Bran Calder

Name: Bran Calder

Race: Human

Age: 41

Occupation: Watchman / Gatekeeper

Bran Calder is a solidly built human man in his early forties, a little under six feet tall, with the broad shoulders of someone accustomed to hauling gates, splitting firewood and standing long watches in bad weather.

His face is square and weather-beaten, with ruddy skin permanently roughened by Moonrest's cold winds. His dark brown hair is cut short and beginning to grey heavily around the temples. A similarly greying beard covers his jaw, kept short enough that frost does not gather badly in it during winter watches.

His most recognisable feature is a thin scar cutting through his left eyebrow, an old injury from years ago that he dismisses whenever anyone asks about it.

Bran normally wears:

• A heavy dark-green wool coat beneath the Moonrest Watch tabard.
• A fur-lined hood or wool cap during bad weather.
• Patched leather armour beneath his outer clothing.
• Thick gloves.
• Weathered knee-high boots.
• A utility belt carrying a knife, whistle, lantern flint and several keys.
• A short spear while stationed at the gate.
• A battered crossbow kept inside the gatehouse rather than constantly carried.

Nothing about his equipment is pristine. Like almost everything in Moonrest, it has been repaired repeatedly.

Personality

Bran is steady, practical and quietly personable.

He isn't naturally suspicious of people, but decades of standing at Moonrest's entrance have taught him to watch first and ask questions second.

He remembers:

• Who left the village.
• Roughly when they left.
• Who returned with them.
• Which hunters are overdue.
• Which boats haven't come home.
• Who has suddenly started behaving strangely.

This makes him considerably more useful than his modest position might initially suggest.

Bran isn't especially eloquent. He tends towards short statements, dry humour and practical observations.

He dislikes melodrama.

If someone rushes through the gate shouting about a disaster, Bran's response isn't panic.

It's:

“Start again. Slowly this time.”

Bran's Role in Moonrest

Officially, Bran is simply one of the settlement's watchmen.

In practice, he has become the unofficial gatekeeper of Moonrest Haven.

He takes the early morning and late afternoon watches more often than anyone else and spends enough time at the entrance that most villagers simply call it Bran's Gate, despite it having no official name.

His responsibilities include:

• Recording departures into the wilderness.
• Watching for returning hunting and gathering parties.
• Inspecting unfamiliar arrivals.
• Raising the alarm when necessary.
• Maintaining the gate mechanisms.
• Keeping the approach clear after heavy snowfall.
• Directing returning expeditions toward whoever needs to see them.
• Maintaining a simple chalkboard showing villagers currently beyond the settlement.

That last responsibility has become considerably more important as conditions on the island worsen.