tasked with commanding the defense of a nearby border, a job which allowed him to live on his own estates and saw him only a handful of small skirmishes. Gwynda had always lived comfortably, and she had developed an ignorance of the outside world that made her way of life seem immortal. until the third decade of the war began, eight years into their marriage and just as they discovered that Gwynda was pregnant with their second child, that Riordan's assignment was changed and rode off to war in an extended campaign at the head of a column of light dragoons. Gwynda did not doubt that he would return. Riordan participated in the charge that saw the death of King Brandon Aeloy, though Riordan was leading flanking maneuver meant to unhinge the enemy line while the King's men charged into its center and therefore did not witness the King's death himself. In fact, it wasn't until the battle ended that he learned what had happened. Like many of the noblemen, he was nervous about the new King Ilroy's ability to rule, but the war was still there to fight. Riordan was part of a mission to ride around the enemy army while the Battle at the River Tirus took place, and he returned home after it ended. Ilroy's death shook up the entire political world of Tirna-Sorset. The nobility saw in the rising Aenda an authoritarian who would usurp their ancient rights, and they supported the young King Michael in what ways they could. When the rebellions came, the Adairs sided with the true king against the usurper Aenda. Riordan rode to war again, and Gwynda was still absolutely sure of their safety. Riordan joined with the other members of the Society of the Banshee, who's peculiar cult-like rites and elitist culture sided them with the anti-Aenda faction. They hired mercenaries and attempted to join-up with the other rebels. They won several skirmishes, but when faced with the professional army in a pitched battle, they were defeated. Riordan was imprisoned, taken to the capitol, and executed on the steps of the palace along with dozens of other nobles. Gwynda's world was turned upside down. She fell into a deep depression, made worse by her fluctuating moods. She was imprisoned, along with her children, Riordan's sister Maude (who's husband had died in the early years of the Brugii War, causing her to move to the Adair lands), and Maude's children. Though they were not executed, the decision of Aenda's judges was hardly less horrifying. Nevin, Gwynda and Riordan's eldest son, was taken to a surgeons and castrated in order to end the male line of Adair's. Their lands were taken, and they were forced to join the settlers being sent to Uponhill. The Adair's live on a farm outside of the settlement, though they winter within the walls of Uponhill with the rest of the colonists. A winter fever killed Gwynda's sister-in-law Maude, leaving Gwynda as the matriarch of the family in exile. They are assisted on their farm with a small circle of servants and staff. CHARACTER SHEET Adair Family -Riordan Adair: Former Erle of Siltbruce and noble patriarch of house Adair. Executed by the dictator Aenda. -Gwynda Adair: Riordan's Widow. Emotional state flucuates between "Spiritual Ecstasies" and "Dolorous Moods". Sheltered upbringing. Zeolotrous worshiper of Athdara. Description/Introduction --Nevin Adair: Nineteen year old son of Riordan and Gwynda. Was castrated at end of rebellion. Now he mopes in his room all the time. --Braithe Adair: Fourteen year old daughter of Riordan and Gwynda. Was something of a tomboy as a child, but has since grown into overconfident, flirty girl. Seems to see herself as the natural heir of the Adair heritage now her older brother is a eunuch shut-in. --Blaire Adair: Nine year old daughter of Riordan and Gwynda. Sickly, nearly died that winter, very attached to mother. -Maude Adair Culwen: Riordan's older sister. Widowed during Brugii War. Died during the winter. --Desmond Culwen: Maude's twenty five year old eldest son. Was deployed with the navy during the Brugii war and was unaware of rebellion until it was over. Spends his time drinking and trading war stories. Still holds a grudge over the events of the rebellion Adair Attendants -Oifa: Matron and unofficial head of household servants. In her middle fifties. Description/Introduction -Brodric: Steward of the Adair household. Admitted member of Society of Owls. Interested in reading and outdoorsman activities. Alleged connection to natives. POST CATALOG 1:Gwynda goofs off into woods to see statue. New World Agriculture 101. Description of Adair Farm.

[SirBeowulf]

Pilsky Yakovitch, Sandwich Thief.

Name:

Pilsky Yakovitch.

Description:

According to the ruling class of Tirna-Sorset, Pilsky is nothing more than another rat clogging up their sewers, and at first glance that might be true. Like any other slum dweller, appearance is not one of the main things one tries to improve. Usually food and shelter are of more importance. Still, beneath the dirt and grime, one might think of Pilsky as a rather handsome man of twenty years. He's a rather short fellow, just barely topping at an average height of five feet, ten inches. Sloppy brown hair in need of a good wash, but a surprising set of hazel eyes that get all of the ladies. Not much body weight on him though. Hunger tends to do that a lot. Of course, being used to going hungry all his life gave him the better edge once winter came around. That and a hidden stash of stolen food tends to help.

Background:

When given a chance to throw it all behind him, Pilsky jumped on the chance faster than you could call Aenda a bad ruler. Who wouldn't? The benefits given to him were certainly worth it all. Free land as far as the eye could see, extremely fertile soil, and a bunch of natives who would gladly give up their women. That and a free ticket out of the prisons was a big plus. To a man who had lived all of his life in the cramped slums of the capital, throwing a chance like that away would have been suicide. Or a surefire way to not die of starvation and exposure to the elements. Instead of tight, cramped slums where you at least had a few feet to breath, now he had been subjected boat ride over with no bed and the only solace being that he had already thrown up his meal hours earlier. It was a helluva few weeks, that. Growing up in those slums, sure it was hard, but it was the only thing he knew. Mother was a whore, father was a drunkard emigrated from an country named Gornska to the East looking for work. Stealing came easy to him at least. With no craftsman or metal smith to apprentice under, all he knew was self taught or learned from a father in his few sober moments. His work consisted of shining shoes or being hired for barely anything at textiles or workshops. His only experience with anything in the water were sitting at the docks, watching the boats enter and leave the ports. That and chopping fish. His other job was being in a roving band of young men. Your average gang that played at being big, but never did anything than getting in scuffles and territory disputes. It was there he learned how to fight and how to use a knife. Hell, he even had a girl he liked. Pretty lass who was in a work house. Probably only liked him for his money. Then he made the mistake of trying to steal from the rich. A lower noble, but a noble none the less should have been a good target for his gang. It turns out well trained, well fed guards who wielded swords were more than a match for a bunch of rats with chipped daggers and thin stomachs. Turns out said noble was being rather generous, and gave them a choice. Either be locked away in the prisons or take his place on a ship sent to start a colony. It turned out to be pretty stupid of Pilsky to say yes. After gathering up the measly sums he had saved over the years, saying goodbye to his friends, and giving a kiss to that pretty lass, he was given a set of papers he couldn't read, thrown onto a boat, and sent off to new lands. Pilsky quickly realized how different it was to the slums. Having never held a hoe or a shovel, no hammer or nail, nor even owned a chicken or a goat, it was difficult. His hands bled from the blisters, his skin cracked and peeled from the sun, and his bones ached from the work. His first 'shelter' broke down within' a week. Hell, he even managed to get the effects of poison ivy down his breeches whilst doing the you know what. It wasn't a pretty sight at all. And while the winters back home were something, it was even worse in Uponhill. Like most, his living conditions weren't the greatest. Combining poor construction and little idea of how much fire wood needed led to a miserable and hungry season.

I'M PUTTING THIS HERE BECAUSE EVERYONE ELSE IS.

[Dinh AaronMk]

Name: Hugh McTrenkel Description: Short, wide-built middle-aged male. Wears a medium length chocolate colored beard. His hair and the beard are scraggly and thin, taking on an overall wiry unkempt appearance. Often dresses in modest blacks or darker grays and white. Background: Hugh McTrenkel is a son of poor circumstance. Born thirty-nine years ago to a minor noble family he entered the living world with a silver spoon in his mouth. Though by no means of significant nobility, his family none the less were modest landowners with several farms on their grandiose estate in southern Tirna. For less than two centuries his family here were considered as earls of the southern Borshire Hills. Here, the Trenkel clan had lead their serfs in the production of hops, barley, and grapes, producing some of the most coveted ales and wines in the two united kingdoms (Though not as prestigious as Loran in their rich diversity and acclaim in their own alcohol, they were the next best thing). In some respects his father and ancestors for the past century had enjoyed an on-and-off informal title of Minister of Wines, largely being tasked in advising the king on brewing affairs; though on daily and more prominent grounds they were little more than advisers to the Court on which wine or strong drink was proper for which occasion. Hugh was born the first son of Earl Rotham and his wife Margret. He had seven younger siblings born spattered over his youth. But being the eldest of them all the young Hugh enjoyed far better privileges and education than his siblings. He was taught to speak four varying languages from traditional Tirnish to Sorsettian, as well as Libirian and Antoinnese. His family were not well known as being warrior kings, so were as such not nearly as ancient as many other local clans. They were however diplomatic and political. And it was as such that Hugh would be practiced in his family's art, and made a worldly person in as many ways as they could. The fortune however was short-lived. By the age of 16 Hugh was noted for having odd tastes. Attempts to encourage the young noble to marry and continue the family line were proving agonizingly difficult for his father. Young Hugh it seems would not take interest in women. Frustrated in his father's attempts he delved himself deep into books. Likewise, frustrated in Hugh his father made equally desperate and elaborate bids to discover what was wrong with his son, and how to get him to marry. These attempts however came to a sudden, dramatic end when Hugh was discovered in bed with one of the estate's servant boys. The sordid affair sent his father into a rage. Rotham had his son arrested for sodomy, condemning him to the family dungeon. Not wanting to have a “sissy man” lead the next generation of the dynasty, and for the shame he committed Rotham denounced him. Ultimately – by his power – turning him into a peasant over night. He was issued a ultimatum: he was to go to war as part of his father's contribution to the conflict in Bruge, or he would further denounce his ties to his family and join the congregation. Not being a fighting man, Hugh opted without hesitation to join the clergy. On the following fortnight he was released from his father's prisons, stripped of his possessions, and sent to the priesthood. Hugh's first year in the priesthood came mixed. Over his youth he was befriended by a local friar who contributed to his young education all the teachings and the dialects associated with Ethan, and he believed himself a stout believer in Ethahnism. As such, the education and tests were easy, but did not make it easy. Well known in the local area for the sinful malice of his known homosexuality much of his oath taking was suffered under grueling ritual in an attempt to drive out sodomy and purify him. Often times he would become the naked center of trials by whips and fire to burn away his sexuality. At one point it was demanded he be castrated to finalize it. This proposal was horrifying, and he had no intention of staying from then on. The night before it could be done, he ran away. Hugh spend the next few month in transit among the Tirnish counties. He had no money and no real power in his name. He was incapable of building anything, and returning home would most certainly see him forced into the army. He assumed the life of a beggar over the course of the winter, suffering through cold rains and snow until meeting with a foreign missionary. Traveling under the name of Basuin of Arquin the missionary took pity on the transient Hugh. Identifying himself as a member of a group of monks of the “Pure Flame” approach of Ethahnism he promised to care for Hugh, in exchange he hears out his path. With nothing to lose, and all the reason to not accept, he did. Over the course of the next several years Hugh was fed and watered by the seemingly simple and homely monk, who rejecting all worldly possession and comfort often had more gold than he needed, and passed it off in charity; of which Hugh was. The Pure Flame, as Basuin taught Hugh was the belief that a man or woman must reject first the wealth of the physical world and place before it the wealth of the spiritual, committing to pacifism and charity to support his contemporaries. A man should proclaim themselves to a sectarian life and to share among the impoverished the wealth of the physical world so they might live comfortable to pursue a life of meditation and obedience to Ethahn. To the Pure Flame the secular was placed secondary or even tertiary to spiritual advancement. It was not to say that the secular was condemned by the followers, just that it should not be important to man's pure survival and mission to please Ethahn's spirit and to even expand the faith. The Pure Flame as well condemned all forms of idols and depiction of Ethahn and his proponents. To do so was a distraction of man's spiritual purpose and a corruption of Ethahn's shapeless nature. To depict him in physical form was to restore the body he himself destroyed to build all the known world; and so man in the end should do the same to build more onto creation as he did. Castration for sodomy to the sect was frowned upon as being barbaric, as it was believed to be in its homeland. Instead Basuin merely asked for Hugh's chastity, which he considered a merciful replacement. Basuin taught him that in the end, the merits of man would be judged in the afterlife, and so long as they committed whole heartily to his cause and their good deeds were measured well against his bad he was promised a kind afterlife; for Ethan's presence is in and knows all, so will understand. This running contrary to the customary belief man must be exposed to Hell in the living life to purge them of their sins before passing on, so as to shorten or free them from Hell in the afterlife. Hugh was inspired by Basuin and took up his mantle, becoming a priest in rags. The two parted officially at the port of Doulein where the monk returned to his home, leaving Hugh to continue his mission in Tirna. In the reign of Aenda, such ideologies as the Pure Flame were considered heretical by the staunch conservative church that Hugh had once almost been a part of. Witch hunts were organized to find the heretics and pagans that persisted the kingdoms over. The Inquistorial gangs of Aenda were poised to take out people like Hugh, and in short order he was soon discovered and captured by Aenda's inquisitors and brought to trial for heresy. Hugh was arrested and condemned of his heretical notions just months before the mission to the New World was under taken. He was originally to serve twenty-five years in the care of a mountain monastery to be reformed, what little remained of his name saving him from the executioner's pyre. However, when the papers were put out and the ship selected, his sentenced was changed by the fates to take to the sea and travel west. Hugh had not been on a ship for longer than a week, and the months-long voyage across the ocean was grueling and torturous for Hugh. Among the two hundred others he clung to life and his stomach on Aenda's prison ship en'route for Sorset's colonial claim to the west. Hugh did his best to bide his time by comforting himself – and those who would listen – with the mercy of Ethahn. Though his sickly attempts at preaching did not often set well with the firebrand members of the crew and would-be colonists. His first year in Upponhill was with most a rough one. Though his life of rural poverty proceeding his arrest had certainly familiarized him with the punishment of winter he did often retreat to seek comfort in the “warming fire of Ethahn”. As winter came to an end he came out convinced more of his own faith, and filled with a hotter fire to serve it more energetically. After all, in times of freezing his presence was most thawing. And if the rest understood as such then perhaps they'd have the modesty and will to last more winters. During the autumn preparations Hugh was introduced to the natives of this strange new land, along with the rest of the colonists. Though he did not see them as a potentially savage curiosity as many of his kin did. He instead looked down upon them as children needing to be saved, as his new faith suggested. These people were kind and gentle in his eyes, filled with the capacity of mercy that would be beneficial to all parties, if only they could be shown the light.

[gorgenmast]

Name: Chiskowtay/Christopher
Age: 27
Craft/Profession: Soldier, interpreter
Bio: Chiskowtay was born in a settlement on what is today known as Aen's Head, the spit of land on the southern shore of Miller's Bay, to a clan of indigenous people that inhabited the area. In the tongue of his people, the name most closely meant "Catcher of the Sea's Bounty". His was but one of the innumerable tribes and peoples of indigenous race that inhabited the Land of Six Turtles. His was a primitive race, a people with a reverent respect for the natural world they chose to inhabit. While Antoinne and Tirna-Sorset conquered the forests and meadows of their realms and built cities and farms upon their ruins, the people of the Six Turtles lived in communion with the natural world amongst the ancient oaks and maples. On the teeming shores of this lush and virgin land, Chiskowtay learned the art of harvesting the bounty of the woods and seas in a sustainable fashion, just as his forefathers had for countless generations before him.

In the the spring following his 14th winter, his tribe experienced its fateful first meeting with the white-skinned men from beyond the Sunrise Waters. A caravel flying the flag of Antoinne above its sails dropped anchor off the coast of the settlement. Three parties of white men, the first Chiskowtay and his kin had ever seen before, rowed ashore and tried to speak with the elders. Though the elders and the white men could not communicate effectively, the elders demonstrated to the foreigners that they were welcome to stay the night in their lodge. During the night, an altercation broke out between the white men and Chiskowtay's kin. In the midst of the fighting, one of the foreigners barged into Chiskowtay's hut and spirited him away. He and several other boys and girls of the village were taken aboard the rowboats with the intent of ransoming them for loot. The Antoinnese were forced to abandon their plan when the furious villagers pursued them in canoes, and so after fending the natives off with muskets and pistols, the white men retreated under moonlight to their anchored ship. The Antoinnese raised anchor and sailed off into the East that night

After four moons on the open sea, during which Chiskowtay was pressed into assisting the deckhands with their chores, he and his kidnapped companions arrived at the Antoinnese harbor of Tou Lumere. Chiskowtay was bewildered upon seeing the Old Country for the first time. He was perhaps even frightened by the lack of trees and the abundance of strange lodges made from planks of wood and stone blocks. The teeming population too unnerved young Chiskowtay. At any given moment, the native boy could see in the harbor city more humanity than he had ever witnessed in his entire life in the Land of Six Turtles. His desire to resist against his captors was overridden by the fear of this strange and exotic world into which he had been thrust.

From Tou Lumere, Chiskowtay and his fellows were taken to Antoinne's grand capital. They were taken to the Palace by the captain who had captured them and there they were presented before Antoinne's grand king. The king regarded them as "delightful curiousities", especially the girls, as he expressed a fondness for their tan, ruddy skin. Upon inspecting Chiskowtay, the king found him to be a "strapping and virile specimen" and made a passing comment that he would be a compliment to the royal army. Immediately after the presentation before the King, Chiskowtay found himself before a quartermaster for the Royal Army, who issued the native boy his tricorne, breeches, and boots. Chiskowtay gave the quartermaster a bewildered stare when the officer demanded his signiture for enlistment. When asked his name, and providing his given name, the quartermaster simply shook his head and informed the boy that he would henceforth be named 'Christophe' - a proper Antoinnese name.

Despite his limited grasp on the Antoinnese tongue, Christophe learned how to load and fire a musket easily enough. He and his fellow soldiers practiced running straw-stuffed dummies through with their bayonets. He learned to march in tandem with the rhythm of the drum and all the commands associated with each of the distinct blasts of the bugle. It did not take long for young Christophe to learn the ways of battle in this strange land. This was a fortunate thing for the Kingdom of Antoinne, for many soldiers were needed for the war against Tirna-Sorset. During Christophe's 15th birth-moon, his company was dispatched to for battle.

Christophe saw his first battle at the hamlet of Anjoux, near the border of Bruge. His company of green recruits faced off against a seasoned regiment seeking to pass through the town. Christophe and his Antoinnese compatriots loosed an ineffectual volley against the soldiers Tirna-Sorset, who held their fire until they were within 60 yards. The enemy salvo was much more effective, and the Antoinnese line broke. When the soldiers of Tirna-Sorset fell upon the routing Antoinnese, Christophe simply dropped his musket and raised his hands above his head - not out of fear, but only because his peers had all done so.

When an Antoinnese-speaking interpreter for the Army of Tirna-Sorset questioned Christophe, he was thought to be an idiot when he could not understand many basic sentences. Based upon his apparent lack of intellect, the Chief of Staff found no issue in impressing the boy into the Army of Tirna-Sorset. His new compatriots took to calling him Christopher - a more sensible name for a man fighting for the glory of the Two Realms.

During his duty in the Army of Tirna-Sorset, Christopher saw action at two of the greatest battle of the war. He fought at Rouge and watched his newly-adopted King die from his own cannon. Soon thereafter, he saw the conclusion of the conflict at the River Tirus. He joined in the celebration of his compatriots that followed soon thereafter, completely unaware of what this conflict was all about but glad to be done with the fighting nonetheless. In the years following the conclusion of the war, Christopher attempted to spend his meager earnings from the war to buy passage back to his homeland. After discovering that no ship in Tirna-Sorset made the passage across the Ocean of Aelaminus, he returned to Antoinne and tried his luck at Tou Lumere. When he could find no vessel that would travel West across the Sea, he followed the suggestions of the Antoinnese and traveled to Libiria, who the shiphands at Tou Lumere claimed had many ships that sailed across the great ocean. At the great trading port of Carana, Christopher found a Libirian ship at last that would grant him passage West to his homeland. After six long years, Christopher relished his long-overdue homecoming.

And so his confusion and disappointment were very great when his ship arrived at a fortress harbor built upon an island thick with palm jungle. Having spent the last of his stipend mistakenly buying passage to a miserable, mosquito-infested island, Christopher had no choice but to save enough money to return to the Old Country and devise a new way to return home. He petitioned the Marquis of the island for work soldiering for the Libirian colonial administration, making clear his prior experience in battle. The Marquis granted Christopher duty with the riding patrols that set out deep into the jungle with the intent of clearing out the indigenous savages to make way for sugar plantations. For two years, Christopher rode out into the jungles alongside the Libirians, scattering the so-called savages, a people that bore a terrible resemblance to his own people from the Land of Six Turtles. Many times Christopher wondered if he had simply traded places with the Antoinnese that had ruined his life so many years before. Suffice to say, Christopher bought passage back to Tirna-Sorset as soon as he had saved the requisite sum.

For the next four years, Christopher made a meager living doing odd jobs servicing outgoing and incoming ships. The foreigner from the West, with his understanding of many languages, garnered a reputation among the deckhands. On several occasions, Christopher was sought out to interpret on behalf of Antoinnese or Libirians. It was not long after King Aenda announced the drive for colonization that one Harrigen Berkswell sought Christopher's skills in interpretation for a tongue he had not used in many years: that of his birth. This eccentric merchant offered adventure and riches to Christopher and those others who possessed talents that would be of service in an ambitious business venture in the remote wilderness of the New Country; but only if they agreed to leave at once. Christopher, at last presented with the opportunity to return to his homeland could scarcely say no.

And so Christopher now finds himself aboard the Wensleydale, an overloaded and leaky cog bound across the Ocean of Aelaminus for the the newfound settlement of Upponhill. It is his desperate hope that he can at last reunite with the friends and kin he was stolen from so many years before.