Background (Rogues): Jost Baumann

[vogelsong]

Meet Connie's older brother, Jost!

An Eisen wood at night is no place for an eleven year-old boy, but it is where Jost found himself after the War of the Cross finally reached his farmstead in Sieger. Escaping the flames on the back of his family’s horse, he now walked ahead of the animal along the well-used road, trying to ignore the swaying branches of the trees that seemed to reach for him like the bony fingers of the Erlkoenig.

It was not a supernatural entity that found Jost first, but a mortal one. A horseman, beating his horse to a bloody froth, tore down the dirt path as though Death himself were set on his heels. Yet, in spite of his apparent haste, the sight of a relatively fresh mount was enough to grab his attention immediately.

The horseman reigned in his steed with a harsh pull, and his wild eyes locked onto Jost. "Your horse, boy!" he shouted, dismounting with a grace that belied his urgency. The stranger brooked no argument as he wrested the reins from the boy’s hands effortlessly. Before Jost could register what had happened, the horseman was vanishing down the road astride his family’s horse, while the boy found himself with a fully lathered, suffering charger.

Jost spent days by the side of the road tending to the discarded animal, guiding it back to a semblance of health. As soon as it was healthy enough, he resumed his journey to an unknown destination. Only a short while later he made a grizzly discovery: carrion birds at the bottom of a rocky hillside alerted him to the corpses of both his original horse and the mysterious rider.

The deaths appeared to be the natural consequence of haste over caution, but Jost found a small, sealed leather satchel with a curious symbol embossed on the side facing the wearer. Since the rider no longer had need of his parcel, the boy confiscated it and said a quick prayer for both of the departed.

The remainder of the journey was arduous, and both Jost and his new horse were in poor shape by the time they reached Gottkirchen. The city was already strained by an influx of refugees, and the boy’s prospects would have been bleak had he not been astute enough to notice a small design intricately worked into the filigree around the doorway of a perfumery… a design that matched the one on the satchel pressed against his side. Not knowing if it was fate or chance that led him to this doorway, Jost stepped inside and his life changed.

This was the day he first met Niklaus Baumann, proprietor of the Eichenwald Essencen.

Niklaus was a large man in both stature, girth, and personality, the latter of which kept his small shoppe happily busy. He was a widower with only one daughter, Viola, slightly older than Jost himself. Jost would never know why the eccentric merchant took such an immediate liking to him. Perhaps it was due to the leather pouch, or perhaps it was just something about the boy himself, but just a few days later Jost was being treated as a full member of the small and caring family.

From Niklaus, Jost learned to read and write, to make a sale, and eventually to balance books. Every tidbit of knowledge on the art of drafting and improvising new scents and aromas was shared only too happily. And at night, after the dinner plates had been washed and the shutters firmly latched, Jost would learn about the ‘truth’ about Dominion, and how it had to be opposed for mankind to truly flourish.

Jost was far too impressionable to not be taken in by Niklaus’ stories of the corruptible nature of power. His previous home had been destroyed by wars orchestrated by those with power, after all, and for naught but suffering for him and the other displaced people he saw daily in Gottkirchen. Jost's own experiences had made him keenly aware of the misery that unchecked power could bring, and he was eager to make a difference.

As Jost grew older, Niklaus paid for his education at the Hopken crossbow military school, but more importantly, he cautiously began grooming Jost for something… important. In those days, a man named Gerhardt began making frequent visits to the Eichenwald Essencen. At first he and Niklaus would just exchange idle banter with undertones Jost had to strain to pick up, but as the months went on, the two men would immediately head to a back office, leaving Jost and Viola to tend the shop until their discussions had ended.

In time, the curtain was pulled back: Niklaus wanted Jost to formally join a secret society known as the Rilasciare. However, he would not be joining the Freeman League cell in Gottkirchen that Niklaus belonged to, but would instead be sent to the Vendel city of Kirk to begin his training as a Courier. “A better use for your talents and an opportunity to see the world besides,” was the excuse given when Jost asked… an excuse he recognized as a partial truth at best.

Leaving behind his second family, Niklaus and Viola, weighed on his heart, but Jost departed for Kirk with a renewed sense of purpose. In Kirk he both studied and gained practical experience under the watchful eye of Nolan Chaucer. Jost already knew how to ride, but now he learned how to sail, navigate cities, traverse wilderness, and most importantly, blend in without attracting attention to himself. Two other youths, a Vodacce named Victor and a Castillian named Paola, arrived at the same time as Jost. While the three formed a fast friendship, their work for the Rilasciare came first.

When his training was complete, Jost was curiously dispatched not to Eisen, but rather to the Avalon city of Canguine. There, he hawks perfumes and fragrances at his small stand while cultivating relationships with those that can afford such luxuries. He still writes dutifully to both his adoptive father and his sister Viola, of whom he is genuinely protective. But for now he waits, until the Rilasciare, or fate, calls upon him next.

Background: Predecessor (2) - Niklaus Baumann