Jan Downing
Good men are hard to find...unless you look in the forest.
When the young man from the Tilliman Highlands showed up in the village of Putayal, every head turned in suspicion. He didn’t look like the locals. He didn’t talk like the locals. He didn’t even drink like the locals. In fact, Jan didn’t drink at all, which most of the men frowned upon as a bad omen.
“A man who doesn’t drink is a man who has something to hide.”Yet when the broad-shouldered youth was willing to work for half the pay just to get a chance to prove his worth, prove his worth he did. Jan’s eagerness to please and willingness to do anything he was asked without complaint perfectly complimented his keen mind and strong hands. Pride swelled among the young men of Putayal, their focus being to show up this stranger able to work from sunrise to sunset, taking few breaks if any, unearthing stumps and chopping wood for the carvers. For months Jan was challenged by bigger, stronger and more experienced youth. …and he beat them all. Yet what set Jan Downing apart from all other common laborers was his loyalty and honesty to a fault.
The Right Man for the Job
Camber Mayer , the owner of Putayal's only lumber mill, had a reputation for finding the highest quality wood in the region and supplying it to the artisan woodcarvers. His laborers were tough and strong, willing to work omg hours for the good wages he offered, but they lacked the honesty and loyalty Camber sought. While harvesting an ancient Stoke Wood for a client, one of Camber’s laborers got sick of digging around the roots and took a heavy axe to the tree before his employer arrived on the scene. Cutting the root greatly diminished the price Camber could secure from the artisan client. When asked if the tree was cut, the laborer lied, saying the root snapped while pulling the plant from the ground with the horses. Frustrated but resigned, Camber went to pay the men for their work, when Jan stopped him. Hired to man the horses, the youth pointed out what truly happened. He exposed the lies and even presented discarded fragments of the severed roots as proof. He then pointed out that the choice was made out of ignorance, not malice on the part of the workers. When Camber held back a portion of the pay to cover damages, the workers grew angry. Rather than resort to violence, Jan volunteered to have his own wages sacrificed if the mill owner would allow each man to take home their full wages to care for their families. Camber was so impressed with Jan’s integrity, knowledge, and skill as a peacemaker, he offered the youth a job as the mill's foreman.Mental characteristics
Education
Jan is a quick study, but all his skills were either taught to him by his own father, apprenticing with those around him, or hands-on trial and error.
Employment
Jan worked at any manual labor job he could secure, which led him to the village of Putayal. After solving a near-violent dispute between Camber Mayer and his workers, Jan proved to be a clever and honest man, gaining the respect of Camber and winning himself the job of Mill Foreman.
Intellectual Characteristics
Jan is a clear and thorough thinker, who doesn't rush anything which doesn't need to be. He considers both sides of the coin before making his decisions.
Morality & Philosophy
Honest and loyal, almost to a fault, Jan believes a man should do his best to improve the world around him and allow others to choose for themselves, so long as that choice doesn't infring on another's ability to choose the same.
He is a man of manners and who honors the virtue of womenfolk.
Relationships
Relationship Reasoning
Jan has watched over Elsa since her parents died, thus her welfare is important to him if nothing but out of respect for the family who gave him a new life.
AGE: 31
RACE: Human
EYES: Brown
HAIR: Dark Curly Brown
HEIGHT: 5’ 11”
WEIGHT: 221lbs 15.7Stone
Jan has the strength, endurance, and stature of a human man who engages in regular daily exercise, which includes intense physical labor (pulling stumps from the ground as an occupation).
RACE: Human
EYES: Brown
HAIR: Dark Curly Brown
HEIGHT: 5’ 11”
WEIGHT: 221lbs 15.7Stone
Jan has the strength, endurance, and stature of a human man who engages in regular daily exercise, which includes intense physical labor (pulling stumps from the ground as an occupation).
Spouses
Siblings
Children
The Fire
After the death of Camber Mayer and his family, the mill was left as an inheritance for the sole surviving daughter, Elsa.
With just over a decade of his own life invested in the mill, Jan stayed on to keep the mill both running and profitable. Trained personally by Camber Mayer himself in the day-to-day workings of the business, the only thing Jan lacked were the connections to bring clients to the mill itself. In this, he turned to Putayals local master carver, Silas O’Brien.
Working side by side with the locals, the business once more began to thrive. Money was set aside for the young Mayer girl and the future seemed bright…until a lightning storm struck the forest near the mill, catching the main building on fire. Before the village could assist Jan and Silas O-Brien (who had been visiting that evening at the Mayer home), the mill was ruined, as well as the surrounding bunkhouses.
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