Group: The Crows of Albion
Race: Human
Duchy: Winchester
Hesper has asked me to write down how I came to be among the Crows. It is nothing special, but she has been kind to me so I will oblige.
A Life in Short by Althea Nanette Emmet
All we are we owe to family. My father taught me the value of hard work, my Mother taught me respect for the Ancestors, my Grandmother taught me my trade, my siblings, all five of them, taught me loyalty and never backing down from a fight. And above all I learnt that you keep the family together.
In the chaos of the past years we managed it, just about. My siblings went to serve Albion with steel, trade and other talents, Father made sure the people were fed and Mother tended their spirits while Grandmother and I healed their bodies. I wouldn’t call it an easy life but it was a good one, it had purpose.
Then we were attacked, bandits or maybe other creatures, it was hard to tell. They came in the night setting our village ablaze, the croplands became a field of fire. I don’t know what happened to my parents but my Grandmother and I managed to escape into the woods. We hid there all night and most of the following day before we dared return, when we did the village was abandoned, populated only by the dead.
We began to wander the land, offering our skills in exchange for food and board. We searched for our family and heard many stories of them, we went to Gloucester, York, all over but never found them. I pray that the Ancestors keep them safe. The Winter hit us hard, few people wanted to take in strangers. Grandmother passed, the cold took her, it was peaceful at least, and not many can boast such a death these days. I buried her and kept wandering, I didn’t know what else to do.
It was almost a year ago now that I arrived at a village not long after it too had been raided. I was tending to the few survivors when I saw an armed group approaching. I remember a feeling of anger, thinking that they were the bandits returned, I grabbed a fallen shield and sword as my patients huddled behind me. I did not realise that I was facing a party of The Crows of Albion. The one leading the group approached and introduced herself as Hesper Bartholomew and explained that they had heard of the bandit attacks and had come to provide aid. I would not be convinced until they showed the healing supplies that they carried with them, I warily laid down my arms. Hesper asked me where I had learnt my skill and after consulting with her group offered me shelter among the Crows as Winter was once again coming upon the land. After almost a year of wandering alone I had to admit that my heart had a longing for a place to call my own.
As we approached Lindisfarne I was amazed by how far I had travelled from the village I was born in.
The Ars Moriendi is a wonder to behold but beyond that is how it feels. You can feel the bonds between the people here I hadn’t felt this feeling in so long, it is the feeling of people willing to fight to the death for each other. It was like coming home.
I have found work in the infirmary alongside other healers and alchemists, they were very welcoming and treated me as if I had always been there. Hesper has been a great help, it took some time for me to adjust to so many people being around. I hope that my siblings might find their way here someday.
As it stands now I will do my duty to Albion, and live by the words that we all learn in our cradles.
Strength Through Unity.