Willyth Blake, or Will as he prefers to be called, is the son of Gareth Blake and Emily Blackmoor. He was born on September 23 rd in the year 1026 TA , amid the ruins of Zale city. Will has just turned 16 years of age. He is short, only 5'6” and is slightly built. He has close cropped black hair and is generally clean-shaven. People often say he has the ‘Blackmoor Nose'. He wears close fitting leathers and carries a short-sword. Across his chest he wears a baldric sporting 5 throwing daggers. Beneath his shirt he wears a small, silver sword about two inches long. The blade of the sword has been enamelled red. This belonged to his mother, representing her membership of the Red Blades. It is the only thing he has to remember her by. He is often called Little Willy by family and close friends. Some of his street friends call him Blakey.
Gareth Blake was born in Midwinter in 998 TA . The Blakes have been living in and around Midwinter for over 600 years. For most of that time, they have been responsible for the production of fine glasswork from their workshops in Midwinter City .
Emily Blackmoor was born in 995 TA . She is a minor member of the powerful Blackmoor family, a mining family responsible for the importing of silver and gold from the mountains.
At a young age Emily showed an aptitude for the magical arts. At the age of 14, in 1009 TA , she joined the Academical Society for formal training. After excelling at her studies, she graduated from the Society in 1012 TA . Shortly after she sought work through the Freeblades and joined a mercenary company called the Red Blades. The Red Blades fought on Midwinter's eastern and western borders with occasional forays into Zale. During the winter months they returned to the city.
During their return in 1015 TA , Emily returned to the Academical Society to conduct research. There she met Gareth, who was working with the society's alchemists. After a whirlwind romance they married in the spring of 1016 TA . Emily stayed with Gareth the following year and their first daughter, Lanni, was born in the October of 1016.
After wintering in Midwinter Emily was approached by the Red Blades who wanted her to return to the company. Finding the life of mother and socialite constrictive and boring she agreed to spend the campaign season with the Blades. Against Gareth's wishes, she set off in the spring of 1017.
She returned to Midwinter again in the winter, spending time with Gareth and the young Lanni. The following spring she set off with the Red Blades again. During the campaign she discovered she was pregnant and returned to Midwinter in July. Their second daughter, Myeth, was born in August 1018. With two children, Emily decided to stay in the city with Gareth and the children.
For three years things go well, until in 1020 Emily was again approached by the Red Blades to join their company for a campaign in the Vale of Erryn. Emily dusted off her travelling spellbooks and went with them, leaving Gareth at home with the children.
Emily remained with the Red Blades for another five years, returning to Midwinter in the winter of 1025. She again stayed with Gareth. Her daughters, now nine and seven, were strangers to her and Gareth would barely speak to her. Over the course of the winter Emily tried to renew her ties with her estranged family. The children remained suspicious of her but Gareth's love was rekindled and they spent much of their time together.
Despite her love for Gareth, she received nothing but bad will from her family and Gareth's family. The Blakes refused to speak with her because of the way she had treated Gareth and the children. Her own family looked down on her, thinking she had married below her station and thrown away a successful career in the Academical Society.
In the spring of 1026, the Red Blades prepared to go on campaign again. Disappointed with her reception in Midwinter, she again left the city with the Red Blades. Soon after leaving she discovered she was pregnant again. Willyth was born on September 23 rd of that year.
Unlike previous campaign seasons, the Red Blades did not return to Midwinter in the winter, instead staying in the Free Ports. That winter Emily doted on Will, as did the other members of the company. When they set off for Al Jabar in the spring, Emily took Will with her.
For the next six years the Red Blades campaigned in Everast and the Lyrast Commonwealth , fighting along the Quarthen border. Will grew up amongst the company and the forts and castles along the border. When the Quarthen military withdrew their troops from Everast in 1032, the Red Blades turned their sights on Midwinter. After brief stops in the Free Ports and Griffany they arrived back in the spring of 1033.
When Gareth discovered he had a son he was overjoyed, but his feeling towards Emily had been cooling for the last five years. The couple argued strongly about Will's future. Gareth wanted him to remain in Midwinter with his family while Emily wanted to take him on campaign again and to educate him herself. Unable to reconcile their differences, Gareth and Emily separated in 1034. Gareth refused to let Will remain with Emily and approached the courts for custody. The courts agreed and gave custody to Will. Both the Blakes and Blackmoors took to the young Will, bringing the two families closer together. To this day he remains on good terms with his sisters, aunts and uncles.
For the next six years Emily campaigned with the Red Blades in the Midwinter area and spending the winter months in Midwinter City . Will was tutored at home and Gareth forbade him from seeing his mother. Despite this, he still tried to dodge lessons and find ways in and out of the house so he could see his mother in secret.
By 1040 his sisters, now aged 22 and 23, were working with Gareth in the Blake Crystal business. Will remained a bright but difficult child. He showed no interest in the profession of his family, instead revelling in the stories told by his mother and the other Red Blades. In the spring of 1040 Goblin and Hobgoblins from the Gethen Barrens began a new campaign of raids in to the Athas Valley . Destroying the watch towers that bordered the Barrens. The Red Blades, along with Emily, headed to the western border, joining other companies to fight the invaders.
As the season progressed the fighting continued, the goblins performing hit and run strikes against the farms, villages and towns. Then in September of that year, as the first snows began to fall, an ancient white dragon came south out of the Barrens. Following on the heels of the goblins, the dragon ravaged the countryside. Several companies, including the Red Blades, set out to intercept the dragon and after a series of battles the dragon began to retreat.
The companies followed, finally cornering the beast near Grimpen Mire. After a fierce battle the dragon fled north severely wounded, leaving most of the adventurers dead or dying. Amongst the dead was Emily Blake.
Emily's body was buried at the battle site, along with the other fallen. In November that year, the few remaining Red Blades returned to Midwinter with Emily's belongings and passed them on to Gareth Blake. Gareth was heart-broken. He had always hoped that they would get back together again. Will, too, was devastated. He asked his father if they could visit her grave the following spring but Gareth refused. The argument between them raged. Will wanted something of his mothers to remember her by, but Gareth wanted to dispose of her belongings and anything that reminded him of his dead wife.
Finally, Gareth burned all of Emily's belongings and all Will was able to keep was his mother's Red Blade pendant. Will tried to run away and travel to the west but his father was expecting it and was able to stop him. Gareth told Will that while he was under his care he would be forced to obey his wishes. Angry and sullen, Will remained in his father's house for the next two years. On his sixteenth birthday, in 1042, he told his father that he was leaving to seek his fortune and follow in his mother's footsteps.
Will was killed by Black Mountain orcs during the siege of Brightstone Keep.
