The Story of Laurentius

Lawrence was a scrawny little boy in his youth. When other children of his age played in their free time, he didn't want to join their physical games. He much rather talked to older people, collecting knowledge about different things. He was very interested in things happening outside his village.

Of course he had to work in the fields with his family, but because of his frail frame he could not be of much use. Still he stayed there, trying to work as hard as others purely because he just would not give up. He knew that he was weaker than others but wanted not to show any weakness.

Since he was not much good to his family, they gave him away to be educated elsewhere. When a band of priests were traveling through the village, they accepted him to travel with them, since they were quite impressed by the amount of knowledge in this little boy.

The priests and acolytes accompanying them took him to a cathedral school in Carlisle. He was there right at home. He learned to read and write quickly and then proceeded to spend his time in the libraries. The church elders saw the great potential in this fine young lad, and after a while his existance became known to the Bishop himself.

Soon after this, the Bishop sent for Lawrence. In his study, he told Lawrence about a secret order inside the catholic church, the Order of Saint Paul. The order was committed to fight evil, and if Lawrence was interested about it, the Bishop could find a proper teacher for him. Lawrence saw this as his chance to fight the wrongness in the world, and readily accepted.

Few weeks after this Lawrence found himself in the cradle of the Catholic Church, in Rome itself. He was given a new name, Laurentius, and began to use Latin in his daily life. He discovered abilities in himself, a gift from God himself; he could see, what others could not, and since he was weak in the body, he had been given great strength of mind.

Years afterwards he returned to England. The old bishop gave him new orders: to fight evil and demons using whatever it takes. His battleground would be in north, the pagan lands of the Scotland. Armed with the blessings of God, he took off, and traveled north.

After traveling around as a traveling monk, scribe and secretly, an exorcist, he came to the Isle of Man. He heard stories of the strange men, witches, living on an island south. He had read about these men, and wanted to see if they had fallen to the wrong side. He joined their covenant to save the souls of the mundane men, to act as their guide through life.

He has now learned, that although they don't worship God, they know of His existance and do not deny him. Some of them are evil and all of them are very strange, but he believes that he can bring out the goodness in all of them. While on this mission, he serves his congregation and awaits orders from the Bishop.

Bearnard: He is the strangest of all of them. He seems to wield a great power over nature, and still is the most quiet of them. Not outright evil, but still weird. There is something about him, that makes people uneasy, but it is not the work of the devil.

Caligula: Perhaps the most evil of them all. This strange man thinks he is a heir to the people of Rome. He is sadistic, selfish and has many bad traits in him. Still he is closest thing to a normal man of them.

Profanus: This strange man obsesses himself of death and corpses. I have heard stories of him doing terrible things to the dead ones, but haven't seen this myself. I pray for strength to confront him and save his soul, but he doesn't want anything to do with the likes of me. My only hope is to win him on my side with the help of time.

Nathair: The youngest of the lot, he has the air of someone, who needs to show the others what he is made of. He also has a strange obsession with snakes and their kind, I wonder, if it is something I should worry about? Visiting magi treat him differently (perhaps even respect?) than the other magi on island, which seems very strange as well. Still, the man seems educated, and he has been travelling quite much.

Nelly: Only woman of the mixed group, she is also the most outworldly of them all. She is incredibly beautiful, and her emerald green eyes make men only stare at her. She is also very vain, searching for mundane wealth over anything else. "Blessed are the poor, for they shall inherit the heavenly kingdom."

Tomas: This man seems to be their spokesperson, maybe even their leader. The people respect him the most, and only a few are afraid of him. He has small gadgets and things hanging from his belt and walks around with a staff that seems to be his most prized possession. He is like the classic image of this kind of people I had read about.