Childermass's life bears certain similarities to his actual past in some respects, in that he was born to a criminal mother and raised in a setting surrounded by crooks, addicts, and anyone else that would be considered the dregs of society up until he turned seventeen. It was only then that his father decided to take him away. What he didn't know was that his father was the Count of Crows, a cruel noble from the Winter Court rather than the Summer one, and now that the Severing had occurred, he was on the hunt to reel back in the changelings he'd created over time.
The Count of Crows is an icy, emotionless Winter Court lordling who, with the lack of other Winter faeries around, has made an effort to forge a new court with what he has to work with. Unfortunately, that means mortals and what he wrings out of them is a constant disappointment. His realm is one of cold rocky sea cliffs and barren trees filled with crows, ravens, magpies, and any other kind of corvid there is and his magic of choice happen to be primarily wind and darkness. This is the realm Childermass would spend the next twelve years surviving until he saw his chance to make a break for it. That came when the Count made the mistake of thinking he would come back without supervision and sent him back into the mortal world to steal something for him.
On one hand, he did successfully steal the artifact the Count sent him out to get. On the other, he took it to the Rose Queen instead. The item was less important than him pledging to serve her in exchange for protection from the Count and his court, it just never hurts to sweeten the pot. Overall, he still despises serving any faerie at all, but he's at least allowed to roam and do as he pleases until she needs him for something now. It's been another eight years since then and he's integrated himself into the supernatural society of Portland as someone who can ferret out bits of information, secret locations, find, steal, and sell items of both arcane and mundane, and so on. He's also run a few kidnappings for the Summer Court, but that really isn't something he talks about.
He claims nowhere in particular as a permanent home, though he also doesn't come off as homeless. Chances are he does have a place, somewhere, he just keeps it extremely secret. From his time in the Count's realm, he's come out extremely pale with black hair that sticks together and swoops out in feather-like shapes, black eyes, black nails, as well as the expected pointed ears. He also has additional black feathers, similar to his Carnival appearance, along the sides of his face as well as running up his forearms. Magic-wise, he came away from the Count's realm with transmutation (he often takes the form of a crow, for example) and darkness manipulation.
In more recent times, about a year back, he got dragged out of his usual business by the faerie-obsessed mage, Jonathan Strange, who summoned and bound him to be his servant. It's a huge pain in his ass since now he has to balance this dumbass's errands against whatever the Rose Queen asks of him. He is currently looking for an easy out and may or may not be having a fling with the mage's ex-wife out of sheer pettiness (this is what you get when you ask him to check up on her, Strange, this is it).
In addition to those woes, he has three half-sisters from his father's side, Morgan, Barb, and Mackenzie. They're changelings, very similar to himself, only viciously loyal to the Count. They're the ones who keep an eye on the Count's various other subjects, both in his realm and outside it, and they take Childermass's escape a little too personally. As such, he's always keeping an eye out for them and it isn't entirely uncommon for them to hold high-speed chases through the air in their chosen bird forms. Ah, family, he could really, really live without them...
Regarding other connections, his continued service to the Rose Queen probably makes him a shady character towards the various other Changelings on the run, but he does get on well enough with a few of the Rose Queen's other servants, though, so hey. Adding to that, he picked up Baker, a church grim, somewhere in those eight years, who is undoubtedly the worst attendant of the dead ever since he's left his cemetery to hang out with this jerk. As for meet-up points, he's a bird guy and a thief, there's a good chance he'll turn up just about anywhere.
JOHN CHILDERMASS
The Count of Crows is an icy, emotionless Winter Court lordling who, with the lack of other Winter faeries around, has made an effort to forge a new court with what he has to work with. Unfortunately, that means mortals and what he wrings out of them is a constant disappointment. His realm is one of cold rocky sea cliffs and barren trees filled with crows, ravens, magpies, and any other kind of corvid there is and his magic of choice happen to be primarily wind and darkness. This is the realm Childermass would spend the next twelve years surviving until he saw his chance to make a break for it. That came when the Count made the mistake of thinking he would come back without supervision and sent him back into the mortal world to steal something for him.
On one hand, he did successfully steal the artifact the Count sent him out to get. On the other, he took it to the Rose Queen instead. The item was less important than him pledging to serve her in exchange for protection from the Count and his court, it just never hurts to sweeten the pot. Overall, he still despises serving any faerie at all, but he's at least allowed to roam and do as he pleases until she needs him for something now. It's been another eight years since then and he's integrated himself into the supernatural society of Portland as someone who can ferret out bits of information, secret locations, find, steal, and sell items of both arcane and mundane, and so on. He's also run a few kidnappings for the Summer Court, but that really isn't something he talks about.
He claims nowhere in particular as a permanent home, though he also doesn't come off as homeless. Chances are he does have a place, somewhere, he just keeps it extremely secret. From his time in the Count's realm, he's come out extremely pale with black hair that sticks together and swoops out in feather-like shapes, black eyes, black nails, as well as the expected pointed ears. He also has additional black feathers, similar to his Carnival appearance, along the sides of his face as well as running up his forearms. Magic-wise, he came away from the Count's realm with transmutation (he often takes the form of a crow, for example) and darkness manipulation.
In more recent times, about a year back, he got dragged out of his usual business by the faerie-obsessed mage, Jonathan Strange, who summoned and bound him to be his servant. It's a huge pain in his ass since now he has to balance this dumbass's errands against whatever the Rose Queen asks of him. He is currently looking for an easy out and may or may not be having a fling with the mage's ex-wife out of sheer pettiness (this is what you get when you ask him to check up on her, Strange, this is it).
In addition to those woes, he has three half-sisters from his father's side, Morgan, Barb, and Mackenzie. They're changelings, very similar to himself, only viciously loyal to the Count. They're the ones who keep an eye on the Count's various other subjects, both in his realm and outside it, and they take Childermass's escape a little too personally. As such, he's always keeping an eye out for them and it isn't entirely uncommon for them to hold high-speed chases through the air in their chosen bird forms. Ah, family, he could really, really live without them...
Regarding other connections, his continued service to the Rose Queen probably makes him a shady character towards the various other Changelings on the run, but he does get on well enough with a few of the Rose Queen's other servants, though, so hey. Adding to that, he picked up Baker, a church grim, somewhere in those eight years, who is undoubtedly the worst attendant of the dead ever since he's left his cemetery to hang out with this jerk. As for meet-up points, he's a bird guy and a thief, there's a good chance he'll turn up just about anywhere.