Persona Stories
These are stories collected on the Kingdom of Caid Facebook page. Enjoy!
A-E
from Æduin of Skye
AEduin of Skye is the 6th son of the 7th son of some random peasant born in 1168 and was sold to tinkers for a pot repair. He thinks the Isle of Skye sounds cool so that's where he says he is from though he isn't really sure. The tinkers sold him to gypsies who sold him to pirates. The pirate ship he was scullery boy on was raided and he was captured but then escaped with some silk road traders.
from Beorn of the Northern Sea
Baron Beorn of the Northern Sea, known at various times as Giuseppe Lorenzo Domenico Angelo de Medici, Brother Johannes, Marcus Commodus Maximus, and Ito Nobunaga was born in 1270 of the common reckoning. His mother, a dark impish maiden with a golden voice, had fallen for a Norse adventurer and their forbidden tryst led to fleeing the Kingdom of Dublin. Traveling the North Sea in summer, as her birthing time approached, they landed at the Shetland monastery on Lerwick. She was both very close to her time, and very ill. Beorn's father said he would go to fetch help from his family in Norway.
He never returned...
She delivered up her son and they asked her to name the child, she said Beorn, though he was baptized Johannes so as to not remain named of the Heathen. She held him in her arms and sang to him until she died a few hours later. A ruddy, powerfully built Irishman arrived a month after, claiming to be the girl's father. He saw the child, said for the monks to keep him, turned on his heel and never looked back. It was then Beorn became an oblate of the church.
He was raised to be a priest; trained in music, letters, medicine and husbandry. Before taking his final vows he was sent to the conflict happening on the main of Scotland, ostensibly as the Latin tutor for Robert the Bruce. He saw English knights running down unarmed commoners, and an anger rose in him; with his shepherd's crook he smote one of the riders clean off of his horse. The remaining English wheeled and turned to kill this upstart cloister, when Duke John Bearkiller and a small Welsh contingent crested the hill, intent on ridding the whole of the Island from English tyranny.
John liked this giant youth, gave him his seal, lent him some coin and told him to leave Scotland and find out who he really was, seeing as the priesthood was unsuitable. Beorn spent the next fifteen years engaging in a series of adventures hiring out as a minstrel, a mercenary, a clerk, a physic, and cook.
After settling in Meridies, Beorn, now a bard of some renown, apprenticed to the great Mistress Vashti. In his heady moments he then eloped with a minor lady from the Danish Kingdoms (apparently against the wishes of everyone, family and friend) and fled to Caid. Immediately after having a daughter, he was kidnapped by a merchant raider bound for the Orient. It was there Beorn's great size and strength was again put to the test, as he was sold to a wrestler's stable and he fought for the entertainment of the crowds for seven years, before escaping and making the long trek back to Caid.
Upon his return, he had been given up for dead, his lady remarried, and all his lands were seized in oath-price for the illegal elopement. He was battered, scarred, and unlanded... But, he was not broken. He seeks to reclaim his lands, his honor, and serve the kingdom as best he may.
F-J
from Gürcü Iskender
Gürcü Iskender ('Iskender from Georgia') - often called ’Sasha’ by his close friends and compatriots, was born in Tiflis (now called Tblisi), Georgia in 1500 to a Christian family. At the age of 7, he was taken as part of the devşirme, or boy tribute - to become a yeniceri, or janissary, one of the slave-soldiers of the Ottoman empire. He went to the barracks-schools in Istanbul, where he learned to read and write, learned Osmalica (the Turkish language), math, science, history, and the arts of the soldier. The boys of the cadet school were also indoctrinated into Islam, under the tutelage of dervishes from the Bektashi Order.
During his service, he serves as a member of the Ninth Orta (Battalion), a heavy infantry battalion which served in both major campaigns of the time - against the Safavid Persian empire, and supporting the Hungarian Vassel-King, Zapolya Janos, in his war against the Hapsburg Sultan, Ferdinand I in Macaristan (Hungary). He was present during the siege of Estergom in 1543. He currently holds the military rank of Boluk-bashi (equivalent to a modern Captain).
He plays the music of the area on a variety of instruments (winds, lutes and percussion), and is particularly interested in folk music, as well as art (court) music, and the devotional music of the dervishes. He dabbles in writing Sufi poetry - being influenced by Rumi, al-Hallaj, and Yunus Emre, and experiments in ebru (paper marbling) and calligraphy. He looks forward to retiring from active service, while continuing to serve the Sultan as a member of the civilian bureaucracy or diplomatic corps - like many other yeniceri veterans. He also intends to go on hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca) as soon as is possible - a duty required of all Muslims.
K-N
from Lachlan of Cromarty
Lachlan is a fourteenth century landowner with holdings on the Black Isle and in Sutherland, Scotland. His primary residence is above the town of Cromarty, situated on a point separating the Cromarty Firth from the Moray Firth. Lachlan also operates several vessels serving as halibut fishing boats and merchantmen.
from Liudmila Vladimirova doch'
Liudmila Vladimirova doch' is a resident of the Barony of Calafia in the Kingdom of Caid, who does a lot of Russian-themed things such as pearl embroidery, storytelling, costuming, cooking, writing, and (more recently) illumination. Previously, she was apprenticed to Mistress Soraya Evodia, a Caidan laurel with a specialty in research and all things Russian.
If you ask, Liudmila will tell you that she is a daughter of a Moscow boyar, of blessed memory, who lost his fortune in the early days of Tsar Ivan Vasilievich's reign and had to agree to marry her off to a foreign merchant. Thus, she had to leave her home but still refuses to wear any unseemly Western clothes and do unseemly Western things. Most of them, anyway...
from Lynnette de Sandoval del Valle de los Unicornios
Lynnette was born in 1557, the daughter of a Spanish court scribe and an English Lady-in-Waiting. Her parents met while in England in the service of Catherine of Aragon. She was born and raised in Spain. Where her family splint their time between the family home in the town of Sandoval near the Valley of the Unicorns, and the Royal Court where her father was a court scribe. While on an unapproved excursion in the marketplace outside the Royal enclosure, she met a "hairy, half naked, barbarian" by the name of Timotheus Zacharia von Schloss Zwilling. Eventually seeing past that first impression, she married Timotheus and moved with him to his family's lands in Germany. Currently they reside in the Barony of Altavia in the Kingdom of Caid.
Sandoval translates to Sacred Valley and the town in above the valley that local legend says is inhabited by unicorns. The belief is that man and animal used to live in peace under the influence of the unicorns, but man became unsatisfied by the constraints imposed by the unicorns and left for a freer life. From that day man has been unable to see the unicorns that they rejected. The family motto of "flowers grow in the shadow of the unicorn" reflects the wish that we could recapture at least some of that simpler time and once again see the unicorns and live a more peaceful life.
Interestingly, the name Lynnette is derived from the word Linnet, a small brown bird that eats linen seeds. Her parents named her well, as she has developed a lifelong love of fiber arts!
O-S
from Owlwycke Priory
Owlwycke Priory was founded in 1986 and became inactive by 1994. Our household purpose was to provide service to Altavia and Caid. At any time 2 or 3 of us held offices at the Baronial or Kingdom level. Our definition of service included support of the household members who were officially serving at the event (as autocrats, officers, court, etc). The person taking care of household pavilion setup/takedown, lunch set up, shoving lunch in your face, bringing you water, reminding you to visit the loo, etc. is just as much in service to Altavia and Caid as the person officially serving.
The household setting was Owlwycke Priory and its neighboring estate, House Zacharia, both located in Altavia, Caid.
Father Sebastian de Grey was the abbot of Owlwycke Priory. Living at the priory was Dana O'Lawler , his widowed sister-in-law (who's 3 children looked a lot like Sebastian).
Timotheus Zacharia von Schloss Zwilling was the master of House Zacharia and bookkeeper for Owlwycke Priory. Lynnette de Sandoval del Valle de los Unicornios was the lady of House Zacharia and herbalist for Owlwycke Priory.
T-Z
from Timotheus Zacharia von Schloss Zwilling
Timotheus was born the eldest son of a noble German merchant family in 1555. He yearly toured the family lands in Norway, Scotland, Germany, France, and Spain to verify contracts and make sure the lands were being managed properly. While in Spain he saved a “Court Brat” (Lynnette de Sandoval del Valle de los Unicornios) from abduction, while transacting business with the court, he met her several times again. Eventually they married and she moved to Germany with him. Currently they reside in the Barony of Altavia in the Kingdom of Caid.
His original SCA name was [Bernard von Komkeff]
See Also
- Persona - A larger list of persona stories from around this wiki
- Category:Populace - A list of all articles about individuals in Caid
