Benjazet Johnson
Chief Herald of Rowan-Oak
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A native son of the region, the eshu Benjazet was a respected leader in the days before the Ressurgence. If he has retired from leadership since agreeing to allow the rulership of Ben Bison Brugh to pass to the sidhe Lady Ausmandine, he certainly retains his respected place in county life. As the senior herald of the county, Benjazet enjoys a certain degree of diplomatic immunity, and his opinions carry a great deal of weight. The greybeard eshu holds a position of polite dissent, and both the Lady Chancellor of Ben Bison and the Count Almond himself are careful to consult Benjazet before enacting any far-reaching policy. A noted practitioner of the Art of Wayfare, it was Benjazet who opened and maintained the few trods remaining within the region during the Resurgence. With the ability to open the Silver Path, he gained access to the ancient freehold of Ben Bison Brugh. From its balefire, he granted a brand to the boggan Elmer Brickie, with which the freehold of Fair Oaks (lateley re-named Winterlong) was established. This freehold in turn supplied brands for most of the minor freeholds in the County, establishing Benjazet at the top of an informal, quasi-feudal hierarchy. Although the nockers of Tinker's Dam remained aloof, the Buckthorn Tragos respectfully acknowledged Benjazet's leadership. A large part of this acceptance stemmed from the fact that it was Benjazet, more often than not, who guided most of the kithain of Rowan-Oak through the Chrysalis. Thus, even in an era when black people suffered widespread discrimination in the south, Benjazet rose to become one of the most respected leaders in the old Confederation of the Turtle, the loose affiliation of kithain states of the late Interregnum which was later supplanted by the High Kingdom of Concordia. |
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