Tobias Kuhn

Sir Tobias is the unrecognized bastard son of Sir Wernherus of Grohn and Nell, the baker's daughter. When his mother died, Sir Wernherus gave him a horse, sword, shield, and a small bit of coin - then told to get out of the village. Tobias gathered his remaining belongings and followed the trade roads west. He spent some time as a mercenary before he finally made enough money to return east. Several years on the edge of King Reiner IV's court eventually gained him a frontier barony along the Bornheim trade road. He currently serves as the Baron of Ulrichstein.

• Temporal: Age of Heroes
• Born: Winter 404
• Parents: Sir Wenherus of Grohn (M, 363-446) and Nell (F, 392-422); unrecognized
• Knighted: Summer 435
• Spouse:

  • Marjorie (F, 414-), Married 436
• Issue:

  • Fuchs (M, 439-)
  • Heinr (M, 441-455)
  • Selle (F, 442-)
  • Lyse (F, 451-)
• Holdings:

Tobias is the unrecognized bastard son of Sir Wernherus of Grohn and Nell, a baker's daughter. At the insistence of his wife, Sir Wernherus dismissed Nell from the manor before the child was born. His mother had wed Mazzi, a villein, when he was 5 - so Tobias does not really remember a time without a father. During his young, Tobias was like many other kids, he played, explored, and worked - there was always work to do. He was a strong lad and rarely complained, as that led to nothing but a harsh beating from his new father. Unknown to Tobias or Lady Wenherus, Sir Wenherus arranged for extra land for their family and in 419 Mazzi became a free tenant when he purchased a small measure of his own land.

When Tobias turned 17 he began courting several different girls in the village and its surrounds. Regardless of his family's station he found that most families turned down any advances he made on their daughters. He did find out that Lady Wernherus had let it be known that she would make things difficult for any family who allowed their daughter to marry or sire children from Tobias. Tobias knew that Sir Wernherus was his real father, but this was the first time that he knew of Lady Wernherus interfering in his life. Tobias wanted to do something about it, but his mother still had not recovered from a sickness she got the previous winter.

In Winter of 422 his mother, who never fully recovered, died. Mazzi, who had several kids with Nell during the years, told him that he could stay on and work the land for his kids as long as he wanted. Tobias thanked him for the offer, but since he didn't get along with Mazzi's eldest son Varin he thought it would be best to leave. Mazzi gave him some money and told him that he was welcome back whenever he wanted.

A few days later Tobias was in the tavern when Sir Wernherus walked in. He took Tobias to the innkeep's room and sat his son down. He did not apologize for what happened nor try and make amends. What he did do was tell him that he would never find peace as long as Lady Wernherus could harass him. He was proud of the man that Tobias had become and wished him well on what will be a difficult journey. He told Tobias that there was a horse, shield, sword, armor, and saddlebags full of supplies waiting for him in the tavern's stable. His suggestion was to travel west and hire on as a sell sword.

During the Winter of 425 Tobias had spent two years as a mercenary along the mining camps built in the shadow of the Iron Mountains. At one of these camps he was spending his hard earned coin at the tavern when he was approached by the camp's Reeve. The man wanted to pay Tobias to raise a mercenary company and kill the goblins that had built encampments in the nearby forest.

During the Summer he raised a mercenary company and hired a local hunter named Veit Kaufmann help him located the camps. For two years he harried the goblins, burned their camps, and slaughtered them by the hundreds. Still, each winter they moved back down from the mountains and built new camps while Tobias and his men stayed neared the camp. The Summer of 429 was a bloodbath, which the company losing nearly half of its men as the goblins attacked the camps directly in strength.

So, Tobias hired more men in 430 and this time he cleared a path through the goblins camps, but continued on into the Iron Mountains. With Veit leading the way he burned their villages and put any goblin no quick enough to escape to the sword. He spent the winter in the mountains and raided several of their villages for food and supplies. Just as snow began to fall in 431 he marched out of the mountains with less than a third of his men, but the goblin tribe destroyed and its few survivors scattered.

Tobias staying it the camp for another year to ensure the goblins would not come back, but finally in 432 him and a few of the mercenaries who pledged loyalty to him left the mining camp.