Cormac Wychwood

"Swamp Survior."

The fog is pooling and flowing out of the swamps, ahead of you stands a short man, no really, there he is. Standing right in front of you, oh for goodness sake Cormac take off your camouflage and greet the people this is your story after all!

### Childhood and Adolescence

Cormac grew up a hunter, the son of a hunter, who was in turn the son of a hunter, who was as it so happens also the son of a hunter. Trained and painted by his farther and grandfather along with a dozen other boys his age to move through the swamp as though they were the very water within it, Hide in the slightest of bushes, to track yesterday’s wind and to use his families bow to bring back the tastiest frogs. Now please note that I am merely saying this is what he was trained to do, not if he was actually any good at it, at the age of 18 I’m sure there is still a lot of room for improvement.

His early life was nothing to note, filled with no major tragedies to speak of, discounting getting into old man Foggets “Mrykwater Whiskey” an getting such a walloping off of Fogget, his Ma, and is Pa that if he wasn’t already unable to see strait due to the drink, he would not have been able to see strait on account of the walloping. Like most men the world over he grew up with a good and healthy interest in the fairer sex, in this instance it was a young girl by the name of Feiana Darkwater. Sneaking out at night to meet his girl as some young boys feel the need to do got looked as though it was going to get easier when sadly Feiana’s Ma and Pa died following getting swamp fever. In a round and about way it was suggested the Feiana moved into their crannog as she was still too young to live alone, all this proved is that no matter how stealthy you may be in the swamps there is no way to sneak into your girls room when your Ma is under the same roof!

### Young Adulthood

Before too long our young lovers were separated as Feiana went to live with an old lady or the edge of the swamps, the old lady who didn’t like to eat frogs and had an unhealthy obsession with fire in Cormac’s opinion. Odd given most things her and about were too soggy to burn but Feiana was happy and that was all that really mattered to Cormac. He engineered meetings with her and the old lady from time to time, bringing rare flowers and mushrooms he had found while out frogging. It was all to be a good and kindly neighbour of course, not that he was keeping an eye on Feiana. He certainly didn’t coat Oran Fairwaters britches in itch oak when he made a passing impression of interest in Feiana, and the fact that on another instance Oran was found unconscious five miles away in the wrong direction without his britches and a leach attached to each butt cheek after gathering flowers to take to Feiana will for ever remain a mystery.

With Cormac turning 18 he began to construct his own crannog to live on, out on the side of the village closest to the old woman’s house but the house just felt empty, not due to the lack of 2 walls or a bed, cooking pots, a table and chairs, but empty, like a house without a soul. Resolved to do what he should have done when he came of age he set off through the swamp to the old ladies house. Upon arriving his nerve almost gave out and he spent some time sat in the swamps watching the house, wondering at the remains of a large bonfire round the back he was on the verge of turning back when he happened to see Feiana crying in the window. Quick as a greased bull toad he was at the door knocking. I’m going to leave the story there and let you fill in the blanks but know the outcome is thus:

* Cormac and Feiana are now married
* Cormac is using his skills to provide for his new wife by taking out commissions hunting down things, people. Acting as dangerous animal control for the small villages without knights to keep the place safe.
* Feiana is setting up a shop selling all sorts of herbal things, medicinal things, just don’t expect Cormac to believe that slime scraped from the underside of a toads tongue will help anyone’s… erm… marital issues…
* The house now has the correct number of walls, floors, ceilings and a full complement of living goods.
* Oran Fairwaters was eaten by an unusually large and grumpy Kaprosuchus a short while after purchasing a vat of afore mentioned toad tongue slime

### Present Day (S7)

Our young(ish) hero is now 22, his story continues…

After spending a few seasons living in a small community with his wife Feiana deep within the swamp lands and suffering countless attacks by the snakes, Kapro’s and Sarco’s not to mention a lot of wildling activity in the area Cormac has come to thinking that maybe moving out of the deep swamps and closer to a big down might be in order, to keep his family safe. While the Snake’s and such aren’t too much of a bother, and end up on the grill its more work than he has time for to repair the house and go out hunting.

Speaking of the hunting it’s good to keep meat on the table but there is little else too it, everyone seems to care for nothing but gold and won’t consider a trade, even 200 snake hides won’t get his axe repaired and there are more and more sell swords around keeping the dangerous animals down.

Whereas the swamps used to keep the wildlings aware because of the swamp fever and leaches and such they seem to have found some cures for it as they are passing through more often than he would like, he’s seen and heard groups of 3 or more pass by in the night while he’s been out staking the next day’s breakfast and as well-hidden as the crannog might be it’s only a matter of time before they find it and raid it.
The only option left in Cormac’s head is not just to up and move to a new homestead but to change profession an try and find a way to keep Feiana comfortable, she’s lived out of the swamps before so she shouldn’t take it too hard with any luck, heck she might even be more comfortable given how at home she appeared when out visiting the Tymber lands and Wood Marsh. Lots of people to talk to and things to learn, she stuck up a good old friendship with the farmer and cook over in Wood Marsh, taught her all sorts of things that made her cooking so much better, in fact she’s talking about doing more, and Cormac must admit he hopes she does as toad in the hole seems a bit plain now compared to the stews and such like she’s been learning, and to be fair baby sheep are kinda sweet, and funny if they fall off the crannog and into the swamp.
Feiana isn’t the only one that’s been learning new and interesting skills from these townsfolk mind you, Cormac himself has been hanging around with a few smiths picking up bits here and there from Geminii in Storms End, Rick in Wood Marsh and started to have a go at working with metals himself. Smith’s seem to be a good and respected type of people in the towns, to be able to keep themselves and their families in good solid homes. And as an added bonus they get to go out into the wilds to gather the metals, crystals and dragonglass they need for the work so it he wouldn’t be cooped up all the time. Yes in fact he is quiet set on the idea of building up a forge and smithy and living the quiet life for a while
And so Season 7 begins…

## Appearance

Short and lean is probably the best way to describe Cormac; He might have once had light skin but years of applying various muds and pastes to his skin to hide himself in the swamps around the neck it’s not possible to rightly tell. Now all that is visible is darkened and permanently stained a selection of blacks, murky browns and greens. With sharp hazel eyes you get the feeling that everything is seen and nothing is missed.