Jane Williams
> Donald and I were going through one of those "we need an NPC with these
> abilities, where does he come from?" moments, and he pointed out that:
>
> "If Rikard brought some peasants with him [from Seshnela] to Heortland
> there's no reason some couldn't have run away and ended up at WW."
>
> Does anyone else have any thoughts on the subject? Me, I know next to
> nuffin about Rikard.
>
> What I was originally after was an animist tradition that would have
> charms/spirits that do things like "avoid attention", "hide from
> soldier", "see what you expect to see" and general subservient
> stay-out-of-trouble stuff. The sort of thing you might expect from a
> down-trodden peasant. Seshnela doesn't seem to be all that animist,
> though :(
>
> Why animist? I want them to be able to "loan" the ability to someone
> else. So a friendly spirit in an item could be persuaded to help a
> friend. I don't think that sort of thing can be done with theism or
> wizardry (though I'd be delighted to be corrected).
I'd look for Ralian or Wenelian followers of Rikard. Rikard led a
mercenary troop, not a national contingent, made up from Malkioni knights
from all over the place.
IMG Rikard rose to leadership in the Ralian campaigns, then looked for
opportunities in Maniria, finally ending up in Heortland.
Ramalian peasants sound very much like the kind of runaway you want, but
getting Ramalian knights into Rikard's retinue takes some explaining.