Fast Facts
AKA: Collin of the Folk, "Dirt" Collin
Race: Blood ("Halfie")
House: Flight, Second Traveler
Other Power: Beasts (uncalled), Motion (wild Power)
Clan Affiliation: Plocs Clan
Crew Affiliation: Alexander's Companions (104-)
City Affiliation: Two Hundred
Religion: Shifter Ronish, Walker (Hawk)
Place of Birth: Cropple
Year of Birth: 89
Parents:
* Riza Bilson
* "Dirt" Ferg
Spouse: Lavinia Muse Fisk
Children: "Flitter" (daughter), born 113
In Brief
Appearance
At first glance, a too-scrawny type who looks a little too flimsy to pull off some of the stunts he manages; still comes off as younger than he is, maybe stuck somewhere in the early twenties, with messy black hair, a hawk on his shoulder and an impressive Ronish scar on his cheek. Small for Blood (5'6") and with a definite Fewkish cast to his features. Naturally inclined toward the scruffy side in dress and demeanor - to road gear, not City gear, even when he happens to be there - though his new responsibilities mean the "dress" ranger duds can come out when the need arises. Quiet by nature, but with a look in his eyes that makes you think he doesn't miss much.
The Hawk
From the age of eleven, barring strange or unusual circumstances, Collin's rarely been seen without a hawk on his shoulder. His first was Shaben - not really a name to start out, just the Fewk word for "hawk" - but he's currently traveling with "Shill," an overly curious companion whose name translates roughly as "green kid."
Abilities & Interests
There've been a few interests that have been with Collin from the beginning - namely animals, climbing, and playing tricks. Although all three are still in the picture, nowadays fighting is probably his most notable skill - he was one of a handful honored by the Crown for notable deeds in the Witsie War, and has spent much of the last few years serving with the Two Hundred (though that may be changing soon). In the seasons after the war, he began to develop a real knack for sailing, especially after some practicing with the little ship granted to him by Franklin for the Companions' run down to Southmarch. He's also got a layman's interest in "tinkering" and tools, coming from five years' helping out in his father's locksmith shop, and actually picked up a thing or two about patching up the ranger guns during his time in Harrisport.
Possessions
After his performance at Momaar's Folly, Collin was granted a set of shadow armor and a shadow cloak, the marks of being a representative of Shadow King: along with the standard Flight sawed-off shotgun, a Philopolis rapier, with a touch of Flight, and a set of throwing knives round off his "special ops" equipment. As far as other gear, he travels pretty light, standard road kit tossed in a duffel pack - and stuffed under the rest of his supplies, he still carries a set of Artifice lock-smithing tools, a legacy from his dad. His only other sentimental piece of "gear" hangs on a chain around his neck, usually hidden under clothes and armor. A pendant with one central orb ringed by a few smaller ones, it's meant as an impromptu representation of the night sky: one of a set, made by him and Lavinia at their High Day handclasping ceremony in 109.
Friends & Relations
Unusual for a Fewk-born, Collin's an only child. While his father, Ferg, was killed shortly after the family's move to the City, his mother, Riza, has found a place for herself, first in Q-Town and then with her new crew. Although Collin has pretty cordial relations with the rest of the Plocs clan, he doesn't see much of them: in his mind, his real "family" are the Companions, his teammates in the Two Hundred, and the others that he's gotten close with since he left home.
Lavinia
First and foremost. Theirs has been an eventful relationship so far - got its start in the months after the witsie sack of Harrisport, then proceeded through a courtship that was interspersed with Green-killing in the Ruins and culminated with a Court ceremony that served as the happy couple's sendoff to the Witsie War. Not the most demonstrative of sweethearts, but since they got together at the end of 108, they've rarely been separated for more than a day or two. Although their future plans are, at the moment, up in the air (so to speak), it's fairly certain that whatever they do next, it'll be as a pair, and that things will be staying exciting for some time to come.
Joed
Since the day that the Companions' hustling young second lewi took pity on the clueless new kid looking for some tips on Ronish and which end of a sword to hold, these two have been watching each other's backs. There are very few secrets between them, and even now, on the other side of Collin's changes in fortune, the relationship's still solidly one between equals. Since Joed's departure for new responsibilities at Westile, they don't see as much of each other these days, but it's difficult to lose track of one another in the Two Hundred for very long…
Mark
While Mark may have started out as a set of Blood "coattails" who had the bonus of carrying around some interesting gadgets, the discovery of their shared secret meant that these two all of a sudden had something in common. After five years running together, and many afternoons spent practicing chess moves in their House of Flight "workshop," they've cemented what might seem at first to be an unlikely friendship - one that, more recently, has extended to a relationship between Mark and Flight that promises to be around for a good long while.
The Companions
After the better part of ten years running together, Collin's pretty tight with all the long-term members of the group. He's got a special liking for Igil Volo, who he still regards with an older-brotherly protective affection; among the newcomers, he also gets on pretty well with Tomassius, particularly after a conversation or two about the advantage of using small flying creatures as an extra set of eyes. Then, of course, there's Qurunree Brown Blaine; it was bad blood at first sight with these two, and though the relationship's gotten less violent in the intervening years, Qurunree's uncomfortable history with Shifter has left things on an uneasy note between them.
Collin's Boys
From his early days as a crew lewi, Collin had unofficial charge over the "Fewk troops"; while the faces in his team have varied over the years (including a few brief noteworthies like Waver Torinson), they've become a steadily more rangerly group as associations with the Two Hundred have grown stronger. However, the time at Blackstone took its toll on the team, and some old friends have recently been replaced with new faces.
Adventures
For more detailed information on the general history of the Companions, see The Story So Far.
In the Beginning
Collin grew up in the hills north of Cropple, the only child of a Fewk family who were living "in hiding" among the locks. From his father, Collin learned caution and how to pick locks, along with the basics of walking on the shady side of things. From his mother, he got the beginnings of a sense of adventure, along with stories about the weird and wonderful things that might happen to those bold enough to wander out into the world. However, until meeting his first Bloods, he still half-believed all his "min's" crazy stories were just that.
104-107: The Kid From Cropple
When Collin first joined up with the Companions, as a 15-year-old roadie, he was a no-House Dirt kid whose only real skills were pick-pocketing and keeping his head down – along with an inexplicable "gift with animals." But as often happens when country Fewk meet Blood, over the course of his first run, his Power bloomed - and in a big way. By the time he hit the City, it was with Shifter's "blessing" branded on his face, a touch of Beasts to go along with it, and a handful of other tricks that he finally realized were evidence of not one, but two additional Powers. The first, the Motion wild Power, formed the basis of his friendship with Mark Waltman. The second, Flight, became his chosen House.
The next few years were exciting and educational ones, falling in as lewi to Sskie as the Companions made an unscheduled side trip to the Toath world, added some noteworthy new members (including Qurunree Brown Blaine and Igil Volo), survived their now-infamous first visit to the Ruins, and then turned north for a run into the Tweaklands that took them through the Great Vale. In the midst of all this adventuring, Collin discovered that the City held one more surprise for him. Growing up, he had always known that his shaggy black hair was unusual for Fewk - but after getting a few knowing looks from City old-timers, he decided it was time to ask some questions. After a bit of investigating, with some encouragement from Franklin, he discovered that his mother was in fact the last child of Quentin Bilson, a fact which brought her and Collin into the Plocs clan - and, by extension, the world of the Blood. So the following summer, at the Gathering of 106, Collin was officially called to Flight with his new name.
During the Companions' next run, however, things didn't go nearly so well. The 107 trip had its worthwhile moments - it was this year that Collin was able to make his first pilgrimage to the Great Vale - but for him, it started and ended with the death of a friend. The first was Waver Torinson, Collin's sometime protégé and hawk brother, and the second, during a botched scouting mission north of Xaxton, was his hawk, a particularly nasty experience that left him jittery and off-balance through the rest of the run. When circumstances prompted an unscheduled early return to the City, Collin took his chance to slip off: he'd decided that it was time to try something besides running for a while.
108-114: Collin-Bayon
After leaving the Companions to join up with the Two Hundred, it didn't take Collin long to realize the truth of the old adage: when riding in Franklin's pocket, the world takes on a whole different perspective. His initiation into military ways came with Momaar's Folly, where he was sent into the Deadlands as bayon over a "special forces" team that included a detachment from the Companions. and placed him alongside some of the men who'd go on to become his long-time "boys," including Weenzal and Zinnad. Although the fighting was nightmarish at times, his team walked out of the Folly intact, and when it was over, Collin had earned himself the right to be called a soldier.
For the next few years, Flight's business - and the Warrior Lord's - occupied the lion's share of his energy and attention. Much of 109 was spent serving as "Franklin's eyes," helping Mark in his early efforts to establish the Stronghold and cleanse the Ruins, but by mid-110, Collin and his young wife were returning to Harrisport to join the rest of the troops in readying themselves for the grand strike in the Witsie War. The next two years were spent in training and preparation, and when the City fleet sailed west in early 112, Collin had charge of one of the teams that made up "Franklin's Whip." The experience, his first taste of war against a living enemy, was a momentous one for him. Two years' work with Franklin and the other powerful members of the House let him gather enough skill to be called as Third Traveler in the Gathering of 112. And after landing in the right place at a crucial moment in the fighting - bringing his team into play on one of the witsie ships in a maneuver that some later said was the turning point of the battle - he walked out of the war a hero, earning himself a boon from the Queen in the post-Gathering ceremonies. While most of those so honored elected to ask for powerful items from the "Crown stash," Collin had a more elusive reward in mind.
During his first visit to the Great Vale, in 107, he had been warned that those who sought to pursue the ways of the Ronish were eventually forced to leave their Houses behind; that inevitably, every follower was faced with the choice of giving primary allegiance to Shifter or to the City. Experiences at the Flight lodge the next year led him to realize that the House, too, would eventually demand his exclusive loyalty if he expected to continue gaining power. By 109, when he was raised to the position of serving Shifter as a Walker, Collin had begun to feel his choice looming on the horizon. Although his time at war, in a space more neutral than the lodge or the Great Vale, had lessened the pressure on him somewhat, he knew that even a Flight hawk couldn't stay so precariously balanced forever: so when he returned from the war, he used the moment of the Crown ceremony to set things in motion for a more permanent arrangement. First, from the Queen, with her authority over the Houses, he requested "peace with my Ronish self": to square his faith with the House of Flight. Then, from Shifter, he asked for a compromise: the freedom to rise in Flight, to remain part of the City world, in exchange for a conscious promotion of the Ronish within that world. With the cooperation of High Lord Ephrim and the creation of a new Ronish shrine in the House of Beasts, the question of having to make this choice was settled for good and all.
For better or worse, however, Collin realized the following year that his days of difficult choices were far from over. While his first charge as Third Traveler was being sent out with his old squad to spend some time test-sailing one of the new Flight sloops, a project that brought in many of his old cronies from the Companions, by mid-113 there was talk of bad trouble in Issifnia, and of the Two Hundred's being called to secure the borders at Blackstone Castle. When the High Lord calls on you for help, it's difficult not to answer, so by the end of the year, Collin was up at Blackstone with his men, in what, after a long conversation with Franklin, was arranged as a permanent commission with the Two Hundred…
Most Recent Adventures
Fighting. Lots and lots of long, hard, nasty fighting…
"Meta" Info
Meta Status: PC
Origin Date: 8/15/06
Greatness: 1
Power: 11.5 (Flight 8/Beasts 5.5/Motion 5)
Conflict: 14
Ronish: 5.5
Links
The Tale of Collin of Cropple, Volume One (Spring 104-Gathering 106)
Collin's probably the most verbose of the Companions… see, he's telling his tale, to a thus-far-undisclosed listener…