My formal education is in the field of journalism and creative writing.

I am also an avid gamer with over

20 years of experience and have an in depth knowledge of the 7th Sea universe (RPG & CCG). Until
recently I was doing freelance writing for PRODOS and Word Forge Games on projects like Warzone
Resurrection and The Devil's Run.

Backstory:
Henri Castelmore is a career soldier from a prestigious family with a long military
tradition. He has loyally severed lEmpereur for over 30 years and is a member of his
prestigious Musketeers. Henri fought courageously against the Castillian invaders
during their assault of the capital city and his devotion to the crown has never faltered
or failed, until now. While his position as an officer has afforded him countless benefits
and elevated social status he has grown disenfranchised with the nobility and their
acts of corruption and constant abuses of power. As of late, Castelmore and his men
have been granted special dispensation of authority by lEmpereur to uncover and
apprehend agents of the brewing rebellion against the crown. Those captured were all
put to a grotesque end on the breaking wheel after a torturous interrogation to
uncover their coconspirators. More than once, Henri felt he was acting on the flimsiest
of evidence and that innocent men and women were being put to death. His ongoing
and continued investigations eventually led him and his men to the home of his
paternal uncle FRDRIC, a retired Musketeer who had fought in (historic battle / war).
Outlandish accusations were all the damning evidence needed to send a good man off
to an ignominious death. Henri is now burdened with unshakable guilt over the things
he has done. His hands are so stained with blood that he rarely sleeps through the
night, haunted by the echoing howls of those he has brutally put to the end of his
puzzlesword in service of the Sun King. His only solace now is found at the bottom of a
bottle.
Roleplaying Advice: Henri Castelmore was a no nonsense military man who use to act
with poise and precision in everything he did. That was before he lost himself to
alcoholism. He spends almost every evening now in a local tavern, drowning his woes
in cheap wine. Despite his shameful nocturnal behavior he is a highly functioning
alcoholic and is still holding it together in front of his men. How long he will be able to
hold it together is anybodys guess but his thoughts have become increasingly
treasonous. He only needs the right motivation to act against the crown and betray his
solemn vow to lEmpereur. Castelmores major motivations are revenged based and
are focused heavily on righting the wrongs of his past deeds. Castelmore is still an
accomplished swordsmen and more than a match for most. His drinking hasnt
diminished his abilities in the slightest.
Amongst the Natives of the New World there is a legend. They speak of the First Men of the First
World, ancestors of the Native people and how they came to settle on this continent. They believe they
came from a large island in the eastern sea. This island was home to an enormous city of stone but one
day a Fire Dragon rose up that destroyed their island in a single day. The First Men fled, taking
whatever they could.

The became wandering nomads and roamed the lands until one day a terrible storm turned the sky
black and covered the earth in darkness. They fled to the mountains to the south and found a series of
subterranean passages that stretched for miles and miles. The ancient tunnels led to a system of
underground cities that had been built by the Ant Men. The Ant Men were strange and possessed many
metallic totems with fantastic powers that allowed them to build and maintain their underworld cities.
The Ant Men allowed the First Men to live amongst them and together they survived the storm deep
underground..
There were some who chose to leave the safety of the underworld but they perished quickly, destroyed
by whatever had cloaked the surface in darkness. The rest, who remained below, waited until a bright
light dispelled the darkness on the surface. They returned to the world above but found that the storm
had left the world uninhabited. The Ant Men gave them seeds so that they may rebuild what had been
destroyed. For many years the First Men struggled but eventually they found a way to prosper in this
new world.
One day it began to rain and the sea swelled and cover the land. The First men returned to the
mountains and to the subterranean cities of the Ant Men but found them long abandoned. The Ant Men
had left no trail or cause for their leaving of the cities. When the flood waters returned to the sea, the
natives ancestors returned to their lands, fearing the same fate as the Ant Men if they chose to stay.
They eventually rebuilt what they had lost and many tribes feast and dance every spring to celebrate
their ancestors deliverance from this flood and to pass on the story of the caves to the next generation.
GM Notes: The stories of the tunnels and the underground cities are much more than myth and legend.
The secret passageways found high in the mountains are far too perfectly cut into the stone to be
naturally occurring and the system of tunnels too sophisticated to be the work of the native people.
Nobody has yet found the ancient cities of the Ant Men but any adventurer who hears tale of them will
certainly wonder if they are Syrneth ruins and if any of those metalic totem the native speak of are still
up there.