Hans speaks little of his past. Piecing together what scraps of information that do exist, it seems he was born to the life of a serf on the lands of a new-made nobleman in the Ordenstratte. Given odd comments about the preparations of each nights meal, he most likely worked the kitchens when grown enough to make himself useful. The most remarkable event of his brief time in this low condition seems to have been his discovery of some secret artifice and his parleying of that information in exchange for his freedom from servitude. Hans then joined the Order of St Lazarus as a Man-at-arms, fighting as one of the formidable Christian heavy infantry tasked to anchor the line while the noble-born knights maneuvered to win battles through the shock of their mounted charge.
He was never troubled by the brothers' role as carers and companions to the misseli and indeed accounted himself most fortunate that the Order's great skill at medicine protected them from the great disaster of the black plague at the end of the 14th Century. Often the brothers would go out to rescue those who could be saved from the deadly plague and as a Man at arms, it was often his place to go those places the nobleborn knights dared not tread. Their timidity was their great loss as Hans one day discovered a potent relic in the ashes of a wealthy plague victim's home. He did not share this bounty with his brother's reasoning God had sent it to him in recompense for his humble station.
Hans at came to be "separated" from the fellowship of his brother knights at some point before Yuletide 1419 and took up residence with Gunther Schwarze in the heights of the Bayerischer Wald on the Czech border. Gunther had garnered a reasonable fortune and secured the title of Imperial Knight along with a comfortable manor. It's not entirely clear how Gunther came to shelter Hans. Hans as a rule says nothing about his past and the subject never came up while Gunther was around to be asked.
No comments:
Post a Comment