Long-Arm Jack
Long-Arm Jack is the unusually-honorable Other who lives within the Hardscrabble Home, a pitiless wilderness where his servants work.
Biography
Description
| “ | This once, this once believe when someone rescues you from the blizzard, from the rock-fall, from certain death. This once, the fairy tale has a happy ending. | ” |
Long-Arm Jack collects the Lost. He wanders one stony edge of Arcadia, huge sack tossed over his shoulder and detailed knowledge of every crack, cave and goat path on his near-uninhabited land. Those few who do live in his territory are those he has captured. His home is safe from most rivals, due to how isolated it is from other realms of Faerie. Those who do enter the Hardscrabble require his permission to hunt, and Jack angers easily at those who would trespass. Unlike many among the Gentry, Long-Arm Jack both readily gives his word and is bound by it.
His Changelings
Due to how much less cruel Long-Arm Jack is than other masters, there are changelings who would request refuge from him. Such individuals must bind themselves into seven years (or seven sevenfold and so on) of service to him. Loyal, hard-working servants are given gifts and released at the end of their service. The lazy or disloyal disappear, never to be heard of again.
The Hardscrabble Home creates and takes in Ogres; Farwalkers walk its paths, seeking new servants for their master, while Cyclopeans play gardener to the Other. While the labor is often painful, service to Jack is still one of the more hopeful fates, with a definite freedom still in sight.
References
- CTL: Winter Masques, p. 42-43
