Linden the Ragged
Linden the Ragged is an Spirit-Talker Mage from the British Isles during the Dark Ages.
Background
Linden was born in Canterbury in April of 1204. Though his parents had no way to know it at the time, he was born at the exact moment that the first fire was set in far-off Constantinople. His parents recall that he was an especially moody child; even as a baby, he was always frightened, always edgy.
As Linden grew older, he calmed down some, but only because he learned to ignore the voices that constantly spoke to him. Linden could hear the crow-like screeches of the dead from half a world away, and he often wonders how he has managed to keep his sanity (if, indeed, he has, which many of his acquaintance dispute).
Linden has never left Canterbury, but he speaks more than a dozen languages, is fully literate and knows customs from various eras and countries all across Europe. Most people assume his eclectic cauldron of knowledge stems from living in a city that draws so many pilgrims, but the truth is that Linden listens to the dead more than the living, and he has a superb memory. Unfortunately, the constant deluge of information has left him unfit to do any sort of work. He subsists as a beggar in Canterbury, scraping by on the generosity of the pilgrims. Although he is a Spirit-Talker, Linden is Christian - unlike most of his Fellowship, he never speaks to nature or animal spirits, only the spirits of human dead. He has yet to encounter anything that he would consider an angel, and until recently the same was true of demons.
Not long ago, the spirits began to reveal the walking dead to Linden. They are vague, unfortunately (as the dead often are when talking to anything but themselves), but Linden knows that these corpses from Hell rise up after dark and stalk the town. While other mages in Canterbury disregard what the old beggar says, Linden is getting desperate - he knows the situation is going to get worse. He hears whispers of "the horns of the blood rose" and "the Shining Blood ascendant," and desperately cries out for succor. He usually receives only a bit of bread or perhaps half-penny for his pain.
Image
Linden is not quite 30 years of age, but his sallow, sunken eyes and grubby face make him look much older. As his moniker suggests, he dresses in beggar's rags, and is so thin that his ribs are clearly visible through his skin. Even if the walking corpses don't get him first, the townsfolk say, Linden isn't likely to last another winter.
Stats
Nature: Survivor
Demeanor: Penitent
References
- DA: Dark Ages: British Isles, p. 126