BACKGROUND
Yvgeni Kowalski grew up on a farm in Rostland. In that way, he might have been not unlike many thousands of young men throughout Brevoy, save that his parents were not typical salt-of-the-earth career farmers scratching a living from the soil. Retired adventurers, both arcane spellcasters, Grigory and Helena Kowalski bought their farm, animals and all, with the proceeds of their adventuring days, happy to settle down and raise a family. Helena, a book-learned and well-studied wizard, graduate of the Twilight Academy in Varisia, and Grigory, a natural-blooded caster with an unusual affinity for plant magic, thought it only natural that they would bring up arcane casters of their own. Yvgeni’s older sister, Galina, took to magic studies like a fish to water, but alas, poor Yvgeni, despite possessing the raw talent needed for arcane casting, just didn’t have either the head for studied magic, or the inner passion for his father’s more natural style. He was a mystery to the three elder members of his family, for he enjoyed quieter and simpler things: the fall of a woodaxe against a log, and the flight of an arrow. Yvgeni wanted to please his parents, and studied magic till his head ached, but he just couldn’t make any sense of it. His parents, reluctantly, concluded that he simply wasn’t smart enough.
It’s not like Yvgeni was stupid. As a small child, he was always incredibly observant and intuitive, but just didn’t have a head for book learning. They thought at one point to see about sending him to a temple – perhaps divine spell-casting would be possible for him, but not being particularly religious themselves, they had no contacts to whom they could send their younger child. So throughout his teen-age years, Yvgeni was content to stay at home, tending his chores, and practicing with his bow – for hours. At one point, his father remarked that he spent more time practicing his art with the bow than his sister ever did with her magic.
Yvgeni placed first at the county fair one year against several older and more experienced woodsmen, attracting the notice of Sigurd Casparov, an archer himself and a member of the elite group of Erastilan huntsmen known as Deadeye’s Yeomen. Recently having achieved the status of ‘Master’ himself, and looking for his first apprentice, her asked the young farmer if he would be interested in the rigorous training and self-discipline the Yeomen would give him. Of course, he jumped at the chance (once Casparov explained to the slightly dim-witted boy what the Yeomen stood for: protection of home and community, and seeking a oneness with the natural world through meditation and archery).
Yvgeni spent five months, traveling and training with Casparov, learning how to survive in the wild, how to really perceive the natural world around him, and how to fashion his own bow. When Casparov thought Yvgeni was ready, he gifted the boy with his first bow and sent him out into the world to find himself: and to craft his own bow.
DESCRIPTION
Yvgeni Kowalski stands at 5’9” tall with a lean and wiry build, belying the tough strands of muscles hours of chopping wood and bow practice have built in his arms and legs. His brown hair is shaggy, and he wears a beard and moustache, scraggly still and betraying his youth. He prefers simple huntsmen’s clothing: warm breeches and shirt, a coat with many pockets, and a thick cloak, oiled against the wet with a thick hood, and sturdy well-worn boots. He travels light, preferring to sleep directly on the ground under a leafy branch and eat what he can forage or hunt. His belt pouch contains little more than spare bow strings, a fire bow, and bits of tinder.
DEADEYE’S YEOMEN
An organization dedicated to the ideals of Erastil, the Yeomen seek communion with their god and nature through meditation and perfection of the art of archery and the hunt. While members of the Yeomen can be found all across the known world, they have little formal structure. Most cells of the Yeomen consist of two men: a master and his apprentice. Very little religious dogma is taught, save that the community is important and families are the backbone of that community. Community is to be protected and served. Most training for the Yeomen consists of woodcraft, survival training, and of course, archery lessons. The Deadeye’s Yeomen seek to understand themselves and the natural world through the lessons of archery, in addition to improving their skill with the bow. Apprentice Yeomen are also instructed on the trade of the bowyer and fletcher, as the Yeomen strongly believe that all men should possess a trade in order to contribute to their societies: sloth or laziness of any kind are not tolerated within the order. The Yeomen also believe that it is through the crafting of one’s own bow and arrows that one truly comes close to perfecting the art of archery, and while they have no formal strictures against using bows and arrows they themselves have not made (indeed, an apprentice Yeomen is given his first bow by his master, always a simple shortbow), no Yeomen worth the name would ever consider preferring a weapon they themselves had not crafted. The crafting of one’s own personalized weapon is part of the enlightenment process, and no Yeomen can claim the title of master until he has personally crafted a bow of masterwork quality (there are no taboos, formal or otherwise, against having a self-made weapon magically enchanted by somebody else, but the physical weapon must be made by hand by himself).
At present, there are no women within the ranks of the Yeomen, and the traditionalists within the order would prefer it remain that way. Like many Erastilan organizations, the place of women is often considered the home, in the well-respected position of primary care-giver for her family, and not wandering the woods seeking self-enlightenment and proficiency with bows.
