The Story of El Chappo

The Story of El Chappo

Francisco was born into a small family of him, his older brother, Rico, and his parents. They lived in a small village within the steppes of the vast Kingdom of Leon, but when Francisco was only 4 his village was caught up in war, it was raided by one of the armies from the northern kingdom of Bourbonne. in the attack Francisco’s parents were killed, he and his brother ran, they ran as far as they could, for 3 days and nights they didn't stop moving, partly out of grief and partly out of desperation. Eventually the starving brothers became lost, they had travelled too far into the steppes, and had little chance of coming across any people, even less chance of them being friendly people.

The two had almost given up hope when they came across a watering hole, around it was a small herd of steppe buffalo - these animals were considered dangerous but Rico had no choice but to try and pass the beasts in order for him and his brother to drink. The buffalo seemed quite docile when first approached, they paid the brothers little attention. After 4 days at the watering hole the buffalo had become accustomed to the brother's presence, they seemed to accept them as part of the herd.

The brothers stayed with the buffalo for 5 months, in that time they crafted themselves supplies in order to help them make the journey back to civilisation. They set off on their journey back on the evening of the final day of summer, it took them almost a week to make the journey back to their old village, or what was left of it.

The brothers did their best to aid in the rebuilding process but due to their age they were little help. After a while the brothers decided they had to leave, everything was reminding them of their loss and they could not bear it any longer. The next day they joined a trade caravan that was passing through.

They stayed with that caravan for the best part of two decades, they traveled all throughout the known world, from The kingdom of Leon to the Jaded kingdoms of the far east. Due to their natural talent with the sword the brothers became caravan guards, they would help to defend the goods that the merchants collected from bandits and thieves.

One day, when the caravan was trudging through the icy wastes of Svartnheim when it was ambushed by the warband of Ragnar the Wealthy (a small but famed band of raiders who targeted trade caravans that were travelling through the black mountains). During the ensuing battle Rico was struck in the chest by one of the many axes thrown by the raiders. Rico's wound was severe but not life threatening.

In the weeks following the raid the caravan travelled slowly, the injured were attended to and the dead were buried. During this time Rico's condition worsened, his wound had become infected, he quickly became bedridden as the fever sweeped through his body, within a week he was unable to speak due to his condition, and after only 8 days of the infection he died.

Francisco was devastated, his brother had been his only family for 21 years. The next year of his life was plagued by grief, he left the caravan because it no longer felt like home. For the next 2 years of his life he wandered from city to city, trying desperately to find a place he could call home.

During his wandering Francisco began to resent his past, he started blaming himself for what happened to his family, he felt that he should have been the one to die the day his village was attacked or that he should have died defending the caravan. He discovered that even telling others his name made him feel ashamed. The feelings intense shame and guilt drove him to the brink of insanity.

One day everything changed for Francisco, he was wandering through the streets of the city of Porto when he came across a group of 3 or 4 thieves, they were in the process of robbing a silk merchant's store, the man they were robbing was old and feeble and it reminded Francisco of how those Norsemen had treated the merchants of his old caravan. In an episode of grief induced rage he drew his word and slew the thieves where they stood.

After the thieves had been dealt with the old merchant embrace Francisco he was unendingly grateful. The old man refused to let Fransisco go without some sort of gift to show how truly grateful he was, he rushed into the back of his store and returned with a beautiful silk cape, the man explained that it was the finest red silk in Porto, worth hundreds of gold pieces, but for Francisco it was free.

That was the day Francisco vowed to protect the lives of all innocent people like that merchant, his quest to defeat injustice would begin in Porto where he spent 4 months battling the theives and bandits that plagued the ancient city. Once Porto was suitably free of the criminals that had once ruled the streets Francisco began to travel from town to town and from city to city killing those who dared to threaten the wellbeing of their innocent residents. Eventually Francisco gained a reputation and many began to refer to him as ‘El Chappo’ or ‘The Cape’.