28mm Coftyran Standard Bearer and Squirrel Handler. Some Pykpyk squirrels too!
is-Caerten Gaerthen Llaurthel
Is-Caerten Gaerthen is a somewhat unworldly fellow, with an almost childish piety and faith in his ancestors. He was something of a puzzle for his commanders, as he seems supremely disinterested in the necessary banal details of leading troops. The injury of the Catrawd’s standard bearer created a perfect position for young Gaerthen, and now he serves as the very model of a standard bearer, treating his Catrawd’s flag with reverence.
The soldiers of his Catrawd frequently refer to him has “Deacon Llaurthel,” though in equal parts respect and gentle teasing. If Gaerthen hears this, it never registers on his serene countenance, nor does it dampen the ardor of his faith.
Milwer Ylve Fweeth
As a kit, Ylve dreamed of being a zookeeper. He was laughed at by the other children in his sleepy rural village, but the laughing stopped when he was accepted into Chyyldryc II Memorial University in B’y’nng, the only Quar in his class not of noble birth. Life at university wasn’t easy for the young quar, with his classmates mocking his poverty, his habit of foraging for food to escape the need to pay for food, his endless insistence on study, as he had no family name to carry him on past failure. But he persevered.
Six months before graduation, the Crusade came to Coftyr. His classmates were sent to the fashionable cavalry regiments at the Wall, but when it came to Ylve, GHQ seemed at quite a loss. He wasn’t officer material, obviously, but he had some faculty with animals, it had to be admitted. So they made him a pykpyk handler.
Ylve has excelled at his duties, though he hates the war. His keen mind has enabled him to translate the most incomprehensible orders into something a soldier could do. After the fighting at Gate 18, he began to improve the orders on his own initiative; his Syrnol got a medal. Ylve saw three of his pykpyks gunned down by Toulmorese snipers, and cried himself to sleep that night.
Albryd, Cleelanna, Haerlod, and King Chyyldryc IV
Ylve’s most trusted pykpyks, they have survived the horrific fighting for the Wall, the punishing Cythwyn that followed, and (so far) the shambolic invasion of Toulmore. When one of Ylve’s messages absolutely must get through, it is borne on the back of one of these four. Officially they have only the numbers issued to them by the Crymuster, as handlers are forbidden to name their charges, an order almost invariably observed in the breach. Still, the wise handler would do well not to mention a pykpyk’s name in front of an officer, particularly not that of King Chyyldryc IV, whose sobriquet is almost certainly a minor form of lese-majeste.
