Will Scarlett

Will Scarlett, b. 16th January YE 858, is a thief and troublemaker living in Nottingham’s Outer Circle. Charming and charismatic, he is a natural leader and outspoken critic of the starvation and lack of resources under King John II‘s cruel regime.

However, he has been keeping a low profile over the past year after a drunken attempt to assassinate the king resulted in the death of Queen Isobel. 

Early Life

Will is a twin born in the Marcdom of Holderness, in the north of East Mercia, nine minutes after his sister Kate. His mother, Lily, was an educator; his father, Hugh (nee Cavendish), was an engineer, and the family enjoyed a comfortable life in the coastal town of Helmsley. 

As a child, Will was a champion competitive swimmer, but had to drop out after his father was killed in an industrial accident in YE 868. Lily was forced to take on multiple jobs to support her young children and, although only aged ten, Will also began working, taking a job as a farm hand after school and on weekends to help out. 

In YE 871, Lily was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Being the main source of income for the family, she continued to work which likely accelerated her illness. In YE 873, she adopted seven year old Alana Dale, the Hycathic daughter of her friend Rebecca, after she died in an accident. Having an extra child to look after was an added strain on her health – not that she’d ever admit it. Although Will was stealing medication to supplement state provisions, after King John cut access to free healthcare for incurable patients in YE 878 it was not enough and Lily died of suffocation on 23rd February YE 879, four days before her 43rd birthday. 

Outraged at the injustice around his father’s death and mother’s illness, Will became involved with activist groups, going on regular protests and getting into fights with the state guards. It was while on one of these protests that Lily died. She had begged Will to stop the activism and stealing, terrified he would get into trouble, and the fact he was not with her when she died still haunts him.

Career

Will was working full time from the age of 14. In YE 875 he took up an engineering apprenticeship, but his activism and volatile behaviour affected his work and by early YE 877 he lost this. Now the main source of income for the family, stealing was his only option. He became the ringleader of a gang targeting wealthy households and farms outside Helmsley, which grew in notoriety, feared for the violence of their attacks.

However, Will’s criminality caused problems for his ambitious twin sister, Kate and, after Lily died, she left without a word. Guessing she’d go to Nottingham Will and Alana followed, leaving Helmsley on 17th March YE 879. Without money to pay for transport, they walked most of the way.