The Colonel is a Wraith in the Southern United States of America.
Overview[]
Stalking the battlefields from Antietam to Shiloh, from Chickamauga to Vicksburg, the tattered figure clad in the faded uniform of a Confederate soldier makes his lonely pilgrimage in the darkest hours of the Southern nights. Wandering through the battlegrounds, oblivious to commemorative markers and plaques that attest to the passage of time, he stoops over, now and again, as if contemplating some invisible form lying on the ground at his feet. Sometimes, he kneels to whisper words of comfort to an unseen, fallen comrade or, more often, to close the eyes of a dying form... likewise undetectable to anyone but himself.
If anyone approaches him, either in the physical world or by entering the Dark Umbra of the Shadowlands, he regards them sadly with haunted eyes. "Have you seen my brother?" he whispers in a voice that comes from a vast inner well of sorrow. "I think I killed him in the heat f battle. Or maybe it was in another place."
The wraith who calls himself "the Colonel" remembers little of his mortal life except that he fought for the South during the Civil War, while his younger brother remained loyal to the Union. The Colonel has undergone so many Harrowings in the Tempest that surrounds the Shadowlands that most of his memories have been stripped from him. The one memory that lingers and that holds him to the Skinlands is the sight of his bloody saber buried in the chest of a Union soldier... his brother.
The Colonel may attach himself to a character who even superficially resembles his brother. Unseelie changeling who are members of the Pilgrims of the Bright Road may find him a useful and informative companion and ally, for if his memories of his physical life have faded to almost nothing, his knowledge of the events on his side of the Shroud are sharp and incisive.
Image[]
The Colonel appears to be in his mid-30s, with shoulder-length chestnut hair and a full mustache. His brown eyes are soft and sorrowful. His handsome face is marred by a gaping wound on his left cheek... the remains of the musket blast that ended his mortal life. He wears the clothing of a colonel in the Army of the Confederacy, though he is missing identifying regimental patches and other markings that would provide easy references to his true identity.
Personal[]
He didn't mean to cause his brother's death. In the confusion of swords and rifles and the press of bodies as two armies clashed up close, he never knew who caught his sword's thrust until the man fell at his feet. His brother's sightless eyes condemned the Colonel to this eternity of searching for his remains. If he could remember where he fought, the Colonel's task might be easier. In the meantime, there are so many others who are in need of his comfort and his please for forgiveness. He sometimes touches the minds of the living in the course of his wandering, hoping that one of them might lead him to his goal and allow him to make his peace and rest in the arms of Oblivion.
References[]
- CTD. Kingdom of Willows, pp. 151-152.