Yosiah Crint's page

About Yosiah Crint

Corporal Yosiah Crint stands tall above most of his fellow Arcadians. His broad shoulders and lanky, wiry arms belie his warm smile, hidden beneath a thick, bushy beard. His dark hair is tousled and matted, as he does little to maintain it, but somehow it gives him a certain unkempt-handsome quality when it's visible - which is not often, as he is rarely without his helmet, which affords a full view of Yosiah's face, but protects the soldier's skull, ears, and neck.
His body is similarly armored, nearly always. A thick sheet of chain links protects the gangly torso beneath, and a drab, green tunic is barely visible peeking from beneath the armor. Gloves protect his arms and hands, both of which are scarred and calloused beneath the rough leather.
He's prone to tap on his buckler as he speaks, and his axe hangs from his waist, never far from his dominant left hand.

"Arcadian Central Defense Force Corporal Yosiah Crint, Ambassador for the 14th Regiment, Devoted of Kofusachi, reporting for duty, sir!" Yosiah half-shouted the words quickly, articulating every syllable as he brought his fists together in front of his chest in salute. It was customary to present oneself - rank, station, and Devotion - when granted an audience before a new superior officer.
"A Kofu, eh? It's not often we see a cadet choose The Laughing God and succeed. You must be quite the promising warrior, for Perrin to vouch for you." Durbin barely hid his scoff of disapproval as he named the God - often considered a laughable choice among members of the ACDF. Yosiah nodded at his Commander's statement. Uncle Perrin was twice the man you are, and you'd be wise to remember it, you old coot. "Yes, sir. Perrin had only good things to say because I do only good work, sir. The Laughing God reminds me of my father in his lessons: When it is time for revelry, revel joyfully and with abandon. When it is time to work, work hard for one's own pride, and to be the sort of man that women will swoon for and men will drink with. When it is time to fight, it is best to be lucky." Durbin's scornful smile contorted into a more genuine grin as he stopped pacing, looking Yosiah in the eye. "Your father was a smart man, and it seems I have given old Kofu short shrift. These are wise words. You will act as point-man for your squadron, Corporal Crint. You will lead an exploration of the jungle to our south. Not much is known of the area, as we have been too busy fighting to expend the resources. But we've become desperate enough to send a team, in the hope that there may be defensible terrain, resources, or something that may prove useful. You depart in the morning, Corporal. You'll rendezvous with your men about two days south. Here are your orders." The commander reached to pick up an envelope from the nearby table, handing it to Yosiah. "You are dismissed."
As he left the Commander's office, Yosiah sighed, removing a gauntlet from one hand and using it to wipe the sweat from his brow. You've come a long way, Crint he thought to himself, smirking and enjoying the short walk to his quarters. And it'll be a long way, yet. Better get some sleep.

Yosiah got the sort of sleep that a military man only knows when not in the field - the deep, hard slumber of a man who wishes to dally on the edges of death's eternal slumber, as he knows he may reside there himself, soon enough.
He dreamed of home. He thought of his mother Para and wife Mazi, at home, with no idea where he could be stationed. It was not long ago that Yosiah was home, working as a tradesman at the family lumberyard. He could chop, strip, split, saw, and sand as well as his brother Arlind, or any of the others, but his real talent was as a salesman. He loved talking to customers, dickering over prices, reading their tells. There was an art to the game, and he missed it. It was this procilivity that led him to seek assignment as an Ambassador after he heard rumor of the national draft. He knew that he would be taken - he was a strong, able-bodied man - but he refused to join the rank and file soldiers that would be sent to die in a pointless war. So he enlisted pre-emptively, and endured the hellish training administered by the ACDF - the real-deal training, mind you, not the abbreviated 4-week course the draftees went through - so that he could become an Ambassador. Yosiah hated every day of it. Not only did he want to be home trying to have a child with Mazi, he wanted to be home in the lumberyard. He missed the feel of an axe made for wood, not skulls. He missed Para's wonderful, spicy cooking, and his nightly gatherings at whichever run-down tavern was in vogue that week. But, alas, it was better to choose one's fate than to have it thrust upon one. So Yosiah took his lumps, laid in the bed he made for himself, and whichever other nonsensical maxim his mother used to spout at him.

Yosiah, above all else, is a coward. He has been thrust onto the path he is on, and he is thankful for that. It was fate, he knows, that made him choose to enlist rather than wait, or try to dodge the draft. It was fate that he spent a month praying, engaging in exotic rituals and traditions in service to a dozen deities, seeking the God or Goddess who would claim him, and further, it must have been fated that Kofusachi choose him as His own. Life in service to The Laughing God is exactly the life he sought before the ACDF, he simply hadn't known it yet. Now, bolstered by his Devotion, and with foreknowledge of his good fortune, Yosiah can once again laugh and smile and enjoy his journey, though it is not the one that he had originally intended for himself.
After all, he knows, fate guides men and women to reach the height of their potential, and Yosiah is honored that his potential is apparently greater than he had ever expected.
As a result of his recent revelation, his cowardice is somewhat subdued, though it still lingers behind his eyes in a tense room. He is prone to brash speech and bravado, and cares little for the rule of law. In Yosiah's mind, there are only two rules: Be a person who brings more joy into the world than he takes, and do not begrudge fate when things do not go as planned, for she is fickle.