Speedwell

The First Harvester Gruth Trakned (a.k.a. Speedwell)

"I'm a druid, not a bloody necromancer! Take your bones and shit and back the fuck off."
Speedwell is a druid orc that protects the Harrow Woods, not too far from the Silver City. She was an ordinary druid, communing with the trees and the bees until a simple divination spell goes spectacularly wrong and she resurrects Lyna. This, in turn, starts a chain reaction of which Speedwell is more minor than qualified to understand.
Background
Speedwell was born as Gruth Trakned in the higher reaches of the Silver City. Her orcish parents were keen to train her up in the family business of book-keeping and accounting. Her parents were strict and demanding, if in their own attempt to ensure that Gruth had an adequately respectable future. Impropriety and disappointing exam results were responded to harshly as they tried desperately to force her in a mould she was ill-suited to fit, particularly any attempts at magic. She had often considered running away in her youth and had made a few half-hearted attempts that were quickly thwarted.
respectability felt bored with their lives, but at least they could be bored together, albeit making snarky comments under their breath at the ghastly parties they were pushed to attend.
Through Martin, she found the Natural Balance, a druid commune that persistently - and aggressively - advertised around the city. They decided to jump into one of their meetings as a joke and get some free food when the Balance message spoke to her deeply. The druids honed her dissatisfaction in life, her malleability, her lack of direction and offered a solution. Martin suggested that they leave after the tansy cakes were eaten, but Gruth stayed on. One meeting became two, two became four, and she soon joined as a neophyte.
After joining, the group started to pressure her to leave her life and become a full-time druid instead of lingering on the sidelines and handing out leaflets. The leader, Hyacinth The Elder, in particular, honed in on her weaknesses and started to sow seeds of doubt, starting to isolate her from her old friends. After increasing pressure during her studies from all sides and fighting with her fiancé, she decided to throw in her lot with the druid circle. She spent a year in the circle, training in druidic esoterica and passing through her initiation by the skin of her teeth. The druid circle she joined emphasised the protection of the natural order, balancing the needs of nature with people's encroachment.
She took up her assigned territory in the Harrow Woods, only getting close to the edges when pushed to by her duties. She always felt strangely at ease in the woods, but after the initial euphoria of being her own person, she found her mind wandering to other matters, the fear that she was suddenly just as trapped as she would have been as a book-keeper started to creep up. The anxiety started to eat away at her, still looking to find
And then she does a whoopsie-daisy.
Lyla, Baeleryria and The Deathless Age
After screaming at each other for a few moments, a skeletal hand wrapped around each of their wrists as Baeleryia worked towards stopping this reaction. The goddess requested help fighting what was termed the Deathless Age - an unthinkable apocalypse in which death suddenly stops. Baeleryia advises that this is the work of mortals and that the gods of death are missing aside from her. She bitterly theorises that this is likely because "the mortals forgot about me". Baeleryia cannot carry this out on her own, she is hardly the strongest of gods, but given that any spell can accidentally raise the dead, her powers will only get weaker. In return, Baeleryia will allow Lyla to be reunited in death with her lost love Talabrina who she believes was reincarnated. She will also scry deep into the future to advise Speedwell what her destiny is and provide a gift that will help her.
The goddess then disappears as she will attempt to keep Death going but not before giving both a headache. When Speedwell and Lyla look at each other, both have spouted horns that do little to calm the pair's nerves. Eventually, the pair return to the Silver City and Speedwell tries her best to avoid her family and Lyla avoids the guards. They sneak their way back into the Argent University to find that the Natural Balance druid circle has expanded operations, owning many of the shops on campus and Hyacinth the Elder has placed herself as the new Deacon of the university. The pair decide to investigate further when Hyacinth recognises Speedwell and greets her fondly. She invites her to the symposium ball which would be being held later that night in which she would be carrying out an announcement.
They attend later that evening only to be spotted by Martin who demands to know where Speedwell has been. She cannot explain as the music grinds to a halt. Hyacinth takes to the stage, opens her arms wide and announces that she will be ushering in a new age where immortality is for all, not just for the chosen few. Lyla finally recognises Hyacinth and calls her out as a murderer. Hyacinth stops and stares, realising that Speedwell and Lyla are connected. She briskly announces that the zombie is a traitor to the Crown and that as Speedwell resurrected her, she must also be guilty of the same.
The two struggle with the guards as they are pulled into the cells of Castle Trewnskal and are thrown inside, awaiting trial. They start talking to each other since Lyla had been somewhat reserved about her past. Lyla explains that Hyacinth had been part of her rebel group and after their leader had been captured, Hyacinth and some of her lackeys had killed her and buried her in a shallow grave. After describing other members of the druid circle, Lyla comments that all of these are ex-friends and comrades. Speedwell knows that Hyacinth must be behind the Deathless Age, but for what purpose?
Their cell door is opened by a guard and Martin who has told them that he would be acting as their lawyer. When he escorts them to an interview room, he starts demanding to know what has gone on. Speedwell struggles to explain the situation, so Lyla cuts them off and advises Hyacinth is up to something. Martin nods, suggesting that as part of their symposia, Hyacinth started talking about the Silverfern line's weakness and that once she can defeat Death, she would prove herself to be the better leader. Lyla comments that the Silverferns are terrible, but Hyacinth is worse. The trio mulls over the situation when Speedwell realises that the executed prisoners were all buried here. She casts some druidic spells into the framework of the stonework and jagged vines and hands claw through. Lyla and Speedwell escape - Lyla marshalling the undead as her army and Speedwell making her way to eradicate Hyacinth.
When Speedwell reaches the great hall, she sees Hyacinth waiting, watching her amused. Instead of outright fighting, Hyacinth starts pressing at Speedwell's buttons, attacking the sensitivities and weaknesses she had previously found. Speedwell finds herself about to join sides with her when Lyla's army breakthrough. Hyacinth starts chewing them both out and grabs Speedwell, threatening to kill her and trap her soul. Lyla doesn't understand why she would do this when Hyacinth lets slip that Speedwell is the reincarnation of her old lover. Lyla falls back, fruitlessly attacking when Speedwell ponders her life, the flashes of recognition that she didn't realise had a purpose, that she had previously seen. Speedwell stands up with a renewed purpose and cuts open her hand and throws blood onto the floor. Thick vines made from viscera and bones start to crawl out of the floor and encompass Hyacinth before subsuming her. Baeleryia appears and reaps Hyacinth before speaking to the trio left. She advises that there is still a problem ongoing, but she believes that the root is gone so the leaves should follow. Baeleryria turns to the pair and thanks to them. Lyla advises she found her soul mate in Speedwell and needs no reward. Speedwell says she thinks she knows her fate now but asks her for a weapon. Baeleryia smiles and hands her a scythe, allowing Speedwell to become the first of the Harvesters.
The Harvesters and Aftermath
After learning of the efforts that Speedwell and Lyna made against the incursion, the Silverferns made promises hunt down further perpetrators and make them pay. Lyna - clearly uncomfortable at this - asks that they show mercy as coming down harshly will only inspire rebellion. The Silverferns agree to this and allow them to make their leave. As they leave, Lyna finds herself distracted - disliking how she has helped the royalty she had sworn herself to fight against. She is also concerned about how Talabrina was gone and her soul was inside this orc. Speedwell for her part says she still has a lot to learn about her latent necromancy but it seems that Lyna has a second chance. Neither party have much in terms of love for the current rulers but there is a spark that was not there before. 
The word spreads through the Silver City and beyond about the Harvesters although neither Speedwell or Lyna are sure how they know about this. The concept of not ever dying and not reaching the Hereafter is unpleasant enough for others to join then, including Martin. Communing with Baeleryia, they make a base in the Harrow Woods. Combining the druidic skills with the necromantic provides a certain balance for the natural order, one that Hyacinth intended to overthrow. As such, the group gains power and starts spreading across Jocast as there are more than one group out there that wants to conquer Death itself.

Current Location

Harrow Wood

Species

Orc

Age

25

Birthplace

The Silver City, Jocast

Current Residence

Harrow Wood

Hair

Curly dark brown, roughly cut and untamed.

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Green

Aligned Organization

The Harvesters

Other Affiliations

• The Natural Balance