Corbyn is a 19 year old man with straw colored hair (indeed his thick locks greatly resemble a thatched roof upon his brow). He is quite thin and has rather spindly limbs that are nevertheless quite agile. Despite his youth, he wears the short robes of a scholar over his breeches and introduces himself as a tutor for hire. He prefers scarlet cloth for his robes and more pedestrian materials for his trousers.
His eyes are hazel and his features unremarkable, giving him a face that is rather forgettable (but fortunately not unpleasant). He stands about 5'7” but often seems shorter than he is, due to a tendency to slouch when sitting. His limbs are quite long and his torso is considerably shorter than average. His boots are of dark leather and generally of quality make.
He wears hardened leather armor under his cloak and robes, a habit he says he developed when he had to ride out to various houses each day to offer lessons in several locations. He carries a knife on his belt and a coiled whip on his left hip - to correct impolite serfs and poor students he offers with a wink. Following the rather dramatic events in the barony of late, he has also taken to carrying a crossbow and small elm buckler when he leaves his rooms for an extended period - in case the a riot should break or an army invade.
His skin is fair, and his hands lack the calloused nature of a working man. He speaks Rouche without a trace of accent and appears to hale from Rangplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigThe Kingdom of Rang
Overview
Rang is a huge kingdom, covering more than a million square miles, and extending from the Great Sea to the Ice Sea. It dominates the area politically, militarily and religiously. Rang is a monarchy, led by King Diure LXIV, but its immense size weakens the central government. Most feudal lords manage their lands independently, and only answer to the king in the loosest sense. The king does have several pockets of power, such as in Huerten, which allow him to maintai…. The handle of his whip is emblazoned with the symbol of a raven with one bright blue feather. While affable enough, he seems inattentive and easily distracted.
Appears in turns 169-171.
Corbyn is the son of a Rangplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigThe Kingdom of Rang
Overview
Rang is a huge kingdom, covering more than a million square miles, and extending from the Great Sea to the Ice Sea. It dominates the area politically, militarily and religiously. Rang is a monarchy, led by King Diure LXIV, but its immense size weakens the central government. Most feudal lords manage their lands independently, and only answer to the king in the loosest sense. The king does have several pockets of power, such as in Huerten, which allow him to maintai… merchant who dreamt of greater things for himself then measuring and trading wheat. Thus, he ran away from home as soon as he was able. Much of his boundless curiosity he inherited from his aunt. His mother had become sickly after the birth of Corbyn (the youngest of three siblings) and required a great deal of rest. Corbyn's Aunt Marne eventually became his primary caretaker.
Aunt Marne, though beloved by her sister, was generally viewed as a crackpot by most of her family and in-laws. Yet as an unwed, middle-aged woman her assistance was required in the household so her brother and law learned to tolerate her.
Marne swore she had seen great acts of magic during her youth, and that there really were men and devices that could do the impossible. Though she did not dare speak of it to the others in town, she told her young ward the truth - or at least what the eccentric old spinster believed to be true. She swore to Corbyn that she had been the apprentice of a wizard who lived deep within a swamp near her hometown. The man called himself Hallam the Grey and dwelt apart from the people of nearby villages, studying magic and collecting items of power that remain hidden throughout the world to this day.
Alas, Marne had not quite been cut out to become a wizard's apprentice. Try as she might, she could not master even the simplest of tricks. The art was behind her, and Hallam had dismissed her and gone in search of a more apt pupil. Since that day, Marne had lived a life of regret at what might have been. Though, truth be told her life would have no doubt been a great deal shorter as Hallam's home in the swamp was destroyed in a mighty storm. The villagers assumed it was lightning strikes that blasted the old man's home into cinders - but Marne knew better - one of Hallam's relics had gone awry.
Corbyn was fascinated by these tales, and the prospect of finding magic in a mundane world. He had an extraordinarily quick mind and dabbled in all manner of subjects, reading as much as he could when he grew up. Not everyone was keen on letting a young boy poke about in their libraries late at night however, so he taught himself the art of stealth. As he grew, he found he had an unusual ability to quickly develop an aptitude for any number of skills - though not for crafting or performing - those feats could not be quickly and easily emulated.
When he reached a suitable age, Corbyn went out into the world in search of magic and wonder. His aunt had made him a true believer in magic - unlike the boring doubters he was surrounded with. Of course, one simply could not blunder out into the country and discover magic with the snap of one's fingers.
Finding a hidden wizard and apprenticing to him and slaving away for years to learn the rudiments of channeling magic on his own seemed like an awful bore, so Corbyn decided the best approach to finding some magic of his own would be to seek out and acquire enchanted items. If he happened to pick up some knowledge himself along the way, so much the better.
So Corbyn became a thief. It was a simple enough course of action, given his intellect and agility. He began to travel throughout Rangplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigThe Kingdom of Rang
Overview
Rang is a huge kingdom, covering more than a million square miles, and extending from the Great Sea to the Ice Sea. It dominates the area politically, militarily and religiously. Rang is a monarchy, led by King Diure LXIV, but its immense size weakens the central government. Most feudal lords manage their lands independently, and only answer to the king in the loosest sense. The king does have several pockets of power, such as in Huerten, which allow him to maintai…, serving as a scholar (teaching naturalist and religious studies) as a cover for his burglary. He was successful in his endeavors, but unable to find what he has truly been seeking.
However, the recent accounts of wondrous magical healing has reached Corbyn's ears and he has journeyed to Huerten to learn more. Upon hearing rumors of interested events in Maelborg Corbyn snuck into the city to learn more.
Tyrg Wren is a miller in the village of Llyrin, near the border with Mezoneeplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigThe Three Kingdoms
All three of Rang's western neighbors are dominated by the same variety of Andrithanism as is Rang. All share the same language, Gallian, but the Mezonese commons do not speak it. Rather, they speak a hybridized offspring of Rouch and Gallian known as Mezonese. As in [Note - Corbyn's name and that of his family and village are from Welsh, and I picked the western edge of Rangplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigThe Kingdom of Rang
Overview
Rang is a huge kingdom, covering more than a million square miles, and extending from the Great Sea to the Ice Sea. It dominates the area politically, militarily and religiously. Rang is a monarchy, led by King Diure LXIV, but its immense size weakens the central government. Most feudal lords manage their lands independently, and only answer to the king in the loosest sense. The king does have several pockets of power, such as in Huerten, which allow him to maintai… to situate a region with Welsh naming traditions). As a youth, he just helped run the family mill, but though he grew into a man of height and muscle (due to lugging the sacks of grain), his intellect is what made him different from his forebearers.
As an adult, he turned his mill into a trade center - starting with wheat and then expanding to all sorts of merchandise, including livestock and horse ranching. He has become a big man in a small town, now the mayor and de facto leader of Llyrin, with wealth to rival the townsmen in even the largest of cities. Indeed, the local lord has become fairly dependent on the financial and trade support of Tyrg Wren, and through the years he has created his own little economic empire.
Tyrg was blessed with 3 sons and 1 daughter. His birth of his last child took a great toll upon his wife, however, leaving her permanently weakened. His two eldest sons are much like their father, of great frame and suitable wit, but the youngest was a scrawny and lazy boy - but blessed with an extremely agile mind. His mother encouraged the development of his mind, hiring tutors and scholars to expand his mind. Tyrg has his youngest son pegged right, though, brilliant but not inclined to engage in hard work. Eventually he assigned Corbyn to work in and oversee the horse pastures and the dairy, expecting that rounding up the animals would at last add some muscle. Instead, Corbyn quickly mastered the use of the whip - using it as a tool to keep the animals in line.
Misgivings aside, Tyrg Wren anticipated in turning over his business to all of his sons - with the expectation that Corbyn would manage the books for his brothers. Corbyn had no such intentions, and announced he was leaving the family stead - in theory to study in the academies and universities of the cities in eastern Rangplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigThe Kingdom of Rang
Overview
Rang is a huge kingdom, covering more than a million square miles, and extending from the Great Sea to the Ice Sea. It dominates the area politically, militarily and religiously. Rang is a monarchy, led by King Diure LXIV, but its immense size weakens the central government. Most feudal lords manage their lands independently, and only answer to the king in the loosest sense. The king does have several pockets of power, such as in Huerten, which allow him to maintai…. In truth, he has done a little of that, intermixed with his real goal - the search for magic and the secrets of the Zioth. Having little interest in hard labor, he became an accomplished burglar along the way - as with most subjects, it came easy to him.