Joryn

Preface I've met some honest men in my life. Most of them are puppets.

My father was an honest man. He taught me to be honorable, noble, and brave. He taught me about duty and integrity. He taught me about sacrifice.

I believed in my dad. I believed in his purpose and stalwart honor. It wasn't until he fulfilled his responsibility as a lieutenant in the New Kalian military and died heroically that I saw him for what he really was; a fool.

Before my dad left, he told my oldest brother that he would need to look after the family. He would need to protect us in his absence. My brother obeyed and died like my father; honorably fighting a battle that he didn't need to fight.

My mother was more sensible than my father and older brother. She understood what it really meant to protect and sacrifice for the family. She kept the rest of us together. She taught us to survive.

Am I honest? Perhaps. But I'm not like my father. No, I am like my mother.

Origin Joryn was born to Danihel and Haylee in the borderlands in a relatively safe area that had been possessed by New Kalia for some time. He had an older brother, Danihel, and a younger brother, Adonis.

Joryn's paternal side had been loyal to the clans, Old and New Kalia alike, for generations. The name Danihel, or just Dan for short, was commonly passed on through the first born sons.

Joryn's maternal side was less known. His mother came from an area of the borderlands that had seen a great deal of conflict. Her parents weren't told much of their heritage nor did they pass much on to her.

Danihel and Haylee's marriage was one of convenience. He needed a wife to provide children and she hoped for a better life away from the chaos of the borderlands. His goals were realized but hers were not.

Once the family was established, Danihel felt the need to honor his ancestors and plunged into a campaign to retake the borderlands for New Kalia. He died in combat, a tradition frequently honored by his forbears. Every war up to this point, in fact, had seen at least one of his kin fight and die.

Haylee didn't wait for the news of her husband's death. She knew her plan had failed when he announced that he was to serve New Kalia as a lieutenant.

The family attempted to move to New Kalia before Napolite forces came too close. These plans were derailed, however, when Joryn's brother Danihel responded to a call to arms and abandoned the family. Haylee attempted to follow and catch him before it was too late, but doing so caused the family to lose their opportunity to escape to New Kalia. They lost several days chasing Danihel and moved too far into the borderlands. Additionally, the campaign to retake the borderlands incited a Napolite advance that locked the area down.

Haylee eventually managed to find her son Danihel, but he had already been killed in battle. She then reverted to her way of life prior to marrying.

The next several years were spent roaming between villages, seeking refuge where able, and generally avoiding conflict. Joryn was raised to be an outdoorsman and scavenger.

Joryn proved to be highly resilient and adopted the lifestyle quite well. He had a knack for survival and even some talent in craftsmanship. He rarely found the opportunity to focus and excel on any work, but it did provide useful for making, maintaining, and occasionally selling tools.

This way of life proved to work quite well for the family of three. But times became more difficult and Adonis took seriously ill. He soon died and passed on his sickness to his mother who also died.

Joryn was left alone to fend for himself. He had felt deep loyalty to his mother and brother, perhaps a few others during his travels, but now there was no one left.

A choice was before him. He could continue his way of life, which seemed meaningless now without his family. Perhaps he could find others with which to build a new life? Who would that be? So many people had proved to be a liability, manipulative, or outright untrustworthy.

Though his path was uncertain, Joryn realized something would have to change. He was no longer content with just surviving.

Micro Society Although Haylee had kept the family moving and rarely kept them in or near one city for too long, this didn't mean that they avoided other people altogether. Rather, she was just careful to avoid conflict.

This was a pattern that she learned from her family who, in turn, learned it from theirs. There were actually quite a few people who preferred to live as vagabonds, known by many as roamers, rather than settling down in a permanent home. They were, in a sense, nomads who roamed to stay aloof from the wars.

Sometimes the wars were so fierce that these wanderers would remain in one location or city for a very long time. After all, those who were found fleeing were often associated with the losing side; an automatic death or prison sentence.

Joryn, on the other hand, had difficulty even connecting with these roaming communities. It seemed to be a sort of coping mechanism to deal with grief in this harsh lifestyle. Even so, he would occasionally allow himself to become close friends with those he respected most; his mother and brother were among them.

One man that Joryn deeply respected was Mathias. Mathias was a sort of governor for one of the communities and took it upon himself to help others work together. He'd order some people to scout out the area, others to make camp, yet others to forage and hunt, etc. He would even hold trials and banish people when necessary.

Joryn got to know Mathias more personally through his son Cenric. The two were close enough in age and similar in interests that it was easy for them to become friends. They were usually among those that were ordered to scout the area for the safest paths, most plentiful areas for food, and options for camp locations.

Haylee and her family didn't always associate themselves with these transient communities, but she kept coming back to Mathias'. Their patterns and practices were highly consistent with hers and they were generally very adaptable. As a result, they often found themselves together. Of course, some also believed that there was a romantic interest between her and Mathias.

Puppets and Opportunists Though Mathias and his son never proved themselves untrustworthy to Joryn, there were plenty who did. Additionally, Joryn wasn't completely convinced that being trustworthy was necessarily a good thing.

One man named Sidonius found Joryn to be a natural craftsman, became a sort of mentor that instructed him on how to make various things using leather and wood, and eventually assumed possession of his work as if Joryn were only barely involved. Joryn was very young at the time and Sidonius was well respected for his trade. There were few who believed Joryn, or at least openly acknowledged him, when he claimed that his work was stolen.

Sidonius was eventually banished from the camp, but it wasn't until he was blatently proved to be a cheat and liar. Until then, Mathias refused to punish Sidonius on account of having no hard evidence against him. Joryn lost a great deal of respect for Mathias; in his mind, he was yet another puppet of his circumstances.

There were many others like Mathias and Sidonius. Joryn simply avoided them once they proved to be puppets and opportunists. That isn't to say that he was so removed as to not be a part of the camp, rather that he generally avoided scenarios that allowed him to be manipulated.

Fit for the Outdoors As scouts, Joryn and Cenric would frequently come across mysterious berries, remains of dead animals, questionable streams of water, and other unknown foods that might have adverse effects when consumed. In these events, Joryn would often take a drink from the stream, pop a few berries, or even sample the meat.

Cenric thought Joryn was foolish. He later reconsidered his judgment when it appeared that Joryn never suffered from his seemingly poor decisions. On one occasion, Cenric decided to try a berry of his own. A few hours later, he was vomiting incessantly. Fortunately for him, this was enough to purge the poison from his system and he turned out OK. Cenric later warned his father that Joryn wasn't the most reliable example of what members of the camp could and couldn't eat. Mathias already knew; it wasn't all that rare that his food recommendations led to someone having an extreme case of diarrhea, vomiting, or stomach pain.

Joryn also had an uncanny ability to always know where he was and even spot things in dark areas. Cenric, an avid outdoorsman himself, would occasionally find himself turned around or need to focus to even see an outline of dark shapes.

Unexpected Encounter While Joryn seemed generally more fit for the outdoors—he even seemed unfazed by cold winds—Cenric was by far the better hunter… and fighter.

On one afternoon while most of the roamers were back at camp, Joryn and Cenric took off to do some hunting. Instead of finding game, they ran into three New Kalian scouts who mistook the two for Napolite scouts.

Of the New Kalians, one man immediately took off running in the opposite direction. The others knocked arrows and fired at Joryn and Cenric. Fortunately, they were able to evade and neither arrow met its target.

Surprised at the sudden conflict, Joryn let out an arrow of his own in the enemies' direction. It missed but Cenric, who fired an arrow of his own, did not. One of the soldier scouts was struck directly in his heart and toppled over gasping.

The second soldier realized he was unmatched at range and charged Cenric. Cenric didn't have time to knock another arrow so he pulled a hatchet and met the man.

The soldier's goal was apparently to incapacitate Cenric quickly so that he could deal with Joryn, but he probably would have been better off targeting Joryn first. Cenric deflected the soldier's blows and soon dispatched him.

Joryn wasn't completely useless in this conflict. He knocked another arrow and fired it, causing the man to divide his attention and give Cenric an opening. Still, it was Cenric that did all the real work.

Realizing that the camp might be in danger, the two returned as quickly as they could and raised an alarm. Joryn, being a proficient sprinter, was the first to arrive.

Anything too difficult to pack quickly was left behind and they soon left prior to any additional conflict. Shortly after, there was indeed a large skirmish in the area between the New Kalian and Napolite forces.

Survival of the Fittest Although Mathias' people were able to escape successfully, they soon found themselves frequently crossing paths with soldiers from both nations. This led to a lot of running and splitting up until the community was effectively disbanded; at least it was for Joryn.

Joryn and his family were now alone. They were exhausted and hungry. Soon, Adonis took ill and died, his mother to follow shortly.

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