Clans of Redwall (Tale Weaver's Archieve)

[BrookSkimmer]

This thread is for the storage of material related to the Tale Weaver.

[Tale Weaver]

Name: Dystrano Tong

Species:  Weasel

Gender: Male

Age: 36 years

Weapon(s):  
A cutlass forged of southern steel. The blade has a slightly blue tint to it when it is cleaned and polished. Has a hard seal skin leather handle and a carved bone pommel.  Also carried a belt across the chest made of seal skin to hold three throwing daggers. Each dagger is keenly sharp and decorated with a gem pommel stone.

Physical Description:
Dystrano is every inch the southern corsair captain. He wears finery from a hoard of plunder he has massed from his time in the southern seas.  He prefers to wear thick brown knee height sea boots, though he is sometimes seen going bare foot-pawed. His lower half is garbed in billowing violet colored pantaloons, held in place by a broad brown seal skin belt. The belt is complete with a large buckle that rests at his hip. The buckle has a clip through which his cutlass is thrust into its scabbard. He wears a dandelion hued long sleeved shirt covered with a seal skin jerkin that laces up his front. The captain likes to keep his sleeves rolled up so that the ornate tattoos on his lower arms can be seen. He often wears a violet scarf around his neck and a yellow turbin often sits between his ears.

The captain's fur is light for a weasel, bordering on tan in color. This happened from his fur being sun bleached from long hours on deck. It has a salty look to it though he keeps himself neatly groomed. His eyes are dark and sparkle brightly, though his nature reveals that he finds little amusing. His body is covered in fur dyes and tattoos depicting strange symbols from the southern lands. His face is also tattooed with black bars under his eyes. The end of his muzzle is graced with a curled mustache and a small goatee.

Biography:
Dystrano was born to a pair of well off weasels residing in a wealthy coastal community in southern waters. His father was a business beast, though it was rumored he was under pawed in his dealings. His mother was a socialite, reveling in the gossip of the community. Dystrano was raised with the best of schooling both in brains and arms. He was trained in the art of fencing as well as business. When Dystrano had reached the age of maturity he became restless and unruly. Though his parents tried to keep him under control he often escaped their watchful eye and ended up down by the harbor. The merchant ships intrigued him and one day he went aboard to try his paw in trade.

It was not long after that the young male weasel discovered he was as under pawed as his father, if not more so. He sweet talked himself into a small fortune quickly, rivaling the captain for control of his ship. With the rest of the crew of his side, Dystrano ousted the merchant captain and took the ship as his own. After bending the existing crew to his will, and having those who would not comply killed, Dystrano took on the mantle of a corsair. He would hire his crew out to do the bidding of others, and when not in service he would practice his paw at raiding.

The weasel has been sailing southern waters for a number of seasons, making a name for himself where ever his ship the Rackenprow left wake. His crew changes sporadically as time passes and as with most captains who have held position for numerous years he has been known to have his share of mutineers come aboard and leave by way of Davey Jones' locker.

[Tale Weaver]

Name: Esile Violettail

Species:  Fox

Gender: Vixen

Age: 40 years

Weapon(s):
Staff made of polished black ash. It stands a head taller than she is and is adorned with the embellishments of a gypsy healer. There is a reed wrap around the portion she holds in her paw, slight above mid level. There are various sinew strands adorning the staff that have beads, chunks of stone, feathers, and bone threaded onto them. The top of the staff has a large rock crystal embedded into it that catches and refracts light in all directions. The end of the wood is fitted with a metal spike, making it a walking staff and also a deadly weapon.

Esile also carries a belt with various pouches of poison attached to it. Each bag is made of leather from different animals and contains an assortment of items from powders to vials of mysterious liquids. The contents of these pouches can do everything from send a creature into a peaceful sleep to kill a beast slowly and painfully.

Physical Description:
Esile is clad in the garb of a gypsy fox of the east. She goes bare foot pawed and has a bracelet of small tinkling bells buckled around one foot paw. She wears a long black skirt that has silver thread stitched into it. The thread maps out various constellations as well as mysterious symbols. The skirt is held in place by a broad black belt onto which she has attached her poisoner's kit. She wears a billowing grey long sleeved shirt that is covered by a red corset type jerkin. It is laced up the back with black laces. She wears a crimson wrap over the top of her head and allows her ears to poke through it.

The vixen's fur is deep orange, thick, and well maintained. She often smells of the herbs she works with which she has been known to dab behind her ears. Her legs, arms, and tips of her ears are black. Her features are slender and cunning, complete with obsidian black slanted eyes. She has multiple piercings in her ears as well as a shard of carved bone running through her nose.  She moves in a graceful manner, beguiling her venomous nature. Her name sake tail is dyed a deep violet color from base to tip. She allows her tail to remain uncovered due to the custom cut of her skirt. Esile's voice issues like silk, and her poisons take their effect as smoothly as her words. She is sly, calculating and deadly.

Biography:
Esile was born into a traveling caravan of gypsy beasts that roamed the eastern woods. Her mother was her only parent figure as her father was part of a different roaming band. She learned growing up the arts of trickery and poisoning from her mother. One day when she was quite young, Esile witnessed what happens when deadly trickery goes wrong. Her mother was poisoned and died in front of Esile, who could do nothing to save her.

Knowing her own life was at stake the young vixen left her caravan and joined up with her father's. He did not know that the newest member of the group was his own daughter until she told him. She had learned from her mother what he looked like and which band he was a part of. The two then plotted together and soon took control of the caravan. It was not long before the old leader of the caravan took to his grave, promoting Esile's father to his place. Under his direction the band took a nasty turn, stealing and pillaging the small tribes they had once preformed for.

Esile lived under her father until his untimely demise at which point Esile took command of the beasts in the caravan. They went under the guise of a performance and medical remedies team, killing and stealing along with way when the opportunity was ripe. Now the caravan has a good number of creatures of various takes on life. Esile has taken a back seat, still leading but never carrying out evil deeds or directing them to take place. She still uses the caravan to her own needs but in a neutral fashion.  She has a mysterious aire about her, some say she possesses magical arts, other think she is a healer by nature, very few know of her deadly roots as those that do have tasted it themselves.

[Tale Weaver]

Information on the Rackenprow:

Once used as a merchant ship with her history before that unknown, the Rackenprow is the prize of a life time for Dystrano Tong.

(in keeping with Redwall lore, all gun powder dependent weaponry on the ship is replaced with ballista which work like catapults)

A squared-rigged, two-masted warship armed with eighteen ballista. When she was taken over by Dystrano he had her hull and trimmings stained a rich cherry wood color. Her sails are deep blue and her top mast flied the colors of Tong, orange and black. On the berthing deck are sleeping quarters for the officers and crew, storerooms, sail bin, and a wood stove. Magazines for shot and ballista supplies are stored in the hold below deck.

Approximate dimensions:
Sparred Length: 198 feet
Hull Length (along rail cap): 123 feet
Hull Length (load water line) 110 feet, 8 inches
Molded Beam: 32 feet
Draft at Sternpost: 10 feet, 6 inches
Displacement: 297 long tons
Mast Heights: (above water line)
    Foremast 113 feet, 4 inches
    Mainmast 118 feet, 4 inches

Traditional Armament:
    32 Pound Ballista: 18

Traditional Crew: 40-150 beasts (crew at this time 45)

[Tale Weaver]

Name: Briante Tanpaw
Species: Hare
Gender: Female
Age: 25 years
Weapon(s):
Briante is a practiced expert when it comes to swordsbeastship. Her weapons of choice are twin rapiers, which she wields to deadly effect. Both are of classic steel badger make, embossed with badger engravings. The hilt of each weapon has a sturdy burnished bark grip and a golden filigree basket, studded with emerald pommel stones. The hare is also a formidable foot fighter, using her strong hind legs at blurring speeds to deliver kicks that would send a full grown rat sprawling.

Physical Description:
Briante is clad in a uniform similar to that of a Long Patrol hare. She does not wear any rank pin or insignia from the famed group as she no longer reports to them. She wraps her lower arms and lower legs in supple brown bark leather to protect them from wear and tear. On her lower half she sports buff colored trousers that go to just below her hocks. Her uniform jacket is deep forest green, trimmed in ornate golden threaded patterning. The front of the uniform jacket sports broad lapels and a high backed collar. The jacket fastens down the front and at the sleeves with large black buttons. She wears a regulation size belt about her middle and a broad straps across her chest. These straps holds clips on the back into which she slides her sheathed rapier blades. When she travels the handles of her weapons stand up at either shoulder and from this position can be drawn quickly.

She is steely eyed and has a no nonsense nature about her most of the time. She has been known to loosen up once somebeast gets her talking about her exploits or she gets her paw around a flagon of good old nut brown cider. This is her favorite drink and the hare has been known to travel for days just to get to a purveyor of the drink. She is smooth and calculating, possessing the mantle of a captain of the Long Patrol. Briante's fur is short and well groomed. Most of her body is covered in a rich chocolate brown, though it fades to tan once it passes her elbows and hocks. Thus her surname, Tanpaw.

Biography:
Briante was born in the mountain home of hares and badger lords, Salamandastron. She grew up in the barracks and took to life as a young Long Patrol like a duck to water. Her parents let her join up with the ranks a year early since she had the smarts of a beast older than she actually was. Her body matched the growth of her brains and she had no trouble passing into the ranks of a first year recruit in the famed Foot and Fur fighting patrol. Briante was infatuated with everything Long Patrol. She ate, slept, and lived the life of a fighting, cajoling, scoffing young hare. Not long after her first year of service she was presented with a rapier from the badger lord of Salamandastron. Not just any hare got a weapon straight from their lord's paw, but Briante did have a way of standing out among her comrades. Soon after her grandmother presented her with a second rapier, one that had seen service in the Long Patrol in the paw of her deceased grandfather. It matched the one given to her by the badger lord so well that Briante wondered if they had been forged together.

It was during her third year of service to the patrol that Briante had a life changing experience. Her patrol unit had a nasty run in with a large group of ferrets and rats. Many more beasts then they had thought they would encounter. Briante found herself fighting for her life alongside her closest friends. Though she fought valiantly, all in her groups were slain save herself and one young buck. Though he tried to convince her to come with him, the badly injured hare could not get Briante to travel back to the mountain. She was ashamed for what had happened. She could not save her friends when they needed her most.  That day she forsook the mantle of a Long Patroller, feeling she had let down the group she so desperately wanted to serve. She took to the hills of the north, fending for herself until she was able to befriend a few other creatures.

As seasons passed, Briante was able to form a small group of fighting creatures. They were a motley roaming band, not all out for the same purpose but all needing the protection of somebeast watching their back. Now Briante heads the loosely assembled band of warriors as they wander lands near and far.

[Tale Weaver]

Design of the clans. What follows are brief descriptions of the three clans for character preparations.


Ship
The Rackenprow normally sails just off the coast so that Dystrano can set his lookouts on watch for opportune harbors and villages. Though he does not always choose to raid, each of his crew has experience in the matter. Most villages will send out food and supplies when they see the blue sails hove into their harbor. Dystrano will seldom wreck damage onto villages that bring him the proper tribute.

The captain will also hire his ship out for service as a merchant trade vessel when the opportunity arises and fits his needs. He had made much booty from carrying cargo and taking parts of it for himself along the way.

The crew of the Rackenprow is restless at best, dealing with turmoil from the inside out. Dystrano is able to keep control of his crew for the most part though rumors of mutiny are always in the air.

Troupe

Esile's wandering troupe are a mixed lot, with a variety of takes on life. The vixen guides them along with her sly tongue, benefiting from the safety having others to watch your back can bring. She must also keep on her toes as not all the creatures in her group are loyal to her.

The troupe pass themselves off as a traveling side show of sorts. Some members may preform magic or mime for pay, other attend to wounds using a variety of medical art forms, still others await their leaders' command with blackened blades and eyes for deceit and trickery.

They do not carry the flare of a circus, instead having a mysterious air to them. In Esile's troupe most beasts are out only for their own benefit or the benefit of a choice few. This is not your typical woodlander traveling show.

Band
Briante's band of footfighters marches to their own drum. They have no affiliation to the Long Patrol outside of their leader and possibly a few others hares having served time under the famed operation. Most members of the band depend on each other and trust each other, but not all.

There is an uprising inside the ranks, bent on seeing Briante ousted from leadership and others put in her place. Though Briante sees the band as a means of protecting each other and those not able to defend themselves, others see it as an opportunity for much more...