Calabria (Backstory)

I’m no knight. Nor am I some kind of warrior monk. I’m not even particularly religious. I was born poor and had to learn to make my own luck.

No. The only thing I am, is an opportunist.

My first break in life was when I was fifteen, climbing on a merchant’s daughter, knocking her up and gaining a foothold in the family business. Luckily for me, the father-in-law also had connections with the Prince of Taranto’s household.

So when Prince Bohemond, our Frankish overload, joined the crusade to save Eastern Christendom from the Muslims, my father in-law pushed me to join his followers, probably in hope I wouldn’t return, and his heifer of a daughter could marry a decent husband.

But I was happy to go. I sensed an opportunity, not just to cleanse my soul… but also to gain riches. I felt this was my big chance to climb my way out of a cesspit of a life. And become a landowner in the east. This success would be on my own merit.

Either way, once we crossed the Adriatic, I was not coming back to Calabria.