Tillerman

Tillerman, or The Tillerman, operated a small ferry-boat transporting people from the village of Saffra to various ports in the Corrian Isles.
== Origins ==
His date of birth is estimated by his apparent age when he sailed his boat into Saffra and set up his ferry business, he appeared at least forty, but it was never confirmed. He worked in the area for thirty years and never appeared to age a day. No one in the village, or any of the ports, ever managed to learn the Tillerman's name or his place of origin. His accent made him sound like he born somewhere on the farthest northwestern coasts of Tagdri, and he carried a Diverni arming sword (a common weapon in that area) to support that conclusion. The sword was painted black to resist the salt, and the paint apparently reapplied after each sharpening, so some thought he had served in a navy or been a privateer. Common piracy was ruled out. The one time he was accused of being a pirate, by a drunk on the shore, he stared the man down, expressionless, until the drunk urinated on himself and ran scared. The drunk later remarked:"His eyes were cold and deep like the sea, and his face never changed, but I could feel how angry he was, how much hate he had, and how hard it was to keep it back. That man were no pirate. I've only ever seen a look anything like that one place before: in my fafa's eyes after he left the Armada. The look said he'd been hard done-by, his trust had been broken, and he would never be the same." That drunk went on to become Romu Ignallo, one of the most celebrated Tagdrian writers of the AoVL, and never drank again.
Translation Note: "fafa" is the familiar form of "father" in that region, roughly analogous to "papa" in others.
== History ==
From 570 AoVL to 600 AoVL, The Tillerman ferried people, goods, and live stock between the isles and Saffra. His rates were so low people questioned how he could live on them, sometimes carrying the very poor in exchange for a song or story, but he persisted in his work with no complaint. He asked no questions, but was famed for spotting anyone intent on banditry or piracy instantly and turning them away... and dispatching them swiftly and efficiently if they did not leave with the sword described above. Individuals with a history of thievery but intent on carrying out actions for the common good, like many adventurers, he could seem to sense as well. He carried them to their destination, but warned them "This ride is your second chance. Most people do not get any second chance. Use it, or, and this is no threat but a word of advice from this old Tillerman to you, this is your last ride."His predictions were said to be uncannily accurate by those in the ports, but this has never been verified independently. 
One day in 600 AoVL he set out into the seas with no passengers or freight and simply never returned. He was heard to sing verses of a very old song, mixed with old chants from the north-Tagdrian peoples, as he left. The translation reads:"Sea was my mother to mother I go
Night sky was my father a sailor I am
Land people walking on back of the Troll
sun in their eyes but no salt on their hands
They die and they leave helping no oneSea was my mother now she my grave
Night Sky my father he let me go
Salt on my hands said leave me alone
On back of my mother no more walk the Troll
but I take care of all people until end of the world." The song, "Ballad of the White-Eyed Maria," referred originally to a northern legend of a ship lost at sea that would appear sometimes to drive away pirates from fishing villages. The rest of the verses are plural, but he was heard only to sing the singular portion mixed with old chants used to commemorate the end or beginning of a journey. 
His lack of aging had always been suspicious, but before people had thought him perhaps part Elf. After that day his reputation changed.
== The Legend ==
The current legend in the Isles and in Saffra, a legend that has never died despite intervening centuries, is that the Tillerman was a ghost so bent on serving the world that he found a way to take solid form permanently. They say this is why he charged so little: a dead man does not need to eat or drink; does not smoke; does not pay for company; and could stay aboard his boat or at the shore with no fatigue or sea-fever. Having stayed as long as he could without revealing what he was, he finally sailed away, and is said to have come and gone from other shores operating his ferry many times across the centuries.
Category:Characters