Harvest

Jonah Ward (a.k.a. Harvest)

Harvest, born Jonah Ward, was the leader of the Plowshare Militia during the 1492 Siege of Salt Lake.

History

Jonah Ward was born in 1456 to tenant farmers in Salt Lake. He started working the fields himself at a young age, but his parents were able to raise enough money for him to receive somewhat of an education, mostly through purchased books. Jonah's father died young, and Jonah believed that overworking was a serious contributing factor to his passing.
The drought of 1488, unknowingly caused by Baron Artus Goldfinch, made life difficult for all tenant farmers, including Jonah. Over the next few years, the drought gave Jonah the perfect audience of disaffected and poor farmers to preach to about radical ideas of land redistribution and self determination. His meetings were often underground and went unnoticed by the Goldfinches.
By the end of 1491, Jonah had secretly recruited most of Salt Lake's tenant farmers into his planned revolution. Jonah renamed himself Harvest, in an effort to appear as a symbol for the burgeoning revolutionaries.
In early 1492, Artus Goldfinch became ill and bedridden. Recognizing the opportunity, Harvest officially organized Salt Lake's peasantry into the Plowshare Militia in early Hammer of that year and taking over the small settlement at the end of the month. Harvest ordered the Goldfinches to be kept under house arrest and for there to be no looting of their manor. He did eventually allow Gabriel Goldfinch to negotiate on behalf of the Plowshare Militia under armed escort, as the forces of Amphail were more inclined to listen to a noble.
Harvest's uprising drew the attention of both the peasantry and nobility of Amphail. While peasants left their farms and flocked to Salt Lake, Lord Dauner Ilzimmer dispatched General Harmon Tholme to restore order. However, Tholme's forces were too evenly matched with that of the Plowshare Militia, and the two sides entered into a protracted stalemate.
During the Siege of Salt Lake, Harvest took on a more governmental role, having to manage a town far beyond its capacity to hold and without the ability to till the fields. Harvest sought aid from whoever it would offer it, which included the Breadwinners, including Artus's daughter Mariana, who arrived to negotiate a peace. Harvest used Eilidh Stormheart's Zone of Truth to interrogate Artus and Enya Goldfinch, and he and the Breadwinners discovered the stolen Eye of Akadi, which the Breadwinners returned to the Temple of Akadi.
With the forces of Waterdeep nearing, the Breadwinners called for one last meeting to attempt to prevent the siege from coming to bloodshed. Harvest agreed to the peace terms set forth, recognizing that it was an improvement over his old position, but bitterly noting that it offered no protections for peasants outside of Salt Lake.
In the years since the Siege of Salt Lake, opinion of Harvest has been mixed. Some treat him as a failed revolutionary, a pariah who gave up when the going got tough. Others see him as a hero who forced the nobility of Amphail to reexamine how they treated their workers. Harvest, now going by Jonah again, has little to say on the matter and lives mostly alone in Salt Lake.

Current Location

Salt Lake

Species

Human

Year of Birth

1456 CR 42 Years old

Gender

Male

Aligned Organization

Plowshare Militia