Tokwan Vaunt
Contents
The Vile Captain Tokwan Vaunt of Goldenvale
- "The king and his men stole the queen from her bed."
++The Book of Tokwan++
++ Chapter One ++
In the small settlement of Evenflow, just south of Frodredingham, there lived a small family, the wife and children of a fisherman. Their cozy home and plentiful garden belied a broken family, who's fissures ran so deeply, they seemed endless. The echoed shouts and shrill screams scattered the creatures of the night, though they were ignored by the other settlers, intimidated by the patriarch of this broken family, Cantor Faunt. He was a tyrannical man, violent and well aware of his hulking size and strength, made stronger by years of sea fairing. He was never a pleasant man in even his better days, but age had all but crippled his once perfect reaction time, leaving him useless on a boat in the violent ocean storms. He took this bitterness out on the only thing his strength could still overwhelm, his frightened and tired family. However, his rage and adoration alike was often targeted at his youngest son, Tenkin. A boy of emotional extremes, quiet and contemplative or vicious and intense; he was often a source of confusion for his family. The settlers often feared that he would be a monster just like his father. But, his mother knew that her son was noble soul. She planted within him the seeds of an honourable man, one who would reward good and judge evil. To balance this teetering weight of emotion, she gave the boy a kitten which he named Sneak-Thief. The two were inseparable, the best of friends and brothers. Tenkin's love for this tiny beast calmed the one within him. often spending their time sitting at the edge of the very river that gave this settlement it's name, Tenkin would sail his wooden ships and Sneak-Thief would play the role of the Kraken, sinking them with a heavy paw. Tenkin was happy. One fateful night, Cantor returned home in a drunken fury. Doling out his punishment on Tenkin's mother and siblings, the boy had left for the riverside hours earlier. In an even greater rage over the boy's escape of his hand, Cantor hunted him down. Finding him at the river, Cantor struck Tenkin, only for Sneak-Thief to attack the boy's father. Throwing the beaten boy away, Cantor captured the cat and proceeded to drown it before the boy's eyes. For this, Tenkin broke his father's leg with a rock in retaliation, Cantor attempted to strangle the boy. For this, Tenkin removed his father's thumb with his teeth. The first beating lasted a day. Tenkin was then chained up in the small storage room of the house and tortured daily. Cantor would often force the boy's siblings to initiate the daily beatings, and through it all, Tenkin informed them that one day, they would all die.
"Your father is not an evil man, Tenny."
Bolstering his strength, Tenkin gazed to his mother through tired eyes. "He is weak. He needs to bind me to fight me." Tenkin's eyes darkened as he spoke, "He is afraid of me." "Don't say such things." "He will die. He will die and I will feel nothing." "Just run, Tenkin." His mother whispered, unlocking the shackles. Leading him to the edge of the settlement she sent him off into the unknown.
++ Chapter Two ++
Eventually finding himself in the sprawling city of Dommere, Tenkin was alone, penniless and lost. But, his strength of will and spirit came to be recognized by a passerby, a captain of a hauling vessel who could smell the sea on Tenkin's soul. The captain approached the boy and tested his knowledge of ships. Finding it adequate for his use, this captain took Tenkin in, and gave him a new home. In truth, the dear captain sought someone that would follow his every order, be it benign or vicious. Setting sail for Dommere, the ship followed the winding river into the vast Faraconian Sea, the very sea Tenkin's father once faired. He thought it would be bitter-sweet, yet in some way, it felt right. He believed it was forgiveness for a time, but came to understand that the feeling he'd come to know was a sort of vengeance. This would be his sea now, no longer his fathers. No longer the thing that his father valued more than him, or his family, or Tenkin's only true friend, the one taken from him. Tenkin had a new reason for living. It was revenge. In time they crossed a slender island North East of their entrance to the sea. The Captain had taken Tenkin under his wing and taught him the many features of the islands they would be visiting. Though this particular landmass was not one, it was however, one that should be mentioned out of pure interest. They called it Suicide Isle. Indeed, as there were only three places to safely dock a ship even in the most skilled of commands, it would be suicide to even think it. The island was surrounded by shoal lines and cliffs that would tear a ship of any size to ribbons. Tenkin revelled in the destruction he saw. Destroyed wrecks and skeletal remains of ships long since forgotten, and stripped clean by the infamous pirates of the Faraconian waters 'Pirates,' the boy fantasized, 'strong men capable of any feat, even stripping a dead ship trapped and ensnared by the deadliest of shores.' This was his first taste of what it meant to be a privateer.
++ Chapter Three ++
A decade passed and Tenkin had grown into a fine young man. His knowledge and physical strength grew greatly over the years, compounded by new memories and experiences, but never once did he forget his wretched family and the weak villagers of Evenflow. "Boy! Come 'ere." The captain called out to Tenkin, waving him to his table on the foremost deck of the hauling ship. Joining him, Tenkin stood at the old man's side. "You see this, boy?" The captain kept his sharp, yellowed eyes upon the calm waters. "This be a gift from Calypso. A calm before the great storm." "Speak a clear mind, old man." Tenkin narrowed his eyes, his disbelief of a god of any kind shorting his patience. "The lands, boy. They be in constant contention. Men become knights, and knights become king, but not by destiny. They fight and shed blood in all mannor a' ways. And the last one standin' becomes the new king. It's war, boy. It's the world we live in. Y'got a fine respect for war, don'tcha boy?" Tenkin remained silent for now, listening to the old man's stories of the Northlands, and Crystal Groves. Of the largest, and likely, the most prosperous of the kingdoms, was Golden Vale. He planned to take Tenkin to see this place after their trip to the Vile Isle of Demonshorn.
The Vile Isle of Demonshorn, a large island corrupted and twisted by dark magics and something known only as the Essence of Hate. It was there that the Story of Tenkin Faunt, the lost boy of Evenflow, became the Tale of Tokwan Vaunt, the Vile Captain of the Faraconian Sea.
But that is a story for another time.
Lou's Biography
Joining Amtgard in early 2012, recruited by Nexus Crow and Nydgenga Dawnbreaker, Lou appeared first as a masked ninja under the name of Dakhir Nahasaan. After some time of sporadic appearances, Lou got his crap together and now attends as frequently as he can.
