[b]Name:[/b] Chiskowtay/Christopher
[b]Age:[/b] 27
[b]Craft/Profession:[/b] Soldier, interpreter
[b]Bio: [/b]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.