Steward Bolthayzer

Name: Bolthayzer
Age: 73
Gender: Male
Rank/Craft: Steward
Residence: Ithaca Hold

Description: Bolthayzer (pronounced Bohl-THAY-zehr) is 6’1” and lean to the point of being stringy. He has a short shock of grizzled hair and a face that puts one in mind of the brown cliffs that rise above the High Reaches snowline:  indomitable, unfathomable, and frighteningly permanent.  He has hazel eyes and a sharp, prominent nose. 

Personality: Bolthayzer is actually not an unkind person, but if his life circumstances have taught him anything it is to be cautious above all else. It takes him a long time to move beyond polite and distant civility with anyone. He tends to be no-nonsense and exact in the pursuit of his duties.  In those rare moments when he does relax (say in the company of those few family members and colleagues whom he trusts), Bolthayzer is capable of revealing a dry wit and a wicked sense of humor.

Background: Born the eldest son to a large, reputable farmholding family, Bolthayzer grew up in the High Reaches during the darkest time of the hold’s history.  Unlike most people from this era, however, from early adolescence on he was one of the few people in close proximity to the self-styled Lord of the High Reaches. Sent to work with the hold’s Steward as a means of safeguarding his family’s interests, he saw at close quarters just how brutal the regime really was. By the time he was twenty, Bolthayzer had been exposed to more horrors than most people see in a lifetime.  A lesser individual might have crumbled, but Bolthayzer acquired a fierce resolve to combat the Lord Holder’s crimes in whatever way he could.

Had he been Hold Steward his hands would have been tied, but as a Steward’s assistant he had more freedom. Through his careful and adroit machinations, many people who might otherwise have met a horrible end were spirited away just in time before the Lord Holder’s men arrived to imprison or execute them. Many families’ lands were later returned to them after the regime had fallen only because Bolthayzer had kept very careful and secret records of the full extent and value of their holdings.  It was these acts of bravery that allowed him to continue on in his position as assistant to the Steward after the hold was restored to its rightful lord.

Although he could have been a full Steward, he always opted to remain in his position behind the scenes, watching and directing the day-to-day drama of holdlife without having to be an active player on the stage.  Whether because he felt this was where the power truly lay or because he preferred to be out of the limelight, Bolthayzer himself perhaps cannot say, but a lifetime of service to the High Reaches has come with a price. He has never married and therefore has no lasting biological legacy.  Nor does he have any close friends, although he still keeps in contact with his numerous siblings and even some of their children. Upon turning 73, he stepped down from the post he had held for over 50 Turns, only to find his worst fears confirmed – without his regimen of stewardly duties his life had little meaning. It is likely that he would have died within the Turn, but a timely request from an old, nearly forgotten friend from the dark times has given him a newfound sense of purpose: to become the Steward at Ithaca Hold, located in the wild lands of the Western Continent.  It is at Ithaca that he now resides, working as assiduously for the good of his new hold as he did for High Reaches.

Last Updated: 05/01/2006