Ben Ozanich

Piskies are a wandering folk. Messangers, scouts, explorers - kithain of the people, able to take on the appearance of any they hold close to the heart. Benjamin Ozanich was no exception.   Born into the Duchy of the Winding River (Queensland), Ben was an early Chrysalis: living in the small towns of inland Australia as his father James "Jamie" (a construction worker) helped build the interstate highways, he and his mother, Etta, spent a lot of time alone.   They were outsiders to these villages, viewed with an air of "they seem harmless, but they ain't one of us." Etta refused to placate the townsfolk for acceptance, and instead she would spend her days on the outskirts of town with a picnic basket and a sketchbook, keeping an eye on 4-year-old Ben while she painted.   Etta was an amateur naturalist, and she taught her son much about the wild places as a young child. So much so that as a young man, he thought to venture into the Australian Dreamtime - the ancient and primordial wildness within the fae realms.   Unfortunately, like so many of his kind, Ben was not prepared for the Dreamtime, and wandered within the primordial landscape for many, many days. It is common for the kithain who travel into the untouched wilderness of the Dreamtime that they do not return sane - their fae souls or minds shatter first.   But those that are prepared or get help from the Spirit Beings (the Australian kith) can return - but they rarely return as they were. The carefree become thoughtful, the brash become introspective, the fearless become haunted by what they have experienced. While Ben was unprepared, he was lucky enough to be found by a dulklorrkelorrkeng named Jannali, and became her companion, for which she became his wishgranter.   With her help, he was able to find his way out of the Dreamtime and back to the Dreaming and then the Autumn. Jannali accompanied him, and the kithain and spirit being became an established presence in (insert city here) as protectorates and diplomats of the continued reconciliation between the two groups of dream spirits.   For a time, the two of them lived in contentment, and when the Resurgance brought back the Arcadian sidhe to (insert city here), the couple chose to swear fealty to House Danaan, the Pathfinders, as experienced explorers in the Dreaming and (in Jannali's case) the Dreamtime. They were, once again, an important bridge between the trifecta worlds of the commoner, nobles, and native spirit beings. But the tensions between the kithain was not easily put to rest, and the continued battle between the kithain nobles and commoners spilled into Australia after the Night of Iron Knives, felt even across the world in Queensland (though the Accordance War was still in the farflung land of America). The commoners, suspicious of Ben and Jannali's relationship, how it gave the nobles a direct line of communication to the spirit beings, and how it could be used by the nobles to tighten the noose, sought to break it, and manipulated Ben and Jannali into a daytime meeting, shattering the bond between Ben and his night-flying sorcereress.   Jannali was appalled by this betrayal by the kithain, and fled back into the Dreamtime, leaving Ben behind to pick up the pieces. He was incensed by his own people's callous actions, driven by fear and anger, but the true battle was not on the shores of Oceania - it was in Concordia.   And so, Ben has travelled to the forefront of the battle between the kithain nobles and commoners, in an attempt to broker peace between them before things get worse in his own homeland.  

Remembrance

Ben can remember lives of his when he was an Irish piskey and some brief flashes from the time of Interregnum.

Ben has been to the Dreamtime (which not very many kithain come back from), and his faith in the kithain as an honorable people has been shattered. He is lucky that he has not turned against the Dreaming as a whole and become a Dauntain.

Ben does not want to be in America - indeed, he now has little love for the kithain for their petty grievances and fighting over scraps.   But that does not mean they do not have power to raise everything or raze everything, and so he has swallowed his own distaste for his people to attempt to make a change.  

Oaths Sworn

Ben has sworn two oaths: one to care for the Dreaming (Oath of Accepted Burden), and one to the Dream-Time (Oath of the Long Road).

The Night of Iron Knives was a travesty - a betrayal of the highest order by the nobility of the kithain. But that was distant. A cry of pain that everyone with a connection to the Dreaming felt in some way.   The betrayal of the commoners to break his bond with his beloved over perceived bargaining chips that the nobles could have has hurt far worse. Even if the rest of the kithain have abandoned the ways of honor, Ben will not do so. He has sworn an oath to House Danaan, and (selfishly) feels less personally harmed by the nobles than the commoners. In the grand scheme of things he has chosen the side of the nobles in the Accordance War.

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Contacts

Ben has two major contacts: one within the indigenous land workers and one with the Nuwisha

Dreamers

Ben has two Dreamers: Matt Laude, a punk who dances by moonlight, and Harriette D'Laugh, a Liberation theologian.

Ben makes most of his money running messages back and forth, but he also has some land benefits that he can call on as needed.